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SNW: "Subspace Rhapsody" (s2e9) with Grammy winner Becca and Emmy winner Bill
133 Plays3 months ago
MAKE IT SONG! Strange New Worlds breaks the TV mold by doing their musical episode early in the show's run rather than later. There's lots of singing but very little dancing. Bryan has a theory as to why. But more importantly, this week's special guests joining Bryan and Kristen have theories of their own about why this episode works so well and also why there are a few small pockets of the hour where it works less well.
Becca is a Grammy Award-winning musician who breaks down the vocals. Bill is an Emmy Award-winning writer who points out just what the show gets right technically in translating the notion of a musical into the Star Trek universe.
Yes, there's comparisons to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical from which this episode draws a lot of its inspiration. And as a final content warning: if you don't want to hear even a breath of negativity about this episode, this might be one to skip, though we suspect most listeners will love our hosts' final grade. The grades begin at (25:44). If you want to skip to specific songs, here's the list:
STATUS REPORT (26:18)
STRANGE NEW WORLDS THEME (34:25)
CONNECT TO YOUR TRUTH (36:08)
HOW WOULD THAT FEEL? (42:39)
PRIVATE CONVERSATION (48:19)
KEEPING SECRETS (52:44)
I'M READY (59:49)
I'M THE X (1:09:39)
KEEP US CONNECTED (1:14:27)
WE ARE ONE (1:18:06)
Best Trek Tropes and the rest of the grades resume at (1:23:19).
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Transcript
Introduction to the Trek Mary Kill Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
This week on Trek Mary Kill. Singing, dancing, Klingons. Next. Trek Mary Kill.
00:00:15
Speaker
I'm Brian. I'm Kristen. I'm Becca. And I'm Bill. Welcome to Trek Mary Kill, a Star Trek podcast that is not a private conversation. This week, we're taking a look at Strange New World's biggest swing yet, the musical episode, Subspace Rhapsody, and joining us to judge this one or two extremely musical positive guests. Really, we've
Meet the Hosts: Backgrounds and Interests
00:00:35
Speaker
gathered a panel of experts, Kristen, who is, of course, an expert in knowing what they could say or do in an episode of Star Trek that would really piss me off. Yeah, like let's see if I'm right this time, though. And then we have Becca, our music expert. She's a vocalist and musician based here in Los Angeles. And finally, we have Bill, another music and musical expert. He was a singer, guitarist and a band called The Gunslinger. Becca and Bill, welcome. Oh, thank you for having us. Becca, how did you get into Star Trek? ah We were a Star Trek family. So I grew up watching the Star Trek of the 90s, The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine.
00:01:13
Speaker
Enterprise. um It was like a weekly like family finishes dinner, we have some ice cream, sit down, watch Star Trek. um Fantastic. So I like rewatch at least the next generation, like maybe once a year. Do you ever cruise Pluto TV and just like, oh, there's three Star Trek channels on now? Just let it run and see what's on. I haven't, no. But I was home once for the holidays, I think. And my mom and I were had muted the TV to like chat. And then we saw that an episode of Voyager was starting. And even with it muted, both of us went, bah, bah, bah. We knew the intro. Absolutely. Well, it's in grade now. so
00:02:00
Speaker
deep in the bone. How about you, Bill? I was a huge TV nerd when I was growing up. like We would subscribe to TV Guide and then like later I subscribed to all sorts of other stuff. in Entertainment Weekly, the the gone but not forgotten premiere magazine, a bunch of other stuff. But I was just always like, interested in what was ah coming up on TV. So um like I was in junior high, I was the one who like heard that people in my head were like getting their own show and I like went around to everyone in seventh grade and was like, it's it's premiering tonight. Everyone has to watch it. And like no one even knew what the liquid television like short was theyre like, ah okay.
00:02:41
Speaker
ah But ah around, you know, whenever Next Generation started, it was 89 or was it 87? 87. 87. So I was a huge Reading Rainbow fan. So the first thing I saw was I saw that LeVar Burton, like in TV Guide or on a, on one of those like, TV magazines they had where they just like, maybe it was even Entertainment Tonight. I saw that LeVar Burton was in ah another TV show and it was a reboot of Star Trek. And I knew what Star Trek was from jokes and from, you know, Sarrant Live or whatever, just from it being in The Zeitgeist. And I was like, oh, LeVar Burton's in another show and he's not just being LeVar Burton. I have to check that out. And I did. And like I, I didn't ever get to a point
00:03:28
Speaker
Until the last few seasons, i I never got to a point where I was like a regular view like weekly viewer of the Next Generation, but anytime I was on, I would watch it. And then like I always liked i just i liked the idea of like Next Generation more than actually like sitting down to watch it religiously every week. But by that time i had seen like by the time it was in its second or third season, I had seen like all of the well the four Star Trek movies that had come out at that point. so You're like a standard TV viewer who watches one out of every four episodes. Fantastic. Well, I was then. I'm more dedicated to TV viewers. You're like, I've evolved. I watch every every minute now. Right.
Exploring Musical Backgrounds and Experiences
00:04:10
Speaker
So this is sort of a long time coming, I guess, because both of your musical backgrounds that this property or show that you love is finally getting around to your other interests.
00:04:21
Speaker
Becca, I feel like your resume is self-evident. You do all this as your day job, basically. You sing and you arrange. Want to talk about that? or Yeah, what makes you qualified other than just a random person watching television to judge an episode of Star Trek in which there is musical musical elements? Sure. I mean, I don't do as much arranging. I mainly do a lot of um like choral and classical singing. Every once in a while, like some some of that musical theater stuff gets dropped in or like more pop arrangements that friends of mine have made and, you you know, you get to
00:04:58
Speaker
use some different muscles, which is nice. um I will say my sister had actually studied musical theater. So that was in my house a lot. um And as far as music goes, ah I have been on two recordings that have won Grammys. Wow. So that's my weight. Wait, so we have a Grammy Award winner on our panelists panel here. Fantastic. And an Emmy we Award winner. Oh, really? Congrats. We're halfway to an EGOT on this podcast. Awesome. I've seen um a Tony winning play. Oh, sure. And I've seen I saw Oppenheimer that won an Oscar. It did win it.
00:05:43
Speaker
So you're no stranger to the production elements, obviously. So you're going to be very well versed in what I'm going to get into when I get into the research here. But I guess just off the top of your head also, like what are some of your favorite musicals? I love the classics, i like Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, In My Car a lot, it especially to like warm up for rehearsals, performances. Those are great to s sink to like Into the Woods, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, um and then like Waitress, Wicked, i excited for that to come out soon. And the Book of Mormon is like- What were your thoughts when you heard that um Wicked was gonna be a two-part movie? Two-part? Well, I mean, the show has an intermission. Yeah, the Sonas West Side Story. I like this. We're thinking like an exec. You know how long that's been, Joy? No, this is a great exec thing. Like, every play should be two movies. It's already cleaved in two. Everyone's like, but I wonder what happens to that Tony and Maria.
00:06:44
Speaker
ah so I guess we'll find out next summer. The studio executive is like, we got to end the movie after Defying Gravity. And then the second movie is not gonna have any songs nearly as good. Defying Gravity is after the intermission, is it not? I thought that's what takes you to intermission. No. Oh, no, i think she's already buy gravity the eleven o'clock my bad. So you don't get to hear the 11 o'clock number until I at least a year later. That's great. Either way. These are great. All right, Phil, like you're you're in a band, youre you know, you're you're musically inclined to get give us your bona fides. Let's hear it. I'm more musically enthusiastic than musically inclined, even though I've been I've been playing music since I was in the third or fourth grade, but I've never been good at playing music.
00:07:28
Speaker
um I'm more passionate music lover, I guess, than like skilled at playing music. I might muddle through but um I've been super into musicals since like I watched like Disney's Robin Hood as a kid and Mary Poppins. um We used to, my sister and I used to like, you know, put on a show for our parents like stand up and like do like the whole go through the whole like Disney's Robin Hood, forced them to watch that Little Mermaid. I watched Little Mermaid like every day after school for like three months. Worth it. Yeah, for sure. ah But like i my my dad was always a big show tunes guy, so like I was always like really into that. And then like in junior ah high and high school, I got like heavy into musicals, and I think part of that was like
00:08:10
Speaker
My favorite show is Northern Exposure. And like the ah Barry Corbin had a character in Northern Exposure where he was like this like uber alpha male. He was a former astronaut, greatest generation war veteran. And he was the mayor of the town. And he presented himself as like this like picture of like masculinity and like macho nature, but he was super into show tunes, and everyone would always call him out on that. So like, I like sort of took that to heart. And I was like, I like show tunes. And this is like, I like subverting like ideas of like what people expect from me. Yeah, yeah. So like, i yeah, I got like super into show tunes when I was in like high school, um especially Les Mis and Guys and Dolls, um and My Fair Lady. um So those are three, those those three are still like in my top, like five or 10 all time.
00:08:54
Speaker
And then like I do also love like Waitress, I love In the Heights, I love Hamilton. yeah Whenever I hear a good musical, i like it like energizes me and and i I'm drawn to that. and like that's ah that's part like I think that's probably why like I'm so into like pop music so often is because like the theatricality of like pop music is... Yeah, like there's pageantry and there's like people like playing a character, even if they're like us sensibly being themselves. So like, yeah, it's just a good time. Kristin, what about you? um Yeah, I like musicals. I can't sing or play any instrument or anything. um So I don't have any qualifications to judge that part of it. I did, however, used to write lyrics for my fake emo band that my friend Sean and I had.
00:09:43
Speaker
Oh, nice. That's not the other band. One December morning, but M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. Morning. Amazing. I guess I have a couple notes about some of the lyrics, but that is it. I really like musicals. um I like movie musicals. I like you know musicals in the theater. I like television musicals. I was a big fan of the NBC series Smash, if anyone else's. Yeah. Great first season. Second season. I also love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Yeah. Super into Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Yeah. And also, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. Do you guys want to say it? I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to like it. Oh, it was so good. No, ah you Eli Stone fans here? No. Yeah, actually, I remember that.
00:10:35
Speaker
the The greatest council by Eli's son can be paid. I remember that. That rings a bell. i This might surprise Bill, but i I'm a theater kid. I have a theater kid past. I did like local community theater as a little kid, six, seven, and eight. I was in the the city plays as like a forest creature or whatever. Then in high school, i did we had ah fall drama, a winter musical and a spring comedy yeah every year. So three shows. So I did the musical three out of the four years. I like musicals. I mean, but it's like, I don't like rent, but I like tick, tick boom. I didn't really like Hamilton. And it's like, so I just have like very, I don't know, picky and picky, but I'm, I'm open to it. I love that movie theater camp that came out pretty recently. I think I was one of the few people who loved it, but I don't know. All right. Great.
00:11:29
Speaker
the The theater kid thing, like one of the great tragedies of my life is that I was a theater kid, I was an honor thespian and ah in high school, but our high school was under construction when I was in high school, so we didn't have an auditorium, so all of our all of our players were the first year we were so we staged them out of a local junior high, and then that was untenable. so we staged them So we staged them in an even more inconvenient location, the portable classroom that we had the drama class in. So as such, my year as a drama class, we never were able to stage a musical because there was no space for the band to play. And we weren't going to like sing in front of like a ah ah tape, you know, so yeah so I never got to do a musical.
