Customer Reviews

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

to Jerry Goldsmith's orchestral score for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, the more I've grown to appreciate this marvelous thematic score which had the great misfortune to be attached to one of the weakest of the Original Series films (right behind ST: TMP).

Yet, this score stands out for a couple of my favorite cues. First, there's the beautiful and awe-inspiring "The Mountain" which opens the film. With its richly orchestrated strings and mellow brass notes, this song never fails to give me goosebumps every time I hear it. The effect is further enhanced if you're listening to it when you're driving through a hilly countryside or walking through a forest.

My second favorite cue is "A Busy Man". This cue also hits just the right notes of delight and awe as you listen, and it's interesting to note that this theme is echoed in Goldsmith's score for STAR TREK: NEMESIS. I was also pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear the theme for the Klingons (which I first heard in ST:TMP) reprised once more in the closing credits theme.

Once again, Jerry Goldsmith managed to raise the quality of a somewhat lackluster film (William Shatner's questionable "directing" talent notwithstanding) with a score that's powerful, rousing and filled with the kind of delightful and awe-inspiring music we came to expect from the Maestro.

Jerry Goldsmith gives a fresh adaptation of his themes for the USS Enterprise and the Klingons from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" for this otherwise forgettable "Star Trek" film. These are vivid, compelling arrangements of both themes. Without a doubt, the score for "Star Trek V" is one of the best in the "Star Trek" film series. Unfortunately, it's been overlooked since the film is generally regarded as among the worst. Fans of Goldsmith's film music won't be disappointed with this CD.

Star Trek V may not have been the best of the series, but the fault definitely doesn't lie with the music. Jerry Goldsmith, whose other Star Trek credits include Star Trek I, VIII, IX, and the theme to The Next Generation, is in fine form here. A wonderful grandiose remake of the theme he created for The Motion Picture gets things started, which is accompanied by haunting and atmospheric sweeps like Free Minds, and the first half of The Barrier, along with fast paced action accompaniments like Open The Gates. Besides the theme, I especially like the recurring soft, ambient incidental music heard in A Busy Man and in the second half of The Barrier, which could be heard as Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Sybok traverse the bleak-looking mystical planet Sha-Ka-Ree in search of God. The Moon's A Window To Heaven, sang in the film by Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), was a failed pop song. It sounds a bit out of place with the rest of the soundtrack, but I guess the album wouldn't be complete without it, and it's not so bad. I should also mention the other recurring ST theme featured here: that of probably the most famous Klingon music ever, mainly because it gets used in all of Jerry's soundtracks for the series. All the soundtracks are good, but I've played this one quite a lot. Great for listening to while you're doing whatever at home, and you don't even have to think about how average the film itself was!

Even the film did terrible with the critics, the one sancutary of the film is the brilliant score by Jerry Goldsmith. I searched and hunted for this CD and was well worth the hunt. The only bad part of the CD is the missing enjoyable ques from the movie. Such as when we get to see the new Enterprise in Spacedock and several others. But in all, a great score for the great price!

When I saw Star Trek 5 upon it's initial release in '89,
I saw three different stories attempting to be force-sealed into one:

Sybok's spiritual as well as physical search for God and Sha-Ka-Ree.
Spock's discovery of his long-lost half-brother, Sybock.
Kirk's attitudes towards death, and towards spiritual-healing "tricks".
["Faith-Healers" have never impressed me to begin with.
Give Kirk an "ATTA-BOY!" on that one!]!

[Somebody, in response to Kirk's cry of
"I don't WANT my pain taken away - I NEED my pain!
once made this interesting comment:

"No 'New-Age Easy Answers for Kirk, thank you!'"
I liked that. I'm no fan of New Age thinking myself.]

The new Enterprise-A being full of malfunctions, I felt, detracted from the story, for, in the end, the ship rose to the occasion, and carried crew and guests into danger and back as well as her predecessor had always done.

Roddenberry is said to have deeply felt this film was very apochryphal, and should not be regarded as official Star Trek "canon".

Having said all that, I was deeply moved by Goldsmith's fine compostion
"The Mountain". This piece of music, for me, stands very well
all alone in it's own right, in additon to being a part of this soundtrack.

