Logline
An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the USS 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.
Written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff
Directed by Dermott Downs
That was insane, I was in equal parts cringing and laughing my arse off.
I knew La’an would be amazing. I was also very excited when I realised Kirk would be involved.
The singing of the intro should be permanent.
What a lovely episode.
I saw a fair amount of skepticism across the Fediverse about how musical episodes are always bad and annoying, to which someone would always respond “well, Buffy nailed it.” Apparently the SNW writers feel the same way, because “Subspace Rhapsody” isn’t just a homage to “Once More With Feeling,” it’s a love letter. They may have swapped the demon for a subspace wedgie, but they kept the idea of using music to force the characters to confront their feelings about each other, and they even threw in a bunny callback.
10/10. I hope SNW maintains the tradition of a theatrically silly episode near the end of each season as long as it runs!
I was fully expecting Pike to say something along the lines of “you mean we have to sing once more, with feeling?” as a not-so-subtle nod to Buffy.
La’an definitely becoming one of my favorite characters, which is surprising because she was middle of the pack in S1.
This was incredible. Loved seeing Celia Rose Gooding so clearly in their element. And Bruce Horak returns in one of the strangest Klingon moments yet!
I love a good comedy relief Klingon moment. They nailed that. It was just goofy and unexpected enough to get a good laugh and they knew just when to cut it off before it overstayed its welcome.
Wait, what? I didn’t realize the Klingon captain was Bruce Horak!
The Klingon breakdown in the final song about had me laughing so hard I was almost in tears. I appreciate using the songs to move various character storylines forward. It feels like everyone ended the episode in a much better place, outside of Spock. …and maybe M’Benga…he didn’t seem thrilled with the singing, though he certainly had some fancy footwork during the final song.
I feel like poor La’an is in a worse place now. She just doesn’t get a break. :(
On the other hand, she made a breakthrough in actually opening up to Kirk, and he didn’t reject her for it. If anything, him being unavailable for other reasons may be a relief to La’an, releasing her to focus on other things now that she knows that door is closed to her (at least for now).
Yeah, I guess.
But also, jealousy can be a difficult emotion to deal with, and La’an already had to deal with a lot this and past season. But then again, she’s a tough one.
Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/628489
Thoughts/Observation as I watch:
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Where will this stand in the long history of Star Trek gimmick episodes? After all, this is the franchise that gave us “Trials and Tribble-ations”, “Take Me Out To The Holosuite”, “In a Mirror, Darkly”, the OG “Lower Decks”, and most recently… “Those Old Scientists”. Holy shit, that was just two episodes ago and in between we got the darkest Star Trek thing in years!
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Uhura having to be the operator sounds like the most stressful thing to do that doesn’t involve imminent danger.
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“Even if it’s not fully necessary.” That basically sums up every contrivance to get Kirk on board.
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KORBY ALERT
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Ah, spatial distortions, the cause and solution to everything.
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The facial acting as they enter musical-land is priceless.
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Acapella theme song!
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“So… that happened.”
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“Quantum uncertainty field”. That’s some Hitchiker Guide type stuff.
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Ah, they brought back the Gilbert and Sullivan stuff.
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I like how they are hanging a lampshade on just how BIZARRE it is that people sing out their biggest secrets and deepest feelings in musicals.
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Good save, La’An.
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“Surprisingly beautiful baritone”
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It could have been worse for the crew. Imagine if Uhura had broadcast opera into it, then they’d ALWAYS be singing.
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Shaxs would suggest blowing it up by ejecting the warp core.
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Gratuitous zero-gee is gratuitous.
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Oh god, singing Klingons.
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Yeah, the Klingons would also like the “let’s just blow it up” plan.
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Wait were those extras twins?
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Apparently the improbability field also affects the lighting of the bar.
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Isn’t K’tinga the later type of Klingon ship? Ah, screw it, musical rules.
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“I don’t love rules but I think you’re about to break a big one.”
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This totally is going into Temporal Investigations Kirk file.
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CAROL MARCUS REFERENCE
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Oh shit, David Marcus reference!
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“I’m the Ex” standing as if X in a math question is a good bit of workplay.
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Kind of surprised it took this long to give Celia Rose Gooding a full-on solo.
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Grammy-Award winning singer!
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A grand finale. How meta!
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Boy Band Klingons was not on my bingo card.
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Lol, playing the TOS theme as a curtain-closer
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“You sang about lying to me.”
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“Sorry, Earworm.”
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All-and-all, it was a good enough gimmick episode. But it was no “Take Me Out To The Holosuite.” (“DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION!”)
Isn’t K’tinga the later type of Klingon ship?
The three Klingon vessels that got rekt by V’Ger at the beginning of TMP were K’Tinga class ships. That was less than 20 years after this episode was set. However, the K’Tingas did remain in service well into the 24th century, likely for the same in- and out-of-universe reasons that the Excelsior class did.
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Ok, a post from someone that really hate musicals and was worried about this episode. So sorry if I will over criticize the episode…
I admit the episode was so fun at the beginning and songs were nice, loved La’an and Una parts they were really good. I was thinking the episode was a banger. I loved so much the opera opening too.
