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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Review – Subspace Rhapsody

Star Trek's first musical installment is silly, heartfelt, and perhaps the most fun the show's ever been.

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This Star Trek: Strange New Worlds review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues to swing for the fences in its second season, repeatedly going where literally no one has gone before in this franchise. And if you thought that things couldn’t possibly get more delightfully chaotic than the episode that brought several Lower Decks animated characters into the world of live action, you definitely weren’t prepared for the series’ foray into musical storytelling, an installment that is potentially the most purely fun hour of Star Trek I’ve ever watched. Is it silly? Absolutely. Occasionally cringe-worthy? Kind of. But somehow still perfect in spite of it all? 100% yes.

Most viewers likely assumed that the much-ballyhooed Star Trek musical episode would basically be a marketing gimmick, a silly, largely disposable hour with little to offer besides the chance to see our faves sing and dance together. And I don’t know that any of us would have actually minded too much if that’s all it had turned out to be! But instead, “Subspace Rhapsody” is a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of community and connection, an hour that’s not only wildly fun to watch, but that wholeheartedly embraces the format it’s chosen, using the larger narrative framework of traditional musical theater to say something meaningful about its characters and their various journeys this season.

Life in Starfleet doesn’t often lend itself to overt emotion, which is probably why so many of its members are closet alcoholics. I kid, I kid—mostly—but while Strange New Worlds is a show that literally runs on heart, a certain brand of stoicism does tend to rule the day on the Enterprise . Yes, there are certainly plenty of emotional moments , but getting people freely admitting and talking about their feelings isn’t something that happens particularly often. (I mean, Una basically reverse engineered her own arrest in order to come clean about her Illyrian heritage and her reasons for lying to Starfleet. We just found out about M’Benga’s dark past as a sort of Special Forces assassin last week .) And musicals are made for big, messy, emotions—we sing when we feel so much we can’t keep it inside anymore, when it’s the only way to possibly convey what’s in the depths of hearts. So this is an hour that’s over the top entertainment, yes, but one that’s also full of deep seated and necessary truths.

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Smartly, Strange New Worlds fully leans into the ridiculousness of the situation the Enterprise crew finds itself in, a phenomenon brought about by a rare subspace fold and the unfortunate application of a classic Cole Porter track. The songs are hilariously peppered with references to deflector shields and phaser banks, simultaneously incredibly broad and hyper specific. And the episode repeatedly underlines how much no one actually wants to be singing their feelings out in front of their crewmates, gleefully giving various characters cringe-worthy and painfully self-aware public confessionals. Anson Mount, truly making a solid case that someone should just cast him in a romantic comedy already, continues to be the show’s MVP when it comes to subtle humor and deadpan reaction shots.

The overall quality of the episode’s musical numbers is…well, it’s a Star Trek musical, it’s about what you’d expect, with songs about connecting to your true self and the importance of trusting one another. The series’ cast is game for anything, and most of them are fairly decent singers, though Strange New Worlds is smart enough to understand that large ensemble numbers can cover a multitude of sins.

Paul Wesley as Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” Soundtrack and Musical Influences

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Celia Rose Gooding gets the biggest and best solo number, a showstopper of a self-actualization anthem that’s a lovely celebration of how far Uhura’s come since the series began. Christina Chong, also a professional singer, gets a nice introspective piece about La’an’s internal struggle with control. And while Jess Bush doesn’t necessarily have the strongest voice among the crew, Chapel gets one of the episode’s best ensemble numbers as she rediscovers her free spirit while celebrating her acceptance into a three month fellowship with archeological medical expert Dr. Korby. (Who I assume she’s also going to get engaged to sometime in the not too distant future.)

Vocal performances aside, the high drama and heightened emotions of musical theater make for a perfect backdrop for a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of several of season 2’s key relationships, including La’an’s lingering feelings for James Kirk to Chapel and Spock’s nascent connection. Even Pike and Batel’s one step forward two steps back long distance courtship comes under the spotlight. Granted, I’m not sure how truly invested any of us are in that particular pairing no matter how fabulous Melanie Scrafano is, and this hour does nothing so much as indicate that Pike isn’t really willing to put in the work their relationship needs, whatever he says to the contrary. But, hey, at least we confirmed Batel’s first name is Marie.

Viewers knew that the Spock/Chapel relationship was doomed long before Boimler told the Enterprise’s chief nurse the truth about the Spock history will remember, but its doubtful that any of us expected a break-up between them to happen so soon. Happily, the end of their romantic relationship isn’t about Spock’s nebulous future but Chapel’s very real present, and it’s a relief not only to see her choose herself in the end, but to do so with such a total lack of guilt or uncertainty about it. We love a woman who knows her worth. Of course, it seems more than likely Strange New Worlds will revisit these two at some (multiple?) point(s) in the future, and her choice—as well as his response to it—will surely complicate things between them even further.

Speaking of complicated, this is also the episode in which La’an comes clean about her alternate past history with a different version of James Kirk, fearing quite rightly that the odds of her blurting it out in song at some point are not zero. (Since she so clearly also has feelings for his prime timeline counterpart.) Kirk is surprisingly cool about both the revelation that La’an’s into him and that she watched a different version of him die in front of her , and, to his credit doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Instead, he confesses that while he’s drawn to her too for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand, he can’t act on any of those feelings because he has a girlfriend at the moment and said girlfriend is pregnant. Whether this is merely meant to serve as a fun Carol Marcus pseudo-cameo for fans, or if it’s a hint that we might actually get to see some version of this character (and her relationship with Kirk) fleshed out more thoroughly in future episodes, is a question for another day. But why not? I’m pretty sure Strange New Worlds has already proved there’s nothing it can’t do.

4.5 out of 5

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Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

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You likely have to be a fan of the musical theater genre in order to connect with “Subspace Rhapsody” — but while this episode is not going to be for everyone, I strongly believe that all fans should applaud Strange New Worlds for undertaking this venture.

When Star Trek takes risks, it creates opportunities for unique experiences and episodes that allow the franchise to try new things and connect with its audience in different ways. A musical might not work for you, but the courage it takes for the franchise to decide to create a musical episode may then make possible another experiment that does. And if this experiment does not work for you? Well, you still have nearly 900 other episodes of Star Trek to enjoy.

“Subspace Rhapsody” works for me. In addition to being a full-on musical complete with big songs, dance numbers, and grand finales, this episode is also a deep character episode that continues, and in some cases concludes, character arcs from season two to this point. It is not a throwaway triviality of a Strange New Worlds episode, but one that is integral to the threads and relationships that have been cultivated across the first two seasons. And it’s fun that so much of that comes to a head through song.

While investigating a naturally-occurring subspace fold — in the hopes that it will unlock the secrets to real-time subspace communication across the Federation — the Enterprise accidentally dislodges a “quantum uncertainty field” that creates a new reality in which people sing uncontrollably.

Obviously, there is going to be some element of contrivance in order to maneuver a Star Trek episode into a musical, but you know what? This one works for me. It’s technobabbly, it’s connected to the era of Strange New Worlds and the canon of Star Trek — why yes, real time subspace communications would be great! — and it opens the door to a lot of fun.

The ten original songs of “Subspace Rhapsody” — written by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce — range from solos (“Keeping Secrets”) to ensemble numbers which feature the whole crew (“We Are One”). Each has something to like about them, though a few are more forgettable than others. My personal favorite of the whole episode is the opener (“Status Report”), primarily because it blends the unique language of Star Trek with actual music in a way that I personally enjoyed a lot, but Uhura’s big number (“Keep Us Connected”) and Chapel’s song (“I’m Ready”) are also real standouts.

And while the episode potentially feels a little smaller than many fans would have expected from a Star Trek musical as there are not a lot of big choreographed set pieces, that actually feels appropriate for me for this big character episode that focuses more on individual relationships rather than the ship as a whole.

“Subspace Rhapsody” is, at its heart, a character episode. It brings the Spock/Chapel relationship to its apparent conclusion, and provides some exceptional material for La’an and the emotional fallout from her relationship with the alternate James T. Kirk.

When Chapel gets accepted into a fellowship for archeological medicine run by Doctor Roger Korby — who TOS fans knows has some importance in Chapel’s life — this seems like it is the end of the road for her dalliance with Spock.

It is rewarding to see her make decisions that are for herself and not related to Spock, and after what we learned about the character’s experiences during the Klingon War in last week’s episode, it’s tough not to feel like Chapel deserves the happiness (and the career potential for her future career) that she is currently feeling. Chapel’s song is also one of the standouts of the episode, with the most advanced chorography of any of the songs and a really great musical performance from Bush.

And for Spock, it appears we have reached the end of his short-lived experiment with indulging his emotions. Chapel’s decision to leave the Enterprise for three months, which probably means bringing her relationship with Spock to a halt, drives the Vulcan science officer back to pure logic (“I’m the X”) in an effort to cure a broken heart.

Strange New Worlds has added a rich layer of complexity to the Spock/Chapel relationship from the Original Series that I have enjoyed, but everything about it has felt a tad rushed — a consequence of having only ten episodes to tell their (and all of the characters’) story.

One of the advantages of a longer season is that shows had more breathing room to allow things to develop, rather than barreling through the story before time ran out for the year. Despite that, I still think the Spock/Chapel relationship has been a rewarding arc — and I’m thinking there will be more story to tell whenever Season 3 rolls around.

But while the Spock/Chapel breakup is probably some viewers’ biggest character moment in the episode, for me La’an has the most fulfilling emotional arc of this episode. She begins the episode wanting to shut down any singing because of her fear about the emotional release it creates — but by the end of the episode, the security officer has opened herself up fully to her emotions for the first time, and reached out for connection to those around her.

“Subspace Rhapsody” also lobs a bit of an unexpected curveball which dovetails really nicely with Star Trek canon — because while Kirk feels the same connection that La’an does, his current relationship with Carol Marcus, and her pregnancy with his son, make any exploration of that connection impossible.

Ultimately, falling into bed with Kirk is not the obvious route the episode chooses to take, and consummating the romantic connection between the characters is not where the emotional benefits of this experience lie for La’an. This version of Jim Kirk is not her Kirk, but this experience has allowed her to understand that it is possible for someone to see La’an as herself — and not just part of Khan’s legacy.

We already know from the Original Series that La’an was never going to end up in a forever romantic relationship with Kirk, but the events of this episode might make such a thing possible for her with someone else. That’s very smart writing, because it creates a greater depth for the character and thinks beyond the cheap thrill of giving Kirk a romantic liaison on the Enterprise crew — and it is backed by a terrific, emotional performance from Christina Chong, an accomplished singer who threads the musical and dramatic moments of this episode together wonderfully (“How Would That Feel”).

Jim Kirk’s role this week was a wonderful one — both with La’an, and his first-officer bonding time with Una (“Connect to Your Truth”) — but it feels like the show is running out of plausible reasons to get him aboard the Enterprise . I like how Paul Wesley is portraying the future starship captain, but after four appearances in the the last two seasons, it’s time to let Kirk have his time on the Farragut.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

The soundtrack for this episode is available through many streaming services.
The reference to the crew poofing into bunnies appears to be a wink to perhaps the most well-known musical television episode, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “One More With Feeling.”
Captain Batel finally gets her first name, Marie, spoken aloud this week; it previously appeared on a screen graphic back in “Ad Astra per Aspera.”
Kirk mentions his sometimes-relationship status with “Carol,” who of course is Carol Marcus, the Project Genesis scientist seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — and her yet-to-be-born child is Kirk’s son, David.
The Klingon ships seen this episode were called “ K’t’inga -class battlecruisers” — introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture — instead of the more period-appropriate D-7 designation.
Spock’s diplomacy with the Klingons, which began in “The Broken Circle” and is picked up on here — and it nicely foreshadows the critical role he will play in the two civilizations’ peace process in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .
It’s nice to get another look up the Jeffries Tube shaft, using current-day visual effects to let us see the rest of the tube in the way that The Original Series could only hint at.
The Klingon general aboard the boy-band warship was played by Bruce Horak, who portrayed Hemmer last season (and again in this year’s “Lost in Translation”)

“Subspace Rhapsody” is Star Trek at its most experimental, and it is to be applauded and enjoyed and supported for that. The cast and crew clearly had a blast making this episode, and their infectious joy seeps through the whole episode to make it a rewarding affair.

Coupled with some compelling character work, a few very catchy songs, and boy band Klingons, this musical outing is a triumph. I don’t think a reprise of this format would work as well as the first, but I hope Strange New Worlds never stops taking risks.

900 episodes of Star Trek later, the franchise continues to find new ways to tell stories.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 concludes with “Hegemony” next Thursday, August 10 on Paramount+.

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REVIEW – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody”

Star Trek has officially done a musical episode! It’s very exciting and was the episode I was most excited about this season. The latest edition to Season 2 is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” . Before we get into the quality of the job that director Dermott Downs and writers Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff did, we need to acknowledge what a gambit this was. There have been many experimental episodes and out-there concepts, with something like “Spock’s Brain” being the worst example.

Even as far as crossovers like the one earlier this season go, a musical episode is still very, very risky. In a season full of crazy ideas, this stands out a lot, and that says something. So how much did this risk pay off? Is “Subspace Rhapsody” an instant classic or an episode that’s best left ignored? All of this and more in this review for the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

WARNING: This review contains full spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 – “Subspace Rhapsody” . If you’ve not seen the episode, please turn away now!

NOTE: This is being written amidst the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes . Without the work of those on strike, this episode could not exist. Any praise for this episode should be considered praise for the writers, actors, and other artists involved. As far as I can tell, independent reviews like this (made without the use of studio-provided screeners) are not against strike rules. I fully support both unions’ fight for fair working conditions and adequate compensation. Do not support studios during a strike.

I’m not much of a musician, but know enough to know that the music here was amazing. The soundtrack isn’t due for release until tomorrow, but I’ll definitely be streaming it for a while. It’s full of a really good mix of songs, from show-stopping ballads to hilarious smaller numbers. I loved it, especially considering most of the cast aren’t known for their musical talents. The voice training they went for with the entire cast, even with the smaller characters paid off in droves. There’s scarcely a note off-key.

The biggest exception to the “not a musician” rule is La’an ( Christina Chong ). She has released some music recently that I find myself obsessed with. Her number in Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody”, entitled “How Would that Feel”, had my jaw on the floor. I knew she had an amazing voice, but wow. It managed to pack in so much emotional power into a few minutes. By far, it’s my favourite of the episode. It was equal parts exhilarating and emotionally devastating, with all the punch of one of the ballads from Falsettos. I loved it.

Songwriters Tom Polce and Kay Hanley really knocked it out of the park. I appreciated how distinct all the songs were, with none of them feeling the same. There’s flashes of all sorts of genres, but the Klingons stand out the most. I’m also fairly certain they managed to integrate Bruce Horak into that scene, which was amazing. The integration of science-fiction nomenclature was also fun, this being the only musical I know of to do that. There’s a variety here that, much like this season, is of very high quality.

Spock and Christine

I’ve made no secret of how I feel about the romance between Spock ( Ethan Peck ) and Chapel ( Jess Bush ) this season. That being said, this episode really put everything in perspective, carefully explaining why Spock is so hurt by Christine. We finally get word of the as-of-now unseen Dr Korby accepting Chapel into his fellowship program. We know from The Original Series episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” that she ends up engaged to him. I wait in anticipation for his appearance, and the actor they choose to portray him.

Their breakup here felt a little forced, but also understandable. I’m not a fan of their relationship at all, still, seeing the silence between them at the end was gutwrenching. As funny as all the maths jokes were in “I’m the X”, Peck did a great job, considering he got broken up with through song. Vulcans are said to only express strong emotions like this, which made it all the more devastating. Him getting broken up with through song was pretty sad, but also a little on the funny side.

I’m curious to see what Chapel joining Dr Korby does to Spock. Compared to my previous indifference, I’m now incredibly invested in their relationship. With how quickly they broke up, it’s as if every awkward moment between them in TOS is completely recontextualised. I’ll never be able to watch the older episodes the same way, and I love that. It really is astounding that all these characters are in the same place, years before the events of T OS. Seeing the change in relationship dynamics over that time is equally astounding.

Una ( Rebecca Romijn ), outside of a lovely musical number mostly plays second fiddle to the other characters in Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody”. She’s there to support Jim, who’s beamed over from the USS Farragut trying to move up the ranks. And then she’s there to support La’an through her breakup. Although I guess it plays into what she sings about, getting closer with her officers. Even though this was a thing that was shown gradually onscreen over the past two seasons, it’s nice to have it in the form of song as well.

The song also plays into her obsession with Gilbert and Sullivan, which gets namedropped here. The song, while less opera, it definitely has more in common with something like The Pirates of Penzance than Wicked . It’s probably the most distinct song in the musical in this way, and I think I mostly enjoyed it. Seeing Romijn, who can also actually sing, perform something like this is awesome.

While most of the cast aren’t experienced singers, having people like Romijn, Chong, and Gooding sing to their known strengths was a great choice. It’s a side of the actors’ skillset that most Star Trek fans may not be aware of, so it’s great outlet for them to show off that side of themselves. Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” also created a musical universe in this anomaly, something that they could easily revisit in another series years down the line for more fun. That being said, this should definitely remain a one-off for a while.

Kirk and La’an

After “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” put La’an in a relationship with an alternate Kirk ( Paul Wesley ), I’ve been intrigued to say the least. I wasn’t sure what to make of it initially, but I finally see what they were going for. A bit like the relationship between Spock and Chapel, it feels like a lot of the plot points this season has introduced are being closed off. The scene between them was sweet, and I’m glad it didn’t descend into song.

It’s pretty much the only scene of the episode that did this, to the point where the conversation they had stands out as one of the few traditional scenes of the episode. As much as it turns out Paul Wesley has a nice singing voice, I’m glad this scene remained pretty serious. I’m also glad that they chose not to add another romance into the fold, with the series feeling a little crowded in that department already. As nice as it is to have closure, it’s gutting for La’an, to the point where I’m wondering where she goes from here.

We know that she’s not in TOS , is it possible that she resigns after Kirk takes command?They also referenced Carol Marcus. We here at Trek Central thought this might happen before the season even came out. While she didn’t appear, I did appreciate the nod. There’s no big need for the character to appear, just knowing that Carol’s out there and pregnant (with David) is enough for me. It’s as far as they need to go, and for Kirk to keep the ‘deadbeat dad’ reputation for The Wrath of Khan , it’s probably as far as they can.

The journey of Uhura ( Celia Rose-Gooding ) this season has also been a lot of fun. The character finally feels like she’s coming into her own. I think the crossover episode, “Those Old Scientists” , in which she met both Boimler ( Jack Quaid ) and Mariner ( Tawny Newsome ) changed her for the better. The second she heard she was considered a legend, her confidence has increased tenfold. Watching her as more of a phone operator this week was the ultimate sign of this, working quickly, effectively, and well… confidently.

It ties in to how we see her in TOS , where she was played by the brilliant Nichelle Nichols . The series has built on a lot of her most iconic moments from the series. I guess that also includes the singing talent that she displayed during “Charlie X” . This was on such a bigger scale, turning every musical number the series had ever done up to 11. Honestly, my biggest complaint is the lack of references to songs and musical moments like that.

It’s safe to say Uhura was not as much of a character in TOS . She was there, but was never really the focus for more than the occasional scene. It’s great to have her more fleshed out. Seeing that she has the capability to inspire the whole of the crew to sing as one, in a moment that was absolutely awe-inspiring. It’s the song that’s going to get stuck in your head, probably more so than Uhura’s solo number. They’re able to cram so much into an hour of television, so many songs and yet still recognisable as an episode of Star Trek .

It didn’t surprise me to learn that the director this week, Dermott Downs, has prior experience with special musical episodes. He’s also had a lot of experience with the scale of science-fiction, directing a lot for the superhero genre. One of these episodes he previously directed was “ Duet ” for The Flash . Interestingly, it featured a similar premise – the series regulars being dragged into a musical before fighting their way out. However, I consider this to be the superior product of the two, by far.

While both episodes are enjoyable, this one’s less of a novelty and the songs actually drag the plot forward. As well as this, Downs has clearly become more experienced when it comes to spectacle. The way the Klingons were framed when singing was amazing, and the shots of the dancers moving around the hallway during the final number was nothing short of epic. It was all amazingly well choreographed, even the ships spinning in time with the music was such an inspired choice.

If the franchise were ever to do anything similarly theatrical, I’d expect him to at least be considered for the director’s chair. That being said, I hope this doesn’t happen again. I loved it, but we don’t want to risk Star Trek becoming too much of something its not. Variety is a great thing, especially with the shorter episode count that these newer series have. However, adding musical to the list of formats that the series uses regularly isn’t special.

This exceeded even my expectations. It was so much fun. I loved how, unlike musical episodes like The Flash ‘s “Duet” , and Buffy the Vampire Slayer ‘s “Once More with Feeling” , this was really special. “Subspace Rhapsody” in no uncertain terms propelled the plots forward, inching the characters closer to their TOS starting positions. It did this and also had a lot of fun singing, dancing, and prancing around the Enterprise. Lots to love here.

I mentioned a few times now, not just in this article but over the last few weeks, that Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” was the episode I was most excited for. What can I say? I’m a fan of musicals, of course I was going to love this. Whilst the format isn’t for everybody, and can even be a bit of a turn-off, I had a lot of fun here. It’s essential viewing, especially for the novelty component. That being said, I wouldn’t call this my favourite episode of this season. Although with how strong it’s been, that’s hardly a criticism.

I’m glad this came in the series when it did. If it were done at the other end of the season, it wouldn’t have succeeded as much as it did. It definitely worked better when we knew what to expect from the characters, and what sort of dramatic moments would happen. It managed to get a laugh and smile out of me more than your regular episode. This was well worth the hype and secrecy, it was so much fun and was just the lighter pick-up I needed after last week’s very dark episode.

Where to Watch

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams Thursdays via Paramount+ in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea (via Tving), France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland & Austria. As well as CTV Scifi / Crave in Canada, & TVNZ in New Zealand. And on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

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Recap/Review: Anything Goes In ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Musical “Subspace Rhapsody”

| August 3, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 325 comments so far

“Subspace Rhapsody”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9 – Debuted Thursday, August 3, 2023 Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff; with original songs by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce Directed by Dermott Downs

Strange New Worlds makes Star Trek history with an engaging episode that turns out to be more than just a musical.

Celia Rose Gooding as Uhura in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

I may be an ensign, but none of this works without me.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“We appear to be singing.”

The Enterprise is at the edge of the Alpha Quadrant studying a subspace fold Spock thinks can triple communication speed. His experiment is tying up the computer, so Uhura has to go old school, channeling her inner Ernestine to keep the ship connected. Elsewhere, we see Pike and Captain Batel arguing over their upcoming vacation and La’an struggling to keep her cool as she welcomes James T. Kirk, who’s beaming on board for some first officer training with Una. In sickbay, Chapel finally gets some good news with an acceptance letter to a prestigious fellowship with Dr. Roger Korby that is going to take her off the ship for a while… and away from Spock. Oblivious to this impending separation, the Vulcan is having trouble figuring out how to tap into the hypothesized super-communication capability of this subspace fold. He sees merit in a suggestion from Pelia to try using music, since the fundamental harmonics might work within the fold’s different laws of physics. Uhura is inspired by the idea and chooses a classic Cole Porter song for the experiment. The musical signal sent into the fold results in a pulse of energy that ripples through the ship, so Pike demands a status report. Spock complies, reporting that all systems are stable… except he is singing, and soon enough, others across the ship are doing the same: Pike gets updates from everyone on how “all is okay” – but in song, along with some nice harmonies. Even the captain joins in asking the question on all of our minds… “But why are we singing?” Cue the new choral opening credits, we are in for a musical journey.

So that happened, and Captain Pike wants answers about why there are musical outbreaks across his ship. Spock explains that sending the song into the fold has created a “quantum improbability field” and they are now tethered to the fold and a new “musical reality.” Got that? The analogy of the week is this reality has torn open like a zipper and the plan is to zip it back up by teching a lot of tech. While Spock and Uhura are tasked for finding the right frequency, Una and Kirk start connecting the shields and Heisenberg compensators to the deflector dish, as if this was just another Star Trek episode. But soon enough they start talking about command styles, and here comes the music again as Una has some advice for young Kirk in a jaunty tune about connecting to his truth and to his crew, as she has decided to move away from her more distant style. Others watch bemused as Kirk and Una ballroom dance down a corridor, but La’an is concerned and goes off to her quarters to launch into her own little torch song over her James T. Kirk, dead in another timeline, and how maybe it’s time (or is it?) for her to let go of her strict control and find some of her own happiness and freedom. Once her impressive solo is done, the security officer makes a beeline to the captain to reveal that the songs people sing are disclosing highly personal emotional information. This isn’t just an amusing musical interlude, it’s a security threat.

L-R Rebecca Romijn as Una and Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

When I’m captain, I’m going to have the chief engineer do this dirty work.

“This musical reality wants us to sing.”

Worried by La’an’s information, Pike is happy to find the various teams are ready to unzip this reality, and Una fires the rejiggered deflector beam at the fold to “collapse the musical reality back into our quantum state.” Sounds good, but the fold has other ideas, responding with a new, bigger energy surge. Things get even worse when the USS Cayuga hails and Captain Batel wants to “have a private conversation in a more discreet location about our canceled vacation.” Uh oh, now she’s singing too, and Pike joins her in a very awkward viewscreen duet that thankfully gets shut down when La’an closes the link. Now the improbability field has spread throughout Federation space; singing has infected 12 ships so far and Admiral April (a beautiful baritone, BTW) is pissed. Uhura posits that things are actually following the rules of musicals, so songs are being triggered by emotion and what’s most pressing on people’s minds. An exasperated Pike has a simple solution, which he can’t believe Spock agrees is worth considering: Shoot photon torpedoes at the fold. Just to be sure, La’an and Kirk are tasked to capture some particles to test. The security officer confides in Una that it isn’t a good idea for her to be around Kirk inside this musical reality… for “temporal” reasons. Number One gets the hint, but the first officer has some advice for her old friend… and here we go again. Una goes downtempo to sing-share how she spent her life keeping secrets, imploring her friend to not do the same. She also turns off the gravity for some inexplicable musical reason.

La’an and Kirk get to work transporting particles and she tries to open up to this Jim, but they are interrupted by an explosion. Spock’s experiment revealed the photon torpedo plan would only make things worse—a lot worse. Speaking of bad news, an incoming message from Klingon General Garkog makes it clear they have been hit by the improbability field too and it has caused “dishonor,” so stay out of their way. They are coming to blow up the fold, which will end up destroying the Federation and half the Empire, but just trying telling that to the Klingons. Pike needs a Plan C fast. Uhura wants to capture data from the moment a song begins so she takes Spock to the port galley, where he sees Christine celebrating landing that fellowship. So yeah, this should do it. He awkwardly asks why she didn’t tell him the good news and Nyota is ready with the tricorder as it’s time for Nurse Chapel’s big number. Christine joyously sings how she is “ready” to see her dreams come true, the whole bar lifts her up (literally) as she shares how for her the sky is the limit and if that means she has to leave a certain Vulcan behind, so be it. Ouch, dumped by dance number.

Anson Mount as Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

My girlfriend finally has a first name!

“We’re connected as a crew…”

Back to La’an: As she and Kirk analyze K’Tinga battle tactics, she gets the jump on the musical reality, spilling the time travel beans about falling in love with a Jim from another reality. That Kirk could see the version of her she wishes she could be, but he’s gone. Lt. Kirk isn’t the same, but she kind of likes the way he looks at her too—but before things progress, he drops the bomb that canon dictates for him to have a pregnant girlfriend around this time. So much for this pair, but she did avoid breaking into song. In engineering, Spock is analyzing musical data and scrutinizing Christine’s in particular, triggering his own sad song. The Vulcan has done the calculus and sees he is the variable, deciding he will no longer be solving for human emotions. Singing ceased, a disheartened Spock exits engineering and leaves Uhura alone to find the pattern that will get them out of this mess. This is the musical number we have been waiting for as she goes full Grammy-winning Broadway star, belting out her journey from the pain of loss to her loneliness to working her way through to her new path. She may have started alone but now she is the communications officer, she keeps everyone connected… and on the Enterprise, she is never alone. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Uhura has figured it out and briefs the captain on how each musical moment caused spikes in the field, with a boost for moments with multiple singers. To shatter the field, it’s going to take a lot more singers. Pike tells her she is the one who can motivate everyone to share an emotion together. No pressure! The coms officer opens hailing frequencies to talk to the crew, breaking through the chaos and refocusing them to come together to fight for their lives. Soon enough, one by one, others begin to sing and dance their way through the ship… yes, it’s the big finale number. Together this crew sees their purpose as they function better all together, and it’s working. Uhura’s field boosting meter climbs, but it’s still not enough voices so Pike opens a channel to General Garkog as his bridge boy band to drop some K-Pop beats (that’s K for Klingon, get it?). The Klingons plus one last push on the Enterprise bridge does it; the fold bursts and the musical reality returns to the songbooks. La’an and Una take a moment over drinks to think about what they just learned. Pike and Batel come to a romantic dinner accord, but their vacation will have to wait as she has a new priority one assignment. Uhura takes us out with a final log, reporting things are back to normal across all affected ships, Klingons included. But she leaves us humming an earworm, and a nice end credits medley as this one-of-a-kind musical journey comes to a close.

Young man there’s a place you can go…

More than an anomaly

Well this is it, the swingiest of the “big swings” of season 2. Singing is nothing new in Star Trek, starting with Uhura’s song and DS9 even had a resident crooner , but a full-on musical episode with 10 original songs is on a whole new level. “Subspace Rhapsody” will surely be a matter of taste, with fans of musicals mostly likely to relish it. But even those (like this reviewer) who are not necessarily fans of the genre can be impressed by the enormous effort that went into this episode with superb levels of coordination between script and songs, choreography, and performance, especially from the professional singers in the cast like Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong. Analyzing “Subpace Rhapsody” as a musical will be left to TrekMovie’s musical-loving Laurie Ulster below, but behind the music, this was still a strong Star Trek episode that brought fascinating twists to familiar beats but also tied into the emotional throughlines of the second season.

Creating a musical episode has been a stated goal of executive producer Alex Kurtzman for years, yet there was still a welcome level of logic to keep the story within the rules of the Star Trek universe. From eddies to tears to ruptures, subspace anomalies have been the gift that keeps on giving to the franchise, so it makes sense to build this episode around a “subspace fold” which created the “musical reality.” And for a show that usually likes to avoid engineering solutions, Uhura’s Giga Electronvolt scale and “We need melodies and harmonies with tone ratios that achieve both algorithmic and logarithmic balance on a mass scale” fits right in with some of the franchise’s best technobabble, however, the logic only holds together at a surface level. While the explanation of the musical reality was better than a handwave, the logic falls apart upon scrutiny, but this isn’t the kind of episode where that really matters.

When I meet Khan, he isn’t going to believe this.

Even with the unique musical execution, this episode still had a nice affinity with the broader sub-genre of episodes featuring crews acting out of character, like TNG’s “The Naked Now” to DS9’s “Fascination.” The internal logic of where the music, lyrics, harmonies, and choreography were coming from might have worked better if there was some identified entity manipulating things, like the way the Hirogen transformed the Voyager crew into characters from a World War II movie in “The Killing Game.” However, that would actually give up the key that makes this episode hold together. Each of these songs was deeply rooted in long-developed character arcs, and even acted as a bit of a season resolution with some emotional breakthroughs, from Una and La’an learning to let go of their secrets and control to Christine embracing her ambition and agency, and especially Uhura finding her true calling on the Enterprise. That being said the impact of the various songs was still mixed and perhaps the most emotional scene of the episode (with La’an opening up to Kirk) had no singing at all.

The singing and the dancing certainly kept this bottle episode on the lighter side, and this was buoyed by some welcome humor, with Anson Mount’s Pike again delivering the best subtle comic beats. But there were still some clear stakes set up with a ticking clock and the threat posed by the Klingons. It was a delight to see Hemmer actor Bruce Horak return again in season 2, this time as Klingon General Garkog where he and his boy band bridge crew resolved their arc with humor as they danced their way into the finale number, outrageous gold uniforms and all. Looking closely at what actually happened during some of these songs shows how this episode was a big pivot point for many of the characters, like putting Spock back on a path to logic. Pike and Batel’s romance resolution coming right before her priority one assignment almost certainly sets up the stakes for the finale, possibly even setting up something tragic. The episode even found time to tie into some key bits of canon for some characters, including Kirk mentioning Carol Marcus and her pregnancy (with his son David) and Christine’s coming fellowship with (future fiancé) Roger Korby. Musicals may not be my cup of tea, but there was still enough humor, plot, and character going on to maintain interest. And even someone who has never seen an episode of Glee can be moved by some of the performances here, especially Uhura’s “Keep Us Connected” and the grand “We Are One” finale, both of which beautifully embody the themes of Star Trek.

Remember when you thought forced roleplaying Lord of the Rings was weird?

A most confounding thing, I appear to be singing…

Analysis by Laurie Ulster

I’m not an expert on musicals, but I am definitely a fan of good ones and this fits the bill. The songs come in a variety of styles and tempos, evoking memories of big moments in familiar musicals but with their own unique twists, and the theme of the episode—difficulty communicating—is echoed for La’an, Una, Spock, Uhura, Pike, and Chapel as they reveal their innermost thoughts in song.

Things start off with humor and confusion when Spock starts singing his status report and when the rest of the crew joins in with musical updates on phaser banks and inertial dampers, it’s fun to imagine the Strange New Worlds fan who doesn’t keep up on industry news and had no idea what was coming. But as we move forward into the episode, the humor remains but songs get personal and revealing, taking each character on a journey they may not have been aware of until the tunes came pouring out. Every song moves each character forward in ways spoken dialogue never could, making this work as a perfect penultimate episode as the season: They will take their revelations forward into whatever comes next.

Being red shirts, none of these officers will be seen again

Whether you want to sing along about deflector shields or deepest emotional truths, you’ll find yourself hearing these tunes in your head and wanting to snap up the soundtrack. The songs are beautifully written, with engaging, clever, lyrics woven into musical highs and lows that feel both familiar unpredictable at the same time—no easy task. When Celia Rose Gooding belts out the solo we’ve been waiting for, one can’t help but think about how Nichelle Nichols would’ve felt had she been able to see it. I believe she would have wept for joy seeing how her legacy as both a talented singer and an expert communications officer has come to take its place in the much-deserved spotlight; I teared up thinking about it on my first viewing and felt the exultation in my soul as the song reached its height.

As a musical, it succeeds on every level. The “science” of the story never quite makes sense, but the consequences of each character’s journey are as real as it gets. With its clever and often ebullient choreography (both in dance numbers and camera moves) and catchy tunes, this episode has quickly become one of my most rewatchable favorites.

L-R Carol Kane as Pelia, Christina Chong as La’an, Ethan Peck as Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Will you do the Enterprise Fandango!

Final thoughts

“Subspace Rhapsody” will surely go down as one of the most talked about episodes in the franchise. Musical lovers will rejoice while others will file it away as silly or even corny. Yet the sheer artistry and audaciousness make it worth watching, at least once. While it is a jarring tonal shift from last week’s dark episode, it still fits well within the season, providing a key pivot point heading into next week’s season finale. And maybe this is one of those episodes that benefits from avoiding overthinking analysis, so this time, just sit back and enjoy the show… and sing along if you are so inclined.

Gold is the new black

Begins with communications officers log, Stardate 2398.3.
This is director Dermott Downs’ first time with Star Trek, bringing his experience of directing a musical crossover of The Flash and Supergirl, “ Duet .”
The comment about people becoming bunnies is a reference to one of the songs in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode.
With a runtime of 62:34, this is the second-longest episode of the series, just 12 seconds shorter than the season 1 finale
After appearing multiple times through both seasons, Captain Batel finally gets a first name: Marie.
Number One’s love of Gilbert and Sullivan was first revealed in the Short Treks episode “Q&A.”
Starfleet ships affected by the musical reality include Lexington, Republic, Potemkin, Cayuga, Hood, and Kongo. Klingon ships include Forcas and Harlak.
Spock was dispatched to handle bloodwine diplomacy with the Klingons, something he learned in the season premiere.
The soundtrack for this episode is already available online .

Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

I’m never going to tell Bones this happened.

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek podcast covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocket Casts , Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

Season 2 episodes drop weekly on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Season 2 is also available on SkyShowtime elsewhere in Europe. The second season will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in South Korea, with premiere dates to be announced.

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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I think this episode is SNW’s “Naked Time”…. a sci-fi plot to reveal who these people are to us and to each other.

I’m not a musical fan, but I think they did it in a Star Trek-y way. Bravo!

Great observation re: The Naked Time. I think that aspect worked as well.

I didn’t get to see this episode until today, because of being out of town visiting an ill parent.

I mostly adored the episode, but I hated, hated, HATED the idea that TOS Spock restrains his emotions because Chapel broke his heart. I really, REALLY want Spock to follow Vulcan custom in restraining his emotions because he believes in the philosophy or because he believes that those ultra-strong Vulcan emotions can be dangerous to others. Having him be Chapel’s bitter and self-protective ex is just such a terrible thing to do to a character who’s always been a huge role model for ethical behavior.

I also thought that the finale should have been inspired by the CAPTAIN of the ship and not by the communications officer. It’s true that Gooding is a much better singer than Mount, but they could have had Mount give an inspiring speech — we know Mount excels at that — and have the crew break into song in response.

Aside from those two things — one major and one minor — I was hugely impressed by how much creativity, talent, and work went into this episode. Aside from the Spock problem, I was delighted during the whole thing.

Am I the only one picking up a vibe that Captain Batel may not survive the season finale?

That’s definitely the vibe I get, as well. I think, as with Spock/Chapel/T’Pring, this show is rearranging the deck chairs to get Pike to fall back in love with Vina as the love of his life.

I’m getting a vibe that many of the characters are in for a tragic end:

– Pike, for obvious reasons – Batel, as stated above – Chapel; it may not be tragic, but she’s going to leave the ship for Korby, and her relationship with Spock lasted all of three weeks – M’Benga, for reasons set out last week – La’an, whose romance with Kirk is clearly doomed to fail – Una, who never appeared elsewhere in the franchise

M’Benga served under Kirk in TOS didn’t he? When Bones was CMO.

Well, perhaps I was speaking too metaphorically. In M’Benga’s case I meant that he gets demoted, if not temporarily drummed out of Starfleet.

Aaaaah ok, I see what you mean!

But there still is Dr. Piper before McCoy.

Doesn’t mean Number one wasn’t around…. She just wanted mention in the TOS: the fact she was famous in the 24th Century, gives facts to reason she went on after the Enterprise

If there’s one criticism I think we should collectively drop, it’s “this person or that situation” wasn’t mentioned. It’s just the way these things go.

Una not appearing anywhere else doesn’t necessarily mean that she is in for a tragic end. She might go on to have a distinguished career we just haven’t heard of. She’s clearly notable since Boimler idolises her!

I picked that up in the trailers when they showed the shot of her on the planet with the huge Gorn ship in the sky.

Ok.. this worked and worked well. It is a lot of fun. I’m a little shocked at that. Kudos to whoever they brought in to write and compose the music, they did a great job, as did the cast. I thought they were trying to hard to bring in the scientific explanation part to all this. In my opinion, they should’ve dialed that back and just gone with it. The Klingon performance was easily my favorite part.

I particularly agree to the Klingon performance part. It would have been better (and perhaps even more funnier) to break some more of their stoic interior to show more of the K(lingon)-fun side.

The music and songs were 👌👌

So, my approach to this episode was to view it as a stand-alone, out-of-canon, alternative take on Star Trek — not unlike the BACK TO THE FUTURE musical on Broadway and the West End. In-universe, the premise is patently absurd, up there with transforming people into salamanders (“Threshold”) or amphibians (“Genesis”); I tend to excise those gems from the Trek historical record, too, and that’s what I’m doing here.

I admit I’m getting tired of having to do this twice in one season, and the prevalence of lighthearted comedy more broadly is absolutely souring me on the whole series, which is becoming Roger Moore’s Trek.

But within that context, “Subspace Rhapsody” was mostly enjoyable fun, if not a runaway hit. None of the numbers struck me as the next “Memory” from CATS or “Last Night of the World” from MISS SAIGON. But they were more earwormy than the aforementioned BACK TO THE FUTURE, which — with the exception of “This One’s for the Dreamers” was starkly devoid of earworms. I need to listen to the soundtrack to firm up my opinion, but the numbers with La’an and Kirk, Uhura’s solo, and Chapel in the bar were memorable. Celia Rose-Gooding and Jess Bush were the best singers; Ethan Peck was far and away the worst. (Listening to him was grating.)

One disappointment was that all the numbers were too peppy, the lyrics somewhat banal. The writers lately seem intent on lecturing us about how noble Starfleet is; they need to be *showing* us, not telling us. None of the musical numbers were in a minor key.

In particular, I was hoping they would adapt La’an’s theme, which we heard in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” and again in “Lost in Translation” into a one of the musical numbers; they kept tantalizing us with the prospect, but never followed through. The theme is beautiful, right up there with Ilia’s theme from TMP, and putting lyrics to it might have had “Frozen” written all over it. That was a real missed opportunity.

I was also hoping we might finally hear the TOS theme put to Rodddenberry’s infamous lyrics, or even “A Star Beyond Time” (the lyrical version of Ilia’s theme) in the opening credits. No such luck. Similarly, the teaser gave me some hope we might get a creative new rendition of “Anything Goes”; as things stood, Spielberg has nothing to worry about.

Part of the problem is that — at the risk of channeling Tom Cruise’s exhortations to lure us back to cinemas — musicals are best enjoyed onstage, in a theater, with an audience. The communal experience is part of the attraction. I tried unsuccessfully to score tickets to HAMILTON in New York in 2019, and I ended up watching it on Disney+ during the pandemic. It’s just not the same watching a musical on television, or for that matter on celluloid. I think this is part of the reason CATS (the movie) was so widely reviled; you just don’t capture the same magic that you do seeing it in the West End, with all the posters advertising it on the Tube on the way to the theater (and I’ll freely admit this is why I like the West End more than Broadway!).

I’ll see how it fares on a rewatch — the plot itself was dull — but the real legacy will be whether the soundtrack is worth adding to one’s iTunes playlist.

Contrary to what some are saying, Ethan Peck’s singing voice is more than acceptable. In fact, he carries a tune rather well. I was especially touched by his voice and the lyrics on the song he sang about losing Christine (“… the Ex”). He sang the song with just the right amount of disappointment and pathos.

Just listened to Ethan Peck singing: I totally understand that someone can personally find a voice grating (don’t play me a Phil Collins ballad…), but I liked it and objectively he had great vocal control jumping between higher and lower registers and knowing where to employ vibrato or not. I would just kinda hope that Spock choses to abandon exploring emotions after an intense and nuanced exploration of the topic in-series, not just because he got dumped :D. I’d just think Spock being the thinker he is might not reduce such a decision to only one factor. Feels a bit simplistic. But well, maybe sometimes things are simple like that.

Klingon boy band for the win.

Perhaps VOY (or was it ENT?) had it right all along: all Star Trek needs was more boy bands. :)

Yes! I was not denied Bruce Horak after all! I love this.

Where was he? A Klingon perhaps?

Yes he was a Klingon

I like Horak and did NOT recognize him as the Klingon captain. I like how they’re using him as their version of Vaughn Armstrong or Jeffrey Combs or Kenneth Mitchell, casting him over and over in new and various roles.

I hope they keep using him over and over like those three. I’d really like that.

100% want Horak to be the new Combs

I do too for gay reasons

those are perfectly good reasons

Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Yes! If I can’t have him as my favourite Aenar engineer, I will absolutely take him as an R&B singing Klingon

Right. We couldn’t have him as engineer. Elderly actresses need work, too!

Easily the best episode of the season.

In pure of raw entertainment? I think you’re right. If I’m honest, as much as I despise the canonical problems of Season 2 Episode 3, I think it’s my favorite episode of this entire series, let alone this season.

I thought Subspace Rhapsody was great, but Ad Astra Per Aspera was pure Trek and the best of the season, perhaps best SNW episode to date. I loved Those Old Scientists , too.

No, M’Benga ep and lower desk crossover were the best this season

This was such a beautiful episode!

“Ok, now that Pike is gone, who should we make captain of the Enterprise?” “How about James Kirk? He practically lives there already.”

When Kirk was saying to La’an about how he never stays in one place, I couldn’t help but think that.

Yeah. He’s showing up WAY too much. And it’s really feeling forced.

I just wish they would make Sam Kirk a main character so that is the Kirk connection.

Prime Kirk has shown up twice. That’s not that much.

I haven’t seen Prime Kirk once. But three Kirk appearances is too much. It still feels forced.

Don’t poke the ML31 Prime Universe bear!

He’s shown up twice in this reality. Lost In Translation and Subspace Rhapsody.

Both times it was this SNW timeline Kirk. Not prime Kirk.

Remember… Episode 2.3 said this is all an alternate timeline.

I don’t remember. Certainly that episode occurred in a different timeline with Kirk from yet a third timeline. Could you please indicate who said what as I’d like to go back and see it. Thanks.

Thorny is correct. ML31 is trolling you. He insists that everyone follow his head canon about SNW’s timeline.

If you are going to speak on my behalf I would appreciate it if you would be accurate.

This is not “head canon”. I never was one of those who considered the show an alternate time line from the start. Many here did as it was the only way they could reconcile the obvious inconsistencies. I only started going along with the alternate thing once the show itself admitted it was.

Please cease misrepresenting me.

That episode was in a different timeline because it was a part of this show and the entire show is occurring in a different timeline. The episode confirmed it in very rock solid fashion. Not only were there so very many inconsistencies already but the episode showed more. No Eugenics wars? Khan a child in the 2020’s? And for those who still didn’t believe their eyes they had the Romulan character actually spell everything out of those who still weren’t picking up on it. She said the Eugenics wars were supposed to happen in 1992. But in that timeline they didn’t. It’s towards the end. Very hard to miss.

All that was confirmed is that the Eugenics War is supposed to have happened later now. It also isn’t clear “when” this change took place. Enterprise discussed the Eugenics War being in the 1990s a few episodes after the temporal war ended, but Voyager showed a war-free 90s before we even heard of the temporal war.

It doesn’t matter “when” a change took place. The fact is it did. Which places SNW squarely in an alternative timeline at the very least. An outright reboot at most. It’s confirmed to be an alternate.

The Voyager episode was in LA. How many bombings of LA took place in WWI or II? It’s very likely, like the other WW’s, there were no battles in N America. Life went on there very likely as usual.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. We’ve seen multiple time travel episodes that have changed things in the past, perhaps subtly, but changes nonetheless. If every change results in an alternate timeline, we haven’t been in the “prime timeline” for decades.

I know I brought up Sisko becoming Gabrielle Bell, and you dismissed at such a minor change that the timeline “fixed” itself… how could the timeline, a nebulous construct that has no agency, somehow fix itself That wasn’t even the biggest change DS9 made. Trials and Tribbleations straight up changes events that we saw in TOS – with DS9 characters taking the place of random extras seen in the Trouble with Tribbles.

VOY is probably the biggest culprit when it comes to time travel shenanigans. Voyager went back to 1996, and there was very much not a Eugenics war going on. In Timeless, Chakotay and Kim drastically change the timeline by saving Voyager from crashing on a planet and killing everyone. Using your logic, the prime timeline is actually the timeline in which Voyager was destroyed. Then you can move on to End Game, in which the timeline is again drastically changed, this time by Janeway going back in time and not only getting Voyager home decades earlier, but being instrumental in the near destruction of the Borg. The crazy thing, the previous timeline where Voyager eventually makes it home decades later isn’t even apart of the prime timeline, as it’s a part of the timeline created by the events from Timeless.

Alternatively, you could look at it as such: as long as certain events happen, the timeline will stay intact. And, in the case of SNW, it may not necessarily matter when the Eugenics war took place, as long as it takes place prior to (or even concurrently with) WWIII, and before first contact with the Vulcans, the Trek timeline will stay intact. Basically, WWIII was the catalyst for humanity to change and reach out to the stars. The rough dates for the war are from 2026 to 2053, first contact with Vulcans occurred in 2063. So there’s a massive period of time for events to happen in such a way to lead up Zephram Cochrane’s warp test happening on April 5, 2063.

Tine changes that do not radically affect things, like Christopher knowing his kid would go to Saturn, don’t make major changes as far as Trek lore is concerned. But if you want to get technical then yes, all those tiny changes that affect next to nothing can indeed be considered alternate timelines. However Trek has never considered them as such. They have been “fixed”. The Voyager example is poor. There is nothing to suggest there were no Eugenics Wars going on in some far off place on the other side of the planet.

And yes, one can argue that Endgame was indeed an alternate as well. That one does have merit. The difference is nearly nothing about what happened in that original timeline was shown on any Trek show anywhere. As far as Trek is concerned the one we followed is the Prime. But I give you that situation is not as straight forward so good call on that one.

The difference here is that Kahn & the Eugenics Wars have been firmly established in Trek lore. In both a show and a feature film. That date is prime. Moving something so established only to cover mistakes made in your own show I just can’t count as “preserving the time line”. Something that huge in history just can’t be blown off and still think everything works out with minimal changes.

I don’t know where you got the idea that WWIII was the catalyst that changed humanity. Honestly everything regarding that is a bit murky and not all that clear as it was never really addressed in any show or movie. In fact, while not outright said it was implied on TOS that the Eugenics Wars & WWIII were possibly one in the same. Until TNG’s pilot episode.

Let me ask you this… Since the First Contact date seems so important to you suppose the Romulan went back to 2063 to screw with that and there was no First Contact until say 2083. Would you still think everything on SNW was prime?

“The difference is nearly nothing about what happened in that original timeline was shown on any Trek show anywhere.”

This is a great point actually and again a big problem with prequels versus sequels. It’s true Voyager altered the timeline multiple times and you can very much argue they are living in an altered timeline. The big difference is though Voyager was changing events we haven’t seen yet . We have no idea what the future was suppose to look like until they showed us in an episode. But it didn’t matter regardless because we knew it was there to be changed. That was the story, ie, how will they change it to keep the timeline we care about in tact. Those events had no bearing on the overall story because it’s stuff we didn’t know about until literally when it was presented in the episode. That’s not the same thing.

