Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9 - "Subspace Rhapsody."

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has made franchise history with the first-ever Star Trek musical in the 57-year history of the franchise, but it's not been for a lack of trying by the show's predecessors. "Subspace Rhapsody" saw the crew of the USS Enterprise encounter a quantum improbability field that effectively trapped them inside a glitzy musical with original songs by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce. Strange New Worlds' musical episode fulfilled an ambition held by showrunner Akiva Goldsman, and many of his predecessors across Star Trek history.

From the flirty jam session between Lt. Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) in "The Man Trap", all the way to the operatic ambitions of Star Trek: Voyager's EMH Doctor (Robert Picardo), music has been an integral part of the lives of each Star Trek crew. And yet, it's only in 2023, 57 years after Spock and Uhura's duet, that Star Trek has finally pulled off a fully-fledged musical episode. However, a Star Trek musical has been a prospect since the 1990s, long before the groundbreaking Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical that heavily inspired Strange New Worlds' "Subspace Rhapsody."

Ronald D Moore's 1990s Star Trek Musical Pitches Explained

Ronald D. Moore was always keen to do a musical episode while he was a writer and producer on both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Unfortunately for Moore, Rick Berman believed that Star Trek should be a serious sci-fi show, nixing any attempts at a musical. Reflecting on it years later in an interview with IGN, Moore pondered how the episode could have worked, suggesting that a tech virus could infect the universal translators, forcing everyone to communicate in song. That's not a million miles away from what happens in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode, with the quantum improbability field infecting communications between Starfleet vessels and even the Klingon Empire.

In an old issue of Star Trek Monthly from 1995, it was revealed that a spec script entitled "Elvis Meets The Enterprise" was sent to the Star Trek: The Next Generation offices. Keen to do a Star Trek musical and a fan of Elvis Presley, the script appeared to target Ronald D. Moore's interests with laser-like precision. Not much is known about the script, but it's highly likely that with the King of Rock and Roll aboard the Enterprise, there would have been singing.

In a commentary on Star Trek: The Next Generation's finale, "All Good Things", Moore also suggested that the holodeck would have allowed a TNG musical episode to happen. Interestingly, that's just what happens in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine when it introduces the character of holographic lounge singer Vic Fontaine in DS9 season 6. Played by singer and actor James Darren, Vic allowed DS9 to flirt with the idea of a Star Trek musical. For example, the episode "His Way", features several musical interludes, most notably the performance of "Fever" by Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), accompanied by Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) on keys.

Vic Fontaine's holographic nightclub became a haven for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine crew during the grueling final stages of the bloody Dominion War. It's for that reason that the final episode before DS9's eight-part finale is "Bada-Bing-Bada-Bang", an excellent Star Trek holodeck episode that ends with a duet between Captain Sisko and Vic Fontaine. The episodes featuring Vic Fontaine were some of the closest attempts at doing a fully-blown Star Trek musical until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2023. However, Moore's unsuccessful pitches were far from the last attempts to make a Star Trek musical.

RELATED: Every Song In Strange New Worlds' Musical Episode, Ranked Worst To Best

Voyager Did A Star Trek Opera In Season 6

It's interesting to think about the music in Rick Berman's Star Trek era, as it often appears reflective of his desire for a serious show. The entertainment on the starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation is incredibly worthy. The crew of the USS Enterprise-D attends classical music concertos and jazz performances with Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on violin and Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) on trombone. It's possibly for this reason that Star Trek: Voyager did an opera episode long before the franchise ever did a musical episode.

"Virtuoso" is an episode all about the power and emotion of music, something which Star Trek: Voyager's holographic Doctor understands far better than the highly advanced Qomar. For them, the Doctor's musical talents boil down to algorithms and syntax rather than emotion and artistry. It's a wonderful showcase of Robert Picardo's classical training, as he performs two operatic ballads "Rondine al nido" and a duet (with himself) of Verdi's "Dio, che nell'alma infondere". "Virtuoso" doesn't play out like an out-and-out comedy - presumably to Berman's approval - and is instead a classic Star Trek episode about communication difficulties. Ironically, the same can be said about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' more overtly comic and light "Subspace Rhapsody".

A Star Trek: Enterprise Musical Episode Was Pitched For The Cast

The final attempt at a Star Trek musical during the Rick Berman era was an idea by Linda Park, who played Lt. Hoshi Sato in Star Trek: Enterprise. A trained ballroom dancer, Park felt that a musical episode of Enterprise would be a great way to showcase her talents. She also wanted to highlight the singing talents of Star Trek's Scott Bakula and John Billingsley. Park's desire for a musical episode was stated in an interview published long after Enterprise's cancelation, so it's unclear if she ever suggested it to Berman or the Enterprise writer's room.

The Musical Careers Of Star Trek Actors Explained

One of the reasons behind Strange New Worlds finally realizing the prospect of a Star Trek musical was the considerable musical talents of the cast. Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Uhura, previously won a Tony for her work on the Alanis Morrisette musical Jagged Little Pill. Meanwhile, La'an Noonien-Singh actress Christina Chong has had musical theater training and released her first EP, Twin Flames in August. However, the musical careers of Star Trek actors go all the way back to Star Trek: The Original Series, and William Shatner's infamous rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man".

Shatner isn't the only Star Trek: TOS actor to have some albums under their belt. Leonard Nimoy released the bewilderingly strange "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Nimoy also sang songs in-character as Spock on the album Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space, foreshadowing Ethan Peck's heartbreaking rendition of "I'm the X" in Strange New Worlds' musical episode. Star Trek's original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols also released a disco-inspired version of the theme tune, complete with Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek lyrics.

During his Star Trek: The Next Generation heyday, Brent Spiner released an album called Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back. One track, a cover of "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" features backing vocals from the Sunspots, A.K.A Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Michael Dorn. Scott Bakula and Avery Brooks are also incredibly talented pianists and singers, with Bakula showcasing this talent in CSI: New Orleans and on Quantum Leap. DS9's Avery Brooks played the legendary singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson and sang the lead in the opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Star Trek: Discovery's Anthony Rapp is also a successful Broadway star, having come to prominence in Rent and its subsequent movie adaptation. Also in modern Star Trek, Dawnn Lewis, who plays Captain Carole Freeman in Star Trek: Lower Decks has a musical theater degree and has appeared on stage in Sister Act: The Musical. Lewis also released an album in 2001 and has also sung alongside musicians like Vanessa Williams. With such a long list of musical talent attached to the Star Trek franchise, "Subspace Rhapsody" was inevitable.

Was Strange New Worlds' Musical Worth The Wait?

Although it was almost beaten to the punch by a Star Trek: Picard musical, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode was a triumph that has been 57 years in the making. Like the best musicals, and the best episodes of Star Trek, "Subspace Rhapsody" is a joyous celebration of what it is to be human. The script by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff is perfectly complemented by the music and lyrics by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce. There's heartbreak, romance, and a Klingon boy band, it's as perfect a musical celebration of 57 years of Star Trek as fans could hope for.

That's not to say that any of the previous attempts at a Star Trek musical wouldn't have been similarly celebratory. However, the more cinematic approach of modern Trek, combined with over two decades of musical episodes allowed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to pull off something really special. Since Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Once More With Feeling" in 2001, there have been countless musical episodes and musical TV shows, each with varying degrees of success. "Subspace Rhapsody" represents Star Trek finally catching up with this 20-year-old format, but in a way that is both timely and timeless, heartbreaking and joyful. The only problem is that it may take another 57 years for Star Trek to craft something that can top it.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' season 2 finale streams Thursday, August 10th on Paramount+.