00:12:15
Speaker
and then After I graduated, my local my hometown's area had a place called the Western Stage where ostensibly locals could go and like try out. and I did a tryout, but the Western Stage's dirty little secret is they bring in ringers. They pay play pay actors to come in and do repertory theater. And so like the best you can get if you're a local is like the the chorus or like ah background acting. so yeah So I wasn't able to do that after I matriculated.
00:12:47
Speaker
I, that is one thing that I wish I could have done in like high school and college and things. And there's so many people I know that have just assumed that I've done musical theater, I guess just cause my general demeanor. Um, but, uh, but I just, I could never fit it into a schedule. So I couldn't even like try out for it even.
The Musical Episode - Inspirations and Development
00:13:12
Speaker
You're getting too many good grades. business for theater I spending too much time getting an art degree and playing cello that it just wouldn't fit.
00:13:23
Speaker
Subspace Rhapsody is the ninth episode of Strange New World's second season. We're about a week and a half away from its one year anniversary as a debut on Paramount Plus, August 3rd, 2023, written together by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, directed by Dermot Downs. Memory Alpha describes it, an accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone in the USS Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song. But the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships, allies and enemies alike. There are two people responsible for Subspace Rhapsody. The first one is Joss Whedon, because he wrote and directed Once More with Feeling and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's sixth season, which aired in new November 2001. And that, depending on how you look at it, kicked off a wonderful or terrible new era of musicals on TV. There obviously were musicals beforehand.
00:14:17
Speaker
It wasn't just that episode people like to point out, but it was an incredible driver of them, particularly for genre shows. This became the norm as shows got deeper into their runs. And once American Idol became a hit, there was a new degree of confidence that shows could do more musical stuff. and so that's how we get Glee and Glee had Joss Whedon direct an episode and at the time Ryan Murphy the showrunner of Glee said Joss directed one of the great musical episodes in the history of television on Buffy so this is a great if unexpected fit I'm thrilled he'll be loaning us his fantastic groundbreaking talent and ah of subspace Rhapsody co-showrunner Henry Alonzo Myers said
00:14:57
Speaker
That's one of the best ones made. It's the Buffy musical. It was done very well. It's really smart and thoughtful. It has big heart. That was our bar. And yet Henry Alonzo Byers tells Space.com, the only middle of the night thing I remember having about this was waking up and thinking, this shouldn't be a funny episode. This should be an episode that breaks your heart and makes you want to cry. That's what people won't expect from this. They'll come in thinking it's going to be funny. And I was like, no, no, no, these have to have moments. They have to be about real character things. So they aimed the act to be the best, the Buffy episode, but chose to handcuff themselves by limiting the emotional spectrum. I just find that interesting. Other person responsible for this one is of course the Stranger Worlds co-show runner Akiva Goldsman who told space dot.com The truth is it goes all the way back to season one of Star Trek Picard. Michael Javan and I were talking about a musical episode and Javan goes, I know Lin-Manuel Miranda. Michelle Hurd was there and she was like, oh my God, call him. And so then like three days later, Michael came in and we said, did you call him? And he goes, yeah, he didn't call me back. And so died the musical idea for that series. I would like to personally thank Lin-Manuel Miranda for not calling him back because a musical episode of Picard, I don't think I could have stomach that. No, if you're gonna do it, this is the show to do it on because They should have it would have been fun though if they like doubled Patrick Stewart's voices like Pavarotti Just go the other way with it. Don't even make it try to sound like Picard at all I mean the famous like flute playing thing of Picard that's someone else's hands like you can't even stuff and he's And he's married to a singer. yes oh yeah yeah alive yeah I know that the it was between the eras of like everything on TV was a musical and then the lull before Once More with Feeling, but like I am a little bit surprised that they never tried to do a musical episode of Next Generation.
00:16:59
Speaker
Because it's like, it seems like it's in that sweet spot of like, most of the people who are on next generation are like, classically theater trained. It's in that era of like syndication 24 episodes a year, where it's like, let's throw everything at the wall plus like the i like the ingrained idea of like Star Trek as an enterprise is it's so rooted in like classical television. It's just surprising to me that like that wasn't one of the ideas in the what, 300 episodes. There's no way that would have gotten green lit back then, in my opinion. You got Rick Roman, Michael Pillar and the writers that they had. It wasn't going to be an idea that got very far along.
00:17:39
Speaker
Now, having having a ghost give Beverly Crusher lots of orgasms, that got the green light. That got there. But like Xena, Warrior Princess did a musical episode in around 98. So Voyager might have been... i think If anyones it was anyone, it would have been like this show, Strange New Worlds or Voyager. Yeah. Because I just don't think they have much else yeah for that crew to do. Voyager did wind up doing a musical episode of sorts with Virtuoso, where the doctor is a famous opera singer, and then Kristen and I did last week play those stepchildren from the original series, which had musical elements in it, including an original song. So there's those things. and then ah
00:18:17
Speaker
to finish off the thought from Akiva Goldsman here. I love musicals, but I know nothing about them. And then it turns out my partner, Henry, has done this before and well. And so what a f***ing delight. I mean, I had no what no idea what we were biting off. Henry clearly did. Some more background here. The songs are composed by Tom Poults, a CBS staff composer, along with the lead singer of Letters to Cleo K. Hanson. Who do we have in house who can do this musical for us? That's what happened. Now that Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't call us back.
00:18:48
Speaker
i was very I was very tickled when I looked it up after watching the episode that The Letters to c Cleo ah Woman was involved because I'm a big fan for two reasons. One, Josie and the Pussycats. She was the singing voice of Josie and did work on the music. And I actually got to go to a screening of Josie and the Pussycats where the whole cast was there. And she did a concert playing Josie and the Pussycat songs and it ruled. nice And then the other thing is that in the early 2000s, a violent jay of insane clown posse famously had a very big crush on the lead singer of Letters to Cleo. So that's another thing that I will never not be able to think about whenever I see that band. How did this crush manifest in such a way that you know about it? He sang about his desire to know her carnally and at least two insane clown posse songs.
00:19:38
Speaker
I'm glad I asked, okay? You know, the normal way of Brian. How else would he know? ah In fairness to Bill, he did preface it by saying in St. Clown Posse, there was very few ways that Sorry could have won it. My close personal friend, Violent J. Rappers who so rarely let their personal feelings be known in their music. ah Goldsman and Myers originally asked for six songs, but then that expanded to nine. And ah Pulse and Kay Hansley had just five or six weeks to do the work.
00:20:12
Speaker
Sounds cool. Uh, one more thing. I just want to mention Myers Henry Alonzo Myers did do musical episodes of the magicians and they were covers. and ah There are two ringers in the cast. Celia Rose Gooding O'Hara is a 2020 Tony Award nominee for their role in the Atlantis Morissette musical, Jagged Little Pill, which I got a review of, which was, it was fine. So it won, but it did win the Best Musical Theater album at the 2021 Grammys. And ah they say gramy's Grammys, Grammys. And Christina Chong slash Laan dropped an EP the week of this episode's release, very Leonard DeMoy-esque. It was called Twin Flames. Should be called I'm Not Laan.
00:20:54
Speaker
that's right. I'm not con just to keep it real. She explains in a post on her Spotify page, I will not do the British accent that's offensive. She will say the bring devil with sistersters the breakup with my twin flame was the inspiration behind the album, which is comprised of four songs with the full circle of emotions. I take you on a journey of passion, pain, healing and self love. Twin Flames is just the beginning. I spent the best part of a year writing, producing, and exploring different styles. So as they say in TV, to be continued. They do always say that in TV. I mean, especially in Star Trek episodes. That's right. Pretty famous, yeah. To be continued. This episode, along with those old scientists. on the bench As they say in TV, we made it up. Pure fiction. yeah Never happened.
00:21:47
Speaker
Along with those old scientists, this episode was nominated by the World Science Fiction Society for a 2024 Hugo Award in the Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form Category. Kristen, whenever I bring up the Hugo Awards, you snicker and you go, oh yeah, the Hugo Awards. It's boy it's been honoring the best in science fiction and fantasy since 1953. No, there was another one. The Neptune, sir. It was like the Saturn Awards. Maybe it was Saturn. Okay, fair enough. I mean, I did do it to this one one time. You're like, I also did. you I did it to the Saturn Wars because it seemed like it was literally a category made to award whatever yeah Star Trek was out at that time. Star Trek is getting some bummer. like Whatever. As legacy awards. Space ship, show serial show or whatever.
00:22:37
Speaker
So Star Trek shows were last nominated for Hugo's in 2022 lower decks for that discovery. It's the first time two episodes of Trek have been nominated in the same year since Becca's favorite show enterprise in 2003. Now I'm just kidding. In seasons, we haven't had someone come on here and say, I even watched Enterprise, and like very proudly, so. When it started, it was Star Trek, so we watched it. It didn't say it was good. Did you hum that theme song, though, is the question? it No. Because that was like, what was it, like a Western or something? It was like a- It's been a long road. Yeah, okay. It was the song originally written for Patch Adams. That's right.
00:23:17
Speaker
by Diane Warren. yeah yeah yeah Still no Oscar. Right. I've seen interviews with her, like in like been to events where she's being interviewed about like what she's being nominated for and she could give a f**k about anything. She swears so much that and she knows that they can't like air them because she swears a swatch and she doesn't care. ah But she's like, yeah, I wrote it for this thing and it was great and it was fun. Cool. I can go to the Oscars every year. yeah ah The last time Star Trek won a Hugo Award was in 95 for All Good Things, a series finale of TNG. Wait, that's the last time it won a Hugo Award? Yes. All right. So yeah, it was definitely the Saturn Awards I was...
00:24:03
Speaker
Before it before that, the last time it won was the menagerie and sitting on the edge of forever. So that's how long it's been. okay okay And then Bill Wolcoff, the co-writer, attended an Emmy voting event. This episode did not wind up getting nominated for an Emmy. But I think it did for The Sound, but not for the writing. It was an event hosted by Variety called The Knight in the Writer's Room. He makes an impassioned defense of the plot, explaining that it makes perfect scientific sense. There is a principle of statistical mechanics that states that any arrangement a system of particles could potentially exist in will eventually happen if you wait for enough time to pass. And in fact, there is a group of scientists who calculated
00:24:51
Speaker
that if you had the ability to wait a trillion, trillion times the age of the universe, eventually you would see a piano spontaneously assemble itself out of the vacuum of space.
Scientific Possibilities of a Musical Reality in Space
00:25:08
Speaker
So I thought, okay, we could take that one step further and a musical reality would spontaneously assemble out of the vacuum of space. And that's what I i took to our our our writer's room. And I said, we could do this. We could do this. It was very, very painful to find that that answer, but we did find it. And if if there's anything that any of you take away from all of this, it's that the science behind the musical episode of Strange New Worlds is sound.
