Walk, Don't Run

'Walk, Don't Run' | Star Trek: very Short Treks - 105

In "Walk, Don't Run," when the old guard meets the new, sensitivities flare!

From the mind of Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks, Star Trek: Short Treks), Star Trek: very Short Treks celebrates the bold, the silly, and the unusual across the animated universe of Star Trek.

Star Trek: very Short Treks - "Walk, Don't Run" Credits:

Produced By: Awesome Inc
Created By: Casper Kelly
Executive Producers: Casper Kelly & Ashley Kohler
Supervising Producer: Brandon Betts
Producer / Director: Aaron Hawkins

Cast (In Order of Appearance):
Noël Wells (D'Vana)
Carlos Alazraqui (Scotty)
Cristina Milizia (M'Ress)
George Takei (Sulu)
Jonathan Frakes (Riker)

It sounds like an insult, but it's a compliment!

Star Trek: very Short Treks - 'Walk, Don't Run'

Broadway Beams Up: Star Trek's First Musical

https://media.startrek.com/2023/08/07/trek_musical-07a29ee1.vtt

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Broadway Beams Up: Star Trek's First Musical

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just made history with the first musical episode ofStar Trek! Discover how they did it, in this clip from the most recent segment ofThe Ready Room.

Star Trek: very Short Treks | 'Love on Your Duty Roster' Sing-Along

Join Riker, Sulu, and Tendi for a sing-along this Valentine's Day!

'Love on Your Duty Roster' Sing-Along

My First Contact: Kid Cudi

In My First Contact, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi) shares his first exposure to Star Trek as a 7-year-old, becoming a fan of sci-fi, and classifying his music as "space punk rock." 

Star Trek x Kid Cudi: Mirror Mayhem, created in Fortnite, play today!
0961-7139-1749 

Listen to the all-new Kid Cudi track, "Heaven's Galaxy" - inspired by Star Trek - out now! https://kidcudi.lnk.to/HEAVENSGALAXY

The multi-hyphenate artist reflects on how he became 'hooked' on Star Trek.

All the Star Trek News & Reveals from NYCC 2023

The weekend has came and went, and we cannot thank our fans enough for joining us at New York Comic Con 2023!

If you weren't able to make it out or want a refresher on all things Star Trek from this past week, read through for a full roundup of everything we announced, shared, and more!

Read through for a full roundup of everything we announced and shared!

New York Comic Con 2023 kicked off with the release of an original Kid Cudi song inspired by Star Trek titled "Heaven's Galaxy," as well as a first look at the Fortnite gaming experience, STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM. Learn more.

STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM brings Kid Cudi into the worlds of both Star Trek and Fortnite to perform his brand-new Star Trek-themed music collaboration, “Heaven’s Galaxy,” as well as never-before-heard songs from his new album, INSANO.

Boldly Go as you partner with Captain Skyles (Kid Cudi) on a mission to uncover the source of a sonic anomaly that threatens the peaceful planet Vada. Beam down to explore, discover and defend a world these forces are threatening to tear apart. It’s up to you and other Starfleet recruits to work together with Captain Skyles to uncover the source of this musical malady and restore the harmony of Vada while there’s still time!

While fans at NYCC were able to pre-order the capsule collection during the show, the global release is now available for pre-order on shop.kidcudi.com!

Featuring Star Trek-inspired mantras like “Live Long and Rage,” the Kid Cudi xStar Trek capsule collection will include tees, crewnecks, hoodies, a custom button-up t-shirt and a colorful leather varsity jacket with robust chenille and embroidery details.

Joining Alex Kurtzman on the stage of the Star Trek universe panel, Star Trek: Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan to give insight on the fourth season of the hit animated series and tease what's to come for the remainder of the season before exclusively premiering this week's upcoming episode, "Caves."

Star Trek: Sons of Star Trek Comic to Debut Next Spring

The new four-part miniseries, from the mighty pen of acclaimed Cyborg writer Morgan Hampton and artist Angel Hernandez, finds Jake Sisko and Alexander Rozhenko and their stories intertwined as they’re thrust into an alternate universe where they followed their father’s footsteps into Starfleet stardom. 

STAR TREK: SONS OF STAR TREK #1 Cover by Jake Bartok

The previously aired first season of the animated kids' series will be coming to the service later in 2023. In addition, the new second season, currently in production, is slated to debut on Netflix in 2024.

Technically, this was announced ahead of NYCC, but the steward of the Star Trek franchise Alex Kurtzman shared during the Star Trek universe panel:

Star Trek: Prodigy is back, and Star Trek: Prodigy is back because you guys brought it back. What you did has been happening since TOS. Star Trek belongs to, I've always said, two entities: Gene Roddenberry and the fans, that's it.