In his case, A. the Eugenics war happened well in the past and B. It’s an event that has been pounded into us for over 50 years now. It’s the core of both canon history but the show’s history as well. So when you alter that, it’s a big deal . And then when you alter it literally centuries in the past as well, of course it’s going to create other issues because it’s altering a story line that takes place before the other shows even existed. In Voyager’s case, being a sequel show and the last sequel show for nearly 2 decades it didn’t cause any issues to other shows because there was nothing else ahead of it at the time. They could’ve kept all that alternate history if they wanted and no one would’ve blinked because from our POV the future is still being written just the same.

But this also shows why there were so many reset buttons in Star Trek. I know people got sick of them, me included but it was done so people wouldn’t look at every time travel story as being part of an alternate timeline. It would’ve been confusing. And back then Star Trek was more episodic so they wanted people to feel whatever was changed it didn’t effect anything you saw last week or will in the next season.

But when you change something soooo far in the past and you make it clear time DIDN’T reset itself in this case, then you are creating bigger problems down the line. People can certainly argue SNW isn’t in a altered timeline, but guys it’s very simple, is Space Seed and TWOK still considered canon or not? Because if it is and Kirk and Spock still encountered Khan and thinks he still came from Earth in 1996 when just a few years prior we were told he came much later, then one of these is obviously not the case anymore. So either ONE of them is now operating in an altered tilmeline, but they both can’t be true.

And I’m going to assume for most fans it would be considered blasphemy to consider SS and TWOK as the ‘alternate’ history now.

That was pretty much what I was getting at with the ENDGAME scenario. At least one person got it. :)

I know this is why you don’t want prequels. But I still say while more difficult to navigate prequels can still be done and done well. You just need people who not only can write compelling stories but also are familiar with the source material to keep things in line.

That’s certainly part of it, but the main issue is I just generally prefer to go forward in a story, not backwards, especially in something like Star Trek. But of course I agree when they are done right, then I can easily be persuaded to like them. I loved Better Call Saul for example and love it as much as Breaking Bad.

As for Star Trek we have three prequels leading into TOS and I don’t think any of them did a great job leading into it although ironically Enterprise seem to been the best, but it was a century away from that show and not a few years like DIS and SNW was so it had more leeway.

I mean, ML31, I get what you’re saying. Khan in Space Seed citing 1992 seems incompatible with Khan child in 2022. But come on… this is shadowy temporal war time travel voodoo. What did that very same Romulan say? Time is like a “black box”? “So many people have tried to influence these events, you know, to delay them or stop them… And it’s almost as if time itself is pushing back, and events reinsert themselves…”?

But a more basic issue is La’an herself (when does she think her ancestor Khan lived?), or even Starfleet and Federation, if you prefer. If Khan/Eugenics Wars are a part of history, how is it that Prime and SNW-alternate timelines align at all? Why are we checking on exact dates for Pike’s command, and Enterprise voyages, and Talosians… ? Pike is going to have a similar career on a similar starship in a similar political setting and then die in an identical way at the same time in Prime and SNW-alternate, even though World War-level history was irrevocably changed 250 years prior?!

All I am saying is that while on the surface it seems like history changed, there can be many explanations. Time travel is … well… fiction. For example, consider this: the events of Tom/Tom/Tom episode THEMSELVES occur in an alternate timeline. La’an from Prime and Kirk from Alternate together jump to Another Alternate past. Events there are not Prime, once La’an’s mission succeeds, she is returned to Prime. Or of course, consider the agent at the end of the episode, who’s entire job is to repair the timeline–like Terminator 2 or that cool Seven of Nine chronoton frequency time travel episode, the nature of (fictional) time travel is such that they can keep going back in time until they get it right. (And the agent even says “Those events were never supposed to happen”!).

Your interpretation is valid. But, it’s not “Spock is Vulcan” level of establishment. We can quite easily still be in Prime. That’s a very valid view also.

Stop gatekeeping.

So to you “gatekeeping” is accepting what is actually being shown in the episodes?

Sorry. it’s not.

Gatekeeping is when you insist everyone must believe what you believe. What happened on screen DOES NOT indicate an alternative timeline. That is something you have chosen to take from it, and that’s fine, but stop pushing that belief on everyone else.

So if I believe that Spock is a Vulcan but someone else says he’s Andorian it is out of line to say he is actually Vulcan?

🙄. That’s really they only response I can give you inane comparison/question.

So with that response I can only take that to mean that it is NOT gatekeeping to say to someone who believes that Spock is an Andorian that he is really a Vulcan. Therefore, no. I am not gatekeeping at all and you just opted to not admit it.

*sigh* I’ve learned at my age that certain arguments are simply not worth my time and energy, and this is one of them.

I was fully expecting to really dislike this episode and it completely proved me wrong. It was a great character exploration and really revealed a lot about the motivation of the crew. I loved the end hearing the classis TOS ending theme.

Well done to the cast and crew! LLAP🖖👏👏👍

In my humble opinion, Ethan Peck’s singing was just as good as several of the others; his song of rejection by Christine was most touching, and worth repeat listening several times over!

Peck was decent, but I do think there was a little more Autotune applied for him than for, say Bush or Romijn.

Agreed! A smart, touching, enjoyable romp on the ol’ gal, Enterprise.

Loving this season and the series, *thank you* cast & crew 👍

This episode was one of the most silliest/corniest/bizarre episodes of Trek i have ever watched.

To me it’s right up there with DS9’s Move Along Home in terms of corny lol and viewing this episode as a full on comedy makes it much better imo.

Personally i was laughing through the episode with just how silly i thought it was.

I’m fine with musical episodes (A TV show called Sanctuary had a musical episode named Fugue that was good and Buffy’s Once More With Feeling was great) and if it was just the characters singing it would’ve been better.

But with all the dancing i felt like i was watching a dancing competition show like Strictly Come Dancing but more corny lol.

Criticisms aside it was way better then i thought going in and it was clear the actors enjoyed themselves.

Don’t get me wrong i appreciate SNW doing something new in Live Action Trek but sadly this episode just isn’t for me. I’m sure others will enjoy it and more power to them.

Strange that you liked BtVS’s Once More With Feeling but not this, since they are very similar. And that had quite a bit of dancing, too, including the Xander and Anya number.

Big “Once More With Feeling” fan here. My perspective on why I felt this was well done but, for me, isn’t on the same level: each song in OMWF was a stand-alone hit. And they all had different vibes and styles, yet held an interconnected theme between them — even literally, towards the end, as the elements from the different songs blended together towards the climax with Sweet. (I love that Buffy and friends actually lost against him. Their unearthed misery his reward.)

I felt none of that depth and weight with this episode.

Yes, each SNW cast member belted their numbers out well, and they worked in the current story themes well enough, but it all just felt fairly… generic? Chapel’s brutal, throaty kick to Spock’s naive heart and the angry Klingon crew’s brief, but hilarious number being the only real stand-outs for me.

The rest just felt kind of by-the-numbers. Competent, well performed, but generally uninspiring.

Of course, I may discover a fondness for it on rewatches. I’m open to that. And, of course, the impact of this on each viewer will vary, and that’s absolutely fair.

OMWF is an extremely high bar. That this even approaches that bar is something I’ll happily give it credit for.

I’m chasing ST:SNW, eager to hold it in a warm embrace and let it’s science fiction narrative wash over me, to add subsidy to my intellect and embellishment to my sense of wonder. But SNW runs from me, always remaining just out of reach. Just when I feel I am catching up, getting close, then……it surges away from me again, darting to the left and to the right and to this way and to that. Like an over-possessive spurned lover I cry out “come back to me, be what I want you to be, love me like I have loved you….”, and in response it titters flippantly, mockingly, and then performs an impossible loop, now behind me to kick my posterior and to send me sprawling face-first into the indignity of the parched and dusty earth. And there, lying in a pool of sticky mud formed by my own tears, weeping, mewling, I understand finally, that when you truly have loved something, you need to let it go……..

Yep. To me, this was the nail in the coffin to all Trek pre-Secret Hideout. It’s over. This is “Star Trek” now, even if it’s nothing close to what I think should be allowed to use that name. I really had high hopes with SNW season 1. I was willing to maintain some level of hope with season 2, but now that’s gone. Picard season 3 will probably be the last thing that ever feels like the Trek I knew and loved. I’m willing to accep that SNW, Discovery, and whatever comes next is for a new generation. But I honestly just don’t think the jump between TOS and TNG was anywhere close to as jarring as this.

For all those who gave up after TNG premiered, who were dyed-in-the-wool TOS fans who just couldn’t accept the change, I think I finally understand their pain.

The difference is when TNG came along it wasn’t a change. It was further down the line. It didn’t undo anything TOS did. Some may not have liked the time shift… I was one of them. I wanted to go forward from the feature film time. But this feels like they are just making their own version of Trek. I give them credit… I thought they wanted to “overwrite” older Trek but they have since made it clear it isn’t. That it’s a brand new KU like timeline. So at least there’s that.

TNG season 1 is a huge tonal change from TOS, with unlikable characters and Roddenberry’s absurd rules like “no conflicted characters” that didn’t exist in the 60s. This was gradually corrected in seasons 2 and 3.

If you mean different in that the characters are acting different with a slightly different set of behavioral rules, then sure. But I would argue that while this was Roddenberry throwing more of his personal view into the show it was still reasonable in that humanity would have certainly had some perspectives change over 80 years. But it still didn’t undo anything established from TOS. It really built on that.

I’m just curious, but have you liked any episodes in season 1 or 2?

Yes, I actually liked most of season 1. Season 2 had a few that I’ve enjoyed, but have to take them as not part of canon (and even on some levels just plain not “Star Trek”) to enjoy them. Ad Astra per Aspera, Lost in Translation, and Under the Cloak of War had some good elements. I even liked Charades, but I had to suspend my disbelief when it came to how I really believe Spock would handle being fully human. But I can’t say I really just loved any of these in season 2, and there’s certainly more I don’t have to watch ever again. It just doesn’t feel like Star Trek to me anymore. I’ll watch the final episode and see where that leaves things. But if this season is any indication as to the approach to the potential season 3, I know I won’t be looking forward to it.

Ok fair enough! And I actually don’t disagree much with your assessment. Yeah I too thought season 1 was a lot stronger overall. For me that was the strongest first season of any Trek show since Voyager’s first season. I loved 8 out of the 10 episodes and that’s even including the canon issues I had with them. But I don’t include canon when I rate the episodes, just the quality of the stories themselves.

With season 2, I think I like it more than you do, but even for me, I really only loved 3 of the episodes so far. I don’t hate the others, just not as impressed with them (but episode 4 is my lowest rated easily). I still think season 2 is good overall but a big step down from season 1.

I guess the honeymoon is over. ;)

There are about 6 good episodes in each season. there are some episodes, like this one, that are clearly filler episodes in a 20-episode season arc, but not in 10. This was as disappointing as the episode in season 1 with the sets decorated as a castle…I can’t remember the name. No, strike that, this was annoying.

Yes, I like Season 1 just fine. The writing was perhaps a little blasé, but the sets are gorgeous and I really do like every one of the actors and the parts they play. Season two though, not so flash for me, the only two episodes I thought were fairly good were the one’s where Spock was humanised and the one about Uhura communicating with the Nebula lifeforms. Also kind of liked the planet episode where everyone forgets. The rest of the episodes though have disappointed me somewhat, I think it is because the writing has in my opinion been too simplistic, all gravy but little meat. I see a lot of people gushing over every episode of SNW though, so I can be thankful that SNG is mainly hitting it’s target audience. Unfortunately the idiosyncrasies of my receptiveness now lay on the periphery of the target rather than in the centre.

“ all gravy but little meat” yes, from the little I’ve seen, like broad strokes of drama, maybe a bit generic (unrequited love, superfighter during war background etc.), not too complicated or nuanced. That what you mean?

Yes, I think that is it, the actors in the show are all fantastic, but it is like they are being served comic book dialog by the writers. Or like a stone that spends all the time skipping over the water while suffering none of the drama of being submerged for a time. Or like cotton candy, put it in your mouth and marvel at the taste, but it melts away before reaching the stomach and leaves you still hungry. This show has a great cast, the background musical arrangements are quite good, the design of the ship is simply stunning in my opinion, and the show is bright and colourful. I just don’t think some of the writers are up to task, it’s like they are naive and barely know the bare basics of the human condition, and little about continuity and science fiction in general, and so write accordingly. I do think a part of the problem is the short yearly episode run – it may encourage “hit and run” types of writing, whereas a 26 episode season like in days of old would perhaps force the showrunner to implement a deeper narrative for each of the characters.

There are a lot of interesting comments there and I can concur with much of that assessment. Thumbs up.

Wow interesting points. For the record, I like the show more than you but I do 100% agree about the dialogue writing though. They do come off as a lot less professional and too contemporary at times. I have made the same complaints about LDS as well which is way way way worse, but I guess others excuse it more for being a comedy.

And yes having just 10 episodes the bad or ‘filler’ episodes stands out way more. But that said I still think SNW has much less of a problem with this than shows like DIS and PIC does IMO. And I think the episodic nature of the show really helps that too and probably a big reason why the classic shows have aged so well because you have so many episodes and can just easily skip the bad ones.

Funnily enough, I don’t agree about LDS :-) The dialogue may be informal, but behind the outwardly loud and colourful surface, in my opinion the writing on LDS is often more subtle or interesting than on SNW (though I recommend watching at 90% speed ;). I think Lower Decks had some quite intelligent stuff, some of it in the interpersonal field: Like when Mariner learned that sometimes true freedom is to do a thing you realise is right for yourself IN SPITE of your adversaries telling you to do exactly this, when your instinct would be to act contrary to them (in the episode where she fights herself on the holodeck). Sometimes there’s also a joke behind a joke to discover in LDS. And to this day, I think that LDS transports the vibe of the fantasy trek space-ship my cousins and I had as kids, bigheaded captain included :-). I still have my cousin’s drawing of a fantasy space ship labeled “Edge Of The Known Space Map”. Guess what the new LDS trailer started with: “At The Edge Of The Universe…” Hehe.

Not only the dialogue, but the plotting: Maybe SNW is the popcorn/blockbuster version of a Trek series, with some daily soap (love triangles etc.) and a healthy dose of teenage romantic fanfiction thrown in? Well I don’t mind so much that SNW does not succeed in catching my interest, because I enjoy Lower Decks a lot, so maybe to each their own in the new Trek universe.

Ok, thanks for the response! :)

We don’t really disagree that much. As I said in the other post, I agree season one was much stronger overall but still like season two. But I only love three episodes at this point which was the trial episode, Charades and TOS. The others were mostly fine, including this episode but not amazing either. And I agree the writing is definitely the culprit per usual.

But it does seem like the majority of fans like season 2 as much as season 1 or at least close to it. Looking at the IMDB ratings at least, the episodes in season 1 is a little stronger than season 2 but not much. And every episode in season 2 averages over 7 at least minus this episode so far. In other words there is no big gap in the ratings between both seasons even if season one is rated a little higher.

But that has zero to do with personal taste of course and this board seems to have bigger problems with season two when you look at the nearly high praise most of season one got here.

Make personal note — mushrooms combined with Vodka not a great mix.

Someone should set your deeply poetic comment to music. Kunstlied or opera perhaps.

Ha, and the music video could be of someone caught within a fever-dream inside of a coma!

I did not mind the singing as much as I minded the mention of K’tinga class battlecruiser which is WAY too early for cannon. 2270 or 2265 at earliest. Not 2257!

Yes nitpick but at this time the K’tinga was still the D7.

It’s the same design, but with more details added anyway.

Maybe “K’Tinga” is the Klingon name, and “D7” was just Starfleet’s designation for it. The Enterprise and her sister ships were still called Constitution-class even after the TMP refit. The K’Tinga is basically just the TMP-refit version of the D7 from the Original Series. Maybe it was called “K’Tinga” all along.

K’tingas were brand new in TMP according to the GR novel.

Given the novels aren’t canon though, they have some latitude. I mean it’s pretty obvious that TMP Klingon ship was the same one from TOS, but done with the level of detail they could now afford for the model.

These writers don’t care. They just do what they want. Their knowledge of Star Trek is what they look up on memory alpha or Google search.

I noticed the name thing but since this is an alternate reality/reboot none of that matters. They can, and have, change anything they wish to.

Agreed! I also view this show in an alternate timeline.

It’s not just a personal view. I’d prefer it to be Prime and to obey all the rules. But they themselves showed us it absolutely isn’t in Ep 2.3.

That’s nuts criticizing Memory Alpha like this? Dude, that site, which I have written with many other Trek volunteer fans over the years, is the best single resource for this type of information.

You are way off base and you are throwing hundreds of volunteer fans over years who created this outstanding encyclopedia under the bus. In fact, the collaborators of that site intend that current and future creators of Star Trek will use the database actually like your are criticizing them for?

WTF? This is just way out of line! Of course we would hope the current producers and writers, who are very busy, would take the time to use this outstanding online resource Your comment is just freaking nuts to make fun of Memory Alpha — insulting many who have worked on that for decades.

Ah, internet. What would we do without you?

According to Memory Alpha website the K’tinga entered service in 2259.

And where did THEY get that info from?

They removed this episode, which is obviously canon.

I would love to know what William Shatner, Nick Meyer and Rick Berman think of this episode.

Nicholas Meyer loves it, William Shatner doesn’t give a damn, and Rick Berman thinks it’s gay.

I’ll add I thought it was great :)

Doubt any of them are watching….

Hopefully they all enjoyed it if they watch it.

A reference to turning into bunnies and uhura saying ”I’ve got a theory” have to be Buffy homages, right? 😁

Absolutely :)

I was skeptical but cautiously optimistic. Didn’t expect to like a a musical episode, but assumed I’d end up at least think it was cute or something by the end. But . . . I really just cringed my way through this.

It wasn’t particularly funny, I thought. Except maybe the Klingon bit. The songs weren’t especially good or even catchy . . . Watching La’an just more it less stand in her quarters and sing on repeat felt like an eternity.

I’m glad there seems to be a good number of people who enjoyed this. I want the show to succeed and do well . . . But . . . It’s just not one that’s going to have the rewatch value I’ve come to expect from other Treks.

This season has tried way too hard to be cute and not hard enough to seek out strange new worlds. Loved the Lower Decks episode, but . . . Yeah.

And not to beat the canon dead-horse, but k’t’inga class cruisers pre-TOS??

Yes to all of what you said and then some. I was not engaged at all for yet another hour of Trek. And that makes me sad because I LOVED this show in its first season.I’m all for Trek taking chances and doing lighter episodes, but with few exceptions (making M’benga a murderer, for instance), this has been a rather comedic season.

But that just one grump’s opinion. This episode is clearly some folks’ cup of Earl Grey and I’m glad for that. I’m one of the rare souls who LIKED “Spock’s Brain”, after all.

And not to beat the canon dead-horse, but k’t’inga class cruisers pre-TOS??

Remember the events in Episode 2.3. Falling in line with the prime TOS universe is no longer a thing. In fact it turns out it never has been.

Yep, just another confirmation – if having a musical episode wasn’t enough of a confirmation in the first place.

Why did you expect it to be funny? Most musicals aren’t. Sure, sometimes they have an amusing number like How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria but usually, no.

I didn’t expect it to per se, but I hope for it to be. For me, *my* tastes, comedy has been the saving grace of a number of musicals.

I actually come at this from the opposite standpoint: a lot of musicals have a number that’s morose, or at least a kind of soulful ballad — think “Tonight” in WEST SIDE STORY, or THE NIGHT OF THE DRAGON in “Miss Saigon” (literally about a Viet Cong commissar forcing Jonathan Price to pick rice in the fields), or “Memory” or “Old Deuteronomy” from CATS, or the main number from FROZEN.

That’s what “Subspace Rhapsody” was missing, I think, and La’an’s orchestral theme was the obvious place to put it.

I come at this from the perspective of liking musicals, but by that I mostly mean on-stage, in-person musicals, where you’re part of a communal, almost transcendent experience. CHICAGO and most Bollywood productions do nothing for me; I’ve only seen Hamilton on screen, and I failed to see what the hype was about. I bet I would have a different reaction in a theater. PHANTOM on the West End was a magical experience; on Disney+ during the pandemic, it was kind of “meh,” although anything during the pandemic kind of fits that bill. (To contradict myself a bit, I’ve enjoyed the two screen adaptations of WEST SIDE STORY.

I don’t know how well science fiction and musicals mash up together. I’m going to re-watch this and decide; my first impression was “good, but not great” — it was just a bit too peppy. I had a similar reaction to the Back to the Future musical adaptation. I never saw the Spider-Man musical.

The song that Uhura first played into the subspace fold seemed to be Nichelle Nichols singing if I am not mistaken

Awful. Just awful.

Nichelle Nichols is awful?

If it was Nichelle, at least that’s one better way to look at the choice of song. But to me, the way I look at the use of “Anything Goes” is that, why on earth would someone that far in the future even KNOW that song? That would be like someone today pulling out a Bach concerto and jamming out to it and expecting everyone else to hum along. Sure, there are still plenty of people who appreciate classical, but I highly doubt “The Great American Songbook” would be the first thing thought about on a starship in the 23rd century…. In fact, the first question might be, “What do you mean by American?”

Well, Anything Goes is 89 years old and is still well-known, so there’s that. Plus, there was a revival of the musical (from which the song originates) last year on the London stage.

And why wouldn’t the Great American Songbook still be known to music lovers? Art lovers are still well acquainted with the Dutch Masters who painted their works in the 1500s and 1600s.

I don’t think works of art (such as paintings) equates with music – even though it is an art. There are plenty of art lovers in the world, but the average person doesn’t grab their phone and start browsing through paintings everyday. But popular music is everywhere, and I would say 1 out of every 4 people in most public places have on headphones or are somehow enjoying music. The vast majority of music listeners don’t spend their time listening to creations more than 50 or 60 years old. And even if people do listen to classical on occasion, other than classical musical lovers, I don’t think most people could identify much more than Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or maybe Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.

Simply put, the average person is going to identify with music from their generation. They may enjoy some “oldies” but, from my interactions with people of many ages, I think “oldies” fall within the last 30 to 50 years for most people. I work with college students everyday, and I can guarantee you that they aren’t very familiar with songs recorded in the 1950’s, much less the 1750’s!

So to assume that a person on a starship in the 23rd century is very familiar with 20th century music, so much so that it’s the first thing that pops in their head when told to come up with a tune, seems absurd. This problem isn’t limited to SNW. Most Star Trek’s have this problem.

As for knowing the “Great American Songbook”, I would ask a different question – what would you pick from the “Great Native American Songbook”? Native American’s were the dominant population throughout most of North America less than 300 years ago. Can you sing one of their songs? You probably live in an area close to where a tribe called home in the 1700’s. Shouldn’t you be able to recite a song from that time if Uhura was aware of “Anything Goes” being part of the “Great American Songbook”?

what would you pick from the “Great Native American Songbook”?

False equivalency. Native American music has only rarely been recorded for widespread distribution. Sure, you can find some modern day performances, but the vast majority of Native American culture (including music) has been lost to time since the arrival of Europeans and therefore was never widely known. That isn’t the case with Anything Goes and others of the Great American Songbook, which have been recorded too many times to count in dozens of languages and is very easily available. At least two versions of the Broadway score (1987 and 2011) are readily available on iTunes. Not bad for an almost 90 year old musical.

summt augenblicklich “ein feste burg ist unser gott, ein gute wehr und waffen….”

That would be pretty cool. I can’t be entirely sure, but I don’t think it’s Nichols: https://music.apple.com/mu/album/anything-goes-broadway-version-single/438424778

I think it was Patty Lupone from the 1987 revival of Anything Goes.

Loved it. Can’t wait to watch again.

It was a harmless episode that I didn’t personally love. I don’t mind the concept at all, I just wanted more out of the story, beyond the character stuff coming to a head. Or maybe the personal stuff should have been framed in a more urgent way, I don’t know.

That said, I hope Spock’s eventual path towards logic isn’t based on his brief romance with Chapel ending. Spock believes in logic, he doesn’t just use it as a shield against feelings.

That was something that was cringe too. I find it a bad creative thing to do even with alternative timeline Spock. But whatever.

Honestly this episode wasn’t nearly as bad as most episodes but still… This show doesn’t seem know what it wants to do. It’s not going with different genres. Trek always did some of that. It’s not knowing how it even wants to treat itself.

At this point it’s pretty obvious any episode that ends up being decent is likely a mistake by the producers.

Yep on Spock’s turn toward logic. I had hoped he would have been inspired by a mentorship. Instead they went for heartbreak and that’s also a poor decision for Chapel too. Here’s hoping with her going away for the internship the characters get a chance to grow in better ways. I did at least appreciate the closure of some storylines like La’An and Kirk’s. Number One also got the opportunity to show not just tell what kind of leader and support system she could be to the crew. Like how all the characters got some scenes once again. This is something new in the back half of season 2 and I am liking it. I would also like to see some background characters, like Mitchell and Sam Kirk, get some more screen time. Admiral April would also be deserving of a bigger role. Special mention to Bruce Horak he does a great Klingon.

As for the delivery through songs….they did the best they could with it. It will never be a favorite and that’s ok. I hope they continue to take risks going forward into season 3. By focusing on strange new worlds and including more legacy characters or even original characters to enhance the show. Oh and an Ortegas episode. She deserves more serious content.

I absolutely loved this episode. I can’t belive there is only one episode left of the season.

Yes and probably no more after that for at LEAST 18 months!

Easily that where SNW is concerned. And generally in terms of live action, after episode 10, that will be it until Disco S5 starts.

I don’t actually mind the concept of a musical Trek episode. I can easily imagine DS9 doing one. And they did find a technobabble explanation that works for what it needs to do.

But why were the songs so boooooring? It’s all generic pop stuff that an AI could have written. And the music sounds like those loops that come free with a keyboard. It’s so aggressively mediocre.

I still have the music from the Buffy episode in my head. Or the songs from Todd and the Book of pure evil. Or Picard and Worf singing Gilbert and Sullivan for a Trek example. I can’t remember any of the songs from this episode and I JUST finished watching it.

With the album being released on digital platforms today, I was hoping to add at least a few of the songs to a playlist, but nothing really grabbed me enough to go seeking any of them.

I wasn’t wowed by the music itself, but was surprised they took the time to write stuff that integrated into the story of the episode and the overall arcs. I think for me, it was just easy to not take this episode very seriously, so I could just sit back and take it in for what it is. And I thought it was fun. Applying my general criteria as it relates to canonical Star Trek, and it’s an unmitigated disaster. As funny as the Klingon stuff is, why would they act like just because they were singing? Would they not sing in their native tongue? Why would they immediately know to sing in another culture’s musical genre? Where did the music come from and why do they know how to sing original songs in unison? Again… think too much, and your brain will boil.

That was another complaint. I enjoyed that opening number. But then the rest of the songs were all so similar! After the opening I was hopeful. I shouldn’t have been. This is still Secret hideout after all.

Really? I thought La’an’s number was musically very different from Chapel’s.

They changed tempo but that doesn’t really differentiate them that much. It’s almost like rearranging a cue for a different feel.

No, they are completely different, stylistically. Now, I do think Chapel’s song “ I’m Ready ” and Spock’s song “ I’m The X ” have some elements in common, but I’m fairly sure that was deliberate, servings as two sides of the Chapel/Spock relationship coin.

This is a spot on review of the music. I won’t touch the episode as a whole or the fact that it happened as “Star Trek”, but as a musical, there wasn’t anything interesting or really any of the songs that will last in my memory past a few weeks.

I have kids, I’m exposed to a lot of kids music and movies, but some of them aren’t that bad. When Encanto came out, I didn’t really think it would be as big as it was, but I had to admit that several of the songs were catchy, and a few even stuck in my head beyond the first viewing. Since then, most of them have been nailed into memory, but there’s a couple I still like.

If you’re going to do this sort of thing, DO IT RIGHT! I felt like this was a mediocre attempt at music composition. And several of the performances were just static and empty. La’an’s solo soliloquy just about put me to sleep, as an example.

When I initially heard about the episode, the first thing that popped into my memory was “Star Trekkin across the universe…”. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know that a comedic parody song was more catchy than what was done here.

Crap! I haven’t had that in my head for a very very long time. Now you mentioned it and there it is again and I have no idea how long it will live there!!

Did Kirk know in TWOK that he was a father? I thought it was a surprise to him. I’ll have to watch that again, I just find it interesting that Kirk would have gone though all of TOS without mentioning David then

My thoughts exactly! Perhaps someone who has seen TWOK recently can confirm?

From: Trek BBS

TWOK is the first time that viewers became aware that James T. Kirk had a son, David Marcus, with his old flame Carol Marcus. But it’s a little unclear exactly when Kirk found out about David. He knows that Carol has a son by that name, but Kirk obviously doesn’t know David well enough to recognize him in the Genesis Cave ( “Is that David?” ). Kirk and Carol’s private conversation afterwards (added during reshoots to clarify things) is still ambiguous at best:

KIRK: I did what you wanted. …I stayed away. …Why didn’t you tell me? 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. … Actually, he’s a lot like you. In many ways. Please tell me what you’re feeling. KIRK: There’s a man out there I haven’t seen in fifteen years who’s trying to kill me. You show me a son that’d be happy to help him. My son. …My life that could have been, …and wasn’t. And what am I feeling? …Old. …Worn out.

No, he knew. In the film he said to Carol, “I did what you wanted… I stayed away”

Okay, I remember that now, so all of TOS he never once mentioned David and Carol Marcus, but he blurts this out to La’an now. Hmm.

I do think Paul Wesley is starting to grow on me as Kirk but best to leave him alone for a few seasons I think. He’s already overshadowing Pike.

Well, not mentioning it in TOS is what it is. Has been ever since TWOK came out.

Was he ever in a situation in TOS where someone was suggesting a serious relationship like La’an was though?

And we should have a pool for what Trek elements they are going to stick to and which they are going to completely obliterate in this new rebooted version of Trek. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for any of it.

Writer’s room: “Hey, wasn’t there some guy named Korby who Christine hooked up with? Let’s throw his name in there this episode. Oh, and what was the type of the Klingon cruiser in TOS? K’Tinga class, right?? And I think Kirk needs another pointless reason to return. It makes sense that he wouldn’t spend any time at his post with a family member on another ship. He’s just learning to be a first officer from someone he met ONE TIME…”

They mentioned Korby in Charades (and at the time, someone said he’d been mentioned before, but I don’t recall which episode.) so this seems to have been their end-game to get Spock and Chapel back to their TOS status quo.

But they didn’t need to. They set up a situation where they could have played with the relationship a lot more than they did. They aren’t beholden to what happens on TOS.

On TOS, where Chapel asks Spock, ‘have you ever been engaged?’ Clearly not beholden. More like, making it up as we go, but then when somebody says ‘tribble,’ instead of drinking, they put in a worthless nod to continuity, as if that offsets all the damage.

Exactly. It’s such a weird way how they are handling canon. One hand they acknowledge Korby, but they literally changed the entire back story o of how they originally got together.

I guess I just don’t really understand it? It’s not acting like a ‘true’ prequel but more like the Kelvin movies did and just added whatever canon they wanted but changed a lot of it around, but unlike SNW the Kelvin movies made clear it wasn’t trying to fit TOS canon and do its own thing.

But then they went and made an episode that says “Yes, this is why everything is so very different. This is a different timeline/reality.” Just like the KU movies did.

Yeah I agree with you, I just mean the way the producers discuss the show. They still talk about it as if they are trying to line it up with TOS and anyone with eyes clearly see that’s not the case.

But as you said they gave themselves an out where they can change whatever they want in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but then in the OTHER time travel episode, TOS, they still treat it like the show MUST line up with every event in TOS (the show) and how strict Boimler and the crew treated his and Mariner’s presence. Now of course Boimler and Mariner don’t know about the changes in the timeline or obviously they are affected by the changes as well but I’m going on the notion in LDS everything from their POV is exactly what leads up to TOS and the canon we know.

So it’s a bit confusing but welcome to temporal mechanics lol.

The producers don’t really have a clue what the prime timeline really is. The difference between the Kelvinverse and this, is that the writers for the Bad Robot movies decided to create a new timeline / canon.. which is the smartest thing they did. This braintrust has decided that this is an altered prime universe, so basically TOS as we knew it is wiped out. That’s a problem for a lot of fans.

I’ve heard it said that they actually WANT to wipe out TOS and do what they think is the superior version of it. I still have a tough time with that as that sounds too conspiratorial for me. But there are times when I cave and think that theory might have merit.

But yes. Say what you will about the KU features they had the balls to tell us all it was an alternate/reboot.

This very well could be an example of having their cake and eating it too.

Honestly I just don’t know what the producers are thinking. They said it was in prime but then they just blow apart some rather huge parts of the lore. Then they make an episode that clearly says, “this is an alternate reality” yet haven’t publicly confirmed that is what they did. Did they intend for some fans to follow what they said last year and other to follow what they showed in the episode? What’s the point of THAT? This is why I say this show is very schizophrenic. I don’t think they really know what they want to be. Or they know they want to be everything. They want to be both prime and be free to do what they want. Those two things would seem to be at odds with each other.

True that. If the show really was prime then using a version of the little rectangle things or throwing in Dr Korby call outs doesn’t make up for the HUGE mistakes already made. It’s like smashing out a car windshield and replacing the radiator with one for a different make and model but saying “Look! We added a USB port! It’s fine!”

K’Tinga actually only appeared starting with TMP, so this K’Tinga is over a decade early.

He also asked Carol “Is that David?” when he first saw him. So he already knew about David.

I think heyberto is correct. I think Kirk’s surprise in TWOK was based on David being fully grown/a man and not recognizing his own son…that many years had passed since he stayed away and he obviously didn’t get birthday pictures along the way, so he had no idea what his son looked like after a couple of decades.

Nice tie-out to canon.

He was surprised to run into David, and I think it was a little ambiguous whether or not David knew that Kirk was his dad, but Kirk definitely knew that David was his son.

I’m calling it now, Kirk and La’an hook up before she leaves the enterprise. We find out she is pregnant with a child Kirk will never be aware of. The great revelation that Kirk’s greatest nemesis is actually an ancestor of his own child.

It had a few good moments but ultimately the A plot was not strong and the dual B-plots were stretched to carry the rest of the episode through all the singing and dancing. Those songs were not particularly inspired or catchy.

“Creating a musical episode has been a stated goal of executive producer Alex Kurtzman”. I think this is biggest the problem I have with this episode. It felt like it was really stretching hard — an undeniable trait of Kurtzman to shoehorn personal goals into trek. In fact, it might be my least favorite episode.

I was curious what other people thought of it and I guess they liked it, so whatever — to each their own.

See, I was hoping they’d just leave plot out of it completely, and just make this a crazy, non-canonical romp. So making the plot elements weak is a feature, not a bug, IMO. And I agree wholeheartedly that the idea of a musical episode is not something that makes any sense, conceptually. Perfect for Lower Decks. However.. I do think the creatives have conditioned us for something so ridiculous with their low bar for storytelling in this series so far.

Yeah, actually. If they had a Trek comedy series a musical episode with no explanations would slip into that genre more easily. There is a reason comedy/musical are often mixed together.

Lower Decks was best left out of this, and outside of canon. It’s the perfect place to do ridiculous things. This series, is not.

See, I was hoping they’d just leave plot out of it completely, and just make this a crazy, non-canonical romp. So making the plot elements weak is a feature, not a bug, IMO.

It seems like Spock and Chapel had this crazy relationship for all of one week before it began falling apart.

Yeah. They are free to do what they want. So if they are going for a Spock-Chapel thing then they should really go for it. Just like Spock-Uhura in the KU. To be as brief as they were doesn’t feel fair to anyone.

I’m ok with it. The break up was the best part of the episode.

A more serious episode where the characters lose the ability to mask their feelings but this just comes out in normal verbal interaction might have been better.

The songs were kinda meh, but t It was a fun episode. But when the original Star Trek theme played after the rift blew up and the bridge crew cheered, i got choked up. They got me with that one.

I really thought they should have been singing the actual GR lyrics to the TOS theme at some point, maybe the climax. Instead of singing about the ‘mission.’

I thought about that, too. But I thought it might have cost them too much money to do it. Funny when one considers why GR wrote the lyrics to begin with.

Well I got it COMPLETELY wrong! Thought this was going to be a horror show but my god this was good.

Some of the singing was excellent, especially from Celia Rose Gooding but also great stuff from Christina Chong, Jess Bush and even Ethan Peck!

Choreography was excellent, especially with Jess Bush in the bar and that finale….WOW!

I gotta say hats off to the actors, composers and arrangers for this episode. I expected this episode to be over the top and at times corny, which it was, but hey, this is fiction and fantasy, so I was ready for the “take me there” moment. I have been a Treker since the 60s, and have seen every second of Trek that has been released, but by profession, I am a recording engineer, producer, arranger and composer, working on projects that range from contemporary, to classical, to world, to traditional musics for commercial, theatrical and large scale event releases, so, with professional curiosity, I was looking forward to hear what musical adventures Toronto/Hollywood had come up with for this episode.

I have always admired Treks high production values, not only visually, but also audio wise. When these episodes drop, I usually watch them in my studio, through my studio monitors, to get the full, juicy sonic experience. When our characters are speaking to each other in engineering for example, you will hear the “ambience” of the large space they are working in (engineering), but when they kick into song, the voices all of a sudden become very dry and up close, very processed, with varying degrees of pitch correction software (from 3 to 11:). That alone took me out of the fantasy. I suppose the solo actors were recorded in a proper isolation booth in a studio. which sound very, very dry, with no acoustics at all. Again, high praise to the creative staff and the actors who sang, BUT there are people on the production staff responsible for continuity, both visual and auditory, and the differences in the way the voices sound in and out of song is very noticable, more so to professional ears, but also to your average Joe (or Josephine). There are ways to minimize these sonic differences, but it looks like nobody paid attention to this or they just did not care (maybe short on time?). Heck, even the musical movies of the 60s did a better job of this.

The song styles were also all over the place, but that may have kept the episode more dynamic. One thing tho, had it not been a musical, these character confessions would have been much shorter.

I know a lot of my production colleagues are also Trekers, and we do look up to the show for its production values, and sorry to say, this one lowered the bar. The episode sort of looked like a lip synced karaoke show.

Well, I hope SNW returns to the science part of science fiction soon. Pike, Spock and Una were much more focused on Discovery than they are on their own ship. Even Prodigy is more of a science fiction than SNW.

The lip syncing took me out of it early on. I realize they have to do that, but it was pretty blatant.

I appreciate your analysis as an expert. I helps me know that i’m not crazy. I do video production but not full on audio engineering. But even to me, I felt there was a lot lacking on the production side – both visually and in terms of audio.

Actually watched it again, this time knowing about those audio bumps on the road, I had an even greater appreciation for the work that the actors put into their performances. My faves, “I’m ready” and “I’m the Ex”.

It was… terrible. Far too indulgent of the cast and producers. I wish somebody had just said No.

That assessment is harsh. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it showed the real range and talent of so many of these writers and actors. I found it to be silly, as most musicals are, but I also am impressed with the quality of the original songs and was pleasantly surprised at how good a singer Ethan Peck actually is.

Well, as I’ve said above, I was able to enjoy the episode, but it isn’t very good Star Trek, and I do wish they’d quit trying to make Trek into something it’s not. I don’t need to see the cast sing and dance to know they’re talented. If this had been a singular one-off, and they quit trying to tie everything in to a larger storyline, I think it would have been better. Combine this with the Lower Decks crossover and get the ridiculousness of both out of the way in one shot.

This is not a harsh assessment by any stretch – if you remember that this is STAR TREK. It should have been a hard “no”, and this isn’t even the only instance this season.

I’ve said it multiple times before, but I feel like the inmates are running the asylum – as in the actors have more say than they should. I read and listened to comments talking about SNW the production of season 2 last year where they were talking about how the direction was going to take more “big swings” similar to The Elysian Kingdom (one of my least favorite episodes of season 1), and I knew things were getting out of control. The cast talked about how much “fun” it was to do that episode. Yes, work should not be painful, but there’s a fine line between having fun and remembering the source material.

Despite the fact that I found this fun (unlike the Spock Comedy episode), I agree with everything you said. I would say it’s not terrible at what it’s trying to be, but it certainly is terrible Star Trek.

Indulgent is definitely the right word for it lol. I was certainly prepared to hate it like you, but actually liked it in the end. But no, I don’t see myself rewatching it a lot either. But it seems to be a hit overall with people based on reading the other boards, especially on Reddit. I can’t wait to see what the IMDB score will look like for this.

It was a very entertaining episode. Christina Chong is a wonderful singer.

I also liked the nod to canon with the mention of a pregnant Carol Marcus. Poor La’an.

The Spock and Chapel relationship seems to be ending now since she will be away falling in love with Roger Korby. That was a very brief off-screen romance. Poor Spock. I guess now we know why he threw the Plomeek soup at her in Amok Time. LOL

Not the best episode out of the season in my opinion, but entertaining.

Cringy Girl glee trek…..

Just skip and delete episode for me. Not that the songs were bad, mind you, but I still hate musical, especially when they are 2 and more singing. This didn’t do anything for me, other then being a cringe illogical episode. The cross over with Lowers decks was much more logical and done with care then this. If they would have done the Klingon’s opera or side of things, it might have been fun.

I’m actually surprised people like this episode. Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess I’m in the minority here. I was expecting silly great songs like in the classic Buffy episode ‘Once more with feeling’ but got a bunch of lame, boring songs that all sound the same. Horrible episode. The only reason I’d rate it 2/10 instead of 1/10 is that absolutely hilarious Klingon scene. With a better songwriter this could have been a legendary episode. Too bad.

I think that some people jumped on early today to make sure and skew it more positively. I’m sure some other social mediums are full of positive publicity. But taking this as JUST a musical and discounting that it’s Star Trek, I thought it was mediocre at best.

Peck could have sung a cover version of Nimoys “Bitter dregs” after Chapel dumped him.

I won’t be surprised if Christine Chapel leaves after this season. I also don’t see Kirk being used again until a series finale when he takes over the Enterprise.

If canon still mattered, then one could only hope that Kirk doesn’t show up. Since canon is out the window, Kirk will be back in season 3 – if and when that ever happens.

I have to say this episode was fantastic. I wasn’t expecting to to be…The writing, the songs that were actually good songs and the lyrics that fitted so well into the story and plot. The production, the choreography… “those negative Nancy self proclaimed did hard fans” will state… Star Trek doesn’t do musicals… yet song played a big part of the last season of DS9 with Vic. And yes Star Trek does to silly comedy… little green men and trials and tribulations!!

When it started I was thinking, “Holy crap! This looks to be very enjoyable and fun for a change!” And it was. Unfortunately the songs ended up all being too similar. Since the new characters are being overshadowed by the classic ones I still don’t really care much about them so the emotional side of the episode ended up falling flat. And that finale was super uninspiring. Once again, the writers need to learn nuance. Subtlety.

All that being said it’s still the 2nd best episode of the series. After 1.10.

I can’t agree with you today. We’re often on the same page, but this one ranks near the bottom for me. Star Trek has done fun before without throwing the baby out with the bath water. The premise alone was enough for me to even think of skipping it. I’m not that kind of person, but I kinda wish I had. But it’s also par for the course for an underwhelming season. 10 episodes, and I think maybe 2 are worth ever going back and watching.

Fair enough. And I can certainly understand where you are coming from. This figured to be an extremely divisive episode to begin with. Even still I expected the people who have been liking the season overall would still like the episode and those who have not been liking it would not find this one any different. I was obviously OK with it. I wish the numbers were better and it didn’t try to get all emotional. The only thing I really enjoyed was the opening number. Beyond that it was repetitive and tiresome. But I do want to give them credit for trying something different. But again, if they did more episodes in a season I think doing something like this would be a safer bet. But with only 10 and they have started so very many storylines already… This didn’t seem like the best choice. Maybe if the show was better….

I expected to hate it.. and I really didn’t. It’s not a great musical or anything, but it is a fun romp. Like I said above, break the 4th wall, Take it out of canon, and this would work a LOT better.

I would probably say there has only been one great episode and one pretty good and the rest of the season has been so average. I actually really enjoyed last season’s final episode and was really looking forward to season 2. Spock has gone from one of my favourite characters to in this series the most annoying characters. Not really the actor himself who is pretty good but the writing for the character is very poor. I bought the first season on UHD blu ray, think I’ll be giving this one a miss.

This definitely deserves some kind of award

LOL, nope! Perhaps I watch too much TV and movies, but this doesn’t rank that high on the level of quality that you get from SO MANY OTHER productions that have either included musical numbers or even done a full on musical. Maybe it had potential, but I don’t think the final product is anything more than a ratings stunt.

Okay, cards on the table: I’m a theatre person, and I have sympathy with the “theatrical” elements of it

That was the most fun I’ve had with an episode of Star Trek in a long time. The songs weren’t all to my taste, though the opener was technically really solid. It has some really nice rhythmic and melodic subtleties.

I appreciated that it gave (almost) everyone something to do, and we got to see them working. Sad that we didn’t get enough Ortegas, but I’m glad they actually did something with Number One.

At first I hated the Klingons. I wanted a blast of Opera in the middle of the finale. But the flip into hip-hop with the backup dancers was so over the top that it came back around. Brilliant.

On a technical side, one thing I think they missed the mark on a little was the lip syncing. I know they’re working on a time crunch, and tastes vary, but, to me it seemed that a lot of the folks were very obviously lip syncing. The more seasoned singers sold it (Celia Rose Gooding continues to crush it), but others, not so much (looking at Anson Mount).

Still, I’m really happy this exists. It was fun. If someone doesn’t like Star Trek but has a soft spot for campy musicals, this is a good gateway episode.

I think it was a fail not having the Klingons sing in Klingon. If not an opera then perhaps something for contemporary Klingon. But yeah… These writers just don’t have it in them for something as detailed as that.

I wouldn’t call it a fail myself, but perhaps a missed opportunity. It’s tough enough to learn music as is, and then add in a fictional language and its own musical foibles it might not be worth it. They’d have to really knock that portion out of the park, and I just don’t see any Trek writer pulling that off

Star Trek is usually pretty Shakesperian. Traditionally the actors have had some of that background. Wrapping their mouths around a made up language shouldn’t be too hard for people who can perform that olde English stuff. They had to have hired songwriters for the numbers, right? Put the effort in. Make it work. What we ended up seeing just came across as lazy.

I’m gonna strong disagree on the comparison between Shakespearean English and Klingonese.

Background: I have two linguistics degrees. I specialized in the history and development of English before doing ma MA in Norse. I’m a theatre practitioner, and studied music for 10 years.

Shakespearean English is basically identical to modern English. Words have come and gone from usage, and we’ve changed the value of some vowels, but the gist of it is identical. The phonetic inventory has been stable for a few hundred years.

Klingon was *specifically* designed around being as utterly alien as possible. Weirdest syntax you can imagine. Consonant clusters that just don’t happen normally.

Add in the harmonies and rhythms that don’t follow regular conventions. It’s gonna be damn near impossible to get that into a 20 second bit.

Like, listen to ‘u’ — it’s something else. If it’s not that, it ain’t Klingon opera.

They could make some knockoff Bizet, but that would be so boring. That’d be the lazy way out, imo.

OK. You seem to have the credentials and far be it from me to question your experience.

That said uttering Shakespearian lines, while still english words, is weird and unnatural for today’s language. In that respect memorizing random sounds ought not be that difficult for competent actors. Perhaps making up an authentically alien sounding Klingon song is a tall task. And perhaps would turn a lot of viewers off. But it sure would have helped with creating depth in their universe. And it wasn’t like it had to be 4 minutes long. Just 10-20 seconds of it would have done the job.

I went into this episode with a lot of trepidation but the episode actually was excellent. They embraced the campiness of it all. It had all the vibes of Buffy the Vampire Slayers musical episode.

This is the most original, creative and beautifully realized episode of any Star Trek iteration, ever. Period. They keep hitting it out of the park on SNW!

Settle down.

It’s interesting that when someone responds to overly harsh negativity (which seems to permeate here) they are clapped back with “I’m allowed to have an opinion too!”

But when someone is overly positive your response is “settle down.”

Very very interesting.

I’d much rather celebrate people’s love and positivity than encourage hate and negativity and force everyone to be as miserable as ML31.

Overall I liked it, but far from love it!

I think like many, I wasn’t sure what to even think of the idea when most assumed it would be a musical. On one hand, yeah, interesting and unique for Star Trek that’s for sure lol. On another level, this could be a total disaster that’s just beyond cringe and an embarrassment for Trek as a whole that would sit in its rightful place with other noteworthy disasters from Spock’s Brain to These Are The Voyages. But this one done in spectacular fashion. It was a gamble for sure, but thankfully I think it was mostly successful and will be considered one of the whackier but memorable episodes that many will truly love and embrace. Others…not so much.

For me, not being a musical person at all, but certainly liked many growing up, this was definitely a fun episode. I thought the songs were very fun and enjoyable, more than I thought they would be, but it was still a bit too many for me. But the story itself and how it supposedly happened was confusing. I gave up trying to understand Spock’s very deep technobabble of the event and its ‘musical reality’. I actually just wish they went super silly with it and met a large pink alien unicorn in space who sprouted out some bizarre space glitter from its horns onto the Enterprise that made the crew sing and dance in order to save the multiverse or help conceive a unicorn baby or something.

But I did like it, especially the Klingon boy band lol. Easily the best part for me. I laughed so hard. But everyone put a lot of effort into their roles and were mostly good, but La’An and Uhura were definitely the stand outs IMO. I did like how we got some actual story in there with Kirk and Carol Marcus or Chapel breaking up with Spock (thanks Boimler ;)).

Overall, I thought it was good, but still not amazing. I’m always happy to see Trek try to shake it up a bit, especially with 800+ stories and counting, but I highly doubt this will be much of a rewatch for me in the future. But I’m happy for the people who truly loved it.

Yeah, definitely Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong were the stellar voices, but I was also impressed with Rebecca Romijn’s vocal stylings. The guys, not so much haha but they did not embarrass themselves. Also liked how they progressed the stories of Kirk and La’an as well as Chapel and Spock. Yeah Boimler did play a big role in making sure Spock stayed on course haha.

Absolutely loved it.

I’m pretty sure Nichelle Nichols would have broken down and wept over Celia Rose Gooding’s performance. Fantastic.

She’s the vocal standout of the whole thing, and it’s not close.

I thought it was fantastic! Really enjoyed this musical episode 😃

It’s over.

I’ve already felt this multiple times this season, but this one took the cake. Star Trek as I knew it and loved it pre-Secret Hideout is officially gone. Picard season 3 was the last thing even closely resembling Star Trek, and even it had its issues. But what SNW has proven is that what I call Star Trek and what the powers-that-be in the Kurtzman world call “Star Trek” are not the same thing.

