Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode worked wonderfully thanks to two ingenious tricks woven into the characters and story. Written by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, and directed by Dermott Downs, with original songs composed by Tom Polce and Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo, Star Trek's first-ever musical, "Subspace Rhapsody," may be the defining hour of Strange New Worlds. Not only did the "Subspace Rhapsody's" soundtrack top the Apple Music charts, but there have been singalong panels at WonderCon and IGN Live where audiences belted out the songs back to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' characters.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 9, "Subspace Rhapsody," saw the Starship Enterprise investigate an unusual subspace fold. After sending a song into the phenomenon, the Enterprise crew find themselves singing and dancing according to the laws of musicals. However, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew soon learn that other starships, including the Klingons, are also affected, and the growing improbability field threatens to engulf the galaxy. According to the rules of musicals, a grand finale musical number is needed to overload the improbability field, and the Enterprise crew rises to the occasion, with a full-stop performance that brings back reality without singing and dancing.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Songs Were Pure Character Development
"Subspace Rhapsody's" songs revealed the truth
There's no question the songs in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical are catchy and memorable, but the first brilliant trick by songwriters Tom Polce and Kay Hanley was to tie each track to the innermost desires of Strange New Worlds' characters, making every song, whether giddy or serious, pure character development. When each Enterprise crew member sings, it's about something vital to their character. In most cases, each song vocalizes a hidden truth or personal pain that the Enterprise's characters have been struggling with since Strange New Worlds began.
The Strange New Worlds characters whose innermost demons were most affected are Captain Christopher Pike, Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush), Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck). In Captain Pike's case, Chris and his paramour, Captain Marie Batel (Melanie Scrofano), were deeply embarrassed to air out their relationship issues to the Enterprise's bridge crew in "A Private Conversation." Uhura came to terms with her true purpose on the Starship Enterprise with the showstopping "Keep Us Connected."
La'an bravely decided to "change my paradigm" with her riveting, "How Would That Feel."
Meanwhile, Nurse Chapel comes to the revelation that she has to break up with Spock to further her career ambitions, but she does so in front of the Enterprise crew with the big musical number, "I'm Ready." A humiliated Spock vocalized his feelings about Chapel, realizing "I'm the X." However, La'an faced her own heartbreak that began when she fell in love with and lost an alternate reality Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) in Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." With the Lt. James T. Kirk of Star Trek's Prime universe now in her life, La'an bravely decided to "change my paradigm" with her riveting, "How Would That Feel."
Strange New Worlds’ Musical Had A Sci-Fi Reason That Threatened Star Trek’s Universe
The musical wasn't just a gimmick
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds might have gotten away with staging a musical purely as a gimmick with no explanation for why the Starship Enterprise crew is singing and dancing. However, Strange New Worlds' producers and songwriters laudably had a greater ambition. The other ingenious trick that made Strange New Worlds' musical work is that the subspace improbability field threatened the entire Star Trek universe. The musical phenomenon wasn't restricted to the USS Enterprise, and the whole galaxy would soon be folded into the singularity.
Although the singing Klingon General Garkog (Bruce Horak) and his K-Pop band were comical, they were, in actuality, a genuine threat. The singing Klingons planned to fire photon torpedoes into the subspace probability field to destroy it. The Klingons didn't know or care that attacking the quantum singularity would have devastating consequences. Lt. James T. Kirk summarized that "the entire Federation and half the Klingon Empire" would be destroyed if the Klingons succeeded. While audiences were enamored by the music, the stakes in Star Trek's first-ever musical were truly universal.
How Star Trek's Musical Changes Strange New Worlds' Characters For Season 3
The Starship Enterprise's crew can change their paradigms
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical is a game-changer for the Starship Enterprise's crew, and sets up multiple character evolutions in Strange New Worlds season 3. Captain Pike ended Strange New Worlds season 2 in a no-win scenario against the Gorn, but his heart is with Captain Batel, whose life is threatened by a Gorn infection. If Batel survives, Pike and Marie have to find a way to further their relationship, which could be even more challenging as Batel has lost her starship, the USS Cayuga, which was destroyed by the Gorn.
Chapel and Spock are about to be tested even further when Dr. Roger Korby enters the picture.
Nurse Chapel and Lieutenant Spock put aside their relationship issues when the Vulcan rescued Christine from the wreckage of the Cayuga and the duo defeated a Gorn soldier. But Chapel and Spock are about to be tested even further when Dr. Roger Korby (Cillian O'Sullivan) enters the picture in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3. Korby is destined by Star Trek: The Original Series canon to become Chapel's fiancé, but how this will play out is anyone's guess.
Perhaps the best poised to evolve in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 are Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh and Ensign Nyota Uhura. Now more assured about her importance to the Enterprise, Uhura can start to move past her personal trauma, including her grief over the death of Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horak), and become more confident. Meanwhile, La'an could become the free and more open person she desperately wants to be. La'an spent her life ashamed of her ancestor, Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban), and kept people from getting too close. But La'an truly wants to change. Yet La'an also hopes for a deeper connection to Lt. Kirk, to replace the James Kirk she tragically lost in 21st century Toronto.
It's clear that "Subspace Rhapsody" will define Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a long time to come. More than a gimmick that Strange New Worlds pulled off with miraculous gusto, Star Trek's first-ever musical was cleverly designed to deepen the audience's understanding and connection to the Starship Enterprise's crew. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will have other big swings, but "Subspace Rhapsody" is inevitably going to be a tough act to follow, thanks to how finely woven the songs and character development, and the greater sci-fi crisis, were in Star Trek's first-ever musical.
