Faith of the heart has grown on me

[USS Triumphant]

I loved the song right away, and I like Russell Watson's version (the Enterprise version) better than Rod Stewart's. But, I do also understand those who felt that it didn't seem like a Trek opening theme. I got used to it, though, and looking back, the only thing about it that I think I'd change is that I might have saved it for later seasons and used *this* for the first couple of seasons, instead...

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Because I feel like it expresses the human frustration with being held back by the Vulcans, and certain other elements at the start of the series, a bit better.

 

[Vandervecken]

Been on my mp3s for many years. Good biking music!

 

[Voth commando1]

It's just so uplifting

 

[TOSalltheway]

I have no problem with the song, in fact I do find it to be inspiring. My concern rather is with the choice of historic space footage that accompanies the song. Trek speak for the entire human species. NX-01 represents the planet Earth and NOT the United States. The history of space exploration portrayed seems to omit Yuri Gagarin, Alexi Leonov, Mir,or any reference to non American accomplishments. That is what bothers me on every viewing.

 

[Tuskin38]

My concern rather is with the choice of historic space footage that accompanies the song. Trek speak for the entire human species. NX-01 represents the planet Earth and NOT the United States. The history of space exploration portrayed seems to omit Yuri Gagarin, Alexi Leonov, Mir,or any reference to non American accomplishments. That is what bothers me on every viewing.

I'm not going to lie, I never actually realized that until someone wrote like a 3 paragraph post on Reddit on why this was a bad song and opening montage.

 

[Gojira]

Liked it from the start. Never understood the hatred it received.

 

[O_Kav]

Well, Faith of the Heart was their attempt at establishing aesthetics that had more links with the Present than the Future, keeping with the thematic that ENT was about the first steps of Humanity outside our Solar System. It failed to resonate on the majority of people not because it was contemporaneous, but because modern musical tastes are very subjective. They should've done something more vanilla. For example, a Carl Sagan speech and some orchestral music. Maybe not the most creative thing in the world, but you can't hate Sagan.

But yeah, I confess Faith of the Heart is stuck in my head since then and I kinda like it now. It gives ENT a very... Unique personality ? The lyrics are kinda of a nice fit too. What the hell, if even my appreciation for Captain Archer has grown on me in the last few years, why Faith of the Heart wouldn't ?

I'm not going to lie, I never actually realized that until someone wrote like a 3 paragraph post on Reddit on why this was a bad song and opening montage.

As a Brazilian, I remember it always irked when I saw the Wright Flier in that Intro and not a single shot of the 14-bis... Who did what first is beside the point, Santos-Dumont was very essential for Aviation.

But now I kinda feel guilty, because I never realized they had cut completely the Soviets too. There's nothing more Star Trek than the Soyuz-Apollo joint mission and not even that is in the Intro.

At least now DSC is kinda making up for that and naming a Starship to commemorate the Chinese Space Program.

 

[ewoodcourt]

Watching Enterprise for the first time currently (just hit the middle of season 2) and I'll admit that to begin with I found the title sequence super jarring, but it's definitely grown on me, now I sing along every episode!

 

[MarsWeeps]

Watching Trek on Netflix and reading about it over the past few years while intermittently watching Enterprise has increased my appreciation for the song.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Prax]

At least now DSC is kinda making up for that and naming a Starship to commemorate the Chinese Space Program.

In TNG, there was the Yamaguchi, the Zhukov, the Prokofiev, the Tsiolkovsky, the Tolstoy, the Soyuz. There's also the Okinawa, the Musashi, the Yamato, the Honshu, the Kyushu, the Akagi,

Some of these are from DS9, but there are many more with French, Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican, Roman, German, Native American Indian, et al-names

 

[O_Kav]

In TNG, there was the Yamaguchi, the Zhukov, the Prokofiev, the Tsiolkovsky, the Tolstoy, the Soyuz. There's also the Okinawa, the Musashi, the Yamato, the Honshu, the Kyushu, the Akagi,

Some of these are from DS9, but there are many more with French, Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican, Roman, German, Native American Indian, et al-names

Yeah! I loved the fact that the Defiant's former name was São Paulo. If I remember correctly that was even before the Brazilian Navy commissioned the NAe São Paulo. It was a nice tribute to our people. Having our largest metropolis as an associated name to the Main Ship of a Star Trek show and all...