The worst part is, this isn’t even the best version of a terrible concept. They could have at least made something that would be memorable enough to sing the songs over and over (whether you want to or not), but that’s not even the case. Looking at it as solely a musical, it’s still mediocre at best .

SNW season 2 was already ranking a lot lower than season 1 to me, but now I don’t think I can even compare them anymore. And once again, the premise of the episode excluded a “Strange New World”. I mean there was a spacial anomaly, and for past Trek’s, that would have sufficed because there may have been more to discover about the anomaly and that could have worked as a “new world”. Instead, we once again explore the feelings, relationships, and dynamics of the crew – just this time in song. The universe be damned! At least we had a chance to see them dance!

Someone in an early post on this article compared this to TOS’s The Naked Time, but I don’t think that’s fair to TOS. The Naked Time was FAR SUPERIOR to this episode in that it gave a plausible reason for the crew to lose their inhibitions, and the interactions were MUCH MORE interesting. The fact that Subspace Rhapsody decided to use the “multiple universes” excuse to somehow explain the idea that a “musical universe” exists and there’s even rules that it follows that were apparently created by Broadway just sits poorly with me. Maybe this can somehow be put into a “out of universe” category and ignored, but SNW season 2 has already had enough other fails that it’s just par for the course.

Star Trek as I knew it and loved it pre-Secret Hideout is officially gone.

Oh, I’ve given up on Secret Hideout Trek over a year ago. For reasons that have been stated here ad nauseum. My only hope is after a lengthy writers & actors strike the Secret Hideout deal is somehow ended. Trek goes away for a bit but resurfaces later with better people involved. Maybe we don’t need self proclaimed Trek fans running things. Just new people who will respect the source material.

This site needs a block button ASAP

I’ve been a proponent of that for quite some time. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. My personal block “button” has been to see a name of someone I no longer wish to engage and just move past the post without reading a word. It does work pretty good.

…. because people having a different opinion should be blocked?…..I’m assuming IDIC is not your thing.

To be fair, for me it’s not about different opinions/takes. I’ve only done that to people who were insulting, stalkers or troublemakers. And of the few I’ve done it to all but one has been banned. And the last one I just don’t see around all that much anymore.

Dude… we know. We ALL know. I’m all for everyone sharing their perspectives but you just spam the same ones over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. We know what you think. We get it.

Who’s “we”? You don’t get to speak every everyone. You don’t like what I say then either ignore it or engage me and talk about it. No need to react in such a way. It’s not a good look.

Cut the music from it and it is watchable. I hate musicals and this did not sway me!

In space, everyone can hear you sing!

Well I just checked IMDB and yeah this is not going to be the runaway hit I thought it might be just reading some of the first reactions. At the moment, the episode sits at 6.6. Thats very low for this show. Not Discovery ratings low, but low for SNW. It’s the second lowest ranked episode of the show overall with Elysian Kingdom being the lowest with 6.1. And it’s the only other episode that has fallen in the 6 category out of 19 episodes.

Of course it’s early it can still move up (or move down) but starting that low from the start tells me this episode is a divisive one and probably will stay between 6.5-7. It’s not going to be a fan favorite, put it that way.

Now compare that to Those Old Scientists that started with a 9.4 rating immediately after it aired and currently sits at 9.2. And that is still the top rated rated episode of the show overall.

“Elysian Kingdom” has a 6.1…? That’s preposterous.

LOL, sad but true!

But I will admit, on a rewatch of it, it’s not as strong as I originally felt and it’s the second worst episode of season 1 for me. The pacing felt super slow as well. I wouldn’t rate it that low personally but probably in the low 7’s.

As far as Subspace Rhapsody, yeah a 6.5 is about where I would rate that one so it’s right on target for me.

I’d be interested in seeing the distribution of when the scores were submitted. If there were a slew of low scores within moments of it being possible to watch the episode, that would maybe be indicative of some reactionary brigading.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that’s happened here – people are 100% allowed to like/dislike what they want – but it is curious.

Reading more of the reviews, it reflects the score because it doesn’t seem to be a lot of people in the middle. The people who like it seems to REALLY like it and the people who hate it REALLY hates it. But sure I would be curious too.

But no one should be surprised lol. Most people thought it was a weird idea from the start and many were apprehensive about it. Very few people thought this was an amazing idea. But I think a lot more people liked it than they thought they would and that includes myself.

But making a Star Trek ‘musical’ a home run for a lot of hardcore sci fi geeks was always going to be an uphill battle.

lol, yeah, I’m not surprised in the least bit surprised at the reviews given the what these pages have been like over the last few weeks. I don’t have any problem with people disliking the episode, but I know some folks heralded the mere concept as the Death of Star Trek, which just seemed silly to me.

Definitely an uphill battle. It was successful for me, and that’s the vote I care most about. :)

That’s not a horrible rating either. The reality is MOST Trek episodes there usually fall between 6 and 7 which is about average. Anything 5 and below is considered bad. So people definitely didn’t like it, but it’s not a trash rating or anything.

And I liked the episode as well, but that’s about the rating I would give it personally as well.

yeah, I think I’d likely give it ~7/10

I tend to rate things on a 1-5 scale, without decimal options, with 3 being the typical about which I have no disqualifying complaints. I’d probably put this at 4 overall on that rubric

Btw Tiger2, I think you said this a few weeks ago, that a musical episode would draw attention from the mainstream entertainment media and not just the science fiction pundits. Well after looking at this morning’s coverage, it looks like you were right. From the LA Times to the EW, Variety (which has picked up many SNW stories), Vuture and The Guardian just to name a few. No, not as much as the Picard finale, but no bad. We shall see if it translates to the Nielson ratings.

Wow that is great to hear! :)

Not surprising this episode would bring some non-Trek media buzz for a change. It’s a big first for what they did and its great people are paying attention.

I’m pretty sure the ratings will be huge. I don’t know as big as TOS because people genuinely seem very excited about the crossover. This is more out of curiosity but I think every Trek fan who has P+ probably watched it, at least a little.

Haha TOS now has a new meaning!! Very appropriate!

No it doesn’t.

Well it has another meaning now which I think DeanH means.

Every time I see it I think one thing.

Sorry. It’s engrained.

I think pretty much everyone here does as well.

As you have said, the posts for E9 really seem to demonstate people either really liked it or hated it. As a kid, I grew up loving Star Trek and science fiction, but my parents also loved musicals, music and singing (along with sports and good food) so I really liked last night’s episode. That said, I totally understand why some are appalled of the thought of a musical episode and why the concept was polarizing. An “uphill battle” indeed, but one I personally am happy they took on.

Yeah it’s actually funny reading the reviews here. One post says ‘this was absolutely fantastic and a stunning achievement that is now the best episode to date’ but then the next one after that is ‘I am appalled this thing even exists and someone should be fired for making this embarrassment’. Yeah VERY divided man. ;)

But I actually went back to see what the review rating is on IMDB now and it actually went up . It’s currently at 6.9 now which is pretty impressive that it jumped this high in a day. It will fluctuate for weeks obviously but I might have to take back my original assessment and this ends up being a bit more popular than what I thought. The episode may ultimately land in the 7s somewhere. Still not amazing, but certainly an improvement if it happens.

I don’t follow into either of those. I didn’t hate it, like usual. Nor was it great. It started out promising but ended up, meh. Which is pretty good for SNW.

Same, I’m mostly in the middle like you are. I didn’t cry with joy watching it but I didn’t feel like I was being tortured by watching it either. ;)

IMDb users have some biases. Rom-coms and pure romances don’t tend to do all that well. Musicals are a little hit or miss there but they usually have a rabid fan base to combat the naysayers (I can’t really explain The Greatest Showman outranking Chicago otherwise).

I’m guessing a lot Trek fans in general are not big musical fans either. Again you can’t be surprised because for two months now on this board people were complaining about it being a musical. It was always going to be a hard sell. But I did think maybe after it ran and seeing how much others loved it, it would be a bigger hit kind of the Lower Decks crossover turned out. But as this board is proving, it’s a pretty divided view.

You remember how divisive Vic Fontaine was at the time. Still is, probably.

LOL oh yeah! ;)

horrible turned it off

What the f was that

I’m not a fan of musicals, but had to sit through the whole thing anyway in case there was some plot progression elsewhere. It was torture. Thankfully I don’t ever have to watch it again if I ever return to rewatch SNW.

I’m happy to see the mostly positive reaction to this episode. It works because the writers have taken the time to give over two seasons and just 19 episodes (more for Pike thanks to Discovery) to let us get to know these characters. I have a better understanding of this crew than I ever did for VOY, ENT and especially Discovery. SNW, like TOS, TNG and DS9 is a true ensemble cast. Will this be an episode I rewatch often? Probably not. It was a heck of a showcase though for the talent of the writers, crew and especially the cast. Hate that the season is almost over and season 3 feels a long, long way away thanks to the current strikes.

Finale looks like a doozy with Pike likely to encounter more heartache and misery.

Shout out to Wil Wheaton on The Ready Room too. He does a nice job hosting and I enjoyed his interview with the very lovely and talented Christina Chong.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 episode 9 review Subspace Rhapsody musical

‘Subspace Rhapsody’ Is a Fascinating and Flawed Star Trek Musical

This discussion and review contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 9, “Subspace Rhapsody” (a musical), on Paramount+.

It is surprising that it took Star Trek so long to do a musical episode.

After all, John Ford wrote a musical Star Trek tie-in novel in October 1987. William Shatner reportedly considered staging a musical variety show to celebrate the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Fans performed a loving stage musical Boldly Go! , which is available in its entirety on YouTube. Pop songs like The Firm’s “ Star Trekkin’ ” translate the franchise’s iconography to music. The franchise has given musical set pieces to stars like Brent Spiner , Avery Brooks , and Robert Picardo .

More than that, the musical episode was a staple of turn-of-the-millennium television. The most famous example might be “Once More, with Feeling,” the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that aired in November 2001. However, this was the culmination of a larger trend that included episodes like “ The Musical, Almost ” on Ally McBeal , “ Brain Salad Surgery ” on Chicago Hope , “ Old Tree ” on Northern Exposure , “ The Bitter Suite ” on Xena: Warrior Princess , and many more.

As such, “Subspace Rhapsody,” the much anticipated Strange New Worlds musical episode, fits firmly within the show’s nostalgia for the 1990s. As with “ Ad Astra Per Aspera ” earlier in the season, there is a sense that the franchise is finally doing something that would have been cutting-edge 30 years ago. Of course, while “Ad Astra Per Aspera” was confronting one of the franchise’s long-standing blind spots on civil rights, “Subspace Rhapsody” is really just doing something cute and fun.

As with “ Those Old Scientists ” earlier in the season, it is easier to admire “Subspace Rhapsody” on a technical level than it is to enjoy it as a satisfying piece of television. “Subspace Rhapsody” is clearly a labor of love for the cast and crew. It features original songs by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, members of the band Letters to Cleo . It showcases choreography from stage and screen veteran Robert Campanella , whose past credits include Oscar-winning The Shape of Water .

On a purely technical level, “Subspace Rhapsody” is a showcase for an incredibly talented ensemble cast. It’s obvious that a lot of the series regulars have some experience with the form. Christine Chong has talked about how it “ was always (her) dream to do musical theatre .” Rebecca Romijn starred in The Producers opposite Richard Kind at the Hollywood Bowl . Before joining Strange New Worlds , Celia Rose Gooding broke out performing the Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill .

More than that, Star Trek should be doing more stuff like this. It is a gigantic multimedia franchise with a built-in fan base and high production values, with Nicole Clemens, president of original scripted series at Paramount+, talking openly about wanting an “ always on slate .” With that level of creative freedom and that volume of content, there is absolutely no reason for Star Trek to be as aesthetically conservative as it has been over the past few years.

Fans and critics have been quick to praise Strange New Worlds as “ a return to an episodic vision ,” but the show has failed to take advantage of that. The beauty of the episodic television model was the freedom that it afforded for experimentation. To pick a random example, The X-Files could do a black-and-white creature feature in “ The Post-Modern Prometheus ,” a found-footage crossover with Cops in “ X-Cops ,” and a series of long-take sequences broken up by commercial breaks in “ Triangle .”

Star Trek should be willing to play with its form. Strange New Worlds should be willing to be both strange and new. With the move to digital cameras and with no commercial breaks on streaming, why not do an episode in a single extended take? What about an episode in the “ screenlife ” style? Strange New Worlds should be taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by the episodic model, where every installment is a chance to do something exciting and interesting.

In that sense, both “Those Old Scientists” and “Subspace Rhapsody” are welcome additions to the Star Trek canon, in that they push the limits of what is possible within the established Star Trek format. “Those Old Scientists” proves that it is possible to blend animation and live action in a single Star Trek episode. “Subspace Rhapsody” proves that the production team can stage what is effectively an hour-long musical. That is commendable.

At the same time, it is frustrating to watch “Subspace Rhapsody” and wish that it was… well, better. As with “Those Old Scientists,” the episode is so thrilled to be playing with a new set of toys that it fails to really build a compelling narrative around them. There is no sense of stakes. There is no sense of momentum. There are some vaguely interesting thematic dynamics at play, but even those end up muddled at the end.

“Subspace Rhapsody” is a relationship episode. The character arcs running through “Subspace Rhapsody” focus on three potential couples: Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano), Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), Lieutenant Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) and Lieutenant Kirk (Paul Wesley). However, it’s frustrating that the episode ultimately shelves two of these three relationships.

To be fair, this is an issue with both the episodic format and the prequel nature of Strange New Worlds . Without long-form serialization, it’s not really possible to watch relationships grow and develop as they did with characters like Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Yates (Penny Johnson Jerald), Kira (Nana Visitor) and Odo (René Auberjonois), or Worf (Michael Dorn) and Dax (Terry Farrell) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . If each story has to be self-contained, the characters cannot truly change between installments.

Similarly, most of the key characters in Strange New Worlds already have a predetermined path through the established canon. Based on their knowledge of existing Star Trek media, fans know that Spock and Chapel or Kirk and Noonien-Singh cannot end up together. This has the effect of undermining any attempt to wring drama from their interpersonal relationships. More than that, it makes the choice seem deeply cynical, an attempt to get the audience to invest in an impossibility. It feels like a waste of everybody’s time.

As such, “Subspace Rhapsody” literally makes a song and dance about two relationships that cannot go anywhere. The “will they / won’t they?” dynamic between Noonien-Singh and Kirk that was first teased only a few episodes ago in “ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ” ends in a simple “they won’t.” The Spock and Chapel romance that only began at the end of “ Charades ,” four episodes ago, is cut short as it would always have to be.

The only real character development that comes from “Subspace Rhapsody” is that Pike and Batel are pretty much in the exact same place that they were at the end of “ Among the Lotus Eaters .” They are in a relationship, but not so committed that it will meaningfully impact the show, as Batel is on another ship. There is nothing wrong with Star Trek asking its audience to embrace interpersonal dynamics, but those dynamics must actually have weight. Otherwise, it feels like watching pieces being shuffled aimlessly around a board.

This is where the themes of “Subspace Rhapsody” get a little muddled. One of the more interesting aspects of Strange New Worlds is its recurring fascination with the idea of gender and performance. This is most obvious with Spock, particularly in episodes like “ Spock Amok ” and “ The Serene Squall .” The show returns time and again to the idea of gendered archetypes and the idea of heterosexuality as a sort of performance. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” and “Charades” are both episodes about “ passing .”

Whether fairly or not, stage musicals and pop music are not seen as stereotypically or conventionally heteronormative masculine spaces. As Kelly Kessler argued , “The performance of song and dance – as well as musical theatre – culturally has been associated with non-hegemonic or queered masculinity.” It is such an accepted cliché that Neil Patrick Harris famously opened the 2011 Tony Awards by jokingly assuring straight audiences that Broadway is “ not just for gays anymore .”

“Subspace Rhapsody” is obviously playing with this. A subspace fold prompts big musical numbers, and those songs find characters expressing their emotional inner lives. The crew find that emotional openness to be an existential threat. “Lieutenant, are you telling us that our emotions constitute a security threat?” Pike asks Noonien-Singh incredulously early in the episode. However, after performing his own musical number to Batel, Pike seems to agree. “The subspace fold, I think we should blow it up,” he states bluntly.

Obviously, it is not only male characters affected – Noonien-Singh is among those most horrified at the thought of being rendered emotionally vulnerable. However, it does tie into longstanding tensions about how men are socialized to repress their emotions . After all, the episode’s stakes only really escalate when the stereotypically macho Klingons are affected. One of the episode’s best gags features a deeply humiliated Klingon boy band, with the Empire vowing to destroy “the abominable source of our dishonor.”

It’s clever and well intentioned, but it is also shallow. As with so much of the show’s interrogation and subversion of gender roles, there’s a lack of diversity of perspective. All three primary couples in the episode are heterosexual, with no queer perspectives represented in what has traditionally been seen — as James Lovelock points out — as “ a safe ‘queer space’. ” More than that, the episode ends with the rift closed. Spock goes back to being his stoic and repressed self, with no sense that he has grown or learned anything.

It’s easier to appreciate “Subspace Rhapsody” as pure spectacle. There is a lot of fun to be had in rhyming technobabble — “inertia dampeners” with “hampered,” “your last breath” with “mek’leth.” The choreography makes impressive use of the show’s sets, with Chapel getting a big crowd number in the crew lounge and Spock using the safety railing in engineering like a balcony. Indeed, there’s something charming in the Enterprise and Klingon ships literally dancing in space like they’re in a Busby Berkeley number.

“Subspace Rhapsody” is an episode that it’s easier to admire than to enjoy. It’s a pleasant enough tune, but it’s not a showstopping success.

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Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 “Subspace Rhapsody”

So… that happened.

For the first time in its 890-episode history, Star Trek did a musical episode. If you didn’t know what to expect upon first learning Strange New Worlds would tackle this genre, you’re not alone. We were skeptical. Optimistic, but skeptical. But here’s the nice surprise: “Subspace Rhapsody” was generally quite an enjoyable affair, since we were going into it knowing it would be silly. It would have to be, right? What possible reason could there be for a starship crew to break out in song?

Well, there’s a scientific explanation. The episode begins with the Enterprise encountering a quantum fissure in space, and the crew thinks this discovery could be a quantum leap forward in trans-quadrant communications. But, Spock ( Ethan Peck ) and Nyota Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ) are having a tough time getting signals through the fissure, so they resort to Lt. Pelia’s ( Carol Kane ) outlandish idea: send music through.

James T. Kirk arrives aboard the Enterprise

The fissure definitely reacts to a tune from the good old American Song Book, and it distorts the surrounding space, including the Enterprise , so that the crew now exists in a realm where music can break out at any moment. We first see this with a bewildered Spock, who breaks out into tune while discussing the effects of the fissure. Soon enough, the crew from around the ship are rhyming and dancing, culminating in a scene on the bridge where everyone, including Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ) and visiting officer James T. Kirk ( Paul Wesley ), are musically arriving at the same conclusion: the universe has thrown them a curveball and now they are trapped in a space where singing is the norm.

“Honestly, I assumed it was something you all rehearsed, but… I sang, too.” “So did I. And I do not sing.” – Kirk and M’Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun ) after the episode’s first musical number.

There are 10 songs in “Subspace Rhapsody,” and to our great surprise, Strange New Worlds uses each one to inform our understanding of various crew members and their relationships. Moreover, this is an ensemble episode the likes of which we really haven’t seen yet this season, so everyone in the main cast has a moment to shine, if not have a whole song to themselves.

The Enterprise encounters a quantum fissure

The driving force behind this music, and a rule of the space the crew learns eventually, is that music breaks out whenever strong emotions are in play. So, we hear musical numbers from Uhura about her loneliness, her ill-fated family, and the importance of connection in her life; Nurse Christine Chapel ( Jess Bush ) about her being accepted into a prestigious fellowship and thus being okay leaving Spock behind (poor Spock!); Spock singing about how hurt he is by Chapel; Captain Pike and his girlfriend, Captain Batel ( Melanie Scrofano ), on the frustrations of their long-distance relationship; the normally stoic La’an Noonien-Singh ( Christina Chong ) about her ill-fated romance with Kirk; and Una Chin-Riley ( Rebecca Romijn ) about keeping secrets, and then another song dueting with Kirk about how to be a good command officer.

One unexpected development from the La’an storyline in this episode is her telling Kirk about her experience with the alternate reality Kirk in “ Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow .” This disclosure breaks rules set by the Department of Temporal Investigations, but the potency of La’an’s music-driven emotions make her decide to express her feelings to Kirk. Kirk takes the revelation good-naturedly and has a surprise of his own for La’an: he is in a “sometimes” relationship with a woman named Carol Marcus, and she is pregnant. This is a neat revelation for Star Trek fans, as those who have seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock know about Kirk’s later-in-life experience with Carol and his ill-fated grown son, David. We’re curious if Strange New Worlds continues filling in Kirk’s backstory.

The Enterprise crew being trapped in a music-filled fissure isn’t enough, as it appears the fissure’s influence is spreading through subspace, infecting many other Federation and non-Federation ships. The crew also realizes their bouts of singing are seemingly following a rule of musicals: when characters have so much pent-up emotion, they resort to song.

“Admiral April’s last message confirmed that the improbability field has now spread to 12 Federation ships. He let me know in surprisingly beautiful baritone that he wants us to stop this now.” – Una

The Klingons, who don’t take kindly to breaking out in song, send battlecruisers to destroy the fissure, and the Enterprise crew knows if the fissure is destroyed, anybody who has suffered its effects will also perish. Uhura and Spock seek to discover a way to break the improbability matrix, and they do so through studying the songs themselves. Uhura, with her careful eyes and ears, finds a connection in the raw data presented by the fissure. It’s a simple solution: the entire crew must sing.

Pike asserts Uhura, who is someone who can bind the Enterprise crew together thanks to her ability to connect people, should lead the ship in song to get the fissure’s “improbability level” high enough to close it. Music hitherto was being used to push people away from each other, but Uhura recognizes music is also great for bringing people together. It’s a clever message couched in dumb science, but again, if you go into this episode knowing it’s silly, things won’t seem so absurd. The episode doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither should we.

In a grand finale number, with the Klingons just about ready to fire their weapons, the Enterprise crew rallies in song. and even gets the Klingons to join in. We’ll give one critique here: Klingons dancing in a way you might see at, say, a Tayler Swift concert, is really disconcerting and cringy – but at least the uncomfortable moment is acknowledged by the Enterprise bridge crew and played for laughs. Otherwise, the finale number is appropriately explosive, with members of the entire crew singing and dancing together to close the fissure. With the tear in space closed, all is well.

Carol Kane as Pelia, Christina Chong as La’an, Ethan Peck as Spock

Taken together, the experiment “Subspace Rhapsody” poses to its audience works surprisingly well. Using each song to expand our understanding of our main characters, and in some cases move their respective plotlines forward, is a creatively smart way to balance storytelling and music. While only a few numbers present choreography worth writing home about, the songs themselves are varied and enjoyable to listen to; we have members of the American alternative rock band Letters to Cleo to thank for that. We’ll look forward to the songs from this episode showing up on streaming services, which is as good a compliment as any musical can expect.

On a thematic level, we appreciate how Strange New Worlds asserts a well-known understanding of music and emotions; that is, the two go hand in hand. Such is a fundamental aspect of the human condition that we all can relate to; who doesn’t appreciate it when an artist bears their soul through song? It’s like what Elton John once said: “Guess there are times when we all need to share a little pain…And it’s times like these when we all need to hear the radio/’Cause from the lips of some old singer/We can share the troubles we already know.” Such is the understanding “Subspace Rhapsody” has of the healing power of music, and this power allowed us to see a more honest side of our characters than we would have otherwise. For that reason, we consider this Star Trek musical a success, even if some people may scoff at the abnormality of the episode.

Stray Thoughts:

Chapel is awaiting a message from Dr. Korby, who is likely the same Roger Korby as in TOS ’ “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” M’Benga describes Korby as the “Louis Pasteur of archaeological medicine,” which is the same language Spock used to describe him in the aforementioned episode. We know Chapel eventually becomes Korby’s fiancé, so… will Strange New Worlds show us how that happens?
The song Uhura sends through the fissure is, appropriately, “Anything Goes,” written by Cole Porter for the 1934 musical of the same name.
Don’t skip this episode’s intro sequence, as it features a unique rendition of the SNW theme song.
We confirmed with Paramount+ that these songs were performed by the actors themselves.
The watch La’an holds while singing about Kirk is the watch the pair used to track down the reactor in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.”
On the map of the area surrounding the fissure, we see the Republic , the ship James Kirk served on as ensign.
Check out DS9 ’s “Rivals” for another sci-fi story that involves unusual improbability.
Writers Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff are sure to reference through character dialogue how silly the idea of a Star Trek musical is, and the noticeable reprisal of the TOS theme after the grand finale number helps us recall when TOS could sometimes get off the rails.
Why do we get the feeling Batel is not long for this world? At the end of the episode, she’s off on a priority one mission, and we know the Gorn must figure into the season finale.

New episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are made available to stream Thursdays on Paramount+ .

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

You can follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and Threads .

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

Martin Jacobs

August 3, 2023 at 10:18 am

especially since in Star Trek II, Kirk was only then learning about his son.

He knew he had a son. He told Carol that he stayed away at her request.

August 3, 2023 at 10:31 am

Echoing what Martin said above; Kirk knew about David. He was told to stay away

Antonio Relyea

August 3, 2023 at 2:48 pm

I came here to make the same comment. David new about Kirk too. “Remember that overgrown boy scout you used to hang around with?” to which Carol replied “Listen kiddo, Jim Kirk was many things but he was never a boy scout.”

August 3, 2023 at 5:53 pm

Ah yes, thank you for that reminder. I must have a leaky memory bank. Will edit. 🙂

Jared McCubbin

August 4, 2023 at 9:27 am

Can any of them sing though?

Christine Granados

August 6, 2023 at 2:16 pm

This episode was just plain stupid… and the end with the Klingons as a weak, sad Boy Band was just pathetic and so off-putting as to be a bit vomit inducing. Really guys, this was possibly one of the stupidest ideas for a show ever….. EVER EVER EVER. Spare me. I had to watch two hours of other mindless TV just to blot the vision of singing Klingons ala a sad little Boy Band. This episode was the thing that nightmares are made of and lurk in your mind waiting to spring up and make you puke.

August 6, 2023 at 4:48 pm

This episode was so hard to watch – I had to fast forward through all the singing. I would say there is some truth in saying that Star Trek fans do not want to sit through a musical. It was very cringeworthy.

August 6, 2023 at 7:59 pm

I loved the musical. The songs were perfect and on point. Star Trek – Strange New Worlds is just what the doctor ordered. I’m loving it!

August 13, 2023 at 7:16 pm

SNW was supposed to appeal to those of us that wanted an episodic sci-fi series again. Its not working and they have already lost their focus. I really want to love it(I suppose because of the nostalgic characters), but they are losing me. Another silly episode !

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Of course Star Trek looked to Buffy for its big musical: 'That was our bar'

Co-showrunners Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers tell EW how they pulled off "Subspace Rhapsody" on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 9, "Subspace Rhapsody."

When it comes to musical episodes of television, few have done it better than Buffy the Vampire Slayer . The producers behind Star Trek had that pop culture event on the brain when they set out to make the sci-fi franchise's first-ever music-fueled extravaganza on Strange New Worlds season 2.

"That's one of the best made ones," series co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers tells EW of 2001's "Once More, With Feeling," in which Sarah Michelle Gellar 's supernatural warrior faces a demon of song and dance. "It was done very well. It's really smart and thoughtful. It has big heart. The only thing I will say that I distinctly thought differently was that they wrote their own music, and I knew that that was a little more than we could handle. But that was kind of like, let's challenge ourselves to be as good as the best of this [genre]. That was our bar."

As time went on, Myers realized they actually could write their own music, with help from Letters to Cleo rockers Kay Hanley and Tom Polce, who crafted the songs. "Subspace Rhapsody," the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 (now streaming on Paramount+), sees the likes of Captain Pike ( Anson Mount ), Number One ( Rebecca Romijn ), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), Spock (Ethan Peck), and the rest of the U.S.S. Enterprise breaking out into musical numbers after an encounter with a quantum probability field. They all find themselves operating by the rules of a parallel reality in which everyone sings all the time, which causes problems for anyone trying to hide their emotions, including La'an (Christina Chong) and Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush). The problem gets bigger when it starts spreading to other spaceships.

"I'm a huge fan of musicals, but had no idea what it took to actually make one," says Akiva Goldsman, the other co-showrunner on Strange New Worlds . Myers had worked on musical episodes of Ugly Betty and The Magicians , but Goldsman was coming in fresh. "When we started on season 2, a small voice, like a gremlin kept going, 'Music. Musical. Musical.' And Henry kept going, 'Not yet. Not yet. Not yet,'" he continues. "We were going back and forth on the story, and we sort of knew where the character arcs were. Then, to our delight and terror, the idea of what we needed to do emotionally in episode 9 and the idea of a musical went hand in hand."

With a script written by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, the producers got to work on "Subspace Rhapsody" about six months ahead of filming, Myers estimates. Goldsman likes to say, "This episode happened in large part before it happened," meaning most of the execution went into prep, including dance rehearsals and singing lessons. Director Dermott Downs also wanted to shoot the episode like a musical, which means the shots are "a little more wide and you really see people doing things, you're not in their faces all the time," Myers explains. "It was a lot of work from a lot of people, but the one thing I remember waking up and thinking was that everyone will expect this to be silly. We should surprise them and have it be gut-wrenching and emotional."

Some of that can be credited to Gooding. It was clear to everyone from the start of the show that their Uhura actress had some pipes. An early episode of Strange New Worlds season 1 saw her singing out tones to activate a piece of alien tech. So, it's no surprise that the actress is the one to get the musical's big power ballad, "Keep Us Connected." "What we do like to do is write to our cast," Goldsman remarks. "It suddenly became clear that a lot of the folks who we work with had musical theater in their backgrounds or real musical training. The universe was conspiring to get us to throw down in that way."

Peck was less confident about pulling this off, Myers notes: "I don't think Ethan thought that he could do it, and he surprised everyone by having this crazy deep voice, the baritone, that was kind of beautiful."

Now that it's all come together, it almost feels like a miracle that it even happened. Goldsman looks back to when the news of what would become "Subspace Rhapsody" came up during the closed-door meetings with the other showrunners from across the active Star Trek series. "All I remember was people being like, 'Okay, sure,'" he recalls. "This is basically the tenor of all the [meetings], which is somebody will say a bunch of stuff and then somebody else will go, 'Wow, that sounds cool.' Subtext: 'Please don't f--- it up.'"

Goldman adds, "We were like, 'If we're gonna do this, we gotta do this.'" And so they did.

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RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 209 - 'Subspace Rhapsody'

Their voices will rise through space and through time.

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Illustrated banner of James T. Kirk raising his arm out while delivering his update in song on the bridge of the Enterprise in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

StarTrek.com

In " Subspace Rhapsody ," this season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' penultimate episode, an accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the U.S.S. 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.

Illustrated banner with text 'Personnel'

Nyota Uhura
Christopher Pike
Una Chin-Riley (Number One)
Christine Chapel
Marie Batel
La’An Noonien-Singh
James T. Kirk
Erica Ortegas
Dr. Joseph M'Benga
Jenna Mitchell

Illustrated banner with text 'Locations'

U.S.S. Enterprise
Far edge of the Alpha Quadrant

Illustrated banner featuring text 'Event Log'

"Subspace Rhapsody"

While traveling at the far edge of the Alpha Quadrant, the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters an unusual phenomenon — a naturally occurring subspace fold. Lt. Spock posits it could be used to triple the speed of subspace communications in the sector, but his experiment requires so much computer power that it temporarily forces Ensign Nyota Uhura to manually coordinate the entire ship’s communications network. Uhura struggles to keep up with the overwhelming task, routing calls and providing updates to numerous crew members.

In his quarters, Captain Christopher Pike conferences with Captain Marie Batel, who suggests their first vacation as a couple should involve visiting Crivo. Pike is hesitant to visit the touristy — and cliché — locale, claiming the time might be right and requesting they hold off on planning for a few days. Disappointed, Batel nevertheless agrees to postpone the chat.

Lt. La’An Noonien-Singh strolls into the Transporter Room, where Commander Una Chin-Riley waits for Lt. James T. Kirk, the U.S.S. Farragut ’s future first officer, to beam aboard. Kirk’s captain hopes that, by shadowing Number One, Kirk will maximize his potential upon his promotion. Una senses an “energy” from La’An, observing the security chief had arrived in the room “hot” and “on fire.” Number One engages the transporter beam and greets Kirk, who is skeptical over the need to be shown the ropes. Noticing Noonien-Singh, Kirk playfully reminds her that she still owes him a drink, eliciting a knowing smirk from Chin-Riley. La’An struggles to compose herself and acknowledges she has met James.

Nurse Christine Chapel paces in Sickbay, worrying that she has received a rejection letter from Dr. Roger Korby’s fellowship. Dr. Joseph M’Benga describes Korby as the “Louis Pasteur of Archaeological Medicine,” while Lt. Erica Ortegas maintains she is unfamiliar with him.* Glaring at her PADD, a frustrated Chapel points out that thousands apply to this program each year, with only five being accepted. The nurse summons her courage and grabs the device, a wave of relief washing over her as she learns her application was granted. M’Benga notes she will be gone for three months, and Chapel realizes that a difficult conversation with Spock awaits.

In Engineering, Uhura holds her PADD as music is transmitted towards the subspace fold in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

In Engineering, the Enterprise ’s science officer updates Uhura and Commander Pelia — their 12th attempt at sending a message through the subspace fold has failed. Frequencies propagate through the fold three times faster than normal, meaning the weeks it takes a message to travel across the quadrant through their current relay network would be replaced with instantaneous, real-time communications. The thought thrills Uhura, who hums as she works. This sparks an idea from Pelia, as the Lanthanite proposes they send music through. Given they are seeking to communicate through a medium with different laws of physics, Pelia believes fundamental harmonics might be the answer. Curious as to whether the phenomenon is a fan of the Great American Songbook, Uhura boosts a recording of “Anything Goes” toward the fold...

...with unexpected results. The shimmering, ribbon-like phenomenon releases a visible pulse which ripples through the Federation ship. Confusion descends upon the crew, and Captain Pike calls for an analysis as he steps onto the Bridge. Lt. Jenna Mitchell declares there are no other ships in the sector — the distortion must have come from the subspace fold! The captain checks in with Uhura, who is astounded when Spock begins delivering his own report in the form of a song. Visibly perplexed, Spock continues to croon his words, and additional vocals are heard from M’Benga and Chapel, who report no serious injuries among the crew. The peculiar melody strikes the Bridge, sending Ortegas, Chin-Riley, and Noonien-Singh into song as they check in at their stations. All systems are stable and no threats are detected, yet Pike’s concern grows as the Bridge crew harmonizes around him. The captain adds to the chorus, asking, “Why are we singing?”

In the ready room, the senior command crew debate the subspace musical anomaly they're experiencing in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

Captain Pike gathers his senior staff — Spock, Noonien-Singh, Chin-Riley, M’Benga, and Pelia — in his Ready Room, where the music has finally subsided. James Kirk is still shadowing Number One, and he admits he thought the musical interlude was something the crew had rehearsed. M’Benga emphasizes that he does not sing. They turn their focus to the problem at hand, with Spock theorizing that the song they transmitted had created a resonance frequency and dislodged a quantum uncertainty field from the fold. An area of space where quantum uncertainties collapse so rapidly and randomly could create new realities — including one in which people sing uncontrollably. The Vulcan states the Enterprise has become tethered to this particular improbability field, so trying to fly out would most likely widen the disturbance. Pelia and Pike observe the phenomenon’s zipper-like properties, leading Spock to offer a way to close the rift — manually connect the shield harmonics and Heisenberg compensator to the deflector array. The captain approves, and Kirk compliments Spock’s explanation.

Spock and Uhura confer at the ensign’s Bridge station, where the science officer notices the ship’s communications log lists a transmission from Dr. Korby to Nurse Chapel. Intrigued, Spock questions if the message was related to Chapel’s fellowship application, but Uhura doesn’t read personal correspondence. The ensign perceives Spock’s discomfort, and the Vulcan concedes that he and Chapel have become more than colleagues. Uhura’s grin quickly gives way to concern, prompting her to wonder why Spock doesn’t ask Chapel about the transmission. An incoming call from Number One and Kirk interrupts their chat, and Uhura sends her the harmonics data.

James T. Kirk makes adjustments in the Jeffries tube as Una observes from below in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

Chin-Riley watches as Kirk makes a few modifications inside a Jefferies tube. The Farragut officer comments that his brother Sam described Una as an excellent Number One — someone who keeps a necessary distance from her crew because she knows she has to make hard decisions. Una confesses she has recently elected to try a more hands-on approach. Kirk slides out of the junction, and music begins to resonate through the ship. Singing once again, Chin-Riley advises Kirk to connect to his crew. Her musical side causes her to divulge that she could imagine herself performing on stage and sharing her fondness for Gilbert and Sullivan.** The two officers begin dancing in the corridor, and a dejected La’An looks on from afar. Kirk replies to Chin-Riley with his own lyrics, expressing an eagerness to heed her advice and connect with his truth.

In a dream scenario of her alternate timeline, La'An visualizes an intimate embrace between her and James Kirk in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

The song concludes, and La’An quietly retreats from the scene — at least until her emotions start to unravel through a somber song of her own. Noonien-Singh enters her quarters, lamenting her trouble with expressing her innermost feelings to others. She gazes at her reflection in the mirror, moving to the window as she belts out an admission — it might be time to let go of her fears and be vulnerable. La’An pulls the watch she obtained during her time-traveling mission with another reality’s James T. Kirk from a drawer, gripping it tightly to her chest. The security chief pictures herself back in 21st Century Toronto, imagining the life she and the alternate Kirk could have had together . A tearful La’An returns the watch as the music fades.

In the transporter room, an animated Sam Kirk responds to his younger brother James Kirk in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

In the turbolift, Noonien-Singh reports that people are confessing highly personal — and emotional — information when they sing. Skeptical that their emotions constitute a security threat, Pike marches onto the Bridge. Spock and Uhura are ready to initiate their plan to collapse the musical reality back into their standard quantum state. Uhura relays their status to the bantering — or bickering — Kirk brothers in the Transporter Room. The Enterprise ’s deflector is activated, and a beam is projected into the phenomenon. Another energy surge bursts out, but an incoming hail from Captain Batel on the U.S.S. Cayuga arrives before Spock can determine what happened.

On the Bridge of the Enterprise, Captain Pike extends his right arm out ahead of him in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

A reluctant Pike orders Uhura to put Batel’s transmission through to the main viewscreen. The musical reality has spread beyond the Enterprise , as the Cayuga ’s captain sings about her irritation with Pike over their canceled vacation plans. Pike replies in kind, uncharacteristically displaying his emotions in front of his crew. The private conversation intensifies, with Pike professing his bad habit of hiding in the face of true affection. Pike collapses to his knees, but — recognizing the situation will only escalate — La’An cuts off Batel’s signal. Embarrassed, Pike listens as Spock states the improbability field must be expanding across Starfleet’s entire subspace communications network.

Pike, Chin-Riley, Noonien-Singh, Uhura, and James Kirk discuss the developments in the captain’s quarters. A message from Admiral Robert April — which he delivered in a surprisingly beautiful baritone — indicates the field has spread to 12 Federation ships. The captain questions why this reality is compelling them to reveal their deepest emotions. Uhura theorizes that the musical reality actually follows the rules of musicals, where characters begin to sing when their emotions are so heightened that their words won’t suffice. Emotions have the capacity to overwhelm rational thinking, as well as the potential to drive the crew apart. Pike is eager to blow up the subspace fold, but Spock encourages them to test the idea first. Una assigns La’An and James to beam subatomic particles from the fold over to the ship, a task which clearly unsettles La’An.

In the ship's ready room, Una looks up from her PADD as La'An enters to speak to her in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

Chin-Riley and Noonien-Singh visit the Ready Room, allowing the security chief to confide in Number One. La’An doesn’t believe she is acting like herself, but Una guesses she is actually afraid of singing to James Kirk. Referencing her time in 21st Century Toronto, La’An claims her feelings pose a space-time security risk and decides to just tell James what is on her mind. The fervor instigates another catchy tune, allowing Number One to recommend that sometimes it’s best to be your own best friend and keep your secrets safe inside you. Una deactivates the room’s artificial gravity, ultimately announcing she wishes she had never become so good at keeping secrets.

In the Transporter Room, La’An speaks to James as they work to refine the molecular imaging scanner and isolate subspace particles from the fold. They succeed and transfer the particles to Engineering, inspiring Kirk to say he and La’An should collaborate more often. La’An takes a deep breath, but an explosion rocks the ship.

A concerned Pike, flanked by Spock and Una, look ahead at the viewscreen on the bridge of the Enterprise in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

Standing on the Bridge, Pike, Number One, and Spock assess the experiment in front of a map of the Federation-Klingon border. Hitting just a few subatomic particles nearly blew up Engineering, so firing on the field would destroy everything connected to the Federation’s subspace network. Uhura alerts them to a hail from an incoming vessel, and Spock detects a signal with Klingon encryption. Number One is unenthusiastic about the prospect of singing Klingons, but the tension escalates when Uhura replays a message from the Klingon ship. The improbability field has reached them, and General Garkog of the Imperial Klingon Defense Force calls the disturbance a Federation invasion. The Klingons plan to destroy the fold and warn Starfleet not to oppose them.

Back in the Ready Room, Pike and most of his senior staff agree that — by firing upon the fold — the Klingons would inadvertently destroy the Federation and half of their own Empire. Disinclined to strike first and commit an act of war, Pike wants Noonien-Singh and James Kirk to devise a tactical strategy to disable their opponents’ disruptor cannons and torpedo launchers. The captain turns his attention to the remote prospect of shutting down the improbability field before the Klingons are within range, assigning Spock and Uhura to explore new possibilities.

In the corridor, Uhura marvels over Spock’s scheme to study the songs and the frequencies the moment they begin. Isolating a pattern in the improbability field could reveal how to generate an improbability-breaking event. Wishing to use overwhelming emotion to trigger a song, Uhura brings Spock to see Chapel in the Enterprise ’s Port Galley. The nurse celebrates her fellowship with Ortegas and Sam Kirk, who toast to her achievement. In Sam’s view, they can’t put their lives on hold every time the ship is in trouble. Spock and Uhura join them. The Vulcan congratulates Chapel and inquires why she did not share the news with him — was it intentional? Chapel is not interested in talking about it now, but Spock presses the issue...

Christine Chapel, overwhelmed by emotions, erupts in song in the Enterprise's mess in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

The elevated emotions give way to the rise of a new melody, and Uhura seizes the chance to take scans with her tricorder. Chapel croons, elaborating on how the fellowship changes everything — a distant dream has become real. The nurse’s joy spreads to the other officers in the lounge, and the room joins in with song and dance. Buoyed by the possibilities, Chapel acknowledges she’s prepared to let Spock go, a confession which silences the crowd and sends Spock to the exit.

La’An and James utilize the Ready Room’s display to assess the vulnerabilities of the approaching K’t’inga -class battlecruiser, but James revisits what La’An had intended to tell him back in the Transporter Room. Uncrossing her arms, the security chief bravely conveys her time-traveling adventure with the alternate James Kirk. The other James saw La’An for who she really was, and — through his eyes — she could finally see her own potential. As someone unburdened by tragedy, she could be free to take chances and make connections. James ponders her words before convincing La’An to acknowledge that she also likes the way he looks at her. James feels their connection, but reveals he’s in a “sometimes” relationship — and his partner Carol, a scientist on Starbase 1, is pregnant.*** La’An is overwhelmed with speechlessness.

Uhura finds Spock down in Engineering, and the duo analyze their fresh data in search of a pattern. Rattled by Chapel’s certainty over ending their relationship, Spock sees the logic in her decision, yet he is still hurt. The self-reflection turns into song, and the Vulcan admonishes himself for thinking he and Christine shared the same feelings. Now the ex, Spock concludes he must follow reason — his true north. Spock apologizes and departs, leaving Uhura to wax poetically about needing to find a pattern in their data. Loneliness overwhelms the ensign, and she reminisces over her parents, brother, and the late chief engineer, Hemmer. In a life defined by love and loss, Uhura has found purpose by keeping others connected, an observation which sparks a pivotal idea — and rays of exuberance — within the ensign.

Now in the Ready Room, Uhura presents her findings to the captain. Every time someone sings, the state of quantum improbability in the field spikes. If they can push that spike to 344 giga-electron volts, it would shatter the fold. Uhura has found the improbability-breaking event, but two additional K’t’inga -class battlecruisers are headed their way. The singing has caused many relationships to be torn apart on the ship, but Uhura highlights music’s communal properties. Citing the backup vocals she helped supply to Chapel in the Port Galley, Uhura surmises that a grand finale with melodies and harmonies with tone ratios that achieve algorithmic and logarithmic balance on a mass scale — the whole crew needs to sing together. Spock is curious as to how they could rouse the entire crew’s emotions at once, but Pike expresses his confidence in Uhura’s ability to see connections and inspire song.

The Enterprise crew breaks out in song and dance on the bridge in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

On the Bridge, Pike sits in the captain’s chair and addresses the Enterprise via a shipwide broadcast. He entrusts their lives to Ensign Uhura — the voice of the Enterprise . At her Communications station, Uhura speaks to her colleagues, focusing on the threads that connect them. Her impactful speech causes her to start singing, emboldening other crew members to enact elaborate choreographed moves. La’An and Spock join in, and the giga-electron volts reading climbs. The chorus grows, with officers throughout the vessel voicing their dedication to Starfleet and its mission.

A perimeter alert chimes, notifying the Enterprise that the three Klingon battlecruisers have reached their position. Invigorated and electrified, the crew praise one another. Uhura hails the Klingons, who deliver a pop-infused threat. The music resumes aboard the Enterprise , and various officers lock arms in friendship around the Bridge. The quantum improbability state spike hits 344 giga-electron volts, eliciting a tremendous burst of light and energy from the field. The plan has succeeded! The elated Bridge crew exchange smiles and congratulatory remarks.

Garkog and his Klingon crew appear on the Enterprise's viewscreen as they are also affected by the subspace musical anomaly in 'Subspace Rhapsody'

La’An broods over a drink in the Port Galley, telling Una about what happened between her and James. Even in the face of her pain, La’An is glad she took the chance to share her feelings with Kirk. Meanwhile, in the captain’s quarters, Pike cooks for Captain Batel, who emphasizes that not even Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon could make her forget Pike singing about lying to her. Batel proclaims their relationship will never work if Pike isn’t more comfortable being honest with her. Pike agrees, but Batel must soon leave for a Priority One mission. The couple promises they’ll decide on a vacation when she returns.

An unsteady Spock wobbles onto the Bridge, having just returned from engaging in diplomacy with the Klingons over bloodwine. At her station, Uhura acknowledges the receipt of a transmission from the U.S.S. Nimerfro . At Captain Pike’s request, the Communications officer scans for nearby vessels to share their fold-related findings. Uhura hums a melody, drawing worried glances from her shipmates. Noticing their unease, Uhura apologizes and assures them the humming was caused by an earworm — not another musical reality! The captain sighs in relief, and Uhura resumes her duties.

Illustrated banner featuring text 'Canon Connection'

* " What Are Little Girls Made Of? " - The U.S.S. Enterprise searches for exobiologist Dr. Roger Korby, Nurse Christine Chapel's fiancé, on the planet Exo III. Chapel had signed onto the Enterprise in hopes of finding Korby, who is known as "Pasteur of archeological medicine." His expedition had left him stranded on an icy planet with 'The Old Ones,' ancient android natives that have since been extinct.

** " Q&A " - This Star Trek: Short Treks episode reveals Spock's first day aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise . While stuck on the turbolift with Number One, the ensign is allowed to barrage her and the other crewmen with questions until he becomes an annoyance. The first officer observed his smile when he beamed aboard the ship and cautions him to keep his "freaky" under wraps if he hopes to be in command one day. She then shares her freaky by singing Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” She then forces Spock into secrecy once the moment passes, which he's forced to betray during her court-martial trial in " Ad Astra per Aspera ," revealing her secret affinity to musicals.

*** Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Carol Marcus was first introduced this film. Investigating Dr. Marcus' complaint, Kirk and his crew board the Regula I , and then the planetoid below it where he reunites with his old love Carol. A ruse set in motion by Khan Noonien Singh propels David Marcus — Carol and Kirk's son — to discover who his father is.

" Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Main Theme (Subspace Rhapsody Version) " - Jeff Russo
" Status Report " - Anson Mount, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Melissa Navia, Celia Rose Gooding, Babs Olusanmokun, Paul Wesley, Carol Kane, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" Connect to Your Truth " - Rebecca Romijn, Paul Wesley, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" How Would That Feel " - Christina Chong, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" Private Conversation " - Anson Mount, Melanie Scrofano, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" Keeping Secrets " - Rebecca Romijn, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" I'm Ready " - Jess Bush, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Dan Jeannotte, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" I'm the X " - Ethan Peck, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" Keep Us Connected " - Celia Rose Gooding, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" We Are One " - Anson Mount, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Melissa Navia, Celia Rose Gooding, Babs Olusanmokun, Dan Jeannotte, Paul Wesley, Carol Kane, Tom Polce, Kay Hanley
" Subspace Rhapsody End Credit Medley " - Tom Polce, Kay Hanley

Illustrated banner stating 'Log Credits'

Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Dermott Downs

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Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ Is TV’s Best Musical Episode Since ‘Buffy’

I n “Subspace Rhapsody,” the penultimate episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” second season, a mishap involving a recording of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” and a “subspace fold” causes what the franchise’s technobabble labels an “improbability field:” a glitch in reality that forces the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise to behave like they’re in a musical, bursting into song at inopportune times. Immediately after the big stage-setting ensemble number, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) holds a meeting to figure out what happened, and security officer La’an (Christina Chong) rolls her eyes and asks “What’s next? More improbability, or will we suddenly just poof into bunnies?”

The joke, in the context of the episode, feels slightly random and out of step with the show’s typical sense of humor. But for anyone who has ever watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the reference to bunnies instantly brings to mind a specific song from another musical episode, maybe the most famous one in the subgenre — “Bunnies,” Anya’s (Emma Caulfield) rock solo in Season 6’s “Once More With Feeling.”

