Hearing the Boldly Goings: Tracking the Title Themes of the Star Trek Television Franchise, 1966–2005

Abstract

These words famously open both the original Star Trek series as well as the popular spin-off series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, though the later iteration changes “man” to the more gender-neutral “one” while retaining the split infinitive that would torment later grammarians. In both series, an equally iconic musical passage accompanies these iconic words. The three seasons of the original Star Trek television series that originally aired between 1966 and 1969 set the stage for a remarkable series of five future spin-off series. The Star Trek franchise, with its optimistic imagining of humanity’s future in the twenty-third century, has been and remains one of the most significant and influential of all television science fiction series, possessing a large and vibrant fan culture as well as impacting the history of the U.S. space shuttle program in the 1970s.1 Philip Hayward has highlighted the connection between the television programming surrounding the 1960s space race and the parallel appearance of popular science fiction television series in addition to Star Trek, like Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Lost in Space; Hayward also notes how the signature tunes for these series were “strongly evocative” of the science fiction genre.2 Because of the popularity and success of Star Trek, a comparative consideration of the themes from the six different Star Trek series, which span from 1966 to 2005, offers useful insights into some of the central questions surrounding SF television music. For instance, does a title theme for a science fiction television series have to sound a certain way? What expectations exist for the title theme music in a science fiction television series? What stylistic, generic, and timbral qualities work best to alert a viewer that a SF show is starting, and which ones may cut too hard against the grain of convention such that they alienate fans? And in whatThe original Star Trek series appeared in the midst of a decade marked in no small part by the U.S. exploration of space-the name Enterprise was given to a prototype of the space shuttle, a remarkable achievement for a cancelled television show that ran for only three seasons-and the series’ creator Gene Roddenberry found his “wagon train to the stars” show in competition with another series centering on space travel, Lost in Space. (CBS declined Star Trek in favor of Lost in Space, and Star Trek found its home on NBC.) John (credited at that time as “Johnny”) Williams wrote the main theme for Lost in Space; with its blending of brass instruments and a theremin-like sound, it followed in many ways the timbral model of Bernard Herrmann’s influential score for The Day the Earth Stood Still.6 Yet Williams’s Lost in Space theme differed from Herrmann’s music in its playful, even childlike, character. Instead of adopting a Herrmannesque science fiction sound for his main title music for Star Trek, composer Alexander Courage created a memorable blend of musical styles that was part Mahlerian world-weariness, part Coplandesque pastoralism, and part space-age bachelor pad randiness: the pedal points and descending perfect fourth are strongly reminiscent of the opening to Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, aspects of Appalachian Spring emerge with the pedal points (on the same opening pitch, A) and disjunct melodies, and the propulsive main part of the theme deploys a beguine rhythm and feminine vocal part that has a lounge-music or exotica flavor consistent with the space age bachelor pad music of the Mexican composer, Juan Garcia Esquivel. Roddenberry selected Courage to compose for the pilot after considering an impressive allstar list of possible composers; Roddenberry’s notes from December 8, 1964, included both well-established names (such as Franz Waxman, David Raksin, Hugo Friedhofer, and Elmer Bernstein) and up-and-comers who have since become quite famous, like Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams:Jerry Goldsmith-Not Available Elmer Bernstein-Interested-likes pilot wants to read script. Harry Sukman-MGM-available Les Baxter-available Dominic Tronteri [sic. Dominic Frontiere who did the music for The OuterLimits]—available Franz Waxman-available Sy Coleman-suggested by Oscar Katz Alexander Courage-young composer-up and coming Hugo Friedholder [sic]—did some of the original music on Voyage to theBottom of the Sea David Raxton [sic]—wrote Laura. Works closely with the producer Johnny Green-would love to do a series, did music for Empire Leith Stevens-Doing Nobak-did the 1st few shows for Empire, scoreda feature with a science fiction themeThe subsequent rising minor seventh in the horn melody (A to D, D to G) and then in the main melody (F to E-flat) subtly balances the interval of the minor seventh traced out by the descending line in the opening.