Familarity with something can influence or opinions, what if TNG had used a different theme and hundreds of episodes and decades later because we are familiar with it how would we recat to hearing an alternative.
Speaking for myself, I first heard McCarthy's alternate theme back in '87, since it was released on the "Farpoint" soundtrack album. And I quite liked it at the time. I was never a big fan of the decision to just recycle the TMP theme. I felt a new show with a new cast and setting should have a new theme. And as I said, I'm not crazy about the way the TNG version of the TMP theme is arranged and conducted. The McCarthy alternate did always strike me as a bit bombastic, but still pretty good.
As far as the Klingon theme in TFF, when it's first used, and then during the end credits, the more pirate-like emphasis with the clicking(whatever made that sound) and the bombastic horn interjections were fun. Not particularly majestic, but fun. The other uses, and the bland soundtrack version of the end credits not so much.
According to the CD liner notes, the percussion included an Indonesian instrument called the anklung, plus "knuckles striking the bottom of a piano."
I keep thinking of superheroes... and considering that Patrick Stewart went on to play King Richard in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," that makes it funnier to me.
I'm probably thinking of the anklung. It was used to make the rhythmic, triple-click sound intermittently, though not as sporadic and non-sequential as the horn interjections.
I was happy to hear the TMP theme being put to good use on TNG. Had makers of subsequent Trek movies not been trying so hard to distance themselves from TMP, it might have been used as the recurring movie-era Trek theme. I also found it odd and conspicuous that they chose to bring it back in the first movie following TNG's appropriation of the theme. (Bringing it back in later TNG films, OTOH, seemed natural enough.)
I think that was just because they used different composers. They probably used Horner on TWOK because he was cheaper, being a much less accomplished composer at the time. I don't know if anyone would feel that distancing their film from an earlier film would require avoiding its music. For instance, Superman Returns distanced itself quite aggressively from Superman III and IV, but they all used the John Williams theme. Conversely, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tied in very closely with its predecessor, but had a different theme because it had a different composer. (Not to mention all three Iron Man movies and both Thor movies using different themes and composers; there's been very little musical continuity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until recently.) Sometimes new composers stick with their predecessors' themes, as in the Superman films or Age of Ultron, but usually they just use their own new themes, and the only time a theme recurs in a film series is if the same composer comes back (e.g. John Ottman returning to the X-Men fim series). Again, I think that's just because Shatner, and after him Frakes and Baird, wanted to hire Jerry Goldsmith. The theme came with the composer -- nothing more complicated than that. TNG and the later movies all used Goldsmith's theme because Goldsmith was a legend and everyone in the business would've gladly hired him if they could. The fact that that theme music was associated with Jerry Goldsmith probably carried far more weight than the fact that it was associated with TMP or TNG.
You know, I still find it odd and hard to believe that Jerry Goldsmith is gone - and that it's been so long. I guess because I watch "Alien" about three times per year, listen to LOTS of his soundtracks constantly and see him on the "Alien" making of documentary (and hang on his every word), it still feels very much like his presence is, well, present and that he's not ..... past. I guess that's the legacy of such an AMAZING body of work - you're not really gone. Even just typing the above - I stopped between "past", line break and then "I guess", for a good five minutes and thought about him actually being GONE and it kinda blew my mind.
I remember a few ago on another message board some poster complain on how all of his music sounds the same. I like to point out you can easily recognize his stuff from movies if you never seen the movie before.
But isn't that true for other composers as well? Listen to some of Horners work in films like Battle Beyond the Stars Krull TWOK Aliens Some elements sounds similar.
Joel Goldsmith is credited on the soundtrack albums for First Contact, as well as in the film's end credits. The credits on a DVD cover would only list the main composer, not "additional music."
If you want to hear a really corny version of TNG theme listen to The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra TNG theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu9UajmfzZk
If you want to hear a really corny version of TNG theme listen to The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra TNG theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu9UajmfzZk