“Once More With Feeling,” which focuses on the cast of the teen fantasy drama fighting a demon that cursed the town of Sunnydale into singing their inner thoughts, wasn’t the first musical-themed episode of TV ever produced; there was a 1997 episode of medical procedural “Chicago Hope” where the cast burst into song as a result of brain aneurysm-induced hallucinations, to name one example. But the “Buffy” episode is notable for the acclaim that it received, becoming a fan favorite in a series that already drew obsessive adoration from its audience. And in the years since its 2001 release, it has seemingly inspired other shows to force their characters to belt their hearts out in (hopefully) epic fashion for an installment or two.

Medical dramas like “Scrubs” and “Grey’s Anatomy” cribbed a little from “Chicago Hope” with episodes where patients hallucinated musical numbers from their doctors. “The Flash” and “Supergirl” crossed over in an episode where Darren Criss’ Musical Meister inspired the heroes to sing the extremely silly song “Super Friend.” “Psych” made a full two hour event out of its seventh season musical episode. Even “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” dipped into the fun, with its well-loved “The Nightman Cometh” episode about the gang putting on an incoherent rock opera.

The appeal of the musical episode, separate from full on musical shows like “Glee,” is obvious; it’s an easy way to make an installment that departs from formula and sticks out as memorable, and the extra level of time and effort involved in bringing one together can be impressive. But in practice, the majority of musical episodes tend to be frustratingly superficial, gimmicky ploys for attention that dilute rather than enhance a show’s narrative; look at the series of “Riverdale” episodes that focus on the cast’s school productions of musicals like “Carrie” or “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” as examples, installments that clumsily graft the shows’ songs onto the characters with little to no regard for how they fit into the storylines of the people singing them. The question that underlines every piece of musical theater is what do the songs and dances achieve that dialogue and blocking cannot; most one-off musical episodes don’t try to bother answering.

So it’s delightful that “Subspace Rhapsody,” which could be a cheesy disaster, ends up one of the most satisfying and fun episodes of “Strange New Worlds” consistently great second season . And while it has surface-level pleasures — songs from Tom Polce and Kay Hanley of the alt rock band Letters to Cleo that adapt the franchise’s terminology to amusing ends, a cast whose musical abilities range from “trying their best” (Mount, mostly speak singing) to legitimately great (Celia Rose Gooding, a Tony nominee for the Alanis Morissette musical “Jagged Little Pill”), rapping Klingons — it primarily succeeds by taking a lesson directly from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s” handbook.

In “Once More With Feeling,” the central conceit of the curse that musical demon Sweet (Hinton Battle) places on Sunnydale is that the songs that the citizens are forced to sing reveal their deepest truths. For the Scooby Gang, this means Giles (Anthony Head) and Tara (Amber Benson) both realize they need to abandon the person they love for very different reasons, while Anya and her fiancé Xander (Nicholas Brendon) share their mutual doubts about their impending nuptials. Most prominently, the entrance into a musical reality causes Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) to finally open up about the intense depression she’s been feeling all season, and give herself over to her desire for former enemy Spike (James Marsters).

It’s a story that succeeds because it leans into and comments on what makes musicals special, how the songs act as expressions of happiness, anger, despair, lust, or love too intense to properly be described in words. Future TV shows that feature musical sequences every episode — such as the satirical “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” or the jukebox “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” — would adopt a similar tactic for how they deployed musical sequences, acting as fantasy windows into the inner lives of characters that don’t communicate their real thoughts with each other.

And “Subspace Rhapsody” almost directly pulls “Once More With Feeling’s” fantasy musical logic into its sci-fi universe. Early on, Gooding’s Uhura, the resident musical theater geek on the ship, explains how the new reality the crew is briefly living in works; they sing when their emotions are their most intense, overriding rational thinking and giving way into a vocalization of their purest id.

The curse of being forced to reveal your innermost secrets through song is a particularly cruel one to put on the cast of “Strange New Worlds.” As a crew of highly decorated officers for Starfleet, the main characters of the show aren’t exactly a cold bunch, but they’re a group whose interactions and relationships are undergirded by the Enterprise chain of command. Many characters, like Rebecca Romijn’s Una Chin-Riley, purposefully keep themselves at a distance from their subordinates due to their own secrets or past traumas. Spock (Ethan Peck), a character synonymous with cold logic over emotional openness, is one of the main faces on the ship.

So under the rules of a musical reality, the formalities inherent to the crew’s positions fall away, and the characters are forced to express what they’re actually thinking. Rather than being the one-off gimmick episode musical experiments tend to be (again, “Once More With Feeling,” which altered the course of its season in several ways, is a major exception), Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff’s script for “Subspace Rhaspody” uses its songs to advance almost every major subplot in the show, provoking the buttoned up crew into uncomfortable honesty. Co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman even joked to IndieWire’s Christian Blauvelt that he wished every Episode 9 of a 10-episode season could be a musical episode , for how quickly the format can resolve season-long character arcs — and to emotionally satisfying effect.

Una comes to an emotional realization about the effect hiding her status as an augment has had on her life, Pike admits his doubts and worries about his relationship with girlfriend Batel (Melanie Scrofano), and Uhura is able to express, and heal slightly from, the trauma of her mentor Hemmer’s (Bruce Horak) death in Season 1. The empathetic Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) vocalizes, through a free-wheeling group number, that she prioritizes her career over her nascent romance with Spock, who in turn sings a response song expressing his humiliation and a resolve to further bury his human side. These are all revelations that theoretically could be done in a non-musical episode, but the beauty of “Subspace Rhapsody” is how the songs so efficiently break down the cast’s emotional barriers, shifting the way they communicate with one another entirely.

The character most affected by the “improbability field” is La’an, who in the season’s third episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” met and fell in love with an alternate version of original series star James Kirk (played in “Strange New Worlds” by Paul Wesley), thanks to some time travel convolutions. With Kirk aboard the ship for the episode, La’an grows paranoid about revealing her lingering feelings for “her” Kirk to a man she mostly doesn’t know, and from the privacy of her quarters sings a “Let It Go” type ballad about her desires for love and her inability to pursue anything in life without caution.

In the episode’s best scene, La’an decides to come clean about her unusual circumstances to Kirk before the musical logic forces her into it. Kirk is gracious and sympathetic, but awkwardly reveals he’s already in a relationship (with Carol Marcus, who “Star Trek” fans will remember from “The Wrath of Khan”). Chong, very often the show’s MVP, plays her reaction beautifully, with a wistful sadness and longing for what could have been palpable in her every word. You expect her to break out into song at some point, but it never comes. For a very brief moment, La’an doesn’t need music to say what she’s feeling.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is now streaming on Paramount+. The Season 2 finale premieres August 10.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

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Watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Cast & Crew

Anson Mount

Captain Christopher Pike

Rebecca Romijn

Science Officer Spock

Nurse Christine Chapel

Christina Chong

La'an Noonien-Singh

Celia Rose Gooding

Nyota Uhura

Let’s Rank the Songs of ‘Strange New Worlds’ Musical Episode, ‘Subspace Rhapsody’

At last, the Star Trek: Strange New World s musical episode is here! TMS’ Lauren Coates has us covered with a review of “Subspace Rhapsody” as a whole, but I’m here to talk specifically about the music . After all, a musical is judged by how likely you are to keep singing and listening to the songs long after the show is over. At least, that’s how I rate musicals.

So, how does the music stack up? Allow me to provide a humble ranking of the songs from “Subspace Rhapsody” from least to most awesome. Feel free to disagree with me about the order in the comments!

10. “ How Would That Feel ” – La’an Noonien-Singh (performed by Christina Chong)

Image of Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." She is a mixed race white and Chinese woman with dark hair pulled tightly back in a ponytail formed by two braids. She's wearing a red Starfleet uniform as she sits seriously at a conference table.

Sadly, my least favorite song was performed by one of the characters I was most looking forward to hearing from.

La’an’s going through a lot: she traveled through time, she’s not supposed to talk about it, and she had romantic feelings for a version of Kirk who is now dead. She’s also one of the more guarded members of the crew, due to her harrowing experience with the Gorn and the assumptions people make from her last name. I was sure we wouldn’t hear from La’an for a while, but when we did, it would be meaningful .

Instead, we got a La’an song way too early, singing feelings I’m not convinced she’d sing, even on her own. Especially since she had the self-control not to sing when revealing her actual strong feelings to Kirk later in the episode. Imagine how much more powerful Kirk’s rejection would’ve been if it followed a heartbreakingly honest musical confession. Instead, we were served an emotionally incoherent, lyrically generic ballad way too early in the episode.

9. “ Keeping Secrets ” – Una Chin-Riley (performed by Rebecca Romijn)

Image of Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." She is a white woman with long dark hair pulled into a high, 1960s-style ponytail and wearing a gold Starfleet uniform. She is singing to La'an who stands out of focus in the foreground with her back to the camera.

Una Chin-Riley is another character who’s way more fascinating than the songs she was given. Unfortunately, Una’s two numbers in the episode are among the weakest. “Keeping Secrets” is the weaker of the two, as Una commiserates with La’an by comparing her unrequited love of Kirk to … her own battle to keep her identity a secret to avoid persecution? Una, all secrets are not equal. And in this context, Number One doesn’t know the timey-wimey reasons why La’an’s feelings for Kirk are so complicated. So, the fact that her approach is this serious in this song makes little sense.

I’d be able to forgive that if the music or lyrics were more interesting, but like “How Would That Feel,” this was another plodding, generic ballad during which I found myself checking my phone.

8. “ Connect to Your Truth ” – Una Chin-Riley and James T. Kirk (performed by Rebecca Romijn and Paul Wesley)

“Connect to Your Truth” was a stronger song for Number One, not only because it was a fun callback to her love of Gilbert & Sullivan—which she expressed in the Short Treks episode “Q&A” —but because it was a duet with a James T. Kirk who is not yet a captain. This allowed Una to give Kirk advice on how to be a better leader by staying true to who you are and connecting to your crew through vulnerability.

Also, this song was fun , which goes a long way. While this song is only slightly better than the first two songs on this list (and it’s probably the cheesiest song in the episode), both Romijn and Wesley seemed to be having a great time singing it. The song also makes sense on a character level as well as thematically.

7. “Main Title (“Subspace Rhapsody” Version)” – composed by Jeff Russo

I love when a themed episode of a TV show goes to the trouble of creating something different for the opening title sequence. SNW already did this once with a Lower Decks -inspired opening for “Those Old Scientists.” For “Subspace Rhapsody,” composer Jeff Russo orchestrated a boppy, choral version of the opening theme that will give you chills.

Hearing this version in the trailer truly got me excited about watching the episode! Literally the only reason for its “low” placement on this list is that it’s an instrumental and not really a “song,” but it needed to be on here!

6. “ Private Conversation ” – Christopher Pike and Marie Batel (performed by Anson Mount and Melanie Scrofano)

Image of Anson Mount as Captain Pike and Melanie Scrofano as Captain Batel in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.' Pike is out of focus in the foreground with his back turned to the camera. We see Batel, a white woman with long, brown hair wearing a gold Starfleet uniform on the large bridge viewscreen. She looks upset.

“Private Conversation” is a fun and hilariously awkward moment between two characters who are still trying to figure out what their romantic relationship looks like long distance.

Before any of the singing starts, we know that Pike and Batel have been discussing taking a vacation together. As Batel shares her preferred destination, it’s clear that Pike isn’t into it. But rather than being upfront about it, he deflects. Then, despite being so not thrilled about the singing, Pike is forced to reveal how he feels in song when Uhura patches a call from Batel to him on the bridge.

Hearing them both absolutely hate that they’re being compelled to sing while also having an awkward lovers’ squabble in front of subordinate crew members was an absolute delight.

5. “ Status Report ” – Enterprise Crew (performed by the SNW Cast)

Image of Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.' He is a white man with perfectly coiffed salt-and-pepper hair wearing a gold Starfleet uniform. He's on the bridge of the Enterprise with his head bowed in frustration absolutely hating the fact that everyone has suddenly burst into song.

“Status Report” understood the assignment, and is a perfect opening number for a Star Trek musical. It manages to sound very Trek (technobabble and all), while also sounding like a true musical number. Every cast member takes part in the number in a way that is true to their character. The song is a perfect, fun, and funny introduction to the unique nature of the problem: there’s nothing technically “wrong” on the ship, and yet there’s something very, very wrong on the ship.

I mean, just look at Pike’s face above. He really, really hates that this is happening, and I love it so much .

4. “ I’m the X ” – Spock (performed by Ethan Peck)

Image of Ethan Peck as Spock in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.' He is a white Vulcan with pointed ears and short, black hair. He's wearing a blue Starfleet uniform and is looking off into the distance, despondent.

This darker, angrier reprise to Nurse Chapel’s song (which is slightly higher up on the list) is not only a perfect song for Spock at this point in his life, but it marks the beginning of the more stoic Spock that we (and Boimler) will come to know in the future. Freshly dumped by his fiancée, Spock learns that the woman he basically left her for has no qualms about leaving him to take a fellowship. So Spock decides that the only way to handle this is to put away emotions entirely . Oh, Spock. You adorable stupid jerk.

And leave it to Spock to sing a song about emotions and romantic relationships that uses math as a metaphor. I mean, it’s no “ The Math of Love Triangles ” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend , but it is more accurate about math.

3. “ I’m Ready ” – Christine Chapel (performed by Jess Bush)

Image of Jess Bush as Christine Chapel in a scene from 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.' She is a white woman with chin-length blonde hair wearing a white Starfleet uniform. She's looking up at the ceiling mid-song with her hands held up to her chest.

Thankfully, not all the women of the cast got sub-par songs to work with. “I’m Ready” has the distinction of being the only song in the episode that truly works both as a song for Chapel (in the context of the story) and as a completely standalone song that I cannot wait to hear someone crush at karaoke.

It’s also a great song musically and has a fun, flirtatious energy. Not flirty as in “with a person,” but flirting with the possibilities of life. And I love that the song subverts TOS Chapel, whom we see pining after Spock all the time. “I’m Ready” gives us a Christine who has feelings for Spock, but is more in love with her own future. Like Billie Eilish .

2. “ We Are One ” – Enterprise Crew (performed by the SNW Cast)

Screengrab from the 'Strange New Worlds' musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody." Captain Pike is in the center of several crew members on the bridge, all of whom have their arms in the air, mid-song.

“Subspace Rhapsody” came out of the gate strong with a solid opening number, and it ended strong with a finale as optimistic as Star Trek is at its best. Of course the solution was going to be that we need more voices singing . Of course the solution was going to come from Uhura, Trek’s Queen of Communication. And of course, Uhura was going to highlight that music isn’t just about expressing one’s bad or secret feelings, it’s about expressing the good ones too!

She rightfully points out that cultures throughout history have used songs to celebrate and engage in communal activities, and she reminds the Enterprise crew that they are always at their best when they work together. “We Are One” ended the episode on a joyful note that made me proud to be a Trekkie.

1. “ Keep Us Connected ” – Nyota Uhura (performed by Celia Rose Gooding)

The clear standout of the episode is Uhura’s passionate ballad, “Keep Us Connected.” This song is an emotional roller coaster, and it was the one song in the episode that made me cry.

First, it honored a Trek legacy character whose contributions can never be praised enough. Second, it was deeply personal for Uhura, charting her journey from experiencing the death of her family at a young age to making a career out of bringing people together, giving her a depth that she’s rarely been given elsewhere. And third, because this song resonates on the same level as Encanto ‘s “Surface Pressure,” relatable to every woman who’s ever felt the pressure of, and recognized the strength required for, the invisible labor in which they so often engage in to care for others.

And Gooding performs the song brilliantly. They have an amazing voice, and while it took the entire cast to make me feel this strongly during the opener and the finale, Gooding was the only cast member able to elicit this level of emotion all on their own. I loved that what started as a song of grief and self-pity turned into Uhura recognizing that her ability to help others communicate is a gift. And in recognizing this gift, they arrive at the solution that saves the Enterprise from being a forever musical.

I will be listening to this song on a loop all weekend. You can, too, as the soundtrack for “Subspace Rhapsody” is available wherever you stream music.

(featured image: Paramount+)

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

“Subspace Rhapsody”

Air date: 8/3/2023 Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff Directed by Dermott Downs

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

Well, that was delightful.

Let it be said that the idea of Star Trek: The Musical was not an automatic winner in my book. I figured this had an even chance of being an embarrassingly goofy misfire. But "Subspace Rhapsody" is a swing for the fences that connects (as sure as Uhura's concluding effort to bring the crew of the Enterprise together in song), and it runs an emotional gamut I was not expecting.

I mean, sure, the plot is completely absurd and the opening minutes had me fearing the possibility of a show that would collapse under the weight of its own conceit. But as the setting took hold, the episode managed to build more and more emotional resonance and tie into the characters in very specific ways.

As a framing device to set up the excuse for everyone breaking into song, the "subspace fold" that results in a universe-shifting "improbability field" — in this case, one that improbably makes everyone break into song — is about as solidly rooted in Trek technobabble as I could've realistically hoped for. The musical numbers are spread throughout the episode and interspersed with dialogue scenes that embed the premise into a standard Trek story. This gives the episode just enough structure to remain adequately grounded.

Beyond that, we have the musical numbers:

"Status Report," where the confused crew realizes they're breaking into song and try to figure out what they're dealing with.
"Connect to Your Truth," where Una sings to Jim Kirk about the importance of a commander connecting with their crew, something that took her too long to learn herself.
"How Would That Feel," a devastatingly emotional character study where La'an examines her outwardly cool and controlled persona, which is at war with her inner desires to do, and express, more — especially with regard to Kirk. This song makes La'an also realize, "When people sing, they are confessing highly personal emotional information" — which she notes is a security threat.
"Private Conversation," where Pike and Batel — after an earlier setup where an (again) evasive Pike says he wants to put a pin in the planning around an upcoming romantic getaway — comically argue about their relationship in front of the entire bridge.
"Keeping Secrets," where Una sings to La'an — again speaking from experience — about the emotional toll of keeping things to yourself instead of opening up to others. (I enjoyed the acknowledgement with their glances that they can hear the music start before they start singing.)
"I'm Ready," in which Chapel victoriously celebrates her hard work paying off in attaining a prestigious fellowship under Dr. Roger Korby (which we know will lead to something even more significant) — and where Spock painfully realizes exactly where he stands.
"I'm the X," where Spock sings about being dumped and blames himself for abandoning reason in pursuing the relationship with Chapel.
"Keep Us Connected," where Uhura recognizes the key patterns to solve the sci-fi mystery, and realizes the entire crew of the ship must sing together to collapse the subspace fold and save the galaxy — and where Celia Rose Gooding absolutely brings the house down.
"We Are One," in which the entire ship joins together to bring it all home. This goes full song-and-dance number on the bridge, and if the dance choreography lands in the "nice try" category and the earnestness of the sentimentality edges close to camp, the message is absolutely on-target. Bruce Horak (Hemmer) makes an appearance as a Klingon captain on a ship that hilariously breaks out into K-pop. (Una earlier had said, "The last thing anyone wants is singing Klingons.")

Obviously, some of these songs are better than others, and your mileage will vary when it comes to ranking them, but what I appreciated about this episode were the thematic character threads running through it, and the way nearly every character got their due. Granted, some get more to do than others, but it's spread around generously. (Ortegas and M'Benga were the most clearly short-changed here, and it's perhaps noteworthy that Ortegas has been the character to get the least spotlight and substance all season.)

Uhura is the heart of the episode, starting with her at the beginning being the glue that holds the ship's communications together as she serves as switchboard operator in the absence of automation that's been disabled by the anomaly's interference, and continuing through to the end where she puts the pieces together and unites the ship in song.

But the emotional core of the story is La'an's, whose personal crisis is the most emotionally affecting. Her confession to Kirk, where she reveals how she met a version of him in " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ," is touching, all the more so because of Christina Chong's vulnerable performance. I wasn't a big fan of "Tomorrow," but this payoff almost makes that episode worth it. (As it turns out, Kirk is in the "on-again" stage of his on-again/off-again relationship with Carol Marcus, and as it happens, she's currently pregnant, making Kirk, well, unavailable. It's a smart way to tie this story into the pre- TOS timeline.) I may never see Paul Wesley as fitting the Kirk mold, but that doesn't make his performance here any less solid.

This episode is all the more effective because it chooses not to simply be a lightweight romp. It explores the feelings of the characters and ties into their personal stories that have been playing out all season. Like I said, it runs the gamut, from the rousing and victorious to the somber and reflective.

I'm by no means an expert on musicals, and I rarely go out of my way to watch them (the last musical I saw was Hamilton in Chicago in 2019), but the cast here seemed to acquit themselves nicely, with Gooding (especially) and Chong and Romijn being the standouts. I'd imagine an off-format episode like this is difficult to make on a TV production schedule (Tom Polce and Kay Hanley were brought in to write the songs). They went for broke here and they pulled off a beauty.

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Comment Section

282 comments on this post, voxymandias.

This is absolutely not my cup of tea usually, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I was worried this sort of format wouldn't work, but given the framing, it really did for me.

A STUNNING SUBSPACE FOLD!! FRAK YES ! I just wanted more ALIENS and maybe MUSICAL ALIENS! But this is much better than last week's alien -free, anomaly-free, new-world free dirge-fest...

Jeffrey's Tube

Four stars. Yes, really. The show took a Really Big Swing, it went for it and Tried Something, and it completely pulled it off as far as I'm concerned. "Hail the Klingons, Uhura." I had to pause the playback for several minutes I was laughing so hard. If you didn't like this because you can't get over how "it's not Star Trek," then, well, you're a sourpuss who doesn't like fun. End of. . . . That said, this is something that works because you only do it once.

Visitor1982

'There's... Klingons on starboard side, starboard side, starboard side...'

The universe, being so vast, should be full of wonder and strange, improbable things. A ship exploring that universe should come across the "just plain weird" sometimes. Like a giant space Amoeba, or a planet that's an exact copy of Earth down to the landmasses except only children survive, or a planet full of 1920s gangsters . . . you get it. This fits in that spirit. I love it. (Once.)

Another thing I really liked is that they didn't lean too hard into the humor and they resisted going camp. Despite the absurdity of what is happening with them all bursting out into song and dance at inopportune times that reveal feelings they would otherwise keep hidden from each other, it IS a crisis they are in and it is treated as such. The crew approach resolving it with Starfleet professionalism. They could have, for example, had La'an phasering herself (on stun) to stop herself from having to sing, or written a song for Spock that was all catchphrases with a refrain of him singing "most illogical," or other things like that. They didn't. They avoided the temptation, and they made the musical anomaly a threat that actually had stakes. They gave the unfolding situation real teeth.

A charming episode overall, with emotional, character insights and implications aplenty (e.g., receiving personally bad news via collective, gleeful song would certainly cause most anyone, be it Vulcan or otherwise, to shut themselves out from their emotions and others). Viewers mileage with this episode may vary - I'm not particularly a fan of musicals, and found some of the numbers to be a bit cringey - but I will give the writers and staff great credit for taking the leap, and possibly creating an episode that may hit a note, pun intended, with a new or different audience. And, finally, props to Celia Rose Gooding. What an incredible performance. She's sneakily 'stealing the show' this season. Love her work and what she's added to the character of Uhura.

Coulda been an absolute knockout (and it was looking like it mighta been), but goddamn did they overdo that finale. And maybe a couple less songs of people standing around in rooms would have helped. Still a solid 7/10

UESPA_Sputnik

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.

Loved it to pieces, but the episode made Chapel look like a stone cold biotch.

A fabulous episode. Perhaps the best of the series to date. Perhaps a *tad* overlong, but fabulous nonetheless with a genuine Trekkian spirit.

LOL...People wondering about the chapel and spock break up thing? well that is what you get when you have a star trek show do a riverdale love arc like the spock/chapel/tpring stuff. the couple don't last for up to 3 episodes. Also I think this show has been very disrespectful to spock and to chapel characters. jess bush chapel is nothing like the tos version, not even close and in this episode, that really showed in a way that hurt chapel character. SNW wanted to apologise to chapel for been a laughing stock in tos by turning her into this sexy confident action chick but that is not the character and in this episode it showed. jess bush could have been a new character and nothing would have been lost. laslty the spock/chapel stuff should never have happened because it started it crap writing and went no where. their story line was poor. when all is over spock/chapel will be one of the worst trek couples ever. their 60s dynamic was better. this is what happens when extreme feminist take over star trek stories, they make it worse.

MidshipmanNorris

Made it 18 minutes and 12 seconds in...yeah no I got nothin', I can't watch this, I can't analyze it, I dunno what to say...I detest musical theatre and this changes nothing

I loathe musicals… But this was actually good. No, I don’t want another musical episode. But as one-time experiment, it was a success. At no point, did I find myself cringing. OK, maybe when the Klingons went all Bollywood. In general, there wasn’t a weak singer in the mix. Nobody who made me want to hit mute. As for the story, sure it was an excuse to force everyone to sing. But it actually worked, both advancing storylines and giving us insight to characters. Boy, I feel really bad for Spock and La’an. I half expected to see them sitting at the bar commiserating. Although I guess he did plenty of drinking with the Klingons. I do think the episode made Chapel look bad. We know she’s ambitious, but it does seem like she was too quick to discard a relationship that she initiated. And to the person above who complained about “extreme feminism”, whatever that means, it’s 2023, not 1950. Overall, this one episode was more fun than 4 seasons of Discovery and 2 seasons of Picard. I applaud the show runners for daring to take chances.

Here are my initial impressions: * THE DARN THING WORKS!!!!! * The Science Fiction behind the singing was actually presented in a logical fashion. Just ask “The X”! (Spock in a solo.) * The entire experience was absolutely delightful!! EVEN THE SINGING KLINGONS!!! * I counted 10 original songs — and it started with, appropriately, the classic “Anything Goes”! * I really believe Chapel acts so “cold” to Spock due to the events she learned in “Those Old Scientists”. As she indicated in “Charades”, the last thing she would ever want to do is remove Spock’s Vulcan side. And Boimler’s unintended disclosure made her feel as though she was doing just that — just by being in the relationship. Overall, a Very Successful and Unique Episode!!!

They pulled it off! It seems this stellar cast can do anything! * * * *

@Joseph B Excellent point about Chapel’s conversation with Boimler. Because it happened during a light-hearted episode, it was easy to downplay the seriousness of that revelation. If she knows that Spock is eventually going to embrace his Vulcan side and therefore this relationship is probably doomed, then why string Spock along? It does feel like a self-fulfilling prophecy though. Does the breakup cause Spock to reject his human side? I hope this is addressed in the next episode.

I just wondered what Boimler would say if Lucsly and Dulmur ask him whether it was a predistination paradox.

Hard to believe we've only got one episode left until what will likely be a very long break. Next week has to be about the Gorn, so that doesn't bode well for Batel and her Priority One mission. In Amok Time Spock made that observation about the difference between wanting and having. I don't think that's actually true about Chapel, but to Spock it could sure look that way.

Karl Zimmerman

Man, I can't believe they pulled it off. Not every choice made in the episode was my cup of tea, but my hats go off to them. I'm not really a musical fan - I wouldn't say I'm a musical hater by any means, but they're not something I go out of my way to look for. But the songs were serviceable to certified bangers, and it turns out everyone on the cast can sing (aside from maybe Babs - M'Benga singing little here makes sense, though. Otherwise, he would have confessed to being a murderer. The penultimate song - the solo by Uhura - was fantastic, though I know Celia Rose Gooding actually has a musical theatre background, so they were saving the best for last. The inclusion of Pelia here was a bit weird to me because she contributed nothing to either the plot or really the singing (I wouldn't expect Carol Kane to have a golden singing voice). The emotional beats worked well for the characters also. We got a culmination of several character arcs built up across the show to date, with Spock/Chapel and La'an's internal turmoil around Kirk. Also, Uhura getting to reflect upon her own pain. I didn't find the Pike/Batel stuff very convincing, but it seems like they're just setting up Batel to die horribly in the finale anyway, so whatever. The plot was, of course, total nonsense, but there's no way that a "musical episode" could have a sensical plot. It was either this or something like "a Q did it." All of that is completely forgiven. Still, even though they hit it out of the park in terms of executing what they wanted to do, some of it didn't work for me. I felt a few of the songs just dragged a bit too long, particularly Una's song to La'an, and La'an's solo. I found myself drifting out of focusing on the episode, reflecting on how different the storytelling is for a musical than a regular drama. Musicals don't show, they tell - the characters just directly say what they're feeling, which you can't get away with in books/movies/TV. This makes sense as shorthand within a musical because things have to move quickly, and that's actually how we get to know the inner voice of the characters. But...the songs here basically told us stuff we already knew about the characters. Yes, there was drama related to the other characters finding out, but from a narrative perspective, we didn't really need the songs to understand what was going on between the characters ourselves. They were just there for fun, which is why - once they made their point - I thought a few overstayed their welcome. Final thought: The Klingon "boy band" scene was possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in Trek and will live rent-free in my head for the rest of my life.

I haven't enjoyed this show. The powers that be could have told the Pike/Una/Spock story without including Uhura, MBenga, Kirk, or Chapel. But the writers didn't do that, and we now have retcon after retcon for a large number of characters. And these actors are mostly all great, but none fully capture the original character except maybe Pike and Una who have the benefit of only really being in one produced episode. With those gripes aside, this was great and worth watching. They should never try this again. But Peck's delivery of the opening line in the first song had me in stitches.

Eric Jensen

Don't try this again, but it was really good Even though the opening credits/theme music was so good.

Even Robert Picardo had help with his opera singing on Voyager... so don't be surprised if the cast members had some help

Lt. Broccoli

@Gorn girl "this is what happens when extreme feminist take over star trek stories, they make it worse." Ah, it's always fun when it's someone's very first time watching Star Trek, ever, in their entire lives. Welcome to the fandom!

Nurse Chapel is way too hot on this show. I hate to say it but she won't age well

@DogFace "Does the breakup cause Spock to reject his human side?" But Spock NEVER fully rejects his human side. Think of his dying words in WoK, he first says to Kirk "Ship out of danger?" And then Kirk asks him WHY he did it and he gives the very logical consequentialist justification "the needs of the many..." but then a beat goes by (about the Kobayashi Mary) and he reaches out to Kirk emotionally, a human response, "I have been and always shall be...YOUR friend." And this shows his humanity and genuine feeling for his best friend. It's a moment in the movies that shaped my entire life, seeing that men could genuinely love each other and openly express that love and not ashamed or afraid of it (whether it is a platonic love or romantic). Spock's human side is always just under check and sometimes gets through the cracks. It is what made Nimoy's iconic performance so wonderfully powerful.

@ Scott, Not that there's anything wrong with Jess Bush, but I just don't understand the attention she's gotten. Out of all the female cast members, I'd probably rank her the least attractive. Not that she's ugly by any means (and I don't want to nitpick her), but she looks similar to any number of people I've known in real life and isn't a total stunner in terms of either face/body (admittedly, when it comes to the latter, the completely unflattering white jumpsuit doesn't help things).

Undesirable Element

Even as someone who really likes musical theatre, I had my doubts going into this episode. I was thinking, "Surely, this is a bridge too far." I didn't get how they could believably set this up. And then they did it. I'm impressed! And honestly, even if it had flopped, I've got tremendous respect for this show and the massive swings that it's willing to take sometimes. One of the things that eventually got really tiresome in Second Wave Trek (TNG - ENT) was the constant sameness in tone. Take DS9's "Rivals," which also played around with this same concept of improbability run amok but ended up not taking the big risks that would have made that episode work. It's by no means a *bad* episode, but it's not all that memorable (I even had to look up the title myself... and I LOVE DS9). Now on the flip side, Third Wave Trek (Disco and beyond) sometimes goes way too earnest... especially Disco and Picard. This show, however, consistently strikes that right balance of serious, earnest, insightful, lighthearted, and occasionally just plain goofy that the best of Trek can be. It's also surprising. I would have never expected something like this to work, and yet it does. Part of this might be the cast, which is just consistently impressive, with Christina Chong, Jess Bush, and Babs Olusanmokun being particular standouts. But the entire ensemble really gels together, with characters constantly interacting with everyone else and finding their chemistry in unique ways. It really FEELS like an ensemble show, as opposed to some of the others which can feel like "Burnham and Friends" or "Picard and Friends." There's also a focus on character when high concepts get rolled out. "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is a ridiculous premise but it focuses on La'an's loneliness. "Charades" has a ludicrous conceit but finds real depth in Spock and Amanda's relationship. "Those Old Scientists" and this episode might have the most insane setups of all and seem like they should fall flat, but they ended up saying so much about who these characters are and the journeys that they might be on. This is minor, but this show also really uses the graphics and special effects to enhance the storylines. I thought this was really noticeable in this episode in particular. The screen displays are really clear, help explain the plot, and still look really cool, futuristic, and realistic. The exterior shots are impressive and help to establish what's going on, but they don't usually go over the top without purpose. (The ships all spinning in time to the finale at the end... that's musicals, baby!) This is a bit more of a review of the show as a whole, but God knows... anything goes!

Lmao @Skylar complaining about not liking the show, yet being another one of these clowns whining endlessly while consistently watching the show after midnight the day it releases. “I hate it so much and something something retcons (as if the precision of the backstories of these characters actually matters that much) but I’ll stay up past midnight to watch it every week. Can’t make you people up. Lmfao

Gorn with the Wind

@Lt. Broccoli The woke mind virus has infected Star Trek to such a degree that they cast a woman as Number One!

I am not into musicals much and I need them to have strong songs/numbers in order to captivate me and I can't say this episode's songs were anything special, I found them rather boring musically, at some point I had the subs on and mute on. BUT, I did enjoy the short Klingon Rap and at least this episode was indeed about a Strange New World! Which makes it 3 out of 9 so far?

I say this without exaggeration: I nearly fell out of my chair from laughter at the Eurovision Klingons. I was not remotely prepared for it. Mad bastards.

I loved the Klingon boy band, but I think the funniest thing for me was Anson Mount being unable to hide his Tennessee accent when he sings.

David M. Roberts

"I broke my own heart" !?! and April "in a surprisingly rich baritone" !!! The whole thing was absolutely brilliant... from plot mechanics to character arcs. and did I miss a line somewhere or do we now have what the opening and closing scenes were about ?.... Instant subspace communication.

@Chase It only sounds like a Tennesse (Appalachian) accent to us in the 21st Century, by the late 22nd/early 23rd century that is what folks from Montana (like Chris Pike) will sound like.

@Karl Zimmerman “Not that there's anything wrong with Jess Bush, but I just don't understand the attention she's gotten. Out of all the female cast members, I'd probably rank her the least attractive. Not that she's ugly by any means (and I don't want to nitpick her), but she looks similar to any number of people I've known in real life and isn't a total stunner in terms of either face/body (admittedly, when it comes to the latter, the completely unflattering white jumpsuit doesn't help things).” Boy you can tell who the young people are around here. Us older guys understand that attractiveness isn’t just about looks. A lot of it is personality. That’s what really comes through in Bush’s performance. But I get it. Star Trek fans are notorious for being fixated on looks, hence why we got characters like Seven and T’Pol. Sounds like some folks are just upset that Bush doesn’t look like a Barbie doll. @Gorn with the wind “The woke mind virus has infected Star Trek to such a degree that they cast a woman as Number One!” Is this supposed to be a parody of Rhonda Santis or Elon X?

@Karl Zimmerman jess bush chapel is the perfect example of white supremacy and white privilege. she is getting the attention because even though she is a generic blonde hot chick, society has always held that has the best standard of beauty. the actress is not all that in face. Zoe Saldana's Uhura is the best looking girlfriend spock had. you can see how pretty zoe is when she is in blue or green (avatar/gotg movies) to be honest I find laan to be the prettiest but she barely gets attention because she is asian. i dont find uhura attractive at all and this is because the hair does not do the actress features justice and also I think she is one of those actresses were loosing weight enhances her looK. although I have always side eye the uhura casting. uhura is meant to be very beautiful and sexually appealing to men even by vulcan standard, I find it convenient the show did not cast an actress who even looked like the goregous nichelle nichols as uhura when they wanted to push a spock/chapel romance...cant have uhura be a threat huh? SNW Uhura is not the beauty of TOS or JJ Abrams Uhura ortega hair is so bad and make her look ugly, I am sure the actress is pretty in real life but you cannot tell. jess bish chapel is overrated and now i am glad people will see her as a mean girl not to mention the story between her and spock makes no sense based on tos.

Tony Dunkelwelt

If you hated this you hate life itself. All the stars.

"The woke mind virus has infected Star Trek to such a degree that they cast a woman as Number One!" Yeah, forget Captain Janeway!

Gilligan's Starship

George Lucas has often referred to Star Wars as a space opera, but this episode literally WAS a space opera! Rather than just "singing songs" they were singing the story. I felt like I was watching something like "Jesus Christ Superstar". I thoroughly enjoyed this-- but if you don't like musicals, you'll probably want to pass. **Aye, There Be Spoilers Ahead** I didn't know how (or if) they were going to pull this one off, but the fact that they made the singing/rhyming/dancing part of the sci-fi plot and all the characters were very much aware of their bizarre behaviour really helped to make this work for me. And the music & songs were actually terrific--I was surprised at how much thought was put into this, as it had the potential to be just a gimmick. I was also happy to see they confronted the La'an/Kirk situation head-on. And the mention of Carol Marcus was a nice touch. Paul Wesley is starting to dial in that side of Kirk where he lets down his guard to be more impish/charming that Shatner did so well. (BTW, his scene where he danced with Una sooo reminded me of the dancing sequence in "I Mudd") The singing Klingons were fan-f*cking-tastic and their in-universe reaction of embarrassment & dishonor tracked perfectly. (I also love the quick shot of the blood-wine tipsy Spock coming out of the turbo-lift toward the end) The use of the main Star Trek theme after the Grand Finale was a nice tough as well. I almost wish they would've save this for the season finale, it would've have been wonderful to wrap up on such a "high note". FYI: I live in Los Angeles and years ago saw Nichelle Nichols perform at local venues a couple of times. She loved singing and I can only imagine how much fun she would have had with an episode like this that would've really allowed to her to show her singing chops to the audience.

Oh boy. So my immediate thought was they made a episode into a musical? Oh no no no. But then I started realizing this was a clever gimmick to explore some of the loose-end ongoing plots. It would have been much more boring to have la’an and Kirk ,Pike and his wife, and spock and chapel just talking about their issues and feelings for an entire episode. Not to mention ds9 and tng have their fair share of gimmicky “fun” episodes. Ultimately I had to ask myself if this episode entertained me. The answer is yes. The “everyone sing together in harmony and together we solve the problem” was a bit on the nose and silly. I do think another interesting angle would have been if Spock was unable to sing because his emotions weren’t strong enough and ultimately having to “let go” and sing to save the ship but the whole Spock examining his human side has been done enough before. Decent episode. Missed opportunity to have a more true to character Klingon musical scene. That abomination little 20 second dance routine and rap they had the Klingons do was the only real miss and embarrassment of this episode. Side note I have thought this before but this episode really underlined it- Christina Chong as La’an is easily the most talented actor of the series. Every time she has a scene the show just goes into a different gear.

HaveGun_WillRiker

This worked a lot better than I expected, my only gripe is that the showtunes themselves were kinda generic. Woulda loved to hear various Star Trek leitmotifs sprinkled in or something to spice them up a bit.

@HaveGun_WillRiker I'll bet that was discussed. There are SO many iconic musical themes from Trek that could have been amazing as well. I'm thinking of Klingons doing a war chant to Jerry Goldsmith's music from their intro in ST:TMP or a scene with the the classic TOS "fight" music--or even throw in some of that crazy repetitious stuff we heard on ST:TAS.

Bruce Horak as the Klingon captain was a welcome surprise.

C.T. Phipps

This episode had an incredibly stupid premise even in-universe (they needed a Trelane-esque being to justify it) but it was something I forgive a lot of flaws due to the emotional development. Some random thoughts: * Jess Bush is fantastically sexy in her number. It needs to be said. However, the big thing is it is a woman choosing her career over a man. You still don’t see that very often in media. * In the words of Friends with Kirk and La’an, “It could have been worse. He could have shot her.” * Speaking of which, actually addressing Carol Marcus is something I’m glad they did. * Spock’s breakup depression song is a math so chef’s kiss. * Uhura is lonely despite being the center of everyone else’s drama. It makes me wonder if they’re going to do her and Spock. * Captain Batel couldn’t be throwing up more death flags than if she was two weeks from retirement on her ship the USS Immortal. * The Klingon Boy Band thing was hilarious but I now have to wonder if Klingons have boy bands or if the Federation DID infect them (in which case destroying the Federation was justified) * I really expected Pelia to have more comments on this. “Oh, yeah, I wrote that song.”

I’m betting Gorn Girl the same person who’s been posting the awful anti-Uhura stuff here lately under various names. This worked far better than I’d expected. Before this episode, the La’an pining after Kirk stuff seemed a little overwrought (she knew him for less than a week in that other timeline), but this did a good job of putting it in context. Even if the whole thing hadn’t worked, it eould have been worth it for that Klingon scene.

Forget those old scientists, THIS was the funniest episode of season 2!

Pike’s Hair

@Gorn girl You aren’t fooling anyone in here when you cry about feminism.

@Cody B. "I do think another interesting angle would have been if Spock was unable to sing because his emotions weren’t strong enough." I don't if you've ever watched ST:Enterprise all the way through, but one thing that series did exceedingly well was it's exploration of Vulcan culture, character, and philosophy. And one very clear recurring motor in speeches by Soval, Surak, and T'pol is that Vulcan emotions are far deeper and more destructive than human emotions.

@Gorn girl Oh lol. This is now the fourth account you’ve commented the exact same garbage. I remember the first time I noticed it, you commented as “boy”. Really, you aren’t fooling anyone no matter how many different names you use to make it seem like you’re many people that all have the same takeaway. No one at all in the world is genuinely hung up on Nurse Chapels looks the way you are. Get over it.

@gorn girl You are reaching so hard. La’an and uhura both get more screen time than chapel. If you paid attention to this episode it looks like chapel is leaving anyway so go ahead and start searching for your next non issue to complain about

@DogFace Nice try, I'm 44. To be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with Jess Bush per se. But in terms of her face, she has that tiny receding chin that people of British descent often have. And in terms of the rest of her, she's just...thin, basically. I mean, I'm not 14, and I don't need to gawk over T&A, but the other actresses on the show have...curves, at least. None of this is to denigrate Bush; it's more just befuddlement that she's the only one that people seem to notice. FWIW, the hottest regular character for me back in the day was Ezri Dax. I was very much a guy into the whole "manic pixie dream girl" type when I was young, not a stereotypical "hot woman." @ Gorn Girl, Other than the choice of hair, I think Celia Rose Gooding looks much more like Nichelle than Zoe Saldana ever did. More similar skin tones, more similar body types, etc. Saldana is a beautiful woman, but in a much more "deracinated" way, for a lack of a better way to explain it. I'd actually argue that, for the most part, Uhura wasn't sexualized at all on TOS (other than that uniform in Mirror Mirror and a few other cases). One of the defining aspects of Uhura as a character is that she doesn't seem to have any lasting romantic attachments, which this episode explicitly references.

Speaking of romances: I'm curious if Roger Korby is going to be mentioned in name only or if he will actually be introduced on the show? I'm glad they mentioned Carol Marcus, but for a split-second I was wondering if Ruth was going to be the woman Kirk was involved with.

Oh my goodness I have so much to say. They really hit it out of the park. Firstly, while I'm sure we'll be hearing for decades that Paul Wesley isn't the best choice to play Kirk in a Star Trek series. This episode makes it so abundantly clear that, whatever your views, he is the perfect choice to play Kirk in a musical. Given how long musical episodes take to write and produce, I wouldn't be surprised if he got the part based on his singing ability and the charisma he radiates while singing. If they were already working on this, they'd surely need to plan on finding a singing Kirk, and wow they really, really did. Christina Chong definitely had the best number, and I love how the musical theme and its tendency to force reveals created the setup for her to tell Kirk in a regular conversation, one which was almost as well written as her song. Seriously, there were so many times my brain was a beat ahead of the music, thinking "ok, to really make this pop they should end the next line with such and such a word" and they would then sing it. I think the music really got my brain into its world. Jess Bush- really the commentary on her here has been so sexist, and I really dislike the obsession over her body as a piece of meat... I do have to admit though that "I'm Ready" was, imo, the sexiest moment the franchise has ever had- just the pride and joy she radiates and the joyous sensuality of the dance- when we first saw the lounge set did anyone think it would be used in such a fantastic way? This scene is where the lipsynching was at its worst, but honestly no worse than usual audio-visual drift when streaming tv. As always, I want more Ortegas, and as always, I am disappointed. I was very glad to see them up the physical cues and body language from Navia though- she really seemed to be communicating a big-sisterly sort of understanding for a lot of the other cast members, and I hope she gets a chance to play off them more rather than just quips and interaction with guest stars as we've mostly seen from her. Celia Gooding was phenomenal- this really feels like the Uhura study I've been waiting for. Firstly her voice is terrific- as expected from someone who sings professionally- but the writing really "gave her something to sing about" which I felt defined her better in and of herself rather than in relation to others. I'll think more about it and rewatch, but this is a solid addition to the character Brace yourselves because I'm about to utter a once-impossible sentence that shall ne'er again be written and should never be spoken: If there was a weak link, it was Anson Mount. -cue all 5 Varon-T disruptor blasts shredding your humble correspondent- Just as a singer, mind you- his acting remains impeccable as ever, and I thought he danced well, so I'm inclined to overlook it. So, did the show justify itself as a musical?- yes. It created the circumstances wherein Chapel was compelled to disclose something in a way that hurt Spock, La'an was compelled to divulge her secret to Kirk in a way that minimized potential damage, AND we got a first rate character analysis of Uhura spelled out, none of which could have been done in this way without the musical conceit. Now, the second question- is it a worthy spiritual successor to Buffy's "Once More With Feeling"? Again, the answer is an overwhelming yes, first for the same reason as above- the knowledge that they were in a musical compelled the characters to act uncharacteristically in ways that necessarily advanced the plot, while being spectacularly entertaining. However, one must also appreciate the subtle tributes- a) bunnies being mentioned in the first analysis scene, b) "I've got a theory" being uttered later in the show, and c) two women embracing while they levitate- honestly this parallel alone makes me ship La'an and Una, even though I really want Ortegas to come out already! Glad they called the mekleths mekleths, rather than renaming such an iconic prop- after they retconned the Ktinga into already existing at this point, I was worried. Honestly, that may be my biggest complaint, which should drive home how amazing this episode is.

@ Jack "I’m betting Gorn Girl the same person who’s been posting the awful anti-Uhura stuff here lately under various names." Quite transparently. Nobody feed the troll, k? @ Elise "-cue all 5 Varon-T disruptor blasts shredding your humble correspondent-" Wow that's a deep reference. Gave me a good chuckle. "after they retconned the Ktinga into already existing at this point, I was worried." Yeah, it should have been a D7. Although, to be fair, we don't know that K'Tinga's DIDN'T exist at this time. There may only be a few of them like there are only a few Constitutions while D7s and lesser classes are the "workhorses" of the fleet like lesser classes of ships than Constitutions are for Starfleet. We're about 15 years before ST:TMP at the moment in SNW so this is feasible. . . . Also you can put me in the "I think it's beneath us to be discussing the anatomy of the female cast members" camp. They're all sexy as hell and I'm sure the men are too. Let's move on.

Ah hell, I just remembered a scene in Discovery where L'Rell is looking over the plans for the brand new D7 class warship, "the most advanced class of warship we've ever designed" or something like that. Yeah, it's a goof. K'Tingas probably shouldn't exist yet. "D7" isn't a very Klingon sounding name and "K'Tinga" is so maybe somebody thought "eh let's just go with that one."

One thing the episode hammered home is that Spock and Chapel are really, really bad at communicating with each other. A lot of the drama of the past couple of episodes could have been handled much more maturely if they had just sat down and had an honest conversation. Heck, they even could have done a mind meld - we've seen melds with humans can be a two-way street when the Vulcan wants it to be.

I'm halfway through this episode, and La'an has knocked it out of the park, including in her brief portion of the opening ensemble song. Una wasn't bad. But some of the others have been borderline excruciating, to the point where I actually fast-forwarded, not typically something I would do (as opposed to just bailing out of the show). I'll try to finish it later this evening.

This episode made me really appreciate the X-Factor that SNW has, that so many Trek shows have lacked since DS9. It's self-confidence, baby!* It's the same feeling I had watching "Quality Of Mercy" last year. Only a cast, writer's room, and production team that were supremely self-assured would have been able to pull this off successfully, and although I don't think they knocked "Once More With Feeling" off the genre-musical perch, they took their absolute best shot at the premise and we the viewers were the winners. Someone above pointed out that improbabilities running rampant is a concept that's been done before in Trek, in DS9's "Rivals", which was squandered on a bunch of silly inanities. *This* is where you should go with such a concept. Count me as surprised also at just how many good singers this cast has. The lip-syncing was a bit obvious at times, but that's always a problem you run into with musical numbers in TV and movies. It's too bad they set the entire thing onboard the ship; it seemed to hamper some of the numbers, which could have really taken it to the next level with some location shooting or more elaborate settings. Still, that's a minor gripe. Bullet points: * I really liked Number One getting a lot more screen time in this one, as a mentor figure to both Kirk and La'an, and the callback to her love of Gilbert and Sullivan from "Short Treks". * I had actually completely forgotten about Carol Marcus when contemplating how they would deal with the La'an/Kirk subplot. It's a nifty way of using canon to solve the story and a good reminder that this younger Kirk is a version of the character we actually haven't met before. * Nice close up on M'Benga when they're singing about keeping secrets. Seems the writers are not just going to forget last week's dark revelations. * The cutaway to the dancing Klingons was just bloody hilarious. It sucks that this season is only one episode away from being over. And we'll probably be waiting awhile for season 3 thanks to the AMPTP assholes.

I’ve watched that Klingon scene a dozen times and I’m still laughing. The subtlety of them returning to character at the last moment and the combination of confusion and shame was just wonderful. It’s an episode I’ll only ever watch once but fair play to a brilliantly original idea and execution. I’ll never watch that episode in full again…. But I might rewatch that Klingon Boy Band scene a few more times. Really funny

Still deciding how I really feel about this one, but I do wish they had fully committed a totally a cappella rendering of the SNW theme in the opening credits a la Perpetuum Jazzile. See for instance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw (skip to about 1:50)

Watch the pre-credit scenes and you've watched the whole offer. Too bad. There's nothing here to feed an hour.

Good execution —for a one-time thing on a Trek show—, although the final song didn't felt climatic enough. Spock's and La'An's solos were my favourites. Now, this Spock-Chapel relationship, eh? So based on nothing that it was crumbling an episode after it's beginning, and now it's already finished. But I think they actually did a good job in terms of consistency with TOS: Chapel will still feel something for Spock, and Spock being cold with her because of she coldly abandoning him. But overall It doesn't feel like these guys know how to write actual stories... It's not even "telling" instead of showing anymore, I guess, when the "story" can be FULLY exposed on the "previously on..." segment.

