Leonard Rosenman's original 1986 score for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Additional music by Alexander Courage, with original music performed by The Yellowjackets.
Overview[]
Dramatic and relatively frequent statements of Alexander Courage's original Star Trek: The Original Series fanfare aside, Leonard Rosenman's light-hearted score for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is in many ways the odd man out in the world of Star Trek movie music.
Composed almost as if Rosenman chose to look into the Star Trek universe as an outsider, the score for The Voyage Home is in many ways a strictly comedy score, faithful to its 1980s setting. Gone are any hints of Jerry Goldsmith's soaring themes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and James Horner's bombastic motifs from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, with nautical and comedic orchestrations taking center stage. Certainly appropriate for the content and style of the film, Rosenman's work nevertheless remains confined to Star Trek IV and influences none of the six films that followed – even Goldsmith's own lighthearted romp, Star Trek: Insurrection.
Peppered within the score are distinctly '80s jazz compositions, arranged and performed with Rosenman's input by The Yellowjackets, a generally unknown, yet prolific jazz group.
Also notable within the score (but not the soundtrack album release) is "I Hate You", written and performed by Kirk Thatcher, arranged by Mark Mangini.
Like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the order of cues was different on the commercial release than it was in the film. The order of the cues as heard in the film is 1, 10, 8, 3, 7, 6, 9, 2, 4, 11.
Originally released on MCA Records in 1986, in conjunction with the release of the film, the score was reissued in an expanded form in 2011 (coincidentally the film's 25th anniversary) on the Intrada label. In addition to previously unreleased cues from the score, the album includes alternate takes as well as the Kirk Thatcher song "I Hate You", making the album's run time twice the length of the original MCA release.
Track listing[]
The commercial soundtrack release of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home contained a sampling of the music used in the film as well as several jazz compositions written and performed by The Yellowjackets. Below is a list of the tracks made widely available.
| # | Title/Runtime |
|---|---|
| 1 | Main Title * (2:39) |
| 2 | The Whaler (2:01) |
| 3 | Market Street † (4:37) |
| 4 | Crash-Whale Fugue (8:16) |
| 5 | Ballad of the Whale † (4:59) |
| 6 | Gillian Seeks Kirk (2:42) |
| 7 | Chekov's Run (1:20) |
| 8 | Time Travel (1:28) |
| 9 | Hospital Chase (1:14) |
| 10 | The Probe (1:16) |
| 11 | Home Again: End Credits * (5:38) |
| Total running time: 36:09 | |
- * Contains Star Trek: The Original Series theme composed by Alexander Courage
- † Contains music composed by Leonard Rosenman, Russell Ferrante, & Jimmy Haslip, performed and arranged by The Yellowjackets
See also[]
| Previous soundtrack release: | Series | Next soundtrack release: |
| Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | Star Trek Movie Soundtrack Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home |
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier |