Star Trek IX: Insurrection

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Two years after the latest Trek score, Goldsmith is back online with Insurrection, a fantasy tale which more then likely bored some, intrigued others. Not only because it was in a way just like Generations (handling a human aspect of the story) but also containing a human touch of music, Goldsmith's theme for the Ba'Ku village. Now, Insurrection is a good listen, especially if you wait long enough, and that you know that good music was missing of the scene, but it also is one of the least interesting Trek listens, just because it doesn't offer much new to the trained ear. First Contact in a way gave us a breathtaking theme and this Ba'Ku theme is as charming as the inhabitants of the world itself but also can get boring the more you hear it. This and that it leans close to U.S. Marshals explains a bit why Insurrection fails to really impress me from bottom to top. It is a solid and as said enjoyable score but nothing will utterly surprise the Goldsmith fan or avid Trek fan.

The familiar start and end for a Trek score is the summarization of the themes of Star Trek, the theme for the movie's concept and the original themes of the series and first movie, all are again featured in the begin and end tracks. 'Ba'Ku Village' has the nice theme for the civilization and it does miracles when accompanied with visuals, but near the end the magic of the theme has worn out a bit. The most interesting quartet of tracks is 3, 4, 5 and 6. 'Children's Story' and 'New Sight' has the magical fantasy music which rounds up all the feelings that Picard and his crew are facing when they land on the surface, a charming and most beautiful piece of music which no doubt inspires you on screen (especially the music when the bird is flying in slow motion in front of Picard is excellent). The other two tracks all feature the best action suspense sound, coming of U.S. Marshals it got me a bit with a disappointment but they still remain the better thing, also the short Klingon theme (again for Worf) during 'The Drones Attack' is interesting as cool. But the rest isn't that interesting anymore, the sound starts to ware out and the music keeps bringing the same effect, nice but not satisfying anymore. The last tracks, which run for a good fifteen minutes all bring neither the interest nor the excitement and by that it is a disappointing finish for an otherwise enjoyable score.

And when we reach the end we notice several things, first the familiar and necessary 'End Credits' which features everything you'd expect from the begin and most surprisingly, that the tracklistings mention the wrong track time on occasion (like track 2 lasting 10 seconds lesser and 8 lasting more than a minute). But if this is bothersome for you, then you are truly one complaining about everything in your life. Finally, we find again good liner notes. Star Trek: Insurrection of Jerry Goldsmith stills interests me more then say Dennis McCarthy's Generations, just because it is Goldsmith at the helm but everything seems to be a bit uninteresting and really isn't that refreshing at all. Because it leans close to several scores (action / tense style with U.S. Marshals and magical leaning close to Powder). This of course makes it forgettable for those wanting a great Trek score, it is good but hardly exciting. And perhaps as a late (utterly lame but true) comment, when I saw that a clip of Star Trek: Insurrection was available, I immediately commented: "O my God, they have finally made a porn movie of the franchise". Luckily it represented both hideous villains (Son'a) and the women are not good to start with either. "Hell check out the six broads behind the actual CD itself. A Porn movie hahaha."

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Ba'Ku Village + / ++ (6.52)

2. In Custody (1.04)

3. Children's Story (1.47)

4. Not Functioning (1.48)

5. New Sight (5.43)

6. The Drones Attack (4.10)

7. The Riker Maneuver (3.09)

8. The Same Race (2.49)

9. No Threat (4.10)

10. The Healing Process * (7.15)

11. End Credits + / ++ (5.23) Excellent Track

* Different from version used in film

+ Contains TV Theme composed by Alexander Courage

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

Total Length: 44.52

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

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