"And it is because of you, because almost 35,000 signatures on that petition, a plane over Netflix, and they heard you," continued Kurtzman. "So from the bottom of my heart, because we love Star Trek: Prodigy so much, and from Dan and Kevin Hageman, and the entire cast, and the entire crew, and Kate [Mulgrew], I just want to be able to thank you. Thank you so much for what you did, it was incredible, truly."

Star Trek History - Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection premiered in theaters on this day, 25 years ago, in Star Trek History (December 11, 1998). 

Relive your favorite moments and more with the all-new 4K UHD and Blu-ray release! 

How Jerry Goldsmith tackled the majestic score for the Enterprise's first big screen adventure, in theaters 44 years ago today.

This article was originally published on September 18, 2019.

Looking Back at the Music of 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture'

"I was miserable," admitted Jerry Goldsmith.

Four months from the December 7, 1979 release date of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the composer only had a limited amount of footage and had to begin recording in a month. It was hardly an ideal situation, and it would get worse before it got better, but Goldsmith's score would go on to become an iconic part of Gene Roddenberry's creation. 

The issues during The Motion Picture’s production were far larger than the music. Paramount had given the film a budget of $46M and locked in the release date while there were still story problems, not to mention visual effects difficulties. Subsequently, the post-production process was manic, and Goldsmith was writing music as fast as he could with what little he had. But when he put his music in front of the orchestra to record, director Robert Wise was less than thrilled.

Recalling his thoughts on the 2001 DVD release of the Director’s Edition of the film, Wise said, "It's not working. I listened to the first couple of pieces and it didn't seem quite right to me. I got visions of sailing ships somehow.."

In the same behind-the-scenes interview, Goldsmith admitted, "I was crushed." Wise went onto explain his problem with the music — there was no theme. Specifically, there was no Star Trek theme.

The composer struggled on, but 10 days later, he played his new creation for the director.  Upon hearing the next version, Wise approved and asked, "Why didn't you come up with that in the first place?" With the themes written, Goldsmith revised the cues he had previously recorded, and the score was on its way. 

Goldsmith recruited original Star Trek composer Fred Steiner to write several cues based on the material, and November of 1979 saw the belated arrival of some of the film's effects sequences. The score was finally completed on December 2, and five days later, The Motion Picture left drydock.

While reviews were mixed across the board, Goldsmith's score stood out as a towering achievement, one that not only gained him his 12th Oscar nomination (he had previously won for 1976's The Omen), but also one that would be an integral part of Star Trek's future legacy. 

One of the challenges Goldsmith faced was to compose a symphonic score that was different from John Williams' Star Wars compositions, which hit two years prior. Instead of the leitmotif device Williams utilized, Goldsmith employed his main theme as a backbone, using it to encapsulate an approach that combined the romance and mystery of space exploration. This was a new direction for Goldsmith, venturing into a more romantic idiom of scoring. 

"He was definitely a modernist," said composer David Newman in the liner notes for La-La Land’s definitive release of the soundtrack. Newman, who played the violin on The Motion Picture, added, "I think Star Trek was a turning point for him. I think he realized he couldn't be a Planet of the Apes modernist and compose [for] films."

But The Motion Picture is still very much a Jerry Goldsmith score, especially in the way it adds esoteric instruments and electronic augmentation to the traditional orchestra, harking back to previous scores such as Planet of the Apes (1968) and Alien (1979). One of the signature sounds of the film is the blaster beam, the instrument which emits the harsh electronic tones for V'Ger. This was built and performed by Craig Huxley, using "a long piece of aluminum with metal strings strung the whole way over it and amplifiers under each string," as Goldsmith described it. 

Goldsmith introduces his main theme in a thundering fashion, setting out his intent in the opening credits, which, in the La-La Land liner notes, film score expert Jeff Bond calls "a musical distillation of Roddenberry's utopian vision." In the same notes, Goldsmith himself echoed Roddenberry's original concept of Star Trek as a western, saying that it was no different than "the stirring music you'd play in a western as they're going across the plains... The only difference is you're going across the universe." 

Goldsmith's theme conjures up a bold feeling of exploration, cutting a path through the stars with the Enterprise in its wake, while its B-theme suggests not only adventure but the connection between Admiral Kirk and the starship herself. Goldsmith expanded on this in "The Enterprise," the show-stopping cue that scores the moment when Kirk and the audience first glimpse the brand-new refitted starship.

