One of the moderate successes of
Star Trek:
Nemesis, to a limited extent, is Goldsmith's attention to the
established Trek themes of the past. The title theme for the series
(which he created in 1979) is sparsely used, with two fleeting
performances with a hint of that original film's elegance accompanying
the opening and closing shots of the Enterprise. Otherwise, despite the
eruption of the theme late in "The Scorpion," it doesn't receive the
many subtle variations that the score could have used with great
effectiveness. Reportedly, this decision to mute the theme was
intentional, Goldsmith's recognition of sadness in this final film. Here
or elsewhere, there is no thematic tribute to the Romulan race or even
to the composer's favorite old Klingon theme, which isn't even applied
to Worf in this picture. Goldsmith does resurrect the four-note theme
representing both adversity and friendship that was the centerpiece of
his work for
The Final Frontier. Heard extensively in
First
Contact and only once poignantly in
Insurrection, this
optimistic idea is used for various friendship-related purposes,
including Riker's wedding to Troi and Picard's friendship with Data in
Nemesis at the start and end of the film, though these passages
are usually restrained to soft woodwind performances. More intriguing is
the return to the original Starfleet motif from
The Motion
Picture in "Argo" and "Course Plotted," the former a literal restart
of that rhythmic effect that is extremely welcomed in this context. The
end credit sequence is an odd case of conflicting attributes. In some
ways, it is poorly conceived and performed, with a strikingly
melodramatic and lush variation on the Shinzon theme that doesn't fit
with any of the material heard prior (hardly an appropriate farewell to
these characters). It's a beautiful comment on what could have been for
Shinzon, but it's simply out of place. Goldsmith had been using the same
end credit suite format since
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,
and while some superb sound quality for its performances in the previous
two films revived its appeal, the same equation sounds stale, forced,
and awkward in
Nemesis. Granted, the three final Goldsmith
scores' credits suites had an awkward and sudden drop-off from the
fanfare to the secondary theme, but none is so bizarre as the shorter
version of this one. The fuller version of the cue (with over two
minutes of full Shinzon battle material added) alleviates this problem
to an extent, but there still exists an odd disconnect at that
juncture.
The unfortunate failure of the
Star Trek:
Nemesis end titles suite, titled "A New Ending," may also be due to
the fact that its performance of the main theme is uninspired and
distinctly too slow in tempo, nearly crawling compared to the previous
few films. It is also overshadowed by the incorporation of the popular
1929 song "Blue Skies" to commemorate an emotional turn at the end of
the film, in addition to the seemingly out of place performance of
beauty for the Shinzon theme. Several smaller motifs and recognizable
singular structures from
The Final Frontier and
First
Contact exist in the late battle sequences of
Nemesis, and
the combination of timpani, pulsating basses, and noble brass will be
friendly tones to the ears. It becomes evident rather quickly that
Goldsmith decided to take no chances with this project. Other than his
attempt to underline the dramatic weight of the story, he injected no
new life into the series and ended up with a functionally suspenseful
and action-packed but stylistically void result. The frustrating aspect
of
Nemesis is, of course, that it was a perfect opportunity for
Goldsmith to take a chance. Imagine the power that he could have
harnessed had the money been budgeted to use a full chorus for the
score, or even a single operatic male voice for the Shinzon character
(we all know that Picard appreciated his musicals and operas). Perhaps a
seductive element of lyricism, or even the introduction of something
different from the same old zipping electronics, could have played
better to the emotions in this installment. It is also possible that
producer Rick Berman, who had been known to prefer understated and
conservative scores for the series (hence, the involvement of Dennis
McCarthy in so much of the "Trek" franchise), refused to allow for more
creative liberties to be taken with this score. It's difficult not to
get the impression, however, that Goldsmith was simply going through the
motions in
Nemesis. The synthetic effects are alone good proof of
this theory; the electronic sounds normally applied to the franchise are
accentuated with a prominent role in this score that they cannot
adequately fill because the composer did not develop them into any
memorable new form. What happened to the creativity of the Blaster Beam?
When these generic effects were a rhythmic accompaniment, as they were
in
Insurrection, they functioned well. Here, they collapse when
put under pressure, offering nothing more than the notion that the
villains in this particular film have more technological savvy than the
heroes. These sounds, like the other elements in the score, are sadly
two-dimensional.
Compounding the problem with
Nemesis is its
considerably dampened sound quality. For a performing group of over 80
members, the score doesn't resonate with the same life as the previous
two scores in the franchise. The sound quality on the final track in
particular is considerably muted. The dynamic mix and extra
reverberation in
Insurrection is especially missed, though this
sense of vivaciousness alone would not have saved this score on album.
As had been the case with
Insurrection, however, a substantial
portion of the music that provided a more rounded experience in the film
was simply left off of the original commercial product by Goldsmith's
choice. That Varèse Sarabande album release is not as attractive
as the previous entries by GNP Crescendo, which had gone defunct by
2002. No extra artwork, enhanced features, third-party essays, or
production photos for this album were offered, and producer Robert
Townson's overblown claims of this score's greatness in the liner notes
are very dubious in opinion and offer little of interest about the
creation process of the score. Not surprisingly, almost immediate
bootlegs of Goldsmith's score squeezed in at about 80 minutes of
material, featuring identical sound quality. The bootlegs did have some
attractions that Goldsmith chose not to include on the 48-minute retail
product, including the gentle and elegant performances of the title
theme for the ship. Most curious is the fact that the very strong tandem
of "Preparing for Battle" (or "Battle Stations") and "Team Work" (or
"Let's Go to Work") weren't chosen for Varèse's album, because
the prior establishes an attractive singular theme of determination that
was memorable in the film; it was this major omission from the album
that caused so much initial interest in the bootlegs. In 2013,
Varèse finally rectified the problem by pressing a 2-CD set for
the score that included all pertinent recordings. Most interesting for
fans of the score will be the Starfleet motif cues and the alternate mix
of the whole score for the film that is featured on the expanded,
limited product. For casual listeners, the difference in between the two
mixes (in mainly percussion and synthetics) won't be significant. On the
whole, however, the longer albums mostly expose redundant material that
suffers from the same problems as the rest of the score. It's easy to be
sentimental about
Star Trek: Nemesis because it largely marks the
end of Goldsmith's career, but that can't excuse the score's many
faults. A tired, procedural attitude gives the work a mechanical
personality that stifles its minimal attempts at creativity in tone.
This music boldly goes nowhere, and it remains a major disappointment.
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