The non-Goldsmith films all receive an airing, notably James Horner's nautical The Wrath of Kahn, even if the actual underscore eclipsed the basic thematic material. His oriental sounding Klingon theme gets a good work out in Bird of Prey Decloaks from The Search for Spock (the easiest interplanetary search ever committed to celluloid) and is one of the few performances that surpasses the original, even if it's only because the performance is just that bit more beefy and bassy than the curiously thin original recording. Eidelman's Undiscovered Country, Rosenman's Voyage Home and McCarthy's Generations are all represented by their end title sequences in decent performances that are generally a bit more rugged than the originals. Certainly, the Generations march is a lot bolder than the underpowered original version, but nicely balanced with the ethereal music for The Nexus where the Crouch End Festival Chorus do some fine work.
The television incarnations actually get the best deal. Only The Next Generation titles are omitted - no point including a cut down version of Goldsmith's march when the strident big screen versions (most notably orchestration differences between The Motion Picture and versions from later films) are included half a dozen times. The fine expanded arrangement of McCarthy's Deep Space Nine trumpet melody is always worth hearing as is Goldsmith's noble Voyager anthem and even Alexander Courage's retro theme sound almost elegant when performed by cellos. Several underscore cues are included; the longest is from The Menagerie by Courage, quite a prototypical original series score, as are He's Toast (much more serene than the title suggests) and Tasha's Farewell, both fairly representative of the more recent style of TV Trek underscore.
The only real oddity is Ron Jones' nicely stoic titles to the Star Fleet Academy computer game which, while never as memorable as the best Star Trek themes, still fits nicely as a companion to the more grandiose gestures. The emphasis on opening and end titles is a little disappointing, especially since none of the renditions really do Goldsmith's march justice. The First Contact cue from the film of the same name would have been a preferable, a great stand alone track comprising a rhapsodic treatment of the film's new theme. Similarly, one of the action cues, or even the opening titles to The Final Frontier might have been better, the endless end titles only highlighting the march/theme/march approach Goldsmith has adopted. Still, the most comprehensive survey of Star Trek music to date. Not worth it for those owning the original albums, but for any Trekker just wanting all those memorable themes, not a bad start.
Rating ~ 
Disc 1: Total Time ~ 53:15
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Disc 2: Total Time ~ 44:35
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