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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Much has been made about the decision of Enterprise's producers to attract a more pop-oriented audience by dumping an orchestral title theme for the show. Despite those producers' continuous attempts to explain their reasons for the use of the pop song in a traditionally orchestral setting --a flight from tradition that underscores a larger irritation with score fans in general since the mid-1990's-- the hardcore fans of the series have rejected the song. At the launching of Enterprise in 2001, the song was even a mockery in some circles, with fans claiming to hit the mute button on their television whenever the credits for the show began. The song itself isn't new, of course, which is part of the problem. Its writer, Diane Warren, while capable in writing several successful movie songs, has her own habitual detractors, and while British tenor Russell Watson has been well received in other genres, his performance of the song here has won him no significantly greater popularity either. In short, the use of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" for a Trek show simply didn't work for most fans. Several reasons for this exist: First, tradition exists for a reason, and unless a really, really good song had been chosen --perhaps with both pop and orchestral instrumentation-- the idea was difficult to begin with. Second, the song (despite its lyrics) doesn't embody any of the characters. When you watch a few episodes of the show, you don't get the kind of arrogance, confidence, or hardcore impression that the song would seem to indicate. Third, the scores of the episodes have nothing to do with the song, which is a considerable problem. The title piece simply can't stand alone without reference. Fourth, the primary composer for the series, Dennis McCarthy uses a different theme for all other parts of the show. Overall, the song is nothing less than a flop, and it wouldn't be surprising to hear something different over those opening credits for Enterprise in future years. After all, if even Andromena can correct a terrible opening title piece in its second year, then Enterprise could do the same. The role of Dennis McCarthy in the Trek franchise is a vital one. In addition to his composition of the score for the seventh feature film, Star Trek: Generations, McCarthy was a staple in the recording of scores for the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine series. Ironically, his work for Enterprise is less restrained than any of his previous television scores for the franchise. At a time when the title song of the show is taking it further from its roots, McCarthy is then allowed to make much more extensive use of thematic material in the actual episodic material. His theme for Captain Archer is adequate, if not faintly elegant in a down-to-earth kind of way. The references to this theme throughout the first dozen episodes alone has created a better consistency in the orchestral material than in the beginning of the shows past. McCarthy does a few other things that could be considered positive or negative, depending on your opinion of his work. He uses an often subdued, passive, and wishy-washy string and brass style that never quite explodes with the same action as a feature film score. He continues to use a harmonica, which rightfully drives some people up a wall --he's been doing that since early Next Generation episodes. He has a method of changing key to signify scene changes (extensive in DS9), and that is beginning to wear thin in its lack of originality. And his own pop recording of the Archer theme at the end is a bit token. On the other hand, to his credit, McCarthy interprets his own theme from Star Trek: Generations into the "New Horizons" cue, and also inserts some of the grinding synthesized sounds from Goldsmith's original movie score into the Klingon chase scene in the pilot episode. There are also a handful of his action cues ("Phaser Fight" and "Tempioral Battle," both of which also reference Goldsmith) which reach beyond his usual tepid scoring for these episodes; this may or may not be due to the fact that score was recorded midday on September 11th, 2001. On the whole, the music for Enterprise takes a few small steps forward, but also some giant leaps backwards for Trek-kind. For all the hype about going in a new direction with the music, the title song fails to set a popular and strong standard, and the orchestral underscores are still all too familiar to be considered new. Although franchise fans would have objected, the producers would have done better to avoid McCarthy and instead "popify" the underscores while they were already doing the same to the opening titles. If Russell Watson is the new voice of Trek, then at least insert him --and verses of the song-- into the underscore at regular intervals. As it stands, the music for Enterprise is one giant contradiction that has failed in what the producers set out to accomplish. The album is an equally curious item. It includes, like those that came out for the many series before it, the score for the pilot episode and a few versions of the title piece. With Watson's involvement, the label switches from the familiar, though sputtering GNP Crescendo to the more mainstream and thriving Decca/Universal. Despite a whole year of episodes long finished, the packaging of the album is still restrained to the extremely uninteresting early promo shots of the principle actors standing around in those blue jumpsuits. Sound quality is also a major concern. The remix of the title song for the first track features spectacular surround sound, but all of the score and the TV-version of the song at the end suffer from a muted quality that is detrimental to the listening experience. The ninth track, "Grappled," is expecially muffled. This has been a problem with these episodic albums in the past, but one would think that 2002 mixing techniques and the resources at Universal could make McCarthy's undersized orchestra sound considerably better than it does on this album. As it stands, the song is out of place, the score is contradictory, and the sound quality is questionable. What were they thinking? Some closing advice on the title theme: Budget the money, assemble a decent ensemble, get a top notch recording studio whiz or two, and hire Jerry Goldsmith (before his health completely fails) to do it right. ** NOTE: Be aware! This is another auto-launching "Enhanced CD." If you put this album into your computer to listen to it, the CD will automatically load the multimedia features, and in some cases, this could crash your computer (depending on its activity level when you insert the CD). Since some computers make it very difficult to disable "auto-launching" or "auto-running" functionality, these auto-launching audio CDs are simply unacceptable, and the record label takes no responsibility for any damage or data lost on your computer.
Insert includes bland artwork, but a note from the composer about recording the score on 9/11/01. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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