Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you are unfamiliar with the feature Star Trek scores and seek the original classic of romance, adventure, and suspense that influenced most of the subsequent sequel music. Avoid it... if you are content with the original 1986 CD album and have no use for 25 minutes of somewhat redundant score material and an entire CD of interviews on the expanded 1999 set. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture: (Jerry Goldsmith) Despite a strong following of devoted fans after just a few years on television, Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" concept was floundering. NBC had cancelled the sci-fi show by the outset of the 1970's and an animated version in the middle of the decade was by no means a success. A full-length theatrical feature reviving the cast of the original show a few years later was a massive financial risk for Paramount, with fundamental production problems plaguing the highly anticipated Star Trek: The Motion Picture for years. Arguments over the script, special effects, and other elements of the film caused endless delays and last minute changes. The best that Roddenberry and famed director Robert Wise could offer for the film's December 1979 release date was no competition for George Lucas' Star Wars franchise, which surpassed the fledgling Star Trek alternative in nearly every way possible. After disappointing box office returns and critical indifference, Roddenberry's fortunes would only turn around with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, a less spectacular film but one with a phenomenal story and equally impressive special effects. It's hard to imagine that even as the finishing touches were being put on Star Trek: The Motion Picture (less than a week before its wide opening), there was no expectation that any franchise would follow. The awesome visual effects of the film, provided by numerous groups eager to compete with the Star Wars universe, played to a resurgence in audience interest in the fantasy genre. These effects, along with Jerry Goldsmith's historically significant score, are the two commonly credited reasons why the project, despite its many faults, led to so much more success down the road. There are many reasons why Goldsmith was the appropriate choice for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, including both his established credibility in the 1970's science-fiction scene and his close friendship with the likes of Alexander Courage and Fred Steiner, composers who had contributed greatly to the music for the original television series. Goldsmith brought both of those composers on as orchestrators and enlisted friend and conducting collaborator Lionel Newman to help supervise the recording sessions. In later interviews, Goldsmith often thought back wistfully about his experience on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, acknowledging its frustrating creation while also enjoying the hope that Roddenberry's vision represented. For the composer, the "Star Trek" universe was a welcome friend in which he would spend much of the latter stages of his life. The origins of that involvement, however, weren't as peachy. Due to the considerable post-production delays and other problems, Goldsmith was left with little finished material by which to be inspired. The special effects sequences, which make up a significant portion of the film (to its detriment in the excruciatingly slow pace of its latter half), were not finished, nor were the titles. With only the live action scenes in the first half of the picture to guide him, Goldsmith wrote an elongated, fluid, and romantic theme for the Enterprise, a theme he was unsatisfied with. Initially lacking confidence in this theme, the delivery of the special effects changed his mind, and he altered the tune to match the lofty heroism, but not aggression, that the visuals suggested. Much of the early variations of his theme for the vessel remain in "The Enterprise," the lengthy cue that introduced the updated ship for audiences to marvel over. Goldsmith's conceptions of the film's beauty and message caused him to abandon 25 minutes of his own score after two months of writing and recording. He continued to write and record material up to six days before the release of the film, and Courage was even asked to contribute to the effort with a couple of recordings of his original television theme for "Captain's Log" sequences in the film. One of the reasons the score was such a daunting task was because of Goldsmith's unwillingness to miss a prime opportunity to explore not only a plethora of themes and motifs, but also the unusual instrumentation with which he had experimented throughout the 70's. The ideas that he conjured for Star Trek: The Motion Picture were so effective in their precision that they inspired nearly every piece of music to follow in the franchise. The pervasive influence of these choices was such a grand match to the film's tone that they earned him another Oscar nomination (though he lost to a lovely, but not as deserving A Little Romance by Georges Delerue). Only two of Goldsmith's five major motifs for Star Trek: The Motion Picture carried over directly to the cinematic and television spin-offs that followed, though the character in both those and the other three would still heavily influence the franchise. The aforementioned theme for the Enterprise was so well received that Roddenberry insisted that it be merged with Courage's theme to form the identity of the immensely successful "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Also used by Goldsmith as the primary identity of the ship's future incarnations in the later film