Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x09 "Subspace Rhapsody"
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x09 "Subspace Rhapsody"
Logline
An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the USS Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships—allies and enemies alike.
Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Dermott Downs
Some of the lyrics were really clever and fun:
Spock: "I solved for the Y in my computation ... but the variable so devastating: I'm the ex / X".
At the same time: "When we gain control again, I confess"
- La'an / Pelia: "I'll miss the singing"
- Spock: "I won't miss singing"
Spock: "I solved for the Y in my computation ... but the variable so devastating: I'm the ex / X".
Thanks. Now I get it. IIRC the subtitles had "solved for the why" and then the X didn't make any sense. That is indeed clever.
My favourite Spock bit came at the end during the grande finale. Everyone was singing "we know our purpose, to protect the mission – our prime directive", and Spock just goes "not exactly". 😄
Can we talk about how great it is that they keep tinkering with the opening credits for the special episodes? Because I love it every time they do. Fukkin acapella man.
I'm a huge sucker for altered opening credits. Enterprise still wins for the best one of these with its mirror universe episode.
+1 for that theme in In a Mirror Darkly.
I love this as well! And doing fun stuff with the star trek brand intro as well, I hope they continue both of those in the future
Oh yeah, great idea. Kinda like the Simpsons gag or so:
- If they ever have a mirror episode, the opening credits should be horizontally mirrored
- If they ever have a time travel episode, the opening credits should go backwards
- Another cross-over episode? DS9 or some other ship better appear in there! etc.
Reminds me of how Community would change up things all the time.
Loved it. I was most surprised that the whole cast all had such beautiful singing voices.
La'an's song touched me the most because I'm someone who also doesn't really dare to do the things I'd like to do.
A bit sad that we didn't get a Klingon opera but the alternative was ... well, interesting too. 😄 Also, I kinda hope that Spock solving diplomatic crises with the Klingons by drinking excessive amounts of blood wine will become a running gag.
Addendum: after watching it again I realized that (for the first time?) several male background extras were wearing the dress-type uniform variant that only the women used to wear.
Are we getting the unisex skant back? Hell yeah! I love this show.
La'an's song was the most emotional and heartfelt, but it went on way too long.
Uhura had the best song and the best performance, I thought. Celia Rose Gooding is a goddamned treasure, and it's a treat to see them finally really putting that character to good use on a consistent basis.
@UESPA_Sputnik I was hoping for a klingon opera too. But, yes, an interesting alternative.
SNW continues to break new ground really well. This was a really refreshing episode and very well done. I for one loooved this episode.
Alright, I get that musicals are not everyone's cup of tea, but as a person who watched multiple dozens of Broadway musicals, I must say that the songs were really on par with actual musicals. The cast can really sing well -- I expected many great things from Cecile Rose Gooding and wow she did not disappoint. I was very pleasantly impressed by Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijin, Ethan Peck's performances as well.
I think the director made sure to highlight those actors that can sing well and put those that can't sing into secondary positions. Clearly Grammy-Award winning/Tony Award-nominated Gooding was at the center of the story, and they cut off Anson Mount's song, because well, he isn't the greatest singer. They even fully acknowledged that Babs Olusanmokun can't sing in universe as well. :) The ensemble pieces in the teaser and the finale were superb though and was a lot more entertaining than the solo pieces (which I get is probably much easier to rehearse/record and produce).
I loved that the episode intertwined music as a piece of the story, pushed the character arc forward between Spock/Chapel and La'an/Kirk. I am not so much of a sucker for La'an/Kirk but the alternative universe scenes were really a nice touch. The only cringey part was the Klingon K-pop/rap, but I suppose it was intentionally cringey/funny.
Whether you like this musical episode or not, you gotta admit that SNW really boldly goes where no one has gone before.
The Klingon bit was the best part. Imagining them being forced to sing like that while having no context for that style of music is hilarious.
If someone would have asked me a year ago if I thought Spock/Chapel and La’an/Kirk were gonna be my favorite ships in the Star Trek universe I woulda laughed at them.
Yes, this a starship joke lol
Yeah, they used the songs well to pack huge amounts of character work into one episode for most of the cast. Clever move in a ten episode a year TV landscape.
I honestly never fancied musical episodes, but this was so well done, I loved it!
Are those actually all of the actors singing? I thought they just got separate singers
Oh no. Those are the actual actors singing.
Anybody who went to acting school has some background in music and dance. Obviously not their best talent or else they'd be a singer instead of an actor. I often consider that most people on television can sing and absolutely knows how to dance, we just never see them do it.
Sweeny Todd is a good example of this. You know almost the entire cast from something else and had no idea they were capable of doing music all this time. But, a classically trained actor has definitely been in a musical before, we just never knew about it. Alan Rickman wasn't exactly a vocalist, but he could keep up with one.
Thoughts/Observation as I watch:
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Where will this stand in the long history of Star Trek gimmick episodes? After all, this is the franchise that gave us "Trials and Tribble-ations", "Take Me Out To The Holosuite", "In a Mirror, Darkly", the OG "Lower Decks", and most recently... "Those Old Scientists". Holy shit, that was just two episodes ago and in between we got the darkest Star Trek thing in years!
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Uhura having to be the operator sounds like the most stressful thing to do that doesn't involve imminent danger.
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"Even if it's not fully necessary." That basically sums up every contrivance to get Kirk on board.
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KORBY ALERT
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Ah, spatial distortions, the cause and solution to everything.
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The facial acting as they enter musical-land is priceless.
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Acapella theme song!
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"So... that happened."
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"Quantum uncertainty field". That's some Hitchiker Guide type stuff.
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Ah, they brought back the Gilbert and Sullivan stuff.
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I like how they are hanging a lampshade on just how BIZARRE it is that people sing out their biggest secrets and deepest feelings in musicals.
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Good save, La'An.
