the star trek theme song

Theme from Star Trek

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The "Theme from Star Trek " (originally scored under the title "Where No Man Has Gone Before" [1] and also known informally as the " Star Trek Fanfare ") is the instrumental theme music composed for Star Trek: The Original Series by Alexander Courage . First recorded in 1964 , it is played in its entirety during the opening title sequences of each episode. It is also played over the closing credits, albeit without its signature opening fanfare.

During the opening credits, the theme's opening fanfare is accompanied by the now-famous "Space: the final frontier" monologue spoken by William Shatner (with the exception of the pilot episodes, " The Cage " and " Where No Man Has Gone Before "). Throughout the opening credits, the theme is punctuated at several points by the USS Enterprise flying towards and past the camera. These "fly-bys" are accompanied by a "whoosh" sound effect created vocally by Courage himself. (Documentary: Music Takes Courage: A Tribute to Alexander Courage )

• 1 Conception and original use
• 2 Vocalization and lyrics
• 3 Later use
• 4 Other recordings and uses
• 5 External link

Conception and original use [ ]

Creator Gene Roddenberry originally approached composer Jerry Goldsmith to write the theme for Star Trek . Goldsmith, however, had other commitments and instead recommended Alexander Courage. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) commentary)

Courage was not a science fiction fan, referring to the genre as "marvelous malarkey." He thus saw the theme he was writing as "marvelous malarkey music." Courage composed, orchestrated and conducted the theme in one week. He drew inspiration from a Richard A. Whiting song he heard on the radio as a child called "Beyond the Blue Horizon". This song had a drawn-out tune with a steady, fast-paced beat underneath it, which Courage emulated when composing the theme. (Documentary: Music Takes Courage )

The theme used in " The Cage " – the unaired first pilot – featured a wordless melody line by soprano Loulie Jean Norman supported by electronic underpinnings. When a second pilot was ordered and the series was picked up, Norman's vocalizations were dropped from the theme.

The first season of The Original Series used two versions of the theme. On the original NBC and syndicated runs, five episodes – "Where No Man has Gone Before", the second pilot, along with " The Man Trap ", " Charlie X ", " The Naked Time ", and " Mudd's Women " – used a mixed electronic/orchestral arrangement for the opening credits, with the main melody line created electronically and accompanied by more traditional instrumentation, including a flute and an organ for both the opening and closing themes. When the series was remastered for video in the early 1980s, only "Where No Man Has Gone Before" retained this version of the theme over both the opening and closing credits, while the opening was restored to the other four episodes and placed on five others when the series was remastered again for DVD release. The closing credits for the other nine episodes, however, used a version that had only an orchestral arrangement. The mixed arrangement was first heard on " The Corbomite Maneuver " (the tenth episode aired, although it was the second episode produced), after which the show opened with the orchestral-only arrangement.

Vocalization and lyrics [ ]

For the second and third seasons , Loulie Jean Norman's wordless accompaniment was re-added to the theme. However, Norman's voice was made more prominent than it was for "The Cage".

When originally written (and as heard in "The Cage"), Courage had Norman's vocalizations and the various instruments mixed equally to produce a unique sound. According to Courage, however, Gene Roddenberry had it re-recorded with Norman's accompaniment at a higher volume above the instruments, after which Courage felt the theme sounded like a soprano solo. Roddenberry's version can be heard during the opening credits of each episode in the second and third seasons; Courage's version is heard during the closing credits.

Further souring the relationship between Roddenberry and Courage, Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the theme without Courage's knowledge – not in the expectation that they would ever be sung, but in order to claim a 50% share of the music's performance royalties. Although there was never any litigation, Courage commented that he believed Roddenberry's conduct was unethical, to which Roddenberry responded, " Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek . " [2] Although the lyrics were never included on the series, they have been printed in several "TV Theme" songbooks over the years.

Later use [ ]

Portions of the Theme from Star Trek have been used in all 13 Star Trek feature films . Most of the Star Trek films' opening themes start by quoting the opening fanfare from Courage's theme, before seguéing into the film's own theme. However, there are multiple exceptions to this tradition. Star Trek: The Motion Picture did not use the fanfare at all in the opening or closing music, although a subdued version of the Theme from Star Trek was created by Courage at the request of the film's main composer, Jerry Goldsmith . [3] This arrangement of the theme was used for the " Captain's Log " cues. The theme was quoted again in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , most extensively in the final scenes.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , scored by Cliff Eidelman , broke with the tradition again. The Theme from Star Trek did not appear in the opening music, although it was used towards the end. Star Trek Generations , scored by Dennis McCarthy , on the other hand, did use the fanfare in the opening credits (and extensively throughout the score) but it did not appear until the end of the main title music.

The score for Star Trek , composed by Michael Giacchino , again did not use the fanfare in the opening title music: instead, Giacchino subtly quoted the opening notes and various other Star Trek themes from past films throughout his score. For the end credits, a re-arranged version of the Theme from Star Trek , fully orchestrated and with The Page La Studio Voices accompanying the melody line, was used. This version was also used for the end credits of Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond .

The theme's opening fanfare was adapted by Dennis McCarthy as the opening for the Star Trek: The Next Generation theme (the remainder of which was an adaptation of Goldsmith's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture ). Courage's original theme can also be heard in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Trials and Tribble-ations ", the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Shattered ", and the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale, " These Are the Voyages... "

Courage's theme was re-recorded for the remastered Star Trek episodes , with Elin Carlson emulating Norman's wordless vocalization.

