[Ockeghem]

I thought it might be enjoyable to discuss the music of Star Trek (any of the series or films).

Although I like most of the music used in Trek (e.g. the trombones that often accompany Klingon segments in TNG, the gorgeous brass underpinnings that surround Data and Picard while they are on the Scimitar in Nemesis, listening to the opening of one of the movements from a Brahms sextet in the TNG episode Sarek, or the ambitious polyphony performed by Jack, Patrick, Serena, and Lauren in Chrysalis), I would have to say that I am partial to the music used on TOS (not necessarily the opening music, but the stock vocabulary used throughout the run of the series). It's wonderful, ethereal and other-worldly, and at times, definitely occcupies a different 'sound world.' When listening to it, I rarely (if ever) believe I am on earth. It somehow has the capacity to 'transport' me to another time and place, which for me makes it all the more believable that I am on one of those strange, new worlds.

Segments I am particularly fond of are the pizzicato string work done during the opening scene while on Deneva in Operation-- Annihilate! (this is the same music heard in This Side of Paradise right after Kirk says 'Gentleman, we're debating in a vaccum ... let's go get some answers'); the passage which accompanies Nona when she is healing Kirk in A Private Little War (also heard when Szabo is conducting the seance in Wolf in the Fold, and after Spock is sprayed by the plants in This Side of Paradise, and--I think--during one of the segments in Return of the Archons); and the wonderful closing music as Charlie is taken away by the Thasians in Charlie X (also heard when the away team beams over to the Botany Bay in Space Seed, except that in Space Seed the transporter sound effect accompanies the segment--and the overlap of the transporter beam effect and the music with definite pitch is gorgeous; I don't think it occurs elsewhere in all of TOS). (N.B.: It is interesting to note that the segment when they first beam over to the Botany Bay in Space Seed is very nearly the same progression that is heard in the VOY episode Time and Again, when the away team is examining the subspace fractures first experienced by Paris earlier in the episode. When I first heard the passage in Time and Again, I got out my DVD of the TOS and VOY episodes in order to compare the two. The similarity is haunting. At first, I thought I was hearing TOS stock music, but after repeated listenings, I realized that the harmonic successions in the two scores were not identical. It is quite astonishing, to say the least.)

These excerpts are part of the wonderful, imaginative stock vocabulary used througout much of TOS. You can hear the aforementioned segments in several shows, and during many different scenes, not all of which are mentioned here. What are your favorite segments of music in Trek?

[Michael Harris]

For me the best piece of "Trek" music is that played when the three Klingon ships appear in the first film. That music, along with the sight of the bad ass Klingon ships, was worth the price of admission.

[Ockeghem]

Quote:

For me the best piece of "Trek" music is that played when the three Klingon ships appear in the first film. That music, along with the sight of the bad ass Klingon ships, was worth the price of admission.

Good choice! I also like the music in TUC during the opening credits. I suppose my favorite Trek film score is from TMP. I have often put that film on just for the music (e.g., when I'm doing other things around the house).

[Tarkin The Ewok]

Besides the opening themes for the first four series, I'm quite partial to the main theme from First Contact.

[Ockeghem]

^^^
Tarkin,

Just a general comment. I took a peek at your DVD collection. Nice! I liked the set up of the page, and esp. the blues (or blue greens?)--very easy on the eyes.

[Robert James Clark]

Favorite Trek score is probably Cliff Eidelman's thrilling score for The Undiscovered Country.
I've felt that Goldsmith's later Yrek efforts were a trifle bland compared to TMP...

[Ockeghem]

Quote:

Favorite Trek score is probably Cliff Eidelman's thrilling score for The Undiscovered Country.
I've felt that Goldsmith's later Yrek efforts were a trifle bland compared to TMP...

Agreed. There is something magical about the score to TMP. And when I'm watching various special features for some of the Trek series, I greatly appreciate--and never tire of--hearing that score (and the scores of other Trek films) in the background. That was a nice touch to the DVDs.

[nolesrule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert James Clark

I've felt that Goldsmith's later Yrek efforts were a trifle bland compared to TMP...

Not just his Trek scores. I felt his Air Force One opening was too similar to First Contact's opening.

But since we're talking Trek scores, I'll just add a "me too" for TMP. I used to listen to it every night while doing my homework in high school.

For the most part, the music has been strong in the films, although Generations was bland and I don't remember much about the music from the last two movies, which I've only seen once each.

I would also say that the opening theme for Voyager was the best part of that series.

Now don't ask me to talk about specific elements. I've never really studied the music and it's been a couple years since i listened to any of it...which means I need to pull the DVDs out and watch them.

[Ockeghem]

nolesrule,

Those are all good points. I really do like the theme to VOY quite a lot, maybe the best of all as far as the series are concerned (although the theme to DS9 is right up there for me). In my family, when listening to the VOY theme, we frequently see who out of our children will remember to crash the cymbal at the appropriate time.

BTW, I don't think your link ("My DVD Collection") is working. I've tried to access it a few times, with no luck.