Home | Soundtracks | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Encounter at Farpoint (Volume 1)

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title (*/** only) 1:45
2. Stardate* 1:43
3. Troi Senses 1:42
4. Picard’s Plan*/First Chase*/First Chase (part 2)* 2:41
5. Detaching*/Separation*/*** 2:41
6. Shaken/Court Time/There Goes Da Judge 2:29
7. U.S.S. Hood*/On Manual* 3:18
8. Star Trek: The Next Generation End Credit (** only) 1:03
9. Personal Log*/Admiral/Old Lovers 2:24
10. Caverns* 1:27
11. Splashing***/The Woods/Memories* 2:45
12. Scanned/Big Guns/Unknown 3:04
13. Revealed/Reaching Out 4:39
14. Departure* 1:07
15. Main Title #2 (alternate main title)*/*** 1:43

Original music composed by Dennis McCarthy, Addax Music Co., Inc. (ASCAP). *Contains “Theme from Star Trek TV Series” - composed by Alexander Courage, Bruin Music Company (BMI). **Contains “Theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture” - composed by Jerry Goldsmith, Ensign Music Corporation (BMI). ***Written and recorded for, but not contained in, episode. NOTE: The liner notes and CD itself list 'Departure' and 'Main Title #2' as one track, when they are in fact two seperate tracks.

Composer Dennis McCarthy began his career in television with "ENOS", a spin-off of "THE DUKES OF HAZZARD." The series was short-lived and the musician's strike of 1981 sent him briefly back to variety television. What began as a temporary solution to the strike became a hit series, "THE BARBARA MANDRELL SHOW" for which he was musical director for three seasons.

In the meantime, the strike over, he scored a wide variety of episodic series and several films for television, one of the most challenging being the six-hour mini-series "V: THE FINAL BATTLE" followed by the weekly series "V." More recently he has scored several episodes of the new "TWILIGHT ZONE", "DYNASTY", "MacGYVER", "HOUSTON KNIGHTS", and the television films "SAM HOUSTON: THE LEGEND OF TEXAS" and "SWORN TO SILENCE."

"ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT", the two-hour episode of "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION", was scored for a 38-piece orchestra. There are frequent references to the original "STAR TREK" theme by Alexander Courage. The opening theme combines Courage's theme with one by Jerry Goldsmith from the first theatrical "STAR TREK."

The highlight of this score is the moving theme for the release of the giant jellyfish-like creature and its reunion with its mate. It is certainly one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for television.

Also included in this collection are three pieces not heard in the final version of "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT", "Separation", "Splashing", and a theme the composer often uses for the august Captain Picard.

In addition to this two-hour episode for the series, Dennis McCarthy has scored eleven other episodes of "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION", including "The Big Goodbye" episode that won a Peabody award for the series.

Encounter at Farpoint
The new starship Enterprise and its crew set out "to boldly go where no one has gone before." Their first mission is to explore the mystery surrounding the creation of the Farpoint station located on planet Daneb IV. While trying to negotiate a friendly agreement for the Starfleet to use this energy powered base, Captain Picard and his crew are also on assignment to discover why and how the Bandi inhabitants of Daneb built the station.

Traveling to Farpoint, the Enterprise has an alarming encounter with a mysterious and powerful life form known as "Q." Denouncing Starfleet as members of a Barbarian race, "Q" puts Picard and his crew on trial for all previous crimes committed by mankind.

The Captain delays the impending death sentence by requesting an opportunity to prove the worthiness of humans. After being introduced to his new first officer, Commander Riker, the two combined their talents with the rest of the Enterprise staff to herocially overcome their perilous predicament.

• Producer: Dennis McCarthy
• Executive Album Producer: Neil Norman and Mark Banning
• Associate Album Producer & Sequencing: Ford A. Thaxton
• Recording Engineer: Gary Ladinsky
• Assistant Engineers: Nick "Beamer" Basich, Ethan Chase, Jim Mitchell, Alan Abrahmson, Mark Pontiatowski and William Talbott Film
• Music Editor: John La Salandra, S.M.E.
• Album Remix Editor: George Doering
• Cover Design: Mark Banning & Neil Norman
• Graphic Production: Mark Banning
• Dennis McCarthy Photo: David Mitchell
• Album Notes: Ford A. Thaxton
• Special thanks to: Patti McCarthy, Carol Baker, Bob Badway, David Mitchell, Robert Earl "Butch" Day, David Hirsch, Alan & Patty Halfill, Sylvia Darko, Rick Berman, Robert Justman, and a very special thanks to the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" Gene Roddenberry, for making it all possible.

GNP Crescendo Records
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Hollywood, CA 90069
(213) 656-2814
gnp@pacificnet.net
www.gnpcrescendo.com

Review at Soundtrack Express (added December 4, 2002)