Podcast: All Access Star Trek Dances Through “Subspace Rhapsody” With Songwriters Kay Hanley and Tom Polce

All Access Star Trek podcast episode 196 - TrekMovie - Tom Polce and Kay Hanley talk "Subspace Rhapsody" from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

One year ago last August, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made history with “Subspace Rhapsody,” the franchise’s first musical episode. To celebrate the milestone, Anthony and Laurie are joined by musicians Tom Polce and Kay Hanley, who wrote all the songs for the episode (and Laurie can hardly contain herself). They talk about what the songwriters were asked to do, how it changed along the way, and get into the details on each of the individual songs. Kay and Tom also talk about working with the actors, squeezing technobabble into song lyrics, and play a bit of an early demo. They answer burning questions like “Is Akiva serious when he says he wants to bring ‘Subspace Rhapsody’ to Broadway?” and “Who was the most nervous about doing a musical episode?”

Links:

TrekMovie Recap/Review: Anything Goes In ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Musical “Subspace Rhapsody”

“Subspace Rhapsody” Soundtrack on Spotify and on vinyl at Amazon

Interview: Director Dermott Downs On Keeping The ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Musical Grounded

Tom Polce on Twitter/X

Kay Hanley on Twitter/X

Spontaneous “We Are One” sing-along on Star Trek: The Cruise [Twitter/X]

Kindergarten: The Musical [YouTube]

Letters to Cleo 

Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and should you be so inclined, please review us on Apple.


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I’m glad a lot of people liked this episode, it jist wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel any of the songs, except maybe the one with Uhura.

Same. I consider it a creative triumph and am glad the producers were ambitious enough to do it but I skip it on re-watches. It’s SOOO long and the plot move at low impulse with all the song breaks. I do re-watch the Klingon boy band scene though.

More than likely an episode I’ll never watch again. And honestly, I’m not finding SNW terribly rewatchable in general. I go right back to TOS and TNG, and the films.

They need to drop the variety show of the week style stories. The episodic format doesn’t mean they should toss consistency out the airlock.

Agree. This show has no real identity other than it calls itself Star Trek. Asides are fine, but there should be one, maybe two a season. This show has no center, nothing to ground it, nothing to say ‘this is what this show is about’. It’s just a hodgepodge of ideas with very little sci-fi, and a non episodic character through line that is not very interesting (that last part is the same as Discovery).

Yes so agree. The show lacks because there is no direction to it outside of the silly and off canon Gorn stuff along with the even more off canon Spock/Christine soap.

But it has no real substance. The science fiction aspect feels very light when they do do it and for a show called strange new worlds there is very little exploring. I don’t expect it to be Voyager in that regard but even DS9 has more actual exploring than this show.

The best thing I can say about it is it’s light and trivial enough for me to watch it but the stories are mostly forgetful after I seen them. There are a few I rewatch but very few. It feels more like satire at times than a compelling science fiction show.

If this show is considered the best of NuTrek (and I don’t know if it is) then that’s not saying much at all IMO. But if others really enjoy it I’m happy for them of course.

Well written, and captures my own sadly mounting disappointment with the series.

I got halfway through that episode before I turned it off and have no desire to ever finish it. It just wasn’t for me at all but happy for others who do really enjoy it.

I definitely like Tom’s jacket. I want that to be an official Starfleet outfit. :-)

I’m Ready is a great song, even if it kind of shows Chapel to be a bit of a…

Go on, finish that sentence.

If anything, that song shows Chapel to be strong minded and independent, and somebody who won’t stand for Spock being jealous of her own success.

The writers really don’t cast Spock in a good light when it comes to his treatment of women. He spends Season One being an ass to T’Pring, then when she breaks up with him in Season Two he runs straight to Chapel (literally in the next scene), then treats her like an ass the minute it she has her own success and will need to leave the Enterprise for a few months.

The writers don’t cast Spock in a good light period. He’s giving me early 20’s bro dude vibes, meaning very immature. I like Chapel, she’s one of my favorite characters, along with Uhura. Spock is one of my least favorite. He’s the most stoic, reserved and disciplined character (even in his younger version here) yet the writers are constantly pushing the envelope with him, making him “not Spock”. This is another gimmick to compensate for their lack of talent.

