Rank the Mpvie Scores.

[Grant]

No matter what you say about the quality of the six original cast movies you can't complain too much about the music composed for them.
So how do you rank the music for the first six movies? My choices...

Star Trek the Motion Picture
Star Trek the Wrath of Khan
Star Trek the Undiscovered Country
Star Trek the Search for Spock
Star Trek the Final Frontier
Star Trek the Voyage Home

I could swap out the final frontier and Search for Spock for 4th and 5th Place but the others are pretty much set.

What's your ranking?

 

[NCC-73515]

TVH
WOK/SFS
TUC
TMP
TFF

 

[Grant]

Interesting choices. Not a Goldsmith fan I guess.
And I seriously can't believe I misspelled the thread title. Which is of course the only part I can't edit. If a moderator wants to fix that great otherwise I'm sure you guys get the point.

 

[Smellmet]

I'm going to include all 10. I struggle to separate my top three - TMP's score is kinda the best, epic and grand like the movie itself, but the two Horner scores are just awesome as well and have a lot more memorable individual themes than TMP. I like the rest of them too bar TVH, which I think is just awful.

TMP 10/10
TSFS 10/10
TWOK 10/10
FC 9/10
NEM 9/10
TFF 8/10
TUC 8/10
GEN 7/10
INS 6/10
TVH 3/10

 

[NCC-73515]

Interesting choices. Not a Goldsmith fan I guess.

My favorite of all movie soundtracks is FC, but you asked about the first six

All included, it's:
FC
INS
BEY
TVH
WOK/SFS
TUC
STXI
TMP
GEN
TFF
NEM
STID

But all soundtracks have great pieces and boring pieces, so it's pretty hard to sort them like that. I love the FC main theme and most other tracks, INS New Sight, BEY Night on Yorktown, TVH main theme and Market Street, Hospital Chase, Chekov's Run, WOK Genesis Countdown, TUC theme and credits, STXI New Car Smell, TMP Ilia's Theme, GEN main title, bits and pieces from the rest.

 

[Grant]

The reason I didn't include the next Generation movies or the Kelvin verse movies was because I don't own the soundtracks. And I'm way too broke to get started on that. And the expanded soundtracks which are the only ones I would consider buying are usually very pricey. But I know at some point I'm going to buy the three Goldsmith Next Generation editions if they ever get down to a reasonable price.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I would have to put them in order of most-listened-to, I guess.


Star Trek movie soundtracks by Ian McLean, on Flickr

1. TMP by Goldsmith has to come first. One of the first movie soundtrack LPs I ever bought (with a gift voucher from my 21st birthday, a few nights after hearing how great the movie premiere was from a school friend at my party). Played the soundtrack many times before actually seeing the movie. Then loved it even more.

2. ST IV (because I already owned Rosenman's soundtrack for Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings", so I was very familiar to the style long before ST IV came to cinemas).

3. INS and ST V (tie) - there are parts of these soundtracks that are just magical in the way that they tease out familiar Goldsmith music.

5. ST (2009) - Love this so much. Rousing music, great to write with some Giacchino Trek in the background.

6. ST VI - Eidelman (as producer) had already been involved with an anniversary collection, "The Astral Symphony", which has music from the first five movies, so I was intrigued - especially since Meyer had tried to get the rights to Gustav Holst's "The Planets" suite for VI, which I remember fondly from high school. A great compromise.

7. ST II and ST III (tie) - enjoyable, although ST II took a little getting used to after TMP. Parts are so reminiscent of Horner's "Battle Beyond the Stars" and the "Cocoon" films, and I played those LPs often while waiting between Trek movies.

9. FC - very different Goldsmith to everything else. I had to keep the original release because the extended version omits "Magic Carpet Ride" and "Ooby Dooby".

10. ID and BEY (tie) - I don't listen to these as often as the 2009 film, but I do appreciate Giacchino's work and JJ's ongoing loyalty to him.

