Customer Reviews

Star Trek 3

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - This, the second of two Trek soundtracks by James Horner, in many ways, goes the previous score (The Wrath of Khan) one better. While many people prefer the nautical majesty of The Wrath of Khan, I, for one, like this outing better. The orchestration on Khan always seemed a little bit 'thin' to me, and they seem to get a lot fuller sound on this one. The music, with some exception, is a lot more subdued, but, personally, I like that better.

The main theme returns from Khan, but is used a lot less in this soundtrack. It is still as good as ever, but it doesn't really belong as much in this movie, which is all about Spock. Its best use is in "Stealing the Enterprise". The sub-theme based on it returns, appearing a lot more. It has always been one of my favorite themes. Its best use is also in "Stealing the Enterprise". Spock's theme is the main theme in this movie. It seems to have a hopeful quality now, generally. My favorite appearance of it, though, is a very wistful version at the very beginning of the score, in "Prologue" during the flashback. The Klingon theme is honestly the worst one in the movie and one of the worst in all the Trek soundtracks. I really can't stand that little squeaky version in "Bird-of-Prey Decloaks". The Courage fanfare is used liberally throughout the score, something a lot of them are missing. It is used best during "Klingons" after the 30-second interlude, just after the space-dock comes into view. It is magnificently understated, and is one of the two best uses in the series (the other is at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). This is how the fanfare was meant to be used. This and in "Stealing the Enterprise", anyway. Courage's Star Trek TV theme also appears, most notably at the end. It is used very well, but doesn't quite go to the same level as Khan's finale.

Overall, this score generally works better as 'pure music' than The Wrath of Khan and, to my thinking, is worth the money more. The downside: that pop version of Spock's theme. ha ha ha ha ha it is SO funny! Actually, it kind of spoils the soundtrack so I never, EVER listen to it anymore.

Best Tracks:

"Prologue / Main Title" (One of the greatest opening themes ever; very touching)

"Klingons" (Not the Klingon theme, after a 30-second silence, the space-dock comes into view, leading to possibly the best track, along with the above one)

"Stealing the Enterprise" (Just plain fun! This very long track never gets boring, and at times is the best track)

"Returning to Vulcan" (This has an amazing crescendo as the Bird-of-Prey lands on the red planet, then reaches another one. Pure, lovely strings music)

Startrek III is my favorite. Jim Horners score is magnificent, and it is climaxed in the scene in which Kirk, with an entire crew of Klingons about to beam aboard and take over the defenceless ship, orders a self destruct. He escapes with crew to the planet below in a last ditch effort to save Spock. The only ones left behind to hear the countdown are the Klingons. The explosion begins, and with it the most stirring,and dramatic of all compositions! The ship explodes,spirals in and burns up in the atmosphere. Capt.Kirk watches from the surface as his ship streaks across the sky in a veritable blaze of glory! Horners orchestra responds with blazing violins! thundering timpany! trumpets! horns! flutes! in a fantastical concoction of musical wizardry the likes of which are rarely allowed to touch the trancendant tenticals of human creativity! The heavens were truly opened to the whispy,wild haired,wide eyed conductor on that day. It stirs such deep emotion in me. It leaves me breathless! I strode out and bought the soundtrack, and am now left with one all encompassing question. WHY is it that they chose to ommit this from the soundtrack! WHY! And so I issue this heartfelt plea: RERELEASE THIS SOUNDTRACK WITH ALL THE TRACKS IN PLACE! somebody do something!

This soundtrack is one of the very best anyone can get, especially among Star Trek. James Horner's composition for "the Search for Spock" outranks most of the other Star Trek soundtracks. The music is so lively, and if you have watched the movie enough, you can picture what is happening when you listen to the music. Many elements of the music from the previous movie, "The Wrath of Khan" carry over to this one, which give fans a sense of continuation along with the story. I give it five stars, for the music in the movie is well coordinated with the action and can be clearly heard. Each piece is distinct as well. "Stealing the Enterprise," is probably the best track on the album, but all the others are good. Another personal favorite of mine is "The Bird of Prey decloaks." For anybody who loves soundtracks, (especially Trekkers) I would recommend "The Search For Spock," very strongly.

This is a fabulous score, filled with beautiful passages. It contains what is arguably the best cue from film of all time - 'Stealing the Enterprise', a grand heroic segement that will make your heart swell with emotion. The other great passage is 'Bird of Prey Decloaks', an action cue not completley devoid of feeling. -1 star (should be two) for the puzzling addition of an 80's rock version of the theme and the omision of the escape from Genesis. It'll do though.

this is james horner's best score ever. by far. this is also one of the best scores i have ever heard. the arrangments, timing, structure, and proggressions in this album are absolutely brilliant and sends chills down my spine everytime i listen to it. this score has spawned countless clones and imitations by the likes of composers such as basil poledouris (listen to basil's starship troopers score. nearly all of the cues and progressions from it are ripped straight from The Search For Spock score) among many other composers. if there is one star trek score to buy, this is it.