Unlikely it started to lose my attention around on Chapel’s song (also because the autotune was so evident in her and I found the Chapel Spock relationship the worst part of the series) and the second part was a little hard for me to follow, the music too was less interesting and even if Uhura has a great voice her solo song was too long and def not my cup of tea, I didn’t even understand what was trying to say. It could have worked for me with less songs.
It was interesting I have fun for more than I thought and I laughed so much with Klingons, it was often close to clinginess but it was ok at the end.
That was so stupid. I love this show.
I hope they make one where they poof into bunnies!!! Maybe a Lower Decks episode?
Episode was good. Klingon part was funny. Liked how the played the TOS theme after the “grand finale” was finished.
I kind of thought playing the TOS theme was like meant to be the music played after the final curtain as the actors take their bows and people start leaving the theater.
Yeah, make sense. Still like it, love the theme and love whenever it is played.
This was such a fun episode. I so enjoyed all of the male and female vocalizations. It was as campy as the TOS episodes could sometimes be, but I loved it. Definitely on my rewatchable episode list when in a light mood.
If I could make one tweak I would have made the music itself feel less 2020s contemporary and given it more of a funky 1960s flavor, because I could absolutely see TOS doing something like this.
Could you have imagined an updated hippie singalong? I so wish that had happened! Even a Herbert or two
I found it peculiar how the Klingons were saying there was no honor in the singing—considering how into Opera the can be known to be—up until I heard how they got the most egregious of the autotune.
I don’t think it was the singing bringing dishonor but instead the fact the singing happens by expressing inner feelings and emotions.
That definitely was a funny surprise. Up until that point I had assumed that the Klingons would be doing their own style of music, but evidently the reality field the whole subspace network was tethered to was a very specific kind of musical that excluded Klingon opera.
Dishonorable. Klingons may only sing the heaviest of metals or the most glorious of operas.
I was hoping for a Klingon death metal number throughout the episode. This was probably only opportunity to see something like that.
Hopefully they’ll do more… Luckily there are some songs and bands out there. Really if I want to satisfy my urge for Klingon it really doesn’t matter what type it is they just have to sing it in the original Klingon.
I feel like Lower Decks might be able to pull it off.
To sing does not dishonor a Klingon, but to be forced to sing by something the Federation set off, that dishonors a Klingon.
And they wore gold lamé!
That was hard work… Can’t fault the singing, but after 10 minutes it all felt very tedious.
I don’t care about the love affairs of the Enterprise. I was finding all the emo, pining, lovesick, will they, won’t they crap tedious well before this.
Drummer lites Kirk crush feels especially forced. How many times are they going to force him into an episode?! he serves on a different ship ffs
Incidentally I loved ‘Once more with feeling’ (inspite of Gellars singing)
I actually really like Kirk being intricately tied to the Enterprise in intimate ways in the years before getting command of it. Trek has never really dealt with how a ship passes hands to a new captain, and I enjoy that Kirk is being given the chance to form relationships with the ship and members of the crew well before anyone even considers that he might one day be its captain. Never mind that Pike is uniquely well aware that his own time is limited and he wants to make sure that his ship is in good hands, so vetting Kirk in this way by encouraging this kid of collaboration is also a reflection of his own strengths.
And just in a broader sense it’s always neat to see Federation ships collaborating. I’d like to see more of it, honestly. Sure, starship crews are often isolated from one another, but they’re also designed and trained to work together on missions whenever possible, and I like the excuse to explore that dynamic with Kirk.
Does Pike know Kirk will take command of Enterprise?
I don’t think so, when he had his Balance of Power episode I don’t think he was told that Kirk was supposed to be in charge, just that he shouldn’t have been
No, he’s only seen Kirk in command of the Farragut in an alternate timeline where Pike avoided the accident. It seems a bit cruel that he knows about the accident, but not that his mind ends up in a simulation unfettered from his physical body. Kinda wish Boimler had told him (assuming it’s in the official record). Not like it would change the timeline since he’s resigned to his fate.
Another great episode. The a capella theme song was great too.
I loved the episode overall, but that Klingon fleet should have been commanded by L’Rell herself (though that was an extremely fun way to bring back Bruce Horak without shoehorning the Ghost of Hemmer into it).
God I wish there was more Klingon Heavy Metal out there…
General Gorkog was Bruce Horak? That’s awesome.
Also more fuel for my running theory that Hemmer isn’t truly dead. I think they’re holding onto him for a surprise return in the coming confrontation with the Gorn.
but that Klingon fleet should have been commanded by L’Rell herself
Whaaaattt … this exists!! Man … that klingon in the verses really works well! And yes, giving us something a bit more faithful to klingons feels like the missed opportunity of the episode … pretty sure there would have been a way for it be comedic and klingon at the same time.
I’m okay with what they did - they were tapping into the Broadway Musical Universe, after all, not the Epic Klingon Opera Universe.
I thought it was hilarious and works with their dishonor but I also wouldn’t have loved if they had been head banging to metal or going to town on some Klingon opera.
