Faith of the heart has grown on me
- Thread starter Voth commando1
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Except that is was a pop song, and it was deliberately different from other Star Trek themes because the idea was that the show was a sort of proto Star Trek. (Don't go down the rabbit hole of how that should be compounded/hyphenated. You've been warned.) That's why the show wasn't initially called "Star Trek: Enterprise". It was in Star Trek continuity, but wasn't actually Star Trek in the traditional sense. The pop nature of the theme song was supposed to reinforce that.
Right. There's nothing wrong with either theme. They're designed to match the themes of their respective series.
So, you're trying to make an exciting new Star Trek series that will feel fresh and different?
- Recycle a song from a movie instead of composing something new. New has been done before. Old and unoriginal is the new new.
- Do a version of the song with a singer trying to imitate the singer of the original. Don't try to make something new out of it. See above.
- Make sure the song has insipid and meaningless lyrics that sound vaguely motivational and inspirational. Be sure to use "faith of the heart" and not, say, "faith of the spleen" or "faith of the appendix." Faith and heart in song lyrics push buttons without actually meaning much of anything. And it's not like Star Trek has traditionally favoured intelligence, rationality, or science, so something as touchy-feely-flaky as "faith of the heart" is just perfect for Star Trek.
- You're trying to get a younger, cooler audience, so go for a bland soft rock song that will appeal to that audience's parents. Or grandparents.
- If the audience doesn't like a syrupy Rod Stewart song, make it a slightly more upbeat version of the same song. That'll make a big, big difference.
The theme of the song isn't its vague nature but what I like about it is that is both a meta commentary on trek's growth and progress as a franchise and humanity(both in the real world and trekverse). Meeting challenges and rising to new heights.
It's very a optimistic and humanistic song and is very fitting of Star Trek.
It's very a optimistic and humanistic song and is very fitting of Star Trek.
The point of the show was to create a Star Trek series closer to our own time. Using pop music people have heard before makes the show overall feel closer to the present. Creating something completely new would fail to do that.
That's probably a budgetary/licensing issue. It's probably far easier to re-record it with a new singer than to get the rights to the Rod Stewart version. See Birds of Prey. They had to completely change the intro song for the DVD release because they didn't have the DVD rights for the original song. Licensing can be a real pain.
I disagree. The song's lyrics are entirely keeping with a theme of determination in the face of adversity, which is clearly the message they which to convey in the opening credits. Heck, one particular line is "I can reach any star". Hardly inappropriate for the context.
You bet. From the first episode of TNG to the first episode of Enterprise is about 14 years, so a lot of the fan base is not going to be the young, cool kids. It's going to be the parents and grandparents. Besides, many shows have relatively inoffensive pop songs as their themes. The kids aren't going to stay away solely for that reason.
No argument on this one. Trying to make it more upbeat after the first two seasons was a stupid idea.
What does "faith of the heart" actually mean?
I'll just leave this right here.
As with most things DSC, I struggled to like it - in the end I neither hate it or like it.
Well said.
I think of it as a hymn to the indomitable human spirit. It catches the spirit of ST perfectly, especially when combined with the pictures
It just seemed unlike something that would be a theme song for a Star Trek show. Some of the fans of the other series of ST I know have never liked it. I don't hate it but wouldn't have minded another theme song.
I know it wasn't immediately called Star Trek Enterprise but there was no doubt what it was. It was called "Enterprise" and not due to a business venture. It was about first contact and new being new to space exploration. It wasn't a proto ST but a prequel.
The song of the first two seasons sounded more like a Cher tune but starting with season three, it now sounds more like a Rod Stewart song.
The entire intro was about showing that there was an unbroken line from the present to TOS, with ENT bridging the gap. If they were to do something different with the music, the would necessarily need to change the intro, as it had the same general themes (footage of things we're already familiar with, like the history of the space program, for example).
I always wanted to see a DY-100 cryogenic sleeper ship added to the opening montage. A couple more fictional space missions that were mentioned as having happened in the 20th and 21st centuries. If it meant reusing stock footage of, say, the Ares IV mission to Mars from "One Small Step(VOY)" I would have been fine with that.
well, technically the opening credits were created with a different opening theme. It's pretty cool how well Faith of the Heart also works with the montage.
Here's the original:
It's kind of powerful/moving, and probably would have been a big hit. I like them both.
@Prax, I've seen this version of the intro before, and while I think the opening music is lovely, it feels a bit too subdued compared to Faith of the Heart. It has the opposite problem as that amped-up version of the theme they started using in Season 3 (which feels slightly insincere to me).
I do like the use of Archer's Theme in the end credits, though. I always preferred that the opening and closing music be different anyway.
I do like the use of Archer's Theme in the end credits, though. I always preferred that the opening and closing music be different anyway.
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