Soundtrack Review: Star Trek Beyond

Michael Giacchino’s third Star Trek score is a return to the familiar.

Unenviable is the task for any film composer assigned with scoring the latest Star Trek voyage into the Final Frontier. Following Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic score and James Horner’s game-changing melodies, it was impressive to see Michael Giacchino uniquely make his mark on the then 43-year old franchise in 2009. Granted, the film composer benefited from the story being set in a new universe, but Giacchino established himself admirably among the pantheon of Star Trek musicians. The question awaiting fans was, what will he do the third time out?

“That’s the spirit, Bones.”

Commencing with his now familiar introduction to all of his Star Trek films, Star Trek Beyond moves quickly from his traditional cue into the heart of the film’s theme, as Kirk questions the monotony of day-to-day “episodic” adventures and more specifically, his own purpose, during the Enterprise’s five-year mission. The poignancy at the end of “Logo and Prosper” is only matched by the soft piano in “Thank Your Lucky Star Date”. This latter cue will serve to emphasize Giacchino’s now-familiar theme of his Star Trek as his Kelvin Timeline music is woven into the very fabric of his Star Trek Beyond score, especially when representing the crew.

Distinctive music like “Labor of Love” and “Enterprising Young Men” from Star Trek and “London Calling” from Star Trek Into Darkness might feel missing, although it could be due to the overall wistful themes assigned to Kirk. Honestly, those pieces only really bookend the movie (a more uplifting sounding “Par-Tay for the Course”), but it is difficult not to be lulled into a more contemplative place when considering the impact of the soundtrack, especially considering how they open and close the film. Previous outings have jumped right into the action, allowing for the earlier softer melodies to leave much more of an impact with the audience.

Giacchino has written both elegant and epic music, including “Night on the Yorktown”, a beautiful melody that reinforces the ideas of life in the Federation that has now clearly been established in these J.J. Abrams films, and “The Dance of the Nebula”. His music for Krall’s swarm might sound familiar, but the final 20-seconds of “Cater-Krall in Zero G” is a haunting piece of music as the film’s antagonist meets his demise. Additionally, although it starts like a film-sounding trope and tonally like something out of John Williams’ Star Wars, “Jaylah Damage” quickly recalls the familiarity Giacchino has established in all of his Star Trek films. That theme continues in “Mocking Jaylah”, during her climactic one-on-one fight with Manas, all the while with a primitive beat that drapes itself over everything.

Omissions will always occur on commercial soundtrack releases and Star Trek Beyond is not immune to these issues, especially leaving out the quietness of Spock opening Ambassador Spock’s personal effects and discovering a certain photo that should bring a smile to the heart of every Star Trek fan. Sadly, even in the film, this moment seemed to be a lost opportunity musically, however it is hard to argue with Giacchino’s choices when it comes to the themes and cues he has written for this new timeline.

While the Star Trek Beyond score can sometimes feel overwhelmed by so many callbacks to his previous theme established in his first Final Frontier outing as well as its more contemplative theme, it should be one that fans will listen to over and over, quickly taking its place next to all of Giacchino’s Star Trek music. Scoring a Star Trek film can seem like a thankless job.  However, even the less-received films in the oeuvre have left behind a distinctive mark when it comes to its music.  Luckily for Giacchino, both the film and his music should quickly earn its place in the franchise’s 50-year history.

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I enjoyed the score of this film.

I had the impression that the Rihanna single and a few featured rap tunes from our own time period were included on the soundtrack release as well.

Loved the score just as I loved the movie. I just wish they had included more on the cd. I really hope for an expanded “complete” release as we got for the other Kelvin films

I prefer this to the score for Into Darkness. I was just never that impressed with London Calling, which seems so out of place that I would wager good money it was a leftover cue from “Up”.

Hmmm. I liked London Calling. Could have been that I liked that scene with the future car and hospital. Something calming about that one shot.

I noticed the Beyond discussion thread has closed and no stories about box office. Are we not supposed to talk about the flop anymore?

They’ll be a new story about the box office in the next few days.

It’s hardly a “flop.” Current worldwide box office as of 8/23: $231,077,726

@VoR – well wildly under-performing and not a critical success either generally amount to flop but Ill concede your point. It wasnt terrible and made over $200m. But it needed to be very good and make over $400m (or whatever). So…if the argument is “It wasnt a flop, it just wasnt good…wasnt good at all”, then we can meet in the middle. lol

Yes, Beyond is a flop unless China pulls in a cool hundred million and then it falls into just “disappointing” territory.

Posted this in the All Access thread, but apparently you haven’t seen it:

Box Office Bombs Have Paramount Losing Over $500M in Next 2 Years

One of the major surprises for Paramount was the poor performance of Star Trek Beyond, which Nathanson acknowledges the studio is very aware of. As of right now, Star Trek Beyond has earned $231 million worldwide, on a staggeringly high $185 million production budget. The movie has yet to open in China, and when it does on September 2, that should definitely help. However, the foreign box office has been down for Beyond when compared to the previous two entries in the franchise, so China won’t likely be enough to call it a win overall. With a large marketing budget, the movie likely needs to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million to break even, which isn’t looking overly likely.

http://movieweb.com/paramount-pictures-box-office-bombs-2016-2017/

$233 million as of today. The last “Terminator” made $440m at home & abroad, and they canceled the sequels. All we have left now is a potential lift from China next week, but, assuming the old formula that says they need twice the $185m budget to break even is correct, this one is a financial turkey for Paramount.

