Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Nemesis

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jerry Goldsmith returns to Trek for yet another spectacular soundtrack release. The score is haunting and atmospheric, mixing in classic Trek themes (two especially recognisable in the tracks "Repairs" and "The Scorpion) with new ideas and themes.

This is the best Trek soundtrack I've heard in a long time, it's sweeping and melodic, and has so many little winks at the audience from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the little "Enterprise theme" moments that everyone recognises from Trek) right up to First Contact (listen to "My Right Arm") that are just awesome. The Main Title is surprisingly short and very unexpected. Normally, the film opens straight out with the little Trek fanfare, but Goldsmith plays with our expectations, cutting it right down to only a few seconds before delving back into the mysterious "Remus" track. The End Title is much as expectations, but that little snippet of "Blue Skies" leading us in is nothing short of genius. This is my second favourite track on the album (my favourite being "My Right Arm"), and it perfectly mixes the traditional Trek themes with the new, more mature and disturbing Nemesis themes.

After the slight disappointment that was the "Enterprise" score release, the Trek soundtracks have a new hero. I would place this joint second in my favourites, next to First Contact, and right behind Wrath of Khan.

Upon hearing that Jerry Goldsmith was to score the latest installment in the never ending Star Trek movie franchise, I was skeptical because the quality of his scores have gone down significally in the past few years.
However, I'm delighted to say that the old mans still got it in him... this soundtrack is truly amazing.

Right from the start, we are greeted with the traditional Star Trek fanfare but the music then evolves into a militeristic tone to reflect the dark Reman homeworld and Romulus. Once the very short theme is over the soundtrack just keeps on evolving, first we get "The Box" which uses some unique melody's, then My Right Arm plays the well known "Picard Theme" which was first heard in First Contact.
The next few tracks are generally quiet, except for Odds and Ends, which treats us to a truly unique peice - a mixture of Dr Who style synthesized effects, and Insurrection Action theme.

Once we reach track 8, this is where the fun begins. Goldsmith incorporates everything that made, The Motion Picture, The Final Frontier and First Contact great scores and makes them even better by inserting the very dark and heavy "Reman" theme. This continues right up until Final Flight (The grand action finale so to speak).. but before this grand finale, Goldsmith shows more of his unique abilities by mixing action music with an almost "Asian/Indian" musical sound.

The End credits have the usual TNG fanfare, but we are then greeted with a new peice of music which is very emotional! (Be Warned).

This is worth every penny!, and I highly reccomend it. As this is the best Trek score since Star Trek V.

Jerry Goldsmith has now scored exactly half of the Star Trek films and each one is a treasure in itself. His latest effort, "Nemesis," builds nicely on themes established in "The Motion Picture," "The Final Frontier," "First Contact," and "Insurrection" and blends them into a dark and driving original score. I can not wait to hear how this score plays in the theatre.

Goldsmith sets the audience up for a different listening experience in the first track by cleverly cutting off his familar arrangement of Alexander Courage's fanfare with the heavy "Remus" theme. Many of the tracks contain an almost military pulse to them (Think "Empire Strikes Back"), but there's also plenty of reflective sentiment here. Just listen to the tracks "My Right Arm," "Repairs," "Ideals" or "A New Friend." The classic main theme makes quite a few appearences, always a welcome touch.

A nice highlight of the score is that Goldsmith has at long last managed to combine the orchesteral and electronic elements so that the electronic pulses don't overpower (As in "The Motion Picture") or seem out of place (As in "Insurrection"). Though the earlier tracks make the most use of the electronic instruments, the delicate balance is maintained throughout. Goldsmith seamlessly weaves the different sounds. The real treat of the album is the final track, "A New Ending." Begining with a lovely and simple qoute from Irving Berlin's famous "Blue Skies," a very traditonal orchestration of the main theme then bookends probably the best piece of music on the album. It is a beautiful new piece that closes the album nicely with a great sense of dignity...and perhaps (sadly) finality.