Almost as a contrast to the Federation's benign mission, the opening sequence introduced Goldsmith's theme for the legendary warrior race of Klingons. Setting a trend for other composers to follow, Goldsmith used the theme to summarize their barbaric and aggressive tendencies, with the Indonesian angklung and plucked strings leading the sharp and angled main melody. Interestingly, Goldsmith would return to this material for his score to Star Trek: First Contact, where it was turned on its head to become a heroic motif for the character of Worf.

Goldsmith's music for V'Ger explores the dynamics between the idea of a living machine — a contradiction in terms — and its quest to meet its creator, with a long-lined undulating melody conveying a mechanical feel but also suggesting that something else lies under the surface. The score also features a haunting ostinato for the Enterprise's journey through V'Ger, and surprisingly, another motive, which is a minor-mode version of Ilia's theme, foreshadowing the union at the climax of the film.

Ilia's theme, which also appears as the overture —one of the last for a theatrical film for several decades — is the main love theme of the film, a gorgeous but delicate melody representing the Deltan's previous relationship with Commander Decker. Also in tune with V'Ger is the composer's fascinating theme for Spock, a truly alien melody that captures the character's unemotional state as he unsuccessfully attempts to purge his human emotions in the Kolinahr ritual, which Goldsmith juxtaposes with the V'Ger material to indicate their destinies may be intertwined. 

An interesting anomaly is the lack of music referring to The Original Series. While Star Trek as a franchise is still musically defined by Alexander Courage's famous opening fanfare, Goldsmith requested to not use any of Courage's music. Although, he later relented and allowed Courage to write an arrangement of his main theme to score two sequences where Kirk narrates the Captain's Log. The result is a pair of brief cues that present the theme in a very subdued manner, a far cry from its use in the original series but appropriate for the seriousness of the Enterprise's mission.

Jerry Goldsmith returned to the franchise in 1987 when The Next Generation debuted, with the opening credits of the show successfully combining the Courage fanfare and the Goldsmith theme (something the composer would later do himself in 1989 for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). He composed music for three additional movies, as well as wrote the main title theme for Star Trek: Voyager. Whether it was for film or television, where Star Trek was concerned, Goldsmith was omnipresent. 

Sadly, Jerry Goldsmith passed in 2004. However, his music for Star Trek and particularly The Motion Picture continues to live on, through the wonderful La-La Land soundtrack release, as a concert staple, and in the hearts of Star Trek fans across the universe. For them, there is no comparison. 

The collab kicks off on October 12 during New York Comic Con with new single, Fortnite gaming experience, and capsule streetwear collection!

Boldly Be with Star Trek and Kid Cudi

Star Trek and Scott Mescudi, better known by his stage name, Kid Cudi, announce details of their one-of-a-kind collaboration, kicking off Star Trek’s all-new “Boldly Be” campaign.

The collaboration will launch on October 12 at the start of New York Comic Con with the release of an original Kid Cudi song inspired by Star Trek titled “Heaven’s Galaxy.” Fans can also visit the Star Trek x Kid Cudi booth that will showcase the capsule collection and a first look at the Fortnite gaming experience at NYCC on the Javits show floor from Oct. 12-15, booth 2653.

“Heavens Galaxy” was written by Cudi, produced by longtime collaborator Dot Da Genius and inspired by Cudi’s own fandom of Star Trek. It will be available beginning Thursday, Oct. 12 on all streaming platforms.

Fans can also join Star Trek, Kid Cudi and Fortnite as they embark on an out-of-this-world music and gaming collaboration like nothing this Galaxy has seen before! STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM brings Kid Cudi into the worlds of both Star Trek and Fortnite to perform his brand-new Star Trek-themed music collaboration, “Heaven’s Galaxy,” as well as never-before-heard songs from his new album, INSANO. 

Boldly Go as you partner with Captain Skyles (Kid Cudi) on a mission to uncover the source of a sonic anomaly that threatens the peaceful planet Vada. Beam down to explore, discover and defend a world these forces are threatening to tear apart. It’s up to you and other Starfleet recruits to work together with Captain Skyles to uncover the source of this musical malady and restore the harmony of Vada while there’s still time! 

STAR TREK X KID CUDI: MIRROR MAYHEM will launch later this month.

Featuring Star Trek-inspired mantras like “Live Long and Rage,” the Kid Cudi x Star Trek capsule collection will include tees, crewnecks, hoodies, a custom button-up t-shirt and a colorful leather varsity jacket with robust chenille and embroidery details. 

The collection will debut at New York Comic Con on Oct. 12 with a preorder window exclusively for attendees, followed by the global release on shop.kidcudi.com on Oct. 16.

“Boldly Be” takes its inspiration from Star Trek’s ethos of IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations), the basis of Vulcan philosophy that the vast variables create truth, beauty and strength.