sequels, this theme is among the most easily recognized in modern entertainment, signing off with the conclusion of the "Next Generation" cast's involvement in 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis. The appropriately bold, but humble theme is optimistic in tone, establishing a foundation for his four sequel scores and directing the Emmy-winning theme for "Star Trek: Voyager." The title theme's over-exposure through the years has had the effect of diminishing the pleasure that many of its sparse, early recordings can yield in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The primary statements in the two title sequences lack some refinement and seem strikingly simplistic compared to the acoustically brilliant recording of the theme at the end of digital-era scores like Star Trek: Insurrection. The far more interesting renditions of the theme exist in the snippets that appear throughout the actual accompaniment to the film's action, highlighted by "The Enterprise," which puts the idea through its most elegant permutations of the entire franchise. One of the lasting disappointments about Goldsmith's use of this theme in subsequent films was his unwillingness or inability to continue exploring the potential of the theme outside of its fanfare applications; some of the more enjoyably nostalgic (and short) cues in the last three of Goldsmith's scores for the franchise were those that briefly treated the Enterprise-E to a toast of this material. The softer, whimsical performance of the theme in "The Enterprise" is a direct extension of the romantic intent behind "Ilia's Theme," the score's secondary theme. There has been no theme like it in the franchise's future, truly a shame given Roddenberry's upbeat notions of culture and exploration, though with the television series and films becoming increasing sinister in tone as they approached the 2000's, the lack of anything as graceful is perhaps a consequence of reality-oriented script writers. One of the keys to Goldsmith's success with Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the simple fact that he managed to combine the beauty of "Ilia's Theme" and the softer variants on the Enterprise theme with the stark suspense music for the Vejur invader, a balance that Goldsmith would only attempt to extend (with limited success) in some of his four sequel scores (with Star Trek: Nemesis excluded). Despite all the hoopla about the other parts of the score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture that would inevitably shape the future of the franchise, it is ultimately "Ilia's Theme" that remains as the definite highlight of the score. The suite arrangement of the theme, led by the elegance of a concert-positioned grand piano, was partly used as the overture to the film, and despite a few references throughout the score in relation to the romance between Ilia and Decker, its applications are frustratingly sparse. The theme doubles as the idea of resolution for the Vejur spacecraft, which requires a metaphysical connection between the two characters. Its fleeting conclusion comes in one final grand performance in "Vejur Speaks." The score's other major three themes are all introduced immediately in "Klingon Battle." The theme that Goldsmith penned (late in the process) for the Klingons themselves is understandably used only in this cue, however the primal hunting instinct inherent in the theme's slightly exotic rhythm and low brass would return in various forms throughout the following nine films. James Horner offered a similarly percussive, though less memorable theme for the species in his second sequel score, while Goldsmith expanded upon his original idea in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and used it as a token reference to the character of Worf in his last three sequel scores. Also introduced in "Klingon Battle" is the motif for the mysterious cloud that destroys the Klingon cruisers and Federation station, with the Vejur craft at its heart. This theme's suspenseful, yet awe-inspiring and almost religious tones are a precursor to Goldsmith's Poltergeist music, and its performances dominate the later portions of the score. A minor theme for Starfleet is heard first in "Klingon Battle," and this alternating minor/major-key rhythm is used frequently in the score (especially prominent in "Leaving Drydock") for both the ambience of Starfleet and the suspense of their current mission. This idea inspired later scores' treatment of Starfleet, including Cliff Eidelman's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. A 90-piece orchestra was used to record Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the quality of that recording has always been strong. Adding distinction to the score is Goldsmith's instrumental creativity, however. Outside of the organic percussion in "Klingon Battle," the composer foreshadows his work for Legend and other later fantasy scores with an array of synthetic sounds, some of which unique to this score. The most obvious element debuting here is the "Blaster Beam," Craig Huxdley's invention of the long, metallic tube with a scaling magnet used to produce different pitches of sound of extraordinarily harsh and deep tones. Frightfully resonating in the bass region, this clearly menacing instrument is another representation of the mysterious Vejur cloud. It serves as an extremely effective futuristic signal for the concept and offers an expansive presence in the bass region rarely realized before electric guitars and matured synthesizers tackled the same soundscape in the 1990's. The idea was reprised to an extent by James Horner in his sequels, and Goldsmith would use a fully synthetic version of it to represent