The Klingon theme specifically has been recorded with a far better sense of style by Erich Kunzel. The track from Deep Space Nine by Dennis McCarthy is the good find, though, with the cue not available elsewhere at the time. Following the Star Trek realm is a suite from Steven's When Worlds Collide, a fabulous 50's sci-fi flick with overly dramatic brass fanfares and timpani rolls. Fresh choral accompaniment makes this recording unique. James Horner's Battle Beyond the Stars was unreleased at the time as well, making it a selling point of the album, but its performance here is lacking compared to the original (likely due to poor orchestration). The tracks from The Thing from Another World, Twilight Zone, and Battlestar Galactica fail to muster much interest, with the suite from Battlestar Galactica oddly arranged. Ending the first CD is a combination of two tracks from David Arnold's Stargate. The opening cue from Giza cuts to the "Going Home" track at an peculiar junction, but touches well on the broad scope of the score. The second CD begins with perhaps the worst track on the entire collection. The badly dated electronic garbage that appears here from Forbidden Planet sounds like it came directly out of Disneyland's old Tomorrowland Peoplemover in the 1950's. Truly wretched synthesized noise, to say the least. By contrast, Gustav Holst's "Mars" theme from The Planets is a blast of Hans Zimmer's shamelessly emulating Gladiator, though the original inspiration is easily superior in its performance here. As always, Alan Silvestri's "End Titles" from Contact is beautiful in a philosophical sense, with this lengthy recording capturing the appropriate religious and moral undertones of the original. The two tracks from Starship Troopers open with the frenetic "Bugs!" action cue, a difficult pill to swallow in any performance. The performance of the score's title theme, though, is much better than the original, using the full force of Prague's enormous sound to better accentuate the masculinity of Basil Poledouris' score.

A difficult prospect to find at the time was Silvestri's Predator, and its title theme is provided here with all the sharply ripping percussion required by its distinctive rhythms. There have been better performances of War of the Worlds, particularly from the Erich Kunzel compilations, but this suite contains considerably more music from score. The most unnecessary inclusion on this set is John Williams' "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back, a piece that Prague had not performed for the first set and must have felt compelled to throw it on this one to help sell units. With so little variation in its performances, the piece has become a tired inclusion on many compilations, and its rendering here is bass-heavy and lacking in resonance. Christopher Young's track from Invaders from Mars is the equivalent for this compilation to what Species was for the last: a reflective, quiet, well-mannered melody to close out its film. Shirley Walker's highly anticipated Space: Above and Beyond accompanied the television series that suffered a dismal death due to lack of network enthusiasm, but a heroic suite lives on here. Joe Harnell's theme from the mini-series V will be forgotten just a minute into the symphonic version of Jack Nitzsche's Starman that follows. With sentimental, sweeping strings and choir, this could be the highlight of the set. The suite from Arnold's Independence Day is superior to those recorded on other compilations, with a full chorus to add vital patriotic depth to the finale of the suite. The solo cello in its mid-section is outstanding. The final "bonus" track on the compilation is a return to The Thing from Another World. Dimitri Tiomkin's unconventional instrumentation for the score yields an overbearingly powerful solo theremin effect that'll be sure to make your neighbors think that the world is coming to an end. Remarkably irritating, but delightful in any sound effect library. Overall, even with a few duds mingling in "Alien Invasion: Space and Beyond II," it's a highly enjoyable set. With its continued success, Silva would continue to release similar compilations in the future.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download