That being said, lets review Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out where to even start with this score because, frankly, this is the one Horner score that transcends film music fandom and appeals directly to the [nerdy] masses (before anyone goes all Titanic on me, I truly believe the album sales were because of “My Heart Will Go On,” and Horner sort of got the after-effect of people discovering the score that inspired the song). And there is good reason this score is so popular to this day. To quote
To this day, a lot of people complain that Horner doesn’t write like he did in TWOK anymore. But I think people totally miss the point of TWOK (and for that matter, Battle Beyond the Stars, Krull, and most scores through Aliens, really). These scores are not your average everyday Horner scores. James Horner was still new at this game. His experience was from the classical world and his Hollywood background was minimal at the time. In essence, Horner was following in the footsteps of Prokofiev (for example) and serving as a classical composer made film composer. Horner wasn’t settled into his role at this point and was still working with self and musical discovery in this new role. In other words, these are highly experimental scores for Horner, and I cannot emphasize enough that everything you hear in these scores are still present in Horner’s canon to this day He still writes like he did for these scores, but he just isn’t throwing his ideas all out at once on top of each other!. I think this is such a major reason why Horner is horrifically misunderstood among modern score collectors. Horner is one of the few remaining film composers who is a spin off of the classical realm, and he has evolved from that into his Hollywood role.
Now that I’m done with my diatribe, let us talk about TWOK. I won’t spend a lot of time on the score’s history, but it is no secret Nicholas Meyer wanted the movie scored with nautical music rather than weirdness sci-fi music. That is exactly what Horner has done here, and the results are really quite stunning. This score weaves in the the rising and falling motions of the sea (listen for it in those shimmering fast/swirling strings that were so prevalent in his experimental scores. They rise and fall VERY quickly, as like very rough seas. This isn’t as pronounced as in, say, The Perfect Storm or House of Sand and Fog where the sea-based rise/fall music is more obvious, but its here). That rise/fall here is accompanied by such a speed in the strings to create such an emotional chaos, wild adventure, tension, and power as to actually cause the listener to tense at moments and relax at others. Actually, many moments in TWOK are like this. For example, Spock’s theme, played only on a synthesizer approximating a glass harp in the track “Spock” (orchestral in “Epilogue/End Title”) is tender yet equally mysterious, almost weepy in a way that adds a level of emotion to the music that we know Spock feels, but would never show. On a more general level, Horner institutes his trademark pounding piano to flow the music forward and indicate desperation, something he alternatively does with the brass as it blares away and pounds away. Soft woodwinds are used to show humanity among the layers, as well as slower strings, especially toward the more contemplative end to the score. These are all Horner trademarks that he would focus on one or two at a time in his forthcoming scores, rather than layer over each other in his score. While Battle Beyond the Stars featured the same kind of “all in one” technique application, TWOK is more indicative of how Horner would apply these ideas later in his career because Battle Beyond the Stars (and for that matter, anything prior to TWOK) was, for lack of a better description, too silly to engage the serious drama and emotion that Horner loves so much. Here, we hear Horner become much more serious and focused with the application of emotion, and it is here we see the genesis (no pun intended) of what was to come.
Thematically, TWOK does something that really no other Horner score would do in the future, and that is take fragments of one long, gigantic theme and apply sections of it to characters and situations throughout the score. Horner tends to be a fan of writing one theme per situation or character and repeating full, plush variations of these themes when needed. The one giant theme here (heard in full in “Main Titles” and “Enterprise Clears Moorings”, and is superficially similar to his theme to Battle Beyond the Stars, the score that landed him this project) is broken into the fragment of usually the first few notes of the theme in the action sequences as the Enterprise/Kirk theme (heard most frequently), or the rising, secondary part of the theme to add and show the beauty of life and death during the more contemplative parts of the score toward the end. Heard complete, the theme itself tells the entire story of the movie. You get the Star Trek theme by Courage (no, it wasn’t Goldsmith who did this first), the Enterprise theme, a stronger, bolder repeat, then the secondary part, and then it slowly ends. I have always heard this as representing the trials and toils of the Enterprise through two major struggles, always prevailing (despite what it may seem), while, when the secondary theme kicks in, the third battle is lost as the Enterprise takes the secondary role to the death of someone truly loved by all, but yet in that they are reborn. And, as I noted, that is how those themes are distributed throughout the score.✝
Aside from the main theme and Spock theme, there is one other theme to cover--the Khan/Reliant theme. This theme, introduced in “Surprise Attack” will sound familiar to anyone who knows anything about Horner, for it is the introduction of the ubiquitous “danger theme” in his career. It only appears as itself (in the 4 note variation) at the beginning of “Surprise Attack” before switching to a 6 note version where the first two notes of the danger theme are repeated twice. This theme works so well to show the one dimensionalness of Khan and his spite on Kirk--and the sheer rage and anger he is feeling--that it ought to be no surprise Horner kept it in his canon. There is no questioning the effectiveness of a theme that burns and twists and is so fiery that the character it is accompanying is amplified so significantly that the character wouldn’t function as well in the film without it. Even though Horner is criticized for its overuse, I think TWOK is as good a score as any to explain how this theme (and other Horner trademarks) is proof that Horner scores emotion first and how a certain theme/motif is kept through his works to evoke the same emotions.