12. NEM - nothing really gripping from Goldmith this time, but I do love the end credits that incorporate TOS theme and "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin. I wish I'd enjoyed the movie more. The whole "Blue Skies" song, sung by Brent Spiner, is on the extended album - and was recently reprised so beautifully and appropriately by Isa Briones (Dahj/Soji) in "Picard".

13. GEN - the one I play least and the main theme I have the most problem recalling. Sorry Mr McCarthy.

 

[Vger23]

TMP
TFF

TSFS
TWOK





TUC






TVH

 

[The Wormhole]

TWOK
FC
GEN
TMP
TUC
TFF
TSFS
NEM
TVH
INS

 

[Orac]

You dirty rankers!

 

[sbk1234]

I’m only considering the main title here. My all time favorite Trek theme is First Contact

considering only the first six, the order from favorite to least favorite is:

TMP
TFF
TWOK
TVH
TSFS
TUC

some of the music other than main titles that I think of as personal favorites in no particular order:

Genesis Countdown - TWOK
Klingon Theme - TMP
Stealing the Enterprise - TSFS
Battle in the Mutara Nebula - TWOK
Enterprise Clears Moorings - TWOK
Chekov’s Run - TVH (not sure of the exact title.)

suffice it to say, there’s a lot of good Trek music.

 

[Falconer]

TMP is a standout score, not just among Star Trek scores but among film scores and indeed among symphonic scores of all time. I listen to it more than all the rest [of Star Trek film scores] combined.

 

[STEPhon IT]

For the record, none of the Star Trek movie scores are bad but there are some I favor than most.

James Horner's Star Trek II score is by far, for me, the best score for Star Trek I've ever heard. Still today I get goosebumps hearing the Alexander Courage theme and then came the classic Horner march to the theme of the score. It definitely bumped my readiness and expectation for the movie I'm about to view. Its a lovely score so I'm bias to his music.

Dennis McCarthy's Star Trek Generations score... from his score for the TV show and making tonal improvements when scoring DS9 and using all of the elements to bring Generations a grand score. For me, it was a western scaled soundtrack geared for an adventure in outer space, the movie itself doesn't do justice for the score; its a terrible movie but it's the one thing I thought didn't suck.

Leonard Rosenman's Star Trek IV score was a departure from the Nepoleonic Sea score to a more grounded tone for my senses. It blended the nature of the film gracefully and I love the jiggle it brought for the characters and their voyages to come.

Michael Giacchino's Star Trek, Into Darkness, and Beyond were a breath of fresh air for soundtracks it had adventure and just the sense of fun I thought movies needed. I love his scores especially the stuff played during Spock's scenes I found moving; he seemed to find the measure to blend his theme to Alexander Courage quite well for me. He was great addition to Star Trek.

 

[Pauln6]

The scores in TMP and TWoK elevate the movies so much that they sit way above the others.

 

[XCV330]

TWOK and TMP. the rest is distant second. I'm not really fond of the TMP/TNG opening theme but the rest of the scoring is fantastic. TWOK has this "uh oh, shit's about to go down" feel to it.

 

[Qonundrum]

You dirty rankers!

Dunno about you, but I like to fan rank all the time!

• TWOK 10/10 (simply first rate, James Horner is another win for the franchise)
  
• NEM 9.75/10 (Goldsmith has a knack of melding classical instruments with digital ones and he can compose some real belters. Indeed, here's a great example of this (see clip below)., Trek largely ended its musical career on a high note, despite the movie itself being a bizarre mishmash of nonsensical ideas, with connect-the-dots TWOK framework (and lifted dialogue from that one and even TSFS to prove how tired the franchise had become... when a franchise lifts plot beats, scenes, or even dialogue and for a sequel that isn't a parody, that's a red flag cuz it isn't homage...)
  
• TSFS 9.5/10 ( a couple generic bits and minor re-use of cues - part of his signature - but still first rate)
  
• TMP 9/10 (largely awesome but what would become the TNG theme just feels out of place, what was wrong with the Courage theme? The rest of it is fairly awesome, and while goldsmith is largely the de facto movie composer, how might John Williams have fared?)
  
