That new intro is awful. Both visually (the E looks like it's made out of iron plates they found on a junk yard) as well as musically. Discovery's theme was okay and I grew to like Picard's theme over time, but this bastardization of the original theme is the best Russo could come up with? Disappointing. Nami Melumad's work on Prodigy so far has been very promising. They should just have let her create the theme as well.
While I've never been a fan of that "enterprising" theme (but didn't hate it either), it fits remarkably well with the visuals. That I (and others based on the YT comments) find it to be an improvement over what Russo wrote speaks volumes.
I quit watching Picard after the first season (would have quit after the 5th episode if I hadn't known in advance Riker and Troi would return later in the season), Discovery after it's third and I haven't missed any of it. Despite the promise of weekly stories, all signs point to SNW being more of the same. And why would it be fundamentally different if it's made by the exact same people? So I'll just wait until the first episodes have aired and monitor the reviews and reactions online to know if I should bother with it or not.
I'm not really a fan of Russo's work here. But except "Leaving The La Sirena" I kinda dislike every moment where Russo tries to arrange a pre-existing theme. Maybe spoiler for Picard S2 (don't know, didn't watch it) In one of the last tracks of the Picard S2 soundtrack he kinda manages to make Goldsmith's First Contact theme less melodic and simply bad. Some of his TMP/TNG Theme reprisals are ok but far from good imo. I think his handling of Sandy's original Trek fanfare is the best of all. But that one is surely hard to fuck up.
But this theme here is meh... too percussive and not enough theme. He should've written a new one or adapt Sandy's theme properly.
Really don't like it. Sounds like generic trailer music. I expect this from a fanfilm where they hire some cheap-O composer, not an actual studio production.
Sorry, maybe he's a nice guy, maybe he's done some good work on other projects, but on Trek projects, he shouldn't be the go-to composer as often as he has been. In fact, I think he shouldn't be used any further and this theme replaced. The guy who created and runs the Rejected Film Scores website is saying reject the theme.
I wonder if her work on this series will receive as generous of a score album as her work on Star Trek: Prodigy did (almost FOUR HOURS of music released from a ten episode first season — and these are half hour episodes!)
So... it continues to be mentioned during the Ready Room show, after each SNW episode, that everyone was excited to feature the theramin in the main title for SNW. If I'm correct, there's never been a theramin used in TOS, it the electric violin used in the S1 main title? I mean, I guess no one on the new Trek productions did research into the instrumentation actually used on TOS, they all just kind of... assumed incorrectly that the electric violin was a theramin?
Melumad's doing great work. And a very nice tip of the hat to Gerald Fried in episode five.
I also noticed that there's a lot of score in each episode, which I regard as positive and in keeping with the original series. I say that to point out that she's very successfully underscoring a lot of pure dialog which is challenging unless you default to the drones and string beds that characterized a lot of the Next-Gen era scores. Great work.
Melumad's doing great work. And a very nice tip of the hat to Gerald Fried in episode five.
I also noticed that there's a lot of score in each episode, which I regard as positive and in keeping with the original series. I say that to point out that she's very successfully underscoring a lot of pure dialog which is challenging unless you default to the drones and string beds that characterized a lot of the Next-Gen era scores. Great work.
Oh for sure, she is doing a great job on the series as composer, as she did on Prodigy, no complaints here!
But, can we anyone confirm for me that a theramin was actually ever used in ant TOS episode scores or the main theme? I would like to tweet at or write the show to let them know that what they think is a theramin is in fact an electric violin.
But, can we anyone confirm for me that a theramin was actually ever used in ant TOS episode scores or the main theme? I would like to tweet at or write the show to let them know that what they think is a theramin is in fact an electric violin.
I read through the entirety of the linernotes/orchester member lists of LLL's TOS collection and there isn't one mention of the theremin.
But, can we anyone confirm for me that a theramin was actually ever used in ant TOS episode scores or the main theme? I would like to tweet at or write the show to let them know that what they think is a theramin is in fact an electric violin.
I read through the entirety of the linernotes/orchester member lists of LLL's TOS collection and there isn't one mention of the theremin.
Closest would be the Season 1 theme and a few other places where the Electric Violin was used (I think it was).
Jeff Bond literally wrote the book on Trek music and he would be the one to confirm.
That was what I thought, I also referred to Jeff's book and all the details in the TOS box set. It's such a silly thing for me to obsess over, but for whatever reason, SNW using a theramin in the main title and talking about it as a great homage to TOS just makes me assume that no one on the music production team knows the difference between an electric violin and a theramin. Or, no one on the team took time to listen closely to the TOS main title and maybe pull those scoring session files. And that's kind of a bummer!
In addition to electric violin, there’s also the organ version and the soprano version. I’ve never heard of a theremin used during any episode of Star Trek.
That said, I don’t really mind it in the new theme. I’m frankly not a big fan of that theme so it’s not a huge issue for me.
