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Star Trek: The Motion Picture: (Jerry Goldsmith)
Despite a strong following of devoted fans after just a few years on
television, Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" concept was floundering. NBC
had cancelled the sci-fi show by the outset of the 1970's and an
animated version in the middle of the decade was by no means a success.
A full-length theatrical feature reviving the cast of the original show
a few years later was a massive financial risk for Paramount, with
fundamental production problems plaguing the highly anticipated
Star
Trek: The Motion Picture for years. Arguments over the script,
special effects, and other elements of the film caused endless delays
and last minute changes. The best that Roddenberry and famed director
Robert Wise could offer for the film's December 1979 release date was no
competition for George Lucas'
Star Wars franchise, which
surpassed the fledgling
Star Trek alternative in nearly every way
possible. After disappointing box office returns and critical
indifference, Roddenberry's fortunes would only turn around with
Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, a less spectacular film but one with a
phenomenal story and equally impressive special effects. It's hard to
imagine that even as the finishing touches were being put on
Star
Trek: The Motion Picture (less than a week before its wide opening),
there was no expectation that any franchise would follow. The awesome
visual effects of the film, provided by numerous groups eager to compete
with the
Star Wars universe, played to a resurgence in audience
interest in the fantasy genre. These effects, along with Jerry
Goldsmith's historically significant score, are the two commonly
credited reasons why the project, despite its many faults, led to so
much more success down the road.
There are many reasons why Goldsmith was the appropriate
choice for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, including both his
established credibility in the 1970's science-fiction scene and his
close friendship with the likes of Alexander Courage and Fred Steiner,
composers who had contributed greatly to the music for the original
television series. Goldsmith brought both of those composers on as
orchestrators and enlisted friend and conducting collaborator Lionel
Newman to help supervise the recording sessions. In later interviews,
Goldsmith often thought back wistfully about his experience on
Star
Trek: The Motion Picture, acknowledging its frustrating creation
while also enjoying the hope that Roddenberry's vision represented. For
the composer, the "Star Trek" universe was a welcome friend in which he
would spend much of the latter stages of his life. The origins of that
involvement, however, weren't as peachy. Due to the considerable
post-production delays and other problems, Goldsmith was left with
little finished material by which to be inspired. The special effects
sequences, which make up a significant portion of the film (to its
detriment in the excruciatingly slow pace of its latter half), were not
finished, nor were the titles. With only the live action scenes in the
first half of the picture to guide him, Goldsmith wrote an elongated,
fluid, and romantic theme for the Enterprise, a theme he was
unsatisfied with. Initially lacking confidence in this theme, the
delivery of the special effects changed his mind, and he altered the
tune to match the lofty heroism, but not aggression, that the visuals
suggested. Much of the early variations of his theme for the vessel
remain in "The Enterprise," the lengthy cue that introduced the updated
ship for audiences to marvel over.
Goldsmith's conceptions of the film's beauty and message
caused him to abandon 25 minutes of his own score after two months of
writing and recording. He continued to write and record material up to
six days before the release of the film, and Courage was even asked to
contribute to the effort with a couple of recordings of his original
television theme for "Captain's Log" sequences in the film. One of the
reasons the score was such a daunting task was because of Goldsmith's
unwillingness to miss a prime opportunity to explore not only a plethora
of themes and motifs, but also the unusual instrumentation with which he
had experimented throughout the 70's. The ideas that he conjured for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture were so effective in their
precision that they inspired nearly every piece of music to follow in
the franchise. The pervasive influence of these choices was such a grand
match to the film's tone that they earned him another Oscar nomination
(though he lost to a lovely, but not as deserving
A Little
Romance by Georges Delerue). Only two of Goldsmith's five major
motifs for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture carried over directly to
the cinematic and television spin-offs that followed, though the
character in both those and the other three would still heavily
influence the franchise. The aforementioned theme for the Enterprise was
so well received that Roddenberry insisted that it be merged with
Courage's theme to form the identity of the immensely successful "Star
Trek: The Next Generation." Also used by Goldsmith as the primary
identity of the ship's future incarnations in the later film sequels,
this theme is among the most easily recognized in modern entertainment,
signing off with the conclusion of the "Next Generation" cast's
involvement in 2002's
Star Trek: Nemesis. The appropriately bold,
but humble theme is optimistic in tone, establishing a foundation for
his four sequel scores and directing the Emmy-winning theme for "Star
Trek: Voyager."