Star Trek: Discovery composer Jeff Russo included Courage's fanfare at the end of the Discovery main titles. The theme returned in full at the end of the Season 1 finale, " Will You Take My Hand? ", playing over the closing credits after the USS Discovery intercepts a distress call from the USS Enterprise .

In the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode " Spock Amok ", at least a portion of the theme became diegetic (heard in the fictional universe) when a few notes of the fanfare could be heard on the PADD used to keep track of tasks for " Enterprise bingo ".

Other recordings and uses [ ]

TOS star Nichelle Nichols recorded a disco version of the theme. However, Nichols used different lyrics than those written by Gene Roddenberry. The late jazz musician Maynard Ferguson and his band also recorded a rendition of the song, a fusion version that was released on his 1977 album Conquistador . Ferguson's version was used as the opening theme for The Larry King Show on the Mutual Radio Network. The satirical rock band Tenacious D and the lounge band Love Jones recorded versions of the theme, as well, using Gene Roddenberry's lyrics.

Roy Orbison was a Star Trek fan and often opened his concerts with his band jamming to theme. [4]

The 1992 Paramount Pictures comedy Wayne's World was the first non- Trek film to use Courage's theme. In the film, the character of Garth Algar (played by Dana Carvey ) whistles the theme while he and Wayne Campbell ( Mike Myers ) lie on the hood of Wayne's car, looking up at the stars. When Garth finishes the tune, he tells Wayne, " Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no one's gone before. But I'll probably just stay in Aurora. " The theme can also be heard in the films Muppets from Space (1999, starring F. Murray Abraham ) and RV (2006, starring Robin Williams and featuring Brian Markinson ).

At the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards, TOS star William Shatner and opera singer Frederica von Stade performed a live version of the theme, with Shatner reciting the opening monologue and von Stade singing the wordless melody line.

In 2009, the theme was used as the wake-up call for the crew of mission STS-125 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis .

For the 2021 inauguration of US President Joe Biden , acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma played the fanfare of the theme as a prelude to his performance of another song significant to Star Trek , " Amazing Grace ". [5]

External link [ ]

• Theme from Star Trek at Wikipedia
• 3 Ancient humanoid

Star Trek Theme Song Lyrics

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WATCH: The Surprising Musical Origins of Star Trek’s Theme Song

Beginning with the now-famous monologue by William Shatner, “Space: the final frontier”, the opening notes of Star Trek’s theme song have become ingrained in the minds of fans around the world.

The iconic song, written by Alexander Courage in 1964, is played at the opening and closing credits of every episode of the original series and has been reinterpreted in some form for each Star Trek feature film.

In a new video released by Canada’s CBC Music, host Tom Allen explores the connection between the song and some of history’s greatest classical music composers, including Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler.

Check out the video below.

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The Star Trek Theme Song Has Lyrics

By eddie deezen | jul 20, 2018.

The Star Trek theme song is familiar to pretty much anyone who lived in the free world (and probably elsewhere, too) in the late 20th century. The tune is played during the show's opening credits; a slightly longer version is played, accompanied by stills from various episodes, during the closing credits. The opening song is preceded by William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) doing his now-legendary monologue recitation, which begins: "Space, the final frontier ..."

The show's familiar melody was written by respected film and TV composer Alexander Courage, who said the Star Trek theme's main inspiration was the Richard Whiting song "Beyond the Blue Horizon." In Courage's contract it was stipulated that, as the composer, he would receive royalties every time the show was aired and the theme song played. If, somehow, Star Trek made it into syndication—which, of course, it ultimately did—Courage stood to make a lot of money. And so did the person who wrote the lyrics.

WAIT... THERE WERE LYRICS?

Gene Roddenberry, the show's creator, wrote lyrics to the theme song.

"Beyond the rim of the star-light, my love is wand'ring in star-flight!"

Why would Roddenberry even bother?

The lyrics were never even meant to be heard on the show, but not because the network (NBC) nixed them. Roddenberry nixed them himself. Roddenberry wanted a piece of the composing profits, so he wrote the hokey lyrics solely to receive a "co-writer" credit.

"I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, strange love a star woman teaches."

As one of the composers, Roddenberry received 50 percent of the royalties ... cutting Alexander Courage's share in half. Not surprisingly, Courage was furious about the deal. Though it was legal, he admitted, it was unethical because Roddenberry had contributed nothing to why the music was successful.

Roddenberry was unapologetic. According to Snopes, he once declared, "I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek ."

In 1969, after Star Trek officially got the ax, no one (Courage and Roddenberry included) could possibly have imagined the show's great popularity and staying power.

Courage, who only worked on two shows in Star Trek 's opening season because he was busy working on the 1967 Dr. Doolittle movie, vowed he would never return to Star Trek .

He never did.

If you're looking for an offbeat karaoke number, here are Roddenberry's lyrics, as provided by Snopes :

Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand'ring in star-flight I know He'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.

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Every STAR TREK Opening Theme Song Ranked from Worst to Best

Find out which is the greatest opening in Star Trek television history. Star Trek is the most iconic television show ever. It’s also spawned one of the most successful movie franchises ever made.

Part of its success is the Star Trek theme song. The original song is so iconic people know it even if they’ve never seen an episode of the show. Over the years there have been many spin-offs of the show which each used a new theme song. Some have been brilliant and some have been horrible.

Most recently Star Trek: Discovery is airing   on CBS All-Access . Soon the upcoming Picard series will introduce a new theme song. We don’t know if the opening for Picard will match up with some of the others. But it’s time to look back at the history of the Star Trek opening songs and rank them from worst to best.

