"Out there... thataway."
Upon his death in 2004, I embarked on creating an eight-disc tribute set of Jerry Goldsmith's work. Among the albums included was a two disc set of his music from the Star Trek projects that he had composed. While this was one of the easiest of the discs in that set to be put together, the end result was never satisfying to me, not so much because of what I might have failed to include but of the exact opposite. Two full discs was just too damn much. Despite the accessibilty of the music, the overkill just ended up stretching the patience of the listener. I was also a little too enamored of some of the alternate and additional cues that I had available and included quite a lot of them. Upon the creation of Silver Screen Star Trek mix, I determined that a project for future consideration would be a single disc album of Goldsmith's Trek music and specifically didn't include any on that album. As I've been on something of a Goldsmith kick as of late, the time seemed ripe to revisit this material.
25 Tracks - 81:24
Side One
1. MAIN TITLE and KLINGON BATTLE (The Motion Picture) 6:51
2. A BUSY MAN (The Final Frontier) 4:25
3. REMUS (Nemesis) 0:34
4. THE ENTERPRISE (The Motion Picture) 5:54
5. MAIN TITLE (First Contact) 2:08
6. NOT FUNCTIONING (Insurrection) 1:43
7. WITHOUT HELP (The Final Frontier) 4:10
8. LEAVING DRYDOCK (The Motion Picture) 3:25
9. NEW SIGHT (Insurrection) 4:13
10. THE MOUNTAIN (The Final Fronter) 2:05
11. NO GOODBYES (The Motion Picture) 0:47
12. MAIN THEME (Voyager) 1:49
Side Two
13. A TALL SHIP (Nemesis) 1:31
14. VEJUR FLYOVER (The Motion Picture) 4:42
15. FULLY FUNCTIONAL (First Contact) 2:57
16. LET'S GET TO WORK (Nemesis) 2:36
17. THE RIKER MANEUVER (Insurrection) 1:43
18. RED ALERT (First Contact) 2:11
19. GAMES (The Motion Picture) 3:37
20. A PERFECT MOMENT (Insurrection) 1:02
21. BATTLE STATIONS (Nemesis) 2:25
22. LET'S GET OUT OF HERE (The Final Frontier) 4:46
23. THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX * (First Contact) 5:14
24. THE MELD and A GOOD START (The Motion Picture) 6:15
25. LIFE IS A DREAM ** (The Final Frontier) 3:55Music Composed and Conducted by
JERRY GOLDSMITH
( 1 9 2 9 - 2 0 0 4 )
Except:
* Composed by
JOEL GOLDSMITH
** Contains Theme from STAR TREK
Composed by
ALEXANDER COURAGE
Orchestrations by
JEFF ATMAJIAN (First Contact)
ALEXANDER COURAGE (The Motion Picture, First Contact, Insurrection)
HUMMIE MANN (Voyager)
MARK McKENZIE (Nemesis)
ARTHUR MORTON (The Motion Picture, The Final Frontier, First Contact)
CONRAD POPE (Nemesis)
FRED STEINER (The Motion Picture)
Engineered by
JOHN NEAL (The Motion Picture)
BRUCE BOTNICK (All Others)
CRAIG HUXLEY, Blaster Beam (The Motion Picture)
Digital Keyboards by YAMAHA
The Maestro with ROBERT WISE in 2001In creating this album, I stood back and took stock of the impact that Goldsmith had on the Star Trek franchise. While music was a pretty important element of the original series, Jerry Goldsmith being tapped to score the first feature film was another element of its impressive production value. If the film itself lags down underneath the weight of that very same production value, it nevertheless gave Goldsmith an opportunity to create a musical world that reflects the sense of exploration and the unknown that were required to illustrate Star Trek's transition from television to the cinemas. The title march does indeed bear some of the influence of John Williams' Star Wars - the success of which film was the direct impetus for Paramount to attempt to revive their own science fiction property, but it is very much a Goldsmith theme. Its association with the Enterprise caused Gene Roddenberry to request it be used for The Next Generation; interestingly, while Goldsmith scored only two of the films that featured the original cast, which is when his theme became associated with Star Trek, the only Next Generation adventure not to feature his theme is Star Trek: Generations (scored by series composer Dennis McCarthy). However, none of the Next Generation films open with the title march, which both The Motion Picture and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier do.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the films that Goldsmith scored, with the exception of the fast-paced Star Trek: First Contact, are generally the less successful films of the series. But this is Jerry Goldsmith here, who practically made a career out of providing bad films with outstanding scores with the occasional classic movie (Chinatown, Patton) thrown in. Despite the brilliance of the first film's score, the flat dramatic elements of the film caused many to dub it Star Trek: The Motionless Picture, and while it was financially successful enough to spawn a sequel (the nearly-perfect Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, scored by James Horner), it was considered a dud. Star Trek V is embarrassingly bad - though the campy aspects of the film yielded a sprightly score, and while Insurrection isn't terrible, it really isn't that good either - but Goldsmith's Rambo-like approach to the action and the beautiful Ba'ku themes make it sound like a better film than it is. And as suitboyskin has pointed out, they could easily have made Star Trek: Nemesis not suck, they just chose not to go that route - but Goldsmith's music is energetic and powerful, with strong allusions to his classic score for the first film.
