Having just watched the last ever Deep Space Nine, I am still astounded as to why the series was never a huge hit, at least that it never reached the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As seems to be the Star Trek trend, it started poorly, but when it got into gear midway through become crackling drama and a truly superb science fiction series. It might have got closer in style to rival Babylon 5, but in my estimation became the stronger show. It is just unfortunate that, as happened with Voyager, the last series seemed to rush coming to a slightly abrupt close.

Here we have where it all started with the first Star Trek series to seriously depart from the formula. For the beautifully shot title sequence, Dennis McCarthy penned a lonely trumpet voluntary which (along with Goldsmith's Voyager theme) has never been terribly popular with fans, but I would consider it probably the most fitting theme of all the series to date. The energised version used in later series' (not included on this album) was a smart move to musically move the show from its ponderous beginning to the science fiction epic it eventually became. Dennis McCarthy of course scored the larger part of the series and provides a typically solid latter day Trek effort here.

I distinctly remember the original trailers for the show promising lots of action, but in fairness most of those were taken from the prologue which sets up the beginnings of then Commander Ben Sisko and his son and the tragic loss of his wife during the first major encounter with the Borg. McCarthy suggests Ron Jones' synth choir Borg motif for Wolf 359, although never quite sets the adrenaline racing. Things settle down into more typical McCarthy mode but still remains above average television music. Some of the encounters with the prophets are given some very nice ethereal material which works well within the usual ambient style. A good smattering of the main theme as well as the curious "love" theme, Passage Terminated give something thematic to latch onto. Passage Terminated doesn't much suggest romance, but is particularly nice during the concert arrangement at the end. Cucumbers in Space is definitely a track to avoid - another painful attempt to provide futuristic dance music that fails as that kind of thing always does.

As with Voyager, the later episodes had much better music and some of the highlights appear on other albums, but this is a solid McCarthy effort that manages to stay away from being completely themeless and has quite a few nice ideas, if only Rick Berman would have allowed him to expand on them some more. The album is rounded out by an extended version of the main theme with drum kit and electric guitars. It sounds dreadful, but works far better than it should, although it isn't as good as the extended orchestral version McCarthy subsequently made.

Rating ~

  1. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title (1:55)
  2. Wolf 359 (4:51)
  3. The Enterprise Departs - A New Home (1:10)
  4. Trashed and Thrashed (1:59)
  5. Bajor - Jake - Saying Goodbye (1:44)
  6. Cucumbers in Space (1:44)
  7. New Personality (2:17)
  8. Into the Wormhole (3:41)
  9. Time Stood Still (4:13)
  10. Searching for Relatives (1:13)
  11. Painful Memories (4:21)
  12. Passage Terminated (3:44)
  13. Back to the Saratoga - What Shields? (2:00)
  14. Reconciliation (3:18)
  15. The Sisko Kid (4:40)
  16. A New Beginning (1:47)

    Single Versions

  17. Theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (4:16)
  18. Passage Terminated (3:32)

Total Time ~ 52:32