Star Trek (Score) (Original Soundtrack)

I liked it as an orchestral piece of music. That said, it is enjoyable and I do recommend it.

When I first heard in 2006 that J.J. Abrams was going to have Michael Giacchino do the score for his Star Trek film, I'll admit I was more than a little underwhelmed. In the shadow of Goldsmith, Horner, Courage and other previous Trek composers, Giacchino would have some pretty big shoes to fill and I didn't think he could pull it off. How wrong I was.My perception of what Michael Giacchino could do completely changed when I saw Cloverfield in early 2008. That films single piece of music, "Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)", was the perfect distillation of master composers such as Akira Ifukube, Masaru Sato and Yuji Koseki and the outstanding work they had done over the decades for kaiju eiga (another of my passions) such as Godzilla, Mothra and other Toho classics. Would he take a similar approach to Star Trek?The answer is an unqualified "Yes".Michael Giacchino's score for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is not only a worthy successor to the work of Goldsmith but also captures the essence of the contributions of Horner, Courage, Kaplan and Fried, with a little Bernard Herrmann (The Twilight Zone, The Day the Earth Stood Still) thrown in for good measure. But, like "Roar!", Giacchino makes it wholly his own and in the process continues the memorable legacy of Star Trek music.I've not yet seen the film, so I can't yet say how well the score for Star Trek supports the movie itself. Like much of Goldsmith's work, Giacchino builds his score around a single recurring musical theme. It's not quite the leitmotif approach of composers such as John Williams in his Star Wars soundtracks, full of individual themes for characters and settings. Based on what I know of the story itself, the score focuses on Kirk and (I suspect) builds in variations along with the character throughout the course of the film. There seem to be identifiable melodies for the Enterprise, the villain Nero, and his vessel the Narada, but in most cases are used to intertwine with and modify the main Trek theme. Through the course of the score, Kirk's theme builds from soft and tentative ("Star Trek"), to contemplative ("Hella Bar Talk"), to brash ("Enterprising Young Men"), to mature and triumphant ("That New Car Smell"). It is, at times, as strong a theme as Goldsmith's "Leaving Drydock" in TMP.Two of the finest moments in the soundtrack don't involve Kirk's theme at all. "Labor of Love" is an aching, building, beautiful melody that at times seems mournful and turning unexpectedly blissful. It has the same effect on me that Giacchino's "Life and Death" theme from Lost does. Another, "Nero Sighted", weaves moments of brass and moments of isolated percussion in such a way that it evokes Horner's track "Surprise Attack" from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It's one track that I'm sure will please fans of Horner's classic space combat music. Another standout track is "Nice to Meld You". I won't identify what I suspect accompanies this track in the film, but it's dark, dramatic and ebbs in and out in such a way that I felt transported back to moments in The Original Series meshed with Herrmann's The Day the Earth Stood Still.If anything feels a bit out of place in this score, I'm afraid that it's Giacchino's take Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme in "End Credits". It feels somewhat forced and unauthentic. I can appreciate its inclusion as a tribute, but I'm just not certain that this symphonic approach works. Perhaps that's why it's been avoided by other composers up to this point. More effective is the use of the opening fanfare in "To Boldly Go", and a familiar melody in another track that will come as a pleasant surprise when you hear it.I'm disappointed that the CD contains only 45 minutes of music from the film. I realize that not every part of a score is suitable for release on a soundtrack CD, but 45 minutes out of a possible 70 minute CD for a 126 minute movie leaves me wondering how much has been left out.While Giacchino's Star Trek doesn't quite reach the heights of some of Goldsmith's masterpieces (TMP, FC), it is more than worthy of its predecessors. I'm not sure how much it will appeal to those whose tastes run darker, and more towards the work of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. But it is at least as superb as James Horner's Trek scores and most of Goldsmith's later work. It sounds both fresh and classic and -- most important -- it sounds like Star Trek. The legacy indeed continues.

"Star Trek" theatrical films are just as known for their scores as they are the crew of the Enterprise. Each of the previous ten films in the franchise have had memorable works composed by the likes of Jerry Goldsmith ("Star Trek - The Motion Picture," "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Star Trek: Insurrection," and "Star Trek: Nemesis"), Leonard Rosenman ("Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"), James Horner ("Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock"), Cliff Eidelman ("Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country")and Dennis McCarthy ("Star Trek: Generations").Michael Giacchino now joins the rank of "Trek" composers with his soaring score to the new film that "reboots" the characters with several new dynamics designed to please longtime fans and novices alike. Because the film seeks to bring in both, Giacchino wisely chooses to use some of the same excitement and thrilling composition of previous composers in his musical interpretation of the vision of Gene Roddenberry.Giacchino deftly uses a choral accompaniment on several tracks, which is especially effective in the end credits, where he manages to pay musical homage to original theme composer Alexander Courage.That final cut, incorporating Courage's famous theme for the original seires, is the highlight of the entire album and demonstrates how Courage's creation is just as familiar to fans as are phasers, transporters, or dilithium crystals.Giacchino has done a marvelous job on the first of what is hoped with be a long-running series of new adventures for Kirk and the gang.

J.J. Abrams and Michael Giacchino continue their longtime collaboration and Giacchino takes on one helluva task with scoring Star Trek. Let me state that I am not nor never have been a Star Trek fan. I have not seen any prior films or show in the series, but I am fully aware of the music that Alexander Courage, James Horner and the great Jerry Goldsmith have all contributed to this legacy at one time or another.Giacchino tosses everything out the window and provides his own take. His theme is nothing grand but it's a motif used a lot in the film and works extremely well. As you know gone are the days of the "theme". Hans' style has caught on and almost every franchise reboot is completely void of any heroic thematic material minus Bryan Singer's Superman, which holds onto John Williams' theme for dear life. Star Trek is full Giacchino style and any fan of his will pick up on all the great easter eggs. The overall sound of the score can be summed up by saying that it's Cloverfield toned down and combined with Medal Of Honor. In fact there are pretty much some exact copy and paste moments in the score from his Medal Of Honor scores, which I love. He uses a chorus to enhance the epic feel of it and let me tell you that it will get the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck. In the beginning there is a scene, which J.J. Abrams loves to do with Giacchino. He'll let the sound drown out and let the score take center stage. I like to call these "Sad Giacchino Moments" because it's his tear jerker music. People who watch LOST and have seen M:I:3 will know what I'm talking about.The only real complaint I have here is the outrageously short release this score got. It's only 44 min when the complete score was 100 min. So we barely get half of the music represented on this release, which is a crying shame. At least we got something, right? Anyway, the score is a blast and I enjoyed it immensely. Giacchino pays homage to Alexander Courage by using his theme in the end credits, which is a hearty 9-minute suite. J.J. Abrams and Giacchino continue to be one of the top Director/Composer teams in the business. His score for Star Trek is as grand as can be without getting bogged down with campy thematic material. Great job, Giacchino!

After the great film the soundtrack will not disappoint ! If you like Murray Gold then you will like this(but Mr Gold is better ! )

Like the sequel I originally bought for the ring tone but I now use tracks for my alarm as well as listening to the music.

Good service and product

Really enjoyed the music

Not up to the standard of the Original Star Trek symphony, Feel let down.