It's World Opera Day, so time for a 'Liszt.'

This article was originally published on January 29, 2020.

Star Trek's Best Opera Moments, Ranked

While Star Trek is best known for looking to the future, the show has also never wasted an “opera-tunity” to delve into classical music. Over the years, characters have enjoyed performances or dabbled in opera themselves, always celebrating how this art form has endured and evolved over the centuries, being invented and re-invented by various species and communities. 

While there are many great scenes to choose from, here is a list (or a Liszt?) of my ten favorite Star Trek opera moments.

10. Geordi La Forge Sings Gilbert and Sullivan
“Disaster,” Star Trek: The Next Generation

In a dramatic episode where impact with a quantum filament causes the Enterprise crew to be separated in different parts of the ship, facing various dangers in small groups, one lighter moment comes at the start of the episode when Dr. Crusher tries to convince La Forge to audition for another one of her plays. 

Although he is reluctant to sing in front of other people, he eventually does do a few lines of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General,” the famous (and famously challenging) patter song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. Crusher quickly decides that La Forge was “terrific,” and eagerly puts him down for the role. While this is only a short scene before the main action of the episode, it reminds us of the camaraderie between Crusher and La Forge that will soon be tested as they find themselves trapped in a cargo bay with explosive materials and a radioactive fire in a nearby power conduit. 

However, this is not the only time the show has referenced the Major-General’s song. It also came up much more recently, in…

9. Number One (Also) Sings Gilbert and Sullivan
"Q&A," Star Trek: Short Treks

Spock’s first day on the Enterprise also features some singing when he tries to report for duty on the Bridge but instead gets stuck in a turbolift with Number One. While he starts out by asking her questions about Captain Pike and the Prime Directive, the two officers eventually become a bit more relaxed in one another’s presence and share a bonding moment when Number One sings a bit of the Major-General’s song. 

Rebecca Romijn, who plays Number One in Discovery and the Short Treks, had told members of the Star Trek production team that singing Gilbert and Sullivan was one of her “special skills,” which inspired writer Michael Chabon to include that moment in the episode. 

While this Short Treks bears some resemblances to "Disaster" — the song choice, plus characters being trapped together due to unforeseen circumstances — Chabon says this was coincidental. 

“To have it all come together and kind of resonate as an homage to that episode of TNG, it was both accidental I think, but also, deep down, I’m a huge fan of TNG,” he said in an interview with SyFy Wire. “Having that stuff in there. It’s all in there somewhere.” 

But humans aren’t the only singers in the Star Trek universe. Plenty of members of other species have an appreciation for the craft, including…

8. Klingon Opera is Known Throughout the Quadrants
Various Episodes

While human opera features more often than any other species’ take on the genre across Star Trek shows, Klingon opera has also made its mark on the universe and has been referenced, studied, and enjoyed by many characters over the years. Klingon opera, though it tends to have a somewhat aggressive performance style, often focuses on stories of doomed love and courageous acts like much of the human opera canon. 

Although some humans have found Klingon opera difficult to listen to — Jonathan Archer described it as reminiscent of a sehlat’s cry — others, like Hoshi Sato, have gone out of their way to seek it out, and Jake Sisko apparently studied it in school. 

Worf, in particular, had a large collection of Klingon opera that he listened to and sometimes played over the ship’s speakers, and once requested a passage from the opera "Aktuh and Maylota" from a musician in a bar on Qualor II. 

Though Worf rarely admitted it to other crew members, he did enjoy singing along to opera as well as listening to it, which was the focus of a particularly compelling scene in…

7. Worf Sings Klingon Opera While Trapped in an Escape Pod
“Penumbra," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

When Worf’s ship is ambushed by a Dominion patrol, Ezri Dax decides to go looking for him without the captain’s permission and finds his escape pod in the Badlands. 

When Worf tells her that the escape pod was “quiet,” Ezri correctly surmises that he passed the time by singing and starts guessing which operas he might have attempted. Though at first he did not want to admit to singing in the first place, he eventually tells her he sang the Klingon opera "Gav’ot toh’va," which she calls “ambitious” for its tenor solos. 

In an episode that spends a lot of time focusing on the dynamics between Worf and Ezri since Jadzia’s death and the Dax’s symbiont’s subsequent joining to Ezri, this scene helps to show how some of the memories Worf and Jadzia shared persist in Dax. It is a unique exploration of grief and identity as these characters try to figure out how to relate to one another. 

Along with Klingons, other species who have developed their own variants of opera include…

6. The Qomar Discover Music
“Virtuoso,” Star Trek: Voyager

The Qomar, a species of mathematicians whose vocal cords were capable of speech but not singing, had never heard music until a chance encounter with Voyager. While some Qomarians were receiving medical treatment on board Voyager, they heard The Doctor singing while he worked, and were captivated by this unfamiliar art form. 

