Glen here…
For those who may not know, I’m the guy who runs the "Coaxial" section of the site. Today, I’m over here at Coolnews because this particular story more directly involves (and impacts) elements of the *film* industry than the television-oriented material I usually cover. I had the story…I was prepared to share it with you…and Harry said "take the front page!" So here I am - hope I didn’t erase some other article like I did the last time I tried this.
In my entire time here at Aint It Cool News, I’ve never had a weekend as surreal as this last three days. I was…literally…sitting down to write this story when multiple pieces of mail dropped into my "inbox", all of which were conveying very much the same notions I wanted to express. The timing was damn peculiar, but those messages helped to reinforce the notion that perhaps this was a story that needed to be told. In order to bring you up to speed, a little bit of background is required:
Four years ago, work began in earnest on an expanded CD release of Jerry Goldsmith’s soaring score for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. While the film itself was widely damned as being "motionless" and "tedious", the score is widely considered to be among Goldsmith’s best work - it is likely one of the finest "adventure" scores to accompany a film in the last twenty years.
The original 1979 release of the soundtrack was somewhat abridged - many memorable and evocative cues from the film’s score were not included on the LP for rather customary reasons. This wasn’t anything particularly surprising at the time, as most motion picture score soundtracks are notoriously incomplete, and generally leave many musical selections off the album out of technical necessity (too much music, too little space) or economic consideration (the more music you want to put on the disc, the more you have to pay to put it there). None the less, back in 1994, a few producers set out to flesh out a score they had wanted to see more completely presented fifteen years earlier.
Since then, numerous political considerations have resulted in a seemingly endless series of setbacks for the expanded CD release . Many slow-downs and complications arose during the negotiations between Sony music (who held the rights to release the ST: TMP score) and Paramount (who produces and distributes STAR TREK). Who got what percent of what, etc.? Common and pesky stuff. There were numerous approaches and retreats, several announced release dates that were not met. As an arrival date for the CD became categorized as "indefinite", TREK fans and soundtrack collectors became weary of an endless cycle of defeat and disappointment.
A few weeks back, an official release date of November 17 was finally announced by Sony. And not only was Goldsmith’s expanded score finally to see the light of day, the score had become part of a two disc set which included his music (of course), and a second disc - the first CD pressing (and first release in a while) of an old record called INSIDE STAR TREK.
INSIDE STAR TREK was…basically…a series of interview sessions hosted by TREK creator Gene Roddenberry. The crux of these sessions was for many of the key players on STAR TREK to confront their creations as if their characters were actually real people. For example, Roddenberry (as the show’s creator) interviews actor Mark Lenard…who played Spock’s father on multiple occasions…as if Lenard were really Sarek. Other interesting elements included Roddenberry asking William Shatner what *effect* the James T. Kirk character had on Mr. Shatner personally. The list goes on. It’s a kitschy idea, but rather fun and historically relevant - all things being equal. It should be noted that INSIDE STAR TREK has also been expanded for this release.
SO - the programming on the discs was set, the packaging had been designed, promotional materials which announced the discs’ release started to emerge from Sony, QVC began taking advanced orders for the titles, Sony even released a few "promotional copies" (i.e. "review copies") of the discs to some members of the collector’s world and media, and then WHAM! Paramount decides this is not the right time to issue this package.
After four years of development and negotiation, after Sony expended a great deal of time and resources, after fans had gotten their hopes up *yet again*…after all seemed right with the world at long last…Paramount slams on the breaks in the eleventh hour!
Before I began writing this piece, I approached this subject with an open mind - figuring there’s *got* to be a good explanation as to why Paramount chickened out at the last minute. But all of my research and all of the evidence points to one simple explanation and factor: Paramount believes the release of the expanded Goldmsith score & INSIDE STAR TREK might "confuse" people who might also be interested in going out to buy Cresendo’s forthcoming release of Goldsmith’s score for STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, the ninth STAR TREK film, the third featuring THE NEXT GENERATION cast. It should be pointed out that Crescendo (the company responsible for many of the TREK scores currently available, as well as the forthcoming INSURRECTION score) has nothing to do with the delay of the expanded ST:TMP score - at least not that I can *tell*.
By implication, Paramount doesn’t seem to believe STAR TREK fans (or music collectors) can distinguish the difference between two soundtracks. And despite considerable prying, I’ve been unable to ascertain why Paramount perceives *this* score to be potentially damaging to the INSURRECTION score’s market potential, when there are around *twenty* TREK-related scores currently circulating through stores, some of them even involving Goldsmith.
Those other CDs won’t be distracting to the buyers, but this one will? Doesn’t seem….well….logical. But even if one acknowledges the marketing principles of "splitting the audience" and so forth, couldn’t Paramount at least have provided a new estimated time of arrival for the product?
Adding insult to injury, Paramount has issued no indication as to when we can expect to see these discs in stores. The discs have…again…simply been delayed "indefinitely". I can’t help but believe there has to be *some* unspoken explanation as to why this went down the way it did, as to why Paramount made the choice that it made. The reason currently being articulated simply isn’t good enough - the notion is insulting to fans and collectors, and sounds like a "party line" which might be hiding some unspoken truth.
Certainly there are economic considerations and / or marketing concerns here, but if Paramount insists on sticking to its current course of action, fans are…at the very least…owed a definitive new release date and a statement of intent regarding when this highly anticipated product will finally hit the stores. After all this time and waiting, we deserve *at least* that, don’t we?