00:25:43
Speaker
So for this one, we're going to change up our format a little bit. Instead of great scenes, we're just going to talk about all the songs because, you know, why not? And instead of just doing a simple, good, bad, we'll be talking about what we thought worked well in terms of premise and execution for each song and what worked less well. I know most of it's time quality either because, ah you know, who's got time for that? Well, first of all, before we start, Brian, can I guess at what point you truly wanted to die during this episode? Or would you like me to wait? Uh, let's, let's wait. okay All right. Okay. Status report. What worked? What worked less? I'll just start off by saying, well, me and Bill were watching it. We were like, this is fucking fantastic. Yeah. My first note, first, first of all, the first time I wrote was just says this rules. ah I liked it. I dug it. I could see why you didn't like it. Brian. Forget I'm here.
00:26:43
Speaker
So, Becca, what about you? What worked for you? What worked less? What worked was literally, I mean, it started off with Spock, of all people. He's being the first one. And I know, like, they've mentioned that they were like surprised by Ethan Peck's voice. And I'm like, he has one of the best, like, baritone speaking voices that I don't know why I was surprised that he also sang very well. I'm so surprised this guy who comes from a talented family and like we worked hard and stuff is somehow talented. Right. He started singing and I was like, yes.
00:27:23
Speaker
um Loved it and then the fact that like his very Vulcan phrase of like apologies, the most confounding thing, most unusual, so peculiar. That is what gets like everyone singing. It's this very verbose, clinical phrase that gets put in like a really cool melody. um And like, if I if I really wanted to like dig deep and analyze it. I think the way that Ethan sings it, he adds these little like scoops and slides between notes. Instead of just singing like the straight notes what they are, he adds a little something to it. I was like, okay, human side of SPAC. But I think that might have just been the way that he used to sing it. My minor little critique would be that um
00:28:14
Speaker
The phrase systems initializing is pretty tough to shoehorn into that melody. right They really tried it. and Maybe not super successful, but that one was what some one lyric that struck out for me as being like, ee. Yeah. As we talk about the songs, I'm going to sort of go back and forth about like the typical structures of what a musical is. And um also I'm going to refer back to Once More with Feeling several times as we go through this. Please do. So ah what really worked about this song is that it's the song that you need at the start of a musical that is table setting and setting the stakes also. um And
00:28:59
Speaker
What is ah now a well-worn trope of television musicals in the postmodern era is you have to you have to call out that it's unusual that people are singing. I have listened to this soundtrack quite a few times ah because it's available on Apple Music. Um, so I've listened, I've watched the episode and then I've also listened to the songs out of context with the visuals and just focused on listening to the music. My favorite part possibly of this is Spox aside where he goes, what? Like, where he's just like, why, why did I just do this? And it's like such a, like yeah, it's so in the, it in the pocket of him, like,
00:29:43
Speaker
portraying Spock and reacting to what Spock just did that is just really wonderful. um I thought Laon's ah stuff on this track was really good and I really liked the harmonization that happens in this first track. my nitpick with lyrics is all is okay is a weird thing unless that's just like a standard thing that this specific crew says to Anson Mount all the time. like if that's like so like If that's number one standard thing, then yeah. But all is okay is a weird phrasing, especially for like a bunch of like science people on a spaceship.
00:30:20
Speaker
And ah so I just I really loved all the table setting and I liked little snippets we get because like Mabenga has like, is it like Mabenga? Yeah. Okay. Mabenga has like one and a half lines in this and one line in the finale. And as I was watching it, I was like, he's like bringing it like he is like he is hitting everything that they're giving to him. But as I listened to like the the track more and more on its own, I'm like, okay, I see why Mabenga did not get more lines produced.
00:30:53
Speaker
ah The other two things I want to quickly hit, because i what worked less on this song, I said nothing. Nothing worked less. But what's the pilot's name? Ortegas? Ortegas. So Ortegas, I thought was really good in this track. And she gets no other stuff for the rest of the the musical, which is an interesting thing. But it's also a product of where they are at in the season as it pertains to this being in the musical episode. And I will touch on that later on. But I'm so sorry, doubling back to Once More with a Feeling. Once More with a Feeling, this has a huge leg up on Once More with a Feeling, because Once More with a Feeling was Joss Whedon writing the music and the lyrics to his show that he wrote. And he played music, but he wasn't a musician per se. And the musical episode was born out of, he had people over at his house to do weekly table reads, and he would fuck around on the piano, and everyone would sing. And Anthony Head is in his cast.
00:31:50
Speaker
So like they would like sing like Elton John songs or whatever. And Tony head would just be like belting in his like in Joss Whedon's house. And Joss Whedon would be like, I gotta find a way to get Tony to sing. Once, once worth feeling and like there were some other cast members that like could more or less like could like, could sing well, and then most of the cast members could like kind of sing. So like the the big leg up that this has on it is that they got some professional musicians to write the music and lyrics for all the musical numbers, but also partly because the cast was capable and they mostly wrote to the cast's strengths in terms of performance in this episode, but also the fact that production and Pro Tools is like 25 years more advanced now than it was in Once More with a Feeling, because when you listen to Once More with a Feeling soundtrack, and I have owned it for many years, I owned the Once More with a Feeling soundtrack before I saw an episode of Buffy,
00:32:43
Speaker
You can hear every note of Michelle, Sarah Michelle Geller being like twisted and wrenched to the point where she almost sounds like T-Pain on that recording. It's like so unfortunate because like she's being asked to do stuff that she's not entirely capable of doing, but also they're overproducing her to within an inch of her life. So like when you listen to these tracks three or four times, there There was one song where I could hear the production immediately, and we'll get to that. But ah most of these songs and most of these performances, they're just like more or less standing on their own or the production is such that you're not being made hyper aware of the fact that these aren't professional singers. And those are the two big advantages this has over what's more with feeling.
00:33:29
Speaker
I can't believe I'm hearing this. All right. Becca said the thing that I agreed with that I thought worked is the Spock being the first to sing is perfect. But my work, what worked less, I haven't heard anyone say. And that's there's no choreography. Yes. They should have broken out into dancing. Oh, yeah. But that's like barely in this one. There's a weird I counted because I watched this multiple times. ah I'm consistent, Kristen. Thirteen seconds where people are just standing around and we have to wait for the on to enter the bridge, go to her station, look at the console and report. And I don't know. I wanted to watch the cast and other ringer dancers dancing and moving. I didn't want to watch the steady cam operator operate. And that's what most of this episode is. Yeah, I'll i'll ah i'll touch on the the staging of everything when we get to keeping secrets. I think the floors are just too slippery and they didn't really think about that. And like, oh, people can die.
00:34:24
Speaker
no Moving on. Before we get to the next one, I want to give a shout out to the vocal arrangement of the main title sequence. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we like that a lot. So, ah so of course, like I had I was like, who did this and like IMDB and like, ah Jasper Randall, who is like, so well known and like, so does such a good job at like vocal contracting, conducting like all this stuff for so many TV and film projects. um But he was, I think, the arranger and also one of the singers on it and then some other singers that I've been privileged to sing with sometimes um that are amazing and I went yes yes it's ah um at like soprano Anna Schubert she goes up to a high D which if that means anything to anyone musical listening
00:35:14
Speaker
is impressive, just holding it on, gorgeous. But yeah, so I just- When we were watching it, Bill's like, is this the normal intro for this show? Because he hasn't really seen like full episodes start to finish. Or the tale sequence is skipped. Yeah. Right, because if you skip it, then you miss it. No, no, as soon as- Well, I never skip it, but he is sometimes just out of the room. Yeah, I was like, this isn't how it normally is, is it? Right. When I was just sort of grinning like an idiot. Brian, what did you think of it? Thumbs up. Thanks. When I keep listening to it, I'm like, is it all acapella? I feel like there's some yeah um music. like they They kind of took out like the strings and like the main orchestral components. I think there's some percussion and synth that is kept in there, but like a lot of the main instrumentation has been replaced by voices. Got it. Moving on, connect to your truth. I will say right now,
00:36:13
Speaker
Buna liking Gilbert and Sullivan musicals and dropping it in here. I've hated that for a long time. and i so I was like, oh because of all the musical all the musicals and the history of human civilization, she picks that that to be the thing that she loves the most of musical theater. There's a big fan of the Pirates of Penzance.
00:36:41
Speaker
I would say this kind of had like more of a Rodgers and Hammerstein-Waltz feel to it to me. This is more like carousel or something like that. It definitely fit her. It definitely fit like this is the kind of thing that she would be singing first is to try and teach someone a lesson with her type of genre. To me what it sounded like more than anything else was people who aren't super familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan trying to make a song sound like Gilbert and Sullivan or what they think Gilbert and Sullivan sounds like. yeah Because like the phrasing and like the but it to to that stuff, the summing up of like a phrase, um it's very much like what someone would think Gilbert and Sullivan sounds like. um And I thought that in that respect,
00:37:28
Speaker
I thought that this song really matched the character who is singing it more than almost all the other songs in the show. So while i wasn't like while I'm not like a mega fan of Connect to Your Truth, I do appreciate that it matches Una's personality. What what I know of Una's personality because I don't know much of it because she doesn't seem to have much of us. It's changed from season one. And I do also like her and Kirk um waltzing with each other. Jim, I'm sorry to be clear because there's two Kirk's in this show. Do they do much of a waltz? It sounds like they kind of give my recollection is that they just kind of give up.
00:38:05
Speaker
but Yeah. nice kind and At some point, they kind of they start to work together or to dance together. um But there was like a point where she sings something like encouragement for him to get to know his crew. And he goes, oh, well, when you put it like that, it's you know like the break in the song in the musical where someone's like, oh, now I understand. And now I sing the thing. You're telling me what to do. you like yeah That happened. And I was like, oh, OK. And what worked best for me is is um they're actually really decent about this for the most part on this episode, but there are a few moments in this episode where the ADR is sketchy, and this is one of them. But I feel like they probably shot this song first of the songs that Rebecca Romaine sings in the show, um in the episode, because she just her performance felt like extremely hesitant.
00:38:59
Speaker
in this scene, like she was completely unsure, like because when I listened to the track, she sings fine. And she's assured in the performance of the vocal part of the song. But maybe she was like in her head about like the dance portion of it or whatever. But she just came across as like her her visual performance of this was came across as like super hesitant to me. She didn't want to slip and fall. for And her ADR wasn't wasn't like completely on point in this song. Yeah, the ADR for a lot of the songs were, they they they can't maybe be perfect, but it was there were a few poems where I was like, wow, that was interesting. I guess it's not ADR, it's lip syncing is what I'm going for here. Right, yeah. um I will say, I think there were there were ah parts of the, I mean, it's a short song, but yeah felt like it pushed her range so you could tell where she flipped from.
00:39:55
Speaker
her like regular singing voice into a head voice. And she had like a really nice vibrato up there, but it seemed like she wasn't maybe as used to like flipping that quickly. um Because I mean, she doesn't sing for a living she acts for. But anyway. She doesn't have half an EGOT. Yeah, exactly. now I noticed that like the the like three songs that are in the is it engineering that really cool room where Spock and Uhura get their songs. its yeah um I think that it's probably likely that like the actors on that set felt comfortable belting to the playback um so that they were more comfortable like actually singing along to playback. because those all Every song where someone was singing engineering, like there was no problem with syncing to to my eye. But like I think in the hallway sets, like people were probably a little bit more self-conscious about, like, this sounds weird when I sing along to it, so I'm not going to sing the way I sing on the recording.