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"Surprisingly beautiful baritone"
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It could have been worse for the crew. Imagine if Uhura had broadcast opera into it, then they'd ALWAYS be singing.
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Shaxs would suggest blowing it up by ejecting the warp core.
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Gratuitous zero-gee is gratuitous.
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Oh god, singing Klingons.
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Yeah, the Klingons would also like the "let's just blow it up" plan.
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Wait were those extras twins?
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Apparently the improbability field also affects the lighting of the bar.
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Isn't K'tinga the later type of Klingon ship? Ah, screw it, musical rules.
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"I don't love rules but I think you're about to break a big one."
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This totally is going into Temporal Investigations Kirk file.
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CAROL MARCUS REFERENCE
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Oh shit, David Marcus reference!
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"I'm the Ex" standing as if X in a math question is a good bit of workplay.
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Kind of surprised it took this long to give Celia Rose Gooding a full-on solo.
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Grammy-Award winning singer!
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A grand finale. How meta!
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Boy Band Klingons was not on my bingo card.
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Lol, playing the TOS theme as a curtain-closer
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"You sang about lying to me."
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"Sorry, Earworm."
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All-and-all, it was a good enough gimmick episode. But it was no "Take Me Out To The Holosuite." ("DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION!")
Isn’t K’tinga the later type of Klingon ship?
The three Klingon vessels that got rekt by V'Ger at the beginning of TMP were K'Tinga class ships. That was less than 20 years after this episode was set. However, the K'Tingas did remain in service well into the 24th century, likely for the same in- and out-of-universe reasons that the Excelsior class did.
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I didn't think they'd skip the opportunity to give us singing Klingons but the end result was just...wow. chef's kiss
I absolutely love Pike's "exasperated" face. It's possibly a bit overused this season but it cracks me up every single time because it's how I'd probably react if I were in his shoes and it's so unlike how the previous Starfleet ship captains would react, even when the situation fully merited it.
Picard had a face like that. I think he mostly used it with diplomats.
Kirk had a face like that too. I've seen him use it with Tribbles.
maybe we could get a crossover with Shaw so they can make that look together
This episode will forever be the test of whether someone who likes Trek is a fun person.
10/10.
I don't know. I generally like the fun episodes and I think I like this one overall (and there are some incredible voices in this cast), but most of the songs just plain missed for me. Most are rhyming words set to music but not enough structure. I'm not sure how often I'd want to see this episode.
Maybe my headache last night made me grumpy.
Yeah same, I am only posting here now since it took me a bit to actually finish the episode. I really don't like musicals much in general so this was a hard watch.
I am not saying it was not well done, for what it was they really put their soul into it which is great. Just not at all for me. And I loved the Lower Decks crossover, so its not about it being silly.
It's funny to think that the return of Trek in 2016 had Klingons eating captured Federation officers and Starfleet commiting war crimes out the gate in the first episode and now we're getting an animated comedy series and musical episodes. Trek shouldn't be afraid to be a bit silly and camp sometimes and I'm glad it's free to be again.
It could be bunnies
Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes!
They've got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses!
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Bunnies!
Bunnies!
It must be bunnies!
I will be incredibly disappointed if in season 6 or something they don't bring that back and have it be bunnies.
Not SNW, but I for sure could see Lower Decks finding the fold and accidentally finding the bunny probability. Hopefully we’ll see the Klingon bunnies.
ends being Cardassian voles
I was wondering why the Klingons were all pissed off about singing. They love their opera.
....and then I saw the performance and was like ah yeah I bet that would be completely humiliating for them. 😂
I loved this episode!
I think it's because the pop Hamilton style singing they were forced into does not constitute Opera in their tradition. Thus dishonor
If I had a nickel for every time Uhura solved a problem by singing at it, I'd have two nickels. That's not a lot, but it's the same number as how many times Chakotay's been lost in the Delta Quadrant.
This was a fun episode. Some bangers, though I agree with some of the people who think some songs could have been shortened. The unexpected Klingon boy band was an amazing gag that didn't overstay its welcome. Overall, I think it's great to have Trek embrace the old-school campiness from time to time.
Anyone else convinced Captain Batel is kinda doomed? Pike got off the relationship trauma fairly easily in this episode.
Anyone else convinced Captain Batel is kinda doomed?
spoiler
The preview clip from "The Ready Room" suggests she's about to have a very bad day, but maybe it's a fakeout.
D:
I suspect she'll die in this season finale. I just get those vibes.
Personally, I want to see Pike and Una happen. They're already mom and dad to the rest of the crew (which skews really young).
I mean never say never? If I'm remembering the Cage correctly the Talosians at least thought there would be potential there. Though this is the much younger and possibly a little sexist Pike.
I've come to the conclusion that SNW is the entry point series.
Do you like legal dramas? Perfect, here's a great LGBTQ allegory episode!
Do you like goofy animation like Rick and Morty? Here's the crossover with Lower Decks!
Do you like gritty serious war stories? We're still dealing with the trauma of the Klingon War!
Do you like showtunes? Somehow we pulled that off too! (also Chapel's song is a straight banger)
SNW is the show I'd introduce my friends to in order to get them into Star Trek as a larger thing. I think it's an easier entry point than any other series.
You can also use the episodes they liked to recommend other Trek shows. Someone that likes the zany episodes would probably like TOS or VOY, for example.
Touching on the actual character moments for a bit here: the events of this episode do not reflect well on Chapel.
She'd been hitting on Spock literally since the beginning of the show, and openly pining after him for most of that time. Four episodes ago, she winds up breaking down in tears explaining to an alien telephone receptionist how much she cares about him. Two episodes ago she is extremely distraught when Boimler accidentally lets slip that Spock is famous in the future, and her relationship with him almost certainly will not last. And now, she gets into a three month fellowship that she didn't think she had much of a chance at, doesn't say a word to Spock until she has no other choice, and then busts out a (involuntary, but reflective of genuine emotion) musical number about how "free" she feels. What the hell.
