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| CD album cover | |
| Composer: | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Additional Music: | Joel Goldsmith |
| Orchestrators: | Jeff Atmajian, Alexander Courage & Arthur Morton |
| Label: | GNP Crescendo Records |
| Release Date: | 11 December 1996 |
Jerry Goldsmith's orignal score for Star Trek: First Contact. Additional music by Joel Goldsmith, Roy Orbison and Steppenwolf.
Overview
Jerry Goldsmith's third contribution to the Star Trek film series (his first of three in the TNG era) began with director Jonathan Frakes' request for a darker theme for his directorial debut. Goldsmith's return was popular among Trek music aficionados following the generally luke-warm response to Dennis McCarthy's handling of Star Trek: Generations.
A culmination of his work for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Goldsmith incorporated established themes and introduced new ones in First Contact. Returning were the Klingon theme - this time underscoring Worf's actions in the film - originating from The Motion Picture and used heavily in The Final Frontier, and the popular "A Busy Man" theme from The Final Frontier - here littered throughout the film, most notably just after the opening Star Trek fanfare. Also reprised (of course) is Goldsmith's highly memorable Enterprise theme from TMP, heard at the film's finale. New to the mix are themes for the Borg and their Queen, the Enterprise-E, and a stirring-but-subdued overarching theme (heard in the opening titles) that made the score a highly sought after item, despite its release nearly a month after the film's.
With Jerry Goldsmith's schedule crowded, the veteran recruited his son, Joel Goldsmith, to aid in the composition of First Contact. Notable is the younger Goldsmith's contribution of electronically synthesized instrumentation, used alongside clanging, metallic precussion to represent the Borg and their cybernetic nature. The score is marked by the clearly intentional contrasting of harsh electronic (or metallic) sounds and traditional (if sometimes distant) orchestrations. The "A Busy Man" theme would again resurface in both Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis, though its inclusion in the former is fleeting.
A stark departure for Star Trek soundtracks (as heard in the film and on album) is the inclusion of "pop" music, Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" is often revered as a classic 1960s rock-n-roll song, while Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" is a little more dubious - even criticized by the film's writers, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, in a DVD commentary.
Track Listing
The commercial soundtrack release of Star Trek: First Contact contained a sampling of the music used in the film. Below is a list of the tracks made widely available.
| # | Title/Runtime |
|---|---|
| 1 | Main Titles/Locutus*† (4:17) |
| 2 | Red Alert (2:13) |
| 3 | Temporal Wake (2:07) |
| 4 | Welcome Aboard (2:40) |
| 5 | Fully Functional (3:18) |
| 6 | Retreat* (3:59) |
| 7 | Evacuate (2:19) |
| 8 | 39.1 Degrees Celsius* (2:44) |
| 9 | The Dish (7:05) |
| 10 | First Contact (5:52) |
| 11 | End Credits† (5:24) |
| 12 | "Magic Carpet Ride" Performed by Steppenwolf (4:25) |
| 13 | "Ooby Dooby" Performed by Roy Orbison (2:22) |
| Total | 73:19 |
- * Contains music composed by Joel Goldsmith
- † Contains TOS theme composed by Alexander Courage
Bootleg
In the late 1990s a bootleg version of Goldsmith's score came into circulation. Available on the secondary market, the bootleg contains a number of tracks left off the original release, including music heard during the entire climax of the film. Alternate takes are also available on some versions of the bootleg album, including material cut from the final film.
- It should be noted that no proceeds from the sale of bootlegs go to Goldsmith, nor anyone involved in the production of the original score, or motion picture.
| # | Title/Runtime |
|---|---|
| 1 | Main Title† (2:55) |
| 2 | Locutus* (1:31) |
| 3 | The Enterprise-E (0:28) |
| 4 | Battle Watch (aka Starfleet Engages the Borg) (1:13) |
| 5 | Red Alert (2:15) |
| 6 | Temporal Wake (2:08) |
| 7 | April 5th, 2063 (1:46) |
| 8 | The Phoenix (aka Greetings)* (1:05) |
| 9 | First Sign of Borg (0:26) |
| 10 | 39.1 Degrees Celsius* (4:46) |
| 11 | Approaching Engineering* (1:52) |
| 12 | Retreat* (4:00) |
| 13 | The Borg Queen (aka Data Awakens) (1:33) |
| 14 | Assimilation* (1:01) |
| 15 | Welcome Aboard (2:41) |
| 16 | The Gift of Flesh (1:03) |
| 17 | Definitely Not Swedish (1:26) |
| 18 | Watch Your Caboos, Dix (1:34) |
| 19 | Fully Functional (3:20) |
| 20 | The Dish (7:14) |
| 21 | Bridge Argument (1:56) |
| 22 | A Quest for Vengeance (2:41) |
| 23 | Evacuate (2:22) |
| 24 | The Escape Pods (2:52) |
| 25 | All the Time (1:06) |
| 26 | Flight of the Phoenix (aka The Starship Chase)* (2:59) |
| 27 | Resistance is Futile* (1:46) |
| 28 | Victory Over the Borg (aka The Future Restored)* (1:36) |
| 29 | First Contact (6:02) |
| 30 | End Credits† (5:27) |
| Total | 117:32 |
- * Contains music composed by Joel Goldsmith
- † Contains TOS theme composed by Alexander Courage
External Links
| Previous soundtrack release: Star Trek: Generations |
Star Trek Movie Soundtrack Star Trek: First Contact |
Next soundtrack release: Star Trek: Insurrection |