In the coming weeks, I will be taking a look at each of the scores to the films in the Star Trek franchise. Here, I will talk a bit about the first film, which really set the template for what Trek film music would sound like for more than 35 years.
In 1979, Star Trek, a TV show that had been on the air only for three short seasons yet drew a fan base unequaled for its time through syndication, was reborn as a feature film. While the music written for the series by Alexander Courage, Gerald Fried, Fred Steiner, and others had often been memorable but not what I would call “cinematic.” To bring Trek to the big screen would require the skills of one of the biggest names in film music: Jerry Goldsmith.
Originally, the filmmakers decided on Alexandre Desplat to compose the score for ROGUE ONE; however, owing to the significant number of reshoots that occurred in postproduction, Desplat became unavailable. To replace him, the producers turned to Michael Giacchino, who, in my humble opinion, is one of the hottest composers working in Hollywood. I’ve been a fan of Giacchino’s work ever since his score for THE INCREDIBLES (2004), and he had already made a mark in another iconic science fiction franchise in scoring the recent Star Trek reboot films.