We already know Chapel has some problems with commitment, but this is a whole 'nother level. Throwing away a relationship she spent most of this show obsessively wishing for, without any apparent consideration for Spock's feelings or non-breakup solutions to spending a couple months apart, is just wild. I'm sure the finale will touch on this with a little more nuance than a musical number was likely to give, but whatever else is said this is not a good look.
It doesn't reflect well on her, but it does feel sort of...real, in a way that people can sometimes be shitty in real life. She's tangled herself up emotionally for a long time with someone who for various reasons just isn't going to be a good romantic partner for her, and there's certainly a bit of catharsis in realizing "oh maybe I just can stop trying to make this work and stop feeling bad at how I can't ever seem to make it work". Because the whole Spock thing clearly has been making her miserable, because she loves him but somehow it seems impossible to turn that into a whole emotional relationship. Its just that immediately after that moment, if you really care, you still need to go check on the person you're hurting. I really do hope they get a moment in the next episode to get some actual closure with each other.
On top of feeling real, it feels true to the characters that the show has developed over the past two seasons. It's not empathetic of her, but this feels exactly like the Christine we've been shown.
On top of that, it's a good lead up into the awkward relationship we got in TOS between the characters. Where Chapel seemed to sadly crush on Spock from afar.
Late to the watch party, but I agree with this.
My reading was that Boimler’s slip-up and the knowledge that she wouldn’t be a significant part of Spock’s life (at least viewed from a historical perspective) was what caused Chapel to pull away from Spock, and end up sabotaging the relationship. But tragically - time-travel shenanigans and all that - who’s to say whether or not that’s the way things were always going to happen?
The opportunity the fellowship provides allows her to envision a positive, worthwhile future for herself, where she is free from the boundaries she’d previously imagined, and can let go of her disappointment that the path she yearned to travel with Spock was one she wasn’t destined for.
I interpreted that song very differently. When Boimler spoke with Chapel, she didn't just realize that her and Spock wouldn't be together long term but also realized that Boimler didn't really know her like he knew Spock.
Spock goes on to do amazing things and every detail of his life is recorded in books that people over a century later will read and, essentially, worship him. Chapel isn't even a cliff note. In her mind, she must feel like she makes no difference and gets down on herself. When she gets the fellowship, it renews her confidence and let's her know that there is a whole universe of possibilities in front of her.
That was my interpretation of her feelings in the song but I can see others as reading it differently.
100% this. At first I was really salty that Chapel would just bail on Spock as soon as something more interesting came along, @[email protected], describes my initial thoughts exactly. Then I remember how Boimler accidentally crushed her, even going so far as to say that Spock does some important things in the future that rely on him behaving very Vulcan.
Imagine how she felt, finally getting the guy you've been pining over only to find out that the universe really needs you two to not be together. Or at least, not be together in the way you wanted to be. We've even seen her struggling with it in the time since Boims spilled the beans. I can totally see why she feels she needs to move on. I don't agree with her "I'll leave you to get ahead" attitude, but I can understand it.
It was my impression that she was so shitty to him because of Boimler's little slip up. She definitely could have been kinder, but she knows she isn't even a blip in Spock's life. I think she feels she might as well move onto something where she can make an impact and be remembered, like her career. She is probably bitter, and it came out that way as we are all so uninhibited when we spontaneously break into song.
It does feel very quick, given how long they spent teasing the two of them together. This was one of my problems with s1 as well, starting off character arcs and then wrapping them up way too soon (M'Benga's daughter, for example).
The main thing that bugged me with M'Benga's daughter is that they've basically just retconned how many people understand the way they can use the transporter buffer that was seemingly novel to the TNG folk when they came across Scotty inside of one during Relics. Geordi was all like "what is going on with this transporter" but this season you have Chapel and M'Benga using it as an active stasis system for triage purposes. (Although now that I read what I wrote, that's just like two more people who know it, and using the Klingon war as a way to establish the knowledge is pretty good.)
Just kind of seems like it would either be more widespread of a use-case in medical scenarios or have some kind of super major drawback in addition to storage capacity like general degradation. Then it would make sense that Scotty pulled another miracle and kept himself from degrading for 100 years.
I found it peculiar how the Klingons were saying there was no honor in the singing—considering how into Opera the can be known to be—up until I heard how they got the most egregious of the autotune.
That definitely was a funny surprise. Up until that point I had assumed that the Klingons would be doing their own style of music, but evidently the reality field the whole subspace network was tethered to was a very specific kind of musical that excluded Klingon opera.
I don’t think it was the singing bringing dishonor but instead the fact the singing happens by expressing inner feelings and emotions.
And they wore gold lamé!
To sing does not dishonor a Klingon, but to be forced to sing by something the Federation set off, that dishonors a Klingon.
That was so stupid. I love this show.
I hope they make one where they poof into bunnies!!! Maybe a Lower Decks episode?
It was wacky and I loved It! I laughed my ass of with the Klingon part
Oh my god, we had to rewind that twice. I haven't laughed so much in a star trek show as I have with that.
Me too I wanted more of them tho lol
Episode was good. Klingon part was funny. Liked how the played the TOS theme after the "grand finale" was finished.
I kind of thought playing the TOS theme was like meant to be the music played after the final curtain as the actors take their bows and people start leaving the theater.
Yeah, make sense. Still like it, love the theme and love whenever it is played.
Ok, a post from someone that really hate musicals and was worried about this episode. So sorry if I will over criticize the episode...
I admit the episode was so fun at the beginning and songs were nice, loved La'an and Una parts they were really good. I was thinking the episode was a banger. I loved so much the opera opening too.