00:40:55
Speaker
Oh, maybe. OK, moving on. sorry Wait, hold on again. OK, why is it when they're walking down the corridor, they pass two crewmates who just look at them weird. And I'm just like, why aren't they part of the song? Isn't she supposed to be demonstrating the kirk that she's connecting to the crew? I thought the whole thing was that it's about emotions or something. You know, the song you sing. It's a musical reality. That's the that's a problem in probability field. music well the extra doesn't sing. It's not about them singing, it's about them becoming part of the the the performance. It's a walk and talk in song form. I did appreciate that, that I liked the idea of like, let's turn a walk and talk into a song, that was a good idea. So this is another part that I loved about the episode, the rules of the science
00:41:45
Speaker
They are explicitly the rules of musical theater, which is if an emotion gets too powerful for words, you sing. If an emotion becomes more too powerful for song, you dance. And that's why dancing only happens in the third. That's those. That is the rule of musical. So those two people walking by, they had no emotional connection to what was happening. I'm backing out and saying isn't her demon she trying to demonstrate the whole point is connecting to your crew and that two crew members walk by and they just she doesn't acknowledge them. But as that's why I'm saying it's not his crew. She is teaching him how to connect to his crew by saying I did this and it changed. So wouldn't you want to demonstrate the lesson? That's what i I understand. Thank you, Brian. Didn't know that was so hard.
00:42:34
Speaker
Okay, moving on. How would that feel? I was honestly like, I didn't know anything about Christina Chow's like background or or if she ah made an album at the time or that was released at the time of the episode. um I was honestly surprised that she like went for it. She was belting up there. And I guess I wish the like what didn't work because the like the song was fine. She had so much emotion. She was like really bring it out there with her like
00:43:08
Speaker
re-reciting of the song. um But I wish they didn't have her like just singing to a window or like singing to a mirror or like singing like like hearing her sing while she has like a memory or like an imagined reality that she wished would happen. that Because that seems more like music video than like musical. huh But you know, like right after the song you see her in the um in the lift with ah with Pike and she's telling him why. like She went to the room because she realized she was singing a song and she like closed herself off so that because it was a security threat because people were going to know what she was thinking if she was just out and about. so she It was like enclosed to the room, but i wish there is it just seemed like there was a lot of times where she was just like staring in one direction and the camera was on her in one direction.
00:44:03
Speaker
And we're hearing this, like, emotional song, like, going on. And I'm like, a choice was made. I wish it was a different one. It's like mostly budget, too. Yeah, it's budget. Every cast has a Jenna Maroney. And I think we found Strange New World's Jenna Maroney. Yeah, I think for sure. So I think for me, what worked is that yes, she's like belting everything, but like, it does kind of move the plot forward a little bit. Yeah, it's not just It's the I want number. Yeah. And I'm glad to see you she does wish, Brian, that she had asked Jim Kirk to jump into bed at the Four Seasons with her in Toronto. So that was Dermot Downs, the director, saying, why am I only shooting her at a wall? And he saw that they were doing reshoots of that episode. And he's like, can I get in there and do something? And they were like, fine, I guess. And so that's what that's it was choice. That was the one thing he brought to it.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, although there's no there's no there's not a lot of staging in this song. They do. I did appreciate that this song at least had cutaways to fantasy elements where she's imagining herself back in the hotel. She's imagining herself knocked up with Jim's baby, which I mean, we should all be so lucky. ah But ah yeah, I just I did appreciate that. Like, yeah, this a lot of the staging was very static and the But it had it was broken up by those fantasy elements that not even most of the other songs got. So at least they had that. ah My what I wrote down for what how would that feel was I just wrote the word yes in all capital letters because classic I want songs. She's doing an amazing job. Also, my number one thing about Stage New Worlds right now is shipping on and Kirk. So I I was like the best episode.
00:45:56
Speaker
Like I'm i all the way in the tank for that relationship. I'm down bad for these two. ah And yeah, so I just, I really liked it. ah this This is another area where ADR was sketchy. And this is the first time that we see um them attempting to try and make these songs be a little bit more cinematic and stagey by pulling outside of the ship and then zooming back into the ship. And as if they're like- She's looking out the window. Now you're seeing the difference about looking out the window. Now you see her inside looking out the window. and ah Becca made a key point. We're not talking about scenes, but I got to mention it. She talks and to Pike in the Turbo if this is a security threat. and Part of this episode was written by the regular writers of the show, and it just was not dramatic enough. The security chief making this endorsement or making this assessment, she should have said, and everyone therefore should be confined to quarters.
00:46:52
Speaker
And even if he dismisses it it like it, it tells you that she has an idea like because otherwise it's just there and it doesn't mean anything dramatically. Although I was thinking that you could have had fun with people are confined to quarters and then they all burst out and they start singing again or whatever. But there was an edict for no joy in this episode that it was just about the tears. So that was like, you know they they blew their wad on all the comedy earlier in the season. so But the episode does set up at the beginning that she's so down bad that she's not thinking clearly or doing her job. right She's walking in the wrong direction. She's very focused on that security threat, though, thing. So that's why I'm saying like the fact that she gets into the lift and it's like, does no one have an idea? And like, even if he dismisses it, and that's a pipe thing to do is like, I'm not going to tell people not to feel their feelings, you know, whatever, at least it would have made sense in the character would have been a dramatic payoff anyway.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, because she sees Una and Kirk having their song and Una says something about like, well, these high emotions and but like such. She starts it off by thinking like, did I hear that right? Like this is why we're so like why we're singing or like what can trigger it? And then she starts her own song. So she's like kind of seeing She's kind of pouty. There's two songs where they're kind of pouty, where she's like, I can't express my feelings like that. That's the impetus for her song. Oh, am I kidding? Yeah, she's like, look how easy number one was able to just express herself. I wish I could do that, especially to Kirk. Moving on, Private Conversation, the song
00:48:21
Speaker
where Pike and Marie have an argument in the form of song in full view of the whole crew. The most unprofessional shit I've seen in a while. In front of it. That's really saying something. Mom and Dad are having a fight. We got Dr. Mabenga and Nurse Chapel. I don't so I don't I expect this kind of nonsense from them, but I don't expect it from Captain Pike. Yeah. Right. Kristen, is this a what worked? ah This song reveals that Captain Pike is a 100 percent of fuck boy.
00:48:53
Speaker
Yeah. i mean Is that a positive? But I mean, like, it's a good revelation. Is this news? I guess it's like it's a crystallization. He has a freaking saddle in his room. He's not a serious person. That's what the song reveals. Right. i be a there There was a note that, like, And originally they had been asked for six songs and then it turned into nine. and there it But here's the thing. So this one, the melody is a reprise of status report.
00:49:27
Speaker
yeah so and I like kind of went through, I was like, hang on, there are there are six melodies. There are six main melodies that are sung and three of the songs in our like list here reprise a different song. Technically, they took six and then they added like little things to three of them. I don't know. I just thought I was like, ah. I'm so glad you're on this episode. so Thank you so much, Becca. This is the shit I love. I didn't mind that because like, especially with Sondheim, and especially like, and also like in Wicked, like they're like, yeah having isn't sondheim i I am well aware. But like, I don't know, Bill, you're trending towards this is the best thing ever. so Like ah a hallmark of musical theater is a recurring leitmotif, you know, like you have like, you have a melody that you do in multiple songs, like,
00:50:18
Speaker
Sometimes does it constantly like most of the songs are wicked like have similar like refrains and similar melodies that happen ah throughout and but I really like like the the pairing of like I'm ready and I'm the X of like they are the same song but they're like their counterbalances and counter melodies to the two halves of the relationship or closet relationship. How many times do they say private conversation though in this song? And there's no choreography. And nobody leaves the room. There starts to be, because he gets down on his knees.
00:50:55
Speaker
Shouldn't have just been on her bridge with her crew around and then they start doing like tsk tsk tsk and like they get involved and then it gets cut off but it's just there's no fun there. yeah my My note is like why is this call on the screen? Why would Pike say put it on the main screen and why would like Uhura be like okay this sounds legit. They needed to establish that it had spread to other ships. And it's like a plot B or C in the show or in that episode. And this is Star Trek, Brian. Why are you questioning the logic? The impetus for the call should have been, are you okay? We detected blah, blah, blah. And then it turns into this personal thing. You didn't like my vacation idea. This is my least favorite song of all the songs. I do appreciate the joke it ends with because like just someone walking over and turning off the call as he drops to his knees. As he drops to his knees. I appreciate that final joke, but if the song had gone five more seconds, it would have been a complete disaster.
00:52:02
Speaker
Good. Also, I didn't I was like, looking at this, what's her name? Pike's love interest. Marie Marie. I was looking at her and I was like, I know this actress from something. And then I like looked at that, but I was like, oh, she's Mrs. McMurray from Letter Kinney, which is funny because she's like, it's like a small town and she plays like this, like, polyamorous, pansexual town alcoholic slut. And it's very funny that it's the same actress. Oh, so she's got range. Yeah, no, yeah. Complimentary. I'm sorry. I did not mean slut derogatory. I apologize. I admit it. No, I knew what you meant. As a word of power. I'm saying I just want everyone to know. Yes. Thank you. Okay. She has my back. Nice. Keeping secrets. I'll just tell everyone that this is my least favorite song of the entire show. The entire episode. Didn't need another Uno number. Uno number. Gonna be real.
00:52:55
Speaker
I just felt bad because they' like the range of it and like the melody of it was complimented Rebecca Romaine's voice. and I think she did a great job. It was unfortunately of the songs in the episode, it's one of the most forgettable melodies. like so i I'm like, what is what was the main melody a part of this? I can't tell you. I like just refreshed earlier today to make sure that I had like stuff in my mind and I was like, I couldn't tell you how this song goes. um And I also don't didn't understand what was happening. like she was She was talking to Laan and then she brought up her little tablet, she pressed the button and it sounded, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounded like the sound went a little echoey, like it was being broadcast.
00:53:44
Speaker
to the ship. It did sound like that. So she was telling everyone like everyone's got secrets. Was that what was happening? I i don't know. I it's unclear. Brian's seen yeah six times, Brian. It's unclear. So I was like, I don't. And also there was like gravity stuff that was happening. And then she like turned it off. And i ah every time I'm fixated on the gravity part of it. And I just hear static in my head. yeah most of this I feel like this is an episode that Brian watched six times, but listen to once. yeah
00:54:14
Speaker
I mean, I was not a fan of this one, but also to your point, Becca, the song contradicts the set up, but on is like, Oh, I should just tell Kirk. Yes. And so then number one burst in the song about telling Kirk. Well, she sounds like she arrived at the decision. Yeah. anyway ah the this is where this is the song This is my second least favorite song. ah it's there's It's nowhere near as bad as Private Conversation. And it's not a bad song, it's just i I don't like what it represents and in place of what could be represented in this spot instead.
