Star Trek X: Nemesis

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Alas, we have reached the final voyage of the Star Trek Enterprise. One of the most famous ships in history will battle its last way against the latest nemesis namely The Romulans. And right along with the last voyage is the man that equally unleashed its first voyage, meaning composer Jerry Goldsmith. Rumor was that this would be the best Trek score since the first. Varese's own top man Robert Townson described it as "Classic Goldsmith". From that point on, even a month before the release of the film and weeks of the score you're set to such high expectations that just the greatest composers can reach and equal the scope of the anticipation. And luckily Jerry Goldsmith is one of the best of the profession. Or has he been because Star Trek: Nemesis doesn't deliver what could have been a final blockbuster of the master. Sadly to report is that Nemesis is nothing of the great classic Goldsmith touch, is far away of the other Trek scores (including especially Goldsmith's first and Horner's continuing 2 sequels) and basically is Goldsmith on auto pilot but pushing the pedal a bit towards better heights. And if it all comes down to an acceptable, at times good listen, it is basically that so much hype rarely leads to stunning results and ultimately you are more disappointed than happy.

Basically what this score above all misses is its own theme. First Contact had a stunning theme that made the soundtrack on its own much better and even the light Insurrection theme for the Ba'Ku helped to set things in motion. With glimpses of The Motion Picture theme in begin and end, or even a short adaptation of the Insurrection wonder theme is basically what sets Nemesis on the themes' map. A theme that could blow the Enterprise's final voyage into history is missing and perhaps that is one of its downfalls. Yet another is basically that Star Trek: Nemesis listens like a mix of Deep Rising, The Haunting, U.S. Marshals and Insurrection itself. And even if all these scores had moments, I wished simply for a bit more magic. Or what it comes down to is that this score misses creative new ideas that could surpass the anticipation as what was expected coming from the liner notes. True, the begin does deliver something, 'Remus' brings a short sign of The Motion Picture theme and a brief action motif development that actually caught my interest good. But from then on it doesn't get nearly as good as that. Mainly the first part is the building suspense, and here electronics simply set the mood. 'The Box' could have come out of Deep Rising like that with its exact suspension tones and 'The Knife' contains basically mood examples of The Haunting. A brief soother is 'My Right Arm' with its short love adaptation of Insurrection along with the short sign of the First Contact adventure theme in 'A New Friend' at the end. But this score brings above anything else just suspense and action in all the threatening forms of the galaxy. 'Odds and Ends' is The Last Castle and better tension action material that listens like U.S. Marshals and The Last Castle but just a bit better, especially give attention to the action motif that would later appear in 'The Scorpion' and several others. But nothing comes close to the classic Goldsmith we would hear.

This doesn't make the score on its own bad but just not reaching that classic status. 'The Scorpion' is a bit better with its flash at the end of the The Motion Picture theme and 'Final Flight' is interesting because it uses the stirring string theme of The Last Castle this time here as an action theme performed on brass on 1.50. Or pick up the Bear theme of The Edge on aggressive brass in 'Ideals'. Even 'A new Ending' is basically a tried and tested formula with a middle new part and the Trek theme in begin and end. The result is you pick sometimes so many things up that it isn't big anymore. Goldsmith has proven over so many years that he was one of the most creative composers but these last years, his music sounds just somewhat the same. I am not disappointed in that because I'm still in awe that Goldsmith at this age writes so good. But if people simply make comments that it is classic, you will fall flat on your face and then it can work against you no matter how decent to good it listens. Star Trek: Nemesis is, take it from me an aggressive display of sound. The first part builds on suspense from the likes of Deep Rising and The Haunting (even with its array of weird electronics at times) and the second part takes more speed with its action material that listens on itself quite good. But hardly classic because it takes too many forms of other scores and definitely is not that memorable because it isn't just as good as classic. It is basically a Trek score that listens separately quite good, but given the nature that it is the last film, it should have ended with a bang. And for that reason alone, you can see it as a disappointing score to a series that opened so brilliantly with a score of Goldsmith that was "quite good put" classic in every sense of the word.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Remus * (1.57)

2. The Box (2.19)

3. My Right Arm (1.02)

4. Odds And Ends (4.37)

5. Repairs + (6.26)

6. The Knife (3.08)

7. Ideals (2.15)

8. The Mirror (5.21)

9. The Scorpion + (2.21)

10. Lateral Run (3.54)

11. Engage (2.13)

12. Final Flight (3.47)

13. A New Friend (2.36)

14. A New Ending * / + / *+ (6.08)

* Contains Theme of Star Trek: The TV series, composed by Alexander Courage

+ Contains Theme of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, composed by Jerry Goldsmith

*+ Contains "Blue Skies", composed by Irving Berlin

Total Length: 48.33

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Jerry Goldsmith ===