Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (soundtrack)

James Horner's original score for. Additional music by Alexander Courage.

Overview
As Star Trek III: The Search For Spock was essentially a direct continuation of, so too is James Horner's score, picking up fast on the heels of the last soundtrack.

Utilizing the previous film's Spock-centric theme as this film's overarching and opening theme, Horner introduces several new motifs while remaining true to the same orchestration and style that branded Khan. New here are Vulcan and Klingon themes as well as several motifs for Starfleet and the world of the 23rd century, returning are the aforementioned Spock theme and opening title (now end title) from Khan.

Relegating Nicholas Meyer's emphasis on nautical percussion and chimes to the background, Horner takes a more traditional action-adventure approach, reminiscent of later work in Cocoon and The Rocketeer. The composer also trades some of the grandiose (or over-the-top) styling heard during action sequences in the previous film, for more personal scoring, almost out of place in a Star Trek film.

The Search for Spock is airy and more subdued than Khan, heavier on strings and lighter on brass and percussion. Whether by directive of Leonard Nimoy or the simple natural progression that is a sequel score, Horner's Spock plays a smaller part in the latter film, more ambiance than active player. This, Horner's final journey with the crew of the Enterprise, proved to be a transitional score before heavyweights Cliff Eidelman and Jerry Goldsmith took up the reins and completed the movie series.

Although "Stealing the Enterprise" is heard before "The Mind Meld" on the commercial release, in the film it was the other way around.

Track listing
&dagger; Contains TOS theme composed by Alexander Courage

''Note: The final track is a discotheque version of the main title. It was produced exclusively for the album and was not used in the film. The UK release [FILMCD 070] omits this track.''