Star Trek Musical Episode Should Have Learned More From Buffy’s
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 2, Episode 9
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ musical episode, “Subspace Rhapsody,” isn’t shy about admitting the inspiration it takes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s classic “Once More, with Feeling.” Ironically, the writers paid tribute to Buffy in a way that highlights what was so genius about “Once More, with Feeling,” and why “Subspace Rhapsody” could have been so much better.
Narratively speaking, “Once More, with Feeling” is as formulaic a Buffy episode as you could imagine, and that’s by design. Because it’s meant to be not just a musical episode of Buffy, but the Buffy musical episode.
After the opening credits of “Subspace Rhapsody,” the senior crew gathers to discuss why everyone’s breaking into song. After Spock (Ethan Peck) starts explaining the improbability field, La’an (Christina Chong) asks, “So what’s next– more improbability? Or will we just suddenly poof into bunnies?” M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) adds, “I would prefer not to be a bunny, either.”
Spock humorlessly answers, “I doubt we will be bunnies.”
Yes, this is Star Trek’s nod to Buffy. One of the first songs in Buffy‘s own musical episode is “I’ve Got A Theory,” in which the heroes come up with ideas about why they’re suddenly singing and dancing. Anya (Emma Caulfield Ford) contributes the idea that it could be bunnies — part of a recurring joke in Buffy about Anya’s inexplicable fear of bunnies, in spite of her being a former vengeance demon.
How does this highlight what could’ve been much better about Star Trek’s musical episode and what was so perfect about Buffy‘s? Narratively speaking, “Once More, with Feeling” is as formulaic a Buffy episode as you could imagine, and that’s by design. Because it’s meant to be not just a musical episode of Buffy, but the Buffy musical episode.
“I doubt we will be bunnies.”
-Spock in “Subspace Rhapsody”
In other words, the songs of “Once More, with Feeling” are crafted to be songs specific to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Most of the songs could apply to almost any episode of Buffy, particularly “I’ve Got A Theory.” The song is all about Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and the Scoobies getting together to talk about what’s going on and why it’s happening — a scene we see in just about every episode of the series.
You could say the same or similar things about almost all of the songs in the episode: a song about Buffy being bored on patrols, about Spike (James Marsden) being an angry vampire, about Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) worrying about Buffy, about Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) feeling ignored, about the heroes gathering for the final battle, etc.
Ironically, while I think Christina Chong proved herself to be the strongest singer in the cast, her song, “How Would That Feel” turns into a snorefest pretty quickly.
That’s where Star Trek’s musical episode clearly had so much to learn from Buffy‘s. Unlike “Once More, with Feeling,” most of the tunes in “Subspace Rhapsody” are completely generic and could apply to any story. They’re songs about loneliness, about wanting more connection, and about obtaining goals.
Even when the Star Trek musical tries to stray more into the territory that the Buffy musical does, like with Spock’s “I’m the X,” it really doesn’t seem to get there. You could take “I’m the X” out of “Subspace Rhapsody” and apply it to any character in any musical who’s a bit brainier than the other heroes. There’s nothing about it that really screams “Spock.”
I’m not saying Star Trek’s musical is bad and Buffy‘s is absolutely flawless. But there were some numbers in “Subspace Rhapsody” that overstayed their welcome, or were just completely unnecessary. I’m thinking specifically of Rebecca Romijn’s “Keeping Secrets” and Celia Rose Gooding’s “Keep Us Connected.” Ironically, while I think Christina Chong proved herself to be the strongest singer in the cast, her song, “How Would That Feel” turns into a snorefest pretty quickly.
If Star Trek had borrowed a bit more from Buffy, we could’ve gotten a much more fun episode. Imagine a song that’s all just Trek-specific technobabble. A song trying to explain Vulcan mating rituals. As absolutely hilarious as the Klingon boy band was, why not a song actually in Klingon?
Regardless, “Subspace Rhapsody” is a bold move for Star Trek, and as a fan I’m glad they took the leap. Between that and the Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover, Season 2 of Strange New Worlds has done well with its experimentation, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with for Season 3.
