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Rank the Musical Scores

tomalak301

tomalak301

Fleet Admiral
Premium Member
We've ranked the movies, what about the Musical scores. How would you rank them and where would XI be in your listing.

For me, from best to least favorite:

The Motion Picture
The Undiscovered Country
The Voyage Home
The Final Frontier
First Contact
The Wrath of Kahn/The Search for Spock (They were pretty much the same)
Generations
Star Trek XI
Insurrection
Nemesis
 
The Motion Picture
First Contact
The Wrath of Khan
The Search for Spock
The Voyage Home
Nemesis
The Final Frontier
The Undiscovered Country
Insurrection
Generations
Star Trek
 
First Contact
Insurrection
Nemesis
Generations
Undiscovered Country
XI

None of the others were particularly memorable to me. And regardless of its quality as a film or a coherent story, I always thought Nemesis had a very good OST, all the TNG films do. So they're all spaced very closely together in any ranking for music in my mind. TUC's is pretty good. XI's I'm not crazy about in a vacuum, but it works extremely well in the film and really helps it.
 
1. The Motion Picture

One of the greatest film scores ever and nominated for an Academy Award.

2. The Wrath of Khan

This one is tough as it may not be the most melodic score but fits perfectly for the movie and has influenced the music of Star Trek ever since.

3. The Final Frontier

Great score for a so so film. This is one of those scores that fits the film well and is also a great listen by itself. Definitely underrated by some.

4. Star Trek

I didn't like this score much at first, I thought it sounded like a super hero movie score. But I have since fallen in love with it. Michael Giacchino just knows how to squeeze every bit of emotion from a scene with his beautiful music.

5. First Contact

I love so much about this score but do think it has some weak points. The overture is brilliant. Definitely a fantastic listen aside from the film but some of the Borg themes are rather droll.

6. The Search for Spock

I disagree with those who say it is identical to TWOK. Frankly parts of it are just atmospheric mood music, especially on the Genesis planet and Vulcan. Stealing the Enterprise and Bird of Prey uncloaks are amazing. I really enjoyed the new Klingon themes.

7. The Undiscovered Country

I always felt this score was a little overrated. It works perfectly in the film but I thought it was a little too dark and militaristic and lacked some of the wonder that Goldsmith had brought to the previous score. Still fantastic though.

8. Insurrection

A somewhat maligned score to a much maligned movie. Actually I thought it was the best part of Insurrection. If only the movie had been better I think people would remember this score a little more fondly.

9. Nemesis

This is also one of the most difficult scores to wrap your head around as it is also associated with a poor film. The end credits are fantastic and it is always bittersweet to listen to knowing it would be Goldsmith's final Trek score.

10. The Voyage Home

By far and away the most overrated Star Trek score. How it was nominated for an Academy Award I will never know. I like the end credits just fine and I think it compliments most of the film well but is also is the most dated of all the Trek film scores. Honestly if it weren't for the few stings of the TOS theme you could confuse this score with any other film from the mid 80s.

11. Generations

I liked Kirk's death theme. But since Mccarthy reused themes from the DS9 Pilot Emissary it gets the bottom of the list. Just a TV soundtrack to a feature film.

Thanks for reading and giving me an outlet to let my Star Trek film score enthusiasm loose. I honestly feel that the music to Star Trek is part of what makes it so memorable.
 
TMP
TUC
FC (full score - the soundtrack album would be further down)
ST (2009)
NEM
INS
TFF
TWOK
TSFS
GEN
TVH
 
Last edited:
1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Either this is a great score for a great film, or it's a great score wasted on a mediocre film, depending on your opinion. But it is a great score.

2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

A wonderfully dark and evocative score from a relative newcomer. Not only does it fit the film, but it stands on its own.

3. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (tie)

These scores are both wonderful contributions to the Trek saga by James Horner, probably two of his most original works (he'd reuse themes and motifs from them again and again throughout his career). It's hard to rank one above the other, and since their so similar thematically (more so than any other two scores for the films), I call it a tie.

4. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Definitely a grand score wasted on a mediocre movie. Goldsmith made a career out of that, in retrospect. A wonderful score (wish more of it made it to album) that combines all of Goldsmith's themes, and creates a few new ones, for a wonderfully lush and melodic score.

