Horner's application of the iconic ship's theme in Star Trek III is drenched with feelings of lamentation, from its arrival in space dock to its fiery destruction. It's interesting that he had originally scored its demise and aftermath without the full Enterprise identity, though much of his rumbling approach was left out of the film anyway. Also returning is Kirk's adventurous theme from the previous film, peppered throughout "Stealing the Enterprise" and heard in confrontational snippets later in the story before anchoring the end titles sequence. The slightly exotic, but attractively majestic theme for Spock and the Vulcans occupies a significant role in the score; their mysticism is accentuated by a electronic aiding of the orchestra in order to create a religious ambience for the Katra ritual that occurs at the end of the film. The theme is gorgeously explored by the full ensemble (with some synthetic help) in "Returning to Vulcan," and while the idea would be sadly missing in its entirety in the lackluster Star Trek IV score by Rosenman, Cliff Eidelman strongly suggests it in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. When not carried by solo woodwind, glassy instrumental effects create the tone for this idea, and in "The Mind Meld" and "The Katra Ritual," its statements are obscured by a whimsical atmosphere. The only significantly new development from Horner for Star Trek III is the primitively clanging theme for the brutish, haphazard Klingons. Horner handles this disgruntled group of glory-seeking warriors with a percussive rhythmic approach that resembles the striking, banging style of Khan's theme, but far less focused. Some of the underlying instrumentation and rhythmic propulsion carries over from Goldsmith's original theme for the species. Horner's actual melody for the Klingons is oddly oriental in style while also maintaining a very unsophisticated edge. A solo Tibetan horn wails away at will, without any guidance or attention to clear tone (and apparently guided only by how much breath the player has at a given moment), and this usage may or may not ruin the theme for fans who like the crisp performances of Goldsmith's established Klingon theme. That said, Horner's Klingon representation has a certain amount of quirky funk to it that better exposes the grungy and sloppy side of Klingon warrior life. And the Tibetan horn effect is extremely distinctive at the very least.

Some critics of the film have laughed off Horner's attempt to score the Klingons, and there is reason to understand why they ridicule it; with all the banging of silverware in that theme, one would think that it's constantly dinnertime. The theme's application in "Bird of Prey Decloaks" produces a highlight of the score when set against with the other elements, however. In the end, the most positive aspect of Star Trek III relates to its mere continuity with the previous score. Even though it cannot compete with Star Trek II in terms of quality, this score wins considerable praise for its ability to offer a consistent system of themes and orchestrations with the previous one. The recording quality of the two scores is remarkably similar, except perhaps for the two longer Klingon sequences, which sound dull because of the bass-dominating instrumentation chosen for the cues. The score follows the trademark of making a magnificent thematic announcement as the Entrprise leaves drydock. In this case, the ship is being stolen, and the chase cue for the Enterprise and Excelsior is rich with action motifs recognizable from Star Trek II's late action sequences, including the score's only really obvious use of Goldsmith's original Blaster Beam effect (it's elsewhere, too, but not prominent). This cue's optimistic opening string figures (foreshadowing Willow's whimsy but ultimately removed from the film version of the cue) and references to the prior score and Courage's theme make it a highlight despite containing some ideas inspired by (i.e. damn near copied from) Sergei Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, which is an element of frustration here more so than in Star Trek II. The Courage theme is also employed in a much fuller statement than usually heard in the franchise of films, gracing the renewed Spock's reunion with his friends with a satisfying electronic woodwind performance. Negative criticism of the score, outside of some listeners' obvious distaste for the Klingon theme (the pitch-defying horns really are obnoxious there's no way around that truth), relates to the replacement of Khan's action music with an emphasis on the more subdued, contemplative Vulcan material. While it contains plenty of potential, that music doesn't achieve the magnitude of fantasy and awe as needed, and thus, the lengthy mind meld and Katra ritual cues suffer from some disappointing anonymity. They play as though Horner was addressing the mystery of the events rather than the Old World sense of drama associated with this glimpse into Vulcan society.

On album, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock has never been as attractive of a product as its predecessor. The original 1991 CD translation of the LP record from GNP Crescendo is outdated (though more expensive on the secondary market after it went out of print), with archival sound quality and a running time of about 40 minutes. The end credits suite has always been missing the iconic dialogue from Spock and instead listeners of the GNP product were treated to an awkward and completely out of place pop rendition of Horner's title theme. It's not entirely clear who took credit for green-lighting this atrocious adaptation with cheesy 1980's pop band elements. While Horner may have been responsible for it, the badly dated track sounds suspiciously similar to something that GNP's Neil Norman would produce with his band. After Film Score Monthly threw the Paramount vault doors open with authority when the specialty label released Star Trek II in 2009, it was only a matter of time before that similar superior treatment followed for Star Trek III. The 2010 edition of Star Trek III, again an unlimited pressing by FSM's Retrograde Records branch, features the same outstanding production qualities. There wasn't as much unreleased material of much value from the third film's score; most related to variations on the Klingon and Vulcan music. The leading addition is "The Klingon's Plan," a short cue that opens with 30 seconds of deep woodwinds that obviously inspired Eidelman for Star Trek VI and a Goldsmith-like organ and horn passage for the introduction of the Grissom. But there were some significant changes to the score reflected in differences between the album and film versions of various major cues, and FSM's 2-CD set, while able to fit the whole score comfortably on a single CD, provides both listening experiences, with some overlap in cases where edits or takes did not differ. They are also remastered with impressive results, too, even in the somewhat dull Klingon sequences. The same product was issued identically by Intrada Records in 2022 for continued availability. Regardless of its albums, the Star Trek III score is still not as strong as its predecessor by any means of comparison, and a potential buyer with a tight budget should definitely investigate Star Trek II first. Ultimately, Nimoy got to frolic with Rosenman for his lone, awkward entry, and Goldsmith gladly took back musical authority over the series in subsequent years, but Horner's two contributions to the concept are fondly remembered for their lofty main theme, their continuity and, perhaps most importantly, their enthusiastic performances. Decades later, few franchises embody the same raw spirit of adventure.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download