This weekend marks the start of Star Trek: Prodigy’s big push towards the show’s October 28th premiere, as the cast and executive producers of the upcoming animated series make their way to New York Comic Con on Saturday for a world-premiere episode screening and panel for the convention crowd.

Ahead of this weekend’s festivities, however, we’ve got the first of a few interviews with members of the Prodigy team to share from around the web — starting with an hour-long interview with series composer Nami Melumad, who appeared on The Scotch Trekker YouTube show on September 25.

The Israeli-born composer first shared how she came to Star Trek through its music, as a young girl the English-language program was indecipherable to her.

“My I was a kid in the 90s, and I think it was TNG playing in the background at my family’s house — and I did not understand any of it. There were people with pointed ears and everyone was wearing different uniforms… I did not really get any of it. And it was in English, so I didn’t understand most of it!

Later, I kind of came to ‘Star Trek’ because of the music, to be honest, like Jerry Goldsmith’s theme, and then I heard the Alexander Courage theme, and I thought it was so, so incredible. So what really drew me was the music, and it’s kind of like a circle back for me, to be working on this amazing franchise — especially one that features Janeway, because ‘Voyager’ is my favorite ‘Trek.'”

She also shared how her time scoring the Short Trek “Q & A” came to pass, the story which showed Ensign Spock’s first day aboard the USS Enterprise.

“The [‘Short Trek’] was the call of my dreams! I started working with Michael Giacchino, who we all know as an incredibly amazing composer. We did ‘American Pickle’ together, and during that time he connected me with Alex Kurtzman, and they offered me that short, and I got so, so, so excited. It was the legendary characters, you know? Spock! I just love Spock, so much.

It was also such a big responsibility too, you know, his first day on the Enterprise. I’m trusted with this? It was an unbelievable moment for me. Luckily it happened very quickly, so I didn’t have time to process — and I’m very grateful for that!

So I wrote the score; we did a couple of passes with feedback, and there were some really great ideas that the producers gave me. We recorded it at Warner Brothers, and I think we had 40 or 45 musicians — which was really cool — and then we mixed it.

The whole thing was pretty quick, maybe three or four weeks… and then it aired!”

Speaking more directly about her work on Star Trek: Prodigy, Melumad — who will be the first female ‘primary’ composer for a Star Trek production — explained how the Budapest-based orchestra behind the animated series’ music is recording the score all in one place, rather than as individual artists (a challenge Discovery has been facing due to pandemic restrictions).

“For the first episode we had 64 musicians, and we stayed around those numbers. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller…. depending on the episode and budget.

We started recording once things kind of settled [regarding] COVID procedures; we’re recording in Europe, and the players are together in the actual studio. I’m very glad we’re not doing it [individually] because recording every player separately in their home studio is a mess to edit all those recordings, and they’re not in the same space so there’s way more mixing [required], in terms of getting everyone into that same [sound] space with the mix.

It’s also very time-consuming for the musicians, because they have to operate their own [software]… it’s just a lot, technically. So we got very lucky. [I’m remote, and they’re] in Budapest, and they’re amazing, amazing players. I’m in awe of how they read everything the first time they see it.

We do a first take, obviously there’s little mistakes, you know, but usually it’s good! And then, second take, wow! Third take, we’re fixing some stuff, maybe changing a few dynamics or articulations, but after 10 or 12 minutes or so, the cue is magnificent.”

She also talked about how the character and story drive the musical intent behind each composition.

“It’s very character based… we’re [going with] motifs for these characters, so musically I’m kind of tying it together. [Musically, characters and story] go together, because if you have a moment that is more about Jankom, or a moment that is more about Zero…. it will be story based, for me, music is always story based.

You want to address what’s happening on screen, especially with animation music is such an integral part of moving forward, adding pace and drama and pace and shape to every scene. But it’s also about the characters, and you have to tie it in a certain way that works for that character in the scenario they’re at, whether its danger, or a comedy moment, or hope, or fear — you can play around with those themes to fit that particular emotion.

The thing with animation, especially on this show, it moves very fast. Where you were 20 seconds ago is not where you’re at now! It moves very quickly, and it’s great. It provides you so much opportunity for [different] colors, and the characters are so different — they all come from different places.

I get to really play with the orchestra, and some synth stuff… it’s very fun to make each of them distinct.

[…]

There’s one episode where I’m using a duduk… but you want to do those things only when they’re justified, you know, when you have a specific character, or a strange planet, or whatever fits. I do like using vocals, so there is quite a lot of that in the score, in several styles… for ‘Q & A,’ there’s a choir in the background at the end, and that’s me [singing]!

There’s occasionally a guitar, which is not exactly what you would expect; a little bit of jazzy stuff, too, but of course there is also a large variety of synths which can all be very different.”

Finally, Melumad was asked if music from the legacy Star Trek shows might be included in the episodic score for Prodigy, especially considering the inclusion of a version of Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Janeway among the series’ cast.

“I am quoting, occasionally, the original fanfare from Alexander Courage; that’s pretty much it. But, I mean, this is about licensing rights and I wish I could quote more, where it fits, but unfortunately we’re not allowed to do that.

There’s no ‘Voyager’ music [with Janeway]; there’s some stuff that resembles it, or something that sounds of a memory to it, but it’s definitely not [from] ‘Voyager,’ no. But we’re doing something else, something new — not just in ‘Star Trek,’ but in other cinematic universes, you don’t want to overuse things.

You would want to do it really delicately, and when it’s the most impactful, you know? If you get that theme all the time, it’s just not exciting anymore. If it was earned by the characters, that’s when you’d want to use the theme, to get the most emotional impact for the viewer.

You’d want to be very particular on your choice when to use the theme.”

You can check out the entire hour-long interview with Nami Melumad — where she discusses her education and early musical experience, other professional projects, service in the IDF, the challenges of scoring for film and television, and more — at The Scotch Trekker’s YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Yn_W4mZjg

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In addition, Rylee Alazraqui — who plays the massive Brikar girl Rok-Tahk on Prodigy — appeared on the Catalina Stars: Young and Famous podcast, where she spoke a little bit about her Star Trek: Prodigy experience so far, and how she brings the large alien character to life.

“When I’m voicing Rok-Tahk, I’m kind of just myself. Her character is a very friendly person; she loves animals, and she’s really kind. She’s also really sensitive, and when I’m acting [as] her, being myself is just really easy. How I came up with the character [voice] for her, I was just myself and they liked it!

I started recording the show when I was eight or nine years old, and my voice was definitely very high-pitched in the show [when] we recorded the first episodes…. My voice hasn’t really changed since when I was eight, well, a little bit; it’s gotten deeper I guess. [Laughs]

But I kind of listen, and I watched the trailer recently. I kind of memorized how her voice was, and I just make my voice as high as when I originally did the character.”

She also described her audition for the role:

“I remember that the other people who went in [to audition] were in for like 15 minutes, and then I came out within like 5 minutes… I know that my mom and I were both thinking I probably didn’t get [the job], but then I got a callback and it just went from there!

I was really excited. I didn’t know what ‘Star Trek’ was at the time, so I had to kind of research about it and watch a little bit of it.”

Finally, as the show has been entirely recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alazraqui shared that to date she has only met one of her Star Trek: Prodigy castmates in real life.

“I’ve met [the other actors] on Zoom for Comic Con, but that’s the only time! I met The Diviner [John Noble] just yesterday actually, while I was filming something; so that was really fun. He’s actually very, very nice in real life!

The other cast I have not met, but I really like working with the writers and the director, they’re really nice. But in October, I’ll be going to New York for an in-person Comic Con!”