They eagerly asked The Doctor to sing for them on their world, and he gave a performance of an aria from Verdi’s Don Carlos that is so well-received he becomes a major Qomarian celebrity. 

Some Qomarians attempt to convince The Doctor to stay on their world and sing, and though he is initially tempted by promises of fame and fortune, as well as a chance at love, he soon realizes the Qomarians don’t understand the emotion and artistry of music, and chooses to leave. 

However, by the end of the episode, the Qomarians have begun composing and performing their own pieces. Though their music may sound strange to human ears, the genre of Qomarian opera has launched. 

This is far from the only time The Doctor’s love of opera has featured in Star Trek. In fact, his musical interests caused major trouble in…

5. The Doctor Risks Losing His Memories
"The Swarm," Star Trek: Voyager

While studying opera might seem like a harmless pastime, in this episode of Voyager it almost costs The Doctor his entire personality. He was initially designed to only be used in emergencies as a supplement to the medical team, but when Voyager was swept into the Delta Quadrant and their chief medical officer killed, The Doctor became the CMO. His capacity for learning and growth causes problems when he decides to turn it to creative pursuits – or, as Dr. Zimmerman puts it, "[The Doctor] wasn’t programmed to be a tenor, it was programmed to be a physician!”

While The Doctor was apparently supposed to be offline when he wasn’t on duty, he was instead using that time to expand his program, including studying and performing opera. This caused him to burn through the memory and hours of operation capacity that he had been programmed with, risking the integrity of the program. 

At the end of the episode, after the ship’s diagnostic program has sacrificed itself to save The Doctor, the crew is able to tell that their CMO’s personality has survived when he starts humming opera as he works. 

While The Doctor appears to love opera in general, in some cases, the specific pieces featured on-screen add another layer of meaning to a scene. This was the case in…

4. Captain Picard Listens to Berlioz Before Battle
Star Trek: First Contact

In this movie, the Federation’s past and present are threatened as the Borg begin attacks in Federation space. Though the Enterprise is the most advanced ship in the fleet, Starfleet orders them to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone instead of joining the fight, because of fears that Picard’s history with the Borg would compromise his ability to fight. 

However, as the battle turns against Starfleet, Picard decides to disobey orders and join the fight. In the scene, before he announces his decision, he is in his Ready Room listening to an aria from Les Troyens, an opera by Berlioz. Les Troyens, which tells the story of the doomed battle for Troy as depicted in the Aeneid, is particularly poignant here as it seems the Borg are winning at every turn. 

The particular aria Picard has chosen, Vallon Sonore, is also a bit of subtle foreshadowing. The aria is about a sailor’s longing for a home he may never see again — and later in the movie, the Enterprise is forced to travel to Earth’s past to combat the Borg’s attempts to change history. If they had failed, Earth would never have been "home" again.

Opera has also been used as a reminder of home in...

3. Kasseelian Opera Guides Paul Stamets Back to His Universe
"What’s Past is Prologue," Star Trek: Discovery

When Discovery is stranded in the Mirror Universe, Tilly and Stamets realize that their best bet to getting the ship back home is to ride a “mycelial shockwave” created by attacking the Terran Empire’s flagship and targeting its energy orb. 

Though they manage to save the mycelial network from contamination and launch themselves on a course back to their own universe, Stamets struggles to navigate through the quickly-regenerating pathways. 

When he can’t figure out which way to go, he has a vision of his partner Hugh Culber telling him that the network is a “thread that weaves life through space” and to “follow the music.” An aria from a Kasseelian opera begins to play, guiding Stamets through the network. 

Kasseelian opera has been a recurring theme in Stamets and Culber’s relationship, beginning with...

2. Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber’s First Meeting
"Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad," Star Trek: Discovery

When Stamets met Culber in a café on Alpha Centuri, Culber was humming Kasseelian opera. This apparently bothered Stamets so much he told his future partner to "stifle it or sit somewhere else" – and Culber chose to sit next to him instead. 

Culber’s love for opera (and Stamets’ growing tolerance of it) has been a recurring theme throughout their relationship. In an earlier episode, “Into the Forest I Go,” Stamets wants to take Culber to go see a Kasseelian production of La Bohème in an opera house on Starbase 46. 

Along with being a sweet moment in a tense episode, this also is a subtle reference to the musical Rent, which is based on La Bohème – Anthony Rapp, who plays Stamets in Discovery, originated the role of Mark Cohen in the musical. 