Unlikely it started to lose my attention around on Chapel's song (also because the autotune was so evident in her and I found the Chapel Spock relationship the worst part of the series) and the second part was a little hard for me to follow, the music too was less interesting and even if Uhura has a great voice her solo song was too long and def not my cup of tea, I didn't even understand what was trying to say. It could have worked for me with less songs.
It was interesting I have fun for more than I thought and I laughed so much with Klingons, it was often close to clinginess but it was ok at the end.
Loved it.
Some amusing details:
- For Pike's singing voice, he adopts a kind of Meatloaf/Russell-Crowe-in-Les-Miz style that is exactly the right mixture of masculine and adorable.
- The build up to the Klingon Boy Band: We know that Klingons love opera, heightened emotions, spontaneous group singing, and choreography (if you're willing to consider martial arts a form of choreography). La'an even explicitly mentions singing old sea shanties which would seem to be an obvious way to translate the Klingons into musical form. So naturally, I was shocked that the Klingons would not immediately assimilate into their new musical reality. I even told my husband, "I can't believe the Klingons would want this to stop!" And when it hit, everything made perfect sense.
Another amazing episode and a certainly fresh idea for the Klingons with their K-pop, or Kling-pop?
I think they towed a good line on whimsy, emotion and gimmicks and kept it well grounded as character exploration. Let's force everyone to process their season's emotional growth in song!
Also I have to say I love how much focus SNW gives to lower ranking officers. Classic trek always ended up focusing on a few senior officers but this is a proper ensemble number.
Only thing I want more now is this with Elle Cordova doing her Star Trek technoblabble songs in it.
OMG LOL
This is one of the Elle Cordova Technobabble songs being referred to for the uninitiated. It's pretty funny.
That Klingon Boy Band was hilarious. The pause was just perfect.
Oh man, loved that episode. The grand finale was so good! I loved that part when
spoiler
___the Klingons sang. That was so unexpected and great. That's what they meant by "dishonor".
One thing I love about SNW is the variety of stuff they try.
I lived that the Klingons wow gold lamé when singing.
What the heck, this episode must have taken so much effort like 20+ minutes of singing + music (and the writing of the songs as well), and in a good half of those requires choreographed dancing as well, the a capella version of the intro, and a few orchestra versions in the credits
I was grinning almost the entire time for this episode, it was just....fun! And it moved the plot along too! (Although you kinda need to with so few episodes in a season)
What a lovely episode.
I saw a fair amount of skepticism across the Fediverse about how musical episodes are always bad and annoying, to which someone would always respond "well, Buffy nailed it." Apparently the SNW writers feel the same way, because "Subspace Rhapsody" isn't just a homage to "Once More With Feeling," it's a love letter. They may have swapped the demon for a subspace wedgie, but they kept the idea of using music to force the characters to confront their feelings about each other, and they even threw in a bunny callback.
10/10. I hope SNW maintains the tradition of a theatrically silly episode near the end of each season as long as it runs!
I was fully expecting Pike to say something along the lines of "you mean we have to sing once more, with feeling?" as a not-so-subtle nod to Buffy.
Upfront: I love musicals. I have to say this episode is just so creative and original. I think it is one of my all time favorites across all the series. Strange New Worlds has done such a good job bringing back the light-heartedness in a franchise that had become so overly dark and serious - and this is the pinnacle of that effort. Season 2 has just been outstanding.
Same. Told my wife it was my fav ep ever.
Kirk and Uhura are real ones for never telling McCoy that Spock had a phase of being proud to be human until he got dumped by Nurse Chapel. He never would have let him live it down.
Another great episode. The a capella theme song was great too.
We all must have done some pretty amazing stuff in our past lives, to deserve this season we are getting.
I feel like I’m the only person who was SUPER excited when the musical episode was announced, and.. rather underwhelmed by the actual episode. (Except for the a capella theme song. I adored that!) Maybe my expectations were too high, but.. I just didn’t think most of the songs were that good. I need to rewatch it a couple times, maybe it’ll grow on me.
I felt similarly. Like, sure, its a little silly but hey go for it. But if you go for it you gotta nail it and while the performances were all decent the songs themselves were mostly just ok.
Nah I'm with you, just made a similar comment! It did have its moments but I expected the songs to be stronger for sure.
According to the Ready Room, Bruce Horak played the Klingon captain!
I loved the episode overall, but that Klingon fleet should have been commanded by L'Rell herself (though that was an extremely fun way to bring back Bruce Horak without shoehorning the Ghost of Hemmer into it).
General Gorkog was Bruce Horak? That's awesome.
Also more fuel for my running theory that Hemmer isn't truly dead. I think they're holding onto him for a surprise return in the coming confrontation with the Gorn.
God I wish there was more Klingon Heavy Metal out there...
but that Klingon fleet should have been commanded by L’Rell herself
Whaaaattt ... this exists!! Man ... that klingon in the verses really works well! And yes, giving us something a bit more faithful to klingons feels like the missed opportunity of the episode ... pretty sure there would have been a way for it be comedic and klingon at the same time.
I'm okay with what they did - they were tapping into the Broadway Musical Universe, after all, not the Epic Klingon Opera Universe.
I thought it was hilarious and works with their dishonor but I also wouldn't have loved if they had been head banging to metal or going to town on some Klingon opera.
I love Star Trek, and I love musicals. These are two of my favorite things, and I never thought they should mix. When this was announced, I was very skeptical. I have to say, that they pulled it off, and it was AMAZING! The plot was a bit meh and definitely made to shoehorn in the musical, but the singing really did it for me. "How Would That Feel" (La'an's solo) and "Keep Us Connected" (Uhura's solo) were my favorite songs, and I have listened to them so much today. "How Would That Feel" definitely cemented La'an's place as my favorite character.
I hated it, because I hate musicals, but I love that it happened. I loved watching it and hated every godamn second.