When I and my wife have vacationed in Oregon, I played this music on our car stereo during one of our drives around Mount Hood, our favourite mountain in all the world. For me, especially, "The Mountain" has become my personal love song to the Pacific Northwest that we love so much.

"The Mountain" raises images and notions of new possiblities, as another reviewer of this CD noted, and it also captures, for me, the great majesty and great splendor that is the American Pacific Northwest.

I was very honored to see this great part of our country finally represented - albeit briefly - in a Star Trek production.

"The Mountain" is a piece of music that could - and should - have been used again in other Star Trek productions which followed ST5.

Goldsmith also brings new fresh excitement to the action sequences and his updated version of the Star Trek - The Motion Picture theme.
Here, the theme is more of an uplifting march.

While "The Mountain" is, for me personally, the highest point of this CD,
the entire collection here rises well above the film itself, and is the movie's saving grace.

By this CD - and go climb a mountain!

This is simply the best Trek soundtrack you can buy. While The Final Frontier was not a stellar movie, the soundtrack makes me like it more than I should. Master composer Jerry Goldsmith made this score, along with The Motion Picture, First Contact, and Insurrection. This is clearly his best work and Trek's best as well. For some reason this CD is the cheapest Trek-movie sountrack, I'd pay a lot more to hear it. Now get your credit card and order this.

Obviously, the producers really wanted Goldsmith's composition to be a true "underscoring" because it could not be appreciated on the screen as it is here on the CD version. Of course, there are some missing cues but the ones featured on this release are still characteristic of the trademark Goldsmith sound: passionate, bombastic, tense, and poignant.

Besides familiar melodies altered significantly from Goldsmith's own music for 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", heard over the opening and end credits, the other highlights include themes made specifically for the film, the best among those are "The Mountain", "The Barrier", "Open the Gates", "An Angry God", and "Free Minds".

Actually, the music is infinitely better than the film but that's the mark of the late composer who managed to elevate even the most mundane of scripts to something special.

Thankfully, his music will "live long and prosper".

I must confess that a good soundtrack sometimes can be equated to a good symphony from the 17th or 18th century. This one truly is one of those. Everytime you listen it feels like another melody you haven't noticed during your last listen is being unveiled.

Goldsmith was truly a "composer" in the highest order. I am certain that this music will be just as well liked and enjoyed a few hundred years from now!

Star Trek V may not have been that great of a movie, but the soundtrack is what saves it. Jerry Goldsmith returned, having done Star Trek TMP, and recycled its music for The Final Frontier. All the music was wonderfully done, with the exception of "The Moon...". The Main Title returns and the Klingon music is expanded. Personally I believe that Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner did the best of all Star Trek composers. Why? Because they successfully recycled music from their first movies into their second ones. Upon hearing the Main Title again, one wishes that Star Trek was more consistant with its themes. (In the first six movies, they've basically had four different themes.) The music of Star Trek V gives the movie series some continuity. The weakness of this cd, as with the other movies is that not all the music was included! Despite it being incomplete, this is a great album for any collection. All Star Trek music is good, but I think (as others have stated) Star Trek V marks the last of the great Star Trek compositions.

If you have seen Star Trek V then you will know that it is by no means the most popular one of the series but I would argue that the accompanying soundtrack is one of the most superior compostions to be associated with "the Franchise". Jerry Goldsmith outdoes himself yet again with a fantastic score which deserved a better showcase. The track "Angry God", being one of my favorites, starts out serenely as Kirk an Co.walk across the plains of a seemingly deserted planet. After a few minutes the music blasts at you as "God"(!?) appears before our heroes. The tone changes then to one of spirituality as it attempts to convey the supposed holiness of the being that we are witnessing. Then a clue comes in as the music becomes slightly lower in tone and a bit more conspiritorial and we begin to see that our "God" is not all he appears to be. A confrontation ensues and the music reflects the action depicted on the screen effectivly enough to, at certain points, divert your attention from the film you are watching and make you pay attention to the music on it's own. A superior soundtrack with little room for improvement.