Brandon Adams

I'm forever scarred by the Klingon boy band, and I think I mean that in a good way.

@C.T. Phipps There’s still a double standard in our culture when it comes to ambition. A man can prioritize his career and be respected. But if a woman does it, she’s considered selfish. I can totally understand Chapel’s decision. It’s not like she and Spock were married or in a serious relationship. My problem is that the writers didn’t make use of what was already established. Maybe Spock breaks up with Chapel after realizing she covered for M’Benga. Maybe Chapel breaks up with Spock because she can’t handle his more intense Vulcan emotions. Maybe Chapel breaks up with Spock because of what she learned from Boimler. Any of these would’ve been more interesting than what we got here. @Karl Zimmerman That’s sad. You’re 44 and picking apart a 31 year old woman’s looks? @Elise Sexism among Star Trek fans? I’m shocked. But you’re right. It was a sexy moment. That’s because Bush knew how to sell it. This is what I tried to explain above. Attractiveness and sex appeal isn’t just about looks. It’s also about personality. As for the lip syncing, yes it was pretty noticeable, which is too bad because it made me wonder if it was Bush singing or whether they had to “fix” her voice in post production.

Maybe gorn girl will break out into song about the actresses’ respective physiognomies: “Una Chin.. She can’t win… She can’t grin… her face is just….and why must… She has such a squat nose….like CE-LI-a Rose! …In the end... I won’t bend…… The secret to beauty and success… is to be.. just like white blonde Jess!” (Suggested extra lyric.. “And if you don’t agree with me…. I will go back to Cestus 3!” Spouting mindless garbage is a parlor game-too damn easy. Just sprinkle allegations of racism and sexism and voila - instant s*it, ready to serve for breakfast Good grief.

Boy, it has worked. Like everyone I was really skeptically worried. Nice stunt. My favorite singer and character, at whatever order, is La'an. Who would say? She seemed to be poorly written at the beginnings of the show and now she is a star. Literally. Thumbs up. I just thought Jammer would make a review in sonnet format. Thankfully not. LOL

Dean M Dent

W....T....F did I just watch???? 😱😱😱 I admit, they get an A+ for all of the work and effort they put into this episode but......it was PAINFUL to watch, especially the Klingons busting out in song!!!!!!!!

I mean, part of my revulsion for Musical Theatre is that it's about as far away from gritty, down-to-earth folk-blues-rock stuff as you can get... And that's the kind of music I play and sing

Glad Jammer liked the episode. The rest of you who disliked it (I'm seeing similar comments here and on reddit about some people "fast forwarding" the songs)...which is bizarre to me because why even watch it in the first place? Some of you need to lighten up. You can tell how much the cast and crew loved making this episode. I know most people here are middle age adults on their way to becoming senior citizens, but having nice fun and light hearted episodes for a new generation of fans is fantastic.

Well... Okay. I am not a big fan of musicals. I don't exactly hate them, but I'd never go out of my way to watch one (Blues Brothers notwithstanding). So I was fully prepared to just slog through this one without enjoying it at all. I wasn't sure how they were going to do it without it being ridiculously campy. But they did. My hat is off. They really effectively used song to wrap up a lot of the loose emotional threads running through the series. It had a lot of feels in it, and it might be the most "nuTrek" episode of all "nuTrek", but it might also be one of the best executed. I also noticed that one of the early songs when the camera focused on M'Benga briefly, the lyrics said something about "feel the knife". I expect that there will be more on M'Benga's story, and hopefully some consequence. I liked the episode last week, but I can't really fully judge that episode until I know the end of M'Benga's story. We know he is still on Enterprise during TOS, but that doesn't mean that there aren't serious consequences for him. In fact, there kind of have to be. McCoy taking over as CMO kind of implies he at least gets a demotion at some point, and maybe that is tied up in this story. Anyway, kind of hard to judge this one, too, given how different it is from anything else in Trek canon. But I enjoyed it and it worked, so I'll go 3/4.

I was worried but hoped more for a Buffy style musical than a cringy worthy effort for the heck of it. Hope springs eternal and thank God it sprung here. Fantastic and enjoyable episode. I love the Klingon boy-band, I’ll never be able to unsee that lol. Cheers to the cast. They truly have some amazing pipes.

@DogFace, Idk, i'm bad at recognizing that sort of stuff, but given how complex the choreography of that scene was i bet it was just natural drift and they went with the best they had because the dance was so intricate. You're right- tying the breakup to one of the things you mention would make sense, but I think her making a career choice is going to be easier to turn into regret later. Clearly, original Chapel regrets not being with Spock, and he resents her for some reason, so making it over something as little as 1 90 day separation makes a kind of sense in my book.

What are everyone's favorite Gilbert and Sullivan shows? Personally I would love to see Rebecca Romijin as Lady Sophy in Utopia

When you’re reading a comments section where everyone allegedly values the progressive, enlightened values preached by these series and there’s a discussion ranking relative hotness of the women and dissecting their physical features. Y’all need to grow the fuck up.

Harry Kim Eats Worms

When I think musical, I think Seth McFarland. That is all.

Very enjoyable episode though it was probably the longest of the season and could / should really have been tightened up. But what I like is that it added meaningful development to all the romantic relationships as well as provided insightful character analysis (La'an, Uhura), in addition to having a Trekkian problem to solve. I think it does a good job of exemplifying classic Trek with the kinds of things that tend to drive nu-Trek. Obviously a lot of ground covered here and in TNG style, there's a technobabble problem to solve - but that isn't really what the episode is about. I appreciated how this episode really moved the pieces toward where TOS begins with Chapel accepting the Dr. Korby fellowship (and really ending it with Spock), and Kirk taking the next steps toward getting his captaincy. Uhura's humming at the very end was terrific -- just like she did on TOS. I think an episode like this goes a long way toward making one appreciate the SNW cast and connect to the characters. For me personally, I love music and I appreciated the more classical style of singing/dancing instead of being the more modern version (though the Klingons provided a bit of that!). Was the cast lip-synching? I think they were, though they did an excellent job of it. Some of the singing went on for too long but when it first started, I thought it was great. The ending resolution of the whole ship having to sing was pushing it as it seemed that people only sang when driven by emotion but then Uhura can whip them all up to sing in unison -- we'll have to give the episode a mulligan there. Uhura's the key character here and Gooding did much better in this type of role than in "Lost in Translation" -- also she had the classic Trek line of the odds of all of them being on the Enterprise at this point in time... For the series overall though, I think the balance is way off with far too many light-hearted episodes. And coming after the very heavy "Under the Cloak of War", which itself came after another light-hearted episode -- it's not clear what to expect from SNW. So I do think this series needs to take itself more seriously -- and put a lot more focus on Pike who is supposed to be the star of the show. 3 stars for "Subspace Rhapsody" -- a clever, original way to advance various subplots and come up with the type of problem-solving episode that is pure Trek. What this SNW cast does best is the light-hearted stuff, but I'd like to see more meaty stuff. Sure, there's a bunch of arbitrary stuff here, but as long as an enjoyable end product is achieved and a decent story told, it works.

I was simultaneously looking forward to and dreading this episode. I'm a professional musician myself, and so while I love this stuff, I also have very high standards for it. Thankfully, those standards were met. Well done. My only (slight) criticism is that this owes a LOT, in both form and function, to Buffy's "Once More, With Feeling."

@Elise, It’s the regret part I take issue with. In TOS, Chapel was a pathetic woman pining away for a man who had zero interest in her. Now we discover she actually had a relationship with that man, but threw it away. This only makes the character look even more pathetic. “I had a good thing with Spock, I effed it up, and now he won’t take me back. I’m such an idiot.” I also think this makes it easier for fans to hate Chapel in a way they didn’t before. Because now they can look at how TOS Spock treats her and say she deserves it after how she treated him, which is exactly the reaction I’ve seen from people on this and other forums. Imagine, instead, that the writers chose to break up Spock and Chapel because his Vulcan emotions became too intense for her to handle. Fast forward to TOS. Chapel doesn’t look quite as pathetic anymore. We would know why she loves him, that she tried to make it work, but couldn’t. We would also know why he’s so cold to her. Not due to a lack of interest or because she dumped him, but because he remembers what happened when did let himself experience emotions.

SNW continues its winning streak in the latter half of the second season with just the sort episode we needed to diffuse the tension from last week. The exuberance is so contagious that it's easy forget that an unrepentant M'Benga just got away with murdering a Starfleet Ambassador as he sings and dances his away from that uncomfortable truth. Meanwhile, even the uncomfortably awkward and reclusive Sam Kirk seems to be blending in and having a great time. "Subspace Rhapsody" is so effective that I worry that the showrunners have finally found their true calling: why fuss with any the science fiction at all, when the stars have so clearly aligned for them to make High School Musical 5! Still, I have to say that the Star Trek elements blend strangely well with the musical stuff in interesting and amusing ways, with "Private Conversation" in particular epitomizing the amusing irony of both relishing and lampshading this bizarre situation. Even if we ignored the necessity of the rooting the music in the plot and existing themes, the songs themselves are catchy with and well-written which is no small feat. Did the entire cast sing their own parts? It sure looks like they did. But they're all so good (with the exception of Anson Mount who is a bit shaky (and yes, I know, Mount-defenders: HE JUST GAVE BIRTH)) that you'd think there must have been vocal competition included in the regular auditions for them to get their roles. I never imagined that a Star Trek musical like this could seem like it was always MEANT TO BE with this or any other series in the franchise, and it is truly an original premise after a long slew of recycled ones that weren't even executed too well. I'm actually kinda surprised this hasn't been tried on any previous Trek, but I guess TNG, DS9 and even VOY hadn't yet reached the nadirs of Nu-Trek that they would risk jumping the shark with embarrassing repercussions. Still, it woulda been pretty satisfying to watch either of those classic ensemble casts spontaneously break into song and dance in this no-holds-barred manner. Other thoughts: - If with their current communication it takes "weeks" to get a message across, how come long distance communication has been always been portrayed as instantaneous like a normal video-call? - The on-and-off thing with Carol, who he knows he got pregnant, certainly puts Kirk's future philandering in an interesting light... at least compared to him finding it shocking that have a son together so many years later... - I thought there was a special place for song in Klingon culture, but man...those guys weren't kidding when they said they had suffered a great dishonor - Who else thought that Spock was about to start doing flips and cartwheels when he ran to join the others toward the end of their "grand finale"? - The official results are in: Best Song: "I'm Ready" Best Singer: Uhura Highest Note: Uhura Lowest Note: Spock Most Inventive Way to Break a Heart: Chapel (leaving Kirk in a dust) M'Benga: "What will do I do without you for three months?" Chapel: "Find another alibi?"

Shame something so light and fun is bringing out the absolute asshats...

I usually preach flexibility and patience when encountering those that I feel reflexively spout discontent. I find myself needing to take my own advice. I love musicals. I generally loved the musical numbers and how they built a sci-fi story around it while still making meaningful progress to SNW, which in this case comes in the form of Chapel’s, La’An’s, and Spock’s character development. I agree with Jammer’s overall view of it. Nevertheless, I’m beginning to have some strong gripes. • This episode, along with “Those Old Scientists”, are what I would consider ‘outlier’ episodes. They’re so far off the beaten path. I couldn’t help but wonder why the producers/showrunners would put these episodes nearly back-to-back. Wouldn’t they better serve the show by spacing them out across seasons? I find myself pulled out of the story of Enterprise exploring through the universe and feeling like I’m watching just another TV show. They are amazing episodes on their own merit but airing them so close together takes some of the magic away. • Only a few episodes ago I spoke against those that found Pike to be less than. I’m now finding myself leaning into that camp and wishing for more of a stern Captain. He’s great when he’s casual, funny, and down-to-earth in off-duty and other conversational or relationship-building situations, but he seems to maintain that when he’s leading the crew. The writers would never allow the crew to get too relaxed with such a character leading them, but it’s very hard to believe that would translate over to our world, let alone a military unit. Why does he choose Uhura to be the person to rally the ship? Just because she’s a communications officer she sees the connections between everyone? If there’s anyone that is to be responsible for rallying the crew, it’s the Captain. He _IS_ the connection to every officer. Everyone looks to him as an example and for leadership. So, yes, Pike needs to be more Captain-y and do more leading. But perhaps I’ll get my wish since the Gorn story arc is likely to be launched next week and will probably carry throughout next season…? • Is it just me or do our characters develop very quickly? I’m amazed at how the La’An/Kirk storyline seems to conclude here and how the Spock/Chapel love relationship is seemingly near its completion. It would be nice to have seen these drawn out a bit more. Some other nitpicks: • I’m surprised the Klingons had to sing in such Earthly boy band fashion. No Vulcan music or Klingon operas? • I’ll need to go back and watch Star Trek II: TWoK. I thought Kirk didn’t know he had a son with Carol, so I was surprised to see SNW’s Kirk mention that. • Kirk seems to be exhibiting some of those womanizing vibes. Hopefully TOS loyalists are warming up to Wesley.

@Chris Kirk knew in WoK. As soon as they're alone, he says to Carol "I stayed away from him, like you asked"

First-time poster, long-time lurker here. I loved this episode, but I also love musicals. I can understand why those who don’t might cringe at this episode, but I’d encourage them to give it a fair shot and take it in the fun and light-hearted spirit in which it’s intended. A few thoughts in response to some of the comments here: * As for the D-7 vs. the K’Tinga class Klingon ships, could it be that they’re actually the same class ship? Maybe Starfleet and the IKS just have different terminology for the same design. If I remember correctly, the K’Tingas in TMP were basically the same design as the D-7s in TOS, just with a bit of a facelift (not unlike the Klingons themselves in that film). * In TWOK, Kirk already knew he had a son by Carol Marcus. When they were in the tunnels on the asteroid, he specifically said to her, “I did what you wanted. I stayed away.” I thought the revelation in this episode was a great way to tie things into the greater Trek-continuity. Plus, this episode takes place in 2259 and TWOK in 2285, so the timing works out pretty well. David seems about mid-20s in TWOK (actor Merritt Butrick was 23 when the film came out), so he likely would’ve been born sometime around 2260.

So, who else heard "improbability field" and thought immediately of Zaphod Beeblebrox and the Heart of Gold? That's not a nitpick, by the way. It's one more thing on the list of why I loved this episode.

Diversity and infinite combinatioo!Diversity and infinite combination

Big fan of "Once More With Feeling", and it's obvious that is going to be the benchmark by which this episode is measured. I felt Subspace Rhapsody was well done but, for me, isn't on the same level. Each number in OMWF was, surprisingly, a stand-alone hit. And they all had different vibes and styles, yet held an interconnected theme between them -- even literally, towards the end, as the elements from the different songs blended together towards the climax with Sweet. (I love that Buffy and friends actually lost against him. Their unearthed misery his reward.) I felt none of that depth and weight with Subspace Rhapsody. Yes, each SNW cast member belted their numbers out well, and they worked in the current story themes well enough, but it all just felt fairly... generic? Exceptions with Chapel's brutal, throaty kick to Spock's naive heart and the angry Klingon crew's brief, but hilarious number being the only real stand-outs for me. The rest just felt kind of by-the-numbers. Competent, well-performed, a ton of effort on display... but generally uninspiring. Of course, I may discover a fondness for it over time. I'm open to that. And, of course, the impact of this on each viewer will vary, and that's absolutely fair. OMWF is an extremely high bar. That this even approaches that bar is something I'll happily give it credit for.

“Big fan of "Once More With Feeling", and it's obvious that is going to be the benchmark by which this episode is measured.” Not by me. I don’t think I ever got through the whole thing (I thought Buffy was repetitive and overrated). But fair enough; this episode can’t be everything for everyone. Also @Karl Z. etc: Not thrilled with anyone rating/ranking women’s physical attractiveness, especially in a Trek thread in 2023.

Ranks with the worse Star Trek episodes ever ! AWFULLLLLLLL

Just because I feel like quibbling about best musical episode in any (normally non-musical) show - for me the best episode was "The Bitter Suite" from Xena but I grant that was more of a minority offering than Buffy.

The Bitter Gus

Perhaps... the worst Star Trek episode EVER. Much worse than Spock's Brain. And that is the gold standard of horribleness.

@Chris W “Is it just me or do our characters develop very quickly? I’m amazed at how the La’An/Kirk storyline seems to conclude here and how the Spock/Chapel love relationship is seemingly near its completion. It would be nice to have seen these drawn out a bit more.” It isn’t just you. This is the problem with having seasons that are only 10 episodes long. It’s too many for one story arc, but it’s too few for a character arc. There’s no rule that says a character arc can only last one season. But that’s exactly the rule the writers have imposed on themselves. I wish I understood why. Are they worried fans will lose interest between seasons? Are they worried the show won’t get renewed and they have to make sure loose ends are tied up? Just imagine what the writers could’ve done with the Spock/Chapel relationship if they had 26 episodes to really develop it.

Here I am, a day later than everyone else as usual. Well, the love watchers are going to absolutely LOVE that episode, aren't they? A bold re-imagining of Trek, FOUR STARS, I'm here for it, etc etc. Me? I thought it was a crescendo of absolute thermonuclear cringe from start to finish. A stoned writer's room gimmick stretched out to a whole episode in lieu of an actual idea. I find Disney-level musicals and young adult romance completely, intrinsically unengaging and uninteresting. The self-realising Uhura worship was particularly grating. Pike in his apron serving food yet again. Best friends FOREVER level emotion. No, no, no. Two things I did like though: -La'an saying the crew's emotions were a security threat. Nice meta take on NuTrek writing there. -The unexpected return of the hammy Tellarite extra in the bar scene. -The cast seemed to veer between having a great time and being utterly terrified, and it was quite fun to try and work out which cast members were enjoying themselves and which ones were dying inside of cringe. Next!

And the winner is… Christina Chong! Best number in the show.

Didn't expect to love this, but I did. It was just really, really well done. I actually laughed out loud when the crew sang their status reports to Pike in the teaser, none of which answered his question "then whyyy are we singing"--- cut to opening credits. Chalk me up as someone who appreciates the Spock: the Early Years approach between him and Chapel. Very fitting. This is the kind of stuff that happens in people's daily lives in between the huge milestones that we know them for. Good shit IMO, and Ethan Peck plays it so well. If this marks the beginning of the end of Spock/Chapel then I think it's appropriate given what we know about them. Besides the obvious prequel reasons, the relationship was likely doomed to begin with given Chapel's tendency to keep distance from her flings (frustrating them, like that one ensign on the starbase). Insisting Spock keep the relationship a secret and then semi-ghosting him during life-changing news feels in character. The La'an/Kirk thing was well handled too (not to mention the Carol Marcus reference). Despite the unfortunate outcome for La'an, this is a milestone for her. That said, I don't blame La'an for reading Kirk wrong. We've already seen Kirk go out of his way to help Uhura, and she originally thought he was coming on to her (so did I). He's just like that. But it's hard for me to see Kirk mentioning the drink La'an owes him (more than once) as something other than "let's go on a date". Pike's evasiveness with Captain Batel is also in character. The one thing I felt was left out was a follow-up lover's spat duet between the two of them (in private this time). K-pop (Klingon-pop). Lmao. And Spock's hungover wobble coming off the lift. This is without a doubt the sharpest, low-key funniest Trek series. I know it's a relatively low bar, but SNW's opening volley of 20 episodes easily stacks up with any of 90s Trek's first seasons, and is honestly probably better and more consistent with its strong character writing and serialized elements. (This is with the assumption that next week's finale will be excellent. I would be truly surprised if it isn't at this rate, tbh.)

I finished the episode. 1.5 stars. (I couldn't stay aligned with Jammer forever.) @Rahul: "I do think this series needs to take itself more seriously -- and put a lot more focus on Pike who is supposed to be the star of the show." I wouldn't hold your breath, especially after this episode. The captain would be the obvious choice for the inspiring speech to rally the entire crew into song, right? (As @Chris W observed, "If there’s anyone that is to be responsible for rallying the crew, it’s the Captain.") To have Uhura do it instead is so blatant in the nuTrek mode, to "center Black women's voices" instead of those of white men. [eyeroll] It's clearer and clearer that this is what's behind having Pike recede more and more into the background behind his apron. Of course, they groomed the Black woman on DSC to emerge as the leader as well, but there was no canonical reason she couldn't become Captain (other than the absurdity of someone who committed all those crimes ascending to that level of authority), so here it looks even more shoehorned. @Karl Zimmerman: "Not that there's anything wrong with Jess Bush, but I just don't understand the attention she's gotten. Out of all the female cast members, I'd probably rank her the least attractive. Not that she's ugly by any means (and I don't want to nitpick her), but she looks similar to any number of people I've known in real life and isn't a total stunner in terms of either face/body (admittedly, when it comes to the latter, the completely unflattering white jumpsuit doesn't help things)." Agreed. I think some people just really get mesmerized by blondes, even blatant "bottle blondes". As you say, Jess Bush is perfectly fine looking, like three stars out of four on a Jammer-esque attractiveness scale, but people are going nuts about her in a way that doesn't make sense to me. @Jack2211: "I’m betting Gorn Girl the same person who’s been posting the awful anti-Uhura stuff here lately under various names." Ya think? @Elise: "Christina Chong definitely had the best number" Glad I'm not the only one who saw it that way. I was not nearly as impressed as you were by Kirk's singing though. @Tim C: "And we'll probably be waiting awhile for season 3 thanks to the AMPTP assholes." Takes two to tango. Some of the writers' demands strike me as unreasonable. I tend to historically be a strong supporter of unions when they are sticking up for exploited blue collar workers to be able to get a living wage, a safe workplace, and health and retirement benefits. But according to Variety, the minimum guild pay for a writer-producer is over eight grand a week; for staff writers (the lowest peg on the totem pole) it's as follows: "[T]he median staff writer on a network show works 29 weeks for a wage of $131,834, while the median staff writer on a streaming show works 20 weeks for $90,920." These are not coal miners with black lung we're talking about. In particular, insisting that even someone like Taylor Sheridan would have to hire a full writers' room to twiddle their thumbs while he writes all the scripts himself lightning-fast (boy does the union hate him for making them look bad) just plays into stereotypes of the worst impulses of organized labor. It's reminiscent of the Sopranos and the "no-work" and "no-show" jobs they used their corrupt control of the construction union to get. @Scott: "The rest of you who disliked it (I'm seeing similar comments here and on reddit about some people 'fast forwarding' the songs)...which is bizarre to me because why even watch it in the first place?" Because I watch the show and like talking about it online. And I only fast-forwarded the bad songs, which was about sixty percent of them. "Some of you need to lighten up. You can tell how much the cast and crew loved making this episode. I know most people here are middle age adults on their way to becoming senior citizens, but having nice fun and light hearted episodes for a new generation of fans is fantastic." I have no beef with that as a general concept. But even the most ardent lover of musical theatre doesn't love every production they see. Some are better than others, including some that are truly dire. This one was VERY uneven, with one showstopper (La'an's), a couple other decent ones, and then...the ones I fast-forwarded. @Bryan: "If with their current communication it takes "weeks" to get a message across, how come long distance communication has been always been portrayed as instantaneous like a normal video-call?" Great question. @Chris W: "The writers would never allow the crew to get too relaxed with such a character leading them, but it’s very hard to believe that would translate over to our world, let alone a military unit." I agree (and I note with some satisfaction that even @Jeffrey's Tube no longer seems to be trying to sell the notion that Starfleet's not "really" the military--pretty hard to argue after last week's episode). @Jack2211: "Not thrilled with anyone rating/ranking women’s physical attractiveness, especially in a Trek thread in 2023." I think it crosses a line when anyone is calling Uhura fat and ugly (neither of which are remotely true, but if they were, it would be cruel to say so). But when a bunch of people have been falling all over themselves to say how gorgeous Chapel is, I don't see a problem with pushing back and saying calm down, she's merely a moderately attractive woman and not "all that" by Hollywood standards. It's silly for us to collectively agree to pretend like they just cast actors based on their acting ability and suitability for a certain role, as if physical attractiveness plays no part. @Bok R'Mor: "The unexpected return of the hammy Tellarite extra in the bar scene." Oh, I missed that! A casualty of my fast-forwarding. I'll have to rewatch (on mute). @Corey: "And the winner is… Christina Chong! Best number in the show." 100%. It's still stuck in my head. @Greg: "But it's hard for me to see Kirk mentioning the drink La'an owes him (more than once) as something other than 'let's go on a date'." Yeah, that's a fair point.

For me, this episode encapsulates and uniquely expresses both the Star Trek ethos and "Star Trek" itself. It could be critiqued here and there, but none of that is substantive, in my book. Instant classic. ****

@Bryan "- If with their current communication it takes "weeks" to get a message across, how come long distance communication has been always been portrayed as instantaneous like a normal video-call?" The basic answer is that communications in Star Trek, like propulsion, move at the speed of plot. In at least the TOS era, though, subspace communication was spotty. Most episodes portray Starfleet Command as at least hours away in terms of comms, which is why Kirk is so often empowered to act on his own, a la "Nelson at sea." The further away one is from or out on the subspace relay network, which was obviously smaller in the TOS era than in TNG+, the greater the delay in comms.

Sorry. ETA to add: E9 clearly says (in Uhura's voiceover) that the Enterprise is on the edge of the Alpha Quadrant.

@J Fedora 'For me, this episode encapsulates and uniquely expresses both the Star Trek ethos and "Star Trek" itself.' How exactly? Until this episode, Star Trek hasn't been a musical.

@Elise, @Jeremy A – Ah, yes, thanks for the reminder in TWoK! @Fortyseven – I was a big Buffy fan, too. Yes, this episode immediately reminded me of their musical. @DogFace – ah, great to know I’m not the only one that feels the character stories are rushed. @Bok R'Mor – I also loved the La’An ‘security threat’ realization. That was a great touch. “How exactly? Until this episode, Star Trek hasn't been a musical.” I’m guessing @J Fedora is going with the “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” wisdom, i.e., introducing new ideas and concepts to explore. -- • At the end of Pike’s “Private Conversation” number at 24:30, he stumbles with embarrassment. I think a confident guy like him that was comfortable showing the Discovery crew how he once received a failing grade at the Academy would have had a different reaction… maybe something like allowing his body to express exasperated relief before turning to La’An saying, “Christ, thanks for that. Security threat assessment well-noted.” • I also didn’t expect the Klingons to react with embarrassment and shyness at the end of their number. I think a more fun scene would allow us to watch them react in anger, “AAAARRGGHH!!! We did it again!” and then see the Klingon Captain take a bat’leth to his chair, knocking out the communications feed. • I was re-thinking my earlier critique of Pike and his lack of being Captain-y, particularly with delegating Uhura to be the motivator for the crew. I wonder if the writers had accidentally written themselves into a corner: They knew the story they wanted to tell but couldn’t get Mount to lead the finale because his singing chops aren’t on the same level as Gooding’s.

@Jack2211 "I’m betting Gorn Girl the same person who’s been posting the awful anti-Uhura stuff here lately under various names." My thoughts exactly. Just ignore. @John "One thing the episode hammered home is that Spock and Chapel are really, really bad at communicating with each other. A lot of the drama of the past couple of episodes could have been handled much more maturely if they had just sat down and had an honest conversation. Heck, they even could have done a mind meld - we've seen melds with humans can be a two-way street when the Vulcan wants it to be." I personally think the mind meld thing has been done too much in trek. I don't think it's out of character that these two don't communicate well. I think Spock's immaturity with relationships is to be expected (even though the effort is obviously there) and I've always taken Chapel as a leap first - just do it kind of gal when it comes to relationships. While it was written as emotional when she found out that she wasn't going to be in Spock's life in the future, I'm not really surprised that she could move on pretty quickly. I actually think this has been pretty good writing for Spock as he will undoubtedly grow a thicker skin and develop into the Spock we all know and love. They also have given reason for T'Pring to refuse Spock in Amok Time. (although I'm sure we will see more) @Bryan ""Subspace Rhapsody" is so effective that I worry that the showrunners have finally found their true calling: why fuss with any the science fiction at all, when the stars have so clearly aligned for them to make High School Musical 5!" I think this is something that only needs and should be done once. @Chris W "Some other nitpicks: • I’m surprised the Klingons had to sing in such Earthly boy band fashion. No Vulcan music or Klingon operas?" Had they sung some of Worf's favorite Klingon Opera I don't think that would have been viewed as dishonorable by the Klingons. They probably would have broken out a barrel of 2309. "• I’ll need to go back and watch Star Trek II: TWoK. I thought Kirk didn’t know he had a son with Carol, so I was surprised to see SNW’s Kirk mention that." He knew. Carol did what he wanted and kept the fact that his dad was Kirk a secret from his son. "• Kirk seems to be exhibiting some of those womanizing vibes. Hopefully TOS loyalists are warming up to Wesley." Peter Wesley has been killing it with the character. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I never felt if was campy (which I feared going in) and the fact they knew this was happening to them and couldn’t do anything about it really made it work. Great review Jammer. I think the meaningful character development that was melded into each of the crew's songs just worked incredibly well. My personal favorite was when Una and Kirk were together. The funniest line by a member of the crew was M'benga when he said at the table, "...and I do not sing..." ... lol Ending with the entire crew joining in was fantastic. Gooding obviously has an incredible pipes, but when she was singing her solo song I kept thinking "Disney princess". Wonderfully performed, but missed the mark for me. Chong once again nails it. Not only her solo but with her conversation with Kirk. I really liked the song with her and Una, but the Mary Poppins bit didn't work that well. Even Ethan Peck held his own. "X" .. lol My only real bummer in this entry was, again, the lack of Ortegas. She has a good voice too... I wish they could have given her a solo and taken this opportunity to develop her character a little more. What a wonderful cast we are blessed with. I've watched every hour of trek ever produced many times and I haven't come close to laughing as hard as I did when the Klingons broke out in the boy band performance. OMG I was in tears... dishonorable indeed! ... lol I felt even better when I learned that Bruce Horak was the Klingon captain. I was optimistic going in. "Q&A" was my favorite short trek and we already knew that Gooding could sing. I wasn't really prepared for how well this was written and put together. A 4-star entry in my book. Oh, I get the impression that the folks on the internet think this doesn’t rise to the level of Buffy's musical episode. I haven't seen that episode so I searched on YT and found a 3-minute performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar. I wasn't really impressed.

@J Fedora "For me, this episode encapsulates and uniquely expresses both the Star Trek ethos and "Star Trek" itself." Yes, that's why it rates quite well for me also. Initially, I was leery of a ST musical. I'm not a fan of musicals even if I'm a fan of music. But the idea of a musical is just another take on ideas like in "The Naked Time", something like "Fascination" (albeit that was a terrible episode due to the premise) and "Dramatis Personae", etc. There are a number of other episodes where a characters emotions / inner feelings surface in different ways -- this musical way was just something original and very enjoyable to watch. And it tied into a technobabble sci-fi problem. @SlackerInc, @Chris W, "I wouldn't hold your breath, especially after this episode. The captain would be the obvious choice for the inspiring speech to rally the entire crew into song, right? (As @Chris W observed, "If there’s anyone that is to be responsible for rallying the crew, it’s the Captain.") To have Uhura do it instead is so blatant in the nuTrek mode, to "center Black women's voices" instead of those of white men. [eyeroll]" Yes, another example of Uhura stealing Pike's thunder. Think back to "Lost in Translation" where she basically gives the order to destroy the refining station and the wet noodle that Pike is immediately complies. This was ridiculous from Pike. But with nu-Trek's woke sensibilities, of course when the black woman gives the straight white man an order, he must immediately comply. The character assassination of Pike in S2 has been a huge disappointment to witness -- consistently outshined by his subordinates. Who is really running the Enterprise? The S2 finale better be a Pike-heavy episode. So far this season's balance has been off -- not just with the ratio of light-hearted episodes -- but with who has gotten the most character time - folks like Uhura and Chapel, who are meant to be 2ndary characters. But I will say that I like how these 2 characters have developed, even if it doesn't jive (Chapel in particular) with who they are on TOS.

One thing I will say in this episode's favour: like in 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow' I really do admire and enjoy watching Chong's portrayal of La'an's side of the La'an/NuKirk nomance, even though I don't find their actual relationship to be particularly plausible or interesting in and of itself.

@SlackerInc “It's clearer and clearer that this is what's behind having Pike recede more and more into the background behind his apron. Of course, they groomed the Black woman on DSC to emerge as the leader as well, but there was no canonical reason she couldn't become Captain (other than the absurdity of someone who committed all those crimes ascending to that level of authority), so here it looks even more shoehorned.” Your insecurity could not be more transparent. Why is it so many white guys feel so threatened by women and people of color? You remind me of the people who watched DS9 and referred to Sisko as “the affirmative action captain”. The creators of Discovery always intended to have Burnham rise to the rank of captain, not because she’s black, but because she’s the main character and this was the arc they planned out for her. But people like you see a black person in charge and immediately think it was because of their race. As for why Uhura lead the final scene instead of the captain, that should’ve been obvious. Anson Mount didn’t have a great singing voice, making him unsuited to lead the big ensemble performance. Also, the episode was about Uhura. She’s the one managing intraship communication at the start of the episode, she’s the one who figures out how the spatial rift, and she’s the one who comes up the solution. So naturally she has to be the one who leads the final plan. I bet if Uhura had been white, you would not be complaining. How many times did white guy Spock save the crew on TOS or white guy Data save the crew on TNG? Did you complain that they both upstaged the captain then?

@SlackerInc- "Takes two to tango. Some of the writers' demands strike me as unreasonable. I tend to historically be a strong supporter of unions when they are sticking up for exploited blue collar workers to be able to get a living wage, a safe workplace, and health and retirement benefits. But according to Variety, the minimum guild pay for a writer-producer is over eight grand a week; for staff writers (the lowest peg on the totem pole) it's as follows: "[T]he median staff writer on a network show works 29 weeks for a wage of $131,834, while the median staff writer on a streaming show works 20 weeks for $90,920." These are not coal miners with black lung we're talking about." I am not at all in tune with the industry. And $90k in the LA area is livable, but not exactly a good living. I've done it on less in the same area, although it was over ten years ago. But the main point I wanted to raise is that those are reported median wages. By definition, that means that half the workers make or work less than that, possibly significantly less. I think the union is not fighting for the upper half of their writer members, but the lower half that are trying to start their careers. Not all new writers are entitled to a fancy lifestyle, obviously, but it has to be enough to survive while you climb the ranks, and some assurances you won't be fired and replaced with ChatGPT after you've done a basic plot outline seems reasonable. As for asking for some unreasonable things... Maybe they are, I haven't really followed closely. But I'd also grant them that indulgence if they did, so long as it was mostly a bargaining chip. That's just negotiation 101, always ask for more than you want or expect and negotiate it away to get what you really do want.

@SlackerInc "I finished the episode. 1.5 stars. (I couldn't stay aligned with Jammer forever.)" Yikes. they should get two stars just for the writing and character development. "@Rahul: "I do think this series needs to take itself more seriously -- and put a lot more focus on Pike who is supposed to be the star of the show." I wouldn't hold your breath, especially after this episode. The captain would be the obvious choice for the inspiring speech to rally the entire crew into song, right? (As @Chris W observed, "If there’s anyone that is to be responsible for rallying the crew, it’s the Captain.") To have Uhura do it instead is so blatant in the nuTrek mode, to "center Black women's voices" instead of those of white men. [eyeroll] It's clearer and clearer that this is what's behind having Pike recede more and more into the background behind his apron. Of course, they groomed the Black woman on DSC to emerge as the leader as well, but there was no canonical reason she couldn't become Captain (other than the absurdity of someone who committed all those crimes ascending to that level of authority), so here it looks even more shoehorned." I agree here. Uhura even started out her little motivational speech with "most of you probably don't know me" ... they REALLY backseat Pike more and more as the series progresses. I'm not going to knock this episode or Gooding’s performance because of it here though. @Bryan: "If with their current communication it takes "weeks" to get a message across, how come long distance communication has been always been portrayed as instantaneous like a normal video-call?" What Uhura was referencing was the time it takes to get a message across the quadrant. "it takes weeks to send a message across the quadrant." I don't remember distances like that being instantaneous. I remember communication relay buoys deployed and days for message to reach Star Fleet. Regardless, 3 times faster is pretty significant.

After last week's episode, this has to be the most tone-deaf pivot I've ever encountered. Pre-credits with the murderer doctor singing would only have worked if he was singing something appropriate. I secretly hoped that he would sing Another One Bites the Dust, or maybe Murder by Numbers. Although unlikely, I even had some hope of a Pink Floyd song or two, to reflect on last week. (If they had performed The Wall in its entirety, I would have died of happiness and wouldn't be writing this at all.) But instead, it's back to Dawson's Creek or whatever this show is trying to be instead of Star Trek. Dr M'Benga and Chapel sing "We can confirm there are no injuries" that's a joke...I guess? (Maybe they should have left the chalk lines around the corpse.) Improbability field? Okay that's Spinal Tap level humour. Except this isn't supposed to be a mockery of Starfleet. I fast forwarded through just about every song, they were all way too long, and this should have been a short episode. I already knew that Christina Chong could sing - she's great, she's a pro, and I hope she stops wasting her time on this silly series. The excitement of TNG was in part because of the enthusiasm of the characters for science*. This whole relationship-Trek nonsense belongs on the Lifetime cable channel, or wherever they show facile teen melodramas. The scientific explanation was incomplete - it absolutely didn't work for me. I get the impression that nuTrek writers are more willing to write about their lives than to imagine a science fiction story. I was pretty impressed last year, but had I known that SNW was a Discovery spin-off, honestly I probably wouldn't have touched it. It seems like any potential plot is drowned out by a lot of contrived interpersonal issues. The lack of concept of command hierarchy is a bug, not a feature. @SlackerInc @Bok R'Mor I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I am posting just for you, not to upset any fragile viewers. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera George Lucas did not invent the Space Opera any more than Steve Jobs invented the MP3. I'm sure they would both like you to believe so, but that's rubbish.

Before things get really polemical on the subject of Uhura displacing Pike from the spotlight, I think both sides raise valid points and there is no need to get all ad hominem-y. Dogface is right that this is properly Uhura's episode to shine and there are good in-world reasons for this. However, it seems that over the entire course of SNW Uhura has been granted a disproportion number of episodes that are designed to be "hers" compared to any other member of the ensemble cast. And was it not only a few weeks ago that it was again "her" episode, both from her POV and to save the day, culminating in her being the one to say "fire torpedos!" and relegating Pike to giving only a little nod of confirmation? I'm not saying that this is a bad thing necessarily. I just think that being open and honest about what we observe without being subject to personal attack for stating those observations would be a good starting point. My own take on the matter is that it's for a variety of reasons that Pike is often relegated to the sidelines -- even in those situations that would call upon his responsibility and leadership as Captain. One reason is that, even with "legacy armor", in the Nu-Trek era a straight white male captain must learn to share the spotlight and equitably allow diverse voices to weigh in to his judgments while showing equanimity when a few of those voices speak louder than others or occasionally overstep -- or else he's not going to make it very far. This power sharing arrangement hangs in delicate balance but it's a compromise that Pike (and by extension, Mount) have graciously accepted and deftly performed. I differ somewhat with the explanation that it's a broadly a matter of "Black voices de-centering white ones". It's actually just making up for TOS Uhura being relegated to the sidelines, so her re-centering will appear to some as an "over-correction" as SNW seems to be making up for lost time...and this is why this one particular marginalized voice is being disproportionately centered above any other member of the ensemble cast. This is an argument that even the more progressive people were making during season one, so I don't see why it wouldn't continue to be valid through season two. Again, I'm not judging this as either a really bad or a really good thing -- it's just how it is and we first need to be transparent about what we see before we can make any arguments about it.

Love it, they pulled it off and wrapped up a few TOS issues. Sadly Captain Marie Batel will be redshirted, it's too obvious, poor Pike can't catch a break. 4 stars from me.

@Bryan Also when have a Grammy winner in the cast, and you are doing a musical episode, making her the centerpiece is a fait accompli. It would have been dumb not to focus on her in that genre of episode.

I also concur about that too and should have been explicit in my agreement on that point.

@Bryan Good points. I think there are two separate processes at work regarding Uhura and Pike, and I think there's a danger of getting sidetracked if we link the two. Uhura: I've been quite disappointed by her portrayal in S2. Contrary to S1, Uhura in S2 has been written into a corner as either an eye-rolling, one-note sidekick or the extremely important™️ 'inspiration' who everyone else nevertheless needs to build up (which is particularly extreme in this episode). I felt that in S1 Uhura was a much more rounded character than she is in S2, rather than lurching between these two extremes. Pike: Pike has spent more time cooking in S2 than he has in the captain's chair. It's beyond parody. As I said in an earlier thread, if the writers and producers don't want Pike doing captain-like things, that's fine by me: they should simply give his responsibilities to Una and turn him into Neelix ('morale officer') full time, instead of the half and half approach they're trying in S2. It's worth remembering that one of the reasons we have SNW at all is because there was such a positive fan reaction to Mount's Pike when he appeared in DSC. I therefore find it bizarre that Pike's being increasingly written as ineffective. In the same way, Peck's Spock is consistently portrayed as the butt of jokes and Una (until the last couple of episodes) was entirely sidelined. It's not clear what the writers and producers are trying to do with all of the characters above.

"in the Nu-Trek era a straight white male captain must learn to share the spotlight and equitably allow diverse voices to weigh in to his judgments while showing equanimity when a few of those voices speak louder than others or occasionally overstep" Let's also remember that running the ship is not a democracy (as Janeway says in "Initiations"). And Pike has shared the spotlight so much that he's been surpassed by 2ndary characters this season -- I don't think that can be allowed to happen. And this has nothing to do with race/sex. It's all about the captain is supposed to be the star of the show. And how does the above quote apply to Michael Burnham as captain? Instead, this character hogs the spotlight, figures out the right solution, implements it and comes out looking like a champ on a weekly basis. (Or if she goes wrong, she gets a fantastic redemption arc.) The DSC writers would never allow a straight white male 2ndary character to outshine the great Michael Burnham. In fact the SWM character would likely die a slow, painful death on DSC. Even if Pike has been outshined by 2ndary characters, his own character has also been kneecapped repeatedly. How many times have we seen this joke of a captain cooking for others? S2 is an exercise in Pike character assassination. But I am holding my breath for its finale...

The Corbomite Maneuver Stardate: 1512.2 Original Airdate: 10 Nov, 1966 BAILEY: Sir, we going to just let it hold us here? We've got phaser weapons. I vote we blast it. KIRK: I'll keep that in mind, Mister Bailey, when this becomes a democracy.

The "special musical episode" thing isn't a new concept, but SNW's, ah... rendition of it here is nothing short of stellar. Clever and fun premise, focus on character and maturing of several story lines, a ticking clock, it has everything. Even singing Klingons. I laughed. I guffawed. I rolled my eyes (in a good way). I was sad for Spock and happy for Uhura, And the songs are pretty catchy. The ending is epic. By far the best episode of the season. I was concerned this will be a wash but it proved me wrong. It was superbly executed and I loved it!

Gilligan’s Starship

@Bryan Valid points. Not siding one way or the other, but just for historical anecdotal context: When TNG premiered, a lot of my friends looked at Picard as a “weak” captain . Instead of a single captain’s chair, we’ve got 3 chairs, and he keeps asking advice from his Kirk Wanna-Be “Number One” & his “Counsleor”! Constantly holding conference room meetings —can’t this old bald guy make a decision? It evolved, tho. 😊 It WAS a stark contrast to those of us who had grown up with our fearless leader, James T. Kirk. But if you read Marc Cushman’s books on the making of TOS, you can also see the network’s notes INSISTING that the Star of the show, Shatner, be put front & center in the stories. That was tv production from almost 60 yrs ago—times have changed, and TNG reflected them. All that being said, Pike started out one way, and has evolved (or devolved) differently. AND: we already had a Captain who loved to cook, Sisko! & we had Kirk tooling around in the kitchen in ST:Generations, so it’s a bit of a tired trope. Give Pike a different hobby already. Maybe set him up with a pottery wheel or something, and let him sculpt while he lectures his crew. EOT.🖖

@Bryan "The exuberance is so contagious that it's easy forget that an unrepentant M'Benga just got away with murdering a Starfleet Ambassador as he sings and dances his away from that uncomfortable truth." I know! I had the same thoughts, but I got so swept away by the episode I let it go. (I think towards the end, when Una sings about secrets, we get a telling close-up on M'Benga and he's NOT singing). Still standing by my evaluation of the previous episode. No amount of singing can let M'Benga off the hook. It's interesting to note that he was a very, very small part of this episode. As if the writers know they can't have him singing and dancing after last episode. So they just "sprinkle" him to show he's there. Smart move.

M'Benga not singing was notable -- maybe the actor can't sing (or lip-synch). But I think the episode was already very long and was meant to focus on other characters since M'Benga was the focus in the prior week's show. But maybe M'Benga could have sung a little "Bohemian Rhapsody" to Pike like: Chris Pike, just killed a Klingon Put my knife against his chest, pushed it in and now he's dead Chris Pike, doc life had just begun But now I've gone and thrown it all away Chris Pike, ooooohh, didn't mean to make you cry If I'm not back again this time tomorrow Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Anyone complaining why Uhura was written to lead the crew in the grand finale instead of Pike does not understand story structure. Or maybe this is not a complaint anyone would have if they hadn't been sensitized to it by the lack of Pike doing traditional captain things all season, including just sitting in the chair doing bridge things, which I agree has started to stand out. My take on the Pike thing is, it's probably a case of a bunch of individual parts adding up to a whole the writers lost sight of. In other words, they don't realize. They made decisions for the individual stories they wanted to tell and didn't realize that it means all season we've had nothing for Pike like, for example, Memento Mori from last season. Ten episodes is so few that this can happen. We don't know yet what is going to happen next week, and the writers may realize and course-correct next season. I think there has certainly been enough feedback to this effect that the writers have to notice the discussion around it. Let us remember that seasons one and two of SNW were filmed before season one had even premiered. Season three will be the first chance the writers have to take reception to the show and feedback from fans into account. That includes steering into things we like and steering away from things we don't like. All the Star Trek series have done this. It's a pretty unusual situation that SNW has not yet the opportunity. . . . Interestingly, after season two of DS9, this was what the show's research found: "At the end of season 2, the producers were alerted to the fact that feedback from the fans was not especially encouraging. In particular, young male viewers felt that DS9 didn't match up to TNG in terms of action and excitement. As well as this, many fans felt that there wasn't enough interaction with alien species and there wasn't enough traveling. Quark and Odo were the most popular characters, while Sisko was well-liked but seen as a very low-key character without much presence. Generally, episodes which dealt with religion and politics, such as "In the Hands of the Prophets" from the first season and "The Collaborator" from the second were unpopular. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (pp. 157-158))" I agree with that characterization of Sisko. How great was he in Emissary? Fantastic, right? But then after that, he was just kind of flat and uninteresting while likable for the first two years. This kind of also fits Pike, no? Awesome on Discovery, then likable but kind of flat since. How awesome did Sisko get from season 3 (and especially season 4) on, once the writers were aware of the problem? Yeah. I can assure you Paramount is doing similar research on SNW. We will see what the results are, and what tweaks there are, next season. The good news is they only need to be small, but small does not mean they will not be significant.

Am I the only one who finds laughable that so many oh so cultured despisers of DISCO lamented endlessly on this forum and elsewhere that the show was TOO FOCUSED on Burnham, to the point of not telling us much of anything about the rest of the DISCObridge crew; and now many of these same voices are complaining that SNW is TOO FOCUSED on the ensemble, to the point of not giving Pike and Chin-Riley enough to do? Do you want an ensemble or not? There were PLENTY of TNG episodes where Picard barely appeared, and plenty of DS9 episodes where Sisco barely appeared. Of course, there were more episodes overall, but you can't have modern Trek production values (which I effin LOVE) whole making 22 episodes a season.

I was DESPERATELY hoping Pike and the crew would stand together in a row in front of the audience holding their neighbor's hand and begin singing "Where Do We Go From Here".

@Rahul - lol! four stars. In all seriousness, if I'd written this episode, I probably wouldn't have put M'Benga in the spotlight either. Every character sang about the big things that were going on in their lives, and if *he* starts singing about his secrets, well... the episode goes from fun to GRIM very quickly.

Sometimes I have trouble suppressing my nitpicker's gene, and can't help pointing out that it takes a lot of tone adjustment (autotune or similar software) to get a cast like this to sound decent in a musical episode. And yes, not every song pushed the boundaries of musical creativity. I often can't help comparing episodes like these to something like "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which was made during another writer's strike. Dr. Horrible was...unusually good considering what it is, and it's really unfair of me to try and compare this episode to that film. But overall, the episode made me smile. A lot. And some songs/performances were above average, for sure.

@AP: The nuTrek PTB are quite consistent: center Black women at every opportunity (remember President Stacey Abrams?) and sideline straight white men to the degree possible (no white guys were visible, other than ones established to be gay, even in the wide shot showing dozens--scores?--of Federation luminaries gathered in the end of DSC season 1). As someone noted upthread, Pike initially appeared to have "legacy armor", but they have used an apron and a super laid-back "leadership style" to impressively erode even that armor. I think many activists would see this as a feature, not a bug. That's a valid stance to argue the merits of, whether you agree with it or not, so can we just first acknowledge it's what is happening rather than engaging in gaslighting to handwave it away as happenstance? It seems clear to me that they had explicit conversations in the writers' room about how to get around the fact that they were stuck with a straight* white guy in the captain's chair. (Part of the answer: take him out of the chair as much as possible.) *Despite his having appeared so little in TOS, they couldn't even make Pike gay because of the woman he was "caged" with.

@AP 'Do you want an ensemble or not?' It's not either/or. There is no such thing as a perfect Trek ensemble show: TNG focused more and more on the Picard/Data dynamic as time went on, for example, and VOY famously became the Seven show. DS9 probably managed it best. It's not a simple mathematical formula. With regards SNW, few would disagree that Una was sidelined until the past couple of episodes (she was even sidelined in her own focus episode). Ortegas has been completely sidelined as well (she hasn't even had a focus episode so far this season) - which I don't actually mind, since the writers and producers treat Ortegas as little more than a quip and snark bot. Uhura, 'Chapel', M'Benga, La'an and Spock have all been given about the same amount of screentime, I would say, and they've all received a fair amount of character development within reasonably compelling and interlinked storylines. Pelia is largely an irrelevance. But the issue with Pike is specifically about his odd Neelixification, not the quantity of his screentime.