Brad Grey made it very clear early this year when he used DEADLINE to float this TMNT view which the exiting Dauman reiterated there yet again:

http://deadline.com/2016/08/viacom-board-weigh-possible-sumner-redstone-settlement-oust-philippe-dauman-1201805749/

”Meanwhile, Dauman acknowledged that Paramount has “had a rough go at the box office recently,” including with disappointing sales for a film he had long touted: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

“Fundamentally for Viacom, if it could have gone wrong in [the current fiscal year], it did,” MoffettNathanson Research’s Michael Nathanson said early this month. “Almost every driver” of earnings growth “declined massively worse than expected. The question is after slashing estimates again, what can get worse from here?”” – PHILIPPE DAUMAN OUSTED AS VIACOM BOARD APPROVES REDSTONE SETTLEMENT; by David Lieberman; Deadline.com;
August 18, 2016 5:31pm

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-sumner-redstone-viacom-settlement-20160815-snap-story.html

“In recent years, the studio has suffered through an extended slump as high-profile bets, including “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” have turned in disappointing results at the box office.

Analysts have projected that the studio will post an operating loss of more than $300 million in fiscal 2016.” – SETTLEMENT TO END VIACOM WAR WOULD HAVE CEO PHILIPPE DAUMAN REPLACED BY TOM DOOLEY; by
Meg James; LATimes.com; August 16, 2016, 4:25 PM

According to Box Office Mojo TMNT2 is still in release and enjoys a current worldwide of $239,306,531.

BEYOND likewise is at $231,508,997 with a higher production cost than the above planned savior.

For STAR TREK BEYOND to become the darling that Dauman expected of TMNT2, it would have to deliver a worldwide of half a billion dollars. As much as I’d like to see how a Paramount would treat such a ST movie, i.e. one that became a darling, it ain’t going to happen. Maybe, if they managed to make some hay with the Chinese censors and get a controversial cut past them in typical for classic ST censor endrun. But I wouldn’t pretend to know how to market that to the mainland’s consumers to the tune of an eventual half a billion cume.

.

@Disinvited,

Brad Grey might not last long at Paramount given their dire financial situation.

———————————

Viacom May Need to Sell Paramount

Viacom (VIAB) , in the midst of a management change after a months-long struggle for control between CEO Philippe Dauman and the family of majority owner Sumner Redstone, has little alternative but to sell off its ailing Paramount studio, according to one analyst.

The studio, suffering through a brutal summer in which its films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Star Trek Beyond have performed below expectations, likely will lose as much as $560 million through 2017, estimated Michael Nathanson, a media analyst and partner with MoffettNathanson…

“As Hollywood has become more and more of a global tent pole business, Paramount doesn’t have the franchise to compete with Disney, Universal or Warner Brothers,” wrote Nathanson, who has a neutral rating on Viacom’s stock. “Short of firing the entire Paramount leadership team, there is little a new CEO could do quickly to improve the film pipeline. The best that Tom Dooley can do is sell 100% of Paramount to the highest bidder.”

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13680530/2/viacom-may-need-to-sell-paramount.html

Ahmed,

Re: best that Tom Dooley can do is sell 100% of Paramount

If I gauge Redstone’s reticence to sell Paramount correctly, the only way he’s going to OK a sale of Paramount is to allow Les Moonves to buy it and subsume it into CBS.

If CBS bought Paramount, that would make the Trek TV/Film rights a little clearer, no?

STB opens in China on September 2. I think that might sweeten the pot a little.

I like how this site is avoiding the fact that this movie tanked at the box office lol

I have no idea what you’re talking about. We’ve already written a story about how it hasn’t met expectations, and there’s a more detailed one on the way.

@Brian – fair point! Just seems quiet on the Beyond front lately with Beyond discussion pushed out of view and now locked. Doesnt seem to be an active thread appropriate for Beyond discussion. So it seems like its “out of sight, out of mind”. To be fair, there are other things going on to talk about.

Looking forward to the new Beyond thread.

I enjoyed the film and I’m gutted this has happened, people don’t realize that the studios only get back around 55% of the the gross takings. It’s not been made clear either if Paramount’s marketing budget came out of the main $180 million or not? It’s looking like this film is going to be at a $140 million loss in the end? It was up against some big stuff at the box office, Paramount’s poor marketing didn’t help much either – it’s almost like they didn’t care… The BBC went to town with Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary, in fact the fans were overdosed on WHO and beyond spoilt! I don’t understand why CBS and Paramount aren’t taking the same approach? Star Trek Beyond should have come out October time, it would have stood a better chance, even with the shoddy marketing it had. My previous comment was not to offend, I think this site needs to be promoting and trying to get people back out there in the cinemas to see it again.

The marketing budget is separate from the production budget. They spent at least $100 million on marketing.

Oh my…

I like how it didn’t “tank.” Current worldwide box office as of 8/23: $231,077,726 . hy·per·bo·le

hīˈpərbəlē/
noun
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

@VoR – again, your attempt at pushing a narrative that it has been a success isnt going to work. If you want to split hairs and argue verbage, that comes across like a desperate Bad Robot fan clinging to technicalities. Film under-performed badly. How would you prefer people discuss the disappointing returns?

Under-performing and “flop” and “tank” are very different. As I posted above, check out Ben-Hur’s results to see a true “tanking” movie this summer. Or, you could look back to how Nemesis did