Make it so.

11. Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3-4 (2003–2005)

Composed by Dennis McCarthy

Enterprise’s theme song is the first (and last) time Star Trek uses a contemporary song for the opening. Dennis McCarthy scored the pilot episode. Executive producer Rick Berman promised something new for Star Trek’s sixth spin-off series. He said the opening would “be using a little bit more contemporary kind of music. […] It’s not all of a sudden that the show is going to be scored with electric guitars. It’s going to be a little hipper.”

The song “Faith of the Heart” is written by Diane Warren and sung by Rod Stewart for Robin Williams’ comedic-drama Patch Adams (1998). The song was a hit and charted at number three on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks and number 60 on the UK Singles Chart. It’s used for Star Trek and sung by Russell Watson . It’s a good song and some of the lyrics match up with the idea of space travel.

You have to inspire the courage of the producers for trying something new but it doesn’t work. There’s a tradition of Star Trek shows opening with a grand orchestral theme. This song sounds like a Rod Stewart concert. After fans complained the song is different in the third and final season of Enterprise .

The new version has a higher pitch and is sped up. They added tambourine and a more pronounced electric guitar. Star Trek managed to make a bad decision even worse.

10.  Star Trek: Enterprise  Season 1-2 (2001–2002)

Dennis McCarthy first made music for the Next Generation pilot episode and scored dozens of other episodes. McCarthy later composed the theme for the shows  Deep Space Nine and  Voyager. Plus he scored the soundtrack for movies like  Star Trek: Generations . 

The opening of  Enterprise uses the song “Faith of the Heart” sung by British crossover opera singer Russell Watson. Fans hated it so much that fans created many petitions to get rid of it. “[We] urgently request that you remove [‘Faith of the Heart’] and in its place utilize a score that is without vocals, as traditionally used by [the] ‘Star Trek’ television series,” one petition said.

“We wish to express our unmitigated disgust with the theme song that has been selected for the new ‘Enterprise’ series,” another online petition said. “It is not fit to be scraped off the bottom of a Klingon’s boot.”

“I’m in the horrible minority of people who like the song,” Rick Berman defended the song telling Sci-Fi Wire . “I think it fits beautifully. I think it’s a song that’s got a lot of hopefulness and uplifting qualities to it. And I like it. I’ve met a lot of other people who like it, but I’ve also heard a tremendous amount of banter about people who don’t. And what’s a Star Trek series without something for people to hate?”

Whatever you think of the song it was used as a wakeup call for NASA missions .

9. Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4 “Mirror Darkly” (2005)

Composed by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

In 2005 the series Enterprise traveled to an alternate “evil mirror universe” for several episodes. To complete the feel that the show had traveled to another world they changed the opening. The theme song has a more militaristic tone and a darker feel.

It works well, especially when shown along with images showing how Earth entered into a long-standing war. Considering it replaced a pop song it’s even more impressive. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few episodes before going back to “Faith of the Heart”.

8. Star Trek: Discovery  (2017-2019)

Composed by Jeff Russo

When CBS started work on the Star Trek prequel Star Trek: Discovery they hired Jeff Russo to compose a new opening theme. Russo has started in a ’90s alternative rock band named “Tonic”. After that, he started composing songs for video games and television shows. He won an Emmy for his work on the FX series Fargo .

He describes himself as a life-long fan of Star Trek and Jerry Goldsmith’s work on The Next Generation in particular. The theme for Discovery sets itself apart because they decided to focus on emotion rather than exploration. It starts with the familiar fanfare for Star Trek and then uses stringed instruments to give a sense of mystery and hope. It ends with the theme again which implies the future of the franchise.

It’s a solid piece that relies on fan recognition. So it doesn’t stand out on its own.

7. Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969)

Composed by Alexander Courage

The theme for Star Trek played over every episode in the show’s three seasons. It’s called “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. It’s an instrumental piece and opens with a monologue by William Shatner starting with “Space. The final frontier”. The song itself relied on wind instruments and percussion by bongo drums, which was a popular instrument at the time.

Alexander Mair “Sandy” Courage Jr. was an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy Award-winning composer, arranger, conductor, and orchestrator of television shows and movies like Jurassic Park (1993), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and Hello, Dolly! (1964).

Courage was inspired by the Richard Whiting song “Beyond the Blue Horizon,” giving him the idea for a song which was a “long thing that…keeps going out into space…over a fast-moving accompaniment.”

The original song is a masterpiece of its time evoking a feel of adventure and excitement and has been used in several pieces for Star Trek since then. Unfortunately, it feels dated. Bongo drums fell out of fashion decades ago. The operatic singing by  Loulie Jean Norman feels out-of-place. Iconic, but not quite as good as others.

6. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974)

Composed by Ray Ellis (Yvette Blais), Norm Prescott (Jeff Michaels)

Raymond Spencer Ellis arranged many hit records in the 1950s and 1960s. He later started working with Filmation on their animated series. He used his wife’s name “Yvette Blais” as a pseudonym. Norman Prescott was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates and worked with Ellis on the theme song. He used the pseudonym “Jeff Michael” after his sons Jeff and Michael.

Paramount decided to revive the original series for a Saturday morning cartoon. They decided to make the theme more modern.

Like the original song, it starts with Shatner’s monologue “where no man had gone before”. Then it moves onto a song with a much faster pace and tone than the original. The tone is slightly different as well but manages to capture the same feel of the original song. Plus, there’s no singing.

5. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1-3 (1993–1995)

Jerry Goldsmith was contacted to do the theme song but declined because of scheduling problems. Dennis McCarthy has done a ton of work on Star Trek and he admired the Star Trek: The Next Generation song. He said that he loved the trumpets and French horns in the theme so McCarthy used wind instruments to write the song for DS9 .

It’s different from other songs because it’s the first show to focus on a starbase instead of a spaceship. So the feel of the song is very different for the fourth television spin-off. Berman said he wanted to emphasize the loneliness of the station. McCarthy told SyFy he wanted the theme to say, “We are alone” and he accomplished it. It’s different but beautiful. In 1993 he won an Emmy for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music” on DS9.

4. Star Trek: Picard (2019-)

Composed by Jeff Russo

CBS All Access went in a different direction with the theme song for Picard. Instead of relying on strings and a large orchestra to play the song it goes smaller. The song is thoughtful, serene and melodic. It’s not bombastic like the N ext Generation  theme or slow like  Deep Space Nine.

But it does owe a debt to the 90s Star Trek series. In the TNG episode “The Inner Light” Picard is knocked unconscious by an alien probe. He lives 40 years of life as an alien scientist named Kamin in the span of a few minutes. During the episode, he hears a flute song played by his “son” Batai (Daniel Stewart). After Picard returns to his normal life, he still remembers how to play and plays a melody on a flute. That flute and song have a special place in Picard’s life since it’s the family he never had but “lost”. It’s not a coincidence. The composer said he wanted to use a flute to evoke some of the feelings from the episode.

Russo told  The Ready Room  he wanted to “change to a feeling of emotional contentment for him because as we come to see, he lives on a chateau. And it’s sort of what we always thought would happen at the end of The Next Generation, and those movies where he would always sort of end up … That was his happy place. And then I wanted to … evoke how he has been awoken again.”

It ends with a small section of the theme from  Star Trek: The Next Generation . It’s lovely, thoughtful and moving.

3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4-9 (1996–1999)

For the fourth season to the final season, the song changed. It’s actually better in many ways. The show had changed by the fourth season. New characters joined the show like Leeta (Chase Masterson) the Dabo girl. Other characters, like Worf (Michael Dorn) from Next Generation, returned. The starship USS Defiant was added to allow the show to travel to different parts of space.

All these changes led the producers and McCarthy to rework the theme song to make it lighter. The reworked song makes the show brighter and gives more hope. Star Trek is all about hope and it fits wonderfully.

2. Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

Composed by Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith is a legend in the industry with a long list of awards including 18 Academy Award nominations. He won an Oscar for The Omen (1976) and was nominated for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979.

Unlike The Next Generation which used music from his movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he decided to write a new song. The song is a beautiful sweeping theme that has stunning pictures of the ship soaring through space. The Voyager theme is somber and lonely but not sad. It’s uplifting.

The Voyager opening theme song is wonderful.

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1-7 (1987–1994)

Composed by Dennis McCarthy, Jay Chattaway, Ron Jones, Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith

When the producers were planning out the first Star Trek show in decades they wanted to make sure the music would meet fan expectations. So they turned to the work of Jerry Goldsmith and used a piece from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Specifically, they took a piece that played several times in the soundtrack. The first time is before the Enterprise’s first warp test.

The song is perfect for the opening as it has a feel of hope and majesty. The original song was performed by a 100-piece orchestra. Too much for a TV show so they scaled it back and McCarthy led the original orchestration of a slightly different version of the song.

It opens with the opening of the original Star Trek theme. Then Patrick Stewart says a version of the “Where no man has gone before” monologue. After that, the song begins and blows the doors off. It’s the best theme Star Trek has ever had and set the standard for all other openings.

Which is your favorite Star Trek theme song? Which one do you hate? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Story Behind The Star Trek Franchise's Most Controversial Theme Song

It's hard to imagine there are many Trekkies in the world who are immensely fond of Russell Watson's rendition of "Where My Heart Will Take Me," the theme song to "Star Trek: Enterprise." Imagine if Rod Stewart were straining to produce a particularly stubborn bowel movement, and you can hear the gravelly strains of Mr. Watson's vocals. The insipid lyrics wax elegiac about the progress we've made "getting from there to here," and how the singer's "time is finally near." No one can hold back the song's narrator as he has "faith of the heart." Nothing's gonna bend or break him. The effect of the song is more or less equivalent to a black-bordered inspirational poster hung on a corporate office wall next to a cubicle. You have strength of the soul. 

One might be able to see why the makers of "Star Trek: Enterprise" wanted a pop song, with lyrics, to lead into their new 2001 TV series. The previous "Star Trek" shows all began with bold, orchestral themes that evoke the excitement and exhilaration of jetting off into the cosmos. "Enterprise" was to be the fourth new "Trek" series in 14 years, and would be the first to run by itself since the debut of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in 1993. The series wanted to set itself apart, and a pop song seemed like the way to go. 

In the helpful oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, the shows creators, writers, and directors all talked about the theme song and what led to their (dubious) decision to include Russell "The Voice" Watson's dulcet groans into official "Star Trek" canon. 

It's been a long road...

I didn't mention Rod Stewart above by accident. "Where Will Heart Will Take Me" actually began its life as a 1998 Stewart song called "Faith of the Heart," written by serially Oscar-nominated songwriter Dianne Warren. It was initially penned for Tom Shadyac's execrable, treacle-smeared Hollywood biopic "Patch Adams," and the song's ultra-sentimental tone perfectly matches the corniness of the movie itself. "Faith of the Heart" hit #20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, and peaked at #4 in Canada. A 1999 cover by Christian/Country artist Susan Ashton made it as far as #51 on the Hot Country Songs chart. 

