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.

Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff

Directed by Dermott Downs

shanna ,

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.

TeaHands ,
@TeaHands@lemmy.world avatar

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.

1stTime4MeInMCU ,

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.

End0fLine ,
@End0fLine@startrek.website avatar

Only a minor part of the episode but I enjoyed that the intro was done with mostly vocals instead of the usual. I was absolutely not expecting a different intro after we got one with the Lower Decks crossover.

StillPaisleyCat ,
@StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website avatar

And different music for the end credits as well!

End0fLine ,
@End0fLine@startrek.website avatar

Well now I feel kind of silly because I turned it off before it got there I guess… I’ll catch it on my rewatch.

GuyFleegman ,
@GuyFleegman@startrek.website avatar

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!

Disgustoid ,

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.

Electricorchestra ,

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.

khaosworks ,
@khaosworks@startrek.website avatar

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.

Electricorchestra ,

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.

plasmoidal ,
@plasmoidal@startrek.website avatar

David wasn’t aware that Kirk was his father

Technically, David did know that his father was an “overgrown boy scout” named Jim Kirk, but they had never met before and evidently knew little about one another aside from their mutual existence.

khaosworks , (edited )
@khaosworks@startrek.website avatar

From the dialogue, David, at the point Kirk has the altercation with hin just outside the Genesis Cave, was unaware that Kirk was his father although he knew that his mother knew him. As he said on Regula I:

DAVID: Remember that overgrown Boy Scout you used to hang around with? That’s exactly the kind of man…

CAROL: Listen, kiddo: Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a Boy Scout.

Carol also doesn’t deny Kirk’s assumption when Kirk asks why she didn’t tell David about him. So it seems clear that David doesn’t know at that moment.

That being said, David may have met Kirk as a child. In the beta canon Kirk does spend time with David as a “friend” of his mother’s, but Carol insists that Kirk not tell David the truth, for the reasons she mentions in ST II about their different worlds.

It’s only after Spock’s funeral that David reveals he knows and is proud to be Kirk’s son. But the way this all makes sense is to assume that David was just told off-screen by Carol about his parentage.

Cynoid ,

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.

lxskllr ,
@lxskllr@mastodon.world avatar

@ValueSubtracted

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.

jaelisp ,
@jaelisp@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

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.

barsoap ,

I think that was a tribute.

MadMadBunny ,

OMG LOL

triktrek ,

This is one of the Elle Cordova Technobabble songs being referred to for the uninitiated. It’s pretty funny.

ClarkDoom ,

This episode will forever be the test of whether someone who likes Trek is a fun person.

10/10.

theinspectorst ,
@theinspectorst@kbin.social avatar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

ClarkDoom ,

Looks like the test is already working!

theinspectorst ,
@theinspectorst@kbin.social avatar

Don't go around being a dick to people who have different tastes to yourself.

ClarkDoom ,

I was making a very obvious joke and you didn’t even respond with a comment, you just dropped a link with no context. You’re the one taking things overly serious here and broaching “dick” territory for absolutely no reason.

theinspectorst ,
@theinspectorst@kbin.social avatar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_I_Was_Only_Joking_Bro_Fallacy

ClarkDoom ,

Go back to Reddit if you wanna be a troll.

theinspectorst ,
@theinspectorst@kbin.social avatar

Mate, you're literally the one who showed up here saying that if you don't like this particular episode then you're not a fun person.

ClarkDoom ,

Which is literally so outrageous of a statement that idk how you could take it as anything other than light hearted, like most other peoples comments on this post.

samus12345 ,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

And while that tongue-in-cheek claim isn’t true, your responses lend credence to the notion that you are not, in fact, a fun person.

settoloki , (edited )

I’m gonna take a wild guess and say this person is on the spectrum.

tewha ,

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.

RootBeerGuy ,
@RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

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.

NuPNuA ,

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.

CCF_100 ,

I LOVED this episode! I wouldn’t be opposed to them doing another musical episode 😁

triktrek ,

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.

ritos ,

I would put my money on the anomaly somehow chasing Boims to the 24th century Cerritos.

triktrek ,

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”
UESPA_Sputnik ,
@UESPA_Sputnik@feddit.de avatar

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”. 😄

Jfillian ,
@Jfillian@twit.social avatar

@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.

williams_482 ,
@williams_482@startrek.website avatar

I was not optimistic; musicals are definitely not my favorite genre. I was pleasantly surprised.

This is such an incredibly well done show.

triktrek , (edited )

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.

CeruleanRuin ,
@CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world avatar

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.

triktrek ,

Hehe, yeah, I guess, there’s no honor in that. :)

samus12345 ,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

Poor guys didn’t even get to sing Klingon opera. “Aktuh Maylota!”

croxis ,
@croxis@kbin.social avatar

Or is this what Klingon Opera is really like? What we heard with worf was the "edgy emo" version

ritos ,

That has to be right! Worf would absolutely listen to the emo version, and he’s probably just calling K-Pop “opera” to impress Picard and the other 90s-Trek captains.

rand__althor ,
@rand__althor@lemmy.world avatar

Makes the line earlier in the episode about their dishonor even better.

AuroraBorealis ,
@AuroraBorealis@pawb.social avatar

Are those actually all of the actors singing? I thought they just got separate singers

ClarkDoom ,

I think they are real cuz they included Chapel’s song and the amount of autotune they added probably wouldn’t have happened if they hired a professional singer. Still liked the song, it was just very noticeable.

clobubba ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    NuPNuA ,

    It was kind of swingy, big band esque I’d say. Not miles away from the lounge stuff in DS9.

    sleisl ,

    Fosse

    StillPaisleyCat ,
    @StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website avatar

    They also didn’t have a great deal of time to record. They did their studio work over weekends.

    For those who weren’t musical theatre performers (Gooding, Chong, Romjin) earlier in their careers, getting a clean run through or even portion of a song would be a difficult challenge. Just the stress of getting it done in a single day or two of sessions would be likely to put them out of tune.

    triktrek ,

    Gooding and Chong came from musical theatre though.

    triktrek ,

    Oh no. Those are the actual actors singing.

    catshit_dogfart , (edited )

    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, they just don’t.

    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.

    ClarkDoom ,

    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

    NuPNuA ,

    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.

    Schooner ,

    I honestly never fancied musical episodes, but this was so well done, I loved it!

    astroturds ,

    That was insane, I was in equal parts cringing and laughing my arse off.

    I knew La’an would be amazing. I was also very excited when I realised Kirk would be involved.

    The singing of the intro should be permanent.

    clobubba ,

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    StillPaisleyCat ,
    @StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website avatar

    Christina Chong just released an album.

    praxi ,

    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.

    CeruleanRuin ,
    @CeruleanRuin@lemmy.world avatar

    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.

    praxi ,

    Could you have imagined an updated hippie singalong? I so wish that had happened! Even a Herbert or two

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