Star Trek V The Final Frontier | ||
 | Composer: Jerry Goldsmith Label: Epic Producer: Jerry Goldsmith Conductor: Jerry Goldsmith Buy this soundtrack:   | 3 Ratings |
 Track Listing | |||||||||||||||||||
| 01 The Mountain (3:53) 02 The Barrier (2:53) 03 Without Help (4:21) 04 A Busy Man (4:42) 05 Open The Gates (3:02) 06 An Angry God (6:58) 07 Let's Get Out Of Here (5:15) 08 Free Minds (3:19) 09 Life Is A Dream (3:59) 10 The Moon's A Window To Heaven (4:00) Total Length: 42:25 | |||||||||||||||||||
More Soundtracks by Jerry Goldsmith
Reviewed by James - Grade: B A strong if not brilliant entry into the series. In 1989, science fiction movie fans and science fiction music fans had two immensely different reactions to the return of a beloved franchise. The movie fans watched the highly anticipated Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and almost collectively fainted from its sheer badness. But the science fiction music fans universally exhaled a great sigh of relief. Rosenman and his high school band from Star Trek IV were gone, to be replaced by the maestro who started it all, Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith returned Trek to the thematically rich and bold musical universe he had begun over a decade earlier, and while he does not strike the score out of the park, he still produced his second best entry. Among the highlights are welcome returns to some of the old fan favorite themes, including the Klingon theme. Instead of simply retreading the music, he expands on it and layers in new and rambunctious percussion, and in "Without Help" he even adds a bizarre synthetic bird call when the Klingon ship appears onscreen. It sounds ugly and alien, but is entirely appropriate. If you are a fan of Goldsmith's muscular action music, then this is the Trek score that will fit snugly in your collection. Tracks like "Open the Gates" and "Let's Get Out of Here" evoke the macho glories of Rambo and Total Recall, and are certainly better than any of the Trek action material he composed later in the series. I also like the first appearance of a 4-note danger motif, best heard in the open of "A Busy Man," which would live on as a recurring motif in Goldsmith's future trek scores. I do have a few problems with the score, which keep it from being a blockbuster for me personally. The new main theme, first heard in "The Mountain," is a nice enough piece of music, and is used to represent the iconic friendship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. But the theme is almost a little too sentimental at times, too cloying, and sounds a bit like a leftover from Goldsmith's music from Lionheart or Legend. (The exception is a soaring rendition of this friendship theme in "A Busy Man," which is by far the best track on the album.) My last complaint is that for a score about the search for God, I expected to be awestruck at some point. I wanted Goldsmith to give me something inspirational and jaw-dropping, like his God music in Final Conflict or even the climactic cue of Star Trek: First Contact. Instead the God music seems to revolve around a Legend-like orchestrated version of the Friendship theme, which is when that theme is at its most unlikable. In the end, these are small quibbles, though. Star Trek V is a worthy entry to the series and certainly in the top half of the franchise. If may not reach greatness, but it righted the ship after Star Trek IV and pointed the franchise back in the right direction. P.S. The last track is a horrible rock song. I have blocked its horror from my memory because it is the type of thing that can push a review from a B to a D - it is that bad. Skip this track if you value your life. More Movie Soundtracks
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