The Music of Star Trek

In the first part, I covered the beginnings of this franchise, from its bold start and slightly abrupt end, through to its new journeys. This part covers the ending of one crew and the opening of the Star Trek universe.

A new beginning

In 1987 a familiar theme music made its way to television. Although many thought it was new, Star Trek had been given a second television chance with The Animated Series back in early 70’s before the first movie.

The Animated series was short lived and tried to keep the franchise alive. Its music was different and often overused but that was television. Quick paced, pushy, and needy, the animated show filled a gap.

The Next Generation

Star Trek The Motion Picture had a grand opening theme. In fact, it had an overture to open the movie that many missed. Jerry Goldsmith, as I said in part one, created his theme which was chosen for the new television show in 1987. The theme did give a major nod to the original show. The new theme, incorporated Alexander Courage and Jerry Goldsmith’s music along with Patrick Stewart’s voiceover, very like William Shanter. It was not so much a rebirth as I saw it more a continuing story of the Enterprise. Dennis McCarthy, Jay Chattaway and Ron Jones were the main composers for the seven series. The series was a success around the world and the music won numerous awards.

It was clear that the music was now being given much more than just a filler. It was crafted, thoughtful and pushing its own new frontiers. There was a movie feel to the music and more. We were introduced to Klingon opera of a sort, very loud and brash. Then there were truly magical moments. The first of real note came in series one of Next Generation, the episode “11001001”. Here we found Commander Riker being distracted in the holodeck by a jazz club and took part in a trombone solo. It was certainly not the expected music for a sci-fi show, but it worked. So much so it inspired Jay Chattaway to write a piece for the episode ‘The Inner Light’.

Inner Music

In ‘The Inner Light’, Captain Picard is struck down by a beam from an old probe, only to awake and find himself living in a small village where he is a well-known member of the community who is suffering from a delusion of being a starship captain. In the episode he takes up what appears to be a flute. Jay Chattaway wrote a hunting piece, which became a classic in Star Trek history. This showed just how much the music became a character, just like the Enterprise herself.

The music was used again in another episode called ‘Lessons’. Here Picard falls for a new Head of department who shares his love of music. The two of them enjoy music and we hear again the piece from ‘The Inner Light’. The haunting Ressikan flute solo from the episode became a firm favourite of many fans.

Another Generation and More

The popularity of Star Trek created more films with the original crew and more television series. Returning to the film scores, Jerry Goldsmith once more used his theme, now established as The Next Generation theme in Star Trek V The Final Frontier. The movie was notable for many things, not least the slightly poor script but a song and dance element.

The original crew made their last appearance in Star Trek The Undiscovered Country and returned to a winning formula. The music was composed by Cliff Eidelman his first time in the Trek universe. It was dark and foreboding as was the nature of the movie, one of the best in my view. Again, there was the Enterprise moment as she leaves space-dock for the last time. There was no real theme until the end as the cast signed off. It was a very different composition, very measured and possibly one of the best.

At the same time as Star Trek The Next Generation was drawing to a close, the franchise took another turn with Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The now familiar team of composers brought a new theme for a new direction. At the start, the score was slow in keeping with the space station DS9. It was dark, troubled, and showed a different side. However, as the series grew so did the music again. There were several standout episodes including the James Bond-inspired score trumpets and all, of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s “Our Man Bashir” or episodes with Jimmy Darren as Vic Fontaine on DS9, but especially “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang,” which featured a duet with Avery Brooks, Captain Benjamin Sisko.

Another Trek

Like the original crew, the Next Generation took to the movies starting with Star Trek Generations a sort of batten hand-over. Dennis McCarthy became the first composer to score both the television show and film. The score had some interesting points particularly the opening scene with a choral piece and having to fit with both the television show and films. The movie had mixed reviews and, in some respects, a mixed score. With the Next Generation now taking the helm, the movies continued and so did further television shows.

The franchise was very clever as it ventured to strange new worlds and characters. In the next part, we will travel back in time, to far distant planets and almost to the start, again.