The writers are screwing up the Vulcans in general. I mostly adore SNW, but I hate what they’re doing to Spock and how they’re writing the Vulcans.

Ethan Peck is doing a good job with what they give him to play — no blame attaches to him — I just don’t like what they’re giving him to play.

A lot of writers can’t seem to resist tearing Vulcans down, but I prefer them to be in the role of humanity’s older siblings, somewhat more mature than us, a bit like Tolkien elves.

Am I forgetting someone, or have we only actually seen two Vulcans on SNW? The Spock-centric episodes have mostly been goofy (switching bodies with T’Pring, becoming all-human), we haven’t really seen a good SNW story about “normal” Spock. And T’Pring was never exactly a great character. Back in Amok Time she was seeing Ston on the side all along, even though she knew from the beginning that Spock was a Starfleet officer and would be away for long periods of time.

We saw T’Pring’s parents in “Charades,” where they wrote her mother as a snooty person who’s prejudiced against all humans.

Sigh.

Playing xenophobia/racism for laughs is not a cute look for any writer. And they seem intent on rehashing that from the god-awful Season 3 clip we’ve seen. For a franchise that is so progressive in its values, it’s a staggering misfire.

And I agree with Silveryes, Spock is one of the worst characters is SNW. If he is not being crammed into *every* storyline going (having a hero moment in what was ostensibly Uhura’s story in “Children of the Comet” being the absolute worst example), he’s throwing tantrums, being an a-hole to women, and generally being a brat.

This show had SO much promise when it was announced. But everything has been squandered and ran into the ground. Chapel exists for no other reason than to be a love interest, Ortegas could be replaced with a potted plant and we would not be any the wiser, Spock is a d-bag, La’an is related to Khan for no reason at all, the episodes rarely get going before their over, the Gorn have been turned into xenomorph stand-ins, Kirk is in this show for the sake of it (ditto Scotty), and the show keeps relying on ridiculous gimmicks.

This cast deserve so much better.

I’m very much behind this statement, agreed.

Playing xenophobia/racism for laughs is not a cute look for any writer. And they seem intent on rehashing that from the god-awful Season 3 clip we’ve seen. For a franchise that is so progressive in its values, it’s a staggering misfire.

This. So, so much this.

I loved S1 E1 “Strange New Worlds,” and S2 E2’s “Ad Astra per Aspera,” so they really CAN do real Star Trek when they want to. I’m not sure why people who can give us episodes like those also think it’s good to give Trek “funny” racism or to turn the Gorn into monsters.

I’m starting to wonder if Akiva Goldsman has Dissociative Identity Disorder (what used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder and may still be more widely known by the general public under that term). One personality seems to understand and thoroughly love the heart of Star Trek, but then there’s the other one that seems juvenile and insensitive. It’s strange.

Fully agree with everything you said here. It’s very spot on.

Being a fan since 1968 and Spock one of my favorite characters of all time I was very excited for SNW. But it was short lived as they made the characters feel juvenile and Spock came off like court jester in so many of the episodes. And I won’t talk about how bad the Spick and Chapel relationship feels to me.

I’m not a fan of Discovery and thought Picard was mostly subpar. I was hoping against hope SNW brings back the spirit of the golden era of Star Trek and instead while the stories at least feel closer that direction they still feel very superficial, ham fisted fan service like Kirk and T’Pring and really awful character arcs; Spock easily one of the worst.

And don’t get me started on the silly Gorn.

And you’re always right to agree with Silvereyes! 🙂

OMG how sweet! I knew you were a good judge of character! (Just kidding). But I do agree with you Legacy (about the other stuff) and M1701 put it very eloquently when they said “the episodes rarely get going before they’re over”. How true. Nothing of substance ever seems to be happening…

Yes the show has fallen more into comedic soap territory than anything of real substance. There are a few episodes I certainly like, but they are too few in my view. I actually did like the LDS crossover believe it or not but by then my expectations for the show was so low I had mostly stopped caring by that point.

The show certainly very looks nice with a good cast but it just has nothing of importance to say outside of a few episodes. It’s nowhere near the level of TOS, TNG or DS9 and most of the show is basically forgetful.

