10 Things You Learn Revisiting Star Trek: First Contact For First Contact Day
2. Music
There are two Star Trek themes that are instantly recognisable to even non-fans. The first is the eight note motif written by Alexander Courage for the Original Series. The second is the Star Trek march, written in 1979 by Jerry Goldsmith, probably most well known as the theme for the Next Generation.
Goldsmith joined the franchise with the Motion Picture, creating an amazing score that should have been Oscar nominated that year. He would step away for the following three films, returning for the ill-fated Star Trek V, though delivering a beautiful score again. With that film's failure, he again ventured away until he was coaxed back for First Contact. He brings not only the Star Trek march back in its full glory but he also brings the return of the Klingon Anthem as Worf appears.
He creates a stunning theme for the moment of First Contact itself but, in a moving collaboration, he worked with his son Joel (well known to Sci-Fi fans for his work on the Stargate franchise) to create the sound of the Borg. Father and son working together on the same score was said to have brought many tears to many eyes, watching these two masters create one of the more memorable Trek soundtracks.
The Borg sound is grand and frightening, eschewing a sense of majesty and menace. In contract, the first contact theme is sweeping and soulful, hitting straight to the core as the Vulcan ship descends. Goldsmith would score both Insurrection and Nemesis, which would be one of his last ever works before his death in 2004.