Like its various galaxy-hopping protagonists, Star Trek has undergone a remarkable journey in its 30-year history, rising from canceled 1960s television ratings casualty to become one of the most successful and long-running franchises in history. A key to its success--and crucial human dimensions--has been the symphonic music of some of Hollywood's brightest film-scoring talents. Using Alexander Courage's venerable original theme as a starting point, those musicians (represented here by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Leonard Rosenman, Jerry Fielding, Cliff Edelman, and Dennis McCarthy) have performed the musical equivalent of alchemy, both keeping a tradition alive and imbuing the films and television series with an ever-expanding vocabulary of wonder and emotional resonance. This CD captures the prime of that musical essence, from Courage's original theme, through Fielding's humorous Tribble-hunt, to the new thematic dimensions of Goldsmith and McCarthy. And fear not, Next Generation fans, the title's absence here does not equate to a musical shortcoming. Its theme is represented by Goldsmith's work on the first film adaptation, whence it came. --Jerry McCulley

2009-04-20 -- 3/5:: Overwhelming Music, Underwhelming Performances
This CD was a good idea, poorly executed. The problem is the performances themselves. We have the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Seattle Symphony, all with varying results. Particularly rough in this recording is the Scottish orchestra, whose principal trombone player sounds like he's out to draw blood, though the Seattle and Royal performances are also lackluster. There is a much better compilation by the City of Prague Philharmonic with Nic Raine conducting. Spare yourself this mess and go for the best.

2009-02-26 -- 2/5:: Good selection of songs, but not good recording
I bought this album via iTunes primarily because it has the overtures for the post-numbered Star Trek movies (First Contact in particular). The selection of songs is good, which is what saves my review rating.

Sadly, the recordings are not good, and most of my negative reviewing lands firmly on the lead trumpet, who plays with poor tone control throughout the entire album. Noticeable flubbed notes in particular are on trumpet melodies in Star Trek IV, Star Trek VI, and Deep Space Nine, where the trumpet audibly cracks and falls off the note. The rest of the time, the trumpet blatts most notes, just off key or just off pace. For Star Trek, in which the trumpet carries a lot of melody (think about it for a moment - how many times is the famous eleven note opening riff played in some variation in a Trek soundtrack? And almost all times, the trumpet is responsible for playing it). Very surprising for what supposedly is a professional level recording. It comes off more like my high school band concerts, sadly.

Save your money and get the originals.

2007-09-29 -- 4/5:: great star trek compilation
Very good performances by various orchestras. There are A LOT of star trek themes in this CD so it may be a little overwhelming to play this CD from start to finish. Tracks #2, #9, and #11 are my favorite. Jerry Goldsmith just does a fantastic job on Star Trek arrangements in general. #9 by Frederic Talgorn is probably the most unique of all the arrangements on the theme and I happened to like his the best. Very nice chord progressions with the high woodwinds and lower strings providing a good pulse to the piece. His ability to interweave the star trek theme towards the end of the piece was also expertly handled. The speed and general pacing of this piece is much faster than the original recording that is played in the end credits of "Generations." I happen to like this version much better.

2007-04-11 -- 5/5:: A very good collection of remade classics from many star trek movies
I really like this cd, it has many of the tracks you've heard from all of the classics. They all sound good and are very well made. Overall a great cd

2005-10-01 -- 3/5:: The Ultimate Star Trek
This compilation cd has chosen some of my most favorite cuts from the movies and tv shows. But because it is a compilation, it lacks the transition you would find in a sound track between cuts.