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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Star Trek: Enterprise (Dennis McCarthy)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you can forgive the inappropriate rock song over the
opening titles and the tired orchestral formulas thereafter despite
honest efforts to spice up the episodic scores with percussive and
electronic personality.
Avoid it... on all but the 2014 4-CD set that contains the best summary of impressive music from the series, including engaging entries by Brian Tyler and Mark McKenzie.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Star Trek: Enterprise: (Dennis McCarthy/Various) At
the conclusion of the long-running Paramount "Star Trek" shows set in
the 24th Century, the studio requested another series for the early
2000's. While the concept's veteran producers obliged, their attempt to
shift the focus of the series to a grittier past was met with only muted
enthusiasm. At its inception, "Star Trek: Enterprise" didn't even
include "Star Trek" in its title, and Paramount encouraged the show to
break the mould that had defined the franchise's success in prior
entries. Sadly, "Star Trek: Enterprise" ultimately became the ugly
duckling of the various franchise properties at the time, and it became
the first "Star Trek" series since the 1960's original to be prematurely
cancelled before the standard seven-year run of its peers. Time has been
kind to the show in retrospect, its closer ties to future events in its
latter two seasons establishing it as a worthy extension of the "Star
Trek" universe, and Paramount's successor, CBS, eventually saw fit to
develop other concept series in the past a decade later, albeit with far
less satisfying results. At the start of "Star Trek: Enterprise" in
2001, though, some fans of the seemingly ageless franchise, despite a
looming feature film that was a year late in production (Star Trek:
Nemesis), lost interest in the subject. With only the one show
sustaining the concept in the absence of a strong film series at the
time, "Enterprise" was all there existed for fans of Gene Roddenberry's
vision of the future, and it didn't resemble much of what they'd seen
before. The legacy of the music of "Star Trek" understandably caused a
demanding standard of quality for that music, even in the television
shows. While Jerry Goldsmith's Emmy Award-winning theme for "Star Trek:
Voyager" remained popular long after the end of that show, the music for
"Enterprise" did not enjoy the same level of widespread acclaim at any
time in its shortened run. Like the other shows, an album of the pilot
music for the 2001 series was released right away, taking advantage of
one of the more controversial aspects of the production. Much news was
generated by the disastrous decision of the producers to attract a more
widespread, pop-oriented audience for the show by dumping the usual
orchestral title theme, and that song anchored the initial album.
Despite continuous attempts by the producers of "Enterprise" to explain their reasons for the use of a contemporary rock song in a traditionally orchestral setting, a flight from the norm that underscored a larger reason for irritation with score collectors in general since the mid-1990's, many hardcore fans of the series immediately rejected that 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 wasn't really new, dating back to its use in the movie Patch Adams, which was part of the problem. Its writer, Diane Warren, while having proven herself capable of creating several successful movie songs, had her own habitual detractors, and although British tenor Russell Watson had been well received in other genres at the time, his performance of the song here won him no significantly greater popularity, either. In short, the use of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" for a "Star Trek" show simply didn't work for most fans, for several reasons. First, tradition exists for a reason, and unless a really good song had been chosen, perhaps with both pop and orchestral instrumentation, the idea was a difficult prospect to begin with. Second, the song, despite its lyrics, never embodied any of the characters. When you watch a few episodes of the show, you don't get the impression of arrogance or confidence that the tone of the song would seem to suggest. Third, the scores of the episodes have nothing to do with the tone of the song, which is a considerable problem. The title piece simply can't stand alone without reference, regardless of whatever half-hearted attempts may have been made to integrate the melody into the orchestral narrative. Fourth, the primary composer for the series, Dennis McCarthy, devised a completely different musical identity to define the main theme of the collective scores for the show via their end titles. Overall, the song was nothing less than a flop, and despite some talk that the producers would eventually change it out in subsequent seasons, that