While all these operatic moments have enriched and added new dimensions to the episodes they featured in, perhaps nothing better represents the impact opera can have on memories and relationships than…

1. Picard and Worf Distract Data by Singing 'A British Tar'
Star Trek: Insurrection

When Data is malfunctioning after being shot by a Son’a weapon, he attacks Picard and La Forge when they come to the Ba’ku planet to retrieve him. Although his memory has been damaged and his ethical and moral subroutines have taken over all his basic functions, Data still remembers enough Gilbert and Sullivan to sing along with Picard and Worf. 

This distracts the android for long enough to get him back on board the Enterprise. Data’s reaction to familiar music despite his damaged memories is reminiscent of music helping seniors and people with memory loss in real life. In recent years, many studies have found that people experiencing memory loss still relate and respond to music from their youth. Some researchers have even found that musical memories seem to be partially independent of other memory systems and remain intact for longer than other types of memories. 

So Data’s ability to remember a familiar tune from an opera, despite having lost access to a significant part of his memory systems, is a wonderful reflection on the importance and endurance of music in both positronic and biological brains. 

What are some of your favorite opera moments in Star Trek? Share with us @StarTrek on Social!

https://star-trek-vtt.onrender.com/video/captions/2022-05/ST_SNW_COMPOSERS_STAR_TREK.vtt

The Music of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A behind-the-scenes look at how composer Nami Melumad and main title theme composer Jeff Russo created the music of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

https://star-trek-vtt.onrender.com/video/captions/2022-10/STLD_Scoring_v5a.vtt

Scoring the Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Finale

Composer Chris Westlake walks us through scoring Star Trek: Lower Decks — from the choice to not have individual character themes, the emotional vocal performances from the cast, and writing for the big moments in the series.

SPOILER WARNING: Discussions for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3's finale to follow!

Star Trek x Kid Cudi | Teaser

For World Music Day, let's look at how music played an intrinsic part of Star Trek's enduring legacy.

This article was originally published on May 29, 2015.

10 Favorite Star Trek Musical Pieces

From the first notes of Alexander Courage’s theme for The Original Series up through Michael Giacchino’s soaring scores for the most recent films, and everything in between, music has been an intrinsic part of Star Trek’s enduring legacy.

Music plays a big part in helping me with my writing. Classical, film scores, and pretty much anything else without actual lyrics, is a candidate for helping me “get in the zone” as I push words. When it comes to writing Star Trek, you might guess that I listen to a lot of music from the different episodes or films, and you’d be right. To be honest, though, it isn’t only a tool for working. I also just simply enjoy it as a fan. I own the scores for all of the feature films, as well as the complete soundtrack collection from The Original Series and a smattering of selections from each of the other television series. I even have a suite of music from The Animated Series. Hey, it’s for work, people.

Naturally, I have my favorite pieces and cues. Doesn’t everybody? I could write for days about the music of Star Trek and how it inspires my writing, or how it’s just something I enjoy listening to during long drives. Given my “Ten for Ward” format, I’d only be scratching the surface so far as compiling a list of music from any of the series or films, so I’m hoping folks will chime in with their own favorites.

Still, I’m going to be cheating a bit here and there, rather than just trying to limit my selections to ten individual pieces of music. This isn’t intended to be a definitive or “best of” list, and I’m not citing each television series’ standard opening or closing music, as those are easy picks, but otherwise? Here’s a list to get the discussion started.

To tell you the truth, I could fill up several lists just with music from The Original Series before I even thought about moving on to anything else. I forced myself to pick one example, and I think it’s a doozy. How many films of the era wish they could’ve had a musical arrangement as compelling as the one created by composer Sol Kaplan for this fan-favorite episode?

It’s space opera at its finest as Kaplan punctuates the tragedy of Commodore Matt Decker and the torment inflicted upon him by the mammoth automaton that has destroyed his ship, the U.S.S. Constellation. Likewise, the cues servicing the battle between the machine and the Enterprise are first-rate, and the entire score is a high water mark for a series where music was already one of its defining strengths.

“Stealing the Enterprise,” Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

James Horner had already hit it out of the park with his score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and he comports himself well with this follow-up. However, the original release of the third film’s soundtrack was something of a disservice to him, as it omitted many of the pieces that set this movie’s music apart from the previous film.

The 2010 “Complete Score” release corrects that oversight, even though my favorite cue appeared on the original vinyl album. While borrowing and reworking some elements from his Star Trek II music, Horner still offers an exhilarating piece that highlights the hijacking of the Enterprise from space dock by Admiral Kirk and his command crew.

“Life Is A Dream (End Credits),” Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

It’s impossible to overstate the importance and lasting appeal of Jerry Goldsmith’s musical contributions to Star Trek. His score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture holds a permanent spot on my personal “Top 10 Film Scores Ever” list.