the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, but the instrument itself was not used in subsequent scores. The fact that it didn't even travel to film scores in other genres is testimony to the originality of this particular score. To augment the "Blaster Beam," Goldsmith used his usual zipping and zapping sound effects in the effort, and "The Cloud" and other cues of suspense are treated to lengthy wind and surf-inspired effects that would return in Total Recall. The religious tone of Poltergeist prevails later in "The Cloud" and reaches a organ-aided climax in "The Meld." The role of the percussion, whether it's the pounding strikes of single piano keys or the tapping of wood and metal elements, is another important factor that Goldsmith would finally revisit in Star Trek: Insurrection. The recording of the overall ensemble is, as you might expect, quite dynamic and defies its 1970's origins. In sum, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is one of the few scores that truly deserves the title of "classic masterpiece." It was a huge factor in salvaging a troubled production and defined the music for a franchise to come. The depth of its secondary themes has never been repeated, and no following sequel score has been so richly endowed with such a perfect blend of romance, suspense, and adventure. One structural aspect of the score to make note of is the end credits, which followed the formula used by John Williams for Star Wars. In this and all of his subsequent scores for the franchise (along with Horner and Eidelman), Goldsmith bracketed the secondary theme with the fanfare for the Enterprise. The transitions between the main theme and Ilia's theme here are more fluid than in the composer's last three formula end title structures. From the standpoint of listenability, Star Trek: The Motion Picture has its share of distinct highlights and, like Star Wars, moments that you skip if only because they have been made redundant by superior sequel recordings. The moments of suspense involving the Voyager craft are delights for hardcore Goldsmith enthusiasts, while "Ilia's Theme," with its clever influences from the famed title theme, remains a favorite for casual collectors. Both of the primary themes were translated into disco or pop songs not affiliated in any way with Goldsmith or the film. The score is often represented on re-recorded compilations by prominent orchestras around the world. Most often performed is "The Enterprise," which Goldsmith himself conduced for a 1997 compilation of his sci-fi works entitled "Frontiers." This cue is the staple of any similarly themed compilation, conducted even by John Williams for the Boston Pops, and the more illustrious compilations have tackled the "Klingon Battle" cue (including an intriguing rendition conducted by Erich Kunzel). Performances of "Ilia's Theme" are strangely more rare, despite the cue's inherent concert arrangement. In its original recording, Star Trek: The Motion Picture has received only two major commercial releases on CD. An early, 1986 album was pressed by Columbia to match the original LP release and featured exactly 40 minutes of Goldsmith's music (out of film order). Most of the major cues were represented on this album, however, and with sound quality equal to the later expanded pressing, some fans may be adequately served by this product. In 1999, to mark the 20th anniversary of the film, Sony/Columbia added 25 minutes of music to their expanded offering and threw in a compilation of 1976 spoken interviews with Roddenberry and cast members (among other short items) on a second CD. Goldsmith himself chose which cues to include in those additional 25 minutes, and diehard fans will still find pieces (including Courage's short contributions) missing from the album. But those fans will be treated to newly released cues of substantial length from all portions of the film, with the selections finally arranged into film order. Some listeners could consider this lengthy album to be overkill, for some of the Vejur music is indeed redundant, though the inclusion of both "Vejur Speaks" and especially "A Good Start" (which is essentially an extension of "The Enterprise" cue) are welcome additions. There was much consternation and outward hostility towards Sony at the time of this album's release, for it was widely advertised as having a November 1998 release date but was forced into countless delays due to marketing conflicts with the release of Star Trek: Insurrection. Producers and executives assigned blame to each other for quite some time. Both Sony and Paramount teased fans for months with a product they could not have, and while these bad memories are irrelevant now, they caused some bad press regarding the product at the time. Overall, the "Inside Star Trek" feature on the second CD won't appeal to everyone (some might consider it yet another marketing ploy), though the slightly higher retail price of the album as a result of that content is still worth 65 minutes of the score. On either release, the score is guaranteed to be rewarding for fans of the franchise and otherwise. It is, simply put, among the best of Goldsmith's outstanding career.
1986 Columbia Album: **** 1999 Sony Album: ***** Overall: ***** Track Listings (1986 Columbia Album):
Total Time: 39:58
Track Listings (1999 Sony Album):
Total Time: 74:27
* previously unreleased All artwork and sound clips from Star Trek: The Motion Picture are Copyright © 1986, 1999, Columbia, Sony Legacy/Columbia. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/24/99, updated 4/19/08. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1999-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1986 Columbia