Chris Snellgrove | Posted
From Star Trek: strange new world The musical episode ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ aired, and most fans of the genre couldn’t help but make comparisons. Buffy the Vampire SlayerThis is the musical masterpiece episode “Once More With Feeling”. that burpee The episode became a standard for musical episodes by combining insanely catchy earworm tunes with a character-driven plot. To be honest, the musical episodes of Star Trek are inferior to the following. burpeeIn almost every way except one, ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ prominently features the entire main cast singing, while ‘Once More With Feeling’ features two cast members opting out of singing.
Buffy’s Musical Mistake
Long before the musical episode of Star Trek aired, burpee‘s “Once More With Feeling” gave nearly every lead his own song. Buffy sings about existentialism to a pop star, Giles delivers a power ballad about her inhibitions, Spike becomes a rock star and sings about his mixed feelings about the Slayer, and more. But Hannigan’s Willow doesn’t have her own song. In fact, she only has two musical lines, including the hilariously meta lyric “I think this line’s mostly filler.”
As for why Willow is not featured prominently in the musical’s numbers, showrunner Joss Whedon claims Hannigan “got down on her knees and begged her to sing as little as possible.” He granted that request, which is why Tara sings it all on their utterly captivating romantic song, “Under Your Spell.” Meanwhile, the only main cast member not to sing is Michelle Trachtenberg, as she utilized her ballet training and requested dance sequences instead.
Star Trek’s musical masterstroke
As previously mentioned, no musical episode of Star Trek compares to this. burpeeThis is in most cases. The songs aren’t that catchy, the emotional stakes aren’t that high, and certain plot points fall flat at times. But there is exactly one area where Star Trek shines. burpee In the musical category, all main actors sing. Certainly some of the voices are stronger than others, but it was impressive that no one backed down, especially considering that Trek had never done a musical before and expectations were going to be incredibly high.
later Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Which brings us to the ambitiously imperfect “Subspace Rhapsody.” Showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman spoke to Variety about their surprise at having the entire cast sing. According to Goldsman, “we had a ridiculously good cast” and he was expecting “the idiot in the crowd” who may or may not sing. Rather, they concluded, “I think everyone has secretly admired musicals their whole lives,” which made filming this time much easier.
Spock sings
It also helped that the Star Trek showrunners had the opposite problem. burpeeThere was a producer of Instead of discovering someone like Hannigan who wasn’t very used to singing on screen, they discovered that one of their biggest stars was secretly a musical virtuoso. Discussing Spock actor Ethan Peck, Goldsman said, “I didn’t know Ethan could sing until I said, “Damn, Ethan can sing!” Interestingly, he said his reaction was basically the famous Vulcan He pointed out that this is the same audience that is seeing the song for the first time.
As of now, Star Trek’s first musical episode isn’t as beloved. burpeeAnd there’s a reason for that. In the end, the songs sung by the Enterprise crew aren’t as fun or interesting as the songs sung by Sunnydale’s Scooby Gang. but, strange new world I can boast that all the main actors came out and sang with their hearts. burpee Two actors were kept out of the spotlight (albeit at their own request). And that’s something worth singing about with feeling once again. Even if, as Spock reminds us, such feelings are completely illogical.
source: manifold