action was never taken. (Its instrumentation was rearranged at the start of the third season, but that arguably made it even worse.) This stubborn position by the producers was especially disappointing given that other shows, including "Andromeda" in its second season, had already corrected their own, obvious title music problems. Some listeners have argued through the years that "Where My Heart Will Take Me" is nowhere nearly as terrible as it could have been for "Enterprise," and that is a valid point. For many in the mainstream, the song will be quite attractive. But it's simply not a viable match for the circumstances of this particular franchise. The episodic scores for the show were also a point of departure for the concept, Paramount finally realizing that the extremely conservative, mostly orchestrally-minded but often restrained music for the 24th Century shows was not competing well at all against Jerry Goldsmith's popular music for the feature films. Finally, with "Enterprise," the composers were encouraged to utilize prominent percussion and electronic effects as part of their ensemble, opening many new avenues by which the scores could flourish stylistically. Franchise veteran composers Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway were brought on board immediately, and workhorses from the more recent "Star Trek" franchises, like David Bell and Paul Baillargeon, returned as well. The role of McCarthy in the history of the franchise was a vital one. In addition to his somewhat underachieving composition of the score for the seventh feature film, Star Trek: Generations, McCarthy was a staple in the recording of scores for both "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine." He approached "Enterprise" with a sense of relief despite the existence of the title song, for he was finally allowed to make much more extensive use of wide instrumental tones and thematic material in the actual episodic music, the latter also formerly a taboo in the previous shows. His theme for Captain Archer is an adequate adaptation of the spirit of the Warren melody, if not faintly elegant in a down-to-earth kind of way, though it remains remarkably similar to his melodic constructs for Star Trek: Generations. Importantly, this idea serves as the de facto main theme of all the scores for the show, applied even outside of his own episodic entries for the honor aspect of the overarching plot. The references to this theme throughout the first dozen episodes alone created a better consistency in the orchestral material than in the beginning of the previous shows. The combined work by all the series composers doesn't consistently apply any additional themes for other concepts, however, the absence of which, especially in the case of the compelling, unfinished love story between main characters T'Pol and Trip, is a disappointment. Generally, the music for "Enterprise" is more varied in tone and often more aggressively postured than the scores for preceding "Star Trek" series. The involvement of franchise veteran composers does bring the comfort of consistency, though some of the best episodic contributions came from newcomers like Brian Tyler, Velton Ray Bunch, and Mark McKenzie. Even McCarthy's own scores were often superior once he began collaborating with Kevin Kiner to spice up the music. Even so, the combined music for "Enterprise" is hit-and-miss, generally average on the whole and diminished in the end by the pesky presence of the song. As expected, there are individual highlights sprinkled throughout the series, episodic scores that offer more engagement with the listener. Several albums have been released for "Enterprise," ranging from the original 2002 Decca product reflecting the pilot episode, "Broken Bow," to a pair of 4-CD sets from La-La Land Records in the 2010's containing significant amounts of music from the fuller swath of composers involved. This review will focus on each album release as a representation of the show. Generally, McCarthy does a few other things in "Enterprise" that could be considered positive or negative, depending on your opinion of his work. His score for the pilot established a more familiar base for the show initially. The composer uses an often subdued, passive, and wishy-washy string and brass style that never quite explodes with the same level of intensity as a feature film score. He continues to use a harmonica, which rightfully drives some people up a wall, something he had been doing since early "The Next Generation" episodes. His anonymous, slightly dissonant material for the purpose of tension, as in "Temporal Battle," is underwhelming at best, and it is this kind of mundane personality that diminishes his music greatly. He relied upon a method of changing key to signify scene changes, a technique heard extensively in "Deep Space Nine," and that procedural tactic was beginning to wear thin in its lack of originality. His Warren-inspired, pop-laced version of his theme