Star Trek Musical Scores and Sound Design

Hey guys, what's going on? You're listening to

Future Imperfect, brought to you by SFI .org

Starfleet, the world's largest online Star Trek

fan club. I'm one of your hosts, Mike the Birdman

Daw, but I'm not alone. I'm joined with the co

-creator of the GeekCast Radio Network. Steve

Megatron Phillips and yes guys we are back we

are sorry we did not have three shows in February

we decided no matter what we're only gonna have

two shows a month so we have more time to soak

up some Trek I actually haven't had a chance

to watch a lot of Trek over the last little while

I was going through DS 9 I just started season

3 where they get the Defiant the war with the

Dominion is just starting and Captain Cisco is

Captain Crazy I really like him Nice. Yeah, I

love that time period. It's you know what I didn't

give DS 9 a fair shake when when I was younger

I thought it was very boring But now that I watch

it because I have grown up and I have gone to

film school and all that stuff I get the idea

of character development and plot progression.

I Really really enjoy that show. In fact quark

is one of my favorite characters. I love Kira

and loves Cisco. He's pretty friggin amazing.

Yeah. I had the same thoughts of it growing up

too. That was not one of my favorites until recent.

Yeah. Basically once you grow up, you turn off

the stupid switch or hopefully that's what we

Presumed to yes. Yeah, so we move forward anyway

guys. We have a lot of housekeeping announcements

to do for the show We're also introducing a new

segment to the show We're calling from the replicator

and that's coming to us from our good friends

over at think geek Dot -com a fair maker of a

fair number of Star Trek memorabilia So we'll

be covering that also we have the continuation

of L cars Which will be brought to you each and

every time by Steve Megatron Phillips as you

look at a different object person place thing

or idea in the Star Trek universe, but one of

the things I have to talk about is we have chosen

a winner in our Klingon Monopoly contest. I'll

also be sending you a copy of the Star Trek The

Next Generation Blu -ray The Next Level. That

should be going out in the mail in the next week

or so, so be watching for that. The winner was...

was Ben from Connecticut. And I unfortunately

couldn't get a Klingon translation for this in

time. I guess the guy who responded to me on

Twitter just couldn't get back to me. So for

whatever reason, we do apologize. But here was

his winning entry, which definitely suits me

and Steve because we are both huge nerds. No

foe, no matter how great or small, shall deny

me my honor or my high score. For it was we,

the sons of Caelus, who truly created the craft

of war. I was soaked in rapture, not with water

but with the blood of my slain foes. I stomped

upon robotnik and freed his creatures only to

make fresh gah. I needed no master sword to defeat

my enemies, only my batleth at my side. I mounted

Riley's violent carcass on the wall in my great

hall. I drank blood wine at a Bowser's shell,

for there There is no hero who can challenge

a true warrior's might, not plumber, bounty hunter,

master chief, or dark knight. I've got an extra

life and today is a good day to die." That was

really, really well written, I thought actually.

Yeah, and we received a number of entries into

this contest So thank you to the like 50 or so

entries that we got for this. We definitely appreciate

it I am gonna work on getting more stuff from

think geek and other Star Trek people if I can

get you guys Some cool prop replicas. We will

be doing that as well Actually, we have an interview

with one of the really cool prop guys who built

my Star Trek nemesis phaser Scott from escape

studios. He'll be on the show later on in the

month for little bit discussion what it takes

to get involved into the Star Trek costuming

community, but anyway guys, so we're going to

take a small break here and what we do today's

show, we're going to be looking at the music

of Star Trek, looking at all the composers from

Jay Chadway, Jerry Goldsmith, That James Horner,

he did the score for Aliens, love that movie,

and a whole lot more. And even the Star Trek

punk band you may have never heard of, but trust

me, you're going to want to check them out. So

here is our first segment of L Cars on John Delancey.

We'll be back guys right after this. This computer

terminal provides full access to the L Cars computer

net. It can be operated both by voice and keypad

commands. INITIATING UPDATE Welcome back to L

-Cars. In this edition, I'll be talking about

one of my favorite subjects, Q. Q is a highly

powerful entity from a race of omnipotent, god

-like beings also known as the Q. The Q appeared

to the crews of several Starfleet vessels and

outposts during the 2360s and 2370s. All Starfleet

personnel of command status are briefed on its

existence. He typically appears as a humanoid

male, though he can also change shape into other

things as well, but he almost always is dressed

in the uniform of a Starfleet captain. In every

appearance he demonstrated superior capabilities,

but also a mindset that seemed quite unlike what

Federation scientists expect for a powerful being.

