TL;DR – Look, this was just fun from start to finish.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Voltaire once periportally said, ‘Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.’ And I have seen many examples when that rings true. So, you would think that suddenly dropping a musical episode would be a significant risk. But My Musical from Scrubs and Once More, With Feeling from Buffy has shown that you can shine if you put your all into it.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has found a subspace fold that could be used to boost subspace communications across the sector. Many attempts have failed, and Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) are at their wit’s end when Pelia (Carol Kane) recommends trying music. It causes an effect, just not the one they were looking for when the whole crew starts singing, which is most peculiar. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Look, a musical episode was always going to be a bit of a stretch, but if you lean into how silly it could be, you have space to have some fun, which we do see from the start when we get an acapella version of the show’s theme plays through the credits. Also, because this is Star Trek, there needed to be a scientific rationale behind why everyone is singing, an unprobability field. Did it need to be there? No, but it didn’t hurt it either.

Thinking over this season, we have swung wildly from the cross-over episode Those Old Scientists to meditating on the lasting effects of war in Under the Cloak of War to turning back to Star Trek’s first musical episode. This is such an oscillation in tone that it should produce some clear tonal whiplash. However, if there is one show in the Star Trek universe that could hold this oscillation together, it would be Strange New Worlds. Do they pull it off? Not 100%, but they get very close.   

Of course, this is a musical episode, so how are the musical numbers? We already knew Celia Rose Gooding could sing from Season One, and I knew some of the cast were professional singers, but it was nice to hear everyone have a good crack at it. I liked the smaller numbers where a couple of characters get a moment to shine. Of these, I think La’an’s (Christina Chong) lament was my favourite because it was used to cut to the heart of the character. There is also Spock’s I Just Got Dumped, which I think we can all relate to in some way. But it is not just the musical moments where we get lore dumps, with James (Paul Wesley) acknowledging that he knows Carol is pregnant [See Star Trek The Wrath of Khan].

Most of the musical numbers are one or two characters, for several reasons, including many production issues, given we are still filming in those times. It does mean that everyone kind of gets a moment to shine, including a surprise Bruce Horak appearing as the Klingon captain. There are a couple of bigger set-piece moments, which I think is what people will be drawn to because we get more of the choreography as well as the music. The style of the music does not stray too far from the standard musical fare. Which means we get Celia Rose Gooding belting it out of the park. But I would have liked to see a bit more variety, like give us that Sea Shanty you teased, but I will be happy with K-Pop Klingons. Wait, K-pop still works there. However, this is just a tiny issue unless you don’t like musicals.

In the end, do we recommend Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Subspace Rhapsody? Yes, yes, we do. Now, if you dislike musicals, this would not be for you. However, I had a smile on my face throughout. Was it silly? Yes, but sometimes you need a bit of silliness in your lives. So congratulations to the writer of the songs Tom Polce and the choreographer Roberto Campanella for their work.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Star Trek: Strange New Worlds yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Directed by –Dermott Downs
Written by – Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff
Created by – Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman & Jenny Lumet
Based On – Star Trek Created by Gene Roddenberry
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout & Paramount+
Starring – Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun & Rebecca Romijn with Paul Wesley,Melanie Scrofano, Carol Kane, Bruce Horak & Dan Jeannotte and Rong Fu