Episode 5: Star Trek (TV)

Art of the Score

Star Trek is one of the most enduring television series of all time, with more than 700 episodes over 30 seasons. Even disregarding the films, it’s also seen some great composers: Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith, Dennis McCarthy, and Jay Chattaway. In our fifth episode of Art of the Score, we’re shifting to the small screen as we take a look at how the music of Star Trek has defined the final frontier over 50 years. Episode notes: 2:40 – Overview of the Star Trek series, and how each series changed 8:50 – The original series theme by Alexander Courage 11:30 – The three elements of the main theme and its optimism 13:45 – The beguine rhythm 17:00 – the jazz harmonies underpinning the original theme 19:00 – Lost in Space comparison 21:10 – Cue from ‘Amok Time’, Season 2 Episode 5 by Gerald Fried 25:30 – ‘The Doomsday Machine’, Season 2 Episode 6 by Sol Kaplan 28:00 – Emphasis on action music in the original series 29:33 – The Next Generation theme by Jerry Goldsmith 32:00 – Differences between minor sevenths and major sevenths for the fanfare 33:45 – ‘The Best of Both Worlds, Part One’, Season 3, Episode 26 by Ron Jones 38:33 – ‘The Inner Light’, Season 5, Episode 26, Jay Chattaway 46:06 – Deep Space Nine theme by Dennis McCarthy 51:20 – Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland 54:50 – ‘The Changing Face of Evil’, Season 7, Episode 20, Jay Chattaway 59:57 – Voyager theme by Jerry Goldsmith 1:06:00 – ‘The Year of Hell’, Season 4, Episode 9, Dennis McCarthy 1:08:00 – Drama versus action in Star Trek scoring 1:10:29 – Enterprise theme by Diane Warren 1:17:17 – Archer’s Theme by Dennis McCarthy 1:21:05 – Andrew’s favourite Star Trek moment We’d love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.