He's also been described in turn as obnoxious,

interfering, and a pest by Captain Picard. However,

underneath his crazy attitude, there seems to

be a hidden agenda to cue visits that, often

times, had the best interests of humanity at

their core. He was first encountered by the Federation

when he appeared aboard the USS Enterprise D

in the early 2364 during the encounter at Firepoint

Mission. He warned the crew of the Enterprise

that humanity should return to their home star

system or be destroyed. When he encountered resistance,

he placed humanity on trial with Captain Picard

and his crew as representatives. He accused humanity

of being a dangerous, savage, child -like race.

Picard managed to strike a deal with Q, however,

and submitted to a test of conduct to prove that

humanity had evolved beyond its previously savage

state. Q was played by none other than... the

actor John Delancey. The name Q was chosen by

Jean Roddenberry in honor of an English Star

Trek fan, Janet Corton. She was the first president

of the UK Star Trek fan club and Jean, and many

others, spent time at her home in the Scottish

Highlands. So that's where that came from. In

2002, Q placed 11th in TV Zone's list of the

Top 20 Sci -Fi Television Villains, along with

several other Star Trek characters. The Borg

Queen was 2nd, Dukat was 4th, Wan was 8th, and

Seska was 19th. Along with Cork, Morn, Brooke,

and Evick, he is one of the only five characters

to appear in all three Star Trek series based

in the 24th century. of the twelve Trek episodes,

featuring Q, eight of them use the letter Q in

the title, often forming a pun. In all of Star

Trek, there are only seven Q ever seen on screen.

Q is the first character to ever use the word

Trek in a Star Trek film or episode. That does

it for this edition of Elcarce. Now, back to

the show. In any case, see you. Please confirm

deactivation request the activation complete

now disconnected from this terminal and We're

back with future imperfect. I I just personally

I thought that that was Nice touch having just

come off the high of interviewing John Delancey

over on geek cast radio You know I gotta say

he's a fairly interesting fellow And I've seen

a couple of his interviews, and I've even seen

some of the stuff that that like he's done recently

I've actually just finished watching AMC's Breaking

Bad, and I thought it was really cool how he

played the airline the airline traffic controller

who was Jesse's girlfriend's dad in that thought

that was it was a small performance but very

very very powerful when he was playing opposite

of brian cranston for that show actually i think

i for some reason i want to say he was mentioned

for some kind of an award for that appearance

but i'm not 100 sure of that so john dilancy

you are awesome you always will be q in fact

i still wouldn't screw with you because i don't

know whether the fact that you may or may not

have powers like he said in that interview one

day Yeah, exactly. You just don't know. So if

you want to check out the interview that Steve

did with Mr. Delancey, check out the link below

and follow that over. One of the other things

that we are going to talk about here before we

hit our main topic today of the Star Trek music

and the composers and whatnot, is I got talking

to our friends over at thinkgeek .com, as I mentioned

off the top of the show, and they have a number

of Star Trek themed products. So my goal to you,

the listeners, is to educate you and to see what

is worth your hard -earned goal. press latinum,

and to see if you want to check out, could it

be a replica phaser, could it be, I don't know,

just anything from Star Trek brought to you by

ThinkGeek .com. The thing we're going to look

at is something that I've seen a fair number

of my nerdy friends get for their weddings. We're

going to take a look at the Star Trek pizza cutter.

of all things. And when we come back, well, we

will talk about Star Trek, the music, the legacy,

the good, the bad, and the just plain friggin'

weird. We'll be back, guys, right here on Future

Imperfect, brought to you by SFI .org. Starfleet,

the world's largest Star Trek online fan club.

We'll be back, guys, right after this. Greetings,

my fellow Starfleet officers, and this is...

from the replicator brought to you by think geek

dot com in today's well first replicator ration

we're taking a look at the star trek enterprise

pizza cutter available exclusively from think

geek dot com i gotta say this is one thing i

never thought i'd actually see the nc1 701 used

as a pizza cutter it's kind of weird but it's

oddly functional. This is actually an officially

licensed Star Trek collectible out there, and

if you're like me, and you enjoy pizza, and I

can't think of anybody who does, if they do...

They're probably a Tao Shi 'ar agent, you shouldn't

trust them in the first place. This thing has

a blade diameter of about 4 inches, and the total

length, including the blade, is about 8 .5 inches.

Now, this thing comes in a box, which basically

looks like the Enterprise. It's held in by foam,

and when you take it out, it's actually fairly

sturdy and fairly solid. Now, I've had mixed

results with this pizza cutter. I actually used

this to cut a... of pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday

and met with mixed results. And I don't think

it's the pizza cutter's fault so much as it was

the pie that I was cutting. Now for best results.

with this pizza cutter, you want to cut something

that's thin crust and something that's also fairly

crispy. I found on more doughier crust, stuff

you might find from, say, Domino's or Papa John's,

it's not necessarily gonna cut so well. But if

you cut something like Pizza Hut where you can

get the thin, crispy stuff, it does cut remarkably

well, rather. So I wouldn't recommend this thing

so much for deep dish stuff, but... Anything

that you get from the grocery store That's thin

crust will easily cut through this thing and

clean up on this thing is fairly easy. Although

I gotta say it's kind of hard to Want to use

this thing as a pizza cutter because it is so

nice. It is such a quirky gift that I don't know

it's it's going to ultimately be your call whether

you want to use this as a functional pizza cutter

around the house or one of those really cool

kitsch gifts that you say hey guys check this

out but then again you're talking to the same

person who has a Tardis cookie jar and a mr.