for the captain in "Archer's Theme" seems a bit token. On the other hand, to his credit, McCarthy interprets both a fragment of Alexander Courage's "Original Series" theme and his own theme from Star Trek: Generations into the "New Horizons" cue, and he also inserts some of the grinding, synthesized sounds from Goldsmith's original movie score into the Klingon chase scene at the start of the pilot episode. McCarthy's music for "Broken Bow" and beyond takes a few small steps forward but also some giant leaps backwards for the franchise. There are a handful of action cues in the pilot, led by "Phaser Fight," which reference Goldsmith as well, that 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. The 2002 album 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 song. With Watson's involvement, the label switched from the familiar though sputtering GNP Crescendo to Decca/Universal, but despite debuting after a whole year of episodes long finished, the packaging of the album was still restrained to the extremely uninteresting early promo shots of the principle actors standing around in their silly blue jumpsuits. (Had the fanboys at GNP produced this CD, a shot of a mostly naked Jolene Blalock would have been included, guaranteed.) Sound quality on the 2002 product is also a major concern. The remix of the title song for the first track features spectacular resonance in sound, but all of the score and the actual television version of the song at the end of the product suffer from a muted quality that is significantly detrimental to the listening experience. The ninth track, "Grappled," is especially muffled. This inconsistency had been a problem with these episodic albums in the past, but one would think that 2001 mixing techniques (and the resources at Universal available for an album presentation remix) could make McCarthy's undersized orchestra sound considerably better than it does on this product. The varied sound quality carries over to the episodic scores that followed, some composers' work sounding far more vibrant than others.' Some of this difference could be attributed to the presence of electronics or disparate ensemble sizes, but it's fascinating to hear things like basic sectional emphasis and reverb change so much from score to score. The La-La Land 4-CD sets unintentionally illuminate these discrepancies, making them products in substantial need of culling and rearrangement by franchise enthusiasts. Not surprisingly, the quality of music on these sets, while fairly representative of major episodes in demand and the range of composers involved, does fluctuate. A significant amount of the music on these products won't engage listeners much better than the more conservative alternatives heard on the products representing the 24th Century "Star Trek" shows. In reality, all the talk about Paramount allowing these "Enterprise" scores far better presence for percussion and electronics only yielded incremental improvements in that sense. Don't expect to hear anything truly wild or experimental in this music despite the longer leash for the composers. The best results are simply slightly more cinematic in scope. The better episodic entries are collected on the initial 4-CD set from La-La Land in 2014 (the "Star Trek: Enterprise Collection"), and this product will satisfy most series enthusiasts in search of the show's more obvious and memorable music. The first CD in this 2014 set is dedicated to McCarthy's contributions, sometimes in conjunction with Kiner. The latter's involvement typically improves the McCarthy sound with more varied elements in the mix. That first CD opens with the Season 1 and 2 version of the Warren song and then launches into the two parts of the "Shockwave" episode, which very much resemble McCarthy's Generations and "Deep Space Nine" work. In these episodes, "Playing Possum" has solid brass lines in action and better percussion presence, and "Hide and Seek" is a highlight. The rest is fairly subdued and mundane, though "The Captain" closes well with Archer's theme and even a hint of Goldsmith's "The Next Generation" theme. By comparison, the episodic score for "The Expanse" is more brutal and propulsive in tone, defined by less accessible suspense, a sound that carries over to the challenging, churning rhythmic unpleasantness of "Impulse." McCarthy's music for "Twilight" contains an annoying, pounding crescendo bracketing a brief moment of yearning drama, while "Carpenter Street" establishes obnoxious dissonant whining. Kiner joins him for the electronic tilt of "Kir'Shara" (mostly ambient meandering) and the strong suite from "Countdown," a highlight of the album that contains really good action material with a synthetic-sounding edge at times. The score for "Storm Front: Part II" emulates the same, more enveloping general sound as the "Countdown" score, and the choral shades in "Stukas Incoming/The Vortex" are a nice touch. Archer's theme closes out "Home at Last" with fuller depth, and