The title theme's over-exposure through the years has had
the effect of diminishing the pleasure that many of its sparse, early
recordings can yield in
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The
primary statements in the two title sequences lack some refinement and
seem strikingly simplistic compared to the acoustically brilliant
recording of the theme at the end of digital-era scores like
Star
Trek: Insurrection. The far more interesting renditions of the theme
exist in the snippets that appear throughout the actual accompaniment to
the film's action, highlighted by "The Enterprise," which puts the idea
through its most elegant permutations of the entire franchise. One of
the lasting disappointments about Goldsmith's use of this theme in
subsequent films was his unwillingness or inability to continue
exploring the potential of the theme outside of its fanfare
applications; some of the more enjoyably nostalgic (and short) cues in
the last three of Goldsmith's scores for the franchise were those that
briefly treated the Enterprise-E to a toast of this material. The
softer, whimsical performance of the theme in "The Enterprise" is a
direct extension of the romantic intent behind "Ilia's Theme," the
score's secondary theme. There has been no theme like it in the
franchise's future, truly a shame given Roddenberry's upbeat notions of
culture and exploration, though with the television series and films
becoming increasing sinister in tone as they approached the 2000's, the
lack of anything as graceful is perhaps a consequence of
reality-oriented script writers. One of the keys to Goldsmith's success
with
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the simple fact that he
managed to combine the beauty of "Ilia's Theme" and the softer variants
on the Enterprise theme with the stark suspense music for the Vejur
invader, a balance that Goldsmith would only attempt to extend (with
limited success) in some of his four sequel scores (with
Star Trek:
Nemesis excluded).
Despite all the hoopla about the other parts of the score
for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture that would inevitably shape the
future of the franchise, it is ultimately "Ilia's Theme" that remains as
the definite highlight of the score. The suite arrangement of the theme,
led by the elegance of a concert-positioned grand piano, was partly used
as the overture to the film, and despite a few references throughout the
score in relation to the romance between Ilia and Decker, its
applications are frustratingly sparse. The theme doubles as the idea
of resolution for the Vejur spacecraft, which requires a metaphysical
connection between the two characters. Its fleeting conclusion comes in
one final grand performance in "Vejur Speaks." The score's other major
three themes are all introduced immediately in "Klingon Battle." The
theme that Goldsmith penned (late in the process) for the Klingons
themselves is understandably used only in this cue, however the primal
hunting instinct inherent in the theme's slightly exotic rhythm and low
brass would return in various forms throughout the following nine films.
James Horner offered a similarly percussive, though less memorable theme for the
species in his second sequel score, while Goldsmith expanded upon his
original idea in
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and used it as a
token reference to the character of Worf in his last three sequel
scores. Also introduced in "Klingon Battle" is the motif for the
mysterious cloud that destroys the Klingon cruisers and Federation
station, with the Vejur craft at its heart. This theme's suspenseful,
yet awe-inspiring and almost religious tones are a precursor to
Goldsmith's
Poltergeist music, and its performances dominate the
later portions of the score. A minor theme for Starfleet is heard first
in "Klingon Battle," and this alternating minor/major-key rhythm is used
frequently in the score (especially prominent in "Leaving Drydock") for
both the ambience of Starfleet and the suspense of their current
mission. This idea inspired later scores' treatment of Starfleet,
including Cliff Eidelman's
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country.
A 90-piece orchestra was used to record
Star Trek: The
Motion Picture, and the quality of that recording has always been
strong. Adding distinction to the score is Goldsmith's instrumental
creativity, however. Outside of the organic percussion in "Klingon
Battle," the composer foreshadows his work for
Legend and other
later fantasy scores with an array of synthetic sounds, some of which
unique to this score. The most obvious element debuting here is the
"Blaster Beam," Craig Huxdley's invention of the long, metallic tube
with a scaling magnet used to produce different pitches of sound of
extraordinarily harsh and deep tones. Frightfully resonating in the bass
region, this clearly menacing instrument is another representation of
the mysterious Vejur cloud. It serves as an extremely effective
futuristic signal for the concept and offers an expansive presence in
the bass region rarely realized before electric guitars and matured
synthesizers tackled the same soundscape in the 1990's. The idea was
reprised to an extent by James Horner in his sequels, and Goldsmith
would use a fully synthetic version of it to represent the Borg in
Star Trek: First Contact, but the instrument itself was not used
in subsequent scores. The fact that it didn't even travel to film scores
in other genres is testimony to the originality of this particular
score. To augment the "Blaster Beam," Goldsmith used his usual zipping
and zapping sound effects in the effort, and "The Cloud" and other cues
of suspense are treated to lengthy wind and surf-inspired effects that
would return in
Total Recall. The religious tone of
Poltergeist prevails later in "The Cloud" and reaches a
organ-aided climax in "The Meld." The role of the percussion, whether
it's the pounding strikes of single piano keys or the tapping of wood
and metal elements, is another important factor that Goldsmith would
finally revisit in
Star Trek: Insurrection. The recording of the
overall ensemble is, as you might expect, quite dynamic and defies its
1970's origins.