Spock Cookie jar, which he uses to store those

little current coffee cups in his house So can

I recommend the Star Trek Enterprise pizza cutter?

Like I said, your mileage is gonna vary. I think

if you want to use this as a kitsch I think it's

wonderful as a pizza cutter Well, like I said,

it's going to vastly depend on the type of pies

you intend to be cutting, and I speak from experience

as I have worked in several pizza places myself.

This thing retails for about $29 .99, and you

can find this exclusively over at thinkgeek .com.

Well, guys, this has been Birdman for From the

Replicator, now back to Future Imperfect, exclusively

on... ThisWeekendGeek .net brought to you by

SFI .org Starfleet, the largest Star Trek fan

club. And we're back. And yes, we're going to

talk of the composers of Star Trek, which, surprisingly,

there's only 34 to. Which is weird because when

you consider how many hundreds of hours of Star

Trek music that is actually out there I'm surprised

the list is remarkably small All things considered

now the composers that I'm most Familiar with

is Jay Chataway who did a vast majority music

for Star Trek Voyager Which is where I'm basically

like like my experience with the music for Star

Trek comes out of the next generation movies,

which was Dennis McCarthy and Jerry Goldsmith,

and then Voyager. I'm just getting into the DS9

stuff, and I know there's a singer on there.

There's a character called Vic Fontaine who sings,

who's very awesome, because I have seen a few

- episodes out of order where he's focused in

them. And one of the things I realized while

listening to the music of Star Trek, while some

of it does sound very generic -y sci -fi, there

are some really good pieces in there, and most

notably out of the latest Star Trek Blu -ray

release, the next level, which was The Sampler,

there's an episode called Inner Light, and that

has, it's basically known in Star Trek circles

as the flute episode, where Captain Picard experiences

a lifetime of memories from one guy, and he learns

how to play this alien flute thing. And if you

go and listen to music from the Star Trek franchise,

there is an 11 -minute orchestral piece of this

particular suite out there available, and it's

a wonderfully haunting piece, actually, I find.

And there is another piece, it was from an episode

of Star Trek Voyager. where the Doctor creates

a holographic family. This was in, I think, the

second or third season, I'm pretty sure it was

the third season, where the Doctor wants to expand

his holographic routines to improve his bedside

manner, to understand what it means to connect

with humanity, as you will, which is what the

character's progression was. And there's this,

the part of the episode that really gets me is

the Doctor's fake daughter. was hurt playing

Parisi Squares or something. She fell, which

I don't even know what the hell that game is.

I don't know, they always talk about it, but

I don't think I've ever, no, I think I've seen

it played once or twice. Anyway, and she falls

on the court and hits her head, and something

goes wrong, and the doctor has to come to her

side and save her, but the program was altered

by Balana. to teach him humility, to understand

there are some things you just can't fix. And

she asks the daughter says, Daddy, am I going

to die? and the doctor looks down at her and

says, yes, I'm afraid so. There's nothing I can

do. And just listen to the music in that particular

scene. And it's actually really, really powerful.

And it's one of the few pieces of television

music that has actually got me to get that emotional

response. The only other two series I can think

of that have even come close to that is Bear

McCreary's Battlestar Galactica soundtrack and

Sean Callery from 24, specifically in the fifth

season, where Lin... I can't remember the character's

last name, dies in the fifth season. By the way,

if that's a spoiler, I'm sorry, you've had five

years, bite my ass. Nice. Yeah. So, you know,

Star Trek has this wonderful legacy of music.

So, Steve, where do you start with the music

from this groundbreaking sci -fi franchise? Mostly

I'm familiar with, I mean, some of the original

series, well, yes, it is familiar. I couldn't

really pick it out, whereas if I had heard anything

from TNG or the TNG movies or any, hell, any

of the Star Trek movies, I can sit there and

I can tell you pretty much what movie it came

from just because I used to watch those movies

so much I killed my VHS tapes. 10 Geek Points

if you know what a VHS is. Or if you've actually

ever used one. Yes. A big box one, especially

if you had a top loading VCR extra points. Nice.

