Word came down-- "create a 3-d episode."
They all said, "okay, if we have to do a 3-d episode,
let's break the mold.
Let's do something like nobody ever did before."
I'Il tell you the truth!
Jeez, that's astounding!
All of our episodes deal with
the aliens experiencing something for the first time.
This time they're experiencing dreams,
each of them extremely highly produced
with very sophisticated cinema techniques,
special effects,
and scripted by bonnie and Terry turner
and the writing staff.
So they fold in beautifully with the rest of the story.
Bonnie Turner: Terry and I had decided
that since they were dreaming, it should have a very different look,
it shouldn't be of this world in any form.
So we decided to give it a very filmic look.
You have to shoot bigger.
Different lighting and everything
which only a big soundstage can give you.
We're going after a complete eye-popping experience,
is what we're trying to do.
We wanted to incorporate the 3-d and special effects into the show
in such a way that they become part of the plot,
that what happens within the segments
spins the next scene on it.
And then it is a reaction that starts the next segment
which spins the plot again so that what you've got
is kind of a really wild, insane ride
- through the show.
Kristen Johnston: I think it's special
because it's unlike anything anyone has ever seen and will ever see.
I really think that that I can say,
knowing full well nothing like this
has ever been tried on television before.
So when they actually explained
exactly how it was going to go down,
and that it was all these different dreams
and what our dreams were, it sounded awesome.
I think all of us feel this sense of we've been unleashed.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: this is vaudeville. It's slapstick.
It's huge, and it's not done on television anymore.
No one ever, like, falls down and hurts themselves anymore on Tv.
We do that all the time.
Things are being said, but at the same time it's damn funny.
And people are leaping over the top with abandon.
And it's fun to do. It's fun to watch.
All of us felt that was some kind of high point when we re-created that.
♪ Life has been good to me... ♪
I'm singing and dancing to this great randy Newman song from "Faust."
♪ ...Go far ♪
and it's a busby Berkeley style,
sort of old Mgm dance number.
We're going to shoot most of it in one shot.
Man: cut, cut, cut.
- ♪ Life has been good to-- ♪ - Man: cut.
- ♪ Life has been good to me ♪ - Man: cut.
- That's a cut. - 27 takes was the final tally.
In the pool, I had
20 and 34.
♪ Life has been good to me... ♪
Lithgow: we're killing ourselves doing this.
I mean, we are so overextended,
but we really sense that it's going to be worth it,
that it'll be like nothing anybody's ever seen.
A lot of people in acting say less is more.
And in "3rd rock," more is more.
So we like it big, we like it fast,
and we like it funny.
We don't want to take it too seriously.
- ♪ Life has been good to me. ♪ - Jane Curtin: work is fun.
We like what we're doing.
When you walk into the studio in the morning to go to work,
it's like walking into the playground.
It's more fun than I've ever had.
That's my girl.
Mary, I'm an alien.
- That's wonderful! - It is?
Yes, because...
I'm an alien, too.
It feels like being a kid again
and just discovering acting and comedy.
French Stewart: and everything's big. It's like the dancing's big.
You know, we're mugging it up,
and it's 3-D.
3-d for those of you at home.
What's so great about it is it's all fun people,
and it's the kind of job
where you just can't wait to get to work every day.
Just amazing, those four little episodes.
Not jell-O.
Not jell-o!