Soundtrack Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1999)

Posted by Jon Blough

May 7, 2009

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Star Trek Insurrection This is a review of the motion picture score Star trek: Insurrection by Jerry Goldsmith.

“Over time most fans have come to appreciate its romantic sensibilities and pounding action style”

After never experiencing consecutive Goldsmith scores for the Star Trek series, the announcement that the composer would return for Star Trek: Insurrection must have been a welcome surprise. Many of those fans did initially revolt at the score though, for of all Goldsmith’s scores it bears the least amount of thematic integrity to the series. As I keep saying, you can replace previous themes with ones of comparable quality and still come out with good results, and over time most fans have come to appreciate the score for its romantic sensibilities and pounding action style.

Three Themes

That first identity is embodied in three themes, the first a flowing, introductory piece in “The Bak’u Village” that flies through on oboe and harp before the strings sweep you away. It’s a shame this very lovely theme only pops up in the bookends. “Unlikely Captors” introduces the innocent Baku theme, which is so, so lovely to hear on flute in “Children’s Story”. The romantic, relaxing nature of the material exists on a level in the genre not felt since Ilia’s Theme, but this is more intimate, as proven again with “A Perfect Moment”. The gorgeous love motif pops up in “Side Effects” on flute and would dominate most of “New Sight”, with the harp part coming in at 4 minutes to beautiful effect, as with the similar synth harp to close. All of these themes are relatively similar in style and certainly not as stunning as Goldsmith’s more classic love tunes, but they work excellently in tandem to create as lush a romantic setting as anything Goldsmith has done and end up being the highlights of the album

The primary Enterprise/heroism theme here is a 6-note action motif that aired briefly in FC. While it certainly lacks the flowing nature of Goldsmith’s themes for TMP and FC, it does get enough of a workout in the score to still be varied and engaging. “Captain and Friend” has it slowly building it up before unleashing it triumphantly on horn against a bounding bed of brass and percussion, and similar tactics are found in “A Few Loose Ends” and “New Sight”. Other variations are the subdued use in “The Convoy” and the epic positioning in the action of “The Drones Attack” and “The Launch Sequence” The theme is really, really dominant, seeping into almost every corner of the score, including “The Drones Attack” and “The Launch Sequence”. As with most of the score though, it’s stylistic consistency becomes a bit too familiar by the end, with “No Threat” and most of “The Launch Sequences” amounting to little more than reprises off previous material.

Action Material

The action material is defined by a pounding piano approach, rumbling away with synthetic pulsing, soaring strings, and the main brass motif always at the ready. “Not Functioning”, “The Drones Attack”, and “The Riker Maneuver” create a strong atmosphere, enough even to make you overlook the similarities to U.S. Marshals. As said earlier, the approach does get a bit familiar by the end action cues, but it’s still strong. Notable outside this style is the early “In Custody”, which throws in the action motif and banging percussion against high racing string work for brief thrilling effect. Had Goldsmith thrown in more variation like that, perhaps the overall approach could’ve been more commendable, but it’s still a worthy entry in the action canon of the series.

Most impressive is the diverse array of synth material that Goldsmith throws in. I’ve always felt the best uses of synth are when they complement the orchestra rather than overwhelming or doubling it (yes, that’s a knock against weaker Media Ventures scores), and here Goldsmith continues the layered style that makes Legend such a treat (I’m not saying it’s anywhere near that quality though). Glassy hits in the first cue, light and bouncy inserts in “Children’s Story” and “New Sight”, bubbly glistening in “Childhood Discussion”, the pulsing in the action…oh it’s all exceptionally done and the most varied array you’ll find in any Trek score, even if not as memorable as the Blaster Beam.

Conclusion

Outside of the lack of variation towards the end, the other big complaint qualm is how little this sounds like a Trek score. There’s very little thematic grounding from previous works, with only the Enterprise fanfare at the close of “Through the Briar Patch” and the bookend cues as well as Worf’s theme in that same cue and “The Drones Attack” falling under that category. It’s pretty disappointing considering how Goldsmith was able to involve the classic fanfare, the adversity theme, and the Klingon theme into his two previous sequel scores. However while this disappointment may knock the score below Goldsmith’s previous Trek scores in quality, it’s still a worthwhile experience and boasts some of the composer’s loveliest material.

Album Situation: The bootleg features some expanded performances on the secondary love themes. The repetition increases as well, but it’s a nicer release
Best Album: Bootleg
Commercial Album (41:29)
1. Ba’Ku Village* (6:52)
2. In Custody (1:14)
3. Childrens’ Story (1:47)
4. Not Functioning (1:45)
5. New Sight (5:44)
6. The Drones Attack (4:10)
7. The Riker Maneuver (3:09)
8. The Same Race (1:16)
9. No Threat (4:12)
10. The Healing Process (7:15)
11. End Credits (5:25)

Bootleg (66:35) – Note that alternate track listings exist, and in some cases cues are grouped together
1.    Main Title/The Ba’Ku Village (6:53)
2.    Through the Briar Patch (1:44)
3.    Captain and Friend (2:34)
4.    In Custody (1:13)
5.    Unlikely Captors (0:40)
6.    Contemplation (0:34)
7.    Children’s Story (1:51)
8.    A Few Loose Ends (4:34)
9.    Side Effects (0:27)
10.    New Sight (5:47)
11.    Ru’afo’s Threat (0:46)
12.    Prime Directive (1:55)
13.    Insurrection (1:35)
14.    Not Functioning (1:52)
15.    The Convoy (0:59)
16.    Childhood Discussion (1:08)
17.    A Perfect Moment (1:07)
18.    Battle Stations (0:26)
19.    The Drones Attack (4:14)
20.    The Riker Maneuver (3:13)
21.    Don’t Leg Go (1:41)
22.    The Same Race/Ru’afo Strikes (2:54)
23.    Deploying the Collector (1:09)
24.    No Threat (4:11)
25.    Weapon Systems Offline (0:38)
26.    The Launch Sequence (4:21)
27.    The Healing Process (2:31)
28.    End Credits (5:49)