But yeah, I mean, I I'm very familiar with Jerry

Goldsmith stuff. Dennis McCarthy. There's there's

a few others in there that I didn't realize had

done some other works that I liked, for instance,

Jerry Goldsmith's son, Joel Goldsmith. Like,

he did First Contact and some Voyager work. And

one of the other ones that I'm really, really

familiar with is Star Trek 6, The Undiscovered

Country, and it was Cliff Eitelman who did a

lot of the... composition for that film and I

just I love that film with a passion so even

the music in it is just I can tell you based

on the music where it's at in the film one of

the things I think that's very unique about Star

Trek scores more so than outside of maybe Star

Wars films, is it matches the tempo of what you're

seeing on screen. I mean, John Williams, for

example, has a very distinctive sound. You know

it's a John Williams score when you hear it.

When you hear some of the stuff in Star Trek,

because there have been so many different composers,

but it fits each film. And the one specifically

that jumps out to me is one of my favorite composers,

James Horner. And I know him from composing,

I think he got nominated for an Oscar, actually,

for the score for Aliens in 1986. or 87 I think

it was, and the first movie he did was Star Trek

2 The Wrath of Khan. The one particular piece

of music that I always remember is where the

Enterprise is approaching the Reliance and they

don't know the cons on board. You just hear this

creeping score this You know, it's almost it's

almost like Jaws, but it's it's way better Yeah,

it's it's like a sci -fi Jaws and then when con

goes fire and then the enterprises Explodes and

like, you know explosions and everything that

that realized that was kind of really cheesy

But you know what? I mean the tempo of the action

just picks right up and just rolls with it and

everything else about that movie when you company

with the score and the sound design. That's why

I think it's the best Star Trek movie out there,

because every element works together. It's a

series of gears working in unison to perform

one wonderfully unified piece. Yeah, I can agree.

It just it makes for a much richer. product in

the end. Yeah and it's weird though to look back

and a lot of people like I said throw off Star

Trek movies because oh well they're just a sci

-fi thing. For example my wife hates Star Trek

yet loves music. I just don't know where the

fact she would get some of these scores like

for example Jerry Smith wrote the music for Star

Trek the motion picture. He also did work for

Voyager, Final Frontier, he did First Contact,

Insurrection, and Nemesis before his death in

2004. And he used an experimental instrument

called the blaster beam, which is this huge metal

tube that has high tension strings stuck inside

of it, and they use electric guitar pickups.

So you pluck a string and you get Basically,

it's the Veger sound or to maybe put a different

spin on it very think of this idea If any of

you guys are out there playing Mass Effect 3

right now think of the Reaper sound that Is very

electronic Almost a horn meets guitar. I don't

know how else to describe it to you, but If Star

Trek the motion picture did anything right? It

was probably the music, because that movie...

sucks. There's no other way to say it. The first

one sucks. Um, but at least I kind of felt it

set the remanent or set the kind of the standard

for what the Star Trek movies would be. They

always would have a score that would accompany

the action on screen. Like I said, I think the

score for that movie is better than the actual

movie itself. And if you actually go back and

get the soundtrack, there actually is a documentary,

uh, which is a, which is called Inside Star Trek.

And it's a spoken word, uh, thing. And I think

it's maybe like an hour. or more uh it's like

i think like 18 tracks and it's like everybody

on the cast talking and it doesn't suck um other

um Other notable soundtracks to include, once

again, James Horner, he decided to not bother

to come back for Star Trek for the Voyage Home,

which was the most successful of the original

movies before, I think it was First Contact,

I still think it's the most successful of the

Star Trek films outside of maybe the new one.

Um and I remember this because star trek 4 takes

place in the 80s It has that was such a great

film though It really was because it set the

tone where you don't have to be a super nerd

to know what a Vulcan is or an Andorian or what

you know a disruptor pistol is It's a movie that

everybody could approach I think with minimal

explanation And it was a movie we actually covered

on this week in geek a couple years ago for a

dvd commentary In fact, we've only ever done

two Star Trek commentaries. We did Voyage Home

and First Contact. I really should go back and

do the original movies and maybe the new one.

Rosenman, and I'm not too familiar with a lot

of his work. Now, although I have seen the Ralph

Baskie Lord of the Rings movie, which is weird,

but I remember Voyage Home specifically, the

fact that it had a score that it channeled the

future, yet channeled the 80s at the same time.

And because I think now wasn't Voyage Home 1

directed by Nimoy? Yes, the Star Trek 3 and 4

were both Nimoy's direction. Now, pay attention

to those movies in terms of what sound design

is, and just see how they stack up to other ones.

Now, I'm reading a lot of this off of Wikipedia,

but because I have a background in sound design,

just watch those two movies back to back and

listen. Specifically, if you have the Paramount

Blu -ray set, because I think it's mixed in 5

.1 for that. If you have a really good surround

sound system, just... everything, once again,

works together. And like I said, I think that's

what Star Trek, at least to me in terms of sound,

means. The sound designers really care how to

convey that sound of the future, how to convey

that sound of emotion, but also give you a little

bit of sense of fun. Because I remember most

notably when Kirk and Spock are on the bus in

that one, and there's that punk gun. He cranks

it up, and Spock does the nerve pinch, the guy

passes out. There's just... There's just this

little musical, just listen very, very, very

closely. There's something there. And then the

crowd's like, yeah, you kicked his ass or whatever.