Please... no more... but I'm glad this happened and I'm glad people that like musicals seemed to more or less have enjoyed it.
Just... I'm begging.. no more.
edit: it was incredibly charming. I still hate it. It's cannon and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I hate it. There is no way I am the only person like this.
You're not alone. I hate musicals. Love that they can have fun like this in Trek, but please never again please because I'll have to watch that one too.
Edit: Chapel's number was pretty cool though.
I agree. As a fellow musical lover (I'm posting from the intermission of a touring Broadway show) the writers clearly understand what the music in musicals is meant to represent. La'an's and Uhura's solo numbers definitely gave some emotional insight into both characters that I feel benefited the show beyond just being decent musical numbers.
The autotune was painful in a few moments for certain actors but hey, they're not professional singers, and I would have loved a bigger dance number, but I know that's pushing it.
Another musical theatre Star Trek fan who finally caught up with the episode. Obviously I loved it. The writers took their cue from "Once More With Feelings" and used the "very special episode" conceit to progress seasonal character arcs (as they did with "Those Old Scientists"). You could tell was the intent even from the "previously on" recap with a bunch of relationship tensions ready to be revealed through song. (The bunnies reference was a nice nod to the Buffy episode.)
I knew Celia Rose Gooding could sing (although, sadly, she was off when I saw Jagged Little Pill on Broadway), so the actor whose vocal chops surprised me most was Christina Chong. I see from her wikipedia entry that she was actually in the Elton John musical Aida in Berlin, so that makes sense now.
Maybe my favourite minor running gag was how the characters always heard and acknowledged the backing music - in dialogue or with just a glance. I could go on a pretentious detour on mimetic vs diegetic music, but won't.
But I wasn't blind to some of the episode's flaws either. The biggest to me was that the songs lacked the craft and polish of really good musical theatre songs, with (for instance) many imperfect rhymes and awkward prosody (putting the stress on the wrong syl-LA-ble of a word). Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a show that I loved, suffered from the same issue.
A minor complaint is that I didn't think we need the rules of musical theatre to be so explicitly lampshaded by the characters, although La'an treating it as security (and personal, emotional) risk was cute - and in character.
Christina Chong reportedly switched to auditioning for television roles after an injury sidelined her musical theatre career for a time. It doesn’t sound as though she ever expected the kind of role she has with La’an.
She’s currently releasing a series of music videos for an album. The next one will come out at 4:00 pm EDT today August 7th. You can check out her other offerings on her YouTube channel. I’ve posted her release of two weeks ago to the Quark’s community here on this instance as it seems the better place to follow her singing career outside of the franchise.
Oh god, "Once More With Feeling" was the first musical TV episode that stuck with me. So much passion in that episode and it brought to a head so many issues the characters had been dealing with up to that point. It still stands out as my favorite episode of the entire series.
Guess I'm going to have to rewatch this episode, I missed the bunny reference!
This was incredible. Loved seeing Celia Rose Gooding so clearly in their element. And Bruce Horak returns in one of the strangest Klingon moments yet!
I love a good comedy relief Klingon moment. They nailed that. It was just goofy and unexpected enough to get a good laugh and they knew just when to cut it off before it overstayed its welcome.
Wait, what? I didn't realize the Klingon captain was Bruce Horak!
Fantastic episode! Loved it from cover to cover. I like how we have Spock reverting back to being classic Spock in a musical episode. Arguably it makes this episode one of the most important episodes to canon. Also did Kirk know about Marcus beforehand? I swear he learned about him in Wrath of Kahn but I haven't seen that film in forever.
Yes.
Kirk was aware of David’s existence prior, but David wasn’t aware that Kirk was his father. He is surprised when David identifies himself as Dr Marcus in ST II but asks Carol when she appears, “Is that David?”
Later, he says:
KIRK: I did what you wanted. I stayed away. Why didn't you tell him?
CAROL: How can you ask me that? Were we together? Were we going to be? You had your world, and I had mine. And I wanted him in mine, not chasing through the universe with his father.
Sweet thanks for clearing that up. I really need to rewatch all of the movies again. I really appreciate that the writers of SNW seem to be trekkie enough to catch these things.
The Klingon breakdown in the final song about had me laughing so hard I was almost in tears. I appreciate using the songs to move various character storylines forward. It feels like everyone ended the episode in a much better place, outside of Spock. ...and maybe M'Benga...he didn't seem thrilled with the singing, though he certainly had some fancy footwork during the final song.
I feel like poor La'an is in a worse place now. She just doesn't get a break. :(
SNW playing with the format we all know and love continues to pay off.
Trek has a very, very long history of the space anomaly of the week causing hijinks to ensue. And these hijinks were epic. Especially considering the sheer amount of raw broadway-class talent SNW has.
And the foreshadowing with the drinking-song-belting, sea-shanty-and-opera-loving Klingons getting pissed off about the "we have to sing everything" bit was hilarious (and Pike's "WTF" face was the icing!)
I know it's a one-shot, but bloody brilliant.
I think that's the best thing going for SNW.
Not every episode has to be about something. In fact most of them aren't, they're all one-offs. They go to a thing, some problems happen, they solve those problems. It can be thrilling, scary, intriguing, or silly.
None of these grand arc stories where every moment of every episode is so important that if you blink you'll be lost for the rest of the show. None of these "very special message" episodes either. Just random space adventures most of the time. It worked in the 60s and it's working today.
None of these “very special message” episodes either
I mean, barring the single best episode of the show.
I was not optimistic; musicals are definitely not my favorite genre. I was pleasantly surprised.
This is such an incredibly well done show.
What an absolute gosh darned delight that was. I love musicals but I tend to be pretty cynical about musical episode of TV shows, but I think that's probably the best one I've ever seen? It helps that a. its still a coherent episode with a plot about the musical itself, b. its effectively paying off three or four different emotional character arcs we've already spent a lot of time with and c. the music is actually really well written both lyrically and compositionally
Ok I love musicals so was definitely looking forward to this one. Did anyone else find it a little disappointing?
