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When Star Trek: Strange new worlds aired its music episode “Subspace Rhapsody”, it was impossible for most fans of the genre not to compare it Buffy the Vampire Slayerepisode of the musical masterpiece “One more time with feeling”. That Buffy episode managed to combine insanely catchy earworm tunes with breathtaking plot-driven character, making it the gold standard for musical episodes. If we’re being honest, the musical episode of Star Trek is below par Buffy‘s in almost every way except one: “Subspace Rhapsody” prominently features the entire main cast singing, while “Once More With Feeling” has two cast members refusing to sing.
Buffy’s musical mistake
Before the musical episode of Star Trek hit the airwaves, Buffy“Once More With Feeling” gave almost all of its leads their own songs. Buffy channels pop stars when she sings about existentialism, Giles does a power ballad about holding her back, Spike turns into a rock star to rant about his mixed feelings about Slayer, and so on. However, Hannigan’s Willow has no songs of its own. In fact, he only has two musical lines, including the hilariously meta lyric: “I think this line is mostly filler.”
As for why Willow isn’t at the forefront of the musical’s tunes, showrunner Joss Whedon claims that Hannigan “begged me on my knees to sing as little as possible”. He granted that request, and that’s why Tara sings on their absolutely magically romantic song “Under Your Spell.” Meanwhile, the only other non-singing main cast member is Michelle Trachtenbergbecause she asked to use her ballet training and do a dance sequence instead.
Star Trek’s Musical Masterstroke
As we have already touched on, the musical episode of Star Trek is compared to Buffyit is in most respects. The songs aren’t as catchy, the emotional stakes aren’t as high, and some plot points fall flat at times. However, there is exactly one area where Star Trek overshadows Buffy in the music department: sung by all the main cast. Some voices are certainly stronger than others, but it’s nothing short of impressive that no one backed down, especially considering that Trek had never made a musical and that expectations were insanely high.
After Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought us the ambitiously imperfect “Subspace Rhapsody,” showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman gave a variety interview in which they discussed their own surprise at having the entire cast sing. According to Goldsman, “we ended up with an absurdly good cast” and he expected a “boy in the bunch” who either couldn’t or didn’t want to sing. Instead, he concluded that “it was like everyone secretly wanted the idea of a musical their whole lives”, making filming the episode much easier.
Spock sings
It also helped that the Star Trek showrunners had the opposite problem Buffythe producers had. Instead of discovering someone like Hannigan who wasn’t exactly comfortable singing on screen, they discovered that one of their biggest stars was secretly a musical maestro. In discussion Spock actor Ethan Peck, Goldsman said, “I didn’t know Ethan could sing until I said, ‘Holy shit, Ethan can sing!'” He noted with amusement that his reaction is much the same as when audiences first watch the famous Vulcan’s tunes: “You say si: “Wait, Spock is singing now?
Currently, the first musical episode of Star Trek is not as beloved as Buffyand for good reason. At the end of the day, the songs sung by the crew of the Enterprise just aren’t as catchy or fun as those sung by the Scooby Gang of Sunnydale. However, Strange new worlds boasts that all of its leading actors sang at their full potential Buffy prevented two of his actors from entering the limelight (albeit at their own request). And that is something worth singing about once more, with feeling. Although, as Spock would remind us, these feelings are completely illogical.
Source: Variety
