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.