However, his end theme for the fifth movie is my favorite variation of the end credits theme he created for the first film. There’s a little more pomp and flourish in the now-familiar notes, and Goldsmith does a masterful job weaving other themes from the film, including a new take on his familiar “Klingon” music, as well as Alexander Courage’s iconic “Star Trek fanfare.”

“Borg Engaged” and “Captain Borg,” Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation's third season ending cliffhanger, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I," deserved its own score worthy of the silver screen, and Ron Jones delivers in fine fashion for this episode as well as the next season’s “Part II.”

The ominous image of the massive Borg cube on the Enterprise’s viewscreen and — later — the shock of seeing Jean-Luc Picard assimilated by the Borg Collective is rammed home by Jones’ haunting themes, which are just two highlights from a superb score written for one of The Next Generation’s most memorable episodes.

“Sign Off,” Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Kirk bids farewell to Captain Sulu and the Excelsior, before the entire Original Series cast says goodbye to us after 25 years of bold adventures in the final frontier. This moving piece by composer Cliff Eidelman, accompanying Captain Kirk’s final log entry along with William Shatner and the rest of the cast affixing their signatures to the end of the film, perfectly underscores the melancholy felt by so many longtime fans as we realized that “our” Star Trek had finally come to a close.

Despite its name, this is actually the end credits theme for the first film to feature the cast of The Next Generation. The stirring theme incorporates music from other cues that Dennis McCarthy crafted to give weight to scenes set in the Nexus as well as defining the courage of our heroes, including Captain Kirk’s valiant acts at both ends of the film. Capping off the whole thing is an emotive rendition of the classic “Star Trek fanfare” that acts as a true passing of the baton from one generation to the next.

“Flight of the Phoenix,” Star Trek: First Contact

The score for Captain Picard and the Enterprise-E’s second film outing is an underrated effort by Jerry Goldsmith, who once again succeeds at combining familiar themes with new pieces that give each Star Trek film its own musical identity.

For this piece, the legendary composer’s son, Joel Goldsmith, brings vitality, hope, and triumph to what in one respect is the “birth” of the Star Trek universe to come as Zefram Cochrane (with the help of Riker and La Forge) pilots the fragile Phoenix spacecraft on humanity’s first warp speed flight.

“Bride of Chaotica,” Star Trek: Voyager

David Bell’s unrestrained musical homage to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers is an utter treat on all counts. Though the episode also includes cues more consistent with Voyager’s usual lower-key offerings, the “Captain Proton” pieces are delightfully loud and bombastic, in keeping with the 1930s science fiction movie serials to which they’re paying loving tribute.

“In A Mirror, Darkly,” Star Trek: Enterprise

What begins as a beautiful callback to Jerry Goldsmith’s themes from Star Trek VIII: First Contact takes on a sinister twist as Dennis McCarthy plunges us headlong into the cruelty of the “Mirror Universe.” The score for this landmark two-part episode includes a new theme to accompany an alternate take on the series’ opening credits sequence, preserving the effect of the entire storyline taking place in the parallel universe with no connection to our own. McCarthy goes all-out as he accentuates all of the backstabbing and scheming weaving around the story’s action sequences, including a foreboding final cue as Hoshi Sato declares herself “Empress.”

“Enterprising Young Men,” Star Trek (2009)

While fans debate the merits of the most recent Star Trek movies, few take issue with the effort composer Michael Giacchino channeled into his musical scores. Nowhere is that more evident than this signature piece from the first film, which encapsulates in rousing fashion the energy of these “new” Star Trek voyages as well as the journey of this modern, bold incarnation of our beloved heroes.

Okay, that’s my 10, and that was playing fast and loose with my own rules. Now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite piece of Star Trek music? Let us know on Social!

For International Jazz Day, we take a look at how music helps enhance the story.

This article was originally published on April 18, 2018.

Why Jazz is the Perfect Sound for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

<h3 class="text-align-center"><center>“<em>I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing</em>.”</h3>

That’s what legendary trumpeter Miles Davis said about jazz in his autobiography. It’s a statement that could also easily apply to Star Trek, specifically to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

When James Darren joined as crooner Vic Fontaine late in the sixth season, he injected a sound that unexpectedly turned a spotlight on the heart of the series. Commonly thought of as “that show about the war,” Deep Space Nine is really about what the characters are going through on a personal level.

The story is not that of the Dominion War, but the struggles of the people living through it. The conflict is merely a backdrop, and that’s why jazz works so well. Organic, personal, and at times unpredictable, jazz is everything Deep Space Nine is.