the first CD of the set finishes with an instrumental of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" that doesn't offer much solace. The second CD opens with the Season 3 rearrangement of the Warren song, which rearranges the instrumentals of the song to alter its personality a bit. The result isn't any better than the previous version, as it was still wrong for the show. The second CD in the 2014 set concentrates on Jay Chattaway's music for "Enterprise," which is less romantic and more varied in tone generally, a bit more like Mark Snow's style. In "Civilization," an exotic woodwind is the highlight, though surrounding suspense is mundane. Woodwinds highlight the propulsive, aggressive suite for "The Catwalk," and "North Star" offers a definite diversion from the norm with its sometimes awkward, Western-infused spirit with electric and acoustic guitar. "Zero Hour" has a touch of Bruce Broughton action before generic alternatives, whereas "Storm Front, Part I" is nowhere near as engaging as the second part by McCarthy and Kiner. Tasteful electronic accompaniment exists in the otherwise unremarkable "Awakening," Chattaway saving some of his best episodic work for "Bound." That score utilizes "Slave Girl Dance" as a source-like dance piece, but the music shines in the breathy effects of "Kelby Under the Spell" (a great touch) that extend well into later action to maintain the allure. A better overall melding with McCarthy's established style follows in "Terra Prime," especially in its drama, Chattaway's music here highly disparate in style but nicely resolving to the captain's theme in "Archer's Speech." The CD wraps back to a source-oriented, old Western cue of amusement in "The Catwalk." The third CD of the 2014 set opens and closes with Archer's theme from McCarthy, first in the form of the unused main title recording for the pilot, which builds to a rock personality just as unfitting for the show, and finally in a shorter rendition that is equally annoying but fits somewhat better with the tone of Warren's song. The episodic scores on this CD feature other composers' works, and Mark McKenzie's "Horizon" is an all-around great, orchestral episodic score of 14 minutes on this album. You can clearly hear McKenzie's experience from having orchestrated Goldsmith's feature film scores in the franchise, with a touch of James Horner in the softly dramatic passages as well. The score also maintains one of the composer's better career themes in the soft opening cues, the kind of sincere melody that has attracted romantics to McKenzie's work for decades. In "We're Under Attack," you hear heavy references to Goldsmith's meters and rhythmic devices, and this fantastic attitude continues in "Band of Brothers," where the Goldsmith touch remains really superb. Comparatively, the cue from "Terra Nova" by David Bell is brief and rather unremarkable, though he does develop pleasant woodwind and string ideas for Phlox in "Dear Doctor." The third CD then moves on to music by 24th Century "Star Trek" show veteran Paul Baillargeon, who provides vaguely interesting electronic vocals to "The Andorian Incident " but not much else of distinction. His take on "Vox Sola" is very conservative material for this show, but he finally expresses more range in "First Flight," including a really nice use of Archer's theme in "See You Out There" and better personality from percussion in "Prototype Crash" despite learning on McCarthy's more mundane, vintage stylings. Film composer John Frizzell's music for "Enterprise" was not his best, but on this set he is represented by the decent "Proving Ground." Though not particularly noteworthy, this score is more mature, propulsive, and exciting in its suspense tempos, emulating some of Frizzell's better dramatic horror score moments. By comparison, Velton Ray Bunch was an important addition to the composing team for "Enterprise," one advocated for by actor Scott Bakula. Bunch's "Silent Enemy" offers interesting rhythmic variations and motifs, while "Desert Crossing" is a little too sparse for what it's trying to accomplish; the orchestra sounds poorly mixed to achieve the right tone for the composition. Bakula's insistence that Velton Ray Bunch be hired on the show was vindicated by "Similitude," the lone Emmy-winning score for the series. A solemn trumpet weaves through the score, highlighted in "In Memorium," and attractive electronic pulsing and percussion layers occupy "Warp Drive Test" while "You Owe Me One" offers a moment of militaristic reverence. Bunch's score for "The Augments" presents solid rhythmic employment, highlighted by percussion and synths, and only six minutes from this episode leaves you wanting more. The fourth CD of the 2014 set contains what the label deems "fan favorites," concentrating on music by McCarthy, Kiner, and Brian Tyler. The "In a Mirror Darkly" episode's music will be the obvious target for many enthusiasts of "Entrprise" that are seeking out these albums, for it