@Scott "The rest of you who disliked it (I'm seeing similar comments here and on reddit about some people "fast forwarding" the songs)...which is bizarre to me because why even watch it in the first place?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We Fast forwarded because the songs where mediocre (to say the least), the numbers' execution was uninspired and reminded me of a School production instead of a good TV show. Well actually, I did not exactly fast forwarded, I muted the sound and read the subtitles during the songs so I won't miss anything important, plotwise. I am not quite into musicals, but I have to say even Xena did that much much better. I just realized that I am trying to like this show cause it is Star Trek, as I did with Disco. I still believe the short number of the episodes didn't help any of the two shows, cause their writers suck and among other things they keep trying to shove down our throats character development without earning it. This show is called "STRANGE NEW WORLDS". How many of those we have visited so far? In both seasons? We probably have more episodes around Spock's love/family life.

As for Pike this season... Pike is the lead character. And Mount a terrific actor. If you can't have him around because he wants to spend time with this newborn, that is a problem. Postpone the season.. till he is ready... I really dunno what a show can do when its lead prefers his family life instead of his role. I do not blame the actor, that doesn't change the fact that reducing your lead's presence in a 10 episodes season is not good. Imagine TNG's 2nd season with Picard appearing as much as a guest. Maybe Paramount should think of having less ST shows but more episodes and let them breath and evolve. It is hard to get 20+ anymore, but maybe 16 or so?

That was one of the worst episodes ever, easily. I fast forwarded the songs too, and between them we got cannon issues (K'tinga class, subspace taking weeks, etc.). Awful. It is is up there with Threshold, These are the Voyages, and...well...any episode of Disco.

@SlackerInc Just pointing out here that Paul Wesley's NuKirk is a 'straight white male' who has conspicuously *not* been sidelined in SNW. In fact, NuKirk has been granted a far greater role and variety in the show than Ortegas.

I can appreciate the writers for coming up with a reasonable sci fi premise to explain the singing shtick... But musicals leave me totally cold, so this one was largely wasted on me. With only 10 episodes a season, I don't see why we needed another gimmick episodes after the Lower Decks crossover. This premise would have worked fine in late season 3 as well. Also, it's getting a little comical how they keep coming up with new ways to explain why the Farragut's first officer is on the Enterprise. He gets to do a lot of the things you'd expect a captain to do... But Pike continues to largely serve as a supporting player this season. He's there to help his crew shine, you can count on Chris for some advice, a kind word or a home cooked meal. Let's hope Hegemony has a more meaty part for him in store... Though with the Gorn involved, chances are it'll mostly be a La'an story.

@Dirk 'I get the impression that nuTrek writers are more willing to write about their lives than to imagine a science fiction story. [...] It seems like any potential plot is drowned out by a lot of contrived interpersonal issues.' Sorry I didn't follow this excellent point up earlier. Yes, I fully agree. You can easily see the fingerprints of young adult romance writing all over SNW. This forced 'young Starfleet officers in love' starting point tends to relegate the science fiction. So far we've had La'an/NuKirk; Spock/'Chapel'; Pike/Batel*. I'm surprised the writers have actually held off a Pike/Una unrequited romance as that was actually nearly canon from Gene's time. *Yes, you would be right to say this isn't unprecented in Trek, given the virtually simultaneous Worf/Jadzia, Sisko/Kasidy, Kira/Odo, Leeta/Rom, O'Brien/Keiko romances in DS9. But I didn't find those romances particularly interesting either (except Worf/Jadzia and Sisko/Kasidy).

I didn't know Bruce Horak was the Klingon captain..Did anyone else know besides Jammer?? And WHEN IS HEMMER COMING BACK FOR GOD'S SAKE..And didn't anyone else want the episode to explore more about the sci-fi properties of the subspace fold and maybe any life forms that live there--Maybe even a song about them--or the fold itself--An Ode to the Fold perhaps??

@Bok R'Mor "It's worth remembering that one of the reasons we have SNW at all is because there was such a positive fan reaction to Mount's Pike when he appeared in DSC. I therefore find it bizarre that Pike's being increasingly written as ineffective." It's all part of the deal that I alluded to, which I don't find all that odd. The audience loved Pike. The showrunners liked him too but only on the condition that he plays second fiddle to Burnham. Now he gets a show of his 'own' which pleases the audience but the same sort of conditions as before still apply. Just replace "Michael Burnham" with "Uhura". There is more nuance to it that than as well as some relevant differences but even with those considered, I can't say I'm terribly surprised, nor even disappointed, that a simple transplantation of the previous power relations would happen. @Ruhul @Dirk "Let's also remember that running the ship is not a democracy." I never called it a democracy in the strict sense where the Captain must cede to majority opinion. It may not always 'feel' this way, but I never got the sense that Pike doesn't have final say, or can't overrule the loudest voice. But let me be clear that what we have witnessed in any and all Nu-Trek series is nothing short of a paradigm shift where some of the old standards and expectations may no longer apply: It's Nu Trek, so there are Nu Rules. Even when it comes to prequels since even futuristic fiction must inevitably echo the concerns and realities of the present day. There's no getting around that even if the showrunners hypothetically tried to run away as far as they could from that into the future. @AP "and now many of these same voices are complaining that SNW is TOO FOCUSED on the ensemble" Agreed that the bona fide ensemble-style storytelling is a feature that can be appreciated in comparison to DISC often tending use its ensemble more as window dressing. I also think it's a good thing that "everyone get their own episode", just as it was on TNG. Still, I think there is room to appreciate this while simultaneously wondering why a one particular character might, seemingly arbitrarily, get a little more than their proportionate share, while the Captain seems to get much less. Not merely in terms of screen time, but in how much weight or importance the audience or the crew is supposed to ascribe to his presence or function. In TNG, even with all those episodes that highlight a different POV character other than Picard, I never really got the sense that Picard was on 'staycation' and should be left alone to sip his Earl Grey while everyone else makes all the tough calls. Just because it's "Data's Day" doesn't mean that Picard is gonna backpeddle and say "...well actually, this is YOUR day, Data, so what do you think?" @Lynos "It's interesting to note that [M'Benga] was a very, very small part of this episode. As if the writers know they can't have him singing and dancing after last episode." When M'Benga says "...and I don't sing" I believe it slyly references that the actor himself is probably not very comfortable with singing and dancing and so the writers are not gonna have him do a ton of what he's not very good at.

Narissa's Bath Water

I count at least four instances so far in this thread where people suggest that ANYONE (!) expressing a negative opinion must lack a critical element of understanding, and thus, is by nature deficient and can be disregarded. Their opinion is deficient because THEY are. Tolerance and appreciation of diverse though are part of Star Trek's DNA, aren't they? One would hope that fans could accept a differing opinion without requiring a full audit of the cognitive heuristics that generated it. I'm starting to wonder if opinions serve a para-social function for these people, i.e., their own self-perceptions are influenced by the perceived difference between the popular forum opinion and their own. For such people, a challenge to the popular opinion, even a lone challenge, amounts to a challenge to the self. FWIW, I neither watch nor comment on SNW S2, because it clearly has moved in a YA direction. I'm not the intended audience, and probably worse, I'm not even familiar enough with YA tropes and styles to evaluate it against other YA sci-fi. Against traditional, adult-themed Trek, SNW doesn't compare well, but in fairness, it isn't intended for that audience.

I enjoyed it and while I wanted a Klingon war chant like poi Kahless... This was hilarious. I don't get the chapel break up though. It's three months and they have technology to stay in contact. If they had more episodes of them not being on the same page or drifting apart, maybe. On the other hand I'm glad for some reason it is Chapel breaking up with Spock and not the other way around.

The River Temarc

@SlackerInc: "The captain would be the obvious choice for the inspiring speech to rally the entire crew into song, right? (As @Chris W observed, "If there’s anyone that is to be responsible for rallying the crew, it’s the Captain.") To have Uhura do it instead is so blatant in the nuTrek mode, to "center Black women's voices" instead of those of white men. [eyeroll]" Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I think you're reading waaaaay too much politics into this episode. Celia Rose-Gooding, as well as Christina Chong and Jess Bush, can sing, and sing beautifully. Anson Mount and Ethan Peck can't. The job should go to the most qualified person, no?

I 'm confused--when did this episode state that Chapel broke up withSpock?? And why would she--they just got together and she just kissed him 2 episodes ago--does this make any sense?? I don't care much about romance in general but would like to understand,,

@Gilligan's Starship: "AND: we already had a Captain who loved to cook, Sisko! & we had Kirk tooling around in the kitchen in ST:Generations" I don't have a problem with Pike loving to cook -- Riker and Sisko do, too -- or that he invites his crew to dinner. The problem is that he seems to do nothing *other* than cook.

"...so many oh so cultured despisers of DISCO lamented endlessly on this forum and elsewhere that the show was TOO FOCUSED on Burnham,...and now many of these same voices are complaining that SNW is TOO FOCUSED on the ensemble" It's almost as if the Goldilocks parable never existed.

Sadly it seems Picard season 3 was the pleasant blip in between the utter dreck that DSC rapidly became and the semi-promising start that SNW made. I'm fine with Lower Deck's being parody/comedy Star Trek and I even enjoy it sometimes but what on earth is this garbage?

Chuck AzEee

This episode was by far the best of the season, quite entertaining, even my non-Trek hating wife loved the episode.

I can’t make it through it.

@Midshipman Norris I saw your comment later. I tapped out 15:35 during the kirk musical

Guys in their 40s and 50s finding out that they love musicals. Broadway awaits!

@theBgt "This show is called "STRANGE NEW WORLDS". How many of those we have visited so far". I would consider an "improbability field" that turns the entire universe into a "musical reality "a pretty strange new world, is it not? @Leif "And didn't anyone else want the episode to explore more about the sci-fi properties of the subspace fold and maybe any life forms that live there". It would've been nice I guess but I think the episode kept its focus on the characters. The Sci Fi thing was just the excuse. Delving more into it would probably hurt the tone and balance of the story, or at least be about something totally different then intended. Many people in the thread say they don't like/hate musicals. Some of them loved the episode in spite of it and others didn't, to the point where they fast forwarded or muted. I like musicals, but good musicals. Just like I like horror movies, but the good ones. I have no stated opinion against any genre as long as its well made and has substance. Your milege regarding trhe quality of the songs may vary - music, like humor, is a very subjetive thing - but I think the brilliant thing the episode does is that it actually incorporates the tenents of the genre itself into the plot, as the characters try and anticipate when they might break uncontrolably into song, they realize that in musicals (the good ones!) song is used to express emotions that are too powerful or embarrasing to express in mere words. Once La'an realizes this, she also realizes the risks it may hold. So in her job as a security officer she never forgets her duty even in the face of singing, thus raising the stakes of the episode. This could've been utter fluff. The fact they manage to mine if for character development is very impressive in my eyes. Also, the more I think about it, the more I realize that a musical episode probably could not have been done with any other crew otheer than the SNW one. There is something about the tone of the show and the relationship between the characters that allows this. Can you imagine the TNG characters break into a song and dance? Horrible. Kirk's crew? No way. A massive dance out all around DS 9? Please don't. Every Star Trek show has its silly, comedic episode, but none one went that far. There is just something about SNW that allowed this to be made and be made successfully. I can even excuse them for softening Pike so much just so he could participate.

@Narissa's Bath Water 'I count at least four instances so far in this thread where people suggest that ANYONE (!) expressing a negative opinion must lack a critical element of understanding, and thus, is by nature deficient and can be disregarded. Their opinion is deficient because THEY are. Tolerance and appreciation of diverse though are part of Star Trek's DNA, aren't they? One would hope that fans could accept a differing opinion without requiring a full audit of the cognitive heuristics that generated it. I'm starting to wonder if opinions serve a para-social function for these people, i.e., their own self-perceptions are influenced by the perceived difference between the popular forum opinion and their own. For such people, a challenge to the popular opinion, even a lone challenge, amounts to a challenge to the self.' Fair points and this has become one of the hazards of even engaging in the NuTrek threads. Reading the minority of 'any criticism is a hate crime' posts, I swear I can nearly hear their whelps of anguish from here: to them, even seeing a differing opinion is like them suddenly stepping on their Lego. I genuinely cannot fathom why you would come to a discussion thread and be enraged when you don't find 100% conformity to your own opinions.There's a self-appointed authoritarianism to it that's baffling. Even if you like an episode, they'll still have a dig at you on autopilot because you can never like it as much as they do; far too much personal investment there. By the way, we aren't the first people in the comments to have picked up on all this, see here: https://www.jammersreviews.com/comments/?id=96705

Not gonna like soon as I saw the Klingon's breaking out in song I was expecting something on the line of "BAT'LETH'S BACK. ALRIGHT!!!"

@Dirk (cc: @Bok R'Mor) ----- “The excitement of TNG was in part because of the enthusiasm of the characters for science*. This whole relationship-Trek nonsense belongs on the Lifetime cable channel, or wherever they show facile teen melodramas. The scientific explanation was incomplete - it absolutely didn't work for me.” → I can’t help but wonder that the reason this is happening is because we’re starting to hit the limit of how non-scientist writers use known science in a creative, fictional way. Using the tardigrade for Discovery was ingenious (and also controversial, if I recall), but also not something found in Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”. 😆

@Chris W 'I can’t help but wonder that the reason this is happening is because we’re starting to hit the limit of how non-scientist writers use known science in a creative, fictional way. Using the tardigrade for Discovery was ingenious (and also controversial, if I recall), but also not something found in Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”.' TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT had a paid science consultant. NuTrek has Spock saying 'I like science' and an awkward pause for an audience cheer.

This musical episode was a bold choice and the writers, actors, and everyone involved absolutely nailed it. It's a sign of the show's confidence and the strength of these characters that SNW trusts the audience to remain invested in the drama despite the silliness of the premise. This episode and the previous one cemented SNW for me as a worthy heir to 90s Trek. Is it as good as DS9 or post-season 3 TNG? Nope, not yet. But it's finding its identity in a way the other new Trek shows haven't. It's got the episodic format of 90s Trek with the richer character development of 21st century TV. A few stinkers aside, it's storytelling is tight and entertaining. I wouldn't rate any episode of SNW as among the top 20 all-time Trek greats, but wouldn't be surprised if SNW manages to pull off at least one great before it's all over.

@Lynos "I would consider an "improbability field" that turns the entire universe into a "musical reality "a pretty strange new world, is it not?" Right. And I also give you the aliens communicating through Uhura and the ones who turned Spock into human. 1st season we have the comet one, the entity that made Enterprise a Fairytale. There are also the creatures in Illyria and the little kid sacrificed for the shake of the planet, but both these planets where already known. So season one: 2 to 4 episodes out of 10 Season two: 3 out of 10 (I take the last one will be about the Gorn).

@Bok R'Mor "Even if you like an episode, they'll still have a dig at you on autopilot because you can never like it as much as they do; far too much personal investment there." Thanks for this statement. What it brings to my mind is that something may be fine for what it is, but it may not match people's expectations for what an evening's immersion in Trek should have been.

"TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT had a paid science consultant." @Bok R'Mor In my pages of unposted comments, I've written about this a few times. Peck might as well be saying "science bitch!" He's he's no more Spock than Breaking Bad is Star Trek, but it doesn't matter. I've accepted that nuTrek isn't related to the Star Trek I love. The only way the show could improve is if they changed the names of all the characters. For all its faults, The Orville did it better. Right now the only relationship is the character assassination of Spock. After the bacon eating, nothing would surprise me. I expect him to be wearing thigh highs and cat ears any time now. Contagious enthusiasm for science and for knowledge in general is a theme that finds no place in nuTrek. It's all about self-discovery by histrionic overgrown children of inadequate parents, or aimed specifically at very young viewers who have yet to develop standards.

I don't know how anybody could watch this episode and not think "Buffy" the entire way through, unless they missed out on Buffy. But I think this one may have even been better. If nothing else, it had superior production values. But the songs were pretty darned good, too, as were the emotional moments.

Matthew L. Martin

I didn't hate it and occasionally quite liked it but it was no Once More With Feeling. Buffy's musical remains the gold standard, not just because the songs were great and the choreography was top notch but also because the songs advanced the plot and character arcs. Most shows liek this use songs either for the sake of it or, as in this one, just to comment on the situation, making them feel a little redundant.

@Dirk 'Contagious enthusiasm for science and for knowledge in general is a theme that finds no place in nuTrek. It's all about self-discovery by histrionic overgrown children of inadequate parents, or aimed specifically at very young viewers who have yet to develop standards.' Seconded. No matter how accomplished SNW gets within the low-expectation parameters NuTrek sets for itself, even SNW - which is, let' s face it, as good as NuTrek gets - is never going to inspire viewers, male and female, to become scientists, engineers or mathematicians the way e.g. TNG famously did. At best, SNW might inspire a handful of its more overly enthusiastic viewers to embark on a young adult (fan) fiction writing hobby. If they don't move on to another franchise and 'ship' the arse out of that first, of course. Episodes like this one are simply condescending, silly, twee, franchise-bloating rubbish. *In my opinion*.

I dunno, I don't see why it needs to be judged against an episode from a completely unrelated show from decades ago, except to say that it is reminiscent for those people who happened to watch Buffy.

I haven't seen the Buffy episode in question but it is no surprise whatsoever that the marquee concept for this episode is swiped.

So a space anomaly compelled the crew to this...sounds like the Day-O scene from Beetlejuice.

Are we in nitpick mode yet? If so, and the anomaly requires an emotional trigger to set off singing, then what is the emotional trigger for the initial "Status Report" number? If it matters, I largely enjoyed the episode. The last musical I saw (outside of my kids in Les Mis) was "Jagged Little Pill" albeit not with the original cast (which it seems included Gooding and got more Tonys than southern Italy). I'm guessing next week is even grimmer and darker than last week... with Batel as the Gorn queen, implanted and SOL on the view screen. I've been cultivating a Gorn theory that could maybe make this Gorn crap work with canon. We'll see.

Loved it. Super fun. This might be the first episode of any of the new shows I would watch more than once. It made Star-Treky sense as an episode in the ‘goofy’ tradition. A few quibbles: Jim Kirk doesn’t really need to be there; La’an could’ve romanticized without him present. Pike having Uhura give the rousing speech at the end kind of works, since the episode started with her, but I would have liked him to step up and be ‘captain-y’ there. And why didn’t the Klingons sing opera at the end?

Warrior4Jah

Most songs worked very nicely in my opinion. I really liked the La'an song as it had (in a good way) a bit of Disney princess vibe. I think it worked beautifully and it was original also. But to keep it special they should probably not retry this. I also liked the singing voices of Ethan Peck and Celia Rose Gooding. But I have to say that all cast members sang very nice. And I was eagerly awaiting for the Klingons to sing, which did not disappoint. Kudos that they could pull off something new, having seem almost all episodes from all Star Trek series (apart from Discovery season 4 & 5) I thought almost everything which would or would not fit in the Startrek universe would have been tried by now. Musically it was nice also; I will play the songs occasionally via Spotify :). Would give this 4.5 stars. Reserving the 5 star shows for the deeply ethical drama's with realistic and believable stakes.

Hmm 3.5 out of 4.. I got the scoring system mixed up :).

@Bryan "I dunno, I don't see why it needs to be judged against an episode from a completely unrelated show from decades ago, except to say that it is reminiscent for those people who happened to watch Buffy." I think it can't be helped. Buffy was the first show which did a "musical episode", and an episode that is considered classic. Tidbit: Once More with Feeling is the only Buffy episode I ever watched in my life. I liked it without having a clue who the characters are. :-) It was just kind of bonkers. @Cynic "Are we in nitpick mode yet? If so, and the anomaly requires an emotional trigger to set off singing, then what is the emotional trigger for the initial "Status Report" number?" In musicals, many times the opening tune would be to establish the setting, characters and even conflict. Examples: "Good morning Baltimore" in Hairspray, the "Prologue" in West Side Story, "Skid Row" in Little Shop of Horros. It's not borne out of emotional outburst necesserilly, but it does follow the rules of a sudden onset of musical reality. :-) "I'm guessing next week is even grimmer and darker than last week... with Batel as the Gorn queen, implanted and SOL on the view screen." I have to say, some of us don't watch trailers or "next week on". I'm not watching the show on Paramount + so I have no access to all this promotional material. I'm not watching trailers and I'm not watching any post-show contect. Just the episodes as they drop. I don't even read the synopsis. I would rather not know the final episode has the Gorn in it or that Batel is the Gorn queen (???) but I guess that's the risk I take when I scroll here....

I also do not watch trailers/promos and wish people would not talk about them. We are clearly not alone, as one fairly popular TV podcast I listen to (Decoding TV) always promises right in the first thirty seconds that they won't talk about upcoming episodes "including 'next time on...' previews".

Indeed, and it borders on rule-breaking here to say things like "next week we know that x will happen due to what was revealed in the trailer" even if it's more like an educated guess. I don't think this includes noting generalities like "it will feature Uhura (again)" or "it will be musical."

The simplest explanation tends to be the right one. Why have the writers sidelined Pike? For the same reason they haven’t given Ortegas her own episode. Cause they don’t know what to do with the character. Last season, Pike’s knowledge of his future hung over the character. But by episode 10, he’d come to terms with it. It’s as if the writers didn’t know where to go after that. I don’t think the writers sit down and say “this week we’re doing an episode about La’an.” I think they start with the idea(s) they want to explore and figure out which character(s) best allow them to do that. When it came time to do a musical, they correctly realized they had to build it around the actors who could sing. Again, this favored Uhura over Pike. The only good thing about the writers strike is that it’ll give the writers of this show time to think how to better serve some of these characters they’ve neglected.

I don't think people are generally asking for more Pike POV episodes in the way that some people are asking "Why haven't we gotten a proper Ortegas POV episode?" So it could very well be that the writers don't know quite what to do with Ortegas, and maybe they don't have a ton of ideas for what to do with Pike either, but I don't think this is what is bothering people. The complaints don't really have to do with "fresh ideas for Pike" but rather just observing him doing his job in the more typical and ordinary ways that they have observed of the other great Captains of Star Trek past. They want to see what kind of Captain he really is when he is put in difficult or no-win scenarios, when his values and principles are tested to the limit.. when he has no choice but to take a stand and not just casually go with the flow when the correct course of action seems obvious or his crew members have already reached a decision in unison. This is a test that every Starfleet Captain must face at various points in their career regardless of what their personality is like, even if they're not very interesting on the surface... so "I don't know what else to do with him" is neither a valid excuse, nor an applicable explanation. It could very well be that the writers don't sit down and say "lets do a La'an episode" (though maybe they do -- there's no way to be sure either way) but I absolutely get the sense that the writers proactively ponder and put deal of time and effort into envisioning every possible way they can touch on the theme of "communication", or have it be of some great importance to the plot so that Uhura can swoop in and save the day once again because, other than singing and other musical stuff, that's the one thing that she's sure to excel at. And they could totally do the same thing with Ortegas too. Piloting is her one great strength so they could keep on making episodes that call for impeccable starship navigation but they just choose not to because it would get old fast.

@Bryan: "The complaints don't really have to do with "fresh ideas for Pike" but rather just observing him doing his job in the more typical and ordinary ways that they have observed of the other great Captains of Star Trek past." 100% correct. I would actually prefer fewer POV stories in general, especially those involving a character's Tragic Backstory (TM). TOS is still my favorite Trek series, and I recall very little of that sort of thing on that show. But yeah, let's see Pike in the captain's chair, acting like a captain. I really think people are in denial, or are just naive, when they say it's all a coincidence rather than recognizing that the nuTrek PTB are allergic to having a straight white dude in command, acting in a commanding manner, ordering others around including women and POC. (Despite what some may assume, I also don't believe this is what we should be constantly portraying on Trek, one reason I welcomed DS9 and Voyager; but I also don't think we should forever ban straight white dudes from the captain's chair or Nerf them as has been done with Pike.) By the same token, they are decidedly NOT allergic to elevating Black women at every possible turn--even when the strictures involved in making a prequel mean, as Bryan noted, they have to tie themselves in knots making everything about "communication" because "communication officer" was the only canonical role played by a Black woman on the ship and time period they have used for this show's setting.

@Bryan I don’t think the writers know what kind of captain Pike is. That’s the problem. They found themselves with a likable actor whose character had a tragic future story, but couldn’t really define him beyond that. If you don’t have a good grasp of the character, then naturally you’ll struggle to write for him. @SlackerInc We’re not in denial. We just don’t all see the world through the prism of race. Why is it that when you watch Discovery or SNW and see a black woman being given a prominent role, your first thought goes to race? If the NuTrek PTB are, as you say, allergic to having a straight white dude in command, then why did they kill off the Asian woman captain at the start of season 1 and replace her with a straight white dude? Why did they replace him with another straight white dude in season 2? Why did they green light a new show, built entirely off that same white dude? Why did they make yet another white dude, even if he’s hidden under makeup, the captain of Discovery in season 3? Why was the black woman made first officer in season 3 and then demoted? Why has season 2 of SNW given more screen time to straight white dude Kirk than it has to Ortegas? Why has the straight white dude science officer been given more to do than the woman who’s his superior officer? Your theory has so many holes I’d be laughing if I wasn’t so disgusted by the obvious subtext. Lemme guess. This is the part where you tell us Trek has become too “woke”, whatever that means.

@Dogface I wouldn't go that far. There was a really revealing episode last season where the command styles of Pike and Kirk were contrasted -- where the two even had a debate with each other about what the best course of action was. That tells me that the writers, at the very least, understand the difference in captaining styles between Pike and Kirk and they could lean into that divergence more if they wanted to.

@Dogface: "If the NuTrek PTB are, as you say, allergic to having a straight white dude in command, then why did they kill off the Asian woman captain at the start of season 1 and replace her with a straight white dude?" Who was secretly a Trump-esque villain. You kind of forgot to mention that part. As I noted, at the end of the season after he was defeated, the wide view of the Starfleet brass showed a crowd so "diverse" it managed to lack that particular aspect of diversity (almost certainly the single largest demographic group among Star Trek fans). "Why did they replace him with another straight white dude in season 2?" They did not. They replaced him with an alien (and not just the de minimus kind with a couple extra bumps on the ridge of his nose: the character's not white any more than Worf was Black), who then got written out in a pretty obvious way to clear the way for the Black woman captain they quite clearly wanted all along. Which is fine: we had a Black male captain, then a white woman got her turn, all things I approve of. But let's not pretend that's not what they are doing. And no, I'm definitely not a fan of wokeness. Neither, however, am I a fan of DeSantis-style anti-wokeness. Although I have always voted only for Democrats, I prefer moderate Dems like Eric Adams; had there ever been a presidential election where my choice was between Bernie Sanders and Mitt Romney, I would have pulled the lever for a Republican for the first time and gone with Mitt. It doesn't look like we'll get any Republican choices that reasonable anytime soon, but it doesn't mean I celebrate the toxic wokeness and cancel culture that has so infected the Democratic Party, not to mention the news media, academia, the entertainment industry, and corporate America more broadly.

@ SlackerInc "I really think people are in denial, or are just naive, when they say it's all a coincidence rather than recognizing that the nuTrek PTB are allergic to having a straight white dude in command, acting in a commanding manner, ordering others around including women and POC." That's right, we don't see any conspiracy. Sorry bro. P.S. Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. "Who was secretly a Trump-esque villain." Wait, what? Lorca was a much different kind of villain than Trump is. Interested to hear how you see parallels here. Also, they replaced him with Pike. THEN Saru. And then Mary Sue Burnham.

"That's right, we don't see any conspiracy. Sorry bro." It's not a conspiracy. It's just what they are openly doing. "P.S. Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK." If he did, he certainly wasn't alone--as the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in the 1970's, after doing a proper investigation rather than the sweep-it-under-the-rug job the Warren Commission did (not really a "coverup", as I don't think they really knew what happened but just wanted to avoid panicking the public with anything that wasn't pat and simple). I really hate BTW how some people treat this conclusion, which is again the one Congress came to after careful study, as emblematic of "crazy conspiracy theories". The Earth is not flat, the moon landing was not faked, and 9/11 was not an inside job. But Oswald was also not a lone gunman. And this is not a fringe belief. As this article points out, for decades more than three-quarters of Americans believed he did not act alone, and even today it's 61-33 percent in favor of that view: https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/jfk-assassination-files/one-thing-all-americans-agree-jfk-conspiracy-n815371 "Lorca was a much different kind of villain than Trump is. Interested to hear how you see parallels here." You've got to be kidding. Here are excerpts from his speech in "What's Past Is Prologue": "I’ve watched for years; you’ve let alien races spill over the borders, flourish in our backyard, then have the gall to incite rebellion. The Terrans need a leader who will preserve our way of life, our race." "We together will make the empire glorious again!" But if that's not crystal clear for you (not sure how it wasn't), here's a quote on set from the actor who played Lorca: "I wanted to say something about Trump. They've done Star Trek brilliantly. The only reason to do it again was to tell a story that has some modern resonance. It's such a horribly, unbelievably decisive time — to be part of a story that explores that makes it a very unusual experience." Or how about executive producer Aaron Harberts: "The Terrans [are] authoritarian, xenophobic. You get ahead by stabbing people in the back. Relationships are all about what you get out of them and nothing more. It has everything to do with, I think, where a certain faction of our country is right now." Source for above quotes: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adambvary/star-trek-discovery-trumpism-lorca SMH, JT. No wonder you have a tough time seeing the producers' agenda if you can't see this one they made so obvious and also were quite open about.

Oops, neglected to properly tag @Jeffrey's Tube in the comment above.

In the world of @Jeffrey's Tube, Starfleet is not the military, and Lorca was not a stand-in for Trump. Also, Oswald (who defected to the USSR and then back, in the height of the Cold War, without running into any trouble from American authorities or even being constantly surveilled) fired the magic bullet all by himself. And it's a pure coincidence that Jack Ruby had underworld connections: he really just went to the police station to immediately silence Oswald because he loved Jackie Kennedy so much. What color is the sky there, JT? Might be a "strange new world" for @Leif to check out. ;-)

I agree with everything Bryan said regarding Pike, but there is another point to consider. Strange New Worlds is touted as an episodic series, but I would label it as semi-episodic at best. Eeach episode we get a "previously on" segment simply because the show has certain story and character arcs that continue from episode to episode. In that regard it's not that different from Discovery, which also has a semi-episodic structure. There were ongoing story threads but many episodes featured a one-and-done crisis/adventure (at least in the first 2 seasons, I haven't watched past that). It will be harder to just watch a random episode of SNW and be totally in line with it like you would do with TOS or TNG. If you don't know, or don't remember what happened to character X two episodes before, you might scratch your head as to what's going on. This appraoch makes it harder to write truly episodic adventures that feature the crew just solving a problem with no extra stuff on the side. You need these kinds of episodes to have Pike be the Captain and run the ship. Because if you don't, and your focus is strictly character and relationships, then yeah, you would only see Pike if it's a "Pike episodes" and in other times he would be sidelined. Honeslty I don't care about Pike and Batel on again off again drama. I really don't. Will they or won't they? I could care less. I just want Pike to be captain Pike. Show me why he had a two-parter classic TOS episode devoted to him, show me why he's revered by Spock, show me Captain Pike of the Enterprise.

Finally, another race debate about how the writers want to humiliate/ignore straight white men and love blacks and minorities. Add the word Jewish somewhere and we have a copy of a 1930s Nazi narrative. I must admit SlackerInc is interesting. He seems to have accepted a lot of right wing and some right wing extremist viewpoints but then argues that this is ok because he puts a centrist veneer on it. He says that he is pro blue collar workers but would prefer the union buster, pro tax cuts for the rich, pro privatizing unemployment insurance Romney over pro union, tax the rich (jewish) Sanders. I guess not being woke trumps all for him. With race it is the same. SlackerInc believes that Blacks are genetically predisposed to have significantly lower intelligence, based on the Bell Curve book. I explained to him several times that the science in that book is just plain bad, because I actually understand it, but he rather believes that I'm too woke or whatever. Different from the book, and in his mind probably his saving grace, he argues not to lower spending on mostly black neighborhoods but an increase to help our unfortunate black brothers and sister overcoming their mental shortcomings. I always wonder how he sees Jammer. Probably as some kind of black Albert Einstein. Really far above the below average black stock. So his focus on the topic of race follows a certain pattern. Instead of evaluating the numerous other explanations why the cast is as it is, he is already convinced that the writer view the casting only through the lens of race/gender/lgbtq as he does and he even demands of others to accept that framing. For him Uhura is a black, heterosexual, woman first not an individual with certain qualities and a distinct personality. Here is my explanation which could be wrong of course. The show is supposed to attract a younger audience with different sensibilities than the mostly 40-70+ year old audience of the older shows. They have a different view on race, gender and hierarchies. So guys, could we just go back to older men embracing their love for musical theater.

@Booming: "Here is my explanation which could be wrong of course. The show is supposed to attract a younger audience with different sensibilities than the mostly 40-70+ year old audience of the older shows. They have a different view on race, gender and hierarchies." You got a lot wrong (sometimes VERY wrong) in that comment,* but this part is spot on. It's exactly what they are doing. I wish we could all acknowledge that, and then we could move on to discussing whether this is what we WANT Star Trek to be doing. The denial that it is even happening is frustrating, and gets in the way of debating the merits of the approach. *For just one of several examples within a short comment, I have zero issue with any politician being Jewish as long as they are not an ultra-Orthodox fanatic: Chuck Schumer seems totally fine. It's Bernie's kooky Soviet-style socialism (not even updated a la AOC--not that I would vote for her to be president either) I can't abide.

Well... to be fair, Nu-Trek has gotten a whole lot better about what SlackerInc is alluding to and everyone is saying never happened. I think it's telling that one needs to reach all the way back to Discovery seasons one through three in order to have enough ammunition to compellingly make that argument. If our memories were somehow mercifully wiped of those much uglier and sketchier years of Nu-Trek, there may still be the occasional brief and more subtle signs of it here and there; mere vestigial remains in ST:Picard and SNW of those tendencies that the showrunners have wisely turned away from for the most part. But I don't think there would be enough evidence to connect the dots in that way and it would go unnoticed. And so to continue to harp on about how the blacks are stealing the spotlight (btw, this was never -my- complaint) or that the white/male characters who don't have a solid legacy reason for being there seem to be singled out for the unflattering one-dimensional portrayals unlike any other identity group...this, I believe, is to miss the forest for the trees. Because there's now a lot more significant things going on -- even some positive things too -- than this, to be debated and discussed in these later stages of Nu-Trek

@Bryan: Sure there are positive things! I've only awarded fewer than three stars to three of the nine episodes this season, and only three of ten in S1. So that's roughly seventy percent of all episodes in the series I have graded positively, not too shabby at all.

Kooky soviet style socialism. Haha. Oh boy.

And to explain what I mean with different sensibilities. For younger people it less important if somebody is black or white, gay or straight, man or woman. They also encounter flatter hierarchies in business and schools than the stricter ones that were common a few decades ago.

Sure it's important to younger people. There's a woke hierarchy, and Uhura is near the top (she'd be higher if she were gay or trans) and Pike is at the bottom.

"Not seeing race" or being "colorblind" is actually heavily frowned upon by today's progressives: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-saying-i-dont-see-color-denies-the-racial-identity-of-students/2020/02 Even the very mainstream Oprah's website cautions against this and preaches "anti-racism" (essentially, reverse racism) instead: https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/relationships-love/a32824297/color-blind-myth-racism/

@Lynos ‘I have to say, some of us don't watch trailers or "next week on". I'm not watching the show on Paramount + so I have no access to all this promotional material. I'm not watching trailers and I'm not watching any post-show contect. Just the episodes as they drop. I don't even read the synopsis. I would rather not know the final episode has the Gorn in it or that Batel is the Gorn queen (???) but I guess that's the risk I take when I scroll here....’ Same here. I assiduously avoid trailers and spoilers where I can. For example, because the latest episode of SNW is for some reason not released until a day later than the US, I avoid the Comment Stream here on Thursdays and Fridays – it’s *my* responsibility to limit inadvertent exposure, not other commenters’ responsibility to not engage in discussion). But it’s an uphill struggle in the algorithmic age: twice this season YouTube has recommended to me videos that have full episode spoilers in their thumbnails and/or titles. I haven’t ready any spoilers about the final episode but it was reasonable to assume some tragedy would befall Batel to give an even more tragic backstory to Pike, and because their rather tedious relationship has once again been receiving recent airtime. As someone wrote in an earlier episode thread, it’s obvious Batel is being set up to be redshirted (or perhaps ‘fridged’ would be a better description)… @Dogface ‘Why have the writers sidelined Pike? For the same reason they haven’t given Ortegas her own episode. Cause they don’t know what to do with the character. ‘ If we use Occam’s Razor here as you seem to suggest, the answer would then be that the writers and producers have made a deliberate decision to leave Ortegas as an undeveloped embodiment of quip and snark – not that they don’t know what to do with her. (Now, the odds are that the final episode is going to feature Ortegas heavily, as she’s the only regular character who hasn’t had a focus episode. Maybe her piloting skills and war experience will save the day, no doubt after her tragic backstory is revealed and she’s given some motivational speeches by the crew.) I find it interesting that even the writers and producers seem to have realised they have created an annoyingly one-note character in Ortegas. For most of S1 and half of S2, Ortegas was firing out cringeworthy one-liners and being the resident purveyor of 21st century slang. Then, suddenly, a few episodes ago, all that abruptly stopped. I understand that S1 and S2 were written and filmed back to back so even the writers and producers must have gotten sick of how they were writing her. @DogFace ‘The only good thing about the writers strike is that it’ll give the writers of this show time to think how to better serve some of these characters they’ve neglected.’ I admire your sense of hope here but I think it’s unlikely that the writers’ strike will inspire anything new for SNW. I would imagine writers are more focused on immediate issues of economic concern. They might be thinking of side projects but I doubt they’re rolling up their sleeves to be fairer to neglected characters. @Bryan ‘The complaints don't really have to do with "fresh ideas for Pike" but rather just observing him doing his job in the more typical and ordinary ways that they have observed of the other great Captains of Star Trek past.’ This is it. We saw classic, fascinating captains and captaining styles in Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway* and even Archer. We’ve not seen much comparable captaining from Pike – yet. There’s a Christopher Pike Medal of Valour (Sisko was awarded it) – what did he get it for – consensus-building? Gourmet cookery courses under fire? I hope it’s not just for saving those cadets and being kept somewhat whole by an energy field afterward. I’d like to think Pike had a more varied and inspirational career as captain than one event. *Yes, I know some people think Janeway was a psychopath and a bad captain. I’m not one of them. @DogFace ‘Why has season 2 of SNW given more screen time to straight white dude Kirk than it has to Ortegas? ‘ I don’t really want to get involved in a proxy debate about US race relations via Trek but since I believe I was the one to raise this particular example (NuKirk v Ortegas) I would argue that the reason NuKirk has been shoehorned into SNW is very simply because of the JJ Trek films. There is no doubt that the JJ Trek films are the TOS that the producers have in mind when creating SNW – even though the JJ films take place in a different timeline, pretty much everything else matches aesthetically and tonally. It’s logical enough: most of the younger non-Trek audience will only have seen the JJ films and associate them with ‘what Trek is’. For them, Trek is Kirk and Spock (and probably Uhura), so Kirk and Spock is what they expect and what they get. My point here is that NuKirk in SNW is really an outlier; his shoehorning into SNW is simply because franchise name recognition purposes – I say name recognition because Paul Wesley genuinely resembles Jim Carrey more than William Shatner or Chris Pine – and IP concerns outweighed the colour of his skin, or his sex, or his age in this specific instance. The inclusion of NuKirk is thus not representative of the influence (or lack of influence) of identity politics on character selection or casting overall on the show. @SlackerInc ‘the character's [Lorca’s] not white any more than Worf was Black’ This is an interesting point, because during TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT I certainly didn’t perceive characters’ race, sex and age the way they are perceived now. Worf is a particularly good example because I never perceived him to be black or white or mixed race or whatever – I perceived him to be a Klingon. (It was the same with Kurn, Martok, Gowron etc.). Likewise, I didn’t perceive Picard to be an ‘old white man’ captain, or Sisko to be a ‘black male’ captain’, or Janeway to be a ‘white woman’ captain (I suppose today Janeway would be dismissed as a ‘space Karen’, sadly). I perceived them as the characters they were meant to be (it was only really when I saw ‘Far Beyond the Stars’, perhaps, that Sisko’s race ever became something I was consciously aware of, and it did so in a meaningful way). I didn’t judge characters based on their appearance, but on their character and their actions, and for the most part I liked and admired them all. I was inspired by them, and I could definitely criticise them all – based on their character and their actions, not because they were ‘like me’ or ‘not like me’ (I don’t watch escapist entertainment to be reminded of myself, and I was more likely as a child and young person to be inspired by someone who was *not* like me in any way than someone who was). I find it demoralising that in the current era there appears to be an implicit idea that people can only be inspired by those who belong to the same boxes that they do. That to me, actually, is the antithesis of what Trek represents. To me, Sisko and LaForge inspired white viewers, for example; Janeway and Kira inspired male viewers; Picard inspired young viewers; etc. @Lynos ‘Honeslty I don't care about Pike and Batel on again off again drama. I really don't. Will they or won't they? I could care less. I just want Pike to be captain Pike. ‘ I couldn’t care less about Pike and Batel either. I’m not particularly interested in Trek romances, and I don’t think this one is especially convincing in terms of chemistry or premise. (An aside: I’m rewatching S7 of DS9 at the moment and I had forgotten how utterly cringeworthy the Kira/Odo romance was. I hated it.) @Booming ‘For younger people it less important if somebody is black or white, gay or straight, man or woman. ‘ This statement is absolutely the opposite of what is the case - verging on gaslighting, actually. And I would remind you that I and many others belong to the actual non-woke left, before you continue pontificating and grandstanding simply because you can't come to terms with your own country's appalling fascist history. Ask yourself why you feel compelled to come on a Trek forum dedicated to episodes you aren't even watching (!) to tilt at the windmills of US politics all the time.

@Lynos If you’re gonna be anal about Trek canon and what the show is doing with Pike, at least remember simple facts about TOS. Balance of Terror was not a two parter.

PS: @Booming, I don't care about your feuds with other posters, I just wish to God you would regale us with your opinions about Trek, rather than your opinions about everything else under the sun instead. The reason I am directing this to you and not them is because they at least manage to discuss Trek whereas you only pop up when you can discuss anything *but* Trek. It's a real shame as you are one of the most original posters here when you do come with a Trek angle.

@Bok R'Mor: You appear to have misunderstood me. Lorca was definitely white. I was talking about Saru when saying he's no more "white" than Worf was "Black". They are aliens, and aliens who look quite different from humans (Saru most of all).

@SlackerInc I understood you; the sentence of yours that I quoted merely gave me the opportunity to raise a point I'd meant to raise previously in other threads. No confusion intended.

@SlackerInc Ah, I see now I placed Lorca's name in the quote. That was incorrect and hasty editing of the original sentence on my part and misrepresents what you wrote, sorry. My response about Worf was to the general gist of what you wrote, not that sentence specifically (your mention of Worf triggered my memory).

@Bryan Uhura had one episode in the sole spotlight last season. One this season, and I’d argue this week wasn’t clearly focused on solely her. Not sure where you’re getting the idea that characters are having less of a spotlight than her the whole show’s run. Let’s look at who genuinely is the clear cut focus of each episode: S1 1. Pike 2. Uhura 3. Una 4. La’an 5. Spock 6. Pike 7. Spock 8. M’Benga 9. Ensemble, case for La’an or Uhura 10. Pike S2 1. Ensemble, case for Spock or the doctors 2. Una 3. La’an 4. Pike 5. Spock 6. Uhura 7. Boilmer 8. M’Benga 9. Ensemble, case for La’an or Uhura, or Chock Pike: 4 Una: 2 Spock: 3 La’an: 2 Uhura: 2 M’Benga: 2 Ortegas: 0 Next week looks to be Pike again.

Ok, so the author Larry Ferlazzo, an english and social science high school teacher from California is not the Pope of progressiveness and an opinion piece by him in an K12 education paper is not the official policy of progressives. I also just said that race or gender aren't as important meaning that a white girl has no problem identifying with the girls on Euphoria. Be they black or trans or whatever. So you are arguing against a strawman. "There's a woke hierarchy, and Uhura is near the top (she'd be higher if she were gay or trans) and Pike is at the bottom." Again, I'm amazed how deeply internalized right wing believes you have. In this case reverse racism. @Bok R'Mor "This statement is absolutely the opposite of what is the case" Ok, so for young people race, sexuality or gender are more important than for example young people in the 1960s? I guess the black, women and LGBT liberation movements were wrong then. "And I would remind you that I and many others belong to the actual non-woke left, before you continue pontificating and grandstanding simply because you can't come to terms with your own country's appalling fascist history." Well, hi there in the swedish? non woke "Hello fellow kids" leftist movement. Let's not talk about Germany's appalling history, considering Sweden's appalling reality in which it is ruled by a Conservative minority government supported by a former Neo-Nazi party. Hail Sweden! "Ask yourself why you feel compelled to come on a Trek forum dedicated to episodes you aren't even watching (!) to tilt at the windmills of US politics all the time. " ??? I was talking about the statements of one specific person. I didn't say anything about US politics. Well, this has been fun.

@Booming 'Well, hi there in the swedish? non woke "Hello fellow kids" leftist movement. Let's not talk about Germany's appalling history, considering Sweden's appalling reality in which it is ruled by a Conservative minority government supported by a former Neo-Nazi party. Hail Sweden!' I live in Norway, you absolute fool. You may be familiar with it, since it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany at one point? You're embarrassing yourself here, @Booming. Utterly shocking from you.

One possible factor that Anson hasn't been much so far is probably the same reason he wasn't in much of episode 1. Recently he's a father. But I am not sure...

@Bok R'Mor I live in Norway, you absolute fool. You may be familiar with it, since it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany at one point?" Vaguely. I only know that Norway has fyords. Oh and Breivik of course.

I want to apologize to all for my spoilery comment re the season finale. It was largely speculative but was based on a released preview scene for the episode. I definitely should not have brought up anything related to that on this post.

@Lynos "Honeslty I don't care about Pike and Batel on again off again drama. I really don't. Will they or won't they? I could care less. I just want Pike to be captain Pike. Show me why he had a two-parter classic TOS episode devoted to him, show me why he's revered by Spock, show me Captain Pike of the Enterprise. " Why did Pike have a classic two part TOS episode devoted to him? Money. They wanted to use the footage from the Cage and couldn't get Jeffrey Hunter back, so they did a workaround. That's it, not some grand love for the character. Plus we've already seen why Pike is so important to Spock. Spock knows Pike is taking a bullet for him, even if he doesn't know the specifics. It's also very clear that Pike is like a surrogate dad to him (teaching him how to cook, hosting his engagement dinner, etc.), which is all the more important because he's not talking to his actual dad. Unfortunately for Spock, Pike is pretty bad at romantic relationships, so he won't be getting much good advice there.

In 2022, 599 scripted series produced. 599!! There are simply not enough writers. Not just good writers, not even enough average writers. IMHO SNW writers are below average, trapped in their own idea of using TOS characters that they think they should develop/expand more for the shake of the fans, when the real reason is their limited writing talent. And instead of Strange New World encounters, we must endure their "vision"/version of Spock, Kirk, Uhura...etc..and event's and stories we already know that happened. Why on earth should we bother as much with Spock's wife? Why Kirk should appear so much? Because these people don't dare/know how to write something new and they are just dancing around the old characters. I also believe with such a small season, they should only write ensemble episodes and having a Strange New World Interaction case of the week. You can't just follow a TNG recipe and devote whole episodes to one character. TNG had 22+ episodes. But these people can't have any decent sci-fi ideas, so recycling old stuff it is the only way they can follow. It is a shame, cause SNW's cast is really good and all this looks like a wasted opportunity.

All right, folks, let's keep it civil and maybe stop the spiraling. Personal attacks will be deleted.

@Pike's Hair Thanks tallying out all the POV episodes -- I had hoped that someone would get around to doing that. I'd have to re-watch everything to see if I'd characterize them the same as you, as most are obvious but as you note, a few are more subjective. But for sake of argument, I'll take your word for it that the POV episodes are relatively evenly distributed...save for poor Ortegas. My own sense in watching SNW was never "Pike has no too view POV episodes while Uhura has too many." I had tried to explain earlier why I think quantity of POV episodes is besides the point. It was just by that by the time we got to this episodes, I think there's a line where they literally said "Uhura saves the day!" and I had to smile, because I feel like that has become a trope through the show. And not just in her own POV episodes. Mind you, it isn't really a complaint. This isn't Michael Burnham, our Lord and Savior all over again. It's just a simple acknowledgement.

Oops.. *SNW was never "Pike has too few POV episodes..."

I stopped it.

@Cynic That's cool, I appreciate your mea culpa.

I love musicals and I loved this episode. The best song was I’m the X” by Spock.

@Bryan Gotcha, yeah I don’t know if you’re right but I can’t say if you’re wrong on that. Would have to dig deeper than surface level for sure. Maybe I’ll do that one day, tally every major positive impact each character has in each episode to see who makes the most difference.

Another way that Uhura is elevated or imbued with a little something extra is the tendency to use her as an "emotional touchstone" character, particularly when there's no plot-specific reason for her to be there. An example of this is her presence during Chapel's "I'm Ready" song when she's the only one to show some concern about what impact this is having on Spock. The scene wouldn't work as well without the camera cutting to Uhura to display this concern because, as much fun as everyone is having at Spock's expense, this is still a crushing moment for Spock and a rather pivotal one for his overall story line that shouldn't be entirely glossed over by song and dance. Without Uhuha there the plot would unfold exactly the same, but the audience may not be sure if they're meant to be laughing at Spock. So an emotional touchstone character serves an essential function in the storytelling but the question remains as to why this person is often Uhura. One alternative to the theories that have already been put forward is that it could be that her actress has, or is thought to have, a more charismatic or empathetic stage presence than the rest of the cast and thereby serves as the most appropriate vessel by which to nudge the audience's reactions.

I get where the episode was going, assuming the Nebula thing interpreted musicals as the optimal easy form of communication . But the Klingon boy band / K pop thing was a huge wtf moment for me . If it were Klingon opera they could of sold it better.

Well that was a quick watch. Every time someone burst into song I had to skip 10 minutes forward. So I got that Una would not fit as Kirk's first officer. Kirk knocked up Carol. Spock got his heart broken and that's about it.

@Scott "Why even watch it in the first place." 1. Didn't know it was going to be a musical. 2. Despite the annoying singing, stuff still happens. 3. What do you mean by lighten up? All II did was fast forward past he lunacy.

