Star Trek: The Motion Picture (soundtrack)

Jerry Goldsmith's original score for. Additional music by Alexander Courage, solo performances by Craig Huxdley.

Overview
The first and one of the most influential Star Trek film scores, Jerry Goldsmith's introduction to the Star Trek universe is by many considered to be one of the composer's finest works - an effort acknowledged by an Academy Award nomination in 1979.

Goldsmith's The Motion Picture takes the now standard sweeping orchestral fanfares and twists them into deep science fiction compositions, comparable to his own experimental stylings for the original Planet of the Apes. The key element to this infusion of style, bordering on bizarre, is the utilization of the "Blaster Beam" - a large, metallic instrument, heard first during the Klingon battle and underscoring V'Ger and its mechanical nature.

More traditional, Williams-esque orchestrations, however, are the primary thrust of The Motion Picture, with beautiful and energetic compositions representing the Enterprise (later used in the titles for Star Trek: The Next Generation and four more films), the Klingons (later utilized as Worf's theme in and beyond), and Ilia – the love theme that opens the film. Clearly the most dynamic and memorable Enterprise theme opening and closing the film, and going on to far surpass Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme as the sound of the franchise. First criticized by director Robert Wise as being far too "nautical" – a motif laid heavily into the sound of James Horner's contributions for II and III – Goldsmith's theme went through several iterations before the now-famous march took shape.

While many elements of this the first Trek film outing would come to be reviled by fans and producers alike, Goldsmith's contribution endures despite the infusion of four more composers over the course of nine more features. Goldsmith himself would return to score Star Trek V and the latter three TNG films, introducing new themes and motifs to the fold, but always staying true to and expanding upon the groundwork laid here.

Track listing
The original soundtrack release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture contained a small sampling of the music used in the film. Below is a list of the tracks made widely available.


 * &dagger; Contains TOS theme composed by Alexander Courage

20th Anniversary Special Edition
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a second release of Goldsmith's original score was produced. Containing eight full tracks of previously unreleased material (personally chosen by Goldsmith himself), the 20th Anniversary Special Edition was nearly twice the running length of the previous version. It was packaged in a two-disk set, with the second disc being a rerelease of Inside Star Trek with narrations by William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and ruminations by Gene Roddenberry.


 * &dagger; Contains TOS theme composed by Alexander Courage