And double dumb ass on you. That was such a good

scene though, in that film. That was. And like

I said, score underappreciated for that one.

One thing we're actually not talking about, because

you know what, I don't have a lot of experience

with it, and I feel really bad as a Trekkie saying

that, is the original series itself. And turns

out the guy that wrote that also did music for

From Here to Eternity, which is like a big movie

from the golden era of movies before, you know,

we started having Shia LaBeouf and Hilary Duff

in movies. Man, you know, that's something I

always talk about, too, if you look at the direction

of filmmaking over the last 40 years, but...

That's a different topic for a different day,

kids. Oh, yes. It was Fred Steiner, though, I

believe, that did the majority of the original

series scores for the episodes. But there's something

about all those things that I really like in

the original series. I think it was was it Alexander

Courage? Was it for that? I believe he did some

of it. He didn't do all of it though. I mean

he started out with George Dunning. That's it

George Dunning And he was actually nominated

for certain things. I mean, I imagine Steve you've

probably heard of movies from here to Eternity

and all the Kings men and stuff like that, right?

Yes Yeah, he's done music for those and I think

that's pretty cool to even be nominated for an

award and that's something too I mean sure John

Williams has been nominated but He's done all

the Star Wars movies, but I like the fact that

there's almost, like I said, there's a sense

of consistency yet uniqueness among the Star

Trek films. Now the score that I know the best

out of everything Star Trek wise is First Contact.

There are so many great moments that so many

great pieces of sound design in that like the

Borg attack on earth with that huge swell of

brass instruments and just when you hear the

Enterprise swoop in it's like And then you just

Like I think it's probably the blaster beam sound

again in there probably or when they're fighting

the Borg cube just above earth or When the Borg

Queen is trying to seduce data There's just so

many little musical pieces in there that I think

really work together as a fantastical. And I

think it's probably the... I really think, I

really do, it may be the second or strongest

score in the series. And I think my answer for

the first one is actually probably going to surprise

you, Steve. What about you? What do you think

is the first or second best score amongst the

Star Trek movies or... Yeah, yeah, let's go with

movies and then we'll focus on the television

stuff. As far as the films, while I do like some

of what came out of the motion picture, I mean

I'm not particularly fond of that film. I do

know that the score of it was instrumental and

being adapted for the next generation. So if

that wasn't reinvented by Jerry Goldsmith to

begin with, we probably wouldn't have the modernized

theme song of Star Trek today. And I like what

he did with it. I can't say that it's my favorite

score overall out of the films. One of the things

I discovered while I was doing research for this

show, because I downloaded like 10 albums of

Star Trek stuff, something like nine hours worth

of music, and believe me, it eventually all starts

to blend together at some point. Oh yeah, it

does. But there was one score that stood out

to me. and this surprised me and he's a guy who

works most often with uh... jay jay was guided

clover fielded at alias and the big star trek

movie a couple years ago michael jake tried to

do it do you know how to pronounce his name just

saw no or jake you know what let's call him that

on it's jack keno jake you know there you go

i'm never say that again i was gonna call my

key i i thought the pronunciation renege's name

Shut up, Steve. But yeah, he's done music for

Call of Duty. He's done music for The Incredibles,

you know, Star Trek, Super 8, whatever. Mission

Impossible 3. And the thing I liked about his

score is it seems... I'm trying to find the right

words to describe it. There's something, I like

how he harkens back to, like, if you listen to

the end credits of the new Star Trek theme, you

can hear the Star Trek march in there. Oh yeah,

but I love the new rendition of it. It just,

it gives it a modern feel, whereas the old ones,

you can tell that it's dated with, like, 80s

synth. Yeah, this one, it comes alive in a way

that... I don't think he I don't know if that's

what he necessarily intended and he has a wonderful

villain score for Nero. Oh, yeah. Anytime Nero

or the Narada is on screen. Just listen to that.

And it's just real dark. Yeah, it's dark. It's

brooding. It's moody with just a little bit of

hint of sadness in there. And I think because

the Narada is captured Romulan and Borg technology.