00:54:47
Speaker
um I wanted to talk about staging. This is where it really hammered home for me, because like the zero gravity thing, like it's clear what they wanted to do. They wanted to do zero gravity, do a La La Land dancing on air, ah weightless choreography. And they had they did not have any money to do that. So they like had a stagehand lift someone up and shot their feet. And then they like cut to a wide shot of their own weather. They're on wires yeah there's making up but also if you notice when the scene starts there's carpet on the area they'll be working so I'm sure the dancing had something to do with no the fours are too slippery and dancing that answers no I'm just saying why didn't answer the rest of the episode because the one time they had to move around at all they put a carpet down okay
00:55:31
Speaker
So I feel like they did not have the time or the budget for staging. They also, although they hired professional musicians to write the music, they did not necessarily hire musical theater people to write the music and thus didn't have a mind towards like staging and presentation of these songs. ah They also didn't have musical theater people shooting the episode. Like what this reminded me of more than anything else is the movie version of Dear Evan Hansen. where there's one number in Dear Evan Hansen where they do actual like elaborate choreographed staging and then every other song in the Dear Evan Hansen musical is just like a guy sitting at a kitchen table and singing or a 45 year old high school students
00:56:17
Speaker
sitting on some swings and singing, not even swinging, singing to a classmate. But the one musical number that they actually stage as a musical number in the movie is amazing. And it's like, oh, this is what you can do when you take a theatrical musical and put it on film. You can stage it. You can do clever things. You can go to different locations. You can make it fantastical. And I think that they didn't have the time, they didn't have the money and they didn't have the people with the mind to do it. Like they clearly Spielberg and Lin-Manuel Miranda. So Buffy's budget for those two seasons was $2.3 million dollars at the time, which adjusted for inflation is about seven and a quarter million today. And a Strange New World episode costs about $8 million. dollars this and So I'm like, where does the money go? Things are different now. And the very the fundamental nature of how television works is different now.
00:57:10
Speaker
And you can tell the number of setups. I mean, Buffy was shooting on film with different lighting seams, and this is like the same lighting. Every set's lit the same. They never change it. yeah the The setups are there's like minimal. It seems it feels like they shoot these in five or six days, which I know it's untrue, but it feels that way. Yeah. So I think that plays all into what you're saying. Yeah, for sure. sorry I just realized, i just realized like so we're talking about staging, and we're talking about like where this musical episode happens in this part of this season of Star Trek meant that they were writing the songs with the idea of like accomplishing advancing or resolving plot points for specific characters, which means that there are characters who could have gotten a song had this episode happened in a different place in the season, but the the main thing that really bothered me about this episode... is that as soon as it started happening, I knew it was happening. And then when they explicitly said the rules of this episode are following the rules of musical theater, and they had set up how awkward Laan was to have Kirk on board after that ah incredible thing that had happened between the two of them. We're doing this now? Yeah, yeah. Go keep going. i and I, as soon as it happened, I was like, Laan's going to confess all the Kirk's shit
00:58:27
Speaker
in song and it's gonna be the most amazing song of all time and they have a song setting up the fact that Laan is afraid she's going to admit to Kirk in song and then that does not get a song. Her and Kirk just have a dialogue scene and it sucks so bad that there is not a song to resolve that. And I do understand that it's hard to be like, Here's a song and then his half of the song is, I knocked up a lady. We're still together. Sorry. Like I, I understand that that's hard. to learn now But you could have at least had like law on like.
00:59:06
Speaker
give everything, give all of her emotion, let it all out, and then have a conversation after that, where he's like, oh, whoa, right? But ah it's a bummer to me, the world's preeminent Laan and Kirk Shipper, that ah that didn't play out in that way. So that was a huge bummer that like, Oona got a second song to set up like, I know you're afraid you're gonna sing to Kirk, but let me tell you, like, it's just better to sing and get it all out, and then that doesn't happen. And that that's that's my that's my main like bummer about this episode apart from the lackluster staging of everything. I think it's the fatal flaw of the episode. Okay. Moving on.
00:59:49
Speaker
I'm ready. The Nurse Chapel breakup song. I will go last because I have some very specific thoughts about this song. ah Bill, would you like to go first this time? Sure. This is the one number while I was watching it. It was very evident that ah there was heavy production on a vocal. And I think that the the stuff for Chapel was written as like, Chapel should have like a sultry, like so like a sultry sexy number that she does, and that's not suited to her vocal range or style. But I think it might also be a symptom of like the fact that this is an Australian
01:00:31
Speaker
who's playing someone who doesn't have an Australian accent, who's being asked to sing in an accent that is not her normal speaking voice. So I think that that might because I i could tell that there was heavy pro tools on her voice, but it was specifically on the notes that she was being asked to hold, like the. ah and and and and er like the like the sultry The more sultry tones that she was being asked to sing, that's where you could really hear the production. And then the more staccato stuff, she it sounded totally fine. So I didn't know if it was just a symptom of like she's uncomfortable holding notes in a non-Australian accent. She's not a great singer in a specific cadence, but she can
01:01:17
Speaker
hit short notes. um i I didn't know what the situation was, but I could just I could feel the production. I could feel the stuff being auto-tuned as it was happening. It's a fun song and I like it, but it's just it's the one part where I noticed and I didn't immediately notice on all the other songs. Okay, I have Not an opposite thing to say, but I really liked what she did. yeah um And I think she she like everyone has a different tone of singing. Like some people can have a more airy tone. So I'm going to be really bright and like kind of like a laser point sound. um And I think hers was just a little more broad, a little more airy. And so that might have just been like the way she sings and she's more of an alto. So things were set lower.
01:02:06
Speaker
um And I guess, I mean, kudos to you for for catching the... ah like the the produced parts of it. I guess I was maybe distracted by the fact that she was putting her all in visually to make it a musical because I was like, yes, this is what you do to like and honestly, like if you need to distract, like you use your arm like this is a podcast, you can't see me, but like she was like raising her arms all around. She was using her body to like. Fill the moment and like show her emotion.
01:02:42
Speaker
And like you watch people like Bernadette Peters and stuff where she always will just like throw out her arms and not that like and every way she does it is different to like show a different kind of feeling that is happening with the the music. So Ashley's like dancing around with the people and I was going to say ten four, but I don't know if it's actually has like an ensemble. Yeah. Yeah. And like, you know, there's like backup singers and stuff. I was like, yeah, this is this feels like a musical to me, like the ah like the first one, Status Report and and this song where there are like people joining in and it it was very much like you know you watch people on the stage and there are the dancers that get up and then there are like the side people that maybe can't dance that are just like, and I sit at this table and I say watermelon peas and carrots to my friend and we not bop our heads along to the music and then sing our part. you know that was That was happening like all along.
01:03:37
Speaker
like ah in in every corner of the frame and and ended on an unresolved chord where some and it just stops and then someone leaves the frame and I was like yes this is the musical. I did love her performance and I did also love the fact that like when she was ah moved by her emotions to sing she displayed that she was so relieved to not have to worry about Spock's feelings and this the quasi relationship anymore that she would just like immediately entered spring break mode. Yeah, yeah surely. It was very like Greece. Yeah, is this one of the most humiliating breakup songs ever made? It's it's the equivalent of your mean one Mr. Grinch levels of dunking on Spock. It's next. Yeah, it is incredible. So
01:04:27
Speaker
My one little little, I liked the production. I thought this one was the actual, like the number they actually rehearsed. Like, I mean, they rehearsed all of them obviously, but like this one had a lot of moving parts and I liked it and it actually did feel like a musical like Becca said, but um okay. I believe they attempted to rhyme the word Obscura with Horizon. Yeah, there were, okay. Not even like an approximate rhyme there, but you know, okay. I do remember that and I was like, Oh, they that a pet peeve of mine, five weeks to get to get ah yeah ah but to get really nerdy here that in like writing text into music or or writing music to text.
01:05:10
Speaker
There's a thing called a logic accent. And it's when it's like you you put emphasis on the syllable that makes sense. I spent like when you're when you're moving notes, there's can feel like there's an emphasis on certain notes instead of other ones. And she said, Obscura, instead of Obscura kind of thing. And I went, Okay. and There were definitely several times, not just in this song, but in a couple of ones where it felt like they were like fitting in words that they wanted to have. Yeah. and As soon as she sang camera Obscura, I was like, are you using that correctly? I don't even think she knows what a camera Obscura is. There's chapel. Questionable what there's chapel does when we give an episode. Yeah. so But story-wise,
01:05:58
Speaker
o her Okay, it is ridiculous that Nurse Chaffles is breaking up with Spock to begin with. I'm so glad you get this. And she's showboating about getting a fellowship that, by the way, she barely got by the skin of her teeth. but She was first rejected for it. She was told her her application was sloppy. She didn't quote the text properly. her material her app All her application materials were subpar. The only thing that got her that fellowship was those stupid customer service aliens giving her
01:06:38
Speaker
Advanced medical technology. That's it. And she's like, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. All right, FU Spark. Well, remember that this is a Vulcan fellowship, right? A Vulcan fellowship. so That somehow a human is the the chief the operator of working with the Vulcan Science Academy because Dr. Corby's a human. and Well, maybe the Vulcan saw a picture of her eyebrows. the eyebrows. But this was really so late for her interview with a Vulcan like she she barely got this fellowship and she's out up there showboating around. I'm just saying I mean, look, the next time you're moved by a temporal anomaly to burst into song, I pray that it's not such an embarrassing situation space anomaly. Like, you know, Brian,
01:07:30
Speaker
yeah There's a difference between times. Yeah, I mean, I guess, see you later, Nurse Chappell. I think you meant to say smell you later. Smell you later. OK, this song, this particular number reminded me of a casino commercial from like the early tens. That's like the exact same choreography and the exact same style of music. And it sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole. I couldn't find it. But I found that the Black Keys sued this company that was doing all these unauthorized soundalikes. And this company was contracted. they They owned a bunch of casinos and were contracting these songs because the song that it reminded that the commercial I could hear in my head was like a soundalike of Back to Black. And if you listen to this song, it's like ah a sped up Back to Black in a way.
01:08:15
Speaker
So I was just driving me nuts. I'm like, did Tom Poulst do the sound like music for that? And they did. They just did this. Did this guy direct that commercial as well? And they imported. I don't know. But also the the nastiness of the story here, just it just reminded me of this book call in twenty seventeen called Kids These Days, well written by this leftist, Malcolm Harris. I'm not going to read the whole quote, but basically like yeah Millennials under capitalism are inherently the most distressful generation ever recorded. The quote he says, all activities are, we're all trained to like a recognize human capital and what we need to do to get ahead. And so it it makes us all very competitive and it makes us distressful of others and it turns everything into an individual pursuit. It basically makes us all these weird libertarians. And I kind of feel like her obsession with
01:09:03
Speaker
accomplishment. It's just like really the nasty side of our generation, I guess you could say millennials. And I just didn't appreciate it. I thought Star Trek was better than this. And I get they're trying to set up that we'll chapel and Spock aren't together in the original series. What if we just made it seem like we'll chapel really screwed up. And that's why she is the way she is in the original series. And I don't know if this is ah ah serving that character particularly well. It's kind of a nasty. Brian, what you're saying is if maybe if Nurse Chapel spent a little bit less time having avoca avocado toast, She'd be able to stay and make it work for Spock. She'd be able to stay on the Enterprise, yeah, exactly. No one less latte per week. That's right, yeah. Okay, going right into I'm the Ex-Porse-Porse-Bok. My one note about the song itself is it does, to me, sound a little bit like an Andrew Lloyd Webber demo that never got used. A little bit. o Good or bad?
