Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Complete) - Jerry Goldsmith

All I ask for is a tall ship and a star to sail her by, although what I actually want is a starship to travel to the centre of the galaxy to find god. The sad thing is, the concept of The Final Frontier is pretty sound, very much in keeping with Star Trek lore and aspects of it are very well rendered. However, the kind of concepts it dealt with are perhaps better within the confines of TV; one can imagine Sybok having taken control of the Enterprise and set course for Sha Ka Ree as an end of season cliffhanger. It would be every bit as exciting as Picard turning up as Locutus. Also, the rather talky resolution would be far more acceptable to a TV audience than those expecting an exciting battle on the big screen. Alas, it was not to be. The film has plenty of other problems, but I still have a bit of a soft spot, although maybe Goldsmith's music just made it seem better than it was. Entirely possible.

One comment I made in my review of the Star Trek: Nemesis (the last and most disappointing Next Generation movie) score was that Star Trek no longer had spectacle. I don't mean amazing space ship battles, more an attempt at awe and wonder. V'Ger in The Motion Picture might have been on screen for way too long, but it oozed atmosphere. Same goes for the Enterprise. She seems like a real, huge star faring ship, not just an impressive effect. So it is with Goldsmith's Nemesis score, it's a perfectly robust action/adventure score, but little else. The Final Frontier may not have been the best movie, but it had bold ideas and ideals, plus at least some attempt at spectacle. God was never going to look amazing on an effects budget of £9.23, but Goldsmith writes as though we're witnessing something as eye popping as Avatar or Lord of the Rings, even when it's clearly a patch of dirt, some plastic rocks and god (i.e. some alien) looking like a PowerPoint presentation.

Goldsmith doesn't just reserve his awe and wonder for god, but also for the natural splendour of Yosemite where Kirk is (somewhat unrealistically) mountain climbing. The opening is rightly held as another of Goldsmith's finest moments, a gorgeous trumpet melody that could so easily have been fairly non-specific and throwaway. You just don't get that kind of compositional thought very often. Naturally, the action scoring is excellent, some of his finest. The raid on Nimbus III deftly weaves the various themes into some prototypical 5/4 action measures. This expanded release expands some of this, notably Without Help which has a few more dramatic pauses than the original album.

One nice thing about expanded discs such as this is you get those short cues that often never make it to a 40 minute album, the short passages for the Enterprise's departure at the start have some lovely versions of the main theme woven in. Again, awe and wonder, giving the Enterprise a mystical quality rather than just being a hunk of metal and implying a grandeur which (if we're honest) isn't really there in the effects. Star Trek V has long been one of my most desired expanded releases and La-La Land have la-la lavished  (there's a gag I can only use once) their usual level of expert production. Comprehensive liner notes, great sound (not that the original had any issues), the complete score as in the film (more or less), the original album presentation, plus some additional tracks to fill out a nice package. As it were. Goldsmith does old school Trek movie. You really ought to have it, so what are you waiting for? A tall ship? Pfft!


Purchase it from La-La Land or Screen Archives.