Once again, I have to sadly agree — especially that the series’ original core cast deserve so much better.

Ethan Peck is doing a good job with what they give him to play — no blame attaches to him — I just don’t like what they’re giving him to play.’

While I agree that the fundamental problem is the writing, I’m not so sure about that. He seems to take great enthusiasm in hamming it up, which probably incentivizes more bad writing. We didn’t see this with Peck or Mount on DISCO season two.

The show is taking what should have been his defining role and turning into BEDTIME FOR BONZO.

Well, we don’t know what the director is telling him. I was assuming that his acting silly during the “humorous” episodes was intended by the writing and direction.

Peck started out knowing how important Spock was and wanting to get it right, as he said in numerous interviews. But if they’re writing him either far-too-human romantic twaddle or stupid crap that’s supposed to be funny, I’m not sure what he can do to redeem that.

Yup.

He spends Season One being an ass to T’Pring

She wasn’t exactly treating him so wonderfully herself. If you marry someone serving in the military or as a diplomat, or working in a similarly high-octane role, you need accept that work (like critical negotiations with a newly-contacted species!) is sometimes going to take precedence over dinnertime or date night.

Welcome to how Hollywood writes relationships. We famously saw the same thing in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, where Andy’s boyfriend was constantly needling her over the demands of her job.

The show just shouldn’t have introduced T’Pring at all (regardless of how well Gia Sandhu channels Arlene Martel). Less is more. The storyline where they were betrothed as kids and never subsequently met until “Amok Time” was a lot more compelling than opening SNW with the two of them hooking up.

The show just shouldn’t have introduced T’Pring at all (regardless of how well Gia Sandhu channels Arlene Martel). Less is more. The storyline where they were betrothed as kids and never subsequently met until “Amok Time” was a lot more compelling than opening SNW with the two of them hooking up.

I agree with this SO strongly! My fear when SNW was announced was that they would mess up Spock … and they’re doing so.

100%

I cannot reconcile this Spock with the one we grew to love in TOS and the original six movies. I know it’s the same character and I know that people change as they get older- but I cannot see any glimmer of the Spock I’m familiar with. Ironically, I could see that glimmer when the character appeared in Discovery.

When Spock had to unleash his emotions in order to help him fight the Gorn at the end of Season 1, I was hoping that the beginning of Season 2 would see his unrestrained emotions causing some sort of problem on a landing party, resulting in his committing firmly to the path of Surak and to emotional control.

Instead, we see him dally with Chapel and sound heartbroken when she’s more casual about the relationship than he is, resulting in his deciding to restrain his emotions because he’s too big of a coward to take risks with his heart. THAT’S NOT SPOCK!!

In addition to being WILDLY out of character, having Spock re-commit to emotional control because of a sad love affair is very HUMAN and not at ALL the kind of story that folks should be telling about Spock.

WTF? Do the makers of SNW hate Spock? I guess they must, or they wouldn’t be undermining and dismantling him like this.

I mostly love SNW, but I hate what they’re doing to Spock and what they’re doing to Vulcans. Thank heavens Leonard Nimoy didn’t have to witness this.

As time goes on, it is becoming more and more clear that as big a fan of the franchise Akiva Goldsman may be, he is not very skilled at writing or producing for it. I’m one of the (very small) minority that enjoyed Picard Season 2, but even I can admit that middle stretch was a confusing mess that didn’t really go anywhere). And his work on SNW has been woefully at best, sloppy at worst.

I get the need to modernise the franchise and give each series its own unique feel (one of the things that VOY and ENT were guilty of was being TOS/TNG-lite), but SNW is just not good TV (to me, of course). This is what happens when you commision a TV show to appease detractors of another show.

Does anyone remember how the female crew members were treated in the OS?

And this should be even more reason for them to do better this time around, quite frankly.

of course, this spock is the one we saw in ‘the cage’ on his way to being the character in ‘where no man….’ and then into the OS

Ironically, I really enjoy T’Pring in SNW. I just wish that they were able to expand her character besides being a love interest for Spock.

But this show seems intent on sidelining women into romantic roles or flat out underutilising them entirely. I was SO excited to learn more about Una and I love Rebecca, but aside from Ad Astra Per Aspera, she’s basically a glorified extra- along with Ortegas.