Russell Watson began his singing career as a mere lad and began winning radio singing contests in his 20s. In 1999, he sang "God Save the Queen" at the rugby Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, and England really took notice. Two years later, Watson released his first album, "The Voice" (not related to the TV game show of the same name) and it was a massive success; "The Voice" is the first album to hold the #1 spot on both the U.S. and U.K. classical charts at the same time. Watson, lacking in the "stuffy" pretensions of modern opera and willing to sing pop songs, gained the nickname of "The People's Tenor." He was also called, rather theatrically, "The Voice," after that first album. In short, he was hot s*** in 2001.

Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, the creators of "Star Trek: Enterprise," likely knew all about Watson and his cresting popularity. The two wanted a pop song — mostly at Berman's insistence — but, as it turns out, not that pop song. Braga remembers what he wanted to use, and how awful he thought "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was.

Getting from there to here...

Braga originally wanted a temp track they were using to become the actual "Enterprise" theme song. He was a big U2 fan, it seems. He was not, however, a fan of Russell Watson. Braga said: 

"Rick and I felt that a song would set the slightly more contemporary feeling we were going after with Enterprise. For the longest time, we had a temporary song we cut the main titles to, U2's 'Beautiful Day.' If we had used that—or could have afforded it-that would have been a great song. Those main titles with U2 are amazing. It's hip and cool, whereas the song we ended up with is awful. I'm a big fan of Diane Warren, she's a great songwriter, but this particular song and the way it was sung was tacky." 

For the record, "Beautiful Day" doesn't really have the "bold" qualities of classic "Star Trek" orchestral openings, but it is a sight better than what we got. Braga continued: 

"I still cringe when I hear it and, by the way, I think the song had a lot to do with people's adverse reaction to the show. If you look at the main titles themselves, it's a really cool sequence. But the song is awful, just awful." 

If it was that awful, why was it selected as the theme song for "Enterprise"? Berman revealed that it was the culmination of ideas that all seemed great at the time, but that ultimately combined very poorly. Opening montage, lyrics about progress, talented songwriter, hot pop singer. It seemed like all the pieces were correct, and everything was on track to be great. They could reach any star.

It's been a long time...

Berman remembers the process well. He said: 

"This is another example of my being stubborn, right or wrong. I thought it would be nice to have a theme song. Nobody had ever done it before. I knew that I wanted the animation at the opening instead of just being the flying-through-space stuff that had existed on all the other 'Star Trek' shows. But I wanted it to be sort of a compilation of the science and the people that led up to the space flight. Our visual effects people put together an amazing visual montage. Then we went to a very famous, contemporary composer named Diane Warren, who's written huge hits."

So far, so good. For the record, the opening montage is wonderful. It begins with footage of the first sailing ships on Earth in long-ago times, and quickly walks the audience through the history of navigation. There is a three-masted sailing vessel, a modern ship, a space shuttle. At some point, the montage passes from real-world ships into the fictional crafts of "Star Trek." It ends with the title vessel, warping into adventure.  

Berman recalls Warren:

"...[W]ent through a whole bunch of songs and we came up with this tune that she had written. The lyrics seemed perfect. Then she got all excited, there was a British singer named Russell Watson and he was a very hot performer — kind of semi-operatic and pop performer — and he agreed to sing it. It basically spoke to exactly what we were looking for a dream of going out into the unknown and the whole idea of bringing one's heart to what matters. We recorded the song and put it to the animation and everybody thought it was terrific. And the audience hated it."

But my time is finally near...

Indeed. The semi-operatic sound of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was hated pretty much unilaterally. The idea of opening a "Star Trek" show with a pop song wasn't a bad idea in itself, necessarily, but audiences made it quite clear that Watson's wailings weren't wanted. Eventually, at the start of the show's third season, the song was remixed to add more electric guitars and drums, hoping to trick audiences into thinking it was more upbeat. Watson's vocals, perhaps unfortunately, remained. Berman liked the remix. No one else did. He said: 

"In the second or third year, the network said to us, 'Can you rewrite the song and could you make the song hipper?' We left the vocal on, but we did a completely different instrumental with a lot more electric guitars and things to make it a little more rock 'n' roll. I don't know if anybody was truly satisfied with that. I, for one, can tell you that I thought it was a great opening and I'm not alone in that. I don't think I'm in the majority, but I'm not alone." 

Many of the other producers and writers on "Enterprise" were fine with moving away from a Jerry Goldsmith or Alexander Courage-penned orchestral overture, but none of them liked "Where My Heart Will Take Me." Writer Mike Sussman liked the shake-up, but not "kind of shaking it up in many of the wrong ways. Let's say all the wrong ways." Producer Antoinette Stella recalled that everyone was "shocked" when they heard the song at the series' first screening. "Everybody talked about it after we saw the pilot," she said. "Sometimes you try to be different and they work ... and sometimes they don't."

I will see my dreams come alive at night...

Chris Black, one of the staff writers on "Enterprise" noted that the song was perhaps terrible, but that it was ultimately perfect for the tone of the show. It was about aspiring and touching the furthest star, etc. etc. There were worse things in the world that one should reserve their hate for. Black said: 

"If you listen to the lyrics of that song, they're appropriate. Are the lyrics cheesy? Absolutely. But is it saying something about the characters of the Star Trek universe that I think is appropriate? Absolutely. I don't hate it or love it. Everybody hates it. I don't hate it. I hate Nazis. I don't hate the theme song from 'Enterprise.'"

