Star Trek: Ranking All 13 Movie Soundtracks

After four films that bounced between thematic identities, Jerry Goldsmith returned for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier to carry on his highly memorable themes from The Motion Picture, incorporating the title march into numerous compositions for the film and developing his Klingon theme into a piece that rivaled John Williams' Imperial March.

Goldsmith also introduced numerous new musical ideas for The Final Frontier, creating a beautiful, electronically augmented theme for Sha Ka Ree ("The Barrier"), a pensive theme for the slightly villainous Sybok ("It Exists"), a tender motif for the Enterprise crew ("The Mountain" and "Cosmic Thoughts") and a tense, four-note motif best encapsulated on the soundtrack in "A Busy Man". This "A Busy Man" motif would go on to play a huge role in Goldsmith's subsequent Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek Nemesis, and can be heard briefly in Star Trek: Insurrection.

The aforementioned title march is treated to a number of intelligent variations, a slow, majestic version in "A Tall Ship", a playful rendition in "Raid on Paradise", and the expected, full performance (bracketing the Klingon theme) in the film's end credit.

Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated Star Trek: The Motion Picture is frequently cited as the pinnacle of Trek music, however Star Trek V: The Final Frontier represents the full evolution of his material from that 1979 score into the purest, most soaring, rip-roaring, superior Star Trek soundtrack.