Star Trek I: The Motion Picture - Various Artists

When Star Wars exploded into the Hollywood scene in 1977, it sparked off a great interest in sci-fi and fantasy films. Many attempted to make another "Star Wars" success by making large scale sci-fi movies and TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Moonraker and Star Trek. When it was decided to make a feature length film out of the cult-series of the late-1960's, Star Trek - The Motion Picture of 1979 was hoped to spark off the same kind ...
...the helm in 1982 with Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan that the francise picked up pace into the more action oriented adventure genre.

When Jerry Goldsmith was taken on board to score the film, it was hoped that he would compose something in the heroic Star Wars vein (although one must admit that the film is far from the heroic nature of the main theme Goldsmith came up with). Goldsmith was originally afforded with very little time ... more

When Star Wars exploded into the Hollywood scene in 1977, it sparked off a great interest in sci-fi and fantasy films. Many attempted to make another "Star Wars" success by making large scale sci-fi movies and TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Moonraker and Star Trek. When it was decided to make a feature length film out of the cult-series of the late-1960's, Star Trek - The Motion Picture of 1979 was hoped to spark off the same kind of interest and fan-response of Star Wars. After all Star Trek had been growing in popularity through syndicated re-runs and the audience was certainly there. The budget given to the film was enormous, the special effects were first class at the time, the film was helmed by the legendary director Robert Wise, and the music was provided by one of the leading composers in Hollywood, Jerry Goldsmith who had just won an Oscar in 1976 for The Omen. So everything seemed to be well and the film was expected to become a huge success. There was only one flaw: the story. Like the TV pilot for the original series in 1964 was originally labeled "too good for television," the story for the motion picture followed a more thoughtful pattern. There were many stretches in the film that had no dialogue in it for minutes on end, the story dragged very badly and most people found the film to be exceedingly dull. It was not until Nicholas Meyer took the helm in 1982 with Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan that the francise picked up pace into the more action oriented adventure genre.

When Jerry Goldsmith was taken on board to score the film, it was hoped that he would compose something in the heroic Star Wars vein (although one must admit that the film is far from the heroic nature of the main theme Goldsmith came up with). Goldsmith was originally afforded with very little time to compose and record the score, but the result was one of his greatest classics ever and it is definitely one of his best. Goldsmith began by writing the cue "The Enterprise" where the main theme is developed to it's fullest over the course of six minutes, making a great highlight of the score and from there on the music developed into many different directions. The main fanfare was exactly what was required. It was instantly memorable, pompous and, like its Star Wars counterpart, has become perhaps a little too well known. The performance is a little more simple than in later Goldsmith Trek's, but for a first appearance is well-enough presented. This fanfare is particularly prominent in the beginning of the film in the cues "Total Logic", "The Enterprise", "Leaving Drydock" and "A Good Start", as well as of course in the "Main Title" and the "End Title".

Apart from this famous showpiece, there is the music for the mysterious V'Ger, characterised by the use of the "Blaster Beam," a kind of big, metallic bass guitar, that makes a wonderfully other-worldly sound. This instrument works as the musical embodiment of V'Ger which, whenever it appears, has something to do with the entity, most notably in the cue "Total Logic" when Spock feels the entitys presence in the middle of his ritual to purge all remaining human emotions. James Horner also made use of the instrument in his two Trek scores, but unfortunately the Blaster Beam disappeared after Trek III and has not been heard of since (at least to my knowledge). The other big theme is the one for Ilia, that translates directly into the love theme for Ilia and Decker. This is Goldsmith at his most romantic and the theme also serves as a kind of overture in the form of "llia's Theme." Also making its debut is the famous Klingon theme that would later figure prominently in Star Trek V: the Final Frontier. This theme became the source from which all subsequent Klingon themes were derived from and the opening sequence ("Klingon Battle") is one of the most exciting action sequences in all of Star Trek's history.

Due to the long dialogue-free stretches of the film, the importance of the music became even greater. This allowed Goldsmith to freely paint his music in long strokes for considerable time periods, while always keeping in mind the overall architecture of his scoring. The long cues inside the V'Ger cloud were scored with many electronic effects that when combined with the orchestra make for some great self-sustaining and aural music, like in the cues "The Cloud", "Vejur Flyover", "The Force Field" and "Spock Walk". There are also some atmospheric space cues where the music just seems to float around the room weightless. These are mostly found from "Klingon Battle", Floating Office" and "Spock's Arrival".

20 years after the first appearance of Goldsmith's instantly recognizable main theme for Star Trek: the Motion Picture, Columbia/Legacy have finally released an expanded and re-mastered presentation of the original Goldsmith score, called the "20th Anniversary Collector's Edition". Finally included are the tracks "Floating Office," "Spock's Arrival" and "A Good Start" so long missed by fans of the music (and me too if I had been old enough). Compared to the more action-oriented sequel scores, this first effort by Goldsmith shines as a more refined and ambituous attempt to score Star Trek in a more introspective and intellectual way, something that the later sequels didn't allow. The music still sounds great and this release brings most of the musical material from the film in a very fine package, complete with indepth liner notes and cue descriptions. Included is a second CD called "Inside Star Trek" which is mostly Gene Roddenberry talking about Star Trek with guest appearances from some of the cast members. It is an interesting listen, but nothing really special. But the music is well worth all the praise it can get. If someone has the original soundtrack release that contained roughly 40 minutes of material, then this expanded version might not be all that important. The music there contains most of the important material you'll likely need, but if you are among those completists like me that think the more the better, then this expanded release is a must have. All in all, Star Trek is one of those classics that are a must in any basic film score collections.

- - TRACK LISTING for the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition - -

1. Ilia's Theme (3:01)
2. Main Title (1:23)
3. Klingon Battle (5:27)
4. Total Logic* (3:44)
5. Floating Office* (1:03)
6. The Enterprise (5:59)
7. Leaving Drydock (3:29)
8. Spock's Arrival* (1:58)
9. The Cloud (4:58)
10. Vejur Flyover (4:57)
11. The Force Field* (5:03)
12. Games* (3:41)
13. Spock Walk (4:19)
14. Inner Workings* (3:01)
15. Vejur Speaks* (3:50)
16. The Meld (3:09)
17. A Good Start* (2:26)
18. End Title (3:16)

* Previously unreleased

- - TECHNICAL DATA - -

Music Composed and Conducted by Jerry Goldsmith
Produced by Jerry Goldsmith / Didier C. Deutsch & Darcy M. Proper
Orchestrated by Arthur Morton, Alexander Courage & Fred Steiner
Edited by Ken Hall
Engineered by John Neal
Recorded at 20th Century Fox Music Scoring Stage
Label: Columbia/Legacy, 1979 / 1999 (489929-2)

© berlioz
 

...less