Best Soundtrack moments

[alpha_leonis]

What are some of the musical background moments that stand out for you all?

I was always a fan of the "exotic music" piece that was recycled a few times in TOS -- starting with Vina-as-Orion-dancer in "The Cage." It was also used for the Argelian dancer in "Wolf in the Fold", and a time or two otherwise that I'm probably forgetting.

A powerful "background music" scene was right after the Sarek-Kirk mind-meld in TSFS, after Sarek discovered that Spock's Katra wasn't there after all. Sarek's line, "...all that he was, all that he knew, is lost"... immediately followed by a cello transition into an understated minor chord. I'm a sucker for that soundtrack every time.

Another one that gets me is Picard's pennywhistle solo at the end of "Inner Light" as the ship moves away into space. It's just one small piece left over from an entire culture, a lifetime spent with another civilization which is now dead. You can sense Picard's profound loss in that moment.

Any others?

 

[ItIsGreen]

I always loved Jerry Goldsmith's scores in general, and the work he did on TMP is superb. The main theme is iconic of course, and went on to be used as the TNG theme as well, but I especially love the Klingon theme (much more so than James Horner's Klingon theme from TSFS). It let you know immediately that the Klingons were dangerous, alien and not to be trifled with.

I also like how, in the TNG films he turned that on its head and it became Worf's theme, usually when he was doing something heroic.

The Borg battle section in First Contact is excellent, we get a snippet of the TMP/TNG theme as the Enterprise warps off to join the fight, the doom-and-destruction laden Borg theme as the cube is decimating the fleet, then the Klingon theme as Worf pops up on the Defiant ready to ram the cube, a reprise of the TNG theme as the Enterprise arrives, and finally tense music with marching drums in the background as Picard discusses the situation and relays his orders to what's left of the fleet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM1X2TcGMb4

 

[HIjol]

When Anish makes time slow down for Picard in "Insurrection"

When the bottle of Dom christens the Enterprise-B in "Generations"

The Baku Theme and camera track in the opening of "Insurrection"

 

[DonIago]

The fight music from "Amok Time" is of course iconic, as well as being one of my favorites.

Ditto "The Doomsday Machine"'s soundtrack.

I really like the adaptation of "The Way You Look Tonight" used during the flashbacks in WYLB.

The music at the opening of "The Visitor" does a great job of setting the mood for what's to come.

That's just what's springing most immediately to mind.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

TWOK: the whole "Genesis Countdown" is good, and best moment is when Spock is climbing down the ladder and opening that hatch in the floor.

 

[alpha_leonis]

TWOK: the whole "Genesis Countdown" is good, and best moment is when Spock is climbing down the ladder and opening that hatch in the floor.

I rather like the part, not long after that, when the battle is over and McCoy calls Kirk down to Engineering. Kirk is confused a bit, then turns around and notices Spock's empty chair. The urgency of the string phrase at that moment adds to the power of the scene.

 

[2takesfrakes]

The Search for Spock has many wonderful contributions by James Horner. When the Enterprise streaks across the sky like a shooting star, how do you even score such an "Historic" moment like that in STAR TREK cinema? Horner captured the emotion, there, perfectly. The Klingon theme's great. And how he captured the tension and excitement of the stealing of the Enterprise was phenomenal. It's like a wall of sound, but it never becomes overbearing - which it easily could have. It's really, really good, the whole thing. I find Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Motion Picture to be brilliant technically ... sonically. But emotionally, TSFS is without equal.

 

[Greg Cox]

STAR TREK II: when Scotty's bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" swells into full orchestration as Spock's coffin is expelled into space . . .

 

[CorporalClegg]

TWOK: the whole "Genesis Countdown" is good, and best moment is when Spock is climbing down the ladder and opening that hatch in the floor.

IMO "Genesis Countdown" is Trek's single best piece of music. Oddly, I find the rest of TWOK's score to be rather pedestrian.

 

[alpha_leonis]

STAR TREK II: when Scotty's bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" swells into full orchestration as Spock's coffin is expelled into space . . .

Ironically, my wife (only a casual Trekkie, and then mostly TNG... also an ordained Christian pastor) burst out laughing at that scene. Spock is an alien, she says. It's not like he could conceivably be Christian.

 

[tharpdevenport]

If we are talking as heard in the film when set to scenes as opposed to just on CD, then I'll start with the films:

ST: TMP
The Klingon ships versus V'ger in the opening.

STII: TWoK
So many scenes. The Enterprise clearing the moorings and going to impulse away. The Reliant's attack on the Enterprise. The nebula battle. The bagpipes and amazing grace funeral music. That should to do it.

STII: TSfS
Stealing the Enterprise (though the film version isn't quite as good as the original one, especially that plagarism Romeo & Juliet opening), with especially good moments for the Excelsior captain and then the whole thing once the Enterprise swings out backwards from spacedock, to the end.