There are two cues a bit out of place among the action music in the score. The first is the aforementioned “Spock” and the other is “Khan’s Pets,” which is a prototype for Horner suspense scoring. A theme surrounded by soft yet low noted swirling strings. It works so very well while invoking horror, terror, and fear--just as what is occurring in the movie at the time. Again, people say this form of scoring is not used by Horner anymore, but all I need say is listen to Troy during “The Night Before” (which really is just a cleverly rewritten form of “Khan’s Pets”) or Flightplan. Horner clearly knows what works and sticks with it--always a good move in music!
A lot of people want to pin Horner down for aping Jerry Goldsmith in his early scores, and I don’t get it. Granted, Battle Beyond the Stars quotes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture where he was ordered to do so, but there is no such aping to be found here. Horner’s orchestration is so distinctly his own that this score allowed him to firmly and necessarily stamp his style on the movie to show his worth. And he does. This is a Horner score through and through, and, as I said above, he still writes like this. His brass writing may have diminished somewhat as he discovered his strings, but so what? The general techniques--the three note “bah buh bah” (heard at the start of “Genesis Countdown”), the fast strings over piano with brass ostinatos to back them up, the tenderness in the woodwinds and high strings, the emotive themes, the propulsive snare based drumming--it is all still there, just not bunched all together in a musical cornucopia. The action scoring style is still there, too--listen to Troy or Legend of Zorro and listen to all the aforementioned techniques take root in the fast paced frantic nature of the music (adjusted for the films’ tones, of course). Even those swirling strings Horner was so famous for in TWOK and Krull are still there. Listen to “A Building Panic” on the Back to Titanic CD, “Marine Assault” in Windtalkers, and “The Train” from Legend of Zorro. They tend to favor the cellos now, but they are most certainly still there!
Before I conclude, I would like to throw out a few miscellaneous comments:
*I believe TWOK may contain one of the best applications of music to on screen action in Horner’s career. When the track Kirk’s Explosive Reply plays in the film, there is a frantic, descending strings, xylophone, and percussion part that plays as Kirk is about to fire on Khan and Khan cannot figure out how to operate his computer to raise his shields. The franticness of the music just amplifies Khan immensely (not to say it didn’t elsewhere, but here it is simply breathtaking the amount of character Horner brings out).
*I always found it interesting that Horner used the blaster beam in this score. It made sense to use it in Battle Beyond the Stars where he was under orders to ape Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but here it just didn’t seem to make sense. But rather than use it like Goldsmith did, to evoke mystery, he used the deep thrum to move the action music forward and indicate danger. I often view this as somewhat of a predecessor to his trademark synthetic sounds that would do the same thing later in his career. But I still found it an odd choice of sounds to include in his orchestra.
*Horner shows off his penchant for writing long cues in the duo of "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" and "Genesis Countdown." They go together and are 14 minutes of straight, propulsive action, never getting tired, never losing steam. Horner does these cues best, and these two are no exception.
*Horner uses some very unique orchestration at the beginning of the cue "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" that is worth mentioning. He uses the swirling strings for tension, on top of which he plants a flute and french horn playing the same notes to create quite an otherworldly effect in what would otherwise be a standard musical movement. Quite impressive!
*I do not find the audio quality to be as bad as everyone says it is. It may sound a bit dated, but its not awful, and all parts of the orchestra are pronounced and add to the musical effect. There are a few Murphy recordings that are far, far worse than this (see: Braveheart)
*The orchestra performance in this score is phenomenal. It is so fiery and passionate. They were exceptionally inspired here, but I won’t speculate on why. I just marvel at it and that is what counts when enjoying the score!
*Not that this is anything new, but watch out for Horner’s cameo (the only one he has done) in the movie during the preparation for the battle in the Mutara Nebula. Horner is dressed as a cadet, carrying some gizmo, walking toward the camera during the hallway/turbolift rush of no name crew.
Its probably obvious to you, the reader, by now that I had a very difficult time writing a review for this score (and trying to keep it JUST to the score and not turn it into a retrospective), and I cannot exactly pinpoint why. It may have to do with me looking at TWOK from the lens of 25 years of subsequent Horner scores, it may be that TWOK was the first soundtrack album I ever bought and thus have listened to it for so long (at least 6 years) that its so familiar to me I’ve never really thought it though, or it may be that I’m having trouble saying something that hasn’t been said many times over about the score. No less, there is no question that it is music of an extremely high quality from an experimental, young, classical composer just getting his feet wet in the realm of film. The performance and composition are charged with a musical cornucopia of Hornerisms that debut all at once and would continue to define his career even to this very day. Most people know by now that TWOK is excellent music of a very high quality, and I will yet be another voice that says it is an amazing piece of work no fan of Horner’s should be without. Its the best of the Star Trek scores by a long shot, and Horner’s decision not to score beyond Star Trek III was probably a wise one. The themes of life and rebirth in his themes would not have been appropriate elsewhere. It is a score to be cherished for its incredibly special nature.
***** out of 5.
✝ As a brief aside, I am talking about the main titles in the paragraph. I think the end credits don’t do the same thing because, at least in my interpretation, the aforementioned Spock theme is an entirely separate theme with a totally separate function (the emotion of the seemingly emotionless Spock) and is included in the end credits to flesh out a suite rather than aid in telling the story.
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