As an open invitation to The Powers That Be at Paramount, I officially invite you to make a public statement…on this site…elaborating further as to why the release of the STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE’s expanded score was delayed, and offer a public indication (and more precise indication - as "Spring" has been mentioned in passing...but not from Paramount...and the projection is a little vague) as to when fans and collectors can expect to see these discs formally released. I will run your statement in this venue without comment, and would be delighted to let your words speak for themselves.
In the mean time, Paramount has successfully shot itself in the foot by doing this. By using INSURRECTION as an excuse not to release a project fans have been anticipating for *years*, Paramount has succeeded in focusing unhealthy resentment towards the upcoming film - which has been receiving marginal advanced word-of-mouth at best. The last thing INSURRECTION needs is to have another negative preconception focused towards it - whether or not said preconception is accurate.
Also: in quick reaction to news of the project’s delay, collectors and bootleggers have already begun striking CDRs (a recordable CD which is "burned" with data, information, music, etc.) for distribution through black market and private channels. I guess it’s just a matter of time before tracks from the expanded release end up as MP3 files on the Net?
Whether or not these CDRs are being burned out of spite…or lust for profit…is uncertain. And whether not making these things is illegal, evidence is mounting that Paramount’s decision may ultimately cost the company *money*. Money it could have been making legitimately and up-front, while making everybody happy at long last.
Sources have speculated that Sony music is left with little or no recourse in this matter, as it is not particularly eager to damage the lucrative relationship it formed with Paramount during Sony’s release of Paramount’s TITANIC CDs. In summation: Sony’s hands are tied, the fans are getting are getting stiffed, Paramount is losing money *anyway*, and a great idea has become a festering boil in both fandom and the market place.
If anyone out there is pre-disposed towards doing so, below you will find contact information for Paramount head Sherry Lansing. While I know it’s a pain in the ass to write a "real" letter and send it through non-electronic means, ethics and protocol prevent me from disclosing her e-mail address. But write her…or call her office (writing is preferred)…and let her know that this has gone too far. Let her know that you want this score, that you’ll *still* buy the INSURRECTION score if you like the music, let her know you do care - and are a capable and responsible consumer.
BE POLITE, BE MATURE, BE BRIEF AND POINTED. But I think it’s time to let Paramount know how we feel - because through this current course of action, they are hurting the fans, the franchise, and themselves. Nothing good can come from any of this, and nobody wins.
Here’s the address and phone #. Below that, you will find a few of my thoughts on the expanded CD project.
Sherry Lansing
Paramount
5555 Melrose
Hollywood, CA 90038-3197
Main Number: 1-323-956-5000
Jerry Goldsmith’s STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE score has always been somewhat paradoxical to me. It’s a *huge* adventure score, which manages to be romantic, emotional, exhilarating, and atmospheric in a movie which…arguably…didn’t capture any of those elements on-screen as well as the score itself did. And, by their very nature, all of these elements are starkly contrasting, yet the score is astoundingly organic and uniform.
The new *expanded* release is a treasure not to be missed. It is one of the most easy-to-listen-to score CDs issued in quite a while. The 20 bit digital re-master of this music is crisp and sharp, full of depth and nuance which was difficult…if not impossible…to detect in the score’s previous release.
The music has been re-sequenced to better emulate its original presentation in the film (for example, Ilya’s theme has been moved from a position roughly half-way thought the original album to the introductory "overture" position the piece enjoyed in the film’s theatrical release), and many sequences with shared score are presented here as one fluid piece for listening purposes - but are identified as specific *tracks* to allow easier access to particular movements within the longer sequences.
Included in this expanded re-issue are numerous tracks of music which were not incorporated in the previous release of the score. Including: the brooding thematics which accompanied Spock’s time on Vulcan shortly after the film’s opening - incorporating the magnificent "crash-cut" segue into Kirk’s arrival at Starfleet Headquarters in San Fransisco; the dreamy establishing music featured over the shots of the orbiting office complex (Kirk stops there to meet Scotty on the way to the Enterprise); Spock’s arrival on the Enterprise (the docking of his shuttle craft), music covering the Enterprise being pulled into and docking against V’Ger in the film’s conclusion, the V’Ger = Voyager 6 revelation music, and more.
The only music notably *missing* from the disc is the re-orchestrated Alexander Courage STAR TREK TV series theme, which was briefly featured beneath a Captain’s log during the film. I am told Mr. Goldsmith preferred this track not be included on the disc, so this should not be seen as an oversight by the people working on this project.
The one thing which jumps out most about this disc is the love which clearly went into it. With his score presented more sequentially, with more purity, and more completely than ever before - one can really *feel* the energy and passion that Goldsmith poured into scoring this film. In mixing and presentation, the engineers and producers who laid down the music for this release clearly *cared*. The disc *flows*, it feels much more complete and less choppy than its previously released counterpart.
Goldsmith’s music is elegant, atmospheric, exciting, and a consummate example of how to use different orchestrations of memorable melody lines to provide continuity throughout a varied and multi-flavored score.
Great music - and with the inclusion of the oddly quirky but ultimately…fascinating…INSIDE STAR TREK - this is a great package. That it can not be more immediately enjoyed by the masses…when it is ready to go and the world is waiting…is an affront to the audience who would embrace it, and to the talent who worked so long and hard to make it happen.