Pianist and composer Thelonius Monk once explained how jazz — like Deep Space Nine — comes from the heart and may take time for others to understand, “I say, play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing, even if it does take them 15, 20 years.”

Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr on stage at Destination Star Trek Germany, 2014

In many ways, this is what Ira Steven Behr, Ronald D. Moore, and the writing team did for seven seasons. They brought together a group of diverse characters, dropped them off in the wilderness, and let them figure things out as they went along.

Instead of the refined and rigid structure of classical music favored by Star Trek: The Next Generation, this crew worked within the modal framework of jazz and improvised their way to saving the Alpha Quadrant.

The brilliance of the series' writing often went unappreciated at the time, but has come to be considered Star Trek’s best by many. Why has it stood the test of time? Like the stories told in jazz standards, those told on Deep Space Nine are timeless.

In “Image in the Sand,” which ends with Sisko departing for Tyree to search for the Orb of the Emissary, we hear Frank Sinatra’s “All the Way,” the bridge of which goes:

<h3 class="text-align-center"><center><em>🎵 Who knows where the road will lead us<br>Only a fool would say<br>But if you’ll let me love you<br>It’s for sure I’m gonna love you<br>All the way 🎵</em></h3>

Here, the lyric is literally about Worf’s sadness over the loss of Jadzia — a timeless, very-human emotion grafted onto the relationship between two differing species — but it also applies to Sisko’s search for identity and what the entire crew faces through the remainder of the series.

Another example comes from “The Siege of AR-558.” The traditional Star Trek formula would set the firefight to dramatic orchestral music; doing so puts the focus on the action. Instead, this battle unfolds to “I’ll Be Seeing You,” a 1938 classic by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal, that became a favorite during World War II among those in the United States and the United Kingdom whose loved ones were serving overseas.

Apart from the link to a past war, the jarring visual and auditory disconnect of that battle shifts the focus from the action to the mental state of the Starfleet officers. It also brings greater impact to Nog’s injury.

Wynton Marsalis is one of the best-known jazz musicians of the past 40 years. In October 2004, he performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at an event titled Let Freedom Swing: A Celebration of Human Rights & Social Justice.

What Marsalis wrote in the event program highlights why jazz is such a good fit for Deep Space Nine —

“Jazz means working things out musically with other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of racism and anti-Semitism. It teaches you that the world is big enough to accommodate us all.

“[It’s a performance by] a group of diverse musicians negotiating in time to create a collective expression that reflects the unique personalities and values of each individual for the good of everyone. The traditions of experimentation and improvisation in jazz resemble the innovative approach of America’s democracy in placing so much faith in its people and in striving to invent something new, different and, perhaps, even better.”

Diversity is a cornerstone of Gene Roddenberry’s vision, and cooperation is a must when serving on a crew made up of various species. This is even more true of life and service on Deep Space 9, a station that is home to many non-Federation races. What more appropriate genre than jazz could there be to capture the spirit of this series?

All Star Trek endures in the hearts of fans, but the nature of that connection differs from series to series. A quarter century on, Deep Space Nine continues to form emotional ties on a level that is more often personal compared with the franchise’s other chapters, and it does it in part thanks to music that has endured far longer.

Perhaps it’s best summed up by a lyric from "The Way You Look Tonight," heard in the series finale, “What You Leave Behind.” For many Niners, this line — first sung in 1936 — sums up how they feel about the show itself —

<h3 class="text-align-center"><em>🎵 Someday, when I’m awfully low<br>When the world is cold<br>I will feel a glow just thinking of you<br>And the way you look tonight. 🎵</em></h3>

If jazz tells us anything, it’s that — a hundred years from now — we’ll look back at Deep Space Nine with the same sentimentality as that story first shared by Fred Astaire.

Press play and launch your next party into the stratosphere. 

In my 25 years spent as a dance and hip-hop DJ, one thing's become very clear: Star Trek is a major influence on producers and lyricists all over the world — and has been for decades. This mixtape highlights some of the more interesting uses of samples, creative covers, and references from artists whose imagination was sparked by Star Trek. We encourage listening to this set as a continuous DJ mix, but you can also create your own playlist of these songs on Spotify. Press play at your next Star Trek-related function if you want the party to soar into space!

<h3>Van McCoy — <a>“Theme from <em>Star Trek</em>” (1976)</a></h3>

One year after hitting it big with “The Hustle,” the late producer and conductor Van McCoy made this effortlessly funky version of Alexander Courage’s brilliant “Theme from Star Trek” (1966). Before he died of a heart attack at the age of 39, McCoy had a prolific career that included work with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Jackie Wilson.

<h3><strong>Information Society — “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” (1988)</strong></h3>