James Horner - The Voyage Home

[Allyn Gibson]

I've recently been on an Alien score kick -- whatever your thoughts on the merits of Alien 3 (personally, it's in my top two), Elliot Goldenthal's score is magnificent -- and so I've listened to Horner's Aliens score.

Given that he wrote it in about two weeks, because James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd didn't know what they wanted and didn't have a locked picture when sessions were booked, I really don't blame Horner for falling back on his signature motifs. He had to deliver something, and yeah, his Klingon theme is there, and so is Ripley stealing the Enterprise, and in isolation from the film they do stand out.

I do wonder what a Horner Star Trek IV would have sounded like. I imagine he knew early enough in the process that Nimoy intended to go in a different direction so he booked other work in 1986. I understand Nimoy wanted to work with his friend, and had Rosenman incorporated some of Horner's motifs from the previoius two films I might look at his score with more fondness, but nothing about it says "Star Trek" to me.

 

[CoveTom]

Jerry Goldsmith was a tough act to follow. And by tough, I mean impossible. In the first place, he is one of the greatest composers to ever grace the medium of film. But, in addition, I really do believe his score for TMP was his seminal work. I often think of Troi's message to Barclay in "The Nth Degree" where she talks about how almost everyone has some moment in their life where they exceed their own limitations. I feel like that is Goldsmith's score for TMP. I could gush about it forever here, but I really do think it is that good.

Now, that all being said, I really don't think there were any bad scores for the original 10 Trek films. (I'm not a particular fan of Giacchino's work on the Abramsverse films.) Yes, Horner did have a tendency to copy himself, as did Rosenman. But I think their collective three scores work for what they are. For Horner, I think TWOK is superior to TSFS, but like most people, I love "Stealing the Enterprise." For Rosenman, the score for TVH has its ups and downs, but I think all-in-all it's a unique Trek score and suits a unique Trek film.

My least favorite of the scores, interestingly enough, is probably Eidelman's work on TUC, which is one that fans seem to generally like. But something about it has just never grabbed me. It's not bad. It's just nothing special, IMHO.

 

[Tosk]

For Rosenman, the score for TVH has its ups and downs, but I think all-in-all it's a unique Trek score and suits a unique Trek film.

I think it also helps very much that he only worked on one Trek film. If he'd scored two movies in a row, say III and IV, then the "flaws" would stand out a lot more.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

I posted this in another thread a while back, and this thread's just screaming for a return engagement. So here's some more The Voyage Horner for your listening/ viewing pleasure.

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[Allyn Gibson]

Serious question. What's a ship of Finnish whalers doing off the coast of California?

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

Off the coast of Alaska, remember. Though I can't say for sure whether that's any more realistic a place for Finnish whalers to be hanging around.

 

[FormerLurker]

If I recall correctly, they were meant to be seen as Russian/Soviet whalers. Who, for obvious reasons, couldn't portray themselves, and needed the Finnish stand-ins.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Jerry Goldsmith was a tough act to follow. And by tough, I mean impossible. In the first place, he is one of the greatest composers to ever grace the medium of film. But, in addition, I really do believe his score for TMP was his seminal work. I often think of Troi's message to Barclay in "The Nth Degree" where she talks about how almost everyone has some moment in their life where they exceed their own limitations. I feel like that is Goldsmith's score for TMP. I could gush about it forever here, but I really do think it is that good.

Now, that all being said, I really don't think there were any bad scores for the original 10 Trek films. (I'm not a particular fan of Giacchino's work on the Abramsverse films.) Yes, Horner did have a tendency to copy himself, as did Rosenman. But I think their collective three scores work for what they are. For Horner, I think TWOK is superior to TSFS, but like most people, I love "Stealing the Enterprise." For Rosenman, the score for TVH has its ups and downs, but I think all-in-all it's a unique Trek score and suits a unique Trek film.

My least favorite of the scores, interestingly enough, is probably Eidelman's work on TUC, which is one that fans seem to generally like. But something about it has just never grabbed me. It's not bad. It's just nothing special, IMHO.

Would have been fun to see how he did scores for 2/3/4. Sure, we saw how he scored later Trek films, but mid-80s Goldsmith was a different beast with a much more synth heavy aesthetic. I can sort of imagine this bit happening in the nebula as the two ships are going in circles looking for each other.

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I posted this in another thread a while back, and this thread's just screaming for a return engagement. So here's some more The Voyage Horner for your listening/ viewing pleasure.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

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Fun edit!

 

[Ssosmcin]

I've recently been on an Alien score kick -- whatever your thoughts on the merits of Alien 3 (personally, it's in my top two),

Just wanted to pop in and say how happy I am that there are two of us in the world

Jerry Goldsmith was a tough act to follow. And by tough, I mean impossible.

I'm not sure if Goldsmith himself was a tough act to follow or his score from TMP was since none of his other Trek scores reached those heights. Star Trek V was excellent, but I was disappointed at the time over his reuse of his main theme and Klingon bits (themes he stuck with throughout the series). I was looking forward to something new from him. However, I still consider it his second best score for the film series and it laid the groundwork for many of his Trek scores to follow.

However, Horner's two scores are, in my view, just as good and reach insane heights. Star Trek's 2 and 3 have different yet connected scores: one is a swashbuckling space opera and the other is a more introspective adventure score. I consider the first 3 film scores to be the best in the Trek movie canon and none of the scores to follow, even those of Goldsmith, really top them.

And yes, Cliff Eidelman's music is a little on the dry side for the most part and while refreshingly dark, it is at odds with the gag-filled screenplay (don't get me started on this movie - much as I love it).