In sum,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is one of
the few scores that truly deserves the title of "classic masterpiece."
It was a huge factor in salvaging a troubled production and defined the
music for a franchise to come. The depth of its secondary themes has
never been repeated, and no following sequel score has been so richly
endowed with such a perfect blend of romance, suspense, and adventure.
One structural aspect of the score to make note of is the end credits,
which followed the formula used by John Williams for
Star Wars.
In this and all of his subsequent scores for the franchise (along with
Horner and Eidelman), Goldsmith bracketed the secondary theme with the
fanfare for the Enterprise. The transitions between the main theme and
Ilia's theme here are more fluid than in the composer's last three
formula end title structures. From the standpoint of listenability,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture has its share of distinct
highlights and, like
Star Wars, moments that you skip if only
because they have been made redundant by superior sequel recordings. The
moments of suspense involving the Voyager craft are delights for
hardcore Goldsmith enthusiasts, while "Ilia's Theme," with its clever
influences from the famed title theme, remains a favorite for casual
collectors. Both of the primary themes were translated into disco or pop
songs not affiliated in any way with Goldsmith or the film. The score is
often represented on re-recorded compilations by prominent orchestras
around the world. Most often performed is "The Enterprise," which
Goldsmith himself conduced for a 1997 compilation of his sci-fi works
entitled "Frontiers." This cue is the staple of any similarly themed
compilation, conducted even by John Williams for the Boston Pops, and
the more illustrious compilations have tackled the "Klingon Battle" cue
(including an intriguing rendition conducted by Erich Kunzel).
Performances of "Ilia's Theme" are strangely more rare, despite the
cue's inherent concert arrangement.
In its original recording,
Star Trek: The Motion
Picture has received only two major commercial releases on CD. An
early, 1986 album was pressed by Columbia to match the original LP
release and featured exactly 40 minutes of Goldsmith's music (out of
film order). Most of the major cues were represented on this album,
however, and with sound quality equal to the later expanded pressing,
some fans may be adequately served by this product. In 1999, to mark the
20th anniversary of the film, Sony/Columbia added 25 minutes of music to
their expanded offering and threw in a compilation of 1976 spoken
interviews with Roddenberry and cast members (among other short items)
on a second CD. Goldsmith himself chose which cues to include in those
additional 25 minutes, and diehard fans will still find pieces
(including Courage's short contributions) missing from the album. But
those fans will be treated to newly released cues of substantial length
from all portions of the film, with the selections finally arranged into
film order. Some listeners could consider this lengthy album to be
overkill, for some of the Vejur music is indeed redundant, though the
inclusion of both "Vejur Speaks" and especially "A Good Start" (which is
essentially an extension of "The Enterprise" cue) are welcome
additions. There was much consternation and outward hostility towards
Sony at the time of this album's release, for it was widely advertised
as having a November 1998 release date but was forced into countless
delays due to marketing conflicts with the release of
Star Trek:
Insurrection. Producers and executives assigned blame to each other
for quite some time. Both Sony and Paramount teased fans for months with
a product they could not have, and while these bad memories are
irrelevant now, they caused some bad press regarding the product at the
time. Overall, the "Inside Star Trek" feature on the second CD won't
appeal to everyone (some might consider it yet another marketing ploy),
though the slightly higher retail price of the album as a result of that
content is still worth 65 minutes of the score. On either release, the
score is guaranteed to be rewarding for fans of the franchise and
otherwise. It is, simply put, among the best of Goldsmith's outstanding
career.
Score as Written for the Film: *****
1986 Columbia Album: ****
1999 Sony Album: *****
Overall: *****
| Bias Check: | For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.22 (in 111 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.36
(in 120,040 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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