Review by John Mullin

Rating: *** 1/2

As soon as it was announced that J.J. Abrams would be directing a Star Trek reboot featuring a young Kirk and Spock, speculation went into Ludicrous Speed over what frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino would do with the music. Would he use Alexander Courage’s fanfare from the original series, as all previous Trek features had? Would he use the Jerry Goldsmith theme? Would he mimic the Goldsmith style at all? Would he allude any of the other scores in the series? Would he quote other sci-fi music from other series? Would he reuse the any of the music he wrote for Disneyland’s Space Mountain ride? Would he adapt Howard Shore’s rejected score from 2005’s King Kong remake? Would he build all the instruments himself and record the individual sounds backward in his secret submarine recording studio off the coast of Catalina Island? And so on and so on…

Anticipation was further heightened when the picture’s release date was moved from December 2008 to May 2009. The score kept its original recording dates in October, however, freeing up Giacchino’s schedule so that could now score every single other film and television project that’s due out in the summer of 09 as well.

Now that the Trek film is in theaters, and the soundtrack album is in stores, the answer to much of the fan speculation is that Giacchino has written a score that sounds an awful lot like… Michael Giacchino. It doesn’t resemble Courage or Goldsmith’s music (or any traditional Star Trek feature score, whatever the hell that standard is) as much as it sounds like a good action-adventure score, which was probably what the assignment was anyway. Courage’s original theme does appear, and gets a good workout during the end credits, but for the most part the score maintains a unique approach which is purely orchestral – devoid of any detectable synth or samples – with a catchy (if atypical for the series) central theme.

Michael Giacchino

The album begins with a noble statement of the theme that will ultimately be attached to the iconic character of James Kirk, here played by Chris Pine, who is fantastic in the role. Although there’s an “adventure” motif as well which is hinted at toward the end of this cue – and gets a big statement when the film’s title appears on screen – it is this musical idea which dominates most of the score. Previous Trek main themes have mostly been large sweeping overtures, seemingly designed to underline the excitement and nobility of space exploration rather than any specific character. Giacchino’s Kirk theme breaks from that tradition, and is used to express a large variety of feelings throughout the score: Tremulous in “Hella Bar Talk”, actiony and kick-ass in “Enterprising Young Men” (an abbreviated version of which is heard, in the film, under the title card), and steady and confident toward the end of “That New Car Smell.”

While I admire the thoughtfulness that went into crafting this extremely versatile melody, I must admit that its frequent use on the album actually wound up being a little bit of a drawback for me. It’s almost like Giacchino, aware that he was contributing to a series that has a long and rich musical legacy, over played it a little in the interest of trying to establish his own identity in the Star Trek musical universe. The result is a highly entertaining, theme-heavy album, but I found myself at times wishing that the material on the CD had a few more “levels” to it. The album does have many strand-out tracks all the same, including “Enterprising Young Men” and “Nero Sighted” in particular.

I’ve consistently felt, though, that it’s tough to fully appreciate the depth of Michael Giacchino’s music until you hear it against the picture, and I believe that applies to this score as well. I also feel the Trek score is a little more effective in the movie because he did not score every scene wall-to-wall, meaning that when the cues enter and exit, they usually have a good reason to do so. Although the Kirk theme is very memorable, I believe Giacchino to be best at writing good character texture, rather than material that conspicuously stands out as good music. Several musical ideas and gestures are all over the album, for example, but did not strike me as being particularly effective until I actually heard them in the flick.

That more adventure-oriented “B” melody which is introduced toward the end of the album’s first track (the “kicking ass” theme) gets expanded a bit in in “Nailin’ The Kelvin” and “Enterprising Young Men” (around 1:10) and again in later tracks like “Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns.”

The theme attached to Spock, which is the runner-up to Kirk’s theme in terms of how often it appears on the album, has a more somber, thoughtful attitude. Like Kirk’s theme, however, it is designed to integrate nicely with the “kick ass” theme, and gets a wide variety of uses throughout the score. This same theme is given an almost mournful, Asian-influenced treatment in the first part of “That New Car Smell”, where it underscores one of the picture’s key character moment. It’s great in the flick, although before I saw the movie, I must admit I was convinced that the cue was written for a scene in which the panda from Kung Fu Panda shows up for an extended cameo.

