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NOTE: For brevity's sake, only the liner notes for the Star Trek selections are provided here.
Star Trek
TV Theme
This composition was first recorded for the original Star Trek pilot, where Captain Christopher Pike is captured by a race of aliens who want him to repopulate their slave labor force. Courage did not reuse the theme for the second pilot, "Where No Man Has gone Before," which introduced Captain Kirk. However, the theme was later added when the series' main title was tagged onto the final air version.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
End Title
For the first Star Trek feature film, in which the Enterprise crew encounters a sentient machine, Jerry Goldsmith was hired to create a lavishly major motion picture score. Besides writing a new theme for the starship, he also devised several weird musical motifs for the alien probe, V'Ger. The "End Title" features Goldsmith's versatile anthem and march--which over the years and numerous films has moved from a swaggering legato marking to the more abrasive, overtly military marcato marking--and the bewitching "love theme" for Ilia.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Theme (Concert Version)
Orbiting the planet Bajor is a rundown space station, built by the Cardassians, hostile invaders who stripped the planet of all its natural resources. The Federation is brought in to manage Deep Space 9, and soon discover a wormhole nearby that will take them light years across the galaxy. Suddenly, Bajor is the doorstep of a new frontier. Dennis McCarthy's theme, which won an Emmy Award for best of the 1992-1993 season, relates the loneliness of this outpost and the exciting, dangerous mysteries that lay beyond. (This is the premiere recording of McCarthy's extended symphonic arrangement of his theme).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
He's Toast (from the episode "Life Support")
In the third season episode "Life Support," Dr. Bashir struggles to keep the dying Vedek Bareil alive during critical peace negotiations with the Cardassians. Injured in an accident aboard a transport ship, he is suffering severe brain damage and the doctor is forced to use a risky drug which causes his vital bodily organs to fail. Bashir must replace them with artificial parts. Eventually, the decision is made to let Bareil die rather than substituting the remaining portion of his brain. This ravishing, unadorned cue comes from the final scene where Major Kira bids farewell to her lover and reminisces about the first time they met.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Overture
Although a box office hit, the first Star Trek movie was not as big a success as the studio would have liked. Paramount turned to TV producer Harve Bennet to whip up an inexpensive "little" film that would capture all the elements of the TV series, including the physical action that was missing from the previous feature. The result was a financial triumph. Captain Kirk, mourning the loss of his youth, is forced into a battle to the death with TV nemesis Khan Noonian Singh over the ultimate weapon, the Genesis Device. This film first established James Horner as a major film music talent. He created a rousing score with a thrilling nautical feel, echoing Gene Roddenberry's promise that the original TV series would have the flavour of "Captain Horatio Hornblower in Outer Space." This overture combines sections of Horner's opening and closing titles.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
End Title
Kirk and company time travel back to 20th Century San Francisco to find two humpback whales. Extinct 300 years in the future, they are needed to stop an alien probe from devastating the Earth. Composer Leonard Rosenman was given ample opportunities to exploit the comedic elements of the film's "fish out of water" premise, as our galaxy hopping Starfleet heroes find 1986 San Francisco more daunting then the Klingon homeworld. The most "classical" of all the Star Trek scores, Rosenman has an obvious affection for baroque music, even the inclusion of Handelian-style trumpets in his orchestration.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Tasha's Farewell (from the episode "Skin of Evil")
Security Chief Tasha Yar is callously murdered by an alien creature composed of pure evil. After escaping its planet, the crew gathers for a memorial service where a holographic image of Tasha delivers her own eulogy. One of Ron Jones' most fondly remembered cues for the series, it deftly mixes orchestral and electronic instruments to simple yet stunning effect. Jones also composed the popular two-part episode, "Best of Both Worlds."
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Life is a Dream
Unlike his first voyage with the starship Enterprise's crew, Jerry Goldsmith had a wider variety of subject matter to score, from rock climbing, to an attack on a western-style frontier outpost, to a meeting with "God." Despite the muddled finale of the film, the composer transcended the material time and again. The final orchestral cue of the movie reprises Goldsmith's main theme, and "The Klingon Attack" from Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: Voyager
Main Title
In the third spin-off from the original TV series, the crew of the starship Voyager are snatched by a powerful alien force and marooned in a remote, hostile part of the galaxy. Jerry Goldsmith only composed the series main theme, which was supported by a powerful visual sequence. He garnered another Emmy Award for best theme of the 1994-1995 season.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
End Titles Suite
The final voyage of the original starship Enterprise finds the soon to be retired crew in delicate peace negotiations with the Klingons. Composed by newcomer Cliff Eidelman, the musical underscore has a decidedly shadowy, urgent tone, perfect for the crew's desperate attempt to unmask a plot to bring both sides to war. Originally, director Nicholas Meyer wanted to score the film, rather too obviously, with Gustav Holst's "The Planets" suite, but was unable to license the material for a reasonable fee.
Star Trek Generations
Overture
The crew of the Enterprise-D attempts to stop the mad Dr. Soren from destroying a star system in an attempt to re-enter the Nexus, a magical alternate universe where only your fondest desires exist. Captain Kirk, though killed in the Enterprise-B's first encounter with the Nexus, joins Captain Picard in a last ditch attempt to prevent the catastrophe. Dennis McCarthy's overture touches upon the strengths of both Star Trek eras with two adroitly written themes: One, a driving, surging, rhythmic theme full of space cruising excitement, the other, an ethereal and spectral melody for strings and choir with delicate electronic effects.
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