The editor of Film Score Monthly, Lukas Kendall, noted that "Where My Heart Will Take Me" has aged like fine milk. It was derided in 2001 and still has no fans 22 years later. He asked:

"Is there anybody who likes that song? The choice was ridiculed at the time and comes across no better today. I would not be opposed to the use of a song in principle, but it was the wrong one-a Diane Warren power ballad from 'Patch Adams?' Really? Even the producers seemed to hedge when they had the backing track redone for season three, but they had too much invested to dump it entirely."

In the pages of /Film, it was previously written that modern pop music always feels a little out of place in "Star Trek." The franchise takes place in a post-capitalist society. Adding recognizable commercial pop into the proceedings adds an unavoidable corporate element to Trek. Kendall noted the clash between Trek's typically classical bent and its own need for an insufferable power ballad. 

I will touch the sky

Kendall continued: 

"The producers broke one of their own rules: 'Star Trek' has become pop culture, but there is no pop culture within 'Star Trek,' because it punctures the reality. They tried rebranding with a mainstream radio song instead of another 'space theme for nerds,' so to speak — the desperate attempt to reach a bigger audience — but it was cheesy and lame." 

Many years later, the makers of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" got to affectionally (?) take a swipe at "Where My Heart Will Take Me." William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), while serving as captain on board the U.S.S. Titan, liked to while away his free time interacting with the "Enterprise" characters on the ship's holodeck. This was a reference to the final episode of "Enterprise," wherein Riker did that very thing. As he returned to the bridge after one of his holographic sojourns, he idly commented that he loved visiting the past and that "it's been a long road, getting from there to here." Trekkies instantly recognized Dianne Warren's opening lyric. 

It's worth noting that all the "Star Trek" shows to follow "Enterprise" went enthusiastically back to the "space theme for nerds" model, providing each series with a unique orchestral score. The third season of "Stra Trek: Picard" even repurposed Jerry Goldsmith's theme for "Star Trek: First Contact" wholesale.

Fun trivia: in what might have been a fit whimsical irony, "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was used as the wake-up alarm for mission specialist Richard Mastracchio on the Space Shuttle Endeavour  in 2007.

Hearts were broken. Lessons were learned. "Star Trek" will never again have The Voice.

The ‘X-Men '97' Smartly Repurposes Iconic Theme Song for Its Experimental Score

A ll hell broke loose in the fifth episode of "X-Men '97," "Remember It. The shocking events are so traumatic, in fact, that fired showrunner Beau DeMayo momentarily broke his silence about the show to explain why it was important to reflect that "the X-Men have now been hit hard by the realities of an adult and unsafe world."

It was against this unpredictable backdrop that The Newton Brothers Andy Grush and Taylor Stewart composed a score (out May 24) for the reboot that both honored and transcended the spirit of "X-Men: The Animated Series."

"We started tackling the music in a sort of multi-faceted way at first [before seeing full episodes] because we didn't really want to pretend that we knew exactly what the show should be because there are so many aspects," Grush told IndieWire. "So, for us, it was about trying to give proper credit to various genres and ideas, and seeing how those felt to the team and letting that sort of evolve throughout the season.

But because the series continues to escalate its powder keg of hate and destruction, the composers couldn't find the usual thematic consistency of other shows. "Oftentimes in a TV series, there will be a comfort level at a certain point," Grush added. "Like, these are the sounds we're using, and we'll use this theme for this character, and let's just perform it differently. That's out the window with this show."

Thus, the duo was forced to step it up musically using different sounds. "You're never really sure what's going to happen with the story," Stewart told IndieWire. "You could be in a really intense moment and then you're in a loving moment, and then something else crazy happens. So we had to honor that musically."

Fortunately, they were able to find comfort and inspiration in the iconic theme song from Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, developing and weaving it throughout the series. "That was our temperature gauge and keeping it more to the original was very intended," Grush added. "If it had been wildly different, way more modern, I don't think it would have worked the same."

They nostalgically stuck with the exact melody for the main title sequence, but then experimented with getting out of its way in various cues. "In one of the versions early on, I was trying to figure out where to start," Stewart said "If we know the melody, I'll generally start with the palette and add the melody. But, in this case, I wanted to start with the melody and everything happens around that. And then it was about finding moments to add or take away from what was in the original."

A perfect example was the counterpoint in a triplet section with piano that they ended up having to mute. "But then we were able to use that counterpoint at the end [of the cue]," Stewart continued. "But we had to lose the tubular bells because there were some modern synths that were taking up a lot of sonic space."

They would also sprinkle the main theme with orchestra or synths to hint at when the team was forming or coming together for a fight as an ebb and flow. The first episode of "X-Men '97" was necessarily filled with nostalgia, but, as the series progressed, they got to tease some different percussive sounds and introduce new thematic material.

"We were able to use the new escalation of danger to our advantage because that gives a pulse to the story that we then don't have to worry about creating," Stewart said. One example was Episode 3's ("Fire Made Flesh") "Inferno"-like vision of Hell from Sinister (Christopher Britton) and Jean Grey's Clone, Madelyne Pryor (both voiced by Jennifer Hale), which got the Gothic treatment with organ, synths, closed mic orchestra, and choir.

But it got to the point in Episode 4 ("Motendo / Lifedeath – Part 1") where "everyone lost their marbles" hearing the theme and it gave them an unexpected adrenaline rush. This is where Jubilee (Holly Chou) and Sunspot (Gui Agustini) get pulled into a video game based on her previous adventures. "It's so iconic that it was very effective using it throughout the show in any situation," Grush said.