There was a bit too much moping and not enough joy, for me. That's what makes a good musical episode so great, they can progress the plot while giving us an over-the-top fun time. But instead we had everyone singing a sad song and then one or two upbeat numbers, none of which were particularly catchy or entertaining. Like, if you've seen it even just once or twice years ago like I have you can probably remember some of the songs from the OG Buffy episode, but we watched this last night and by the end I genuinely couldn't even remember the supposed grand finale song.
Boy band Klingons made the wait worth it, but I spent most of this episode spaced out a bit and just half-listening rather than watching which is the first episode I can say that about.
Shoutout to whoever decided to redo the theme music though, that was inspired.
Also the talk about bunnies has to be a reference to Buffy, right?
I don't love musicals in particular, but aren't anti-musical, and I felt the same. The songs weren't memorable, the numbers were a bit dull, and nobody really danced much except for extras that they hired that were clearly dancers. If you're going to pull of a musical, gotta go big, SNW didn't go big.
Agree. I love musicals (Buffy musical episode, scmigadoom) and was really looking forward to this. The first song I though yes this is great..... but when Una started singing to Kirk I thought meh....and the songs never really got any better. Just got too much into the angst and no joy (except chapels song that was a banger and should have been the tone of all the other songs)
The finale was okay and as plot point great idea and Bruce as singing Klingon great cameo, but by that point I was so down it rushed up too much
Honestly this episode feels written by Sondheim fans more than anything, which is why all the G&S references were so odd to me lol. Definitely less focus on "fun" but I think all the lyrics were really clever and expressive and the way that all of the songs felt like they reinforced character work successfully was a feat even if none of them are particular "catchy" in that ear-worm way. Company is probably my favorite musical of all time but its pretty hard for me to hum you anything from that show
I'm not sure about Sondheim - it doesn't really have his feel and the music and lyrics for the most part aren't as thematically disciplined and crisp as I expect from a Sondheim musical.
The feel was a bit more contemporary pop, like a Pasek & Paul piece.
honestly who knew La’an and Uhura would be the main characters this season? And I'm crushing on Chapel and Uhura and La'an right now. This episode only made it worse. Yeah there are three damned handsome guys on the show. But those ladies... might be my favorite of all star trek. La'an's doomed relationship was heartbreaking btw. I knew this was happening with Spock so it didn't hit so hard (I thought they'd last longer). Meanwhile Pike's love (who is also insanely cute with that smile) may be heading for danger now. We need to do a poll to see if the woman on SNW are more loved then the men. And good songs.
I just want a full on Erica Ortegas back story episode already. But this was a very enjoyable episode. Im not that picky with music in general, and yet also enjoy musicals generally, so I was happy.
So, the time has finally come. I want to mention that I'm not a huge fan of musicals, this translates to that tend to only watch them if external circumstances push me to watch one and I only enjoy if they're really well done. Well, circumstances have pushed me, and... it was meh.
I thought the songs weren't particularly memorable, the productions were a bit underwhelming and the dancing nearly non-existent.
So, I'm a good public for this I suppose, since I loved Mamma Mia, and am a real fan of rock/metal operas. And I think this episode is... surprisingly decent?
I mean, the singing was surprisingly good, even with autotune (I mean, if you ever want to hear a real musical disaster, try Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia ; everyone here is pretty much excellent compared to that), so kudos to crew. The music was uneven : some parts were quite bland/uninspired, but I very much loved the common theme of "I'm ready"(catchy!)/"I'm the X"(lovely!) and the two widely different feelings.
On the plot side, you can feel they are trying very hard to brush over how nonsensical this musical thing is. And, somehow, I'm glad that not much progress happens here : you can summarize what happens as "La'an tell Kirk about the time-travel event, Spock gets dumped for a study program, Pike have a minor fight. And musical subspace shenanigans.", which will sure come in handy if you're allergic to musicals and (re-)watch the series.
But yeah, it was fun. The "La'an cut the captains couple argument in the middle of signing", and the boys-band/K-pop klingon were unexpected.
Overall, I think this episode somewhat suffer the comparison with the Lower Deck crossover. The s02e07 was a real Star trek story : if Lower Deck wasn't a thing, "These old scientists" would still be a decent story, it's the meta element which push it into the land of deep sillyness (even when, like me, you don't really like Lower Decks). "Subspace rhapsody" is... a musical. It's good fun! But I was hoping for a bit more.
La'an definitely becoming one of my favorite characters, which is surprising because she was middle of the pack in S1.
I'm a fan of musicals and Star Trek. This episode was definitely one of the most unique I've ever watched. It was original, inspirational and fun. And as an added bonus, we received a collection of beautiful songs.
thoughts after rewatch. This episode is solid. The second gimmick episode this season BUT like the last they keep the story lines going. I mean important stuff is dropped in this one. Some earned heartbreaker stuff (Discovery crew did cry a lot but I never felt it was earned. Not the case here. Some of the heartbreak feels real. Chapel trying to wash away her love for Spock is more complex then her just dumping him.)
I loved the episode. I’m not a huge fan of American musical theatre, but this really worked for me and my partner.
The tone was just right and the songs were well matched to the skills and characters. It’s delightful.
It was also really nice to come to this community and soak up all the positivity. I really needed a place to come like this after watching episodes. As we see it a bit later on CTV Sci-fi Channel in Canada, I can often feel blasted with fan backlash when I check out people’s views after watching.
Yes, there are a few folks here for whom this isn’t there kind of thing, and they are letting us know. We’ve not however seeing brigading negativity that is cropping up on some other social media. I can appreciate that some want their Trek more dignified and serious, but the ‘worst thing ever’ hyperbole is a bit hard to take when Threshold and Code of Honor exist.
