Star Trek V: Mostly Awful Movie, Excellent Soundtrack

[DavidGutierrez]

Some of the best music from the Star Trek cinematic efforts is in Star Trek V. Goldsmith was on point! The trio's theme, the encounter on Sha Ka Rhee, everything was awesome!

Nearly makes the movie watchable.

 

[martok2112]

Goldsmith did some good work for Trek V. I didn't care for the rendition of the Klingon theme in Trek V though. It lacked the epic nature and majesty of his original Klingons theme in TMP. (TMP is my second favorite Goldsmith Trek score just after Nemesis.)

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I have a confession to make.

I've never actually sat through all of Trek V.

My grandmother indoctrinated me (with love) into Trek from birth with all the weekly episodes of TNG (and eventually DS9) as they aired, plus Trek II-IV and VI. She loved those movies, but not V... not exactly the most niche perception in fandom, of course. So she never recorded an airing, nor grabbed a VHS release. She seemed comfortable pretending it never happened.

I was convinced to give it a whirl back in 1997 or so by a girl I was as interested in as any naive ten-year-old boy could be, I guess. But we got midway through and my grandmother came to get me. To this day I'm convinced she knew.

Then in 2010 I watched all of TOS for the first time, watched TMP for the first time, rewatched the trilogy, reached V, got to about the same part, and just sort of zoned out for some reason. Went back two weeks later with VI. That time was on me.

I'll go ahead and agree with the sentiment in the first post. I remember the music. Somehow. But so much of the rest of what I've seen (and of course, I've seen the world-famous "what does God need with a starship?" segment since then) is just not of a high quality. My brain thinks TOS crew and it's three seasons and five movies. The Final Frontier just never happened.

Maybe I should actually watch it.

In like 2030.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I love ST:V. It is wonderfully camp, a bonbon box of great character moments and ridiculous surprises. It's wonderful for the Big Three relationship. It is adorable and hilarious. It is nearly my favorite.

 

[FormerLurker]

While it's more "Pirates of Penzance" than "Otello", and is therefore less majestic, the Klingon theme in STV is quite enjoyable. Better than other composer's takes on it for TNG, certainly. My one real complaint about it is that the version in the soundtrack, at least the original release, is not the same as the one heard in the movie. I speak of course about the reprise over the end credits, which in the soundtrack is pretty basic, while the version in the film is not only more majestic but has additional bits and is a bit longer. Does anyone know why they didn't include that version in the soundtrack?

 

[Vger23]

I love ST:V. It is wonderfully camp, a bonbon box of great character moments and ridiculous surprises. It's wonderful for the Big Three relationship. It is adorable and hilarious. It is nearly my favorite.

Agreed. It always makes me roll my eyes when yet another unoriginal post pops up "STAR TRAK V IZ TEH SUX!!! Haha!!SHATNER IZ BAD DERICTOR!!"

Ok...whatever dude. Go watch Voyager or something.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Hmm, interesting posts up there.

Maybe I'll watch it sooner than 2030.

 

[Orphalesion]

Agreed. It always makes me roll my eyes when yet another unoriginal post pops up "STAR TRAK V IZ TEH SUX!!! Haha!!SHATNER IZ BAD DERICTOR!!"

Ok...whatever dude. Go watch Voyager or something.

You are right, they are almost as original as the "TOS is the ROXXORS and everything else is TEH FAIL" posts. Almost.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Some of the best music from the Star Trek cinematic efforts is in Star Trek V. Goldsmith was on point! The trio's theme, the encounter on Sha Ka Rhee, everything was awesome!

Nearly makes the movie watchable.

Trek V is campy as hell but fun. And Goldsmith's score was great.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Count me as a fan of STV, but yeah, the soundtrack is excellent. I especially love the piece when they land on Sha'ka'ree.

 

[martok2112]

While Star Trek V was full of flaws, it also had its charms.
It had good dramatic moments.
Good comedy in some places. A bit forced in others.

...and it had:

Spock saying: "Damn you, sir! You will try!"

 

[Indysolo]

While it's more "Pirates of Penzance" than "Otello", and is therefore less majestic, the Klingon theme in STV is quite enjoyable. Better than other composer's takes on it for TNG, certainly. My one real complaint about it is that the version in the soundtrack, at least the original release, is not the same as the one heard in the movie. I speak of course about the reprise over the end credits, which in the soundtrack is pretty basic, while the version in the film is not only more majestic but has additional bits and is a bit longer. Does anyone know why they didn't include that version in the soundtrack?

Presumably it's the version Goldsmith preferred for the album release. But now both versions are available.

http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7518/.f

Neil

 

[BillJ]

Hmm, interesting posts up there.

Maybe I'll watch it sooner than 2030.

Definitely a film worth watching once.

 

[NCC-1701-B]

I'm in agreement with Teacake, I love it. It's a movie for when I'm in a Trek mood, but not a serious Trek mood

I know that film like the back of my hand...

 

[FormerLurker]

Hmm, interesting posts up there.

Maybe I'll watch it sooner than 2030.

Definitely a film worth watching once.

Watch it more than once. It grows on you. And not like mold.

 

[Karzak]

I quite enjoy the soundtrack to Star Trek V.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

I love ST:V. It is wonderfully camp, a bonbon box of great character moments and ridiculous surprises. It's wonderful for the Big Three relationship. It is adorable and hilarious. It is nearly my favorite.

I agree with everything except the last part. I much prefer a few others so it isn't close to being a favourite but...

It is just such fun. I totally see what Shatner was trying to do with it. It has the best 'big three' interactions in the series. Of course it isn't spectacular as a film but I dont think it quite deserves the venom it receives.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I always watch THE FINAL FRONTIER with the French dubs and it's a shade better that way! But I have to say that as fond as I am of some of Jerry Goldsmith's work, TFF has a soundtrack that sounds like TMP's cobbled together with standard, Hollywood music. It's very inconsistant and not as good as it could've been ... kind of like the movie it's scoring. Wow ... I never thought about that. Maybe Jerry held back the good stuff, because he felt the material wasn't worthy enough?

 

[Timby]

I always watch THE FINAL FRONTIER with the French dubs and it's a shade better that way! But I have to say that as fond as I am of some of Jerry Goldsmith's work, TFF has a soundtrack that sounds like TMP's cobbled together with standard, Hollywood music. It's very inconsistant and not as good as it could've been ... kind of like the movie it's scoring. Wow ... I never thought about that. Maybe Jerry held back the good stuff, because he felt the material wasn't worthy enough?

Some of the incidental stuff was a little bland, sure, but the major thematic material -- "The Mountain," "A Busy Man" -- is just incredibly good.

But, in all fairness, that's kind of how the latter part of Goldsmith's career went. His scores got very samey, and he only really stood out with the major themes and cues. You could drop the scores from U.S. Marshals and Air Force One into Star Trek: Insurrection and I doubt there would be much difference.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I appreciate your response, because it is a curious thing, coming from someone who's shown such brilliance in his better days. But everybody loses their stuff. Everyone. As I understand it, Jerry's son actually got involved in his father's work, around this time, co-writing some soundtracks. Whether this was just a Father/Son bonding thing, or whatever else, I haven't a clue. But it does seem like Jerry kind of stopped trying ...