01:09:58
Speaker
Sure. But that's my only comment. I do feel bad for Spock though. Yeah. I think he's going to get over it though. probably I think so. I think like tomorrow. Yeah. so There was the fact that one of the lyrics was literally just like him saying, I'm hurt. I was like, fuck. But I mean, we talked about this being like similar melody to the previous song. I'm ready. It's just like his side of it um was very cool. And the fact that
01:10:31
Speaker
both of them had that kind of like loose and easy feel to how they sing. So I was like, I don't know if that was intentional or not, maybe, ah that they were perhaps suited to each other in that way, unless that is just the way they sing. um Because like Ethan Peck sounds like a crooner, you know, um and then she was having more of a sultry sound. So I don't know, one after the other, I was like, they both do the same thing. Great voice. Yeah, first of two back to back songs, just people walking around engineering listlessly. So that's kind of a drag. But i I love this song. And every time like Spock would hit the lowest baritone note sploosh.
01:11:17
Speaker
um Uh, so I love the song and also like every time I see the song title, I just, uh, like I get a ah double dose of like serotonin or whatever, uh, because my favorite band is all, and they have a song called She's My Ex and it plays with the word play of like what X means. Um, and just, I get to double dip on how much I like this song. Yeah. He's the variable. Yeah. And when he, like, yeah, that it's not the ex, it's i'm the x for the equation. And ah I think there's where the captioning has it as ex. Well, it does. Well, it has x again when yeah it does both. Okay. But yeah, there's a I can't remember the lyrics specifically, but he says something like,
01:12:04
Speaker
about the why and it almost sounds like he's like saying like the why question mark but it's like the y axis and and he's like he he gets like really into it and i was like oh damn it's so good it's so good yeah where the f*** is Spock's loot they They made a huge deal of it in the season premiere. Dr. Mabenga had it right around the corner this whole time. Here you go, Spock. This would have been a perfect opportunity for Spock to use his lute. Maybe the in-house CBS composer did not know how to compose anything for a lute. Or they have a lute player to actually play anything anything beyond just boop, boop, boop, boop.
01:12:47
Speaker
They did make it very clear on the episode that the sound is diegetic and it comes in. So he doesn't need to play the loop because the music is already there. Yeah. Brian's so angry. I'm going to have a stroke rolling my eyes here. It's based on emotions. And it's not based on, I'm going to sit down and play music. It's not Spock saying, oh, she broke up with me. Anyway, here's Wonderwall. yeah try
01:13:19
Speaker
I don't understand. whatever would be It would be for you to be the one who saves me. Star Trek.
01:13:28
Speaker
and For all the listeners, we can see Brian. We don't usually do this on video and he's like literally about to lose his fucking mind. like he's He's trying to control himself. Just just a slow shake of his head. every I'm enjoying every having you all on this. system exactly i need Every episode it's every episode ah to listen to is such a a wonderful journey of Brian ah being like, how could this show that I created and picked the episodes for treat me in such a fashion?
01:14:00
Speaker
ah
01:14:03
Speaker
It's just more, what did I sign up for when I said, we should do all the Strange New World season two episodes. children know yeah yeah they're not they're not all it Sounds like someone's only watched one episode. I was going to say, have you watched the one where they li but the ship literally turns into a different place? All right, moving on. Keep us connected. This is a hero song. song right after Spock gets done singing I'm the Ex. Usually in a musical it doesn't quite happen unless it has something to do with what the last person was singing about. This has nothing to do with that. This is just in that location. Oh, her was just like, but what about me, the main character of reality?
01:14:49
Speaker
Yeah. I'm alone. like What about me? The one Broadway star? yeah Whose idea was it to have her sing in the second half of the episode and add a wall again? I don't know. I don't know. um But that's my problem with with it. those things, but she's great. Yeah. I love the belting. Belting is always great. She's doing a great job and she's like genuinely belting, so she doesn't have any problem with syncing to playback. So I love that. I hated the staging. I do like that they at least broke it up a little bit with like the swirling minority report graphics. I like that. You mean it looked like a stock ticker. Yeah. Becca, what do you say about keep us connected? Yeah, sorry.
01:15:33
Speaker
um That's okay. I just wrote, sing Celia.
Highlights and Critiques of Musical Performances
01:15:36
Speaker
um I think like when the song starts off, you realize like, okay, obviously, in I think in previous episodes, we established that Uhura knows music. um And so like, and she would be a good singer. And it starts off this like kind of low mellow. And then eventually it does the octave jump and she's doing it like a whole octave higher and belting her heart out and I love it. And I think you can also tell that she is more appreciative of the space she's singing in than Spock was. like because Like they do add kind of like this echo ah reverb type of
01:16:18
Speaker
feel to it that some of the songs that are sung like just in a room or in a hallway don't have so like you get that feeling of like I'm in a big space and it and I can sing out that um I can tell you like depending on what space you're in if you are in one that the sound really works and it's not dry. It's like, quote unquote, wet, and it it like comes back to you and supports your own sound. You feel free to just sing.
01:16:49
Speaker
um and so i think so She was singing. She was singing. you know like kind of on with her background of like singing on stage you can kind of see that like she is used to again like using her body to take up a space to like walk around to make it interesting even if she is the only person on one floor and the only thing with her is like a prop stage. And so I give her credit for that, ah that it was a lot more interesting to like see her utilizing the tools that she had than to just like watch someone either walk in a direction, then sing to a wall, and then walk in another direction, sing to a wall. She's like you know looking up at the ceiling and like showing that she's like discovering things or like
01:17:40
Speaker
it's It's very much the um they like, oh, I discovered what we have to do now song. tiffany Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah Can we say that lyrics are wild in this one where she talks about her family? They ruptured into a million shards of light and none of them would survive. She sounds like a true crime podcaster in those lyrics. It's just nuts. Anyway. Yeah. ah All right. Now for the final number. We are one. when we started When this started, I wrote down, we have to put on the best damn musical finale this county fair has ever seen.
01:18:17
Speaker
That is what it is. It's like this galaxy has ever seen. We have to be the best. i I do love Florence and the Machine, so it was nice that they did the Dog Days ah read like cover, I guess, and I loved seeing Mabenga skipping around ah a week after he straight murdered a dude. That was awesome. That guy does not give a f**k you. This guy can compartmentalize better than anybody on earth, okay? I'm just glad the the mass murderer gets the chance to cut loose. The war criminal gets to, you know, have a little- And the apostrophe silos off murder. yeah ah So it's actually murder benga. Murder benga. Murder benga. Well, in this one, the benga bust was coming.
01:19:03
Speaker
Uh, so I wrote finally choreography. Yeah. so It was so lovely. Some of you know, the bring in the actual, the ensemble red shirts, sing it, dancing through the hallway. It was just so nice to see like, and, and on carpet, maybe if they were only going to do it once, I'm really glad they did it. They saved it for the final number. Cause like they were only going to do it once. So it was just, it's, so it was so like after. After thoroughly enjoying the rest of the episode, but like seeing like two straight engineering like a walk around and sing songs or stare at the wall and sing songs, it was such a fist pump moment to like see all the red shirts dancing in unison and then to see everyone like get in front of the screen and like dance together. like It was so great. and ah yeah I'm glad it was the finale.
01:19:54
Speaker
I mean, this was one of those that like reprises the song before it, um of Keep Us Connected. And I was like, reprise, all caps, dance.
01:20:06
Speaker
um But it did have one of those like text moments where I was like, oh, yeah. ah the I think La Anne goes, Uhura, I really needed to hear that. And I was like, wouldn't no. that it did not fit, it didn't rhyme with anything, it it they they shoved it in there. and Musically, the fact that they kept saying, bring this thing down and every time the notes went up, down or whatever it was, it was like, let's bring this down, but the music goes up.
01:20:40
Speaker
Do we have to pay you because you just sang for us?
01:20:45
Speaker
i just we don't make it it it's great nice b Brian, were the Klingons singing? Was that the point where the soul where your soul left your body or was it another point? I watched this entire episode from behind a pillow and basically every time I've watched it. But I could not remember the Spock song because I think I i keep trying to track when I blacked out and it was the keeping secret song. Once on and number one start floating, I'm like dead to the world. So by the time we get to the Klingons, I was like, sure, whatever.
01:21:21
Speaker
and ah And then just looking at the background, the fact that the Star Trek people on the staff remembered, you can't do K-pop. You got to do opera because that's what everyone knows Klingon's for. And then K was like, OK. And then she like purposely tanked the Klingon opera version of it so that they had to go with the K-pop one. You can see the version online and it sucks as much as the K-pop one does. But people are having more fun in that one. So you keep it. Yeah. I also love that the the Klingon when he starts talking, he's talking like this and then he jumps up to this high tenor boy band K-pop voice. That was great. and We'll get to the favorite lines later, but like I do love that like that Klingons are so hell bent on destroying this with ah with missiles because their enormous sense of shame that everyone hears their like high tenor singing voice is like so antithetical to themselves. is It's just so wonderful. Now, Brian, I do want to clarify. Normally, you're watching Star Trek from behind a pillow to hide your arousal. It's it's on my yes, it's on my lap. This one was in front of my face. Yes, exactly. Correct. ah The also just a reminder that Gorcock, the I'm sorry, his name, Gorcock, sorry. or The Klingon was played by the I can't think of his name. Bruce, ah ah the guy who plays Hemmers. Bruce Dern. Bruce Dern.
01:22:42
Speaker
No, god damn it. We're all getting punched in the door. Bruce Sterling gave an amazing Klingon. Bruce Horak was the ah was played Hammer and he played the Klingon. Nice. Okay, okay. Yeah, there was also one of the lines was like, our prime directive. And at one point, Spock goes, not exactly. yeah so love so much love it The kind of meta addressing that like, some of the lyrics we're saying aren't really accurate. Like, our prime, no, that's not what the prime directive is.
01:23:19
Speaker
Okay, we did it. We got through all the songs. Hooray. Now it is on to best trek tropes. I find this one's harder for the guests to go first on, Brian. So would you like to go first? So I'm going to go with Pike is a himbo. He has no ideas. He seems confused and annoyed by his job when it gets even remotely difficult. ah He couldn't believe it when Spock says that his thought about torpedoing the fold had potential. I love it. I'm all in. I like that he's just a haircut and nothing more. It's great. And then the other one was the crew, of the enterprise getting drunk when they have two hours left to live. I love these idiots. They're just like us, but I think that's the point. But like, this is like one of those things, like the ship's always in danger. No, you dumb bitch, Kirk. It's the entire Federation. They said it several times and probably it's the entire Federation. I will say this is not a Star Trek trope. But at the very beginning, they play Cole Porter's Anything Goes into the a whatever whatever whatever it the anomaly, whatever it is. The subspace fold. Subspace fold. And you know what, Cole Porter often has that effect but on entities. I read the joke. It was like, good thing they didn't blast Too Darn Hot into that thing, or we'd all be sucking each other off right now. Yeah. There are Gayer songs.
01:24:38
Speaker
I mean, i mean they also could have done the version by like Patti LuPone, but imagine yeah the the type of musical that would have come out of people from that. Yeah. um Also, I have Sam Kirk's mustache. Yes. And O'Hara has done the homework. She's the one who figures it all out. yeah um And then Spock saying that's not actually the prime directive. yes yeah Also, Nichelle Nichols was an incredible singer and dancer.