I think the main split in the Trek fandom now is how serious a tone people tend to prefer. Most of TNG was professionalism porn, and most of the 90s stuff was generally serious. A lot of people got used to that, and whenever I talk to them about stuff like SNW or LD, their chief complaint is that "the characters act immature and are too quippy". To an extent, I can agree and see the point of view, but on the other hand, I really like it when Trek doesn't take itself too seriously.
I like to argue that the TOS era was a less mature era of Starfleet in general which causes the familiarity with the bridge crew to be more socially profound as opposed to professionally based. To whit, I remember SNW directly addressing things like this wherein they discuss "General Order 1" being renamed "The Prime Directive" which I feel is evident of a maturing organization.
Strange New Worlds doesn't take itself seriously unless it has to. It's been great about totally experimenting with the Trek formula to create unique, fun and memorable episodes. The plot devices are straight out of the 70's, with random space anomalies impacting the crew. They modernize the storytelling and keep up the pace, which is always just what the TOS era needed.
I'd disagree that all the 90s series were too serious, they all took time out for more wacky stuff but they were hidden in 24 episode or more series. DS9 for example had loads of Ferangi family sitcom stuff, the bond episode, the baseball one, the heist, worfs wedding, all the mirror universe episodes, the TOS crossover, etc all within the backdrop of the bajoran restoration and then the dominion War.
@canis_majoris @StillPaisleyCat
TOS could be downright goofy sometimes. Tribbles, Harry Mudd and his android wives, Spock jamming with the Space Hippies™. Sure, there were heavier episodes like City on the Edge of Forever, but ... c'mon, it was the 60s! Not everything could be US Space Navy vs the Evil Aliens.
That was hard work... Can't fault the singing, but after 10 minutes it all felt very tedious.
I don't care about the love affairs of the Enterprise. I was finding all the emo, pining, lovesick, will they, won't they crap tedious well before this.
Drummer lites Kirk crush feels especially forced. How many times are they going to force him into an episode?! he serves on a different ship ffs
Incidentally I loved 'Once more with feeling' (inspite of Gellars singing)
I actually really like Kirk being intricately tied to the Enterprise in intimate ways in the years before getting command of it. Trek has never really dealt with how a ship passes hands to a new captain, and I enjoy that Kirk is being given the chance to form relationships with the ship and members of the crew well before anyone even considers that he might one day be its captain. Never mind that Pike is uniquely well aware that his own time is limited and he wants to make sure that his ship is in good hands, so vetting Kirk in this way by encouraging this kid of collaboration is also a reflection of his own strengths.
And just in a broader sense it's always neat to see Federation ships collaborating. I'd like to see more of it, honestly. Sure, starship crews are often isolated from one another, but they're also designed and trained to work together on missions whenever possible, and I like the excuse to explore that dynamic with Kirk.
Dummer... Lol
I enjoyed the episode well enough as a gimmick. It was clear the cast really enjoyed themselves and I’m glad we get episodes like this.
I am a fan of musicals and musical theatre. While it’s nice to see them have a go, it certainly is one of the musicals of all time. Nothing impressed me. It wasn’t particularly inspiring or interesting. Forcing that dreadful auto tune on several of the characters felt even worse. It would have felt charming for them to not necessarily nail every note. In the end, I now see in retrospect why the marketing for this episode contained none of the musical numbers; the executives might have thought it would put people off.
I never mind when a good Star Trek show does an average episode because I’m always happy to see more of the characters I love.
After last weeks episode, which in my opinion could be one of, if not the best Star Trek has done in 30 years, I feel like they can take the small L here.
I actually loved the bad autotune for the same reason you mentioned thatd you'd like the bad singing lol. It was kind of fun going "whelp, that actor is an actor not a singer". I guess auto-tune has been around enough it's in that "charm" category for me: "eh, they got the spirit".
Looks like they even made a soundtrack for this, and it is on all major streaming services. Some new tunes for my musical playlist. Seriously loved this episode.
Pretty silly episode. I'm not a fan of musicals, and I was dubious going in, but it was fun. They managed to make it as good as a musical could be for my tastes. I'm happy it was made, and I'm happy to have seen it. That's about the highest praise I could give for something like this.
This was such a fun episode. I so enjoyed all of the male and female vocalizations. It was as campy as the TOS episodes could sometimes be, but I loved it. Definitely on my rewatchable episode list when in a light mood.
If I could make one tweak I would have made the music itself feel less 2020s contemporary and given it more of a funky 1960s flavor, because I could absolutely see TOS doing something like this.
Could you have imagined an updated hippie singalong? I so wish that had happened! Even a Herbert or two
I LOVED this episode! I wouldn't be opposed to them doing another musical episode 😁
Given that the subspace rhapsody spread to many other ships in the area, they could do a parallel episode from the point of another the ship, say the Farragut but it won't be the same primary cast.
I would put my money on the anomaly somehow chasing Boims to the 24th century Cerritos.
I love musicals and I love Trek so I was hoping I would love this episode, but I just didn't, and I think it was mostly because the music was... bad? It wasn't catchy, it wasn't fun, there was not one single legitimate bop during the whole episode. Uhura's last line about an earworm struck me as a sour note because... no. Not a single earworm to be had in the whole thing. I couldn't hum a single song from that episode and I watched it less than an hour ago. The only number that had any spark to it at all was Chapel's number at the lounge, and it was barely a spark.
Even Una's alleged Gilbert and Sullivan riff was barely, barely recognizable as a take on G&S. It was to G&S as a brick spraypainted orange is to a glass of refreshing orange juice. You're gonna do G&S in a musical episode and not do patter? Come on, son.
I just can't get behind this episode, and I was truly prepared to be thrilled. I mean the cast tried hard, but in a musical the music has to be good, and this wasn't.