allowed McCarthy and Kiner to really shake up the formula for the music while reprising a healthy chunk of Goldsmith. The alternate universes of "Star Trek" always tend to produce the most outrageously spectacular twists in the franchise, and this episode suggests that at the conclusion of Star Trek: First Contact, warp speed inventor Zefram Cochrane greets the first Vulcan visit to Earth with a shotgun, blowing away the visitors and leading Earth to a much darker future. Naturally, the music runs on a parallel course with equal darkness of heart. The "In a Mirror Darkly" scores open with a reprise of Goldsmith's Vulcan arrival cue from Star Trek: First Contact. The recording clearly doesn't sound as good, but the connection works, and "First Contact Revisited" closes with an appropriately disjointed crescendo as the humans rush the Vulcan ship to pillage it. More importantly, both episodes in this two-parter drop the Warren song and instead use "Mirror Main Title From 'Enterprise'," an amusingly dark alternate title theme for war that is actually a little underplayed. Deep synthetic choral and snare effects are too infrequent in these episodes to be effective, though the composers pick up momentum in "Tholian Web" and "Abandon Enterprise" after underplayed, forbidding ambience. The slightly raw tone of Kiner's influence helps in especially the second part, and without some of the synthetic flourishes, much of it sounds like a later "Deep Space Nine" score. "Avenger Attacks" infuses better action into an otherwise gloomy suspense mix, and the suddenly tonal ending to "Empress Hoshi" is a nice touch. The "Regeneration" score represents the Borg-related episode from which Tyler had produced a promo album at the time. Like McKenzie, Tyler is in top form for this show, imitating some of the metallic sheen from Goldsmith's treatment of the Borg but not outright accessing his theme. Vague electronic vocal effects are adequate, and the more accessible music in the score does continue to emulate Goldsmith mannerisms. Tyler's later attack cues are more aggressively pounding than usual for the series, making his music another highlight of the set. The show concluded with "These Are the Voyages," for which McCarthy and Kiner brought a healthy dose of nostalgia. The score opens with Archer's theme in appropriately "The Next Generation" tones as the series awkwardly shifts back to the Enterprise-D. There is really fantastic ensemble force in the action of "Narrow Escape" and surprisingly heavy bass droning under the group in "Under Attack/Trip Hurt." Prototypical McCarthy light heroism from trumpet follows in "It Was Worthwhile," and "Heroic/'Trek' Theme Montage" closes with a solid melding of three "Star Trek" television show themes by Courage, Goldsmith, and McCarthy for the cross-generational send-off. The final CD of the 2014 set concludes with McCarthy's Archer theme in end credits form, this time appended by Lalo Schifrin's Paramount logo music from 1975 that became a mainstay at the end of all of these shows' credits. On the whole, the 2014 set is a strong survey of the best and most important music from "Enterprise," even without the pilot episode's music. The second 4-CD set of music from "Enterprise" was released as the "Star Trek: Enterprise Collection, Volume 2" in 2016 and follows mostly the same spread of composers heard on the prior product. The overall quality and memorability of the music on the second set isn't as impressive, but there are some highlights. The first CD opens with music solely by McCarthy, starting with the episode "Breaking the Ice," which is a very generic version of redemptive McCarthy light drama, like wholesome music from "The Next Generation" but with Archer's theme. "Sleeping Dogs" develops from typical fare to decently tumultuous soft suspense, while "The Communicator" sounds much like Star Trek: Generations leftovers and thus not very distinctive. Woodwind and brass solos try but struggle to create dramatic allure beyond basic pleasantness in "Stigma" before McCarthy offers action material in "Future Tense" that is reminiscent of the final Star Trek: Generations battle music and "Deep Space Nine" equivalents. Less interesting is "Congenitor," its constant volume of conversational light drama without any flair. On the other hand, "The Xindi" presents impressive percussion layers and growling background effects; the action of the "Escape" cue is slightly more ambitious than McCarthy's norm. Kiner joins him for the remaining entries on this CD, "Doctor's Orders" adeptly forcing a manipulation of Archer's theme into distorted mystery. The "Phlox to the Rescue" cue flourishes with Kiner's additional synth and percussion layers. From "Damage," McCarthy and Kiner's "Hijackers/No Choice" is afforded a little more reverb in its action and is therefore nicely expansive in scope. "Observer Effect" has an annoying episodic score largely defined by dissonance; a few horn solos attempt to bring sadness