The writers have no idea who Spock is. They’re making it up as they go along.

True, unfortunately.

They certainly do not.

They’re making it up as they go along.

Welcome to the world of writing. Most shows make it up as they go along.
They probably have an idea where they want Spock to end up, which is what we saw in The Cage and/or TOS, but it’s unlikely they started this show with a detailed plan how to get there.

Agree on all counts.

I don’t usually listen to your podcasts, because I’m hard of hearing, so podcasts are hard for me, and speech-to-text programs don’t work all that well. But I just HAD to listen to this one; thanks so much for the wonderful interview!

Like Laurie, I adored “Subspace Rhapsody,” and I’ve been playing the album since it came out, in addition to watching the actual episode seven times and watching some of the songs on YouTube over and OVER again. “Obsessed” is not too strong a word. :-)

I was amazed to hear that they wrote all those songs in only five weeks! And I was glad you asked whose decision it was to have Spock be the one to begin the singing, since I thought that was a great choice, and the songwriter’s explanation of wanting to “begin and end with a head explosion” was cute and funny.

I love it that Star Trek has so much cultural weight that when people who — like Kay Hanley — are only casual fans are asked to work on Star Trek, they take it VERY seriously because they know it matters.

It’s funny, but I was thinking just yesterday that Laurie had said that she REALLY wanted to interview Polce and Hanley, and I wondered why there hadn’t been such an interview yet, and here it is! Thanks so much.

Yessssss! This was for you too, then. The time and effort they put into every moment of each song was obvious in the final product, but wasn’t it fun to hear how they got there? So glad you enjoyed it… I really did want to dig into the details and they did not let me down. Thank you so much for listening!

There is a lot to admire about the care they took to bring this to screen. No matter how I feel about SNW right now, this was beautifully executed, and I have a new appreciation for how involved and difficult this was.

I hope, hope, hope that in some future episode (like TNG Parallels) where we see a variety of other universes, in one of them the crew is singing and dancing. Shoot, I wish someone would go back and add that to TNG Parallels!

Nice interview. I was not prepared for the intensity of their Boston accents!

I live in Boston, so I didn’t notice that they even HAD accents. :-)

Wellll, Amazon sold at least one vinyl today. Did not know that existed!

One year ago? Crazy

Not a fan of these gimmicky episodes. SNW comes across as parody Trek.

Agreed. Too many and more coming.

Keep a song in your heart for James Darren, dead at 88.

Just heard. That’s too bad.

Speaking of music, James Darren passed….

The best is yet to come….

Just to tag along here – one of the fundamental problems with SNW is that in DSC Season 2, Pike sees his future and it’s the future we (the audience) believe will be his fate.

This is already terrible for the later SNW writers to create around – but then the producers made a decision to lower the intensity of this storyline in Season 2 – withdrawing any gravitas the character has.

OK, but why? For what?

It can actually be an honest reflection of how the character feels about it. When a woman gets a certain kind of cancer, even caught at stage one and after successful chemo, there is still a 96% chance it will recur, almost certainly within 5 years. If a person is practical-minded rather than delusional, she might become fatalistic about it, or simply invoke the part of the serenity prayer about what to do about things you can’t do anything about. Pike may simply have made the best peace he can with this.

….Hitting home, point well taken.

That’s a solid observation, and I believe it’s been implied as such.

james darren r i p.

will always be vic fontaine to me

Really hope James Darren is deemed worthy of a post here, not just social media. This is the main hub for TrekMovie, he was essential to multiple important episodes of Star Trek, and there’s no other news happening on top of that. Let’s have a chance to remember him properly. It’s not depressing, it’s respectful..

I can totally respect the technical part of this episode, from Scripting, to song construction, to performance. I have one little hangup about it, and it’s making all this something canonical. Star Trek’s insatiable self-imposed to mandate to come up with reasoning for it, really hurts it. But this was a great podcast episode, and an enjoyable episode of this cast doing a musical. There is no shame in liking loving it. As soon as they get into the singing, I’m all for it.

I’ll be honest, I often skip right to the musical numbers when I rewatch. And I listen to the soundtrack a LOT.