@Pike’s Hair "If you’re gonna be anal about Trek canon and what the show is doing with Pike, at least remember simple facts about TOS. Balance of Terror was not a two parter" I was referring to The Menagerie. @John Yes, I am well aware for the practical reasons behind The Menagerie, but the fact remains the episode is an important part of TOS, independent of why it was produced. Sometimes great thinbgs come out of practical necessity (like Indiana Jones shooting sword-guy in Raiders because Harrison Ford was too sick that day). The Menagerie is also SNW's raison d'être. Without this episode there would be no Strange New Worlds and Pike wouldn't be a character worth tailoring a series around. So I feel like it's a wasted opportunity showing Pike 80 percent of the time cook, joke with his crew or have inane romances. How many shared scenes of substance did he and Spock have this season? I can't even think of one. Spock has spent most of season 2 around nurse Chapel. Even on the away mission in "Among the Lotus Eaters" hima nd Pike were separated. We need more away missions on this show and more away missions with Pike and Spock. I want to see how they work together. The Mengerie clearly shows Spock's unnerving commitment to his former captain. He didn't do what he did in order it to save Pike's life, per se, nor did he do it to save the galaxy. He stole the enterprise and was ready to destroy his entire career for this man just so Pike can have a good life on Talos IV. That is one heck of a sacrifice.

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-snw/s2/subspace-rhapsody.php#comment-109788 Any trained musical ear can tell that most, if not all of the cast had gone through excessive manipulation in terms of pitch correction. This made the episode a lot less enjoyable for me - why the hell would you do a musical episode when you barely have one cast member that can actually sing somewhat in tune? Other than that, it «works». But seriously though, don’t make a musical episode if it means you have to run all of the singers through autotune manipulation. Just…don’t. Hope they never try that again.

@Akkal It didn' t take a trained ear to pick up the autotune, "excessive" is in the ear of the beholder though. Seemed to me that M'Benga, Pike, Pelia, Ortegas, Batel were heavily tuned 100% of the time that they sang lead (or where their voice could be distinguished from the ensemble). Chapel, Spock, Una, Kirk somewhat less. La'an, Uhura minimally. Naturally the amount of singing required of each character in the book largely reflected this. Just for laughs, I ran this episode by my two daughters the other day, to assess it as a musical. Both of them participate in musicals and also attend way more than I do. Neither has seen any Star Trek at all (save for my younger one, who saw a 40th anniversary screening of TWOK with me last year (and bawled like a baby when you-know-what happened despite having no prior exposure to those characters at all)). They had no qualms with the singing, but really respected the effort of all the cast, despite some of their struggles and obvious enhancements. They correctly intuited that Gooding and Chong were the ones with real experience at it. Their only real qualms with the show understandably were with the book, with lyrics being stilted and tortured at times. But they thought it was cool and laughed their asses off at the Klingon scene.

Andy in NoVa

Ugh. Sorry. Cranky old guy here. I can't stand the time wasted on these excursions into silliness. Two season in, 19 episodes aired. I have sat through Spock Amok, Serene Squall (which I liked), Charades, Those Old Scientists and now this. That's a quarter of SNW's episodes going for laughs over substance. If Discovery's flaw is that it takes itself so seriously it's sanctimonious, SNW fails to take itself seriously enough.

Generally liked it, but I'm in the minority on the closing number (lyrically trite, but if course Gooding was amazing and carried it anyway). Just a few points to add... How warm-blanket comforting Una's "everything's fine" refrain was, and how Kirk first thought that everyone on the ship was f#&cking with him by singing rather than under an improbability field influence.

@Akkal 'why the hell would you do a musical episode when you barely have one cast member that can actually sing somewhat in tune?' For the sheer gimmick and novelty value of it, apparently. @Andy in NoVa 'That's a quarter of SNW's episodes going for laughs over substance.' Agreed. People often emphasise how few episodes SNW has to play with compared to, say, TNG and DS9, and how SNW can't do everything a normal Trek show should do - yet it seems to me that they're actually struggling to find content or things to say when they resort to gimmick or comedy episodes so frequently.

what started off as a fun comments section sure got derailed fast. Sad to see I am posting this just after reading the garbage post ripping every woman's looks on the show. Who are you to be deciding what is attractive and why is this tiggering you. Then I keep scrolling and WTF is going on here. Very disappointed with many of you. not that you would care what a random guy named dave has to say, but what a way to pollute yet another thread on this wonderful space on the internet.

Oh, and I guess @gorn girl is the same one who was calling Uhura fat and ugly in another episode thread (another username). I wish Jammer could do IP bans although a multi account troll would just switch VPN servers. Disgraceful behavior. Can't imagine what you are in the real world.

Hey, @Jeffrey's Tube: I watched that Voyager episode you sort of anti-recommended, "11:59". Definitely different. Go see that episode's comment thread for my specific thoughts.

@dave I care! Thank you for calling it out.

@dave My magic formula: I simply skip any post that doesn't deal with the episode, with Star Trek, or with relevant discussions to the show. I'm not here for politics. I got enough of that in my country.

@Bryan Yes, at first it was kind was off that uhura is the only one there when spock is all emotional about been dumped. usually I will say maybe Mbgena or Ortega would have been there since they feel closer to chapel than uhura However maybe the show is sowing the seeds for a spock/uhura romance in the coming seasons. There seems to be a some kind of forshadowing, because Uhura jokes ...she has head of this kind of romances before when spock tells her that she and chapel were a thing. ironic she says that because in the kelvin film she and spock are a couple that was more trekkie than the soap opera of spock/chapel/tpring in snw.

@Sadar I was referring to what I thought was a trend throughout all of SNW, using the Spock example from this episode only because it's still fresh in mind. As for this episode in particular, you can kinda argue it both ways -- why does Uhura need to enter the lounge just in time to watch Chapel break up with Spock, and then be the only one to notice the effect it's having on Spock? So she can confront him later about it and hear Spock sing "I'm the Ex." Which would only amplify the pity she feels...and might be the starting point for a budding romance but hopefully it's based on more than that. You also just reminded me of the Kelvin Timeline which certainly normalized that idea...but I kinda wish I could forget about those movies altogether since I like them even less than SNW, and it is the latter where I am holding out the most hope. Alternatively, one could argue that it has nothing to do with romance, but just a friendly but unnecessary check-in. After all, La'an didn't need anyone else to be there when she sung her own sad song, "How would that feel". It could be that as communications officer, Uhura regularly takes it upon herself to go above the call of duty to "connect with the crew" during her off duty hours, which would serve as an in-world rationale for the out-of-world reason I gave earlier.

My biggest regret about this episode was that I accidentally found out it was coming. I would much rather have gone in having no idea it was going to be a musical. However this is a small critique and not the fault of the episode. I found myself grinning like an idiot when Spock started singing (I'm so glad the first one to sing was him). I just sat thing thinking "this is really happening... it's just going to build to something magnificent" and it did. I have had "Status Report" on constant loop, I now know it word for word. I have no doubt that the songs will be performed at cons, on cruises etc (probably badly) by fans. But who cares. "Keep Us Connected"... wow. Celia Gooding is absolutely amazing. And I can't help but think it's so sad that Nichelle Nichols didn't get to see this, I would hope that she would have loved it and been so proud of this character growth for Uhura. The K-Pop Klingons were just fabulous, if completely absurd, but fit the narrative. All in all it was just absolutely wonderful. Completely different and unlike anything we've ever had. This is right up there with "The Inner Light", "In the Cards", and "Tuvix" as one of my favourite episodes ever, all for completely different reasons. It just made me so damn happy, which is no mean feat in this day and age. I hope it made you happy too.

This one is a weak 3 stars for me. It’s one of the better “light and fun” efforts on this series so far and works pretty well as a standalone. It also brings up some problems with the series. Playing with genres is a Trek staple that goes back to TOD doing western, horror, Roman, Greek, and other episodes. I’m actually surprised the franchise waited this long to throw a “Trek musical” into the mix: God knows the earlier shows had enough song and dance hams in Shatner, Spiner, Brooks, Picardo, et al to pull it off. So I found this one fairly watchable as a well-staged albeit generic musical version of the show. I do think the episode goes on too long and overplays some of the musical numbers. My mind wandered. Also, this story underscores the wild tonal swings of this show from turgid to glib, suggesting a lack of confidence in committing to a coherent setting and style. While TOS threw in some “fun” shows from season 1, it worked a bit harder than SNW to establish its universe without resorting to constant story gimmicks. The episode reminded me a bit of Voyager’s “gimmick of the week” style as it tried to keep the United Paramount Network (UPN) afloat each week. “Look, a professional wrestling episode!” Etc. This story smells faintly of similar desperation as Trek continues to bear the burden of sustaining the Paramount+ streaming platform. Also, I can’t repeat enough how the Chapel-Uhura dynamics don’t fit established dialogue and characterizations in TOS. Quite simply, there was ever any love triangle between Spock, Chapel, and the Vulcan fiancée. Nor did Spock ever have or admit to any interest in Chapel. This is a recurring distraction that no amount of retconning can square for me. And why does it exist? There’s nothing wrong with one character having unrequited feelings for another; the whole relationship dynamic here in SNW feels more like Picard’s impossible romances in TNG. It just doesn’t work or make sense for Spock and Chapel as Majel Barrett and Leonard Nimoy played them.

@Trek fan 'The episode reminded me a bit of Voyager’s “gimmick of the week” style as it tried to keep the United Paramount Network (UPN) afloat each week. “Look, a professional wrestling episode!” Etc. This story smells faintly of similar desperation as Trek continues to bear the burden of sustaining the Paramount+ streaming platform.' Excellent point.

@Mitty “I hope it made you happy too.” It didn’t, but I’m happy that you’re happy. So that counts I guess. I don’t have to be made happy by everything, but at least some people were. It was inoffensive and no doubt stunningly directed and choreographed. I just find the whole medium yawn-inducing. It’s not this ep’s fault.

@slackerinc Complaining about Star Trek being too diverse and egalitarian is like complaining that Law and Order is spending too much time on crime and court cases.

@MidshipmanNorris 'It was inoffensive and no doubt stunningly directed and choreographed. I just find the whole medium yawn-inducing. It’s not this ep’s fault.' This is my view as well. I can’t stand musicals as a genre, so it's hardly a shock that I really didn't like a Trek musical episode either. It's clear that the people who liked this episode loved it, and that's perfectly fine, fair play to them. We can't all like the same things all the time, and nor should we.

@HarryH: "Complaining about Star Trek being too diverse and egalitarian is like complaining that Law and Order is spending too much time on crime and court cases." Good thing I didn't complain about it being too diverse and egalitarian, then--just the opposite. Black women make up about seven percent of the US population, and Asian women about three percent, with non-Hispanic white men representing about three times the numbers of both those groups combined. I would absolutely welcome the egalitarian representation of those groups in their proportional demographic ratios, even though it would still fall well short of representing demographics of the Star Trek fan base. (If you remove the characters with "legacy armor", the skew becomes even more stark.) @Bok R'Mor: "I can’t stand musicals as a genre, so it's hardly a shock that I really didn't like a Trek musical episode either." That's a legitimate POV. For myself, I do actually like a really good musical. The only time this episode resembled such a musical was during La'an's song, although there were a couple others that weren't too bad. Just too low a hit rate overall.

@slackerinc ah. You seem to think the US represents Earth. Newsflash: it doesn’t. The humans in the Federation represent the entire Earth. Not the demographic of the United States. So your math is way off.

This SHOW is an American show, produced by an American company in North America. Everyone speaks English, generally with American accents and idioms. They don't even bother having characters like Chekov, Scotty, etc. But even if we were trying to be representative of the world, the percentage of Black Earthans is about the same as the percentage they make up in the US. Thus it's East and South Asians who are truly underrepresented on SNW by that standard.

@slackerinc the majority of the population of Earth isn’t white. But this is a ridiculous discussion.

This is the episode where I went from liking the cast of Strange New Worlds, to loving the cast of Strange New World. @HarryH and @slackerinc: Guys, spending time arguing about race. You are missing the point of Star Trek. This is the opposite of what Roddenberry hoped for.

@Valdimar: "This is the opposite of what Roddenberry hoped for." True, but likely not in the way you mean. Gene Roddenberry was an old-school liberal, as am I. That ideology is today considered hopelessly outmoded by young progressives, who are ascendant in the media and Hollywood (nowhere more than among the people making nuTrek) and even in many other corporations via DEI programs and initiatives. "[C]ritical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law." https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg9h2 In fact, many who subscribe to "critical race theory" would go beyond calling Roddenberry-era liberalism old-fashioned and charge that it is a superficially racially progressive policy that conceals an underlying agenda of white supremacy: "CRT insists that what we have always understood as liberal education is, in fact, a lie, because liberalism assumes that we are all individuals, capable of reasoning with each other as equals, where, in fact, we are mere representatives of racial constructs which are part of a permanent struggle between the oppressors (white) and oppressed (non-white)...critical race theory is committed in its foundational texts to the overthrow of liberalism." https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/dont-ban-crt-expose-it-2d9 Some of these ideas were percolating in academia before Gene died, but I doubt they ever hit his radar. They have only become mainstream in the past decade.

Projekt Kobra

Star Trek ended in 1969. Star Trek TNG, a completely different show based on themes from the vastly superior earlier show, ended in 1993. I have NO idea what this utter rubbish DRECK...YOU PEOPLE think is “Star Trek”. If you like this shit, you are a tasteless, hate-filled ape-clod Philistine. My Shogunate for a time machine back to 1985 to get away from ALL you morons.

In all my years in academia I have never seen any course nor had I ever a single discussion about Critical Race Theory. Maybe it is dominant in the US but I doubt it. It reminds me of the hysteria surrounding gender studies. When people were moaning about how there are now Gender Studies professors everywhere while apparently not understanding what really matters. Financing. For comparison. My institute (social science) has far more than 100 full time employees, the GS institute has 11. Oh and when it comes to labs, the GS people have to use ours because they have essentially zero financing. And the guy SlackerInc cites here, Andrew Sullivan, maybe not surprisingly has his own section titled "race" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan#Race Here a quote from that section (Sullivan) helped midwife The Bell Curve and grant flimsy race science a veneer of intellectual respectability. He still believes race is a reasonable prism through which to view the world, and that if only our racial stereotypes are "true," they are acceptable. He is therefore an unreliable and ideologically-biased guide to political and social science." So maybe Sullivan is not the most unbiased voice when it comes to Critical Race Theory.

Sullivan may not be the one to learn about CRT from, but I think it's fair to say that a lot people, particularly in the USA, have flattened and weaponized what ever it was that was once called "CRT" within academia at some point in time, into ammunition that played into the whole culture wars going on there. Maybe they didn't start that war, but reducing most of everything to power relations between races only seems to have inflamed those tensions. But that's neither here nor there... When it comes to Star Trek, I think it's as clear as day that the franchise hasn't been continually "owned" by a single leftist monolith from its inception til now. Instead, there are vying factions within the left who have divergent visions of what a futuristic utopia should look like, as well as different priorities and concerns even where there is a great deal of overlap. And I think it's fairly accurate to characterize the earlier camp as "classical liberal/humanist" which gradually gave way to one that prioritizes identity politics and power relations between group identity. There's no way that transferring the reins from one camp to the other would be a seamless transition that completely satisfied both groups and yet the common refrain from the benefactors of this transition is "this is how Star Trek has always been!" So I'm not surprised that some others may grumble about this, but what really surprises me is that these benefactors who see their brand of leftism now fully represented are not owning their victory.

@Booming: What you did in that comment would be considered gross academic dishonesty in the academy. So either you are not the scholar you claim to be, or your ethics are badly out of whack. Backing up a bit, when I saw what you posted I was shocked that Wikipedia editors would let something like that stand, as it would be a gross violation of the "neutral point of view" (NPOV) policy, one of Wikipedia's bedrock principles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view). Which is certainly often violated in subtle ways, but I can't recall seeing such a blatant example. Turns out it was in fact not such an example, because what you conveniently forgot to mention is that what you pasted into your comment was a quote from within the Wiki entry on Sullivan that came from the editor in chief of Current Affairs magazine, which (this is actual NPOV text from the Wikipedia Current Affairs entry) has "been described as socialist,[4] progressive[5] and broadly leftist." NB: that first cite links to a VICE story with the headline "Socialist Publication Current Affairs Fires Staff for Doing Socialism", in which I also learned that said editor in chief apparently uses a fake British accent, while I assure you Andrew Sullivan's accent is quite real. Sullivan does not truck with leftists. He used to be on the center-right, but became a huge supporter of Barack Obama and a fierce opponent of Donald Trump. (He, more than any other single person, deserves a great deal of credit for making gay marriage a reality.) So no, Sullivan's not an "unbiased voice" on CRT. I don't believe such a person exists. Sullivan is not a fan. But going back to the piece I linked to (which is worth reading in full), here's a bit more context on his stance: -------- The legacy of this country’s profound racism, the deep and abiding shame of its genocidal slavocracy, the atrocities, such as Tulsa, which have been white-washed, the appalling record of lynchings and beatings, the centrality of African-Americans to the story and success of this country: all this must be better explored and understood. There is nothing wrong and a huge amount right about black scholars taking the lead in shining light on what others might miss, building on past knowledge, helping us better account for it. White scholars, like the hundreds of thousands of white citizens who gave their lives to end slavery, have a crucial role to play as well. But we must also unequivocally insist that all of this is only possible within a liberal system — that sees the individual and reason and equality as our foundations. Liberalism can live with critical race theory; but critical race theory is committed in its foundational texts to the overthrow of liberalism. And this matters. -------- @Bryan: Well stated. What I see is that those on the far left (like those on the far right) are allergic to crediting any advancement of their cause. They are fundamentally sour and pessimistic, and believe that any recognition of achievements will reduce the pressure for change, which in their view must be unceasing and always dialled up to 11. This is why they make absurd statements about how "the poor are getting poorer" and that "institutional racism" makes life worse for Black people in the US than it was before the civil rights era. If they acknowledge what a victory they have won in the media (or, more narrowly, in running the Star Trek shows at Paramount), they worry that someone in charge will say "huh, okay, looks like they have gone far enough then" and not let them go any further.

@Bryan "And I think it's fairly accurate to characterize the earlier camp as "classical liberal/humanist" which gradually gave way to one that prioritizes identity politics and power relations between group identity." That's what I find so confusing about this entire US debate. Woke is humanism. If you really look at what those people believe then you will see that being woke just means humanism. traditional Liberals aren't leftist, they are centrists. The main leftist factions in the western world are social liberal, social democrat, post consumerist-environmentalists, democratic socialists/unionists and humanists. For reasons to complex to explain in this posts humanists have an extremely outsized influence right now. It's weakening over the last few years but it is still fairly dominant. @SlackerInc " What you did in that comment would be considered gross academic dishonesty in the academy." I took a quote from a section and provided a link to that section. Plus, we are not in the academia. Sullivan together with Marty Peretz (another person with a long wiki page) ,over the objection of the staff, posted long excerpts from the Bell Curve. https://newrepublic.com/article/120890/responses-new-republics-bell-curve-excerpt I want to mention here that Sullivan apparently has no statistics training or done any quantitative data analysis. That means that he does not have the knowledge to really understand the shaky math and the really awful methodological work behind the bell curve. "He, more than any other single person, deserves a great deal of credit for making gay marriage a reality." Ok...

@Booming: You know damn well you tried to pass off a quote from a far-left foe of Sullivan as the characterization of him by the article's prose itself. You hoped no one would check, or you would have properly acknowledged the actual source of the quote. Very unethical on your part.

Sure... Your ability to transform speculation into strongly held convictions is impressive.

I find myself listening to the song playlist all the time!! All songs are catchy, well written and performed. Not putting down any song or performance, but I found myself enjoying "Connect to your Troops" by Rebecca and Peter the most. I just love Una's voice and was impressed with Kirk's as well. What was your favorite?

La’an’s song about “my paradigm”, without a doubt.

@SlackerInc "La’an’s song about “my paradigm”, without a doubt." Yup, most awesome! Man, she can really sing. How they wrote these songs to include character progression for almost everyone was impressive.

@Booming I think humanism can be called "woke" in the original sense of the word since you can't have "man be the measure..." if inequality in status or perceptions means that one would have to pick and choose which man (or woman) is representative of humanity. Which means any unequal treatment that sets man apart from man is anathema to any humanist project and that "The Bell Curve", for example, would not fit very well within a truly humanist sensibility. That said, I'm not so sure that the reverse holds as true, that "woke" is necessarily humanist especially where the broader, more commonly used meanings of "woke" are permitted. And it's for the same reasons as stated above. Wherever it is stated or implied that the white man does not belong or should not be included, or that he is irrevocably an enemy rather than an ally without ever having to listen or engage with that person since his race and gender is all that you need to know -- that, too is anathema to a genuinely humanist sensibility. Mind you, this isn't what every self-described woke person does. But along the trenches of that longstanding culture war, it is still a common attitude to this day.

@Bryan "Wherever it is stated or implied that the white man does not belong or should not be included, or that he is irrevocably an enemy rather than an ally without ever having to listen or engage with that person since his race and gender is all that you need to know -- that, too is anathema to a genuinely humanist sensibility." Surely, if white men, really anybody, were treated negatively because of their skin and gender that would just be discrimination. As far as I understand woke, then its final goal is aimed at bringing black people to the level of white people. It's about lifting up, not dragging down. "Mind you, this isn't what every self-described woke person does. But along the trenches of that longstanding culture war, it is still a common attitude to this day. " I think that apart from the occasional attention grabbing opinion piece and some radicals, this is not a widely held view on white men. To be honest, when I look at the people who could be called woke at my university, then many of them are white men. It is understandable that quite a few white men feel somewhat uneasy about all this critique. Most white men are just normal people, some good, some bad and lots kind of in between. It's not fun but hey let me tell you it's a walk in the park compared to what discriminated minorities have to suffer through. I saw a report once about white people in Africa and this one white guy, just an average schmoo, whose family lived in Africa for more than a hundred years had to suffer through quite a bit of discriminating comments. He just asked"When will people here finally accept me as African??" And I thought:"Give it a few hundred years, honey." In-group favoritism, out-group bias is a hard nut to crack. I also once went to a seminar about the difference between discrimination and perception of discrimination. These two concepts were until recently studied as essentially the same but are now more and more studied separately. Fascinating stuff.

@Booming "As far as I understand woke, then its final goal is aimed at bringing black people to the level of white people. It's about lifting up, not dragging down." "I think that apart from the occasional attention grabbing opinion piece and some radicals, this is not a widely held view on white men." If only... I really wish it were only that. We can discuss what people are supposed to stand for, but I don't think that should mean having to ignore what actually happens. I really thought it would be well known what goes on but I guess you'd have be involved in or witness to the social circles and forums of discussion where that is he dominant mode of thought. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen elaborate arguments summarily dismissed with "you must be a guy / you must be white" or "you can't really be black / a woman if you believe that" simply because that person doesn't precisely toe the line. In those circles, there are narrow expectations of what each identity group is allowed to believe or say, and any deviation from that isn't believed or tolerated. "To be honest, when I look at the people who could be called woke at my university, then many of them are white men." I don't doubt that since white dudes who precisely toe the ideological line kowtow to the right idols, and qualify what they say with the correct privileged-checking statements, are typically granted entry. And I think because white men are under the most pressure to do just that, many of them do. Nobody wants to feel like they have a target painted on their back.

@Bryan Fair enough but I think at this point we are just talking about perception, yours and mine. Perception is very unreliable. I would have to see actual proof of widespread intolerance towards white men in the so vaguely defined woke subculture. In other words surveys done by at least somewhat reputable institutions. If you have any, please share.

@Booming I don't know if it's equivalent to the sort of card-carrying intolerance or discrimination that a person would openly admit on a survey, or even be entirely conscious of in all cases. It could just be an unintended consequence or weakness of the ideology itself that it just doesn't know quite what to do with assertions that don't align with the group-identity of the person making the assertion (at least according to the worldview espoused by the ideology), or with people that fall in some neutral or more nuanced territory between being a byword-touting ally and a rabid bigot. It's much easier to imagine the world in more black-and-white terms. So it's not so much that they go out of their way to attack random white dudes. It's just that when they encounter one with whom they feel like must engage with, they draw upon certain baked-in expectations thanks to what have "learned" in theory. Certain television programs and other media only bolster these expectations when they portray social reality in this overly simplistic way that appeals to those who hold the same convictions. But in the real world, when Ideology teaches people one thing but reality hits them with something different, the cognitive dissonance that results can make people do strange things.

Judge of the Change

I can see a McCoy guest appearance, but if M'Benga is replaced as CMO, you'd have to go through Mark Piper

Sorry - I meant that comment to be in response to a comment on another episode

Listen here you little sh**s. I'm about as diehard 90s Trek as they come. This episode was pure joy, period. Grinning. It was also an excellent and cohesive episode, and a strong contribution to the characters and story of SNW and beyond. If you can't find a way to enjoy this, then you really need to take a look at your life—seriously.

van zeSpleen

Rhapsody in Space: "goofy" it is but nice (once we get over their frowning "why are we singing?!" bits). Baring their heart in song - that's BRAVE! And I am still hearing them earworms - La'an and Uhura belting their hearts out, "Frozen" fashion.

@Bryan "I don't know if it's equivalent to the sort of card-carrying intolerance or discrimination that a person would openly admit on a survey, or even be entirely conscious of in all cases." The majority of people holding intolerant views do not perceive them as such. An Antisemite doesn't see him/herself as an antisemite or a hater. That is why in a survey about these issue you don't ask "Are you an antisemite?". You ask "Do Jews have too much power in society?" "Are you agreeing with the statement that the Holocaust wasn't as bad as it is often portrayed?" Simply put, you ask a bunch of questions that reveal the views of antisemites. Finding out if woke people are intolerant, or as often portrayed in certain circles, a hate group, is very challenging. First hurdle would be defining the word "woke" in a way that can be operationalised. Woke is essentially a catch all word. I also read an article a while ago that it is more and more becoming an old/older people word. Personally, I have little interest in it. The accusation of Woke in no small part seems to be aimed at students and the media. Being afraid or seeing students as too radical or whatever is almost a societal constant. To me it seems to signify normal societal shifts. What is woke now will probably be normal in a a few decades. Western societies through the forces of open society and public debate over time have become more and more intolerant towards certain groups. For example homophobes, racists and misogynists have seen huge shifts in how they are seen and dealt with over the last hundred years. These people didn't change, society did. "Certain television programs and other media only bolster these expectations when they portray social reality in this overly simplistic way that appeals to those who hold the same convictions." Media giants probably know/surveyed what young people believe and try to cater to that to gain new customers, yes. For older people it might seem that these for profit media conglomerates for some reason push certain political agendas when in reality these older people are just confronted with the views and believes of the next generation, or at least the marketable version media companies have distilled. That of course can cause anxiety in older generations. I don't see cause for concern.

I remembered some of the songs so well that I decided I would give Subspace Rhapsody another chance. And I'm glad I did. I had to get past a few things, though. Some caveats: My previous comments are almost absolutely in the negative regarding this episode. But I've given up on the idea that Strange New Worlds is connected to the Star Trek I grew up on. I only made it through about half of the episodes this season; and seeing Spock consume animal flesh destroyed its relationship to the actual Spock character. (There are many other things, but that one stood out the most for me.) So it's not canon if you want to use that word. I'm fine with it being an alternate universe or alternate timeline. So I had to unstick my mind from the belief that this was Star Trek. The other issue was of my own making. I paid closer attention this time and realized that the episode was smarter than I gave it credit for. I think the Great American Songbook also threw me a bit, too. I am very familiar with jazz, and loved the Cole Porter opening, but I have never really spent much time around show tunes or musical theater. But I was able to embrace the fiction that whatever intelligence was within the fold was replying back to them in a way that really did twist reality. I was surprised however that they thought the Enterprise had enough power to close the fold. As for the singing, a lot of the songs were quite enjoyable, and I only skipped two. Rebecca Romijn had some beautiful moments. I really like her anyway, and have often wished she had more to do throughout the series. La'an was an absolute beast. And I mean that in the nicest way! I already knew she could sing, but she just killed it every time. Obviously, right? I loved the serious conversation between Kirk and La'an. It's nice when nuTrek slows down so we can actually appreciate a serious moment between characters. The Klingons didn't work for me at all. I can't believe they have Klingon boy bands who aren't hunted and killed. Seriously though, they really missed an opportunity to blast us with Klingon death metal. Also, the boy band stuff is not in the Great American Songbook, so it doesn't adhere to the logic of the episode.

SpaceTime Hole

Wonderful episode - characters are developed via great entertainment based on an unusual sci-fi premise but with a surprising twist that flips the story across genres… another dimension, as it were! For me, this is one of my top 10 in all of Trek.

Thank you, but no thank you. I despise musicals, and this was no better. It has been very difficult not to skip the songs.

Skipped this one.

It’s a sad that so many people don’t seem to have watched Xena’s The Bitter Suite, which was far superior to Buffy’s OMWF, yet for many seems to be their go-to point of reference. Anyone who claims to be a fan of musical episodes and doesn’t reference the Xena episode need to educate themselves.

I was fully prepared to hate this and I actually didn’t. The songs were actually decent character studies. La’an and Uhura were the standouts, but much of the show was what I believe the kids refer to as “cringe”. But it balanced lighthearted fun with deeper relationship exploration pretty deftly. Anson Mount’s singing gave me shades of Russell Crowe in Les Misérables, meaning he committed but didn’t necessarily have the skills to pay the bills. I’d normally give it 2.5 stars but I’ll give it an extra 0.5 star for the Kling-Pop group. 👏🏽👏🏽

‘All my life I've awaited your coming and dreaded it.’ —Dr Zaius I’ve yet to see this episode but I’m about to watch it. I’ll report later

All right , this was better than I expected

ChristineNotChapel

I've been replaying the episode and the recordings someone posted to YouTube for a solid month, and my love for the episode and songs has not waned even one little bit! I'm still entertained by Spock's "aside" comments, such as when the others in engineering confess they'll miss the singing, he says he WON'T miss singing... and when they sing that protecting the mission is their Prime Directive, he says "... not exactly." The clever lyrics paired with the catchiest of tunes has me permanently on the hook! 10 out of 10, would highly recommend forever!

Self-Respect (Ethan Peck’s) based on “I'm the X” This sh*t really can't be happening I can’t believe they shot those scenes Convinced myself it's not a canon thing I hope it’s fanfic by a teen You'd think the producers could Distinguish bad from good Writing by the lyricist For this I set aside My dignity and pride? Now I'm wrecked and searching for my Self-respect I’ve got no one but myself to blame I’ve had agents offer jobs to me Pitch-bending vocals, tuned for all they're worth Sent my proud series down the drain They’re so dysfunctional Woke and emotional Quality, they can't maintain Escaped from Discovery, pre Season Three, Armored with Spock’s legacy I thought that I got fair compensation Till this crazy presentation The very last shreds are dead or fading: Ethan Peck’s Self-respect… Self-respect

Wow, La'an (Christina Chong)! What a talent, bravo.

Am late to SNW but have been binge watching both series, usually one a night, so have had the rollercoaster of the going from the fun of the excellent Lower Decks crossover to the shock of M'Benga as an assassin, back to this fun singing episode. This episode didn't engage me as much as others. Epic singing by the cast, but some mediocre songs which went on a bit. Perhaps needed 1 or 2 sillier songs - eg; The Kirk brothers singing "Anything you can do I can do better" or a bit more of the Klingons (maybe as a boy band singing "Faith of the Heart" was some random idea I had). But didn't dislike it and it advanced some of the plot lines which was good. I think that SNW is the amongst the best trek at the moment (definitely better than DISCO which is often a slog to watch). And looking forward to seeing the series finale in the next day or so.

Well, I must say, the writers have some serious balls. In the past three episodes (especially this one) they’ve shown their willingness to push the envelope of what Trek can be (without completely breaking it like Discovery and Picard did). That’s a good thing, in my opinion, even if the results are hit and miss. It would probably be impossible for me to rate this episode objectively. Although I’m a musician, I’ve never been a fan of musicals. I enjoyed The Sound of Music, Across the Universe and a few others, but it’s far from my favorite genre. I had very strong feelings about this episode, some positive, but mostly negative. On the one hand, I admire the audacity to even attempt such a thing. And part of me wished I could have “bowed to the absurd” (as Picard would say) and enjoyed the ride, as many of you seem to have done. But in the end I just couldn’t do it. The first reason, I think, is the lines of technobabble used to get us into this situation. Don’t get me wrong; Trek has used technobabble as an excuse for absurd plots before (see TNG’s “Rascals”, the Fun-with-DNA and most time-travel episodes), but this was "Threshold"-level absurd. It might have worked better on me if it was a communal dream or hallucination. But I think my main problem with the episode is that the songs just weren’t very good. The lyrics were fine, the melodies were passable but cliché, some of the actors clearly needed to be AutoTuned (which isn’t their fault at all; they weren’t initially cast for their singing ability), and I don’t know if they had a real orchestra or not, but it sure sounded fake to me. As such, I found most of the songs embarrassing to sit through. Songs aside, there was some good character work in this episode. My favorite scene was the one where La’an confesses her feelings for alt-Kirk to “Prime” Kirk. Christina Chong’s acting was excellent, and she didn’t sing it, which was a definite plus. And for the record, I absolutely loved the “Tuvok I understand, you are a Vulcan man” song in “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy”. None of the songs in this episode hold a candle to that one. @Eric Jensen Robert Picardo only needed help for “Virtuoso”. All other episodes, he did all his singing. @S. in Pa. Hilarious! Thanks for that :)

Struggled to follow what words they were saying in the songs, let alone follow what they were actually talking about. Didn't really buy what explanation I could understand. Far too much "deep", emotional guff in this series.

Trousers of time

@Dogface I know I'm months late to the discussion but just wanted to comment with regards to Jess Bush's lipsyncing. Not a single note of the singing you heard in that episode will have been recorded live on the soundstage. Between dodgy acoustics in the room, the sounds of feet shuffling, and the logistics of getting every camera angle they need etc, it would be an impossibility to do and get something that sounded even halfway decent. Instead the singing will have been recorded ahead of time in a studio, and then the actors will either lipsync or sing along to their own voice when shooting the scenes. All the bad lipsyncing shows is that Jess Bush isn't great at lipsyncing, and even then that's slightly unfair. The genre of music she was singing is far looser than most of the other songs, with much greater leeway to come in a bit early or late. For someone who doesn't do this type of acting regularly, that's a hard thing to get exactly right every single time.

Okay so I too am super late to the party but just watched this now. Man, on paper this should be so stupid but I thought it was really great haha. Too bad SNW couldn’t have been our first taste of nuTrek, the crew are all likable and this show is just a lot of fun.

Absolutely loved this episode. Reminded me in a way of Crazy ex-Girlfriend where they use musical numbers to explain some deep set emotions. The last scene on the bridge as they finished singing was glorious

So, the infamous musical episode, finally got around to catch up. Can only offer unsorted thoughts - I'd like to give it 0 stars for the cringe factor - I love my trek to be bold and take risks, so I'll have to give it 4 stars anyway - this stuff (music) is my main job. I've written and produced a musical before, currently working on a second one. I actually don't like most musicals, with the few exceptions (like the classic goto example rocky horror picture show) reliably being "anti musical" or anarchic in some form. - this was not that. This was milk toast middle of the road material from start to finish. 1-5-4-6 type stuff till the bitter end, always the maximum cliché topic for each character, everything clothed in that dreaded "agreeable rock" musical blah instrumentation... With the hilarious klingons finally being a true surprise. See, if *that* level of creative boldness throughout the episode... - I know these are actors and not pro singers but boy, easy with the melodyne - sorry to say it, but the one other trek music stunt example - voyagers doctor - came across a lot more natural. Admittedly, the comedic timing of Robert Picardo is pretty tough to beat - read some comments here where people try to talk about women A VS women B being objectively hot or not hot or whatever... Guys...can you please stop? Especially that one person who seems to write the same "chapel VS uhura" chorus under 3947 different user names. Stop the kindergarden please, thank you. ... And still im gonna give this 4 stars. Just for trying something different. And factoring in that when it comes to music, I'm an insufferable smartass. But hey, maybe sometimes also take some more nerdy risks? Like, at this point, a classic early Braga style high concept scifi episode in the midst of all the emo would likely be an even bigger risk to take (from the makers POV at least, it seems) than doing an entire episode in musical, so... ... More risks please, but also different ones? Thank you :)

I always used to joke that they ended all the other Star Trek shows just in time before we ended up with a musical episode. I guess I can't make that joke anymore.

Wow, this was a superb episode. One of those that will become legendary. The only (rather big) ball drop is the totally nonsensical break-up between Chapel and Spock. Sure, I get that a couple of episodes ago she was led to believe that future Spock won't be as open emotionally. But really, just two episodes later she dumps him because she got a 3 month fellowship abroad is now ready to move on? I wasn't again exploring a romance between Chapel and Spock. Actually I thinking there could be a lot of potential to explore his early discoveries about his human side. But this rushed and nonsensical turn of events is just a piece of teenager soap-opera crap. With this ending, that storyline is just an embarrassment, a shame to Star Trek. This is not 90210 season 5+. I am one of those who are loving SNW, but they need to respect Star Trek a little more.

@Ric I agree about the breakup problem. What struck me is that this phenomenon causes people to sing the things that are in their hearts; it's how they truly feel in the moment. And how does Chapel react when Spock asks her about leaving the ship for an extended period? She's ecstatic. She's 'ready to go', all-in, fully committed. What she doesn't say is anything like, 'oh, I feel awkward about leaving, given that we only started seeing each other', or, 'I feel conflicted about this opportunity when I still have this messy relationship back here', or even 'I think this is not only a great opportunity for me, but a chance for the two of us to take some time and reflect'. Nope, her true feeling is that she's not even thinking about Spock. Given how much she's been pining over him in previous episodes, this reeeeaally doesn't make her look good. I've generally liked her character, but now she just comes off as fickle and superficial.

Oh my goodness! This episode came off great. I so dearly want to give this ****, but it's just a bit short. How about *** 3/4? Jammer is right, the relationship themes that are running throughout the episode is what gives it heart. Especially La'an's. Unlike Jammer, I thought "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" was very well done, and I was especially sold by the performances of La'an and Kirk in that episode. They get to have a reprise here (wink), and their chemistry is still intact. It's time to acknowledge Paul Wesley as being an excellent Jim Kirk. Wesley has played the long game, acting with consistency in all his appearances, not ever trying to take the spotlight or chew the scene. I wasn't convinced at first at his portrayal of Kirk, but staying consistent with his approach has been to his benefit. He's channeling Shatner minus his occasional tendency to overact. Think movie Shatner, rather than some of the more outlandish moments in TOS. Wesley has the command, and calm of Shatner's Kirk, but also a boyish charm and whimsy. There's an air of playfulness and enjoyment of his position, and he smiles with that Kirk twinkle. I really am impressed. Shatner is almost impossible to replicate without it coming across as parody. Wesley has found a way. As well, Chong portrays La'an with emotional complexity without making her seem weak. She's hopeful, sad, frustrated, angry, confused, and trying to balance it all with her sense of duty. It's a mature performance and one that rings as being consistent with many legacy Trek characters who who have been torn between personal desires and honoring their duties as officers. Since we've had two novelty episodes nearly back to back, let's contrast this episode with "Those old Scientists" (which I thought was condescending rubbish / product placement....1/2*). That episode was not an episode of SNW. It was an episode of Lower Decks. TOS was acting as product placement / was infiltrating SNW in its own interests. I think the writers of TOS would have served both audiences better if they had placed Those Old Scientists in the roster of episodes for Lower Decks. I felt manipulated all the way through to try and like characters that had no interest to me, and I felt SNW betrayed its own premise by indulging in Lower Deck's style. The SNW characters were in service of Lower Decks, rather than it being the other way around. This critique may seem like an aside, but I think it helps illuminate why "Subspace Rhapsody" really works. This episode plays in favour of the characters of SNW, not another show, and the episode not a self indulgent exercise / advertising for another. A musical episode is completely novel for SNW, and has the same inherent risk as one that brings over cartoon characters. Subspace Rhapsody though is an episode about the characters of this show, not another. The musical dialogue is servicing the development of the characters we have been adventuring with over 19 episodes. The premise, while wild, is no different than any other crazy Star Trek technobabble plot (like de-evolving people, or everyone gets sick and acts drunk). What matters is the intention of this crazy plot device. The script writers wisely knows that it needs to be in service of the characters. So with good acting, along with good plotting of the characters in place, everything else we get is gravy. And good gravy it is. Dancing Klingons? Ridiculous and great. A waltz in the corridors? Gave me a smile. La'an shutting off Pike and his girlfriend's public song / communications? Whoa! Hearing Uhura belt out a great tune? Exhilirating. Again, none of this excessive self indugence: it all serves a purpose. And note: I did not hear any characters talking like middle years high school students in this episode with utterances of "weird", or "cool". A fun episode does not need to be juvenile and betray a sense of professionalism amongst the crew. Each character gets a chance to sing, which is half the fun. The one who does not is M'Benga, who only gets a few lines. They made a joke early in the episode about how the Dr. doesn't like to sing, and my hunch is that the actor is perhaps the sole member of the cast without singing chops. Thats' ok, it's actually somewhat endearing and comical to have one member of the cast stand outside the rest and have to ride out the musical insanity (They could have played up his out of tuneness a bit more, but I digress). Uhura stood out to me as the best singer. Pike's ever diminishing stature as Captain this season was a raised a bit, especially with a solid number where he maintained his muted incredulousness even while pouring out his emotions in front of the whole crew. All the music was good with some numbers more memorable than others (as a musician, I especially liked the guitar number. Not easy to write that kind of music for acoustic guitar). So what are my gripes? I just wanted a bit more in the choreography dept. Often the singers were just singing holding a computer and looking at each other or across the set, and not much else was happening. Chapel's dance routine was reasonable but nothing special. The best choreo was in the final song, and while it wasn't a home run, it was a solid triple (those afore mentioned dancing Klingons, and ships flying in formation livened it up some) But these complaints are minor in comparison with the writing, composing, cleverness, and heart of this episode. Hell even the post grand finale was the original TOS overture! And an acapella opening sequence was included to boot. A sincere bravo to SNW for delivering a Trek experience I have not had before, and doing it in an excellent way. I remember reading TNG had aspired to do a musical episode, but it never came to be. Here it is, and it is very well done. I want more creativity like this. *** 3/4. Best episode of the series. (!)

Deffo not my usual thing, but... La'an singing makes it up for me. She's got a HELL of a voice. Like I needed another reason to fall in love with that character (and now the actress too)! Wish i culd carry half a tune, like she can! One star just for that. As far as plot goes, its a bit derivative, but has some originality. Random urges to sing, of all things, is deffo something I havent seen on Star Trek so far. The final scene of Klingons also joining into the choir was a bit too much silliness for me; this is not a kids show; but whatever. 2.5/4 one of those for La'an alone.

Gorn Girl said: "when all is over spock/chapel will be one of the worst trek couples ever. their 60s dynamic was better." "this is what happens when extreme feminist take over star trek stories, they make it worse." Oh REALLY? What 'dynamic' precisely? Her being a airhead fairy-princess with zero zest and moon-eyed gaze, and him being a Vulcan glacier? Yea honey, I'll take the 'feminist' approach, any day. And it's not really feminist, it's simply showing more RESPECT to Chapel's character then she ever got in TOS, vhere she was relegated to being a prancing bunny-girl hanging around sickbay and begging for a sidelong glance from Spock like a starved puppy. I realize it was a diferent time, but still. Ugggggggh. (yea, responding to a 1 year old comment, I know, but fuck it) And honestly, I'll take this Spock over Nimoy's TOS portrayal any day. Go ahead evryone, jump down my throat. I don't care. I couldn't stand TOS Spock, and his low-key superior self-righteous bullshit, compared to 'savage' humans. In several TOS eps i felt like punching him in the face for it. He became WAY more compelling in the movies. And way less arrogant.

P.S. La'an is a way better fit for Kirk then Carol would ever be. But it's a prequel and the future is set so... whatever. A girl can dream. Sigh.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV Series)

Subspace rhapsody (2023).

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Is The Silly One Among Silly Ones (And A Musical, Too)

Yes, "Star Trek" can be silly sometimes. One might recall the original series episode "Shore Leave" (December 29, 1966) wherein the crew of the Enterprise saw their thoughts and fantasies — including knights and anthropomorphic white rabbits and samurai — manifested in android form. Then there's the "Next Generation" episode "QPid" (April 21, 1991) wherein the Enterprise-D crew were magically transformed into characters from Robin Hood. There's also the "Deep Space Nine" episode "If Wishes Were Horses" (May 17, 1993) wherein the DS9 crew unwittingly manifested characters out of their brains, like Rumpelstiltskin and ultra-horny doppelgängers of their co-workers. And then we have the "Voyager" episode "Bride of Chaotica!" (January 27, 1999) wherein the Voyager crew re-enacted a 1950s sci-fi serial, complete with cheesy special effects and black-and-white photography.

These "wacky" comedy episodes, while not always necessarily funny, tend to serve an important function in "Star Trek." Specifically, they break up the monotony. Both the viewers and the makers of the show may tire of staring at the same six Enterprise sets over and over, and, for sanity's sake, throw in something unexpected and fun to provide visual and tonal variety. Trekkies who are fans of the more stern, serious episodes of "Star Trek" may find themselves irked by the whimsey, while others might appreciate the sight of ordinarily well-mannered characters behaving in a kooky fashion.

The most recent episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," called "Subspace Rhapsody," is the kookiest the franchise has ever been, and that's saying something. It's a full-bore musical episode wherein the Enterprise crew is psychically affected by a mysterious subspace fold that forces them to sing and dance — and sing their innermost emotions — against their will.

It's not completely successful, but the variety is appreciated.

The threat of whimsey

The premise of "Subspace Rhapsody" is paper-thin, and worthy of an episode of a sitcom. The Enterprise has come upon a colossal negative space wedgie they call a subspace fold. The figure they can send communication signals down the fold and communicate with other nearby ships at thrice the speed. Chief Engineer Pelia ( Carol Kane ) suggests to Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) that they test the signal by broadcasting music into the phenomenon. Uhura chooses a recording of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," making a brief reference to the Great American Songbook. It seems that Irving Berlin and Benny Goodman will handily survive into the 23rd century. If one is choosing between "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Lucky Be a Lady," however, remember to choose the evil of two Loessers.

The negative space wedgie responds to Cole Porter by beaming music into the brains of the entire crew, and Spock (Ethan Peck) begins singing along to the show's previously non-diegetic background music. The crew is shocked to find themselves singing, and are baffled by the phenomenon. The music also forces them to sing their most private feelings out loud, causing a few minor social complications. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) sings about how she's in love with Spock but is kind of getting over him. Captain Pike (Anson Mount) sings to his would-be paramour Captain Batel (Melanie Srofano) that her romantic vacation idea is boring. La'an (Christina Chong) sings that she's romantically attracted to James Kirk (Paul Wesley), once again visiting the Enterprise.

Ordinarily, even Trek's comedy episodes possess an element of threat, and it's usually said that if the whimsey is not soon extinguished, the crew may die. The same dangers aren't really present in "Subspace Rhapsody." The big threat is "we may be emotional."

Frustratingly in character

Given that "Strange New Worlds" is, as a whole, a lightweight, somewhat comedic, openly emotional show to begin with, the sight of seeing the crew sing and dance hardly feels novel. The Spock in this show, for instance, has already been experimenting with emotion, and was even smiling and making jokes in "Those Old Scientists." Pike is a warm, affable captain who regularly welcomes his crew into his private mess for breakfast. Even the show's two most "serious" characters, La'an and Commander Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) have pledged to be more open and jocular with the crew and have displayed their hearts on more than one occasion.

As such, being struck by an attack of singing feels frustratingly natural. The thrill of watching stiff-upper-lipped, staid "Star Trek" characters break into song has less of an impact if the characters aren't entirely staid to begin with. The cast is clearly having fun, but the audience might be able to take the genre in stride. That makes the presumed appealing juxtaposition of a "musical Star Trek episode" less daring than it might be on, say "Next Generation."

Trekkies have likely seen the video, but Patrick Stewart once performed Perry Como's "A, You're Adorable" dressed as Captain Picard on the set of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It was striking and strange because such behavior was not expected from that character on that set. Meanwhile, any of the cast of "Strange New Worlds" could release a similar video, and no one would bat an eye. Indeed, Chin-Riley and Spock already sang Gilbert and Sullivan on an episode of "Short Treks." It may seem daring to release a musical episode of "Star Trek," but here, it's another Thursday.

Red Dwarf: Strange New Worlds

"Subspace Rhapsody" also doesn't bother to make its silly pseudo-science feel convincing. They feed music into a space wedgie, and they become singers? There's a lot of talk as to how the crew might free the Enterprise from the ribbon's effect, but there's little exploration as to how this nonsense works. Ordinarily, "Star Trek" is very good at painting multisyllabic technobabble over their fantastical stories. Here, they barely explain anything. In this regard, "Subspace Rhapsody" is less a "Star Trek" episode, and much more closely resembles an episode of "Red Dwarf," the 1988 sci-fi sitcom that played like a Douglas Adams-inflected riff on "Star Trek." That series wouldn't bat an eye at being goofy and featured musical numbers throughout . Fast-forward to 2023, and "Star Trek" has finally caught up with "Red Dwarf."

The most damning complaint I might have about "Subspace Rhapsody," however, is directed at the music itself. Uhura feeds Cole Porter into the space wedgie, but the crew does not emerge singing the Great American Songbook. Instead, they sing kind of mealy, unmemorable pop ballads about aching hearts and other bland emotional states. Kirk and Chin-Riley do get a somewhat whimsical number about doing their jobs well, but none of the numbers have the earworm qualities of "Anything Goes."

The cast avails themselves well enough, and some of them actually have excellent singing voices. Indeed, Gooding has won a Grammy for her performance in Broadway's "Jagged Little Pill." Others, however, strain a little through their numbers. Luckily, they emerge largely unscathed. I just wish "Subspace Rhapsody" warranted the purchase of a soundtrack record.

"Subspace Rhapsody" is perhaps the least episode of "Strange New Worlds" to date. But given how strong that series has been, this is no major damnation.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds review, Episode 209: “Subspace Rhapsody”

By michael atkins-prescott | aug 3, 2023.