and contemplation to later cues (with nods to the Archer theme), but those performances aren't particularly crisp. The synthetic edge doesn't help the score for "The Aenar" much, the rendering not particularly impressive and the composition meriting a fully orchestral recording instead. As with the prior set, the second CD is dedicated to the music of Chattaway after a quick bumper of Archer's theme. Of note is the "Fight or Flight" score, with decent acoustic guitar comfort in "Archer Reverses Course" and good electronic rhythm-setting in the long suite cue that should have been provided in separate tracks. A flute joins the guitar in "Hoshi Gets Through" and closes with an excellent and rare Warren song quote at the end. Comparatively, "Detained" suffers through unremarkable underscore that finally yields to strongly dynamic action in the second cue. Among the unusual episodic scores on the second CD of the 2016 set is Chattaway's "Carbon Creek," a 1950's Americana episode with an innocent Western twang. Guitars, dulcimer, piano, and electric bass provide wholesome, low-key spirit unlike the rest of the show's music. More comfortable in the concept is material from "Anomaly," with Chattaway at his best in the brief action of "The Sphere." The "E2" episode contains attractive electronic pace-setters and synthetic wind effects in "Recap/Future T'Pol," though the dramatic and later action passages in this score aren't as interesting. Starting with better action rhythms is "Cold Station 12," though the remainder is average. Likewise, "Divergence" has some good action moments, but there is nothing to indicate that there are Klingons in the plot, a workmanlike episodic score that isn't as exciting as it could have been. The third CD of the 2016 set is dedicated to Bell and especially Baillargeon, though it's easily the weakest of the four CDs in the product. After opening with a brief bumper of Warren's theme, the CD provides really subdued conversational underscore of little interest from Bell's "Fusion." His "Dawn" score is a decent composition but is hindered by a poor recording mix, with percussion and brass muted; there is very little genuine energy in this episodic score. From Baillargeon, "The Crossing" starts with promising action rhythms early, but most of the score is highly restrained and uninteresting until its decent action ending. Intriguing electronic and percussive effects but not much else follow in "Rajiin," and "Chosen Realm" is saved by better than average action in the middle of the suite. The flat recording of "Hatchery" makes it sound like it's from the 1970's, with no breadth to the music whatsoever. Closing the CD is Baillargeon's "The Forgotten," beginning with a solid sense of urgency at the outset but diminishing to muted drama. The "Reptilian Attack" cue is restrained by poor placement of percussion in the mix, though there is a moderately attractive romantic ending to "Goodbye Elizabeth." The fourth CD in the 2016 set concentrates on the composers who were new to the "Star Trek" universe at the time. A softer, short bumper of the Warren theme precedes the "Canamar" episodic score by Tyler. It opens with some hints of typical Goldsmith chord shifts and explodes with action material that stands apart from the other composers in technique and scope. By "End of Kuroda," the brass is really ripping and aided by wet percussion. It's an exemplary episodic score, ending with a touch of Goldsmith nobility. Unfortunately, the remainder of the CD isn't of the same quality. Frizzell's lone entry on the 2016 set is the score for "The Forge," with an eerie synthetic opening not sustained in tone during the rest of the episode; the music is surprisingly devoid of character until late in "Syrranite Sanctuary." The "Acquisition" episode is known for one of the funniest scenes in the history of the franchise, showing a Ferengi trying to interrogate Archer's pet beagle using a universal translator until another Ferengi exclaims, "It's a lower life form, you fool!" The score by Bunch for this episode has a touch of Michael Kamen's Die Hard stalking in "Krem & Muk on Board" and "Ferengi Showdown," which is ironic, given the plotline. Aside from some engaging dynamism in "Trip Chased," there's not much humor in the score, or even much of a narrative at all. Likewise underwhelming is Bunch's "Exile," which fails to generate much genuine excitement. Low key suspense with good electronics in the cue "Into the Chamber" from "The Council" dissolve for Bunch into later cues that lose distinction until better action in "Weapon Launched." Finally, the "Affliction" episode provides too little emotional connection in the score. There's some exoticism but without much dynamism in the mix of "T'Pol's Daydream," and synthetic effects in "Klingon Augments" are not very effective despite hints of Goldsmith brass. Genuine coolness does follow in "Columbia First Flight," highlighted by its synth choir, and "Warp 5.2" builds to one of