The rumored and anticipated musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has arrived!
The Enterprise is seeing if they can use a subspace rift to help boost subspace communications. Lt. Kirk arrives on the ship to shadow Number One. Then, when Spock and Uhura experiment with sending music into the rift, a shockwave hits the ship and causes everyone to act as if in a musical. It turns out that an improbability wave has come from the rift where a reality where musicals are commonplace to everyone has hit the ship. Lt. Singh has figured out that the songs come in like musicals, where heightened emotional states cause the crew to sing, but they also are compelled to share secret and vital information. This poses a security risk and Spock figures out that reversing the rift like a zipper should fix it. But, it doesn’t work and it makes a bigger shockwave that hits several Federation and Klingon ships. Now the Klingons want to blow it up, but Spock has discovered that it would be so volatile that it would destroy a whole quadrant of ships. The Klingons pursue anyway, and Uhura takes it upon herself to find a pattern, which is an energy level that appears during the songs. A huge musical number should seal it, and with the whole ship getting involved they finally seal it. A Trek trivia side note is that Kirk does divulge that he knows Dr. Carol Marcus is pregnant with their son. And now to the review…or is it revue?
Music
Mr. Daps: “This week’s focus on the music will be bigger than other weeks. There was a LOT of music found in the episode this week, and obviously an accompanying score. For the most part I thought the music was quite good, and there were definitely some high points. One of them, surprisingly enough, was the theme to Strange New Worlds itself! Throughout the rest of the episode, I thought the songs were pretty good. I did find myself comparing it to “My Musical” in Scrubs. I’m not sure if that was a good thing. I also liked the humor and heart that was utilized through the different songs. While some of the lyrics and music seemed a little simplistic, overall, I really enjoyed the music in a musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New World.… and Spock Sings!? Something I never thought I would say and even more impressive, never thought I’d enjoy.”
Murray: “Of course this is the big category since the whole episode is a musical episode. The pressure was on for the soundtrack to drive the episode. And I think it did! When I started hearing the first song I was not too sure, but by the chorus of it the ear worm was in my head. I enjoyed the lyrics being a very musical-like set, yet still sticking to the context of it being Starfleet. The orchestration was amazing. I think there were some vocal choices that I was not sure about. But, overall, I’m still listening to the soundtrack after the episode.”
Design
Mr. Daps: “I thought the design for this episode was just fine. It did what it needed to do. It was kind of cool getting to see the Klingon ships and bridge, even if it the bulk of it was during a musical number. Seeing as the bulk of the episode was on the Enterprise, the design was solid as I do like their design choices currently for Captain Pike’s ship.”
Murray: “The choices of set design were more in line with a stage musical. It wasn’t bad, but because it still stuck to the starship atmosphere it felt a little bland at times. It used areas that aren’t really made for big musical numbers and it was hard for me to get past some of the mundane atmosphere.”
Story
Mr. Daps: “The story really was a pleasant surprise for me this week. I was very shocked at how well this worked. The premise was about what I expected, but they kept running with it. Then along the way, they added more character development for multiple characters and a little conflict with klingons… and it still all felt like it made sense!? Who would have guessed? It turned out to be a decent story!”
Murray: “I was surprised that the story worked so well. It kept to the science of Star Trek, and I was unsure if it would more rely on an easy gimmick. There was still an easy pick of having an alternate reality determine the curse of the musical, but that it was mixed in with subspace communications worked very well. The twist of solutions fit so well with Trek as well that it had that traditional Star Trek plot being fueled by the songs. That actually made it a unique story.”
Hit or Miss?
Mr. Daps: “I think this episode is hard to say hit or miss for just because of how different it was. I’ve been thinking about what I would say for two days now on this question. However, the more I’m thinking about it I think the answer is clear. The plot worked. The music worked. The character development worked. The conflicts worked. Even the high stakes of what could happen worked. What I think has been holding me back is the format. I think it worked, but I do think it could have worked better. I liked the songs, I do think they could have had a little more depth and power. They weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination but I did realize they were a bit formulaic. I do have to wonder if the Anderson-Lopez team had been brought in, what would have happened (beyond a massive budget increase I presume). All in all, however, I enjoyed this episode and have had the music in my head for a couple of days now so I’m going to give it a hit.”
Murray: “I liked the episode, but it’s been hard for me to say hit or miss. It was an episode just to give the cast some fun, but that doesn’t always make for a good Trek episode. I’m still giving it a hit thinking about the main storyline and they’re having to find a solution to a sudden and chaotic problem that threatened the galaxy. Some revelations that occurred between crew was a good mix of character development, but that got pushed down because it was often set in the songs and that made it a bit hard to get past. Still, I liked the development of friendship and work camaraderie between those like Spock and Uhura, and that put it as a hit for me. The soundtrack was great, but still gimmicky for a Star Trek show. A hit, but barely for me.”
