Grease Trek
An interview with the McKean Bros.
Q: How did Grease Trek come about?
SCOTT: I was kidding around with Jason about the concept of placing the original crew from Star Trek in the setting of a fast food restaurant and he got really serious about it.
JASON: I was learning to use Adobe After Effects at the time, and I did some tests with my camera and the computer, and thought “We can do this!”
SCOTT: We started to banter back and forth on notes and the script suddenly started to take shape.
JASON: The main goal was to capture moments from the original series and then parody them to fit our twisted vision.
SCOTT: And in the process, capture a “lost episode” flavor to the movie and bring a smile to faces of long-time fans.
Q: Who did what on Grease Trek?
JASON: After the script was finished, Scott set up auditions and we found our cast. He then set up the shooting dates and kept cracking the whip on me to get all the costumes and props ready. It was shot all blue screen, so there were no sets to prepare.
SCOTT: During the shoot I would punch up the gags and add my two cents in the directorial process. What I learned over the process was to trust Jason’s genius and wait until the final cut was sweetened and then make a judgment.
JASON: What started off as a 10-minute quickie film now had about 24 hours of footage. It took 2 years to composite it and then create original sound effects and music. That’s my wife singing before the climactic fight scene.
SCOTT: Hey, don’t give any of it away.
JASON: Sorry. It’s been a long process, but thoroughly enjoyable. I think that Scott came up with a brilliant parody idea.
SCOTT: Well, hopefully I benefited the movie making process with my nervous constant driving of the shoot and with my potentially successful marketing concepts.
Q: Would you consider yourself to be big fans of the original Star Trek?
SCOTT: When we were growing up, our TV picture tube broke, and our parents didn’t fix it for a whole year. But I’d come home from school, and my brother and I would turn the TV on, sans picture, and listen to Star Trek! Yeah … I’m a fan.
JASON: Yeah, I remember Star Trek as a radio drama. So much for Mom and Dad trying to wean us off of TV.
SCOTT: Either that was their plan or they were just cheap, like the powered milk that they bought us to drink. But for that year, it probably helped to not be distracted by the image. We got the point of the stories.
JASON: The dialogue was always sharp, plus it showed us how important the other things like sound effects and music add to the magic of storytelling.
Q: So why put the crew of the Enterprise in a fast food joint?
SCOTT: Because it’s illogical.
JASON: I think that society views the idea of working fast-food as one of the lowest common denominator occupations. It’s a great entry-level gig, as a teenager or someone without a lot of job skills, but if you find that you’re in your forties and still working the counter, then something’s wrong. The idea of Grease Trek was to take this heroic crew that we’re so familiar with, and transpose it on this lowlier occupation, but not take the heroism out of it.
SCOTT: Yes, they’re into it, just as if they were saving the universe with every customer served.
JASON: And we may not all get to be astronauts exploring space, but every last one of us could work fast food, exploring a deep-fried universe.
Q: How did the name “Frank and Frys” come about? Why hot dogs and fries?
SCOTT: I think Jason came up with the name, it rhymed with the U.S.S. Enterprise and conveyed what we wanted … and I think “Weenie World” was taken.
JASON: The original ship design cried out for hot dogs in place of the nacelles. And what is fast food without French Fries?!?
SCOTT: Plus it’s important to represent the best of the basic food groups.
Q: I’ve noticed that you’ve chose to use only beautiful women in the restaurant.
SCOTT: Do I really need to answer that? I mean … Trekkies need love too!
JASON: I think the main reason is because we shot it in Los Angeles, and there aren’t any unattractive women here. I guess that the joke is that you’d expect customers with bodies that reflect the food that they eat.
SCOTT: But then who would be our love interest for Mgr Cook?
Q: Do you think this parody will anger the fans of Star Trek?
SCOTT: I hope not, I love the original. It’s in the American/Global lexicon and stimulates thought on how our future may be ... in the best possible way.
JASON: For the Trekkies that we’ve played it for, they’ve loved Grease Trek. It makes them think about which episode is being parodied and I think that they end up watching the original episodes to see them again. Probably just to check and see that they haven’t been tampered with …
SCOTT: Grease Trek is simply a foray in the absurd.
JASON: Yes, but oddly enough it doesn’t belittle the original Star Trek. It’s just a guilty pleasure. I think any Trekkie with a sense of humor will get a kick out of it.
Q: What does the future hold for Grease Trek?
SCOTT: That’s up to the fans of the show. If they embrace it then we’ll make more. If not … Live Long & Prosper!
JASON: The human appetite is just beginning …
(NOTE: Star Trek is a trademark of Paramount Pictures and is not affiliated with this site. To go to the website for Star Trek, click HERE.
All content © 2005 Bubo Productions. All rights reserved. Star Trek and related images are properties of Paramount Pictures.
