Star Trek: SNW's Subspace Rhapsody Klingon Moment Was Met With Skepticism
If "Star Trek" is about going boldly where no one has gone before, well, this latest episode of "Strange New Worlds" truly went for it. Luckily, it's difficult to imagine any other franchise feeling better equipped to suddenly drop a musical episode the likes of "Subspace Rhapsody" into the mix. (Feel free to check out /Film's review by Witney Seibold here.) But the thing about big swings is that they're always going to hit all the right notes for some fans (see what I did there?) while striking the wrong tone for others, leaving the creative team in the unenviable spot of having to figure out how far might be too far.
One such moment rears its cranial-ridged forehead in the grand finale of the episode, when the plot requires that as many people as possible break out into song in order to fix the subspace rift that threatens to overwhelm the entire galaxy. (Just go with it!) With the full force of the Enterprise belting it out in unison, the numbers still aren't high enough ... requiring a helping hand from the Federation's most formidable foes, the Klingons. And once the enemy ship is hailed, "Subspace Rhapsody" delivers its make-or-break moment involving the stuffiest and most stoic of all "Trek" alien races. Yes, your eyes and ears didn't deceive you: the vaunted Klingons broke out into a kitschy pop song, inadvertently helping to save the day.
If Trekkies thought that was a step too far, episode director Dermott Downs admitted that there was some behind-the-scenes trepidation about this moment, too.
The 'K' in K-Pop stands for Klingon
How many "Star Trek" fans had "Klingons break into a pop song and dance number" on their weekly "Strange New Worlds" bingo card? Well, you probably should've, because this is a show that's proven that there's simply no limit to its creativity. In an interview with CinemaBlend, the director tasked with pulling off this musical feat, Dermott Downs (whom /Film's Jacob Hall recently interviewed, as well), opened up about the creative team's brief moment of self-doubt about whether this Klingon scene ought to stay in the final cut:
"...there were a couple of people that were nervous that we were jumping the shark with that by having a Klingon do K-Pop. Even shooting it, we were like, 'Come on, there's no other way.' I mean, we're at the pinnacle of this battle of the bands basically as we're trying to fight this anomaly with music. So if we have to come together as one, this was kind of the crescendo. You wanted to go that extra step. So, ultimately, everybody saw the reason in that."
Yes, I know there's a disgruntled portion of the "Trek" population out there who'll swear up and down that the Klingons should've been singing classic Klingon opera, but that feels a little shortsighted to me. Just like humanity contains multitudes, Klingons aren't a monolith either! Worf might've been an avid opera aficionado, but that doesn't mean everyone has to be. And given the upbeat and peppy nature of the final song, titled "We Are One," I'd have to side with Downs that there was simply no other option here. Go big or go home! Thankfully, the "Strange New Worlds" team chose the former and aimed for the stars with "Subspace Rhapsody."
Relive the episode, now streaming on Paramount+.