Buy it... if you have already established an affinity for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and seek a faithful extension of that sound with a little more spice, but less coherency.

Avoid it... if your favorite parts of Star Trek II were the relentlessly brutal, driving action cues, for the replacement of that tone with mystic Vulcan material in this entry is vaguely anonymous in stature.

Horner

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: (James Horner) Shock and dismay had overwhelmed the nucleus of "Star Trek" fans in 1982; by the conclusion of the otherwise popular Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spock was dead, and a beloved fixture of the television show and first two films was gone. Before production on Star Trek II could even be finished, the uproar over such a potential outcome was realized by the series' producers, and the bulk of the third film was devoted to bringing the character back to life. The film also re-introduced the hated Klingons into the mix and gave life to the cloaking Bird of Prey, a vessel which would become the most recognizable class of "Star Trek" ship outside of the Federation for mainstream audiences. After a resurrected Spock is rescued from the rapidly aging Genesis planet and the Enterprise is destroyed, he joins his former crew aboard the Bird of Prey to save a pair of whales (and thus the Earth) in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, creating a tight, continuous trilogy within the franchise's films. As a story, Star Trek III achieved its main goals as a bridge, setting the original cast back in motion and preparing the way for a newly designed Enterprise in the next film. As the series took a respite from dark melodramatics, actor Leonard Nimoy helped point the series in the direction of comedy in Star Trek IV before returning once again to tackle the troubles of the universe at large in the extremely inferior fifth entry. With Nimoy at the helm for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (his screen time is obviously held to a minimum anyway), he made the wise choice to maintain continuity between the second and third films by utilizing composer James Horner's services once again. Horner's score for the previous film had been a stunning success for the newcomer, a harsh, but bold sea-faring score worthy of spirited adventures in space. Not only had the composer utilized Alexander Courage's original television theme and revisited Jerry Goldsmith's Blaster Beam effect, but he had also integrated a Spock-specific theme into the second film that could be elaborated upon as a central theme in the third one. It's intriguing to recall that in 1984, Horner had established himself as the "Star Trek" franchise composer, briefly unseating Goldsmith. The younger composer's career would outgrow (so to speak) the "Star Trek" universe after the third installment, though, and he would turn down several opportunities (according to Horner) to bring his sweeping theme back for another "Star Trek" film.

Even though Star Trek III was largely considered a failure as a film, Horner's score was not completely to blame. The Klingon commander, Lord Kruge, despite Christopher Lloyd's welcome theatrics, was simply no match for Khan as a villain, and the filmmakers resorted to the death of a minor character and the self-destruction of the Enterprise to carry interest. Horner picked up right where he had left off with Star Trek II, beginning the prologue of the third film with the same contemplative tone that finished the previous one. He then launches into the recognizable sea-worthy title theme for the franchise, a broad identity that continues to rival Goldsmith's in quality. The slightly exotic, but attractively majestic theme for Spock and the Vulcans occupies a significant role in the score; their mysticism is accentuated by a synthetic aiding of the orchestra in order to create a religious ambience for the Katra ritual that occurs at the end of the film. The theme is gorgeously explored by the full ensemble (with some synthetic help) in "Returning to Vulcan," and while the idea would be sadly missing in its entirety in the lackluster Star Trek IV score by Leonard Rosenman, Cliff Eidelman strongly suggests it in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. When not carried by solo woodwind, glassy instrumental effects create the tone for this idea, and in "The Mind Meld" and "The Katra Ritual," its statements are obscured by a whimsical atmosphere. The only significantly new development from Horner for Star Trek III is the primitively clanging theme for the brutish, haphazard Klingons. Horner handles this disgruntled group of glory-seeking warriors with a percussive rhythmic approach that resembles the striking, banging style of Khan's theme, but far less focused. The melody of the Klingon line is oddly oriental in style while also maintaining a very unsophisticated edge. A solo trombone wails away at will, without any guidance or attention to clear tone (and apparently guided only by how much breath the player has at a given moment), and this usage may or may not ruin the theme for fans who like the crisp performances of Goldsmith's established Klingon theme. That said, Horner's Klingon representation has a certain amount of quirky funk to it that better exposes the grungy side of Klingon life. Critics of the film laugh off Horner's attempt to score the Klingons, and there is reason to understand why they ridicule it; with all the banging of silverware in that theme, one would think that it's constantly dinnertime. The theme's application in "Bird of Prey Decloaks" produces a highlight of the score when merged with the other themes, however.

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In the end, the most positive aspect of Star Trek III relates to its mere continuity with the previous score. Even though it cannot compare with Star Trek II, this score wins considerable praise for its ability to offer a consistent system of themes and orchestrations with the previous score. The recording quality of the two scores is remarkably similar, except perhaps for the two main Klingon sequences, which sound dull because of the instrumentation chosen for the cues. The score follows the trademark of making a magnificent thematic announcement as the Entrprise leaves drydock. In this case, the ship is being stolen, and the chase cue for the Enterprise and Excelsior is rich with action motifs recognizable from Star Trek II, including the score's only major use of the Blaster Beam effect. This cue's optimistic opening string figures (foreshadowing Willow's whimsy) and references to the prior score (and Courage's theme) make it a highlight despite containing some ideas inspired by Sergei Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky (even more clearly evident than in Star Trek II). Negative criticism of the score, outside of some listeners' obvious distaste for the Klingon theme, relates to the replacement of Khan's action music with an emphasis on the more subdued, contemplative Vulcan material. While it contains plenty of potential, that music doesn't achieve the magnitude of fantasy and awe as needed, and thus, the lengthy mind meld and Katra ritual cues suffer from some disappointing anonymity. On album, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is not as attractive of a product as its predecessor. Once again, the package from GNP is outdated, with archival sound quality and a running time of about 40 minutes. The end credits suite is missing the iconic dialogue from Spock and instead listeners are treated to an awkward and completely out of place pop rendition of Horner's title theme. It's not entirely clear who takes responsibility for green-lighting this atrocious adaptation with cheesy 1980's pop band elements. While Horner may have been responsible for it, the badly dated track sounds suspiciously similar to something that GNP's Neil Norman would produce with his band. That track aside, the Star Trek III score is still not as strong as its predecessor by any means of comparison, and a weary potential buyer should definitely investigate Star Trek II first, especially with its prices on the market remaining less. Ultimately, Goldsmith gladly took back musical authority over the series in subsequent years, but Horner's two contributions to the concept are fondly remembered for their lofty title theme, their continuity and, perhaps most importantly, their enthusiastic performances. ***

Bias Check:

For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.12 (in 89 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.34 (in 158,767 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.