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Buffy Musical Ep "Was Our Bar": Strange New Worlds Co-Showrunner

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Henry Alonso Myers on how "Buffy" musical ep "Once More, with Feeling" was the "bar" for "Subspace Rhapsody."

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It's not like Paramount+'s Anson Mount (Pike), Rebecca Romijn (Una Chin-Riley) & Ethan Peck (Spock)-starring Star Trek: Strange New Worlds needed to do anything more this season to impress us. But then they go and flip the script by dropping a musical episode, with S02E09: "Subspace Rhapsody" (written by Dana Horgan & Bill Wolkoff and directed by Dermott Downs) featuring 10 original songs & a special version of the series' main title, with music & lyrics by Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo) and Tom Polce (Letters to Cleo, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). But if you're like us, when you hear "musical episode" then your brain thinks of one still sitting at the top of the list – 2001's Buffy the Vampire Slayer S06E07: "Once More, with Feeling" (written & directed by Joss Whedon).

strange new worlds
Image/Screencap: WBTV, Paramount+

In the episode, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and the rest of the "Scooby Gang" face off against a demon who forces them to reveal their true thoughts, feelings & fears – with songs. It's pretty spoiler-safe to say that the crew of the Enterprise isn't tackling any demons this week, series co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers made it clear that the episode was the "bar" that they wanted to reach with this week's episode. "That's one of the best-made ones. It was done very well. It's really smart and thoughtful. It has big heart," Myers shared during an interview with EW.  "The only thing I will say that I distinctly thought differently was that they wrote their own music, and I knew that that was a little more than we could handle. But that was kind of like, let's challenge ourselves to be as good as the best of this [genre]. That was our bar," he added.

Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is based on the years that Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise, following Pike, Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) during the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise as they explore new worlds around the galaxy. The streaming series also stars Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La'an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas, and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M'Benga. The second season will also feature the return of special guest star Paul Wesley as James T. Kirk and new addition Carol Kane in a recurring role as Pelia. Jack Quaid (Boimler) & Tawny Newsome (Mariner) from "Lower Decks" will be crossing over in a live-action way this season, directed by none other than Jonathan Frakes.

Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 is produced by CBS Studios, Secret Hideout, and Roddenberry Entertainment. Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serve as co-showrunners. Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet serve as executive producers in addition to Alonso Myers, Aaron Baiers, Heather Kadin, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth.

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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