Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x09 "Subspace Rhapsody"
LoglineAn 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.
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.
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.
No, he’s only seen Kirk in command of the Farragut in an alternate timeline where Pike avoided the accident. It seems a bit cruel that he knows about the accident, but not that his mind ends up in a simulation unfettered from his physical body. Kinda wish Boimler had told him (assuming it’s in the official record). Not like it would change the timeline since he’s resigned to his fate.
I don’t think so, when he had his Balance of Power episode I don’t think he was told that Kirk was supposed to be in charge, just that he shouldn’t have been
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.
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.
Hopefully they’ll do more… Luckily there are some songs and bands out there. Really if I want to satisfy my urge for Klingon it really doesn’t matter what type it is they just have to sing it in the original Klingon.
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).
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.
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 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.
someone watched The Magicians and said, “Hold my Romulan ale”
soo… for anyone wondering, the music is great. unlike other shows with musical episodes, the music is all original and written/performed of the episode (although I didn’t see Lt. Cmdr. Auto-tune listed in the credits…). It’s plot appropriate, and not shoehorned-in or overdone. There’s a great tone balance, and it comes off like a great American stage musical. I had serious doubts regarding whether they could pull it off… but they did. It was cute, clever, and fun.
I’m a trekkie of the old guard who abso-fucking-loutley 🔥HATES🔥 DSC for shitting down the throat of canon (and just being terrible), but, but I’ve been giving SNW a fair shot. S1 was okay, but S2 has been more promising— HOWEVER, these last few episodes have been very Star Trek, and in new, innovative ways that are refreshing and, dare I say… fun? But, also, serious when they SHOULD BE.
Season 2 of Strange New Worlds is just great, and I guess someone at Paramount is finally listening to all of the screaming from Trek fans about the fire hose of diarrhea that’s been blasting at us so far, and decided to put out some quality content at long last. THANK GOODNESS, because this? This is awesome!
so you’ve deleted a comment because you personally disagree, and wrapped that action in an excuse which doesn’t pass muster that’s invisible so it’s past scrutiny.
how convenient for you
but you deleted this comment because you’re mad I criticized DSC, and you know it. and that’s bullshit.
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. 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.
They can both be seen in the corridors. The first one (in a red uniform) walks by Ortegas when the ship is hit by the energy field at the beginning. The other one (in a blue uniform) walks by Number One and Kirk during their song.
There may be more but those are the two that I spotted.
Yep, there they are. It’s less noticable because everyone wears pants/leggings under them, unlike in TOS/TNG, where a skirt/skant meant bare legs. The effect is almost more like a long tunic or jacket.
Maybe Pike keeps the ship’s environmental settings a little colder than the others, so nobody wants to free the knees.
Maybe Pike keeps the ship’s environmental settings a little colder than the others, so nobody wants to free the knees
I dunno about nobody considering the recuring background andorians (give me slim blue men in skimpy minidresses you cowards!/s) clearly 23rd century fabric just breathes really well.
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.
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.
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.
On the other hand, she made a breakthrough in actually opening up to Kirk, and he didn’t reject her for it. If anything, him being unavailable for other reasons may be a relief to La’an, releasing her to focus on other things now that she knows that door is closed to her (at least for now).
But also, jealousy can be a difficult emotion to deal with, and La’an already had to deal with a lot this and past season. But then again, she’s a tough one.
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)
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