If the album has any weakness it is that, like "Insurrection" before it, it is too brief. Though totally enjoyable as it is, I would have like to hear more of the lighter music. Only "My Right Arm" is a totaly quiet piece, but it's brief and is a reintroduction of a theme first established in "The Final Frontier." Still, if this turns out to be the last journey of the Next Generation crew, then Goldsmith has sent them out in stlye. However, if there are more journies to be had, I hope that Jerry Goldsmith goes along with them.

This was Jerry Goldsmith's last soundtrack before he passed away.
It's a shame, he brought Star Trek to life through music. All us Trekkers will remember him.

I think he did a marvelous job of making the atmosphere of the soundtrack darker and more haunting and still retains that "Star Trek sound." There are action sequences like "Lateral Run" and "The Scorpion." There are also some touching pieces reflecting back on Data's herioc sacrifice. "A New Ending" and "A New Friend" are perfect examples of Data's last moments.

I was shocked that the producers didn't put in Data's rendition of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies!" I never knew Brent Spiner could sing that well............

Listen to this soundtrack and let it take you back to the world of Star Trek.

Jerry Goldsmith is a master composer. There are few people who will disagree with that assessment, but something about the tenth (and final?) "Star Trek" movie has inspired him to new heights. From the opening moments of the spectacularly pulse-pounding "Remus" -- one of the best pieces of music written for a "Star Trek" movie -- to the awesome "Engage" and finally "A New Ending," the grand conclusion to a terrific soundtrack. There isn't one misstep in this collection. If accompanied by a better movie this score gets an Oscar nomination hands down.

This is one of the best Star Trek soundtracks to be written - Although Goldsmith did well on the First Contact and Insurrection, I found them to be a bit...soft compared to the intensity of the movie, especially in Insurrection. However, this time, all the sadness, grief, pain, and raw emotion that we saw in Nemesis is in the score - The opening sequence is much more driving than in the previous two movies, and the 5 note oboe motif used throughout the film is simple, yet strikingly sad and beautiful.

All in all, I think this is the 3rd best Star Trek soundtrack, with Generations being the best, followed by the Wrath of Kahn. The Motion Picture soundtrack, while classic, was ...too much, really - the music just didn't fit the mood quite right (although we did hear the now-Next Generation theme for the first time).

What this Nemesis soundtrack did was the same thing Generations and Wrath of Kahn did - They were completely independent scores (much like the great Voyage Home score)...The themes and ideas of these 4 scores were very original too the film, and didn't rely too much on past material - That is a difficult thing to do in a Star Trek movie, but it was masterfully done in this film.

The main character of "Star Trek:Nemesis" is the score by Jerrald (Jerry) Goldsmith, who has composed over 200 films and for the small screen close to half a century of dedicated film scoring. For Paramount Pictures and the tenth film of the successful Star Trek series, director Stuart Baird takes the cast and crew Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Deanna Troi (Marnina Sirtis), Data (Brent Spiner), Geordi La Forge (Lemar Burton) and Worf (Michael Dorn) enroute to the wedding of Deanna and Riker they encounter another source of what might be another Data. All cane breaks loose for the U.S.S. Enterprise, can someone save the Starship and crew...not to mention the long running Star Trek franchise. Well, I believe our composer has the situation well in hand...beam up Jerry Goldsmith and let him have at it.

Goldsmith takes many liberty's and they pay off with "ODDS AND ENDS", entertaining and tightly performed with sinister counterpoints. With the cue "THE MIRROR", arrangement is suspenseful blending incarnation of each character to another level, strings echo while the orchestra responds admirably. The tenth track"LATERAL RUN", opens with a theme similar to "native American" music or a "grand scale Western", heavy on percussion and wind instruments take center stage, dark clouds of brass surface. "FINAL FLIGHT", orchestration abounds with strings and brass coming to the hilt of each melodic note, percussion blends brass and strings running the scales, quite impressive...but would you expect less from our legendary composer. The last cue "A NEW ENDING", includes a few notes from "Blue Skies", the Irving Berlin tune and then Goldsmith brings the entire ensemble to the bridge for an all out celebration. Over forty-eight minutes of "Pure Goldsmith" ~ ably demonstrating that you only get better with age.