 

[MarsWeeps]

Yeah! I loved the fact that the Defiant's former name was São Paulo. If I remember correctly that was even before the Brazilian Navy commissioned the NAe São Paulo. It was a nice tribute to our people. Having our largest metropolis as an associated name to the Main Ship of a Star Trek show and all...

Well it wasn't DS9's original Defiant, which was destroyed, it was its replacement.

 

[fireproof78]

Well it wasn't DS9's original Defiant, which was destroyed, it was its replacement.

Just like Harry Kim.

It's funny, I heard "Faith of the Heart" over the store's music that I worked at before knowing it was a Star Trek theme, so I've always liked it.

 

[Tuskin38]

Yeah! I loved the fact that the Defiant's former name was São Paulo. If I remember correctly that was even before the Brazilian Navy commissioned the NAe São Paulo. It was a nice tribute to our people. Having our largest metropolis as an associated name to the Main Ship of a Star Trek show and all...

The plaque for the Sao Paulo even says 'Named for the people of Brazil' on it.

Star Trek Online named one of their Defiant variant classes after it.

 

[unimatrix7]

I don't mind Faith of the Heart, and I still find the visuals to be interesting. I've had three successive housemates - none of them seen a lick of Star Trek in their lives - say "lol, this is such a dumb song for this show."

Anyway, it's always a bit funny how Berman or whoever said 'this ain't gon be your father's Star Trek' and then chose to open every episode with grandpa's favourite geezer-rock power ballad.

I'm not going to lie, I never actually realized that until someone wrote like a 3 paragraph post on Reddit on why this was a bad song and opening montage.

By any chance do you know where I may find this post?

Anyway, I'm fine with it. Archer was so hopelessly inept that the idea that the Enterprise crew were just 'Americans in Space,' stuffing up everything they touched, became more amusing to me than offensive...

...Anyhow, my country's biggest contribution to Star Trek canon was the il-fated USS Melbourne which, even before it got dead, was too shit for Riker to bother to command

 

[Voth commando1]

The song has heart-humanity has made it and is gonna make it. I love that.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

The fellow who's been doing the Pacific 201 ship videos also did a video on the Enterprise opening:

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When I had heard that they were going to use "Faith of the Heart", but have someone else record it, I was concerned, because I liked the Rod Stewart version. I took it as an omen that I was really going to hate the opening.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Being a NASA fan since early childhood, and living only a 90 minute drive from the Kennedy Space Center, I was literally in tears the first time I saw the opening to Enterprise. Visually showing the progression from ancient sea-faring vessels, through the Apollo and Shuttle programs, and all the way to the NX-0, the opening made Star Trek seem like manifest destiny, like something that not only could happen but something that would happen. The actual theme song works perfectly with the visuals, and the lyrics are surprisingly well suited to the general theme. It was as if the opening were specifically created with me in mind.

If only the actual show were as good as the opening.

[...]the only thing about it that I think I'd change is that I might have saved it for later seasons and used *this* for the first couple of seasons, instead...

Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite (Original Video)

Because I feel like it expresses the human frustration with being held back by the Vulcans, and certain other elements at the start of the series, a bit better.

It seems a little too sad for Enterprise, but I can definitely see this being used as the theme for a science fiction show. I'd even be tempted to use it for a project I'm working on, but I have certain licensing concerns about that. Could approach the artist about doing a new song, though. Hmm...

 

[DamarsKanar]

It's cheesy as hell, but I actually kind of enjoyed listening to the seasons 1-2 theme. The lyrics were right, the cheese factor ended up feeling kind of uplifting and inspiring. I sang along.

Then it changed...I just do not understand what they were thinking. They go into the dark, action-packed Xindi arc....and they use an uptempo-jolly-wedding-on-the-beach-Christian-rock-pop-folk monstrosity. Nope. It's just so incongruous. You have the teaser, all brooding gritty Archer-in-action fare or whatever - and the moment I hear the first note of the season 2-4 theme I just cringe and skip. It simply makes no sense for the show, especially at this point.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

@DamarsKanar, Yeah, I feel the same about the changed intro. I really saw the writing on the wall when they added "Star Trek" to the title. What was the point? Anyone who didn't know it was a Trek series probably wasn't going to watch just because you put "Star Trek" in the title.

 

[Anglachel]

I've always hated it; it's embarrassing. I ALWAYS skip it.