I have used the "Side One" and "Side Two" structure on mixes before; in this case, it seemed fitting as this was, in many ways, a reduction of a two platter set. However, a cursory glance at the track listing of the two projects will demonstrate that I significantly altered the order in order to create a particular flow for the album. As a result, while my original intent was merely to make Red Alert: The Abridged Edition, the final product plays so differently from that album that I ended up retitling the album.
- Side One
- MAIN TITLE and KLINGON BATTLE (The Motion Picture) 6:51
This album opens in a very similar manner to its predecessor, with the main title march from the first Star Trek film. This would have been the first time that audiences would ever hear the theme that would come to represent Star Trek almost as closely as Alexander Courage's fanfare. Bold and brassy, this initial presentation of Goldsmith's title march was written during the transitional period between Goldsmith's more staccato arrangements of the 70s into the more ornate sound that he would use in the 80s on. This is reflected in the differences in sound between this reading of the march and the version that appears in "Life is a Dream" from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (track 25); the latter performance is lusher and more full - but it lacks the militaristic 'snap' that it had in its original incarnation here, where it played against a black screen with white titles (albeit in a really cool font). Dennis McCarthy would arrange this theme at Gene Roddenberry's request to serve as the title music for Star Trek: The Next Generation; but the Star Trek V arrangement is the one that Goldsmith would use with little variation on his subsequent contributions to the franchise.
After the title sequence is over, the film opens with three magificently detailed Klingon heavy cruisers approaching a large cloud. The mist itself is represented by the sound of the Blaster Beam, an instrument consisting of a series of hollow metal rods that are beat upon and rubbed to create otherworldly sounds. The Blaster Beam was created and performed by Craig Huxley (who appeared as an actor in the episode of the original series "And the Children Shall Lead"), and has appeared in other film scores (John Barry's The Black Hole, James Horner's Battle Beyond the Stars and his two Star Trek features), but it was in Star Trek: The Motion Picture that it is used to its fullest cinematic advantage as the musical avatar of V'Ger. The Klingons, on the other hand, are accompanied by a hunter's clarion call on trumpets, punctuated with castenets. Goldsmith would return to this theme to represent the Klingons in Star Trek V as well as Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) in First Contact and Insurrection; it also was the basis upon which all subsequent musical representations of Klingons - be they James Horner's variation on his Khan theme in Star Trek III or Dennis McCarthy, Ron Jones and Jay Chattaway's treatment of the race on the Star Trek spin-off series. The action cuts away from the conflict between V'Ger and the Klingons to a Federation communications station, which Goldsmith treats with shimmering textures as he also introduces the throbbing motif he associates with Starfleet throughout the first film's score; this is something which he would reference again in Nemesis, twenty three years later (see track 13). Spooky sonorities and Blaster Beam hits lead into harmonic chaos as the Klingon ships are overcome. The track concludes with two slams consisting of a three-note motif that will later be associated with V'Ger.
The remaster of the soundtrack album places an additional track mark between the "Main Title" and "Klingon Battle" portions; here, it plays out as one track as it did on the LP (and original CD release). There are some differences, however. The introduction to the march was different in the original version of the film than it was from the album; the film version favored the snare drums for a more strident, authoritative opening as opposed to the bass drum which was employed in the album mix (which is what now appears in the "Director's Edition" DVD of the film). The sessions source I had for this disc had a track that was two takes of the main title; the piece used in this track is the second take. The track also happened to have Jerry's voice at the beginning of each take counting down, which I included (culled from the first take). The track segues from the film version of the introduction to the album version of the march, and the track plays out as it does on the Sony Legacy release for the remainder. I placed index markers before the music starts (after Jerry's countdown) and at the transition point between "Main Title" and "Klingon Battle."