More from IndieWire

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• Chris Farley Is Getting the Biopic Treatment from Star Paul Walter Hauser and Director Josh Gad

1 hr 58 min

The Fun Zone for 03/24/2024 The Fun Zone with Brynn Lee

Episode Notes This week Brynn takes us to Hollywood where we will hear songs from our favorite movies and TV shows. So, quiet on the set, LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! Hour 1: Barney Stinson - Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit Original HD+ Simpsons - The Monorail Song Julie Brown - Earth Girls Are Easy "Weird Al" Yankovic - Money for Nothing / Beverly Hillbillies Friends - Smelly Cat The Big Bang Theory - Soft Kitty The Wedding Singer - Rapper's Delight (Ellen Albertini Dow) Bob's Burgers - Electric Love Veggie Tales - Love My Lips My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - This Day (Aria) Steven Universe - Here Comes A Thought Aladdin - Friend Like Me Animaniacs - Dot, The Macadamia Nut Simpsons - We Put The Spring in Springfield Eric Cartman - Poker Face Mean Girls - Sexy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - Gettin’ Bi Star Trek Insurrection - A British Tar Star Trek TNG - Captain Picard Dancing and Singing on the Bridge Star Trek： Strange New Worlds - Klingon Boy Band Hour 2: Bluey - Lollipop Yum Yum Yum The Lego Movie - Everything Is Awesome Never Stop Never Stopping - Things In My Jeep Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Titus Lemonade Song The Dewey Cox Story - Walk Hard Jon Pertwee - I Am The Doctor curtinparloe - Doctor Who Sky Phineas and Ferb - A G L E T Extended Edition Robin Sparkles & Jessica Glitter - Two Beavers Are Better Than One (The Beaver Song) Jimmy Fallon & Lin-Manuel Miranda： Two Goats In A Boat Blazing Saddles - I'm Tired (Madeline Kahn) Weird Al Yankovic - Dick Van Dyke Theme with Lyrics Barbie - I'm Just Ken Simpsons - Flaming Moe's Dr. Doofenshmirtz - There's a Platypus Controlling Me Triumph The Insult Comic Dog - Cats Are Cunts Family Guy - All Cartoons Are Fuckin' Dicks

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‘good times’ review: netflix’s animated sequel improves when it steps out from norman lear’s shadow.

The late Lear is an executive producer on this 10-episode look at a Black family in the Chicago projects.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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The title of Eric Monte and Mike Evans’ Norman Lear -produced sitcom Good Times was designed to be welcoming and inclusive. The theme song was a litany of poverty-driven adversity — temporary layoffs, easy credit rip-offs, etc. — interjected with the chorus of “Good Times!,” setting up the story of the Evans family weathering the travails of the Chicago projects with a mix of pride, determination and a whole lot of dysfunctional domestic affection.

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It’s impossible to review Netflix’s Good Times without starting by saying what it is not — namely, it is not Good Times . Yes, the late Norman Lear remains an executive producer — Ranada Shepard and Carl Jones developed the new version — but viewers who grew up with a special place in their hearts for Good Times , a series that redefined the parameters of what the Black family could be on TV, will probably struggle to make it through even the first episode. And for good reason. 

The pilot of this new Good Times is coarse and generally unpleasant and, despite almost non-stop referencing of the original series, exhibits exactly none of the charm and warmth that defined Good Times . It’s also a bizarre choice to take a title associated with a show that illustrated how wide an audience you could attract even while telling a very specific story, and attach it to an adults-only animated series that alienates more than it welcomes.

Set in the unnamed Chicago projects that are definitely meant to recall Cabrini-Green, this Good Times focuses on Reggie ( JB Smoove ) and Beverly ( Yvette Nicole Brown ) Evans. Reggie’s the grandson of John Amos’ James and shares some of his hardworking ethos, even as he struggles to pay the rent with what he makes as a cab driver. Bev is determined to live up to the family’s legacy, whatever that means, and has an antagonistic relationship with Delphine (Tisha Campbell), the projects’ scheming president.

So while this Good Times is a sequel and not a remake, these Evans also coincidentally have a dim-bulb, artistically brilliant son named Junior (Jay Pharoah) and their daughter is also a brilliant, budding activist (Marsai Martin’s Grey). Instead of a youngest son devoted to community advocacy, though, these Evans have… Dalvin (Gerald Anthony “Slink” Johnson), a drug-dealing pre-toddler who does, indeed, bridge a gap between Stewie and Omar Little that nobody ever asked to have bridged.

The first episode includes lots of references to individual episodes of Good Times , features a cameo by Jimmie Walker that you definitely won’t notice and has Reggie singing the original theme song with a cockroach, endeavoring to pander to and insult fans of the original series.

At that point, it becomes possible to ponder what Good Times is or isn’t doing well on its own merits.

The first couple of episodes remain more bad than good. The show is more invested in what it’s defining itself against — “This ain’t the damn Cosby Show ,” Reggie tells Junior when his academically struggling son begs him to love him as he is — than defining what its voice actually is. The humor is heavily weighted toward stereotypes and pop culture references that are at best stale and at worst — multiple Wendy Williams jokes? — tone deaf. It commits to its coarseness — like Bev stripping down to lingerie to seduce Reggie because she’s jealous that he befriended a service dog — but not to finding anything funny in that coarseness. Grey’s attempts to aggressively spell out the show’s political undertones aren’t convincing. Huey Freeman, she is not.

