I’m a sucker for Star Trek. I’m also a sucker for musicals. So imagine my goddamn delight when Paramount+ announced at San Diego Comic-Con that, in a first for the Star Trek franchise, Episode 9, Season 2 of Strange New Worlds will be a musical episode! I just watched the trailer, and now I’m going to go simultaneously weep and squee in the corner.
Here it is so you can weep and squee, too!
Check out this gloriousness! The thing about musical episodes (and musicals in general) is that if you get the tone wrong, or don’t really understand the genre, they can so easily be bad. But this seems warm, heartfelt, and genuinely good!
The episode is titled “Subspace Rhapsody,” and it seems to use the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode device of an outside force (what looks like some kind of wave that hits the Enterprise) that causes everyone to suddenly burst into song. There’s even some meta-commentary from Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) about how “people celebrate with song.”
Also, it looks like La’an and Kirk are finally gonna get it! I’m excited about that, okay? I want good things for La’an. She deserves it.
“Subspace Rhapsody” will feature ten original songs plus a “Subspace Rhapsody” version of the series’ main title, with music and lyrics by Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo, Josie and the Pussycats) and Tom Polce (Letters to Cleo, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). You can pre-save the episode’s soundtrack wherever you listen to music, which I’ve just done so that I can listen to the songs over and over and sing them really loudly in the shower.
Surprise! You can watch the SNW/Lower Decks crossover RIGHT NOW! (and when to watch “Subspace Rhapsody”)
I know you’re already hotly anticipating this Strange New Worlds musical extravaganza, but you should also know that the hotly-anticipated SNW/Lower Decks crossover episode, “Those Old Scientists,” is available to view on Paramount+ RIGHT NOW! I won’t be mad if you stop reading this to go watch it … just come back, okay?
Welcome back! Yeah, after screening the episode at SDCC, they decided not to be monsters and put it up early so that everyone could watch it.
Meanwhile, Paramount announced that “Subspace Rhapsody” will air Thursday, August 3. Here’s what the remaining Strange New Worlds line-up looks like for the rest of the season:
- Saturday, July 22 (ie: RIGHT NOW!) – Episode 207, “Those Old Scientists”
- Thursday, July 27 – Episode 208, “Under the Cloak of War”
- Thursday, August 3 – Episode 209, “Subspace Rhapsody”
- Thursday, August 10 – Episode 210 (Season Finale), “Hegemony”
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to watch the “Subspace Rhapsody” trailer about a thousand more times. GOD, Strange New Worlds just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?
(featured image: screenshot/Paramount+)
