In the third part we voyaged past deep space, went back to the beginning, and then restarted it all over again. In this final part (not the frontier) we will see a new discovery, an old captain and hint at the future with an Enterprise before Kirk.

A New Discovery

Star Trek is never far from a slot on television. Its music can be heard on radio often. You can’t forget that theme. 

While the movies were making an impact on the big screen, the small screen counterparts remained in re-runs. There was a short time when only re-runs took to the screen. 

After the last alternative Star Trek finished, a new discovery was found.

Star Trek: Discovery became the seventh television series to be produced. The first series was set after Enterprise and ten years before the original series. It broke more of the rules and formats creating new characters and featuring a greater diversity. It was not to all fans taste but it brought Star Trek back to the small screen. The series moved forward and backwards in time encountering at one point the Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike. 

The music reflected another change with the main theme composed by Jeff_Russo. Russo acknowledged that the new theme might not be appreciated by all existing Star Trek fans, however felt that it compared to previous themes in the franchise and accurately represented this series. The music did once more feature elements from the original Star Trek theme by Alexander Courage. 

Returning Captain

In 2020 we saw the return of an old Captain in his own series Star Trek:Picard.  Picard was bold taking a character and exploring his life after Next Generation. This series took a darker approach of the Federation and a Captain who must find his way back to Roddenberry’s original optimistic vision.

Once more composer Jeff Russo was chosen to the score for Picard. Russo’s relationship with Star Trek began as a fan of The Next Generation. He asked if he could work on Picard after seeing Stewart’s announcement at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. Russo wanted his music to remain truthful to previous Star Trek scores without repeating them. Given that he was working on Discovery he wanted to ensure Picard was new. Russo felt that Picard was a more intimate story than Discovery and wanted to take a more personalized approach by featuring more solo instrument performances in his score. 

Where Many Have Gone Before

Star Trek continues to grow as franchise, mainly back in the television area. There are more series planned, including the story of Captain Pike, an animated series Lower Decks and more. 

All of these will need music of course and new themes yet still true to thee original. For myself, I would like to see something of the original theme when ‘Strange New Worlds’ starts. It will be the link between Archer and Kirk showing Pike in his own series.

Music needs to be heard. Obvious of course. There is now such a vast wealth of music from the Star Trek franchise, that they could easily perform a concert or two. Just imagine two hours or so at the best concert halls. Opening with the familiar set of notes, a full orchestra could take us through so many memories. Even if the concert was just the original crew’s movies, there would be more than enough to fill a night or two.

As I said in the first part, some music becomes iconic, so much so that the first few bars take a person to a familiar place. Star Trek is one of those iconic scores. 

Make it so.