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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you're interested in hearing the roots of all of Horner's great motifs and thematic styles in arguably one of the best Star Trek scores. Avoid it... if the abrasive, harsh recording quality and/or Horner's sea-faring style seems out of place for you in the franchise. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Encouraged by Horner's highly innovative science-fiction sound (on a low budget) for Battle Beyond the Stars, Meyer handed the scoring assignment to the then completely unknown James Horner. Fresh out of college and working on trashy B/sci-fi films, Horner was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Like Cliff Eidelman nearly ten years later for Star Trek VI, Horner would jump at the opportunity and write the score of his career. Fortunately for Horner, the outstanding recognition achieved from Star Trek II would lead to an extremely productive and lucrative career in Hollywood... something which Eidelman is still struggling to obtain. In those years since Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Horner has also become one of the most controversial composers on the block. Known for borrowing material from his own, previous scores, Horner fans can often point back to Star Trek II as being the source for many of Horner's trademark, career motifs. Thus, even if you believe in the Horner self-ripoff theories, you must admit that Star Trek II is still a fantastic score for debuting all of these ideas at once. Horner's approach to the Star Trek universe was entirely different from Goldsmith's. Instead of winning over audiences with the spectacle of space travel, Horner treats space no differently than he would the savage, yet exhilarating era of high seas adventures back on earth. The opening title, exploding with its swelling theme for the Enterprise, is a preview of the monumental statement of this theme for the "Enterprise Clears Moorings" scene. The swashbuckling angle is prominent as the Enteprise seemingly unfurls its sails and heads out to rough seas. The theme takes you back to the adventures scored by Erich Korngold, with masted ships in close combat, displaying the brilliance of their own colors and sails. This interpretation by Horner makes sense, given the parallels between space fleets and sea fleets. Meyer's film follows the sea battle mode until Spock and Kirk defeat the evil Khan by reminding the audience that space is three dimensional and therein lies the key to winning the battle between the Reliant and the Enterprise. Complimenting the nautical title theme is the Spock/Vulcan theme, introduced in Star Trek II and fully expanded in Star Trek III (and briefly by Eidelman in Star Trek VI). The ethereal nature of Spock's meditation and death scenes in Star Trek II would be well suited by Horner's material, and the connection between the second and third films would be crucial in these regards. Horner pays a basic tribute to the previous Star Trek score by using a blaster-beam kind of effect to add power to some of his base whole notes --a technique used by Goldsmith. Oddly, they can't be heard as well on album as in the film, where they serve as backing for Horner's harsh brass. The real key to success for Horner's Star Trek II score, however, is the brutal energy and enthusiastic battle music that follows the Khan character in his quest for revenge. During the two major battle sequences, and the escape from the Genesis explosion that ends the film, Horner unleashes a primordial power from his orchestral ensemble that perfectly resembles the harsh, rough edges to Khan's brilliance. A relentless, percussive rhythm is accompanied by the introduction of Horner's four-note motif (representing evil in general) that would follow him for twenty years of scoring. The sheer energy generated by the orchestra during these action sequences is magnificent, and parallels similar cues offered in Brainstorm. It doesn't cease until the beautiful explosion of the Genesis torpedo at the film's climax. No better a representation of Khan's single-minded character could be made. It's hard to imagine how Horner could accomplish this overwhelmingly engaging sound with 80 musicians when you compare his score to something like Dennis McCarthy's Star Trek: Generations, which featured two dozen more musicians and accomplished nothing close to the same power. A charged performance by Horner's chosen musicians is likely the reason for the disparity. The album for Star Trek II features only 45 minutes of music, but keep in mind that there was only about 60 minutes of music for the film, and the missing cues are largely insignificant (except, perhaps for the short on during which the captain takes a shuttle up to the Enterprise at the outset of the journey). One of the beauties of Star Trek II was Nicholas Meyer's intelligent use and non-use of music, with several sequences left to sound effects or dialogue. Thus, Horner's effort is well represented, though sadly out of order, on the ancient GNP Crescendo album. A re-issue of some kind would preferable for the two Horner scores on that label, though it is probably not feasible given the cost. The album features Leonard Nimoy's vocal performance of the standard Star Trek epilogue over the beginning of the end titles suite, a tasteful finale to a classic score. Fans of the Star Trek franchise all agree that this score is superior to the more watered down Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but debate continues about the merit of Star Trek II when compared to the first Goldsmith score and Eidelman's single entry. At any rate, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan would inspire great Horner music in Brainstorm, Krull, Willow, and The Rocketeer, and remain a fine example of a score with which a young composer made his name. *****
Insert includes a note about Horner's career up to 1990, as well as a synopsis of the film's plot (with spoilers!). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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