I think you can hear little bits of the Borg

theme in there. Just a little bit, just enough

if you know what you're looking for, you know

it's there. Now we're going to go back and rewatch

that and try and listen for it. But I kind of

vaguely, vaguely remember hearing some element

of it though. Yeah, because it's got that weird

or it's that dark brass feeling is probably the

only way I could probably accurately describe

that too. And plus just hearing all the Heroic

action scenes and that the stuff on the snow

planet and especially where they lead up to rescuing

cap Captain pike or when they're falling on the

the giant sky drill thing There's like I said,

there's some great music in there And like I

said, I like I think that one if any if you were

to download any two soundtracks from the entirety

of the movies I would recommend and this is hard

to say because I really like wrath of Khan I

don't know, I might say Wrath of Khan, and I

probably would say Star Trek 2009, and it sucks

to leave out First Contact, but the reason I

say Khan is because I think it conveys more emotion

from the original cast when you watch it. Like

I said, just go back and listen to just the score

itself, and if you know the movie Off by Heart,

you know what beats are coming. You can almost

hear the words in your mind playing out as the

music goes with it. And plus, you know, where

Spock sacrifices himself, you know, that's a

sad part, too. So that's what I think in terms

of the film. So, Steve, what about you? If you

could recommend just two soundtracks, upon what

merits would you base them on? First of all,

I'd have to agree with you on the 2009 track.

That film in its entirety, I loved every aspect

of it. So that one's kind of an easy choice.

The secondary one, I'm kind of torn. While I

do like Wrath of Khan, I have more, and I do

kind of see some of it in First Contact, I have

more of a soft spot for Star Trek VI. Really?

I'm surprised. Okay, tell me why. Why is VI your

number two pick? Next to the fact that I watched

that one the most out of the six films before

Generations came out, Just I can tell you like

I mean like I said before I can tell you exactly

where you are in the movie just by listening

to the soundtrack as sad as that is and I can

tell you know like certain parts of it are real

upbeat with for instance when they're running

around the ship trying to figure out who had

the magnetic space boots trying to find who killed

Gorkin and then there's the you know on the planet

and they're they're racing around on there and

then the epic space battle at the end while they're

conjuring up a torpedo and getting fired on and

General Chang's quoting. Like Shakespeare or

something? Yeah, Shakespeare. So, I mean, and

even with their meeting in the mess hall going

to dinner, I mean, it's all of those are very

memorable musical scenes with the soundtrack.

And I can just sit there and. Picture, I mean

it just fits perfectly with the tenseness that

the crews are having over this, you know, whole

engagement Yeah, because like there's that tense

kind of lead -up to them firing Yeah, I remember

that now like said that's that's a great little

moment Like I said, not just in sound design,

but how composition and sound design complement

each other at that particular moment Hell, we

can almost do an entire show on sound design,

but that may be a little too technical for like

Kind of most people. Um, but anyway Moving on

to the television series My favorite series.

It's no secret. My favorite captain is Janeway

All hate mail can be sent to Mike it this week

and geek net I'm sorry for one reason she negotiated

with the Borg and made them their bitch and she

got seven of nine. Well in it she's She's kind

of a happy medium between Kirk and Picard honestly.

Yeah, because she has that well I'm gonna do

what's necessary, but the prime directive should

be followed Yeah willing to negotiate but also

will that willing to kick ass and take names

especially for instance, you know endgame Yeah,

exactly. She's willing to, you know, fuck with

the timeline. It hopes it fixes things. She's

not sure about it, but she's reasonably okay.

To help her crew and get home sooner. Yeah, so...

And fuck the Borg up. You know, we're gonna have

to... You know what, Steve? I think that's next

topic. Our captains. We have to have our captain

face off. I'm picking, you know, we will talk

about that after the show, but there's our next

topic. We're going to talk about the captains

of Star Trek. Where do you fit? Where do you

sit? We'll have to come up with some kind of

a rating system for it. Okay. All right. So we

will do that next show. So like I said, it's

no huge secret that I'm a big fan of Star Trek

Voyager and I love the theme for Voyager and

that's done by... Jerry Goldsmith, and it has

this very sweeping sound to it. I mean, I just

love the opening horn in that, and just it opens

up, Voyager passes through that weird plasma

cloud or whatever, and just it works. It works

beautifully. Now, when you get into the series,

it becomes, like I said, a lot of Jay Chataway's

work, and I love the way that he's so adaptable,

and most notably, including in this year of hell,

1 and 2, fantastic scores in that. Anything involving

the Hirogen, actually, has a bit of a tribal

sound to it. Just, once again, go back and listen

to it. I love the sound of the Kazon themes,

because I think I hear drums in there, I'm pretty

sure, because I'm going a lot off memory with

this. I watched the entirety of Voyager this

past summer, but it's been like six months, so.

Please forgive me. Um, and another one that I

really like is anytime people sing in Voyager,

I think has it the most. You always hear Robert

Picardo sing. You hear Jerry Ryan sing a few

times. Um, I think even Janeway has sung a few

times, not like full performances, but when they

were visiting Fairhaven. Think of that hollow

story what you will. There's a wonderful Irish

score mixed in there. There's supposed to be

this little Irish hamlet there, and it's very

well done too. It's very period piece -y, but

feels unique and distinct enough that you know

it's Star Trek. at the same time. Basically,

I'm saying you couldn't lift it and drop it into

something else without someone saying, that sounds

a little bit off, but wonderful vocal performances

there. There's one particular, there's another

piece of music, once again involving The Doctor.

