Soundtrack Review: Star Trek: Generations (1994)

This is a review of the motion picture score Star Trek Generations by Dennis McCarthy.

“With this series mere competency is not enough, and Generations is too going-through-the-motions and run-of-the-mill”

Oh, how you salivate when your favorite series gets a larger budget.  It means bigger action, better sets, and (hopefully!) better music as well.  Such was the prospect for The Next Generation’s first foray into films, finally freeing Dennis McCarthy from his monetary constraints for the show scores and giving him the chance to write a powerful, deep score that could stand against the best the series had to offer.  Yet while Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, and Cliff Eidelman each tackled their debut scores with an inventive, fresh vigor, McCarthy’s score would become a letdown for the series by failing to boldly go where none has gone before.

Decent Start

I suppose we get a decent start, for the main theme is appealing, similar in construction to what Cliff Eidelman brought forth for ST6 (absent the sense of aged wisdom), and is prominent throughout most of the score.  Those expecting much variation, really, pulse-pounding excitement, or depth outside the initial flighty optimism will be disappointed. I suppose it’s not poor, but nice seems so “damning with faint praise”, especially in the context of Star Trek.  “Jumping the Ravine” is merely a celebratory continuation.  There are some exceptions though. “Two Captains” pushes it out to a noble horn solo then some flowing strings while percussion backup behind it at 3:30 into the “Final Flight” generates some excitement.

Also, the Nexus music is relaxing and at times gorgeous, but it’s not really the most original material one could have thrown in.  At the end of this score you’ll remember the nice choral moments for being…well, just nice choral moments.  Pleasant, but not definitive; competent, but anonymous; more “awwww, bummer” instead of “ooohh, ahhhh”.  You’d hope there’d be some point of standout majesty or sweep, but outside of the simple backup to the Courage fanfare that closes the opening titles there’s nothing remotely close to that classification.  A bit of dissonance early in “The Nexus/A Christmas Hug” fails to uphold the high suspense and menace standards we have already established.

Fall Apart

Once you start digging into the action music the whole “well, it’s decent approach” starts to fall apart.  “The Enterprise B/Kirk Saves the Day”, “Out of Control/The Crash” and “Outgunned” are an attempt a lighter extension of Cliff Eidelman’s music for the previous film, having the same strong brass and snare presence but lacking the relentless dark menace that made “The Battle for Peace” such an addictive set piece.  The music is propulsive here, but it’s outside of quick snippets of the main theme it’s fairly unmemorable.  The piano in the above third cue is a new presence but it actually makes this cue feel a bit smaller, more like an earthbound thriller than a space epic.  “The Final Fight”, despite it being the longest and loudest of the action cues, ends up being the most underwhelming, lacking the ballsy hammering of ST2, the exciting thrill of ST5, and the menacing buildup of ST6.  With all those qualities absent, the cue feels a bit too much like generic noise.  Competent perhaps, but it’s snail’s pace to those scores’ warp speed.

Conclusion

The remaining incidental cues like “Deck 15” and “Time Is Running Out” are brief and fail to establish anything.  The later is an ambient approach to suspense, disappointing considering the remarkable suspense cues this series had already heard.  More detrimental is the lack of a prominent villain theme, which could be said for all serious entries in the saga (curse you, Voyage Home!).  With that and the Nexus music lacking serious scope, the score ends up sounding a bit too happy for its source material.  There’s no throwback theme for Kirk either, a sorely missed opportunity to be inventive and moving in saying a final goodbye to an icon while graduating on to the next group.  This absence of identity robs “Kirk’s Death of any emotional resonance.  It’s a shame there’s so much criticism here, for Courage’s fanfare receives its most vibrant performances here, with a full orchestral close to the overture, an exciting opening to “The Enterprise B/Kirk Saves The Day”, and the grand conclusion of “To Live Forever.”  But with this series mere competency is not enough, and Generations is too going-through-the-motions and run-of-the-mill (not to mention all those damn sound effects tacked on at the end) to merit a quality recommendation.

1. Star Trek: Generations Overture (4:14)
2. Main Title (2:53)
3. The Enterprise B/Kirk Saves the Day (3:13)
4. Deck 15 (1:41)
5. Time is Running Out (1:12)
6. Prisoner Exchange (2:57)
7. Outgunned (3:21)
8. Out of Control/The Crash (2:07)
9. Coming to Rest (0:57)
10. The Nexus/A Christmas Hug (7:07)
11. Jumping the Ravine (1:37)
12. Two Captains (1:32)
13. The Final Fight (6:15)
14. Kirk’s Death (2:45)
15. To Live Forever (2:42)
16-38. Sound Effects

Listen to Star Trek Generations by Dennis McCarthy below:

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• Soundtrack Review: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
• Soundtrack Review: Shrek Forever After (2010)
• Soundtrack Review: Iron Man 2 (2010)
• Soundtrack Review: Clash of the Titans (2010)
• Soundtrack Review: How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

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