Character Development and Technical Aspects
01:25:14
Speaker
And so the idea that O'Hara does not dance at all, because everything they do with O'Hara is like honoring Nichelle Nichols. And it's great that they have someone who can actually sing, but the fact that she never gets to either show off her legs and or dance is is ah is a lost opportunity.
01:25:28
Speaker
for best trick trips I had. um Is it Uhura doing the initial captain's lot or the initial ship's log? Yes. She sounds so happy doing the log and I've never heard anyone that happy doing the log before. It was crazy. Didn't they establish that she's like 19 in the show or something? As far as I know, she's not a prodigy, so she's like 23, I think. Okay. She's an ensign, yeah. Okay. Those trick trips, I had Uhura's impossible job, like it shows right at the beginning that like- Yeah.
01:25:59
Speaker
no one can do what she does. And it is impossible to ask any one person to do all the things that she does. ah had um He's the best damn archaeological medicine person. And Christian was like, you can just say medicine. And then I had ah like, I love the, um you know, we talked about like, you guys talk about a lot about um like, Uh, the, the glacknar wine or like, you know, whatever, like where you just put a but and like, her um, Mrs. McMurray's, uh, thing of be like, we can go see the glass islands and the smoke lakes. Um, that was like the most.
01:26:35
Speaker
We need an adjective here. Or like Orlando, right? Like that's what she's like. We can go like or like, no, it's ran joined with threebi or something like something really just like that. And then and then the last one I had was um that the reason they spark everything in the the thing that kicks off the huge catastrophe is that they're trying to do something in the name of efficiency. Like, oh, if we blast Cole Porter into this rift in space time, we'll be able to send emails twice as fast.
01:27:06
Speaker
That is literally, p reports be no time. yeah Becca, what about you? Just the, what do we shoot at it? I don't know, something weird. At least it wasn't like AFex twin or something. I know, right? Bad and like Spock is sad. Just like, you know, Spock, Spock is always almost about to show emotion, but no. Um, and yeah, I agree with the, the himbo for ants and Mount. I'm sure. Uh, worst Trek tropes. Everyone's a polymath. Why is Sam Kirk doing anything tech related? What are you doing here? Like, and, and O'Hara's like, she's the comm officer, but she's down in engineering, helping Spock. But then.
01:27:59
Speaker
Her job is so tough, she has to stay at her console to route all these messages. But then in the and the status report song, she says, I'm reporting from engineering and then starts doing her job from engineering. So she could have done it in engineering. though Ah, whatever. Who cares? Just go with it. But it's just the idea that, and like, why are Laon and Kirk doing stuff with the transporters? It's just, uh, Anyway, and also they just did that in ah those old scientists. So it's like even the writing is stale. It's like we beamed a part of this thing to do in the study on in episode seven and it blew up, which is the same thing they do in episode nine. That was annoying. And then another Strange New World trope.
01:28:33
Speaker
I kind of I love the character over her in the original series, but she's approaching Wesley Crusher levels of Ensign know-it-allness in Strange New Worlds. and ah And she's kind of a brat to everyone. You know, she tells Sam Kirk, I'm not telling you to hurry, but I'm telling you to hurry. And she like engineering explains to Polia about what a subspace fold can do to improve increase their efficiencies. Yeah, I think the chief engineer knows how a subspace antenna works, Ensign. So it's just like this annoying thing where she's getting a little bratty towards everybody. Yeah, there were times where, like, Pike just seemed like he was there to just move the plot along. And I'm like, he obviously got to captain somehow, like, he's got knowledge about some stuff, right? Or does he? Nobody has here that nice. We have not seen any other characters. But like, it's all it's all people telling him how stuff works. I was like, All right, well, Brian, I'm surprised that this was not your worst trick trip, like right off the bat, because
01:29:33
Speaker
My second least favorite thing about the episode was like immediately after the first musical number, there's a hard cut, and then they go to Anson Mount's quarters, and the first line is, so that happened. Well, I got rid of for this episode most of its time, and we because we get on a rant on it every time. But I'm glad listeners would know that that would be annoying. And also, it's hacky, so it's not good. and then my own And then my other trope, which I have so, so tenuous a grasp, on number one's characterization that I did not know whether this should be a best trek trope or a worst trek trope, but her meddling, like her ceaseless meddling throughout this episode of like, someone's got the hots for someone and then like being like,
01:30:17
Speaker
Hmm, girl, I noticed that that you were worried about bursting into songs. So let me give you a zero G one on one and tell you exactly what is what like eyes when you let your secrets go and burdens you and you float. But like she she was just like and then and then again with like Kirk being like I know that you just came on here So let me tell you how to be the best possible first officer that you can be like just like Relentless meddling in everyone's business and I don't know if that's a part of her character or I don't know if it's just like Just a thing for this episode no judgment, but I'm gonna keep an eye and I kind of like it All right anyone I go ahead Kristen so
01:31:00
Speaker
They kind of do this thing where they make Ortegas look like a f***ing dum-dum who never reads books or something and she does not know who Louis Pasteur is. Well, seven several hundred years in the past now for Louis Pasteur. They must still do pasteurization i there's a in the future. I bet there's a better way of pasteurization and they're like they call it something else. like but Someone trademarked it as well.
01:31:27
Speaker
It is okay. It's like, who? Who? Like, I'm like, i but they keep doing this. They keep doing it like she doesn't know just a thing that general knowledge that anybody would or should know. And it's not just oh, it's in the future because everybody else around her knows what it is. It's like, she oh, I don't know. I don't mean no like books or something like that. And if they want to do the explanation of, like well, our audience are younger, we're hoping, and they don't know everything. And it's like, well, then why doesn't someone take the time to explain to Ortegus then yeah who this person is, if that's what it is. But instead, it's a joke. but Because they're like he he's like the Louis Pasteur of archaeological medicine. He's like, who? Oh, my god.
01:32:10
Speaker
But then it turns out actually, the way they're explaining it, he, it's like the same, I'm like, actually, Louis Pasteur is the Louis Pasteur of archeological medicine. Because that's what archeological medicine is. It's our medicine from now. Right. So actually, okay, anyway. i hoping i won back out be is got Oh, no you're raising your finger. No, no, no. Okay. And also,
01:32:41
Speaker
Una Liking Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. I've already mentioned it. Jim, they've had Jim Kirk in this episode. They're doing it to create some kind of tension between him and Laan, but I don't like it. They're making him like talk over his female colleagues and like jump in and kind of take credit for something goes, Oh, I'm sorry. I kind of jumped in there and took credit for that. Like that's not generally how Jim Kirk has acted in every other iteration we've seen. That's sort of more of the persona people have a like given to him, even though it didn't really happen that way in like the original series or even in like the like Star Trek of nine or anything like that. So don't care for it. um And he also was like being a little bit mansplaining too. and We also have Nurse Chapel drinking it up at the and bar while like Spock's trying to save it, save the universe.
01:33:36
Speaker
And then ah last but not least, Captain Pike cooking a meal. It's the only time that he's engaged with anything is when he's cooking. so When he's got his fancy apron on. yeah kind The tech explanation for the singing, not the improbability part of it. I kind of thought that made some sense that they attract, they somehow got, they were able to grab one reality out of this collapsing field of realities. Fine. But it was the idea that the subspace fold is so sensitive that firing on it could destroy the entire Federation.
01:34:09
Speaker
which is a situation that still actually exists at the end of the episode and is just kind of ignored. You know what I mean? Like, there's just, by the way, everybody, from now on, there's this thing out there that if you fire a torpedo at it, it will destroy the entire Federation and have to clean an empire. One one hopes that at this point in in space history, space future, um people aren't just farting around blasting photon torpedoes in every space cloud they see. And Star Trek 5, we are introduced to the Klingons because they fire on a piece of space junk. so Space junk and that space cloud. Also, if they're caught in a musical reality, then how would more singing increase the improbability? well How would that destroy it? Isn't that like within the realm of the reality? I think you're trying to find
01:35:02
Speaker
You're trying to find like a logical explanation for a music. little Bill had it all the said, it makes perfect sense. I've got it. It's the it's the everything. You're trying to make it you trying to make it like make like scientific sense. Bill is making it make story sense. It's the what science explanation for a probability field being exceeded. They're doing the everything everywhere all at once thing, where it's like every time you do something that people wouldn't normally expect, it creates a branch. So the the the space cloud would never expect that the entire enterprise get together and put out the best damn show this town has ever seen and save that space orphanage. Yeah.
01:35:45
Speaker
No one ever expects the Care Bears staring. That's right. That's what it was. That's what everything comes down to. Yeah. Now it's time for the line must be drawn. here Great lines. Okay, so Bill, you talked about how you didn't like how Kirk and Laan resolved, whatever is going on, just by speaking. However, I think given maybe the fact, maybe it was when this was being made, if it was still prevalent, that the line that she says is, I need to say this before it comes out in the form of a 17th century sea shanty.
01:36:19
Speaker
yes yes i did because there was literally shanty talk like on tiktok the the was it was a billy of tea like that was everywhere and everyone is adding their own harmonies and
References and Romantic Tension in the Episode
01:36:34
Speaker
like it was just it was kids knew it you know and it was It was like one thing that we did not need was the sea shanty. I love that line, but I think i think what i think if it was if it was being a cheeky reference to anything, it was being a cheeky reference to the fact that that had already come and gone and had been played out.
01:36:55
Speaker
and But like shanties is at this point are already like ah smell sha Yeah, um I mean she I think Ahura almost mentions it where she's like, you know sailors sang songs to row together and And in her examples of ways that we use music and stuff. And I was like, don't don't do it. Don't do it. Hey, they straddled the line of shantytown. Yeah, two great lands I had. There were two explicit, couldn't be anything else references to once more with feeling. um The first was I doubt we will be bunnies like someone talking about like, Oh, maybe we'll alternative bunnies, which is a reference to Anya's fear of bunnies, which is recounted multiple times and once more of the feeling. The other thing that is
01:37:42
Speaker
mega explicitly re ah ah shout out to Once More with Feeling is I Have a Theory um which is the name of a song in Once More with Feeling where they're trying to explain what happened in Once More with Feeling like and I do love that both this and Buffy are both like the perfect setup for having a music, a bottle musical episode because Buffy is a supernatural show. So they call out like, oh, a musical demon has invaded the town and it's causing everyone to burst into song and reveal their true feelings. And this is basically the same thing, but science. And it is like, I think that it's great that both of these things have that thing. I love the line.
01:38:25
Speaker
Lieutenant, I have the particles ah when she beamed the sample of particles into the thing. I loved, um my life is complicated. I also loved ah when the Klingons set ah the source of our dishonor. yeah um And then later you find out ah what that is that it causes them to ah become rapping grannies when it happens. And just, I love the line, make your bullets. Sorry. They have the line, make your blood scream. That's how the like song ends, basically. And it's just such a good like ah Klingon ah pop ah line. And then the ah the other my other great line is when they said zippers work both ways, which when they said that, I was like, oh, zippers do work both ways. like had never I had never conceptualized a zipper in such a fashion. It's a one way.
