| Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
| Composed by James Horner |
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Conducted and Produced by James Horner Orchestrated by Jack Hayes Release Date: 1991 |
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With the box office success of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, work quickly began on a sequel, only this time the new film would not be allowed to expand to a budget that reached over 40 million dollars. Instead, Star Trek II would have to make due with a much smaller budget of around 11 million. Costs were cut every which way, especially in the area of the film’s score. The first decision was to hire an up and coming composer by the name of James Horner. Horner had, according to screen legend, captured the attention of the powers-that-be my successfully mimicking Jerry Goldsmith’s score to the first film for Roger Corman’s Star Wars-esque clone, Battle Beyond the Stars. Of course, looking back, this choice was a perfect one. Horner’s score to Star Trek II has long been considered one of his finest. One other ways the studio planned to cut costs for the film was to have Horner score on synthesizers. Thankfully, that decision was reversed and the rest is film score history. There are many factors that make Horner’s score such a classic. His sweeping opening title theme embodies the feel of the film so well that most probably haven’t even noticed that it is quite a departure from any of the Star Trek themes that preceded it. Horner’s excellent use of the brass section in this score, in his typical stylistic way that served his scores from Battle Beyond the Stars to Willow, is at top form here, and again serves quite well to put forth the whole nautical theme that is embellished in the movie. Whereas Goldsmith’s score to the first film was philosophical and mysterious, the score to Star Trek II is more conventional, albeit with a few departures that occur mostly in regard to the character of Spock. Horner’s theme for Spock is quite good, and the way he incorporates the full emotional impact of Spock’s death with the theme is one of the main factors that gives that particular scene as much power as it has. Indeed, the entire cue, which encompasses the tense underscoring of the escape from the doomed U.S.S. Reliant, the heroic brass fanfare as the Enterprise scurries away to safety, to the horrible realization that she has lost one of her own, has to be one of the best tracks of film music ever released. GNP Crescendo’s release of this score is solid, but not without its faults. The sound quality is very good for such an old film, but the tracks are not arranged in chronological order. There are also a few cues from the film which are not on the CD (such as Kirk’s arrival on the Enterprise, the final attack on the Reliant, and Spock’s funeral music) that, while not totally required, would still be very nice to have. Still, as this is all that has been released so far, it’s not a bad album in the least. Whether or not there is ever an expanded release in the future is still anyone’s guess. If you’ve enjoyed the scores of James Horner, especially such works as Krull and Willow, this is definite purchase regardless your feelings towards the whole Star Trek franchise. This score is a classic in every sense of the word and a prime jewel of those excellent epic, sci-fi scores from the eighties. ***** |
| Track Listing - Total Running Time: 44:35 | |
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