More Soundtracks by Dennis McCarthy
Reviewed by James - Grade: C Not a bad entry to the series, Generations is completely middle of the road.
As the Next Generation wrapped up its final season and prepped for their first big screen adventure, it made sense for the producers to bring along Dennis McCarthy. He had after all scored the vast majority of the television series, often under extreme pressure and strict conditions. He deserved his reward. The question is - did McCarthy breakthough?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. But then neither did the movie. The crew of Next Generation never quite made the leap to the big screen, despite four movies. Even at their best (First Contact), it still seemed like we were watching a good episode of the series. In that sense, McCarthy's score is completely appropriate as he rarely takes advantage of what must have been more creative freedom and certainly a larger canvas. The score sounds too limited, too small, and frankly too similar to what we had been listening to for seven years on television.
Not to say there are no highlights. The music is quite well-written overall. And the first half has some genuine highlights. The main theme, for example, is quite good - a solid seafaring, adventurous theme that is certainly as good as Giacchino's theme for the new film and leaps and bounds over Star Trek IV's high school band anthem. It falls short of the best themes, but is still a solid piece of work. I also quite liked the first action cue "The Enterprise B/Kirk Saves the Day" which has some furiously compelling string work. Kudos also to some inventive uses of the original Trek theme, which is peppered effectively throughout the CD in strategic places. McCarthy actually utilizes the original theme better than most of the other composers in the series. But overall, the problem is that as the score goes on, it begins to sound more and more bland. Never bad, but stale. Even Kirk's Death, which should have been an opportunity for something grand and sentimental (think Spock's Death in Khan) just kind of quietly whimpers along and then fades away. Pretty disappointing music for the death of one of sci fi's greatest icons.
So there you have it. Not a bad score, but for whatever reason McCarthy was not able to live up to the opportunity. Perhaps the producers still had him bound by those same creative shackles that restrained him during the series, but for whatever reason this Trek does not soar.
P.S. After the music stops, we are treated to 16 minutes of sound effects, which is kind of odd. Interesting, I suppose...but odd.
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