- A BUSY MAN (The Final Frontier) 4:25
This cue opens with a questing figure based on Sybok's (Lawrence Luckinbill) theme (which does not appear on the album) for strings and French horn; this gives way to a beautiful melody for the Sha-Ka-Ri planet, first heard on electronics, then on strings. The last full quotation of the theme was tracked into the end titles of the film (Track 25). My original intention was to edit a suite of music from the film into a track called "Sha-Ka-Ri," but in reviewing the three contender tracks ("The Great Barrier" and "An Angry God" were the other two), I came to the conclusion that this cue was the best representation of that element of this score, plus I like it when the Klingon theme that is alluded to (the Enterprise's pursuer goes unnoticed as the crew stares at the relatively unimpressive visual effects).
- REMUS (Nemesis) 0:34
This is from the opening of Nemesis (the first Star Trek feature not to have a proper main title sequence) as the camera closes in on the Romulan High Council. This track may be brief, but it serves to introduce the primary antagonist's motif from the film on brass, strings and electronics, and also kicks up the tone a notch to introduce the next track.
- THE ENTERPRISE (The Motion Picture) 5:54
The throbbing "Starfleet" motif opens this iconic track that showcases the majesty of Goldsmith's title march. The Kubrickian scene, of Kirk (William Shatner) being shuttled over to the Enterprise by Scotty (James Doohan), was intended to reintroduce the ship to the audience. The composer had originally began working on this scene before the title march had been composed; it was, in fact, the very cue that Robert Wise objected needed to be more thematic in nature. The original version of the cue is a very nice piece in its own right (and many of the moments that don't include the theme are the same as this version), but Wise was correct to ask Goldsmith to finalize his theme; the composer took the basics of the cue, composed the title march and returned to the scene, creating this flowing ode to the ship. The first half of the piece is more delicate than the first as the shuttle flies around the drydock; as the shuttle turns around and approaches the Enterprise, the theme rings out from a proud trumpet then strings, then the full orchestra joins in leading to militaristic flourish to close off the cue.
- MAIN TITLE (First Contact) 2:08
The "First Contact" theme from the opening of the film of the same name is a noble piece for English horn and strings. This piece was quite a (pleasant) surprise to me when the film opened, as I was expecting the film to open with the familiar march. The original track led into the "Locutus" cue, but this album segues into...
- NOT FUNCTIONING (Insurrection) 1:43
This muscular cue recalls the composer's work on the Rambo films. The brass and strings augmented by pattering electronics that Goldsmith uses to characterize this score (they will return in "The Riker Maneuver," track 17). Over the characteristic Goldsmith action figures one can hear the aggressive Son'a theme ring out.
- WITHOUT HELP (The Final Frontier) 4:10
The Klingon theme introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Track 1) returns with a vengeance. As with the title march, this theme also sounds rather different coming from the Goldsmith in 1989 than it did from him in 1979. This is an energetic cue with several flourishes. One of the quotes of the Klingon theme uses a wailing overdub that was used in the film version of "Life is a Dream" (the album version is track 25). Interestingly, one of the variations on his own Klingon theme towards the end of the cue actually literally states Ron Jones' Klingon theme for The Next Generation, which was, of course, inspired by the theme as it appears in The Motion Picture (track 1).
- LEAVING DRYDOCK (The Motion Picture) 3:25
The Starfleet motif is now developed as the base for a setting of his title march, which never sounded prouder than it does here. This sequence is, in fact, one of the long special effects setpieces, but unlike most of the others in the film, it never feels leaden because the unified and militaristic sound Goldsmith created generates so much excitement (Elmer Bernstein's scoring of the Exodus scenes of The Ten Commandments similarly enlivens the footage, despite the length of the scene).
- NEW SIGHT (Insurrection) 4:13
Goldsmith created a beautiful theme for the Ba'ku, which is explored here as the Enterprise crew begin to reap the benefits of the Briar Patch. The scene happens to contain a rather beautiful sunrise at the melodic crescendo as Geordi (LeVar Burton) views one for the first time with his own eyes. I had just completed the final version of this mix before going to Connecticut with Dan to meet Mike; when we went hiking, this track and "A Perfect Moment" (track 20) kept running through my head.
