by Chris Snelgrove
| Updated
For the most part, the public's reception to Star Trek: Strange New WorldIt was overwhelmingly positive thanks to its talented cast, strong writing, and insanely high production value. However, for many Star Trek fans, this show had one misstep: the “Subspace Rhapsody” musical episode.
Admittedly, this episode pales in comparison to more successful musical episodes like Buffy the Vampire Slayer“Back with the Feeling” and the songs can be a bit (well, a.k.a a lot) more attractive. However, I think fans should nonetheless respect this controversial episode because it proves that writers of the best sci-fi franchises are still willing to take creative risks.
As longtime Star Trek fans know, the franchise hasn't always demonstrated the creativity shown in the musical episode Strange new worlds. For example, early episodes of The next generation Recycled texts written to cancel The original series The sequel show would have introduced new characters such as Decker and Elijah. Those characters were later recycled for her Star Trek: The Motion Picture He later inspired the characters Riker and Troy V TNG.
The franchise has had some other derivative moments, of course. Deep Space Nine (Personal favorite) Long accused of theft Babylon 5, and Star Trek: Nemesis It is a lame renovation of Anger Khan. Talk about Wrath of Khanits nebula battle sequence was captured and recycled for episodes The next generation And even Picard.
Star Trek It has a long history of being derivative. Strange new worldsThe musical episode is a refreshing reminder that the franchise is still capable of surprising us.
That hasn't stopped many fans from wringing their hands over everything from the plot to its lyrical execution. And like a true geek chorus, most of these annoyed fans joined in their voices to make a singular statement: “Star Trek should never have a musical episode.” These fans have a very fixed idea of what the franchise should and shouldn't do, and like any ill-trained person, they're always waiting to pounce on any episode or movie that deviates from what they imagine Star Trek should do.
However, this is the kind of shortsighted view that does more than just hinder the franchise. If these fans had their way, the franchise would have died decades ago.
The next generation It is considered the best Star Trek show by many older fans, but it wasn't just this series very Different from The original seriesonly achieved true greatness after freeing itself from the influence of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry.
In turn, Deep Space Nine become TRUE The greatest Trek show ever by flatly ignoring the storytelling limitations of previous shows. Those including Roddenberry's prohibition on creating conflict between characters.
Even though I can't belt out a single tune or remember a single lyric, I admire the first musical episode of Star Trek because it proudly ignores all the rules. Historically, Star Trek has been held back by fans who want nothing more than to fly around the sun and take the franchise back to an imagined golden age (like the 1990s).
Star Trek would never have survived if the writers weren't willing to take risks Strange new worldsThe writers recognized a powerful truth: this could be a Star Trek movie anything. I should never be held back by eccentric fans who don't want to put down their TNG DVD collections and admire the franchise who finally remember the wisdom of James T. Kirk: “Risk is our business.” Strange new worlds Ready to lead us into a better, brighter, bolder future, one episode (and yes, one song) at a time.
