Soundtracks: Star Trek II vs Star Trek III
- Thread starter EnriqueH
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doubleohfive
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We'll have to agree to disagree. I find Rosenman's score to be a delight. The theme has a lovely Christmastime quality to parts of it, and the score as a whole was a nice change of pace.
Agreed, along with the whole "feel" of the thing. fun and even a little witty.
But the light tone smothered parts where a sense of dread was needed, such as the Federation / Klingon recap of the Genesis incident, the probe shutting down ships, etc. It is as though the score was composed with "light" in mind first, so all other cues were an afterthought. You would think that earth under attack, or the overt threat from the Klingon ambassador would inspire big, grim music, but it did not.
I find Rosenman's score elegant and uplifting.
It's a wonderful score, and I'll usually find myself listening to TMP and TVH soundtracks the most, even though Horner's stuff is excellent too.
I just finished listening to the Intrada expanded soundtrack and I absolutely enjoyed the alternate opening track with the prominent Courage theme. It's one of my favorite renditions of the score. Still, I can understand why they ultimately went with the opening that they did.
Except for the first few seconds while showing Klingons aboard the Enterprise and the last few seconds when the Klingon ambassador storms out, there isn't any music during the scene of the "Klingon recap of the Genesis incident." No smothering there. That whole scene was quite effective.
Count me among those liking Rosenman's score too.
Without repeating here my criticisms of Rosenman's score for TVH on earlier threads, I have to say that the very idea of anyone choosing to listen to that soundtrack (without even the benefit of the movie itself to partly balance things out) is beyond my comprehension.
Nonetheless this is the first I've heard about an alternate opening-credits cue, and perhaps I wouldn't loathe it as much...
I listen to IV all the time. Its great. And the alternate opening credits cue is nothing more than a re-arrangement of the series opening theme.
I look at II and III was one long score. One long brilliant score. I was very disappointed when Horner wasn't asked back for TVH. I felt the "trilogy" needed that unity. As such, I never really liked Rosenmann's score.
As for Horner repeating himself, meh, they all do it. Rosenmann's TVH has bits form his own Lord of the Rings and Beneath the Planet of the Apes scores. My only issue with Horner are his classical music swipes without giving proper credit.
I also agree that Generations is a great score. Completely underrated and very magical. I love it and credit it for bringing robust scoring back to Trek on TV
As for Horner repeating himself, meh, they all do it. Rosenmann's TVH has bits form his own Lord of the Rings and Beneath the Planet of the Apes scores. My only issue with Horner are his classical music swipes without giving proper credit.
I also agree that Generations is a great score. Completely underrated and very magical. I love it and credit it for bringing robust scoring back to Trek on TV
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This might sound odd but Horner's soundtrack for "Battle Beyond the Stars" seems like it has a mix of some of Goldsmith's themes from TMP in it. Particularly stuff around the Klingons and V'Ger (the heavier use of alternative interments) seem to come close in scenes around Sador and some of the more alien members of the group.
As well as themes Horner would use later in TWOK and TSFS.
As well as themes Horner would use later in TWOK and TSFS.
He's hardly unique in that respect. John Williams' five-note Close Encounters theme is a lift from the refrain "Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!" that runs throughout Schubert's setting of Goethe's "Der Erlkönig," with the addition of one note in the originally four-note phrase (i.e., a new fourth note an octave below the third one) to make five total notes. The child in the poem is of course a direct analog of the little boy Barry in the movie, seduced away by the aliens, who (unlike the child in the poem) survives and is returned.
(I can't play the five notes back mentally without hearing Bill Murray's lounge singer rendition: "The first encounter's you… the second encounter's me…" etc.)
Yeah, but Horner does it a lot. Just as example, using Aram Khachaturian’s Gayne Ballet Suite for the opening titles to Aliens. Or "Battle on the Ice" from Alexander Nevsky in Star Trek II. A lot of the score from Willow is peppered with classic music quotes. I don't care, other than he doesn't give credit. And quoting his own work never bothered me. So many composers do it.
Or, check this out, at 1:32...
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sz8i68lpBpc#t=90s[/yt]
I'm pretty sure I've read that he was specifically asked to ape Goldsmith's TMP score. But I can't give you any references.
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Much of the classical music Horner swiped in the soundtrack to "Aliens" is from the music Stanley Kubrick used for "2001: A Space Odyssey". I honestly believe that's where he got it from.
Yeah. All nine million of them.
This thread sent me searching out Horner's scores for Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars, which I downloaded from iTunes (using the credit I got from Apple in the ebooks settlement). I'm really enjoying them. Fun stuff!
From the cover of an early '50's sci fi magazine. The author of the book "Star Trek FAQ" suggested it influenced Roddenberry and Jefferies in the design of the Entetprise. I bought the magazine on eBay, scanned the cover, turned it over, and made an avatar.
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