I think he gets the best musical cues in the

series, and it's where he's trying to teach Seven

how to date, and I think the episode's called

Someone to Watch Over Me, and Seven is talking

to him, and she says, there are no shootable

mates on board. I don't think I'll be seeing

anybody." And the doctor is absolutely crushed

because minutes before this happened, he's recreating

this scenario in the holodeck to say, you know

what, Seven, I'm in love with you. I think we

should be together in some capacity. And then

Seven gives him... this really cool replicated

hypospray or a tricorder or something. It's more

efficient or something. It's a gift, a token

of saying thank you for being my social studies

teacher more or less. And it's just a great well

of sorrow and sadness. And yet the doctor's theme

is like, you know what? I'm sad, but I'm okay

with it. And I think that's really fantastic.

Just like I said, there's a lot of really great

music in that series. A lot of the battle music

I find sounds the same. That's the only detraction

I could say, but specific species themes, character

themes overall, I think it's great. Sound design

on most episodes is really good. Pay attention

to the Captain Proton stuff. Specifically, because

he definitely gets this whole 1930s Flash Gordon

serial, so it was obviously what it's based upon,

but it works. I love the theme for, what is it?

Is it Chaotica? Yeah, Chaotica. He has this wonderful

sweeping grandiose over -the -top, Imperial March

-esque, like, Chaotica music theme there, and

that was actually a ringtone on my phone for

a while. because it was just so ridiculous and

that I think is another piece of his really strong

music like I think a lot of his one -off stuff

is really good and then when they start exploring

the opera stuff where there's that one species

who loves him because he's a hologram and can

sing and all that crap that's another good piece

and that's something else I think Voyager took

the most risks musically in terms of stuff now

I don't know whether Enterprise did because Enterprise

is the only series to have a vocal theme and

Is that not like a song from like Neil Young

or something? I don't know. I don't know. We'll

get into that some other time, but I hate that

series with the passion. I love the theme song.

I know I'm going to get hate mail for that, but

I really don't care. The only episode to me that

was worth it was the Borg one and then the last

episode with Ryker in it. You can send me hate

mail at Steve at GeekCastRadio .com. See, I will

say this. I like the theme to Enterprise and

the variation from the mirror universe where

they take over the Terran homogeny or whatever

the hell it is. That I don't mind. But yeah,

it was one of the weirder ones where they took

a bit of a risk on it. Like I said, it sounds

like... like a mid 90s or early 2000s adult pop

rock song and I know someone's gonna correct

me and say well actually it was this um that's

how little enterprise means to me now that being

said I am willing to sit down and watch all four

seasons if I claw my eyes out one of you guys

is paying for a visor I'm just saying that now

um and I'll have to wait and see though uh DS9

I like what I hear in there and unfortunately

I'm only in the episode I'm only into season

three right now there's only a few episodes I

can think of that really stand out my mind although

I can't recall anything that stands out my oh

no okay there's an episode where The Kai of Bajor

comes to this planet, but it's a planet where

nobody dies. You're healed by these nanomachines.

The problem is you can never leave. And Kai Opaka,

I think that's it, gets hurt and she can't leave.

And there's a wonderful scene between her and

Kira where she's saying, you have to take care

of our people. It's my goal. The Prophet said,

I have to stay here and help these people rebuild.

And there's a wonderful little score in there

too. It's just, it's a sweet - goodbye. If Star

Trek does anything right, it's goodbyes. Oh,

yeah. I really think so. And I think the president

that was set for that, James Horner, Kirk and

Spock in Wrath of Khan. That's what I think anyway.