- THE MOUNTAIN (The Final Fronter) 2:05
The music mostly reflects the Midwest setting of this scene, in which Kirk climbs a mountain without any gear. This piece of wistful Americana represents the friendship of Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and McCoy (DeForest Kelly) in Star Trek V, and is reprised several times throughout the film, though its appearance on the album is fleeting otherwise.
- NO GOODBYES (The Motion Picture) 0:47
This is an alternate version of the cue heard as Lieutenant Ilia (Persis Khambatta) meets her old flame Decker (Stephen Collins) and asks him why he left without saying goodbye. Ilia's theme was heard as the film's overture (Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Walt Disney's John Barry-scored The Black Hole were the last two films to use this roadshow-style device). The recording heard in the film was the second part of a different take of the album track "Ilia's Theme," the album track now appears as the overture in the "Director's Edition" of the film. This cue, however, presents the entire theme in a more dramatic setting. This cue was never released, nor was the film version (though one can hear the film version playing under Nichelle Nichol's sign off from "The World of Star Trek," which was included in the expanded remaster).
- MAIN THEME (Voyager) 1:49
Goldsmith was tapped by the producers to compose an original theme for the new Star Trek show that would be one of the flagship series on Paramount's new television network - which, coincidentally, was exactly what Star Trek: Phase II, which was the television project that Paramount morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was meant to be. Goldsmith responded by contributing a flowing theme that reflects the awe-inspiring visuals of the title sequence and the notion of a lost starship. This theme bears much resemblance to the material that Goldsmith was working on in the initial sessions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, before the title march was finalized. The finale of the main title has an electronic crescendo right before the coda that I've always hated. However, on the soundtrack album there was another recording of the title theme, "Main Title (Short Version)." This may have been intended as a commercial bumper but was too long. I spliced that track into the finale of the main title; the 'short version' has a more authoritative end to the theme, which brings the 'Side One' to a close.
Side Two
- A TALL SHIP (Nemesis) 1:31
"Side Two" opens with several florid statements of the title march, deliberately recalling "The Enterprise" from The Motion Picture (track 4). While there are a few nips and tucks here and there, I generally did not do terribly much editing on this album as I have on many others of its kind, so this track is unusual in that it is, in fact, the only suite that I created for this album. The three cues that were combined to create the track were "En Route," "A New Course" (which includes the throbbing "Starfleet" motif from The Motion Picture) and "Returning Home." I placed index markers at the transition points between each cue, none of which were included on the album.
- VEJUR FLYOVER (The Motion Picture) 4:42
An oppressive three-note motif (blaster beam followed by tuba) that represents the might and majesty of V'Ger opens this track as the Enterprise flies over the gargantuan intruder. A meandering melody soon emerges, which is - if one listens to very closely, as the orchestration and key are very different - identical to Ilia's theme, signaling how their destinies will soon be intertwined. This is one of the longest special effects sequences in the film, but that also meant the Goldsmith had plenty of room to develop his thematic material and explore various different tonalities to create a distinctive soundscape; this is one of the tracks that really showcases the Blaster Beam. Goldsmith actually composed most of this score to leader as the effects had not been completed; he built much of the cue for this and "The Cloud" (which appeared on my Vistas: Alien Landscapes compilation) around short repeating cels of music that could easily be shortened. While this did not end up occuring in the theatrical cut of the film due to the ridiculous time constraints (the final prints of the film had not yet dried when they were shipped to theaters), the 2001 "director's edition" DVD tightens these scenes, with the edits in the music being imperceptible as the score was designed to accomodate them. The scope of the (still impressive) special effects work is mirrored in the power of the orchestral surges, in which Goldsmith took advantage of the Twentieth Century Fox soundstage's pipe organ.
This track was the very last choice that I made in the assembly of this album. I originally had "The Force Field" here, which was also the track that was on the original two-disc set. After listening to that assembly, I felt that this piece would be a better choice as it represents the 'purest' form of the V'Ger material, resonated better with "Games" (track 19) and "The Meld" (track 24), and most important of all the resemblance to Ilia's theme is best heard in "Vejur Flyover." While "The Force Field" is a very exciting cue, it never sounded right in context of this album, while this one works perfectly. Now, I've come across people who get annoyed when they see "Vejur" instead of "V'Ger," which I agree is the proper spelling once you know the "surprise ending," but I preserved the original track title as I only changed them on this mix when I altered the track significantly, as I did the previous two tracks. "Vejur" also looks cooler in the Star Trek movie font than "V'Ger" does.