the series' better unresolved ensemble climaxes. The album closes with the same McCarthy end credits Archer theme as the prior set. The La-La Land label continued to release "Star Trek" show music into the 2020's, and a 2022 4-CD set, "Star Trek Collection: The Final Frontier," included exclusively "Enterprise" music on its final CD. That disc opens with McCarthy's unused main theme but launches into a bevy of really good action material by multiple composers that had been missed on prior sets. The McCarthy and Kiner cues from "Damage" and "Borderland" are varied and merit attention, the former including a n impressive, long propulsive action cue pairing despite an annoying dissonant passage in the middle and the latter leaning more on percussion and particularly good reverb. The only Baillargeon inclusion is from "Rogue Planet" and offers understated suspense highlighting woodwinds. Likewise, only one cue comes from Bell on this CD; in "Minefield," he provides engagingly urgent, rhythmic brass in the first half. The product dedicates more than 38 minutes of time to Velton Ray Bunch, but his material is not up to par with that of the other composers on this collection of "Enterprise" leftovers. The Bunch cues on the 2022 set begin with stalking suspense and some striking moments late from "Silent Enemy" and continue to two cues from "Marauders," for which he offers highly varied styles for the Klingons, with eleven minutes covering sparse action and lengthy suspense. A few dramatic moments but not memorably attractive ones follow in the "Judgment" cues, and a dry mix likewise really inhibits the two cues from "Harbinger," in which Bunch provides thumping electronics along with skittish action, the nice synthetic accents overall betrayed by the mix. For the selection from "The Council," he offers lengthy suspense rhythms with continued electronic thumping, and the Vulcan wedding cue from "Home" understandably restrains itself with stoic contemplation before its quietly agonized conclusion. The Chattaway tracks are the highlights of this disc, "United" leading with a broader soundscape and better spread of synths and orchestra, an excellent action rhythm joined by a consistent ascendant motif. In "Cold Front," well layered percussion meets a somewhat dissonant action stance, and "The Seventh" is represented by an accomplished climactic cue with excellent brass and a great dramatic send-off at the end. A bit more non-descript but still decent rhythmic suspense awaits in "Vanishing Point," while "Anomaly" presents a large-scale, ominous brass and percussion confrontation. The ascending motif from "United" returns with bombast in "Azati Prime," really solid electronics and brass over percussion in the mix. The "Enterprise" music on the 2022 set is action-heavy and attractive, with Chattaway's cues the highlights. Overall, McCarthy's music for "Enterprise" is comfortably familiar (when not aided by Kiner), while Chattaway and Bunch both provide distinct highlights at times. Bell and Baillargeon disappoint but Tyler and McKenzie are predictably superb. If you limit yourself to just one album of only "Enterprise" music, definitely select the first 4-CD set from La-La Land in 2014. The best music from the three albums could produce a really entertaining single CD, but the remainder consistently underwhelms. Despite all the hype about going in a new direction with the music, the title song failed to set a strong, popular standard, and the orchestral underscores are still too familiar to be considered refreshingly new. The music for "Enterprise" is one giant contradiction that has failed in what the producers set out to accomplish. The total lack of connection between the rock song and the episodic scores is inexcusable but predictable. As it stands, the song is out of place, the widely disparate scores are completely disconnected from it, and the sound quality is extremely variable. Poor strategic decisions and execution doomed this show and its music.
TRACK LISTINGS:
2002 Decca Album:
Total Time: 49:28
* written by Diane Warren and/or performed by Russell Watson 2014 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 290:25
* written by Diane Warren and/or performed by Russell Watson 2016 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 305:51
* written by Diane Warren and/or performed by Russell Watson 2022 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 78:37
(Only CD 4 on the compilation is relevant to Star Trek: Enterprise.)
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2002 Decca album includes bland artwork but also a note from the composer about
recording the score on September 11th, 2001. The inserts of the 2014, 2016, and 2022 La-La Land sets contain
extensive notes about the show and scores.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Star Trek: Enterprise are Copyright © 2002, 2014, 2016, 2022, Decca Records, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/6/02 and last updated 7/1/22. |