5. Star Trek: First Contact

Jerry and Joel Goldsmith craft a score that is one one hand as beautiful as the series ever got (Main Title), and on the other, as creepy as the series ever got (Various themes and motifs for the Borg). Sadly, more of it isn't on the album, although it's available from other sources at varying sound quality.

6. Star Trek: Nemesis

A solid score that is better represented on the bootleg than the official release. A shame it's associated with such a rotten film--it might be ranked higher if it didn't have that association, actually. I'll have to listen to it again. It does have wonderful action cues, as well as some softer moments.

7. Star Trek: Insurrection

Goldsmith's weakest score for the series, but it still has its (many) moments, including some interesting themes for the Ba'Ku.

8. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Rosenman reuses plenty of material from previous scores, and unlike Horner's entry, this is not the materials' first appearance. Nevertheless, the chase cues are fun, and the music that plays at the end of the film is perfect.

9. Star Trek (2009)

It works in the context of the film, but is awfully repetitive on what I've heard from the album. I don't actually own this CD yet, so I've yet to hear it many times, but it has not stood up to me on first listen. Rather weak for a Trek score.

10. Star Trek: Generations

This score is too much reminiscent of the "sonic wallpaper" that plagued the series under much of Berman's tenure. There are some nice moments, such as Kirk's Death, Prisoner Exchange, and the Overture, but the action cues are only interesting in that they present music heard on the series with a fuller orchestra.
 
1: First Contact
2: Generations
3: TUC
4: TVH
5: Nemesis
6: Insurrection
7: TFF
8: TWOK
8: TSFS
10: XI
11: TMP
 
Gary Sebben said:
TMP
TSFS
TWOK
UDC
ST09
TFF
TVH

The TNG movies are all forgettable
Click to expand...

We're ranking the scores, not the movies. I assume you already knew that, but just making sure. With that in mind, how can you say the First Contact score was forgettable?
 
1.) TWOK/TSFS (as somebody else pointed out-they were virtually the same-composed by Horner)-These are definitely the tracks I come back to over and over.
2.) TVH- Buyoant, whimsical score- A nice change from the previous two movies. Loved the ending theme (note: Fans of the Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings feature might notice some similarities between the two ending credits theme-both done by Leonard Rosenman)
3.) TFF-Mediocre movie but another fantastic Goldsmith score.
4.) FC- Excellent Joel/Jerry Goldsmith Score. Captures the menacing quality of the Borg well. Kudos for the record company to include the two vocal tracks, Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" and "Magic Carpet Ride", on the CD soundtrack.
5.) GEN - Some decent cues, particularly from the battle between ENT-D and the Klingons but the soundtrack was pretty sparse and the score, frankly, was TV-caliber (not surprisingly done by McCarthy who scored most of the series)
6.) TUC (?)- I haven't listened to this soundtrack for awhile but beyond the departure from spacedock and the battle at the end, I'm hard pressed to remember any memorable tracks.
The above four are the only ones I either own or listen to a lot. The rest I've only heard bits and pieces of and am unsure how to rank them.

TPM (?) -I've only listened to a couple of tracks. Interestingly, I've never seen the movie.
Nem (?)- I haven't watched the movie for awhile.
INS (?)- I haven't watched this movie for awhile but remember the opening pastoral music to be particularly pleasant and beautiful
Star Trek (2009) (?) I downloaded "End Credits" with Alexander Courage's theme worked in among some of the other cues from the movie. I want to eventually get the entire soundtrack but it was overall not extremely memorable otherwise except for maybe "Nailin' The Kelvin".
 
Jerry Goldsmith is awesome, therefore TMP gets my #1 vote.

I remember also really liking the music in IV, so that gets my #2.

I remember distinctly James Horner's work in II and III. The music is distinctive, but if you watch pretty much any movie with James Horner's music, it's all exactly the same. The guy only ever wrote one piece in his life. It just happened to work well for Trek. That's why he's #3.

None of the other movies have music that I remember except for that horrible Uhura fan dance. Ugh.
 
I think overall TWOK has the best score, but the music from the Final Frontier, the kind of wistful music heard during Kirk's mountain climb, etc is just great.
 
1. TMP
2. FC
3. TREK XI
4. TFF
5. TUC
6. GEN
7. TWOK
8. TSFS
9. TVH
10. INS
11. NEM
 
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