Percussion

"Mission Simulation Fails/Borg Beam to Bridge/Next Time Won't Be Holodeck" by David Bell

By the time season 5 of Star Trek: Voyager came around, several different composers had scored sequences involving the Borg. While the initial scores from Ron Jones had been influential, what seems to have left a more lasting impression is the score to STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT by Jerry and Joel Goldsmith. That score combined effective horror writing covering the body horror aspect of the Borg (amped up with the new makeup effects that would carry on into future Trek shows) and a metallic and driving percussive element that perfectly encapsulate the relentless nature of the collective.

For "Dark Frontier," which is essentially a television movie within season 5, David Bell would return to the Borg having previously scored season 3's "Unity." While the entire score for "Dark Frontier" is a highlight, I'm picking for today's prompt a sequence in the first half that acts almost as a mini-heist movie. The crew is attempting to steal a transwarp coil from a Borg sphere (a plan known as "Operation Fort Knox."). Along the way they encounter Borg drones and the complications of a regenerating ship, and the simulation ends in failure.

In scoring this sequence, Bell uses a battery of percussion including tympani, anvil, and other metallic instruments that increase in tempo and intensity throughout the duration of the cue. The percussion is accompanied by some excellent action writing, including what I can only describe as The David Bell Motif. If you've listened to other Trek scores of his, you'll know what I'm talking about...

It's a fantastically effective cue that constantly ratchets up the tension as it goes, in large part because of its constant driving percussive beat. It's only in the final 30 seconds or so that that tension is finally released as Janeway realizes that they need to figure out an alternate plan if they are to be successful.