01:39:23
Speaker
yeah i knew Like a zipper comes down, but I can think of it be like where we're going this yeah ah Becca do you have any great lines? Oh, well the the sea shanty thing um but also the fact that um the Klingons When they do do that, I was like, oh, it almost sounds a little Lin-Manuel Miranda-ish, where it's like a little bit of a rap before they start singing. and i so the But there's the quote of him being like, he didn't call me back. They're like, ah, but we'll channel him here. I had two Kirk lines after he beams aboard and is greeted by number one. Thank you for agreeing to do this, even if it's not fully necessary. I just take that to mean a reference to the episode itself. And then Kirk.
01:40:11
Speaker
Kirk saying, honestly, I assumed it was something you'd all rehearse, but I sang too. yeah So that was great. Kristin, do you have any great lines? They've already been said. Okay. So then the Anton Caridian Award for Best Performance, Becca. It could be best singer, best just actor in the particular moment or scene. or you know Right. i I mean, as far as the performances, I thought Celia brought it. um yeah she she like Once we got to you know like act three or whatever, whenever her song finally came up, um and then she set us up for the ah for the epilogue, for like the the final to-do. um and I think she finally brought Broadway to the bridge.
01:41:04
Speaker
Broadway report to the bridge. yes Yeah, she's so real. I think the the words they put in her mouth are obnoxious, like half the time. Yeah, but she's so likable. She's so yes, and she's so present and real and she creates the reality that they're going for at all times. So she's she's great. I agree with that one. yeah How about the shit we all agree, right? yeah Yeah. Well, I did also want to give ah props to Laan. she yeah yeah yeah I agree. I totally agree, actually. The Shatner, who really went for it? I mean, can I just say Anson Mountain? He is a terrible singer. He knows it. But it was he was in on the joke, which I think is actually a problem with Stranger Worlds. A lot of the cast are like, we're doing Star Trek, wink, wink, wink. And it comes out in their performance most of the time. Yeah.
01:41:48
Speaker
Yeah, just most of the time they're doing this. And also I caught when they were doing when they all say sensational. He does a little lispy version. You could tell with his lips, he's like sensational. He does it on purpose. And, ah you know, the only real part was the ad lib part when he and Carol Kane kind of do their little dance together, which was like after the take it ended. in And that was fine. But otherwise, he's only a good actor in his cooking scenes at this point. He's really just ah a ham. Do you think they just feel like we only have you for X days and we only have this set so you just cook in every fucking scene like it's... And we'll block shoot you? Yeah. We're just gonna spend two weeks in here. Probably. Makes sense. Like he's not even shirtless when his girlfriend's there. He could just be wearing the apron with no shirt on. That'd be fun. No, don't even do that. Mike's making chili again.
01:42:37
Speaker
I mean, it's all day. ah Bill, what part of this will you teach at Starfleet Academy, that venerable institution? How to put on the best damn show this galaxy has ever seen to save the space orphanage. Well, we are a very big believer that Starfleet cadets should learn how to act. They should be theater kids in some way. So I think that that's good. Becca, did you have any? I mean, I think if if all of them are up there doing science and math, they might as well know music. It should equal. They should all learn something. They know the traditional format and structure of a musical comedy. If nothing else, they can be Harry Kim and play clarinet in the pit. um I also put. I'm going to do next step. Probably don't break all like the temporal rules just because you have a crush on somebody. o um And they're obviously not teaching who Louis Pasteur.
01:43:34
Speaker
i about pasteurization, so I guess everybody's just drinking raw ass milk. There's like 10,000 planets. I'm sure every planet has figured out how to drink milk without buying. There's only one that we can just do. Yeah, through pasteurization. That way, Noah, Bill, a civilization could have been wiped out. I know. Do they have the watchicles yet? The replicators? Yeah. They do, they're supposed to a little bit, but it's more like food cards. It's like less glamorous than the 3D printed food. Yeah, exactly. It's all placed. Not quite to the replicators that we know and love. I mean, they have them, but it's like there's not a reason to cook as much as Pike is cooking. Right. Like that's. No, there's no he is actively wasting food. Yeah. On any given day. Yeah. Kristen, I need to know, could this episode have been hornier and would that have made it better? Yes, of course. Obviously, it could have been as anything could be hornier. Yes. Would that have made it better? I think maybe if there's like better tension between Lon and Kirk, maybe that would have been better because
01:44:41
Speaker
but flash If there was like ah for like and fantasies or whatever. If there was like a salsa scene or something, like something that was like more of a Latin feel where someone had to get really close. Space Lombata. Yeah. But there was i mean the closest we got was the waltzing. Between two characters who who couldn't care less about each other. I think the number one on song got some charges of queer baiting, perhaps, because I think both of those characters maybe play as ah down the line for some of the queer audience. And so that was maybe potentially like the show kind of paying lip service to that idea. But it was not horny in any remotely. If seven foot six Rebecca Romaine pulls someone into a room somewhere, there's going to be some sexual tension.
01:45:33
Speaker
Fair enough. But I had yes and yes for the record. OK. All right. So Trek, marry or kill Subspace Rhapsody. We'll start with our guest, Becca.
Final Thoughts and Episode Ratings
01:45:45
Speaker
I would marry this episode. I really love it. I think there are things that I love despite other parts of it. I don't know. I think it was just like a. Oh, this is new. You can do this. That's very cool. And then also love the rest of the show that isn't this way. Bill. Hard Mary for me. Had a blast. Have listened to the soundtrack all week. Fucking loved it. Furthered my number one television romance ah of the moment. And I am just praying that Laanne convinces Kirk to leave his partner at unborn child for her because it must happen. Carol. Yeah.
01:46:30
Speaker
yeah um Yeah, so yeah, no you know maybe the baby dies because of um the mom ingested unpasteurized milk. Yeah. But I mean, it's it it isn't once more with feeling in a lot of ways, like musically, it's better than once more with feeling. Um, but okay. Settle down. Settle down Brian. Settle down Brian. See the, the main thing that once you can just ignore me, I'm not making a noise. The main thing that, the main thing that I meant disappear. Yeah. He's so disappeared.
01:47:03
Speaker
The main thing that Once War With Feeling has going for it is Once War With Feeling is the musical episode that lands at the exact pivot point of that entire season and the series overall of Buffy. like It is the hinge point of the entire series, and there's no way that this could possibly live up to that. um because like That episode of Buffy happens at the central point of all of the main characters that are in Buffy at that point, and furthers all of their storylines and moves everything in the entire series along to its end point. Like, you can't possibly have this middle of season two of Strange New World's thing hit that hard when like half of the characters who are
01:47:55
Speaker
on the Stranger two Worlds cast don't even have a current story arc too further. So like it's just it's just bad luck of the draw of like where it lands. But like musically, this is much better. Performance-wise, this is 10 million times better than the Once More with Feeling. I'll love Once More with Feeling more because of what it means and what it has meant for the past 20-some years and what it meant for all of those characters in the series as a whole. but like It's it just it's like an example of like, you can have all of the components be better, but it won't hit the same because of the actual story that you're attempting to tell through the musical episode. Kristin, I'm gonna give it a track. um It's not good enough for a Mary for me. And I'm not necessarily just because of it's a strange new world episode, but compared to
01:48:50
Speaker
other shows that do musicals like Schmigadoon for one. like There's a recent one. um I still like it. Am I going to cue this one up often? No. But that's probably more of a part of the course for Strange New Worlds for me. I may just queue up the Ethan Peck moments. Yeah, you know, I will if we just get like a super cut of all of Ethan Peck's scenes. I would I would marry that. Do you want me to sing mine or do you want me to? We already know you already said at the top of the show.
01:49:32
Speaker
I do try to give everything a chance. Spock and Muck and Quality and Mercy were two episodes of Strangie Worlds that shocked the hell out of me by how much I enjoyed them. ah They were much better executed than their premise suggested. ah Well, more the former than the latter. But musical episodes are a lot like crossover episodes in that they are usually at things shows too late in their run when they're out of the ideas. I think we've all pointed out like legitimate criticisms of it too. ah and That really did show that this was more of a gimmick than say like an expression or at the very least not as well made as some of its predecessors or the things that inspired it. ah You know the showrunner had he just been wanting to do a musical episode of
01:50:13
Speaker
of any show he was doing. And this is the one that stuck. The idea of a Star Trek musical episode is not something that offended me necessarily. I just don't feel this one was pure of heart. This what never came off to me as the Star Trek version of a musical. It just came off as a musical with Star Trek slapped on the side. So and it's obviously it's a kill. and So there we go. Yeah, I knew it. Mr. F. I do have a question though, Brian. Why did some of your friends want to watch you watching this episode? They just assume that I don't like musicals and they're just like, oh, Star Trek's doing something that the people making it knows will upset old, annoying fans of which Brian is one of those. yeah I just assume that anything that was made after Deep Space Nine, you ate out of hand.
01:51:02
Speaker
Oh, that's not true. I mean, I liked we liked almost all of season three of Picard, right? I don't think I liked almost all. I don't think we killed that was basically like a next generation. Yeah, we should have killed at least one episode of Picard because there was a couple of we killed the entire second season. We killed the entire second season. Yeah. No, but I mean, like Star Trek Beyond, I liked I mean, in retrospect, I like it more. It's like that was pure of heart, I guess. There are things I like, but, you know, it's When you know what the thinking is behind these things, it kind of goes, OK, now I'm responding to that anyway. So, by the way, um I rewatched Star Trek into darkness recently, and I just want to let you know, I now know why you didn't like it. OK, why didn't I like it? Because they just tried to redo the entire con story, but with like reversed. Yes. And with Letter Nemo going, oh, by the way. Yes.
01:52:00
Speaker
And then Kirk dies and needs Kahn's blood to survive. like i can I now see why you didn't like it. Well, I appreciate you rewatching and and having that thought. I'm sorry I've imprinted on your brain in that way. That's got to be annoying. Becca, is there anything you want to tell people out there, social media or anything any cause or event you want to highlight? At the time that we were recording this, my like season, I suppose, is kind of coming to a close for a bunch of things. So I would just say, support your local arts. wherever you are, if you like, if there's a local theater or a big city theater or like orchestra opera, try something new. But like the amount of like love and passion that the people put into creating this episode, even though it may be cringy to some extent, and there's like a high level of camp that comes with Star Trek. um I think like there's so much like skill
01:52:58
Speaker
and just like these tools that people made to really make this entertaining. And if you liked it, I would say go out and find people around you that are doing that and support them. Great. That's wonderful. A tremendous pitch for the arts, Bill. Well, now I feel like a heel. I have some things to plug. I'm Send No Motella on all social media and I have a non-fiction book out if you are interested in the world of professional wrestling at all. And if you stay tuned to my social media accounts, um I hope to have news in the coming months about a novel. So good no that's what I have.
01:53:40
Speaker
All right, well, thanks so much for both of you for being on. It's been a pleasure. Becca, I mean, we got to hear your singing voice oh boy hey stick yeah for free. Yeah, Bill, so glad. Thank you again. So glad you were here to have your enthusiasm, which balance out my misery. ah Listeners, I'm very sorry for sounding miserable. Next week, our season finale, and to celebrate the end of our second season, Kristin, we'll be dropping two episodes. The second season finale is for both Deep Space Nine and Strange New Worlds. If you're enjoying our show, consider rating us five stars wherever you listen. We're on social media at Trekmarikapod and on the web at trekmarikapod.com, where you can see all of our stuff. So until next week, TMK out!