STIV: TVH
I actually like the opening theme set to the space visuals (and even though it's just two notes, the Challenger memorium nod before it). The hospital chase, which especially pays off when the officers aim their guns and the elevator doors open then the cut to the beaming back. Chekov's run. And the whole scene as the crew come up to the new Enterprise and get onboard -- the whole thing is beautiful.

STV: TFF
It's been many years since I've seen it, but as I recall: the whole "A Busy Man" cue in the film as the crew approaches what they think may be God. Kirk climbing the mountain (though the original version is better than the film version).

It's been too long sicne I've seen all of STVI: TUC to comment.

ST: Generations
The Amargosa observatory kidnapping and fight, the appearance of the Bird of Prey, and the destruction of said observatory. The battle at the end with the Bird of Prey (though the original version of the cue is tighter than the film version). The launch of missible, sun emploding and the Nexus swooping down on the planet to take away Picard and Soran. And of course thast closing scene on the desimated Bridge between Picard and Riker, with them beaming away and the ships leaving orbit and warping away with the glorious film fanfare.



I'll pick up more later.

 

[DonIago]

Ah, the opening music to TUC. Got my immediate attention. It was so dark and foreboding (and a bit Klingon-sounding perhaps?) and unlike anything we'd really heard in Trek to that point.

Even if the rest of the movie's music had been a disappointment...and it wasn't...I might have bought the soundtrack solely for the overture.

The music while the BoP is attacking and the assassin is preparing to make his move isn't bad either.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Borg theme in ST:FC (as the cube approaches Earth and is immediately fired on).

 

[Drone]

The music in Scorpion is tense, coiled, and menacing and very well frames the action throughout. I know, many folks are especially fond of the cue as Seven ambles into her first scene, confronting Janeway and Tuvok. Following so soon after, I find that the short valedictory piece that ends The Gift with Tuvok looking out his window and considering his lost friend, is quite moving and poignant. Also, if the selections being referred to here don't need to be limited to original compositions, then I would certainly say the the Tchaikovsky and Mahler(especially) sections featured in Counterpoint, do a masterful job in framing the emotional battle between Janeway and Kashyk, with the former left at the end, victorious, but alone and denied what she had hoped had been a real possibility for romantic fulfillment.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Continuing score as heard in the film:

ST: Insurrection
the wonderful opening music as the kids play around (too bad it's not buyable). The moment in the cue where Worf opens the shuttle hatch and Data sees him and comes for him. Geordi seeing a sunset with his new eyes.

ST: FC
So simple, yet so effective: the text in the opening credits blurring out to Goldsmith's majestic and statly music. Joel's piece for the extended long pull-out of the inside of a Borg ship and the subsequent cheek popper scene. Picard ordering the ship to warp to join the Borg cube battle; also the much welcomed return of the Klingon music, this time for Worf, and the orchestra power as the Enterprise sweeps passed the Defiant. Too many moment to take the time to list.


So endith the films.

 

[Tracy Trek]

STAR TREK II: when Scotty's bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" swells into full orchestration as Spock's coffin is expelled into space . . .

Ironically, my wife (only a casual Trekkie, and then mostly TNG... also an ordained Christian pastor) burst out laughing at that scene. Spock is an alien, she says. It's not like he could conceivably be Christian.

The way this seemed to me was just Scotty honoring Spock in his own way.

I LOVE Picard's flute solo in The Inner Light and then the duets with Nella Daren in Lessons.

At the end of Generations when Picard and Riker beam off the ruins of Enterprise and the 3 ships warp away.

 

[The Caretaker]

The score from the closing scene of DS9's Life Support. It is the stand out track for me on the 4CD soundtrack from LaLaLand Records (called He's Toast).

 

[Tracy Trek]

I think I've already mentioned this in another post in another thread. I really like the music in Voyager's episode Blink of an Eye. When the 2 astronauts from the accelerated time planet board Voyager, they walk into engineering and see B'Elanna and the other crew frozen in time. The musical score in that moment is quite good.

 

[2takesfrakes]

In Generations, when the Enterprise is doing battle with the Duras Sisters, Riker is in command and the music is supporting the action, as it should. Then, the music stops cold as the tables have turned and Number One orders the ship to "... fire!". The soundtrack resumes as B'Etor breaks The Fourth Wall, looking strangely at the audience, as if it was all our fault. Riker's Pyrrhic Victory has saved the ship and won the day, with the score encouraging cinema-goers to erupt into thunderous applause! Despite the fact that this scene is embedded in this shite movie ... it's one of my most favourite STAR TREK movie moments.

 

[HIjol]

I love that moment, and it is not often, in all humility, that I miss a "Fourth Wall Break"! Nice catch 'Frakes, and I will look at that seen forever differently!