• TUC 9/10 (refreshingly original, really captures the feel of the movie, was disappointed by the soundtrack CD yet overjoyed by the re-release containing tons of good material not on the original CD!)
  
• GEN 8.75/10 (same as TUC and same reasons, the re-release with more bits added saved the day)
  
• TFF 8/10 (TNG theme aside, this one makes the best use of the Klingon theme as well as a robust score for about every scene)
• INS 7/10 (so much of the movie fails, but that Bert and Ernie singalong aside, Goldsmith could look at any scene and pull out a near-masterpiece. With one already noted notable exception.)
• FC 3/10 (Goldsmith's weakest and by some considerable distance; that Borg battle at the start is just so cornball with the "stompy Frankenstein motif" - I was laughing in the theater, is this movie trying to be campy too?! And the movie, despite having some good moments, didn't have the incidental music lifting it as much as I'd hoped... Hearing Worf's Klingon theme just feels cut'n'paste due to being used in Kirk era movies and Klingons were baddies back then, but now it's Worf's noble theme and it just feels so out of place, even in 1996 and as TNG-burnout was starting to be felt, it didn't help. Also, and this is big, Goldsmith does a real impressive Orbison and Steppenwolf homage, what the heck... is this movie a comedy frat party along the likes of TVH? (Well, ...) It's also the reason why when a movie with the Trek name goes to contemporary pop music I start to cringe and be thankful I brought a little brown paper bag with me to the theater only it's the one they let me keep from the airplane because I used it and they didn't want it back... And it's even more sad when "Beyond" had the best example of folding in contemporary pop music! BEY is the least tacky bar far!! Grr, the gag is that only older movies do it right and new ones stumble!!! (Just, please, if another Trek movie is made, still keep inclusion of contemporary pop faff away from it. It's still more cheesy and has less meat to it than a store-bought pizza.)
• TVH 0.98/10 (Oh, good grief, where to begin... oh yeah, it feels like a generic TV sitcom soundtrack that gives me horrific flashbacks of "Full House" or "Step by Step" or even the "Thighmaster" infomercials Suzanne Somers was also in over the decades, not sure why I'd watch those since the Kinsey 5 in me got bored... It's pure Limbuger and there's nothing Gouda about that... There's that one moment in that one scene with the poetic punk music that re-adds to its score 0.99 points BTW... wish it were the Ramones but even they were not as cynical/nihilistic/possiblywishful, and certainly not in a fish-out-of-water trope with such exaggerations into the fray...)

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(That's how to do a scene and not the wallpaper farting frog symphony the latter half of TNG rolled around in. Indeed, the goosepimplies on the arms are quick to stand and salute right on cue for that ram scene, it's that damn-good! And sheesh, that clip alone gives this movie more potential than the previous three movies combined! ))


Honorable mention: BEYOND. Pretty much had the best score of post-NEM Trek and even did the near-impossible in folding in pop culture muzak in a way that just about fits the film. (I'm still not a proponent of it as it tends to feel cheap, but of all the Trek movies doing it, BEYOND is by far the best at trying it. None of the others come close, especially the flicks not mentioned in the aforementioned list. )

 

[Admiral Archer]

TMP
FC
TWOK/TSFS
INS
TFF
NEM
GEN
TUC
ID
2009
BEY

NOTE: This is just my favorite scores. The films themselves are not included in this order.

 

[Grant]

What I like about your list is that apparently the Voyage Home score is so bad it's not even included!

 

[Admiral Archer]

What I like about your list is that apparently the Voyage Home score is so bad it's not even included!

Whoops, I forgot about it. LOL. I personally like the concept of James Horner coming back to finish the "Genesis Trilogy", but that didn't happen, so...

 

[Grant]

Did James Horner ever do a movie that's basically a light comedy adventure?