L-R Carol Kane as Pelia, Christina Chong as La’an, Ethan Peck as Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Credit: Best Possible Screengrab/Paramount+

There’s a stereotype that Star Trek fans miss emotional cues and subtext. I’m watching Strange New Worlds with the attentiveness and focus of someone who has to review and recap each episode, and I’m not entirely sure I’m catching all of the emotional beats. Perhaps that’s why sci-fi franchises typically enjoyed by socially awkward nerds should have an episode where the characters literally sing their emotions. It’s a lot more fun than trying to learn what facial expressions mean using cue cards.

I jest… It would be awful if this were to become a trope. This musical episode of Star Trek works precisely because it’s never been done before, and will probably never be done again.

“Subspace Rhapsody” is a one-off get-out-of-jail-free card. Strange New Worlds has given us a fantastic mix of plot-driven and character-driven storytelling this season, but while the plots generally get wrapped up as soon as the problem of the week is solved, the personal stories are a little harder to wrap up. After all, how do you narratively resolve unrequited love?

In the streaming age, most shows would stretch that story out over the length of a season of TV. But Strange New Worlds is a throwback to the days when stories were wrapped up in 45 minutes or so. They needed a way to make usually restrained characters confess their emotions to themselves, to each other, and to us in one big purgative moment of catharsis. A musical emotional deus ex machina, if you will.

“Subspace Rhapsody” demonstrates that the writers understand how musical theatre actually works. My concern for a musical episode of Star Trek was that it would fall into the same trap as a lot of high-concept musicals and load the song lyrics up with clunky exposition and plot development. The role of songs in a musical is to express the characters’ inner emotions and to spell out themes. The stories in musical theatre have to be simple enough that they can be developed in between songs.

Not only does “Subspace Rhapsody” understand the rules of musicals, it comments on them. After the Enterprise is hit with a shockwave from a negative space wedgie , the crew all begin spontaneously breaking into song. They soon realize that their reality is merging with another reality that conforms to the rules of musicals, and their heightened emotions cause them to sing.

Since the songs don’t have to vehicles for the story, they can focus on being good catchy songs. They’re not all winners, but it’s a really good set of songs. And each one is better than the last, building to an impressive show-stopper. That final song is tooth-achingly saccharine but infectiously joyful. It features a chorus of reluctantly crooning Klingons threatening “eternal torture” in smooth R’n’B. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at anything on Star Trek .

Just go with it

A lot of what happens in this episode is a “just go with it” proposition, starting with the technobabble that kicks it all off. The space wedgie here is a subspace fold. In the Star Trek universe, subspace is a dimension through with communications travel, allowing for correspondence that moves faster than light. No communications sent through this particular subspace fold have been received. Pelia suggests sending music, because fundamental harmonics may work with the different laws of physics in subspace (just go with it). Uhura plays Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” into the fold, which generates the shockwave that makes everyone sing.

James T. Kirk is there too (just go with it). I do not remember the in-universe reason for his presence, but his role in the story is pretty significant. After seeing him, La’an sings a torch ballad about her crush on him, which is how she works out how serious the situation is. Thinking like a security officer, she reasons that if the songs make everyone sing their inner feelings, then they’re a security risk. Captain Pike immediately demonstrates this principle by having a lover’s tiff with Captain Batel, in song, over the bridge’s viewscreen, in full view of the crew. Thankfully the song is fun, or else the second-hand embarrassment would’ve made the scene unwatchable. With perfect timing, La’an shuts off the viewscreen just before it becomes too much.

That tells them that the singing is affecting other ships. From Spock and Uhura’s unsuccessful attempts to undo whatever it is that the fold is doing, we know that destroying the fold would destroy every ship affected by it. So while Spock and Uhura continue to try and shut it down, La’an and Kirk are assigned to try and stop a group of Klingons trying to destroy it.

A recurring theme in Strange New Worlds is that we can’t have silliness without heartache. So first up we have La’an reasoning that she has to tell Kirk about her feelings before they come out in the form of a sea shanty. But Kirk tells her that he’s seeing someone: Carol at Starbase 1, who is currently pregnant. That’s sort of an easter egg, as we meet Kirk’s son David in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , approximately 25 years after this.

Then we have Spock and Uhura coming to the conclusion that they need to prompt a song so they can observe it and see if there are any patterns. So Spock confronts Nurse Chapel, who’s been acting squirrely around him ever since she was accepted into an internship on archeological medicine. Where we expect another ballad about how much she’ll miss him, we get a big brassy, “I want” song about how much she’s looking forward to it. This is the first fantastic song, but the look on Spock’s face is almost too much to bear. Chapel is giving us real f-boy energy in this moment.

If this is the beginning of the end for Spock and Chapel, it significantly recontextualizes the original series, changing the story while keeping the canon intact. Spock is half-human, but throughout the original series, you rarely saw any evidence of this; instead, he was fully committed to the emotionless, Vulcan way of life. If Spock rejected his emotions because of a broken heart, then the character reads very differently.

Uhura makes her observations, and after belting out her own fantastic “I want” song (this episode may well just exist to give Celia Rose Gooding’s pipes a workout) she reports that there is a pattern to the music: each song is accompanied by a spike in the quantum improbability field (just go with it), and if they can make the field spike to 344 gigaelectronvolts, that should fix everything. An ensemble number about unity and togetherness should do the trick.

There’ve been better episodes, both silly and serious, but I can’t remember having this much fun watching modern Star Trek! It’s the final number that really cinches it. There’s such guileless joy to it that you really have to just forget yourself. Every cast member sings, even those who can’t. And when they can’t quite get to 344 gigaelectronvolts, they hail the Klingons to put them over the edge with their funky impotent rage threats and hip urban dance moves. It has everything!

Through radical (musical) honesty we have seen Pike and Batel overcoming their differences and La’an seemingly moving on from Kirk. With these two threads tied up, we can go into the final episode without tripping over them. But as for Spock and Chapel… well, we know from the original series that Dr. Roger Korby, who she’ll be interning with, is her ex-fiance . It seems that we’re building up to a bust-up between the two so bad that she nearly marries someone else and he rejects human emotions forever.

And you thought you’d had bad break-ups.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds review, Episode 207: “Those Old Scientists”. dark. Next

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Did The Actors Actually Sing In The Musical Episode?

From "Riverdale" to "My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," musical numbers in television shows have become more commonplace than ever. "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was the next to attempt such a feat, and to great success. In an episode aptly named "Subspace Rhapsody," the crew of the Enterprise encounters an anomaly that ultimately causes a rip in space-time. Naturally, this results in an alternate reality where everyone bursts into song.

The plan for this musical episode stretches back as far as Season 1 of "Star Trek: Picard" and finally comes to fruition near the end of Season 2 of "Strange New Worlds." The cast is full of talented singers, some of whom are musicians in their own right. Christina Chong, who plays La'an Noonien-Singh , debuted one of her singles, entitled "Twin Flames," in a previous episode. Before she played Uhura, Celia Rose Gooding earned a Tony nomination for the Broadway show "Jagged Little Pill."

One of the biggest surprises, however, comes from Ethan Peck, who plays a younger Spock in the series. Showrunner Akiva Goldsman was shocked to learn of the actor's talents, on top of his prowess as the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer. "Our composer played with all of them to see what their range was, and we wrote for them. I mean, I didn't know Ethan could sing ..." Goldsman relayed to Variety . "Which is, by the way, kind of what happens when you watch the episode. You're like, 'Wait, Spock is singing now?'"

Star Trek is no stranger to out-of-the-box thinking

Star Trek has the virtue of throwing its characters into surprising situations, and this isn't even the first time that "Strange New Worlds" has done this. Earlier in Season 2, Jonathan Frakes directed the "Lower Decks" crossover episode. The animated series originally hails from CBS and stars Jack Quaid as Ensign Brad Boimler. He and Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) are given the live-action treatment in "Strange New Worlds," which does not hold back. This is an apt precursor to the musical episode, which pulls out all the stops.

During the final moments of the episode, the fearsome Klingons have their own musical sequence that is more than surprising. The creatives behind the series did two versions of the song, unsure of which would play best. "We did an operatic [musical number] which was also great because the Klingons have a history with that. And it was also good," executive producer Henry Alonso Myers reflected to Variety. However, the song in the episode won out, and the Klingons do their version of a pop boy band. Myers continued, "The boy band took you by surprise. It was not what you thought was going to happen. I'm delighted by it."

The episode cultivates humorous moments such as these and heartbreaking songs that hammer home themes of loneliness, making it as well-rounded as any musical on screen.

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is over. Now Alex Kurtzman readies for ‘Starfleet Academy’ and ‘Section 31’

Alex Kurtzman leaning against an old TV set with a lamp hanging above him.

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In “Star Trek” terms, and in the real world of “Star Trek” television, Alex Kurtzman, who oversees the 21st century franchise, might be described as the Federation president, from whose offices various series depart on their individual missions. Indeed, to hear him speak of it, the whole enterprise — honestly, no pun intended — seems to run very much on the series’ ethos of individual initiative and group consensus.

The first series to be launched, “ Star Trek: Discovery, ” has come to an end as of Thursday after five seasons on Paramount+. Others in the fleet include the concluded “ Picard, ” which brought “The Next Generation” into a new generation; the ongoing “ Strange New Worlds, ” which precedes the action of what’s now called “The Original Series,” from which it takes its spirit and several characters; “Lower Decks,” a comedy set among Starfleet service workers; and “Prodigy,” in which a collection of teenage aliens go joyriding in a starship. On the horizon are “Starfleet Academy,” with Holly Hunter set to star, and a TV feature, “ Section 31, ” with Michelle Yeoh back as Philippa Georgiou.

I spoke with Kurtzman, whose “Trek” trek began as a writer on the quantum-canonical reboot movies “ Star Trek ” (2009) and “ Star Trek: Into Darkness ” (2013), at Secret Hideout, his appropriately unmarked Santa Monica headquarters. Metro trains glide by his front door unaware. We began the conversation, edited for length and clarity here, with a discussion of his “Trek” universe.

Alex Kurtzman: I liken them to different colors in the rainbow. It makes no sense to me to make one show that’s for everybody; it makes a lot of sense to make a lot of shows individually tailored to a sect of the “Star Trek” audience. It’s a misnomer that there’s a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that’s going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let’s make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids’ comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There’s something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

A tall, thin alien and a human woman walk through the tunnel of a spaceship.

Do you get pushback from the fans?

Absolutely. In some ways that’s the point. One of the things I learned early on is that to be in love with “Star Trek” is to engage in healthy debate. There is no more vocal fan base. Some people tell you that their favorite is “The Original Series,” some say their favorite is “Voyager” and some say their favorite is “Discovery.” Yet they all come together and talk about what makes something singularly “Trek” — [creator] Gene Roddenberry‘s extraordinarily optimistic vision of the future when all that divides us [gets placed] in the rearview mirror and we get to move on and discover things. Like all great science fiction, you get to pick your allegory to the real world and come up with the science fiction equivalent. And everybody who watches understands what we’re talking about — racism or the Middle East or whatever.

What specific objections did you find to “Discovery”?

I think people felt it was too dark. We really listen to our fans in the writers’ room — everybody will have read a different article or review over the weekend, and we talk about what feels relevant and what feels less relevant. And then we engage in a healthy democratic debate about why and begin to apply that; it seeps into the decisions we make. Season 1 of “Discovery” was always intended to be a journey from darkness into light, and ultimately reinforce Roddenberry’s vision. I think people were just stunned by something that felt darker than any “Trek” had before. But doing a dark “Star Trek” really wasn’t our goal. The show is a mirror that holds itself up to the times, and we were in 2017 — we saw the nation fracture hugely right after the election, and it’s only gotten worse since then. We were interpreting that through science fiction. There were people who appreciated that and others for whom it was just not “Star Trek.” And the result, in Season 2, Capt. [Christopher] Pike showed up, Number One showed up, Spock showed up, and we began to bring in what felt to people more like the “Star Trek” they understood.

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You’re ending the series after five seasons. Was that always a plan?

You know, we were surprised we didn’t continue, and yet it feels now that it was right. One of the things that happened very quickly as streaming took off was that it radically changed watch patterns for viewers. Shows that used to go 10, 12 seasons, people would tap out after two — like, “I got what I want” — so for any show to go five seasons, it’s a miracle. In ways I don’t think we could have predicted, the season from the beginning feels like it’s the last; it just has a sense of finality. The studio was wonderful in that they recognized we needed to put a button on it, we needed a period on the end of the sentence, and so they allowed us to go back, which we did right before the strike, and [film] the coda that wraps up the series.

Alex Kurtzman, the executive producer of Paramount's new "Star Trek" franchise, sits in a Danish modern chair.

“Discovery” is a riot of love stories, among both heroes and villains.

There’s certainly a history of that in “Star Trek.” Whether or not characters were engaged in direct relationships, there was always a subtext of the love between them. I believe that’s why we love the bridge crew, because it’s really a love story, everyone’s in a love story, and they all care for each other and fight like family members. But ultimately they’re there to help each other and explore the universe together. If there’s some weird problem, and the answer’s not immediately apparent, each of them brings a different skill set and therefore a different perspective; they clash in their debate on how to proceed and then find some miraculous solution that none of them would have thought of at the outset.

One of the beautiful things about the shows is that you get to spend a long time with them, as opposed to a two-hour movie where you have to get in and out quickly and then wait a couple of years before the next one comes along. To be able to be on their weekly adventures, it affords the storytelling level of depth and complexity a two-hour movie just can’t achieve in that way.

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It’s astonishing how much matter you got into these things. Some storylines that only lasted an episode I remembered as seasonal arcs.

The sheer tonnage of story and character we were able to pack into “Discovery” every episode was kind of incredible. The thing to keep in mind is that “Discovery” was made as streaming was exploding, so what I think you’re also seeing there is a lot of writers who were trained in the network world with an A, B and C story applying it suddenly to a very different kind of storytelling in a much more cinematic medium. And when you have that kind of scope it starts to become really, really big. Sometimes that works really, really well and sometimes it was too much. And we were figuring it out; it was a bunch of people with flashlights in the dark, looking for how to interpret “Star Trek” now, since it had been 12 years since it had been on a television screen.

Are you able to course-correct within a season?

Sure. You get people you really trust in the room. Aaron Baiers, who runs Secret Hideout, is one of my most important early-warning systems; he isn’t necessarily in the room when we’re breaking stories, but he’s the first person who’ll read an outline and he’s the first person who’ll read a script. What I value so much about his perspective is that he’s coming in cold, he’s just like, “I’m the viewer, and I understand this or I don’t understand it, I feel this or I don’t feel it.” The studio executives are very similar. They love “Star Trek,” they’re all die-hard fans and have very strong feelings about what is appropriate. It then goes through a series of artists in every facet, from props to visual effects to production design, and they’re bringing their interpretations and opinions to the story.

Three seated officers and the standing captain on the bridge of a starship

Did “Strange New Worlds” come out of the fact that everybody loved seeing Christopher Pike in “Discovery?”

I really have to credit Akiva Goldsman with this. He knew that I was going to bring Pike into the premiere of the second season of “Discovery,” and said, “You know, there’s an incredible show about Capt. Pike and the Enterprise before Kirk takes over; there’s seven years of great storytelling there” — or five years, depending on when you come into the storyline. I said, “We have to cast a successful Pike first, so let’s see if that works. Let’s figure out who’s Number One, and who Spock is,” which are wildly tall orders. I hadn’t seen Anson Mount in other things before [he was cast as Pike], and when he sent in his taped audition it was that wonderful moment where you go, “That’s exactly the person we’re looking for.” Everybody loves Pike because he’s the kind of leader you want, definitive and clear but open to everyone’s perspective and humanistic in his response. And then we had the incredibly tall order of having Ethan [Peck] step into Leonard [Nimoy’s] and [Zachary Quinto’s] shoes.

He’s great.

He’s amazing, just a delight of a human being. And Rebecca Romijn‘s energy, what she brings to Number One is such a contemporary take on a character that was kind of a cipher in “The Original Series.” But she brings a kind of joy, a comedy, a bearing, a gravitas to the character that feels very modern. Thank God the fans responded the way they did and sent that petition [calling for a “Legacy” series], because everybody at CBS got the message very quickly. Jenny Lumet and Akiva and I wrote a pilot, and we were off to the races. Typically it takes fans a minute to adjust to what you’re doing, especially with beloved legacy characters, but the response to “Strange New World” from a critical perspective and fan perspective and just a viewership perspective was so immediate, it really did help us understand what was satisfying fans.

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What can you tell me about “Starfleet Academy?” Is it going to be Earth-based or space-based?

I’m going to say, without giving anything away, both. Right now we’re in the middle of answering the question what does San Francisco, where the academy is, look like in the 32nd century. Our primary set is the biggest we’ve ever built.

So you’re setting this —

In the “Discovery” era. There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

And I’m very, very , very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking she’d never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.

A woman with long brown hair in gold-plated chest armor.

And then you’ve got the “Section 31” movie.

“Section 31” is Michelle Yeoh’s return as Georgiou. A very, very different feeling for “Star Trek.” I will always be so grateful to her, because on the heels of her nomination and then her Oscar win , she just doubled down on coming back to “Star Trek.” She could have easily walked away from it; she had a lot of other opportunities. But she remained steadfast and totally committed. We just wrapped that up and are starting to edit now.

Are you looking past “Starfleet” and “Section 31” to future projects?

There’s always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up, but I really try to live in the shows that are in front of me in the moment because they’re so all-consuming. I’m directing the first two episodes of “Starfleet Academy,” so right now my brain is just wholly inside that world. But you can tell “Star Trek” stories forever; there’s always more. There’s something in the DNA of its construction that allows you to keep opening different doors. Some of that is science fiction, some of it has to do with the combination of science fiction and the organic embracing of all these other genres that lets you explore new territories. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. I think it’s going to go on for a long, long time. The real question for “Star Trek” is how do you keep innovating, how do you deliver both what people expect and something totally fresh at the same time. Because I think that is actually what people want from “Star Trek.” They want what’s familiar delivered in a way that doesn’t feel familiar.

With all our showrunners — Terry Matalas on “Picard,” the Hagemans on “Prodigy,” Mike McMahan on “Lower Decks,” Michelle Paradise, who has been singlehandedly running “Discovery” for the last two years, and then Akiva and Henry Alonso Myers on “Strange New Worlds” — my feeling is that the best way to protect and preserve “Star Trek” is not to impose my own vision on it but [find people] who meet the criteria of loving “Star Trek,” wanting to do new things with it, understanding how incredibly hard it is to do. And then I’m going to let you do your job. I’ll come in and tell you what I think every once in a while, and I’ll help get the boat off the dock, but once I hand the show over to a creative it has to be their show. And that means you’re going to get a different take every time, and as long as those takes all feel like they can marry into the same rainbow, to get back to the metaphor, that’s the way to keep “Star Trek” fresh.

I take great comfort because “Star Trek” really only belongs to Gene Roddenberry and the fans. We don’t own it. We carry it, we try to evolve it and then we hand it off to the next people. And hopefully they will love it as much as we do.

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Robert Lloyd has been a Los Angeles Times television critic since 2003.

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Discovery's Final Episode Breaks an Infamous Star Trek Curse

Stick the landing.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham.

The finale of Star Trek: Discovery was given the impossible task of concluding Season 5’s 10-episode story while also serving as a capper for the entire show and wrapping up a handful of Short Treks anthology episodes. But while Trek series finales can be a mixed bag, Discovery fans can rest easy. Its series finale, “Life Itself,” manages to stick the landing. Here’s a spoiler-free look at why you can’t miss the Discovery finale, which makes for an impressive but concise balancing act that ends the show with confidence and class.

While the series finales of The Next Generation (“All Good Things...”) and Deep Space Nine (“What You Leave Behind”) were generally well-received, not all Star Trek series finales have been compelling. 2023’s Picard finale was a slam-dunk, but it was an extension of The Next Generation. The Original Series and The Animated Series didn’t have planned finales and just stopped on somewhat random episodes. Opinions are divided on the Voyager finale, “Endgame,” but Chakotay and Seven’s sudden romance is unrealistic, and Janeway’s time paradox story feels like a retread of “All Good Things...” Most infamously, the 2004 Enterprise series finale is considered a bad finale and perhaps one of the worst Trek episodes ever, as it focuses on guest stars dragged in from Next Gen instead of its own cast.

So making a good finale to wrap up a Star Trek series isn’t exactly a high bar to clear. The circumstances surrounding Discovery’s series finale are an odd combination of the planned finales for TNG, DS9, and Voyager, and the unexpected conclusions to TOS, The Animated Series, and Enterprise . Thankfully, that cocktail seems to be effective.

It’s no secret that the final episode of Discovery wasn’t planned to be the series finale. Nearly a year after Season 5 finished shooting, it was decided that Discovery would come to an end. And so, while the season was being edited, showrunner Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman created an extended coda for Episode 10. As reported back in 2023 , Discovery was given “additional filming to help craft a conclusion for the series.” Discovery’s last episode was retroactively transformed into a series finale.

While hardcore fans might be able to see where the original season ending and new series ending were glued together, the finale is still extremely satisfying. Nothing about “Life Itself” overstays its welcome, nor does it feel like the story of Michael Burnham and the Discovery crew is being short-changed. It’s actually hard to imagine what certain characters would have done afterward had there been a Season 6. The final moments do hint at stories that could be explored in future Trek series, and the Final Frontier's distant future is still in flux. But when faced with the task of wrapping up an epic action-adventure series set inside a sprawling franchise, Discovery’s finale does it all with grace.

The Star Trek: Discovery finale, “Life Itself,” hits Paramount+ on Thursday, May 30 at 3:00 AM EST.

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Series Finale Marked a Flawed but Ambitious End to a Successful Franchise Reboot | Commentary

The CBS All Access-turned-Paramount+ original’s bold conclusion is sure to spark conversation amongst the fandom

"Star Trek: Discovery" Season 5, Episode 10

If you’ve been part of the “Star Trek” journey, you’ll understand the significance of measuring your life in the series finales you’ve witnessed: “The Next Generation.” “Deep Space Nine.” “Voyager.” “Enterprise.” Each one a milestone.

And now, with the final episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” streaming on Paramount+, we add one more to the mix, like the rings of a tree trunk — or rather, Saturn. This series, now complete, is sure to spark intense conversations and debates among fans as it finds its place in the vast Trek universe.

Debuting in 2017, “Discovery” represented the franchise’s return to television after an extended hiatus of over a decade following the 2005 cancellation of “Star Trek: Enterprise.” With an impressive budget and an aesthetic approach wholly distinct from the 1960s original and the various sequels and spin-offs that aired during the ’80s and ’90s, the series garnered new loyal fans for the franchise even as it ruffled the feathers of some longtime devotees.

“Discovery,” a creation of Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, was not without its challenges. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander-turned-Captain Michael Burnham, the series had to navigate the changing tides of television sensibilities and the demands of a vocal fanbase. It wasn’t always a smooth journey, but it aimed to give audiences something both familiar and fresh.

And just as the show was often more ambitious than its execution allowed, one can say the same about the finale, “Life, Itself.” Spanning a staggering 88 minutes, it’s the longest single episode of TV Trek ever. Initially filmed as a regular season-ender, it was later tasked with concluding the entire series, leading to a hasty epilogue that attempts to tie up loose ends. The result is a final episode that feels both too rushed and too languid, with a feeling of checking off boxes as it cycles through plot points.

Certain characters get showcase moments (let’s hear it for Doug Jones’ Ambassador Saru!) while others are left wildly underserved (pity poor Anthony Rapp as Commander Paul Stamets). Meanwhile, the central storyline of the season involving an alien race who seeded intelligent life in the universe (itself an excavation of a bit of lore from a 1993 episode of “The Next Generation”) reaches a resolution that’s tidy enough, but calls into question why we went on this journey to begin with.

Then again, the finale also demonstrates the unique challenges “Discovery” has faced since its debut. As a prequel set nine years before “Star Trek: The Original Series,” it asked a lot from fans, both in terms of its storytelling approach (while long-form serialized stories aren’t new to “Trek,” “Discovery” leaned into the format hard) and its digressions from extant lore (a.k.a. the all-important canon, constantly unfurling like a tapestry ever since the ’60s).

By ostensibly situating the show within the original timeline (as opposed to the alternative universe of the 2009-2016 trilogy starring Chris Pine) and having to tiptoe around issues related to canon, the producers realized the prequel setting was creating more problems than it was solving. Thus, at the end of the second season, the good ship Discovery pulled up stakes and decamped to the far-flung 32nd century, wholly unexplored in prior Trek tales and free from any pesky continuity conundrums to worry about.

The trade-off, however, was that the new setting, bereft of the trappings fans knew and loved, made for an uphill climb as far as retaining audience investment. “Discovery” arrives in a future where “Star Trek’s” utopian future has fallen into disarray — Starfleet is disbanded; the Federation is a shadow of its former self. Thus, it fell to the time-displaced crew of the Discovery to reclaim the ideals of optimism they represent and restore Starfleet to its formerly preeminent perch.

Not a bad mission statement, but as was so often the case with “Discovery,” the loftiness of its ambitions had a tendency to run headlong into the dodginess of its execution, with characters behaving inconsistently from episode to episode and wordy technobabble serving as a substitute for problem-solving. Still, “Discovery” now has a complete beginning, middle and end, and the fans who came into the franchise through this show will no doubt continue to revisit and cherish it.

The “Discovery” finale arrives precisely 30 years and one week after the final episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” aired. That episode, 1994’s “All Good Things,” remains one of the most beloved finales of all time, Trek or otherwise. As such, perhaps it’s unfair to force comparisons, but on the other hand, it’s impossible not to, given the symmetry of their airdates.

When “The Next Generation” concluded, the franchise was at its absolute peak in terms of public awareness and acceptance, and its finale reflected that. By contrast, “Life, Itself” is an invite-only affair, reflecting its place as a streaming skein with a fraction of “The Next Generation’s” substantial audience.

star-trek-2009-chris-pine-zachary-quinto

As fans of the prequel series “Star Trek: Enterprise” (cut down in its prime after a mere four seasons … the wound still hurts), we remember well when that show first premiered (in the fall of 2001) and the subsequent sturm and drang amongst the fandom over whether it should be considered canon. Viewers eventually came around to, if not embracing, at least accepting that the show exists. We suspect something similar is in store for “Discovery” as years turn into decades.

But as we wait for history to weigh in on “Star Trek: Discovery,” let’s not overlook its most remarkable achievement. It’s not just a show; it’s a catalyst. In the seven years since “Discovery’s” debut, it opened the floodgates to a plethora of spin-offs — with more “Trek” in production at once than at any other time in history. This is a testament to the enduring power and appeal of the “Star Trek” universe and a cause for celebration among fans, regardless of which flavors of the franchise they prefer.

There’s the still-going “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (now setting course for its third season). There’s the recently concluded “Star Trek: Picard.” There’s the soon-to-conclude “Star Trek: Lower Decks” and “Star Trek: Prodigy,” which was canceled by Paramount but rescued by Netflix. But that’s not all! A “Section 31” movie is on the way, depicting the seedier side of Starfleet and spinning off directly from “Discovery’s” second season. There’s also an upcoming “Starfleet Academy” show starring Holly Hunter and set during “Discovery’s” 32nd century timeframe.

Truly, it’s a bumper crop of TV Trekking for anyone inclined to delve into new and different corners of the final frontier. And none of it would exist if “Discovery” hadn’t shaken loose the cobwebs and made it safe to go boldly once again.

All five seasons of “Star Trek: Discovery” are available to stream on Paramount+.

One response to “‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Series Finale Marked a Flawed but Ambitious End to a Successful Franchise Reboot | Commentary”

Were there any White people left at the end? This show lost me when Fuller made it blatantly clear he was using this show to fight supposed social and racial injustices in the world. When I heard that I was out.

The 'Star Trek: Discovery' series finale is a mixed bag (review)

"Discovery" was the first of the new wave of "Star Trek," and it helped pave the way for the recent renaissance in television science fiction. For that, we are thankful.

seven people in purple spaceflight uniforms stand on a futuristic-looking set.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 10

Here we are, six years, eight months and six days later, and, to paraphrase a well-known " Star Trek " alum, Oh my, the world has drastically changed during that time. And so has "Star Trek." You may remember that, way back on Nov. 2, 2015, news trickled out that CBS was going to reboot "Star Trek" in some way, shape or form, giving producers a year or so to put something together before the show's 50th anniversary in September 2016. A perfect promotional opportunity.

Nicholas Meyer was originally attached to the project before he was ousted. Then Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts were fired before Bryan Fuller left the project, ultimately leaving everything in the hands of Alex Kurtzman. And he has taken something of a back seat in recent seasons, leaving the showrunning duties to Michelle Paradise.

The first episode of the first season, entitled "The Vulcan Hello," aired on Sept. 24, 2016 and showed massive potential. However, the concept of focusing the show not on the captain of the USS Discovery NCC-1031, but on the first officer instead, proved difficult to maintain. Consequently, over time we've ended up where we are now — lost somewhere ludicrously far forward in time where transporters have replaced stairs and you can just beam into new uniforms.

Related: 'Star Trek:' History & effect on space technology

Watch Star Trek on Paramount Plus: Get a one month free trial

Get all the Star Trek content you can possibly handle with this free trial of Paramount Plus. Watch new shows like Star Trek: Discovery and all the classic Trek movies and TV shows too. Plans start from $4.99/month after the trial ends.

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Over the last seven and a half years, it's been a very mixed bag; there were inspired episodes , missed opportunities , truly bizarre stories , some blatant plagiarism and even a nod to Scooby-Doo . Despite some very good standalone episodes, the show has steadily declined in the quality of story writing. That's not to say the performances have been bad at all; in fact, "Discovery" has some of the finest talent in television. What has let them all down is ultimately the decisions made by the showrunner, or whoever it is who oversees the writing.

Despite a strong start, it soon became clear that, as "Star Wars" has a Skywalker problem, "Star Trek" suffered from a similar Enterprise problem. It was incapable of letting go. For some ridiculous reason, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) had to be related to Spock, and we had to actually have the USS Enterprise show up. It's much less work to draw on a deep well of existing character history than actually write anything new, you see. Maybe studio executives have an even shorter attention span than viewers?

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Now, while that's spawned " Strange New Worlds " — which is the best of NuTrek so far, by far— it would've been nice to have had a show, still set less than three centuries from now, with new characters and minimal reference to any other longstanding "Star Trek" shows. Kurtzman's decision to fling the series 1,100 years into the future at the end of season two to "free it from the constraints of existing canon" was an effort to recover from this, but the damage had already been done.

Related: 'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 9 offers a tense but questionable cliffhanger

a bearded man stares through a set of metal bars.

However, bringing "Star Trek" back onto the small screen has had an undeniably positive effect on television science fiction. The fact that CBS All Access, later Paramount Plus, was investing so heavily in it undoubtedly influenced Amazon with its decision to save "The Expanse" in August 2018. Plus, in November 2017, Disney announced it was going to put a live action "Star Wars" spinoff show on our humble TV screens, and, exactly two years later, we got " The Mandalorian ." And let's not forget " The Orville ," which also arrived on our screens in September 2017.

"Discovery" helped pave the way for a renaissance in television science fiction and for that, we are eternally thankful, but ... we won't be even remotely sad to say goodbye to black alerts, that damn spore drive, smartmatter, excessive flamebursts, detached nacelles, Georgiou's smug sniggers, Burnham's Bottom Lip™ and those crazy, cavernous turbolift spaces .

For the finale, though, we're treated to a whopping 90-minute installment, written by Michelle Paradise, so you have some idea of what's coming. And to be perfectly honest, this episode drags. Paradise always favors super-fluffy storylines that leave you with a cheese-overload aftertaste, and we've never seen evidence to suggest that she has any range beyond this. So, that's what you can expect, and that's exactly what is delivered — a cookie cutter-style finale that's mostly disappointing.

Malinne "Moll" Ravel (Eve Harlow) has just become annoying now, and the side plot threads, like that of Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), feel forced and hastily tacked on. And ultimately, you're left thinking that this finale is just like all the others we've seen in seasons three, four and now five. For the end-of-series climax, could it not have been something slightly different? Extremely unlikely with Paradise running this show. Also, what actually was the Progenitor tech? A galaxy-sized MacGuffin? Yes. Again.

Yes, there is a link to the "Short Trek" installment " Calypso ," but in order for it to directly correspond, we see the USS Discovery being reverse-engineered to its former 23rd century state, complete with a removed "A" from the hull registry and reattached warp nacelles. Oh, and it turns out that Kovich (David Cronenberg) is Daniels, a temporal agent played by Matt Winston and first introduced in the "Enterprise" episode "Cold Front" S01, E11, with seven more appearances in the thoroughly enjoyable temporal story thread. So, that's nice.

The fact that Burnham becomes an admiral and works for Starfleet Intelligence now, along with everything we've just mentioned above was absolutely, unquestionably added to help link this episode, show and characters with the Section 31 television movie that's being made starring Michelle Yeoh. Moreover, the same was done to help tie in with the new Starfleet Academy series that quite obviously is being set in the 32nd century.

illustration of a starship, with cosmic dust clouds in the background

— Watch the bittersweet trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery's final season (video)

— Star Trek streaming guide: Where to watch the Star Trek movies and TV shows online

— Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

As she set off to fulfill Discovery's destiny with Zora, it might have been nice to see Burnham locate and gently rub the small metal burr under the captain’s chair’s left armrest that Captain Georgiou had practically rubbed smooth, as was explained to Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) in the episode " Su'Kal " (S03, E11) — but evidently no one thought of that.

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery," and every other episode of every " Star Trek " show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US, while "Prodigy" has found a new home on Netflix .

Internationally, the shows are available on Paramount Plus in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on Paramount Plus in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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BuzzsBuddy The big question is if there are more than two sentences that aren't whispered. We know the answer is no for Michael. Reply
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Star trek: discovery season 5 finale ending & shocking epilogue explained.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Discovery’s ending sets a star trek record & creates 2 new admirals, who played the progenitor in star trek: discovery’s finale.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery's Season 5 & Series Finale - "Life, Itself"

Captain Burnham makes a pivotal choice to banish the Progenitors' technology for the greater good of the galaxy.
USS Discovery's epic battle against the Breen pays homage to Star Trek: The Next Generation with a saucer separation.
The finale hints at a future for Admiral Burnham and the USS Discovery, leaving the door open for potential sequels or movies.

Star Trek: Discovery 's stunning season 5 and series finale concludes the hunt for the greatest treasure in the galaxy, and the extended finale's emotional epilogue finally answers one of Discovery 's biggest questions as it says goodbye to Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew. Written by Kyle Jarrow and Michelle Paradise and directed by Olatunde Osunname, Star Trek: Discovery 's finale, "Life, Itself", sees Captain Burnham make a pivotal choice about the Progenitors' treasure while the USS Discovery defeats the Breen.

Captain Burnham competed with Moll (Eve Harlow) for the Progenitors' technology, but it could only be Michael who could access it as she passed every test that came with the Progenitors scientists' clues . Burnham met one of the Progenitors (Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama) who revealed Michael was to be the new steward of the Progenitors' technology, as Betazoid scientist Dr. Marina Derex was when she found it in the 24th century. Meanwhile, Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) faced down Breen Primarch Tahal (Patricia Summersett) while Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) led the USS Discovery to keep the Breen dreadnought from reaching the portal to the Progenitors' technology. Here's how Star Trek: Discovery ended and what it all meant.

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

Why Captain Burnham Sends The Progenitors’ Technology Away

Star trek already has "infinite diversity in infinite combinations".

The Progenitor gave Captain Burnham the choice of what to do with the power of creation, and Michael decided that no one culture should control it. Instead, Burnham decided to send the Progenitors' portal into the binary black holes' event horizon to keep it safe and unreachable. Michael's decision was born from the fact that she didn't want the responsibility of being the technology's steward but, more importantly, Burnham realized Star Trek 's galaxy already has "infinite diversity in infinite combinations". Control of the technology, even by the United Federation of Planets, would ultimately lead to abuse, war, and death.

The Progenitor revealed that the technology is older than they were and that their species found it and decided to use it to populate the galaxy with myriad humanoid lifeforms because their species was alone in the universe.

As she exited the Progenitors' dimension, Captain Burnham witnessed four billion years of creation and everything that led to the galaxy's existence. This solidified Michael's choice to banish the power of creation. Tragically for Moll, the Progenitor revealed to Burnham that while the technology could resurrect L'ak (Elias Toufexis) physically, it can't restore his memories or his personality . Burham and Moll returned to the USS Discovery where Moll was taken into custody. Burnham told her crew that she would speak to President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) and Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) about her choice to banish the power of creation, and she felt that they would agree. Ultimately, Burnham was empowered by the Progenitor and made the unilateral decision she felt was right for the galaxy.

Moll too willingly accepted Burnham's explanation that there was no way to resurrect L'ak, but it's possible Moll was fed her own information when she tried and failed to access the Progenitors' technology.

USS Discovery Beat The Breen With A Star Trek: TNG Enterprise Tribute

Discovery did a saucer separation.

As Ambassador Saru and Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril) tried to ward Primarch Tahal from entering the battle for the Progenitors' portal, the USS Discovery was still outmatched by the Breen dreadnought. Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) piloted a shuttle to lock onto the portal. They succeeded because Culber was able to access the memories of Trill scientist Jinaal for the right coordinates . Hugh achieving the ineffable though Jinaal paid off his growing spiritual enlightenment throughout Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Meanwhile, Commander Rayner and the USS Discovery defeated the Breen dreadnought with one final, awesome tribute to Star Trek: The Next Generation and the USS Enterprise-D. Rayner ordered a saucer separation and gambled on Discovery's spore drive being able to jump the dreadnought if it was in the middle of both components of Discovery. Saru then led Tahal's ship to the other Breen dreadnought as Rayner's daring plan worked: All of the Breen were instantaneously sent to the Galactic Barrier, a node to the USS Discovery's journey to make First Contact with Species 10-C at the end of S tar Trek: Discovery season 4 .

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's story is a sequel to the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode, "The Chase".

Doctor Kovich's True Identity Is Daniels From Star Trek: Enterprise

It's been a long road getting from there to here..

Star Trek: Discovery finally revealed the identity of Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg): the bespectacled Federation official, Kovich, is the older version of Agent Daniels (Matt Winston) from Star Trek: Enterprise ! In the 22nd century, Daniels posed as a member of the NX-01 Enterprise's crew and revealed Star Trek 's Temporal War to Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula). Using the codename "Doctor Kovich", which is itself a Red Directive, Daniels is now protecting the Federation and the timeline post-Temporal Wars.

Star Trek legacy Easter eggs shown in Doctor Kovich's office include Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge's (LeVar Burton) VISOR, Captain Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) baseball, and a Chateau Picard wine bottle.

Doctor Kovich introduced himself to Captain Burnham as "Agent Daniels, USS Enterprise... and other places" , which is a nod to the 26th century's USS Enterprise-J Daniels served on, but also the NX-01 Enterprise led by Captain Archer. Further, Kovich had plans for Moll, believing the skilled former courier could be "useful" after she serves her Federation prison sentence. There were numerous theories about Doctor Kovich's true identity, including that he could be a Lanthanite or El-Aurian, but Kovich really being Agent Daniels is a stunning revelation that pleasingly ties Star Trek: Discovery back to Star Trek: Enterprise .

How Star Trek: Discovery Ends For USS Discovery’s Crew

Discovery's crew gets one final reunion.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's ending gave certain members of the crew conclusions to their arcs . Dr. Hugh Culber had one of his big questions answered about his growing spiritual enlightenment. Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) saw the growth of Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner's relationship and decided to apply a similar mentorship program to Starfleet Academy. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) protested Burnham banishing the Progenitors' technology, but resigned himself to his achievements and being proud of what a fine (and wise) Starfleet Officer Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) has become.

As seen in Star Trek: Discovery' s finale epilogue, the crew of the USS Discovery assembled on the bridge in a powerful and resonant ending reminiscent of Titanic . Not only was the cast of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 all there, but so were Commanders Kayla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo), and Lt. Commander Ronald Bryce (Ronnie Rowe, Jr.), who missed most or all of Star Trek: Discovery season 5. It was a beautiful moment honoring the actors and characters who have spanned Star Trek: Discovery 's five seasons.

Book & Burnham Reunite At Admiral Saru & President T'Rina's Wedding

Discovery's first couple are back on..

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's original ending was the wedding of Saru and President T'Rina (Tara Rosling), which took place "several weeks" after Captain Burnham found the Progenitors' technology. The Kelpien and Vulcan tied the knot, and Admiral Charles Vance revealed that Saru has been promoted to Admiral. Meanwhile, Burnham and Cleveland Booker put their personal turmoil behind them and declared that they love each other. United once more, Book joined Burnham on the USS Discovery's next mission after Doctor Kovich summoned her with her Infinity Room symbol .

Thanks to his heroic efforts in helping locate the Progenitors' technology, Book's Federation sentence has been commuted and he is a free man.

Saru and T'Rina's wedding was attended by the crew of the USS Discovery, who are Saru's family, and many Vulcan and Federation dignitaries. While it wasn't made clear, Star Trek: Discovery 's finale hints that Commander Rayner remained aboard the USS Discovery as First Officer and Lt. Tilly returned to her teaching post at Starfleet Academy. Presumably, the rest of the USS Discovery's crew reported to their starship for their new mission after Saru and T'Rina were wed .

Admiral Saru likely took a new role overseeing Starfleet with Admiral Vance at Federation HQ so he could remain close to his bride, T'Rina.

Star Trek: Discovery Epilogue: Admiral Burnham and Book’s Son Is The New Captain Burnham

Starfleet's burnham legacy continues..

Star Trek: Discovery 's finale epilogue flashes forward roughly 30 years , placing it in the 3220s. Cleveland Booker has been happily married to Admiral Michael Burnham for decades, and they have made their home on Sanctuary Four, where Book and Michael once dropped off Molly the trance worm in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Book also planted the world root from Kwejian he was given by the Eternal Gallery and Archive in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 on Sanctuary Four, which remade the planet's flora into a new, thriving version of Kwejian, Book's doomed homeworld.

Michael and Book also have an adult son who is the new Captain Burnham. Named for Book's nephew Leto (Luca Doulgeris), who died along with Kwejian at the start of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Michael and Book's son is the newly promoted Captain Leto Burnham (Sawandi Wilson), who came to Sanctuary Four to escort his mother to Federation HQ and the USS Discovery's final mission. Admiral Burnham had wise words of connection and family for her son, who hopes to find the same relationships with the crew of his unnamed starship as Michael did with the USS Discovery's crew.

Admiral Michael Burnham learned the lesson that the deeper meaning she was searching for was spending the time you have with the people you love.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Epilogue Finally Confirms Short Treks' “Calypso” Is Canon

Discovery answers its biggest short trek mystery.

Star Trek: Discovery' s finale epilogue ends with one last incredible surprise as the series sets up the Star Trek: Short Treks episode, "Calypso" and officially makes it canon . In "Calypso", Zora (Annabelle Wallis) and the USS Discovery are alone in a region of space for hundreds of years when a soldier named Craft (Aldis Hodge) comes aboard and forms a bittersweet relationship with the lonely A.I. Admiral Burnham tells Zora that Discovery's final voyage is a Red Directive mission , and she only knows the word "Craft" but not who or what it means.

To synch back up with Star Trek: Short Treks ' "Calypso", the USS Discovery is retrofitted back to its 23rd-century Crossfield Class design, with the A removed from its USS Discovery-A designation . Admiral Burnham tells Zora that when they reach their destination, she and the crew will leave. But after Zora meets Craft, the USS Discovery will come back and form a new family with the descendants of her original crew. The final shot of Star Trek: Discovery is the USS Discovery given full honors by Starfleet in a sendoff as it spore jumps to its destiny in "Calypso".

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange" also set up "Calypso" but in an alternate timeline where the Breen destroyed the Federation with the Progenitors' technology.

Star Trek: Discovery Doesn’t Close The Door On Season 6 Or A Movie

There could still be more discovery someday..

Star Trek: Discovery 's ending and epilogue conclude Captain Michael Burnham's story , but despite showing the future of Admiral Burnham and the USS Discovery, the finale's coda still doesn't preclude season 6 or a Star Trek: Discovery streaming movie . After all, Captain Burnham and Discovery launch a new mission in season 5's ending before the flash forward. While Admiral Saru has a new role in Starfleet and Lt. Sylvia Tilly is back at Starfleet Academy, the rest of the USS Discovery's crew presumably flew back into action. And Discovery has many more years of adventures to come that audiences won't see.

Fingers are crossed that Captain Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery will return someday.

For now, Star Trek: Discovery is over and there are no known plans for Star Trek: Discovery season 6 or a reunion movie , but this doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the future after some time has passed. Star Trek on Paramount+ still has Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seasons 3 and 4, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , and Star Trek: Section 31 coming in the next two years. But given that all three of those projects spun off from Star Trek: Discovery , Michael Burnham's show remains crucial to the Star Trek on Paramount+ franchise. Fingers are crossed that Captain Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery will return someday.

All 5 seasons of Star Trek: Discovery are streaming on Paramount+

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Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, "Subspace Rhapsody"
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Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody [Review]
Strange New Worlds: Die Musical-Episode
"Subspace Rhapsody"

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Star Trek: SNW 'Subspace Rhapsody'
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Subspace Rhapsody Review Star Trek Strange New Worlds S2 E9
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9: "Subspace Rhapsody" Recap & Review

COMMENTS

'Star Trek' made its first musical episode, but was it any good?
Aug. 3, 2023 6 AM PT. This article contains spoilers for "Subspace Rhapsody," the ninth episode of Season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.". On Thursday, "Star Trek: Strange New ...
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Review
Reviews Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Review - Subspace Rhapsody. Star Trek's first musical installment is silly, heartfelt, and perhaps the most fun the show's ever been.
STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLD Review
This one works for me. It's technobabbly, it's connected to the era of Strange New Worlds and the canon of Star Trek — why yes, real time subspace communications would be great! — and it opens the door to a lot of fun. The ten original songs of "Subspace Rhapsody" — written by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce — range from solos ...
REVIEW
By Connor Schwigtenberg. -. August 3, 2023. Star Trek has officially done a musical episode! It's very exciting and was the episode I was most excited about this season. The latest edition to Season 2 is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Subspace Rhapsody". Before we get into the quality of the job that director Dermott Downs and writers ...
Recap/Review: Anything Goes In 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Musical
"Subspace Rhapsody" Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9 - Debuted Thursday, August 3, 2023 Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff; with original songs by Kay Hanley and Tom ...
Strange New Worlds 'Subspace Rhapsody' Review: So-so Musical
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 9 review: "Subspace Rhapsody" is an entertaining but flawed and vapid musical for the series.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 209 "Subspace Rhapsody" Review: All
Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 "Subspace Rhapsody" So… that happened. For the first time in its 890-episode history, Star Trek did a musical episode.If you didn't ...
How 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' pulled off its musical episode
Carol Kane, Christina Chong, and Ethan Peck feature in 'Subspace Rhapsody,' the musical episode of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2. Paramount+. With a script written by Dana Horgan and ...
Behind-The-Scenes On The Star Trek Musical
Aug. 3, 2023. Strange New Worlds' showrunners always knew Season 2 Episode 9 was going to be big. They just didn't know it was going to be this big. "It was planned that all the arcs would ...
RECAP
In " Subspace Rhapsody ," this season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' penultimate episode, an accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the U.S.S. 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.
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds': 'Subspace Rhapsody' Is ...
In "Subspace Rhapsody," the penultimate episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" second season, a mishap involving a recording of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and a "subspace ...
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
98% Avg. Tomatometer 87 Reviews 79% Avg. Audience Score 1,000 ... Strange New Worlds: Season 2 Episode 9 SDCC Trailer - Subspace Rhapsody Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 2 ...
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Subspace Rhapsody (TV Episode 2023)
Subspace Rhapsody: Directed by Dermott Downs. With Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong. An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding & beginning to impact other ships - allies & enemies alike.
Subspace Rhapsody
"Subspace Rhapsody" is the ninth episode of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In this episode, Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) encounter a naturally occurring fold in subspace which, when interacted with, causes the entire crew to start singing their private thoughts and feelings. The episode is a musical, the first in the history of the ...
The Songs of 'Strange New Worlds' "Subspace Rhapsody," Ranked
At last, the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode is here!TMS' Lauren Coates has us covered with a review of "Subspace Rhapsody" as a whole, but I'm here to talk specifically ...
The Best Singers In Star Trek's Subspace Rhapsody, Ranked From ...
The ninth and penultimate episode, "Subspace Rhapsody," is the first "Star Trek" musical episode. Like any good musical, it opens with a group number, branches off into solos, and then reunites ...
Episode Discussion: 209 "Subspace Rhapsody"
Episode Discussion. This thread is for pre, post, and live discussion of the nineteenth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, " Subspace Rhapsody ." Episode 2.09 will be released on Thursday, August 3rd. Expectations, thoughts, and reactions to the episode should go into the comment section of this post.
"Subspace Rhapsody"
In-depth critical reviews of Star Trek and some other sci-fi series. Includes all episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds. Also, Star Wars, the new Battlestar Galactica, and The Orville.
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Subspace Rhapsody (TV Episode 2023
Star Trek the musical, is a monumentally stupid idea, completely at odds with the tradition and prestige of the legendary Sci-Fi Adventure. Subspace Rhapsody is a gut-wrenching, cringe inducing pantomime.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 9 Is The Silly ...
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Recap/Review: Anything Goes In ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Musical “Subspace Rhapsody”

“Subspace Rhapsody”

“We appear to be singing.”

“This musical reality wants us to sing.”

“We’re connected as a crew…”

More than an anomaly

A most confounding thing, I appear to be singing…

Final thoughts

More to come

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Let’s Rank the Songs of ‘Strange New Worlds’ Musical Episode, ‘Subspace Rhapsody’

10. “ How Would That Feel ” – La’an Noonien-Singh (performed by Christina Chong)

9. “ Keeping Secrets ” – Una Chin-Riley (performed by Rebecca Romijn)

8. “ Connect to Your Truth ” – Una Chin-Riley and James T. Kirk (performed by Rebecca Romijn and Paul Wesley)

7. “Main Title (“Subspace Rhapsody” Version)” – composed by Jeff Russo

6. “ Private Conversation ” – Christopher Pike and Marie Batel (performed by Anson Mount and Melanie Scrofano)

5. “ Status Report ” – Enterprise Crew (performed by the SNW Cast)

4. “ I’m the X ” – Spock (performed by Ethan Peck)

3. “ I’m Ready ” – Christine Chapel (performed by Jess Bush)

2. “ We Are One ” – Enterprise Crew (performed by the SNW Cast)

1. “ Keep Us Connected ” – Nyota Uhura (performed by Celia Rose Gooding)

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