When they announced this episode I hated the sound of it... Not Trek at all I said but I have to say after watching it was like ok that was fun lol
Star Trek had a long history of taking cues from capital-T Theater, so a musical was kind of a logical extension of that.
Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/628489
Well that episode was certainly.....uh......something. Lol.
Don't get me wrong I loved it, but in that "oh God it's happening again" laughing my arse off kind of way.
Also, whoever wrote the lyrics to the first song "All Systems Stable" really made a banger.
In between the first watch earlier this week and a rewatch tonight, I've listening to and humming the songs over and over again. I don't know why people say the songs aren't catchy. "Status Report" is sooo catchy, and it even has a little reprise with the "Apologies" at the beginning of the "Private Conversation" which is also very catchy actually.
"How Would That Feel" is beautifully rendered. I've started to listen to other Christina Chong's songs now, and they are pretty good (listen to her "Twin Flames").
Also, in the last seconds of the episode we had Uhura humming a theme. The closed caption says "Uhura humming 'Keep us connected'", which I believe is incorrect. She is humming the opening of Chapel's "I am Ready" and Spock's "I am the X", not Uhura's "Keep us Connected".
I’m unexpectedly enjoying Christina Chong’s own music as well.
I posted the official music video for her release of two weeks ago ‘No Blame’ to our Quark’s community (which seems the better fit for following for non-Trek credits).
She has another song being released later today. I’ll post that there as well.
Uhura’s humming seems to intentionally lead into the instrumental medley during the end credits.
One day they’ll do a proper adaptation of “How Much For Just the Planet?” and I can die happy.
Yes! That would work incredibly well with the SNW crew! Writers, please do that! I love that book!
Is there somewhere a list of the songs that Ford was parodying in How Much For Just The Planet? Even though I'm a huge musical theatre nerd, I didn't get some of the references in the book and it always bugged me.
(And speaking of John M Ford: Personally I still regret that the Klingon culture that the franchise developed through TNG and subsequent shows differed so much from the one Ford created in The Final Reflection.)
It’s a puzzle that has confounded readers for years. There are some obvious ones like “Rawhide”, but a lot are still unidentified. Here’s a good attempt at it.
The story and plot points were good, but SOME of the songs where maybe a minute too long for my taste. Any song with Spock is good, but the autotune... Yikes. Lol
Maybe not on my rewatch list.
I think many of the middle songs were pretty samey too.
Someone singing their angst alone in a Cgi set. Liked first and last and chapels was good, but agree others were a bit long which made the overall episdoe seem long.
I really respect them trying and there are some great moments
My thought was, how bad would it be without autotune? 😬
I just enjoyed it for what it was at surface level, though. First, the Orville, then lower decks and now this showed that star trek is big enough to be funny and thought-provoking.
I abhor autotune like nobody's business, I also loathe musicals. The combination of these two has kept me from watching this one so far. I might have to get pretty drunk one night I guess
@ValueSubtracted
Subspace Rhapsody is the greatest episode in all of Star Trek canon.I will die on this hill.
Edit: cannon -> canon
I'll join you, great episode.
@GaiusGornicusCaesar
Then you're gonna be my cha'DIch from now on!All the haters will draw their last breaths at the end of our Mek'Leths!
Yep, it's the best episode
I don't generally enjoy musicals (or rather, shows that aren't musicals but then do a random episode as a musical) but SNW definitely did it right! And I'm glad I didn't skip it since I considered doing so.
I was pretty sure they were going to nail this as soon as it was announced. Treks always played around with music and characters with musical aptitude so this was inevitable eventually.
I'm not really a musical fan unless it's something I'm already interested in like this or, say, Pick of Destiny, thought this was great though, simple sci-fi justification, then all in on the concept. Thought the songs and "musical rules" were a good way of packing an episode with dense character work across the whole cast in an era when you only have ten episodes a year to play with.
What. The. Heck. Just. Happened. I always hated musicals but this was incredible! This show is KILLING it. OMG
I hated musicals until the structure and theory was explained to me. Maybe you liked this episode because it directly addressed the plot conventions it was hitting and the structure of musicals. Check out the channel Sideways on youtube, he does a great job explaining musical theory in cinema, including musicals and nonmusicals.
10 minutes in, Oh I like it!
46minutes, kind of over it. Would love to hear a Klingon song
If there was a klingon-side spinoff, this episode would be entitled:
Bat'leth of the Bands
@ValueSubtracted Delightful episode. I laughed, I cried, I (would have) bought the t-shirt. I have really enjoyed some of the risks they've taken this season, this one and the Mashup with Lower Decks and punctuating with the powerful war episode. I've looked forward to Thursdays.
Now I really wanna see an episode where they poof into bunnies!!!!!
🎵 They got the
mustarduncertainty out! 🎵No, sorry. Very bad. Only Rose-Gooding and Chong could sing, the autotune was obvious and jarring for all the others. The songs weren't memorable (I confess I really dislike the modern US showtune style, but it can at least be catchy — this wasn't), the choreography and even the editing was shoddy. The first episode of Trek, other than Enterprise, that I've wanted to switch off.
I think Strange New Worlds is the best Star Trek show made so far. Every season they seem to have 9 amazing episodes and one so cringe I end up fast forwarding through the whole thing. This musical one was the low point of the season and the series, just like that word fantasy ones they did in season 1.
Bleh.
I despise musical episodes and had to stop watching this one after I heard Spock's autotuned voice.
Nope, can’t do it. I was afraid of the LD crossover but I got through it. But this, I can’t watch it. I got through a couple minutes and had to turn it off.
Hmm, it looks like we're not allowed to dislike the musical episode here... Regardless, I'm with you.
With rare exceptions, I just can't stand musicals. The forced jauntiness, hollow emotion, and in this case autotuned singing. Ugh! Give me normal acting or give me death (today is a good day for it).
