Fortunately, Giacchino's work for Star Trek is infinitely better than Rosenman's insipidly positive and underpowered distraction. It may largely defy the musical canon of the franchise, but it's an entertaining score in its own context. The 107-piece orchestra and 40-member choir produces enough bombast to please almost any adventure fan, though the recording unfortunately doesn't feature the truly monumental, wetter mix that became standard with Goldsmith's later entries. Upon cursory evaluation, Star Trek could very well seem like a monothematic score, for Giacchino's employment of his new title theme is so engrained in a multitude of cues that it's difficult to shake after a while. The progressions of that theme aren't particularly dazzling, contorting in familiar phrases that mimic the most pleasing portions of Arnold's Casino Royale, Danny Elfman's Batman, and even a few simplistic, token Hans Zimmer neo-classical favorites. Its lyricism seems almost suited better for a hyperactive Broadway musical than a space opera that begs for a touch of vintage Erich Wolfgang Korngold influence. Both the structure of the theme and its repetition, not to mention several performances truly rich with low brass accompaniment (a bass trombone and three tubas do make a substantial impact), give the impression of ballsy style that roots the title theme closer to Bond territory than one traditionally for Captain Kirk. The almost overbearing use of the theme is somewhat of a disappointment; it literally does exist in nearly every major cue, changing its instrumentation and pacing but never questioning its own strongly cemented identity. It's also a theme that doesn't really function well in fragments. Goldsmith always handled this by utilizing the first four notes of his "friendship theme" (alternately representing Starfleet at times) as an alternative to breaking up and over-exposing his title fanfare. Some listeners may find Giacchino's theme to be too simplistic or one-dimensional to hold dear to heart, even if it is so prevalent that they can't help but hum the tune as they exit the theatre. By comparison, the explosion of Courage's fanfare and theme in the ten-minute finale and end credits cue is so blatantly out of place that it could ruin the application. Some intelligent counterpoint in the opening sequence of the "End Credits" may not save the awkwardly forced use of the classic theme in this loyal, but comparatively badly dated rendering. Unlike the ultra-cool bursting of the Bond theme at the end of Casino Royale, the "Original Series" theme here holds little viable continuity in terms of style when placed against Giacchino's tone for the reboot.

The score's two major subthemes vary greatly in their originality. Giacchino's ideas for the vengeful villain, Nero, his Narada ship from the future, and the treachery of the Romulan race on the whole are a bit predictable. The progression of his pounding, deep brass theme (applied mostly for Nero) uses minor thirds and a descending construct that is not too dissimilar to Goldsmith's handling of the similar villain in Star Trek: Nemesis. Thankfully, he also chose to apply a wicked array of percussion to the character and his species, and for this task, he went in search of unconventional sounds. His journey took him to a Los Angeles warehouse of unusual drums and other noise-making objects, from which he decided upon the banging of a 10-foot Coca-Cola sign, among other things, to accentuate the static, rhythmic propulsion of the character. On album, both the Nero theme and this bizarre percussion can be heard clearly in "Nero Sighted," though listeners expecting to hear a sound as brazenly unique as Goldsmith's "Blaster Beam" from Star Trek: The Motion Picture will be disappointed by how pedestrian most of the effects sound in the final mix. A combination of whacking on metallic, folding chairs and unconventional use of snare and cymbals (as Horner did in The Missing) would have yielded an equal result. That said, the theme is at least functional, able to instill a sense of dread even when not quoted in its entirety. Conversely, the third theme by Giacchino for Star Trek is its saving grace. Representing Spock and the Vulcans is a lovely, yearning piece that surprisingly defies the cold logic of the species by conveying the greatest, most sympathetic heart. Given that they are a primary target for genocide in the story, this isn't perhaps too much of a shock, but when you have to seek the tenderness in the Vulcan portions of any Star Trek score, despite Horner's second entry bordering on that idea, you know you have an unusual personality for your music in this franchise. Conveying this theme is the two-stringed Chinese erhu, reminiscent of a human voice and, in this case, altered electronically to represent the problematic relationship between the Vulcans and their Romulan offshoots. With gorgeous harmonic resonance and the blurring of the ethnicity with synthetic processing, this theme's dedicated performances would sound at home in Klaus Badelt's The Promise. It would have been interesting to hear what Giacchino could have come up for Spock had he augmented this theme with a single male vocalist, denoting his solitary position. Likewise, a particular musical nod to Nimoy's appearance would have been nice. Still, Giacchino's other two primary themes seem mechanically stale by comparison to Vulcan theme here.

The straight action sequences in Star Trek are also impressive in their own context, but once again they defy the sound of the franchise. The frenetic density of many of these pieces, not missing even a role for shrieking flutes on top, will remind listeners of the composer's early music for the "Medal of Honor" games, a style that earned him many comparisons to John Williams' later action music of thick layers and would have been better suited for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In only a handful of places, Giacchino uses the choir for additional depth, culminating in the truly apocalyptic massive choral outbursts in "Nero Death Experience." By the time the 40 singers start chanting their doomsday cries, Star Trek starts emulating the primordial tones of Howard Shore's famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's effective music, but it once again stands apart from the norm in the franchise and is standard summer blockbuster fare, a disappointment for a man of Giacchino's talent. All of this said, Star Trek is still a very engaging and consistently developed score from start to finish, loyal in its own associations and well-orchestrated. The combination of Vulcan and subdued title themes in "That New Car Smell" stands among the best of the year. The "End Credits" piece touches upon all of the major ideas, but despite the good juxtaposition of the new title theme with Courage's original, the tone of the older theme is as misplaced and potentially obnoxious as Speedracer. The original 2009 album release for Star Trek was problematic in its brevity. In tough economic times, it was hard to fault Varèse Sarabande for pressing only 45 minutes of music, but that presentation omitted a wealth of material from the middle portion of the film. Abstract cover art and cute track titles couldn't save the album from immediately drawing fire from fans, and the label responded with a "Deluxe Edition" of 5,000 copies as part of their Club series the following year. Unfortunately, this 2-CD product had its own problems, most notably relating to the lack of the film version's choral overlays in three or four prominent tracks. Its packaging is also extremely disappointing, contained in a rare book format for Varèse without track titles on the rear or the expected level of detailed notes or session photography to make the package worthwhile. The additional music on this $30 set, which was re-issued with another 1,500 copies in 2019 after the first run sold out, quenches some fans' thirst for key missing cues, including more erhu/Vulcan moments on the first CD, but it won't likely change a person's opinion about the entire work. Overall, Star Trek is a strong standalone score, as is Giacchino's subsequent Star Trek Into Darkness, but it's hard to shake that nagging feeling that he somehow missed the mark in addressing this franchise's heart.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download