No, I can definitely agree with that. They they've

definitely prepared you along the way for that

kind of thing. Yeah, because there's just there's

something. It's a sadness, but it's a sadness

you're OK with. I don't know, I guess because

it comes back to that great line, the needs of

the many outnumber the needs of the few. And

I don't know, I think that's a good way to describe

Star Trek music. It suits everybody for the most

part in some capacity. So Steve, I've been rambling

on here for a few minutes. What is your memorable

Star Trek television show moments for you in

terms of music? Well, for instance, while I do

like Granted, I'm not as familiar with, and I

have gone back and watched DS9 to some capacity,

and same thing with Voyager, but not, I've more

so gone back to watch certain episodes, just

to kind of skim through it before I actually

do the entire jump into the series. I would say

that some of the original series stands out specifically,

like The Trouble with Tribbles has a pretty good

score to it. being that it's just all you've

got hardcore mud kind of just he's got he's got

the tribbles and then so there's goofy moments

there and then you've got the bar fight with

the clayons and and Scotty and you know just

all kinds of great musical cues in there just

kind of alluding to the the fun and then some

of the seriousness within the episode and that's

one of them one of my few favorites of the Original

series next to I forget the name of the episode

and don't kill me for this But it's the one where

they bring back pike and he's in the wheelchair

the cage It's it's the cage, but it's not really

the cage. It's not the city of it. No, that's

the guardian of forever episode Yes, I know the

one you're talking about, but I can't think of

the name either I can't think of the name, but

it's it's where they brought the kid basically

they just played the episodes at the cage and

had Kirk and Spock's crew around it But I mean

they they had you know a lot of good music in

there the the city on the edge of forever was

good, too And then jumping into the next generation

I am more familiar with more of the music there

because I've seen damn near the entire series

while it was on the air I will say, from Next

Generation, two of the most memorable scores

that stick out for me, involving the Borg, big

surprise, Best of Both Worlds 1 and 2. Oh yeah,

hands down. And the best part about that episode,

last five minutes of Best of Both Worlds Part

1, where Picard becomes the cutest, and the score

just booms in your ears that... Dun dun dun!

Commander Shelby and Ryker both look at each

other with that oh shit look on their face and

says, to be concluded! And it works. Like that

was just such an epic conclusion or like to an

episode that that I was like what the hell? And

that that that two -parter that has some awesome

awesome scores to it. Yeah, like It's, like I

said, it's utterly fantastic. Another one that

has a great music, once again by I'm pretty sure

Dennis McCarthy, it was an episode called The

Big Goodbye. Once again, holodeck novel stuff.

Bacard is doing his whole Dixon Hill. thing and

he runs into a character named Cyrus Redblock

and this guy he's ridiculous over the top. I

love him because he's like, I'm Cyrus Redblock

and he speaks like a typical 1940s villain and

there's just something about that that works

well with like everything else in the episode

because it's because it's that 1940s period piece

you you certain you know what to expect but it

works and there's a moment where he's talking

with someone, I can't remember specifically who,

and he's saying, what happens if I step outside

these walls? And she's like, well, you'll cease

to disappear, you will cease to exist. And he's

like, yeah, well, whatever. And he steps out

in the hallways, I'm Cyrus Redblock, I'm Cyrus

Redblock, and he disappears. But there's something

about that, just like I said, the two minutes

of that, or where Picard's explaining to someone

that he won't be back. There's, like I said,

that's a great piece of music from there. There's

another one. I'm trying to remember what the

hell it was called. Re -unification with Spock.

Obviously, you know that can't suck for a soundtrack.

Oh, no. Because, you know, you can even hear

the original series in there. I'm pretty sure

a little bit whenever Spock reveals his hood

there and everything. Well, speaking of that

kind of bringing back to the original series,

relics. Yeah, where they bring Scottie back and

then they actually have the bridge of the enterprise

1701 and then play the background music and background

ambient song or like sounds It just that that

episode was great and it had a nice meld of Tos

and TNG. Yeah, I mean if anything, I think the

the composers McCarthy Goldsmith Chataway, etc

They have such a love for the source material

that I think it shows and Like I said working

with the sound designers the directors and the

editors of these episodes must be a huge collaborative

process Like I said, I can't think of too many

episodes of Star Trek like man this sucks or

I don't want to watch this Like I said now that

I'm older more mature if you will just listening

to things Yep, you pick up on things and I'm

pretty sure there's a lot of stuff where We haven't

talked to much about the original series. We

haven't talked to much about DS9. We've barely

touched on Enterprise, but we'd love to hear

from you guys out there in the audience. If you

have any memories or pieces of music from episodes

we should be checking out, we definitely want

to hear from you. So, excuse me, feedback at

thisweekengeek .net. We'd love to hear from you.

I'm Mike at thisweekengeek .net. Steve is, what's

your email again? You can also reach us via our

voicemail line, which is 817 -717 -7202. I share

that with several other shows, but if you hear

my voice... You've probably hit the right voicemail.

So anyway, guys, like I said, we've had a wonderful

time talking about this. One of the things I

didn't get a chance to talk about, but maybe

I'll bring it up in a future episode, is Star

Trek Punk Band Warp 11. Actually, what I'll do

is I'll link the episode post in the in this

episode archive. You want to go listen to what

I did with Captain Carl. Let's just say there's

songs like Jerk My Kirk, Boldly Go Down On Me,

and Suck My Spock. Let's just say they're actually

quite awesome. You should check them out if you

live in the San Francisco area. Or listen to

your interview with them. Yeah, exactly. So check

that out. That is my interview, which you can

find below under John Delancey's interview here

in the episode post. So for Star Trek's Future

Imperfect, we have been... Steve Megatron Phillips.

I've been Mike the Birdman Dodd saying... Live

long and prosper, guys. We'll be back in two

weeks, right here on Future Imperfect, only on

ThisWeekendGeek .net, brought to you by SFI .org,

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