Most Unusual, So Peculiar Stories From 'Strange New Worlds' "Subspace Rhapsody"

 

As many reel from Thursday's second season finale for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds "Hegemony", it only feels right to step back a little bit and go back into the previous episode, the big musical "Subspace Rhapsody" as there are plenty of behind the scenes stories to tell, with a couple on hand.

As a reminder, the episode was about the Enterprise crew being affected by an improbability field that causes them to share their true feelings through song, as their emotions run high. Indeed, co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers confirmed the episode was highly influenced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer's much beloved musical episode "Once More With Feeling". "That was definitely an inspiration," he said. "We held that up as like, 'OK, well, we have to live up to that because if we do this badly, it will not go well, and we would be upset by it. And none of us wanted to do it badly."

Pulling the trigger on the Star Trek franchise's first musical came up while Star Trek: Picard executive producers Michael Chabon and modern Trek shepherd Akiva Goldsman, who is an executive producer across all three current live action series, were on the Picard set excitedly gabbing with star Michelle Hurd about the possibility of such. Chabon mentioned he knew Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Hurd and Goldsman excitedly urged him to make the call. However, when they followed up a couple days later, Chabon revealed Miranda hadn't called back.

While it hadn't worked out for a Picard musical, even with Patrick Stewart's well-known voice, it turns out such discussion happened before Strange New Worlds started production, and when it did, Goldsman became quite the badger to Myers to make one, possibly spurred by Myers's previous experience as showrunner on Syfy’s The Magicians and its several musical episodes. As Kurtzman put it, Myers "was like, 'You know they’re really hard,' and I was like, 'Well, they can’t really be hard, can they?' knowing nothing about how hard they could be. But my blind optimism, I think, finally persuaded Henry's pragmatic, actual practical understanding of the heavy lifting required, and off we went." It wasn't until writer Bill Wolkoff was able to pitch his musical idea when Strange New Worlds’ second season began that they finally had a plot to go with and they were off to the races. 

It was reasoned to place the episode so late in the season because “there’s a lot of work that is required. I remember I started making calls about six months out because we needed to find a composer, we needed to find a lyricist, we needed to start designing what we would do for the sets,” Myers said. “Once they’re finally ready, they shoot more quickly than you think. But it’s the months and months and months before that, while you’re making a TV show and doing lots of other things, that make it extremely hard.”

Goldsman and Myers also discussed how the Klingons' appearance during their hailing in the big finale number "We Are One" changed. While what made it onscreen was them, led by Bruce Horak as General Garkog, reluctantly performing a boy band-inspired number. However, according to Goldsman, an operatic version was tried out instead. Whenever the deleted scenes get released, it'll probably be there. He and Myers really liked the boy band version and they stuck to it. They got to thrust their swords in synchronicity while they sang after all. He also mentions getting funny looks and questioned about his mindset during the Zoom meetings.

Spock and Uhura's numbers they especially commend. Spock’s melancholy number about his breakup with Chapel, is described as a perfect fit for the character, reflecting his journey this season exploring his human side, especially emotions. "This is younger Spock, who is going through things. He’s not ready to be the person that he becomes,” Myers remarks. "He is half-human, and he is half-Vulcan, and he’s got a lot on both sides that he’s got to work out. That’s the stuff we haven’t had a chance to see as much, so that’s part of the joy of writing for that character."

Meanwhile, Celia Rose Gooding capitalized on inhabiting Uhura’s vocal talents first seen in The Original Series. "Uhura is a character who could sing, and we knew this from the history, and so it was something that came up when we were going through casting,” Myers told. "We wanted someone who was capable of that, [and] we found someone who’s particularly good." Her song in particular, about the insecurity within as she tasks herself with getting out of the improbability field, Myers noted it as one that especially made him cry.

The entirety of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds's first two seasons is now streaming on Paramount+, while the "Subspace Rhapsody" soundtrack is available digitally wherever you get your music.

Sources: TVLine (1, 2)