3 best pieces of Star Trek music by Jerry Goldsmith

Main Theme from Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

Even without the spectacular visuals accompanying it—surely the most beautiful opening sequence of any Star Trek series, with the possible exception of Star Trek: Prodigy—the theme Jerry Goldsmith composed for Star Trek: Voyager would stand as one of the franchise’s most breathtaking musical pieces.

Goldsmith begins by achieving the seemingly impossible feat of evoking Alexander Courage’s original series fanfare without repeating it. He then, on the other side of some sturdy tympani work, moves into the flowing long lines of the main melody. As befits a journey the characters expect will take decades to complete, this theme is in no hurry. It moves forward without ever sounding rushed. It’s preparing for us a long trek indeed.

The theme’s “B” section introduces notes of longing and urgency into the theme. When the “A” section returns, as Voyager passes over a planet’s icy rings, it sounds more determined and forceful, without losing the tranquility it possessed when we heard it first.

Writing for Tor.com, Alasdair Stuart says Goldsmith’s Voyager theme “is haunting . . . . It achieves the same emotional heft as the other shows’ themes, but in a very different, and far more poignant way.”

Goldsmith’s Voyager theme also seems poised to have as long an afterlife in the franchise as some of the maestro’s other contributions to it. Unless I need to have my hearing checked, I’m fairly confident Prodigy composer Nami Melumad has been quoting the Voyager theme at key points in the new, animated aventures of Hologram Janeway and Admiral Janeway!

What is your favorite Star Trek music by Jerry Goldsmith? Tell us in the comments below!