Total Time: 48:31 on 14 Tracks ~ Varese Records 302-066-412-2 ~ (11/26/2002)

I've been a fan of Jerry Goldsmith and his music for close to 30 years, and any new soundtrack of his is a welcome treat, so when I heard he'd composed the score for "Nemesis", I was intrigued by what it would sound like, and how it would sound.

I wasn't disappointed by Goldsmith's score, even though when I first heard "Remus" (the opening title), I was a bit surprised that I didn't hear the full "Star Trek" theme that I'd heard in the soundtracks for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", Star Trek V, 'First Contact", or "Insurrection".

However, I realized that in keeping with the very dark storyline of 'Nemesis', a full overture in the opening credits wasn't appropriate, and to have just part of the "Star Trek" theme in the opening credits was fine.

There were plenty of electronics in the score, but they didn't overwhelm the purely orchestral segments of the score. I'm always amazed by Goldsmith's skill in keeping these various parts of the score in proper balance, and the score set the mood and the tone of the film quite well. In a way, this score had a "classical" sound to it, and this also fit the extremely dark mood of the film.

The quality of sound on the CD is excellent; with the bass and treble set just right in order for you to get the full range of the music. Another reviewer mention that he felt that the 'Nemesis' score was 'lackluster', but considering the fact that Star Trek producer Rick Berman often feels that music is an 'afterthought' in storytelling, I give Jerry Goldsmith credit for doing his best to create a moody, evocative, atmospheric score in a creative climate which may have been less than accommodating.

The fact is simple. Jerry Goldsmith would not have been given so many "Star Trek" assignments if he contributed nothing-- and if he contributed nothing new or innovative-- every time. That said, I don't understand the mixed reviews of his "Nemesis," arguably his final masterpiece ("Looney Tunes Back in Action" and "Sum of All Fears" notwithstanding). Then again, I don't understand the mixed reviews of the movie. Laugh if you will, but I grew up with these characters, and seeing this final adventure of theirs, so different from their other big-screen and small-screen missions, really affected me, thanks in no small part to the music. 23 years after he began his iconic association with the franchise, Goldsmith bade farewell forever to it with a dark, intense, brooding, but also furious and driving as well as emotionally compelling, masterwork that takes some of his familiar material and takes it for one final spin in the midst of new thematic material that is as potent and well-crafted as some of his true greats. The two best cues on this album are "A New Ending"-- which begins with a few notes of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" as a tribute to amateur crooner Data (bear with it) before segueing into a reworked version of his traditional, but always engaging "End Title," featuring the Next Generation theme bookending a truly stunning and sad original composition that wraps the entire franchise up in a bittersweet, but ultimately triumphant, bow-- and the climactic "Final Flight," the most emotionally resonant action cue ever written. No matter how well Giacchino and any subsequent composers handle the worlds of Roddenberry, no one will ever be able to do it as masterfully as Goldsmith. "Nemesis" is a sometimes blunt, but always thrilling, reminder of that legacy.

I love Jerry Goldsmith. While darker than almost all of the other soundtracks (and certainly-thankfully- not as proselytizing and moody as Jim Horner's ST3), I find this one to be as rich as any others with a more percussive tone to it.

My love for this aside, my only complaint is that there is quite a bit more in the way of music from the movie that did NOT make it onto the CD. The entire battle scene from the point of "Stellar Cartography" to the point where the pathetic Romulan warbirds get toasted in about 14 seconds - none of that is on the cd, and it would have been really nice if it was. Cliff Eidelmann's Star Trek 6 soundtrack was a little drawn out for some, but it was a largely complete soundtrack. Us Trekker music buffs really would have appreciated more of the meaty music, not selected excerpts.