- FULLY FUNCTIONAL (First Contact) 2:57
Forbidding bells introduce the monolithic seven-note theme for fugal electronics (similar in tonality to Howard Shore's Videodrome) that Goldsmith uses to represent the Borg. Ethereal passages for electronics and strings are heard as the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) tempts Data (Brent Spiner) with the experience of sensation. A very Rambo-esque passage is then heard which leads us into...
- LET'S GET TO WORK (Nemesis) 2:36
This exciting action cue features some rousing variations on both the title march and Shinzon's (Tom Hardy) theme. This piece is one that would fit into Goldsmith's output in the early 80s with its rousing rhythms and muscular brass. This cues wasn't included on the album.
- THE RIKER MANEUVER (Insurrection) 1:43
This is one of the action showpieces of Insurrection. The cutting brass is joined by the pattering electronics introduced in "Not Functioning" (track 6) and stabbing string figures that again hearken back to Goldsmith's Rambo material for a daring space battle that is a visual tribute to the Mutara Nebula sequence in Nicholas Meyer's Star Trek II. The Son'a theme creeps up underneath the mounting tension, only to be interrupted by more angry brass.
- RED ALERT (First Contact) 2:11
A motif similar to one Goldsmith used in Star Trek V is developed by Goldsmith to represent the Enterprise E crew (it is also heard in "A Tall Ship," track 13) leads into a spirited quote of the title march before the monolithic Borg theme introduced on electronics in "Fully Functional" (track 15) is heard on brass. This gives way to a rousing presentation of the Klingon theme as Worf determines to ram the Defiant into the Borg cube; more sinuous variations on the Borg theme close out this track.
- GAMES (The Motion Picture) 3:37
This was one of the tracks from the two disc set that I was determined to preserve. A tense moment occurs as the action cuts to Spock who sneaks off to get a spacesuit; the album version of this cue has an annoying 'snap' sound during the hit when Spock administers a Vulcan nerve pinch. While I have the take that was used in the film that does not have that anomaly, I decided to stick with the album track for sound quality purposes. The rest of the cue features soaring renditions of Ilia's theme are interrupted by forbidding statements of V'Ger's music. The Blaster Beam/tuba motif is contrasted with a glass harmonica to emphasize the alien-ness of V'Ger, with the rhapsodic music for Ilia's theme growing organically out of it. The dark interruption technique is one that Goldsmith would use to its most effective in "It Knows What Scares You" cue in Poltergeist (listen to the score when Tangina [Zelda Rubinstein] says "...but she's not alone;" if you aren't terrified, you should probably head into the light yourself).
- A PERFECT MOMENT (Insurrection) 1:02
The beautiful theme from "New Sight" (track 5) returns for a romantic moment between Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Anij (Donna Murphy) in the film. This unreleased track allows for a peaceful interlude before the endgame of the album begins.
- BATTLE STATIONS (Nemesis) 2:25
In another cue omitted from the album, mounting bass drums and a noble variation on the title march build up momentum as the Enterprise E mount up for combat. A tense moment recalls Goldsmith's work on The Mummy, but a final build-up brings us to...
- LET'S GET OUT OF HERE (The Final Frontier) 4:46
Goldsmith wrote a motif for the ersatz God (George Murdock) that he would eventually alter and develop into the theme that opens "Red Alert" (track 18) and recurs throughout his subsequent films. Here, however, it is stated harshly and forms the basis for the chase portions of the action. Meanwhile, however, Captain Klaa (Todd Bryant) ordered his ship to attack the Enterprise, giving Goldsmith a chance to give his Klingon theme a serious workout, including a quieter version heard as Spock implores General Kordd (Charles Cooper) to act and an impressive setting when the Klingon ship looms in front of Kirk. The title march appears in a reassuring arrangment with allusions to the Kirk/Spock/McCoy friendship theme heard in "The Mountain" (track 10).
- THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (First Contact) 5:14
Composed by JOEL GOLDSMITH
This track's inclusion is a bit strange, as it is not composed by Jerry Goldsmith, but rather his son Joel, who was brought on First Contact to contribute additional cues when the short post-production schedule began to impact the scoring. Joel worked with his father's thematic material, but his cues tended to be some of the more action-oriented. While two other Joel Goldsmith cues, ""Retreat" and "39.1 Degrees Celsius" do appear on the album, this one, which is the climax of First Contact, does not, perhaps because it hadn't been recorded in time for inclusion on the album. It features exciting bursts of the title march accompanied proud brass fanfares as the Phoenix excellerates to warp speed; at the conclusion of the track the formerly oppressive Borg theme has been reduced to a single plaintive horn call. Meanwhile, however, warp speed has been attained and history will proceed properly, but the music is more illustrative of the formerly bitter Zephram Cochrane's (James Cromwell) sudden sense of wonder at seeing Earth from farther away than any man ever before had.
- THE MELD and A GOOD START (The Motion Picture) 6:15
Ilia's theme rises out into a more resolved rendition of the V'Ger motif in a short edit of two parts of "Vejur Speaks," the track that directly precedes "The Meld" on the album. The V'Ger material now takes on a triumphant air as its goal is fullfilled in a blaze of impressive special effects. Elements of "Vejur Flyover" (track 14) and "Games (track 19) are heard, but instead of cold and oppressive, here they have taken on the aspects of Ilia's theme and sound warm and rhapsodic. The Blaster Beam is heard for the last time in this track, culminating in its use along with the tuba in the orgasmic presentation of V'Ger's motif as V'Ger combines with Decker and becomes a new life form.
A quieter version of the title march is heard; this is where the track on the original LP concluded, but the expanded edition thankfully presents the further variations on the theme for the film's denoument. The throbbing Starfleet motif returns, ushering in a reprise of the arrangments of the title march heard in "The Enterprise" (track 4) as the ship beautifully glides away and warps out, and the same flourish that closed off the former cue does this one as well, capping the film as the legend "The human adventure is just beginning" optimisically appears on the screen. As with the previous "compound cue" tracks, I placed index markers at the demarcation at the transition points; there are three here, as I also marked off where "The Meld" takes over from the very brief piece of "Vejur Speaks" that I included as well as where "A Good Start" begins.
- LIFE IS A DREAM (The Final Frontier) 3:55
Features STAR TREK Television Series Theme Composed by ALEXANDER COURAGE
While Goldsmith never used Alexander Courage's theme from the television series as often as, say James Horner did (who is, in fact, responsible for setting the standard of opening the feature scores with the fanfare, a practice which Goldsmith adopted as well in his subsequent Star Trek scores), I was nevertheless surprised when I looked at the first assembly of this album and realized that only appeared on this track. This is especially notable considering that Courage is a longtime collaborator of Goldsmith's, and even worked on the orchestration of three of the included scores (he also provided arrangements of his main theme for the "Captain's Log" entries in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). I am glad that it does make an appearance on the album, as a Star Trek album without the fanfare would be just as wrong as a James Bond soundtrack that doesn't include the theme (Moonraker, anybody?).
What follows is the arrangement of Goldsmith's title march that would be the one he would use for Star Trek V and beyond (with a slight, in my opinion unattractive, variation in Insurrection). The orchestrations are very different here, more in keeping with his latter style, but the theme is as exciting as ever. The version heard in the film tracks in a piece of "A Busy Man" (track 2) between the first statement of the title march and the Klingon theme - the film version of which also has an additional horn call tracked in (heard in "Without Help," track 7) - the theme itself arranged as a march here. The end titles for The Motion Picture ended as the main titles did (see track 1), but here the extension on the last quotation of the theme is much more elaborate. I have often wondered if this was in some way a reference to the Dennis McCarthy arrangement of his march for The Next Generation which omitted the extension completely. With the Courage fanfare and the restatement of Goldsmith's two most popular recurring themes - the very two that were showcased in the opening track - the album is brought to an appropriate and satisfying conclusion.
The album has a definite shape, which I'm very happy with; it never gets too stuck on one aspect of these scores, something I felt was a problem with the original set I put together. As I usually do, I tended to build the tracks into one another in order to keep the overall flow going. I have to admit that I was wondering how I would compress what I wanted to hear from both discs to the single, but it it actually didn't turn out to be so difficult once I started working on it. There were some tracks I would like to have included, but what is here is a well-rounded album of its own, following certain thematic threads and emphasizing the majesty of Goldsmith's expansive music for this film series.