You might be getting a sense now of how this Good Times is using fantastical elements to differentiate itself from an original series that wanted to be as gritty and authentic as a multi-cam comedy could be in 1974. That’s how Good Times progresses and evolves, going from drug-dealing babies and talking roaches to increasingly wild film homages and set pieces. Each time I was prepared to stop watching, a reference or piece of outsized animation would have just enough satirical juice to keep me going. Each time I got fed up with how disconnected or calloused the show felt to the “real” Chicago, a little detail would amuse me — even something as on-the-nose as the show’s treatment of “Mayor Heavyankles.”

It’s the eighth episode when Good Times finally picks a high-concept premise and nails it — the only one of the 10 episodes that I would unapologetically praise. A takeoff on vintage comic book art and framing, “Big Sister Is Watching” is an original superhero/supervillain origin story that actually made me laugh out loud several times and featured a few beats I found borderline audacious. Plus, Norman Lear makes a cameo.

Would I have enjoyed the eighth episode as much without watching the lackluster seven previous episodes for contrast? I don’t know, but it sets up a concluding run in which the show’s serialized plotlines and cautionary themes concerning gentrification and racial exploitation begin to hit home.

Throw in a great developing ensemble — Cree Summer, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Affion Crockett, Lil Rel Howery and Godfrey are among the folks playing multiple characters — and there are reasons to think that in a second season, Good Times might start to consistently deliver some, well, good times. That said, I don’t know how many people are likely to last through the first half of the season, much less through the pilot, and I don’t blame them.

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Screen Rant

What song is in the joker: folie à deux trailer (& what it means).

The Joker: Folie à Deux trailer features a classic needle drop that also carries meaning for Arthur Fleck's tragic existence in the musical sequel.

• The Joker: Folie À Deux trailer teases a number of sequences in the jukebox musical co-starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.
• The Joker sequel trailer includes a cover of a 1960s song that is an emotional cry for hope.
• The song choice in the trailer suggests a connection to Joker's emotional journey and relationship with Harley Quinn.

The first trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux has arrived, and it has a musical element that is an apt choice to emulate the mental struggles of Joaquin Phoenix’s antihero Arthur Fleck. A sequel to Todd Phillips’ DC blockbuster Joker , the confirmed details about Joker: Folie à Deux suggest it would play out as a jukebox musical. With the Joker: Folie à Deux cast also featuring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, the toxic romance between Gotham’s Clown Prince and his psychiatrist-turned-love interest gets a major makeover. What’s interesting, however, is how much the trailer underplays the film’s musical elements .

With the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer offering some hallucinatory stage visuals, these scenes serve as a pastiche of old musicals or Broadway theatrics with both Joker and Harley Quinn performing duets. While Lady Gaga has already enjoyed a Grammy-winning stint as a pop star before her acting career, the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line similarly makes Phoenix’s musical turn as Joker promising . Still, the trailer doesn’t find either Phoenix or Gaga actually performing any musical numbers . A cover of a song is heard over the trailer footage though, one that might be more than just a yesteryear needle drop.

Every Upcoming DC Movie In 2024 And Beyond

The joker: folie à deux trailer song is "what the world needs is love", the song is a cover of a track originally sung by jackie deshannon.

The song that plays throughout the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer is a cover of “What The World Needs Is Love,” a 1965 song first recorded by pop-rock artist Jackie DeShannon. Written in simple rhymes by lyricist Hal David, the 60s-era track was later famously remixed in 1971 by Tom Clay, who interspersed speeches by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to reinterpret the song’s hook (a call for world peace). Not much is known about the cover version that plays in the trailer, but the presence of the song suggests the musical might include more 60s tracks .

It’s known that Joker: Folie À Deux will be a jukebox musical with renditions of 15 previously recorded songs . With “What The World Needs Is Love” in the trailer, Todd Phillips’ Joker movies continue the trend of relying on iconic songs from the decade. Even though Joker is set in the 80s and includes music from that time, some crucial scenes were backed with 60s-era releases like Frank Sinatra’s uplifting ballad “That’s Life” and Cream’s chaotic rock anthem “White Room.” Such a convergence of musical eras and genres can be multiplied in Joker: Folie À Deux considering its tonal shifts.

Why "What The World Needs Is Love" Fits With Joker: Folie À Deux's Story

The lyrics are comparable to arthur fleck's life.

Using Jackie DeShannon’s song for the first trailer of Joker: Folie à Deux might subtly foreshadow the premise of the Joker sequel . As is evident from the first Joker ’s soundtrack , the musical choices subtly conveyed the moods of the central character, Arthur Fleck. While the usage of a track like “Send in the Clowns” fits the titular Joker motif in the literal sense, the Sinatra classic “That’s Life” plays during Joker’s twist ending and conveys the escapist amusement Fleck has achieved in Arkham. Despite having murdered and created anarchic chaos all across the city, the song conveys his morbid enjoyment.

Crossing paths with Harley Quinn is what might finally provide the Joker with some “ sweet love. ”

But while “That’s Life” was a song of acceptance, “What The World Needs For Love” is a cry of hope . DeShannon’s laid back vocals are backed with lyrics that yearn for a more equal society. With the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer song’s main refrain going, “ What the world needs now, is love, sweet love," Joker fans are bound to be reminded of Fleck’s emotional speech on Live With Murray Franklin when he expressed his desire to be loved by an increasingly unkind society. Maybe, crossing paths with Harley Quinn is what might finally provide the Joker with some “ sweet love ” in Joker: Folie à Deux .

Joker: Folie a Deux

Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker's lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.

Key Release Dates

Superman (2025), the batman part ii.