Eric Bana plays the villainous Nero, who plans to dominate the galaxy by inventing a versatile line of self-titled CD burning software. His music (heard most clearly in “Nero Sighted” and “Nero Death Experience”) is big, brassy and popcorny in a way that fun bad guy music should be. A dramatic / tragic motif which underscores the film’s doomsday device, Red Matter, shows up at the end of “Nice To Meld You” and around 3:39 in “Nero Death Experience.”

Giacchino reportedly wrote around 90 minutes for the film, and the CD runs about half that length, omitting a few key cues from the middle of the picture and some of the choir which couldn’t be used on the album due to SAG fees. I think the album covers all the major cues, however, and frankly I tend to prefer a tighter, more concise listen to one that goes on and on and is hopelessly bulky anyway. As much as I like the Misson: Impossible 3 album, for example, I think it’s probably a little longer than it really should be. Star Trek feels like it ends right where it should.

I’ve got one more comment on the score and it is about the end credits. Giacchino includes a great medley of his music integrated with the most extensive arrangement of the Courage theme from the original series that any of the features have included to date. I think utilizing the original theme in some form was probably the right thing to do (hey, it’s tradition!), but I must admit that while listening to the track in my car the other day, I suddenly found myself feeling really uncomfortable and embarrassed. I don’t have a good explanation for that… was I worried that the people next to me at the stop light would hear and think I’m a colossal dork? Maybe. More than that, though, it just didn’t feel right to hear such a retroactive bit of music mixed in with the sleek, modern themes that Giacchino had composed for the rest of the score, and I felt the same way when I heard it in the movie too. Really, the approach is very similar to his end credits from last year’s Speed Racer, but the key difference is that that score made frequent nods to the show’s music, both thematically and stylistically, whereas Star Trek largely does not. Speed was also primarily aimed at a much younger audience.

I guess I have a little bit of a bias against modern scores where composers are asked to take relatively thin (albeit memorable) TV themes and treat them as if they’re quoting Hector Berlioz or something. I don’t think it ever works well. Look at the scores that David Newman wrote for the abominable Flintstones movies or either of the ungodly Scooby Doo flicks. Newman’s incidental music is typically well-composed and even beautiful in a way, but whenever he quotes the original themes composed by Hoyt Curtain, if you turn up the volume and listen very closely… well, you can almost hear part of Newman’s soul dying. The Star Trek end credits don’t give me the same vehement feelings, but I must say that I’m extremely hesitant to admit to my wife, who generally has no interest in film music apart from the fact that she lives with someone who loves it, that I own this kind of music on CD and that I occasionally listen to it.

I’m no expert on Giacchino’s music, but thus far my favorite score by him – both on CD and in the film – has been 2007’s Ratatouille, which, by coincidence, is one of the only major features he’s done where he hasn’t had to include a TV theme from the 60s or match a 60s style. Next on my list is M:I 3 and then probably Star Trek. In ways, it was a very thankless assignment for him to take on, knowing that there are legions of devotees who might storm the Paramount lot with pitchforks and torches over Abrams’ stewardship of the series lore, and/or Giacchino’s handling of the music. Nevertheless, in spite of the inevitable internet skreeds, the score he wrote is probably as good as any new score for the series could be. More than anything else, Giacchino has been fortunate to become associated with a good number of high-profile projects thus far, for which he has contributed strong, effective music. Star Trek is no exception. It’s a well-crafted album from a composer who continually turns in solid work.

Music Composed and Produced by Michael Giacchino; Orchestrated and Conducted by Tim Simonec; Additional Orchestrations by Michael Giacchion, Peter Boyer, Richard Bronskill, Jack Hayes, Larry Kenton, Chad Seiter, Chris Tilton; Recorded and Mixed by Dan Wallin; Label: Varese Sarabande, (302 066 966 2); Availability: In-print; U.S. Release Date: May 5, 2009.

01. Star Trek (1:03)
02. Nailin’ the Kelvin (2:09)
03. Labor of Love (2:51)
04. Hella Bar Talk (1:55)
05. Enterprising Young Men (2:39)
06. Nero Sighted (3:23)
07. Nice To Meld You (3:13)
08. Run and Shoot Offense (2:04)
09. Does It Still McFly? (2:03)
10. Nero Death Experience (5:38)
11. Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns (2:34)
12. Back From Black (:59)
13. That New Car Smell (4:46)
14. To Boldly Go (:26)
15. End Credits (9:11)