I remember when I first listened to the score album from "Star Trek II-The Wrath Of Khan", and I wasn't that pleased with its main title, but I was impressed by James Horner's use of percussion in the action parts of his score and touched by the motif for Mr. Spock. In the end, it was a very good soundtrack.
And Horner did it again with "Star Trek III-The Search For Spock". This time the motif for our favorite Vulcan is fully developed in 'Prologue And Main Title'; in fact I honestly prefer this main title to the one from "The Wrath Of Khan".
Even though I found this album to be a bit quieter, I thank God for 'Stealing The Enterprise' because this track contains one of the best pieces of action music I have ever heard with a fantastic use of percussion; I'd like to say that after the main title, this is the highlight of the CD. Another plus is the effective musical progression in 'The Katra Ritual', which leads up to the climax of the film.
The only thing that bothers me a bit is how the track titled 'Klingons' sounds like Horner's own theme for "Wolfen", and that planted a seed in my head regarding his "self-recycling" in his future works.
No matter. In the end, this is another great "Star Trek" album that I have come to appreciate every time I listen to it.

The part of the soundtrack where The Enterprise eludes the Excelsior is truly magnificent, and still, with all the soundtracks released since, is one of my top 5 musical parts in all movies. Few movies, if any, can match that section.

The STAR TREK III soundtrack is, overall, more melancholy in tone than its predecessor; after the title music on the first track ends, listen to the morose fanfare which plays as the wounded Enterprise limps home with most of its surviving crew reassigned, and Spock dead. "Stealing the Enterprise", the exciting scene in which Kirk and company elude the new and faster U.S.S. Excelsior, is simply an unforgettable track. However, I give this only 4 stars because either Paramount or GNP left out at least 2 important pieces of the soundtrack--the Destruction of the Enterprise and Escaping the Genesis Planet scenes. I expect that GNP is at fault; it doesn't seem to me that Paramount would be that sloppy in transferring the entire movie's score onto the soundtrack.

A company by the name of Screen Archives Entertainment just released a 2 CD expanded version of Star Trek III: Search for Spock. You can also obtain it through this seller via Amazon.com. Don't spend nearly $200.00 on a this product when you can have the expanded edition for about $25.00.

[As of now - may 2010 and after - the following review has in part become historic: an expanded, remastered, superior two-disc edition from Film Score Monthly/Screen Archives Entertainment has finally arrived, shipping from june 1st 2010, and as such, this album has become obsolete]

For me, this music is what probably started off my love for Star Trek and also (sci-fi/fantasy) motion picture music soundtracks. In its genre of motion picture music-soundtracks, this must be one of the most fantastically inspiring of all (on par with it's 'companion piece' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). It has a nobilic but heartfelt kind of romantic and mystic quality to it (mirroring the intense Spock-Kirk relationship and the dramatic fate of the Enterprise NCC 1701) that I find very endearing. The soaring and melancholic string melodies - in 'Main Title', 'Returning to Vulcan' and the 'End Titles' really grip my attention, appealling to a simple kind but deeply seated need for pure and simple wonder, however uninspired the ideas behind the music sometimes may be: the presto cascade of sixteenth notes on the violins at the start of 'Stealing the Enterprise' is of course an almost direct quotation from 'The Fight' (Act I, scene 6) from Prokofiev's music for 'Romeo & Juliet'. (It can also be noted here that the music for the moment when the crew watches the burning wreck of Enterprise fall through the atmosphere of the Genesis planet - not included on this album - is a direct quotation from Romeo and Juliet as well, namely from 'Juliet's Death'.) It is interesting to know that the theme-music for Spock, which permeates this whole soundtrack, is also already present in the soundtrack for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, especially noticable in the cue 'Spock', where it speaks with restrained nobility, simply orchestrated with high-pitched electronic effects with accompaniment of wooden flute and harp strummings ...
It must have been about two decades ago that I first heard this music coming out of the speaker of a simple color television on which there was a telecast of the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. As an early teenager I was strangely drawn to this colorful, bold and often deeply sentimental music while in the background, projected on a large, operatic canvas, there were stars and moons and planets and spaceships, and heroic people called (as I learned later) Spock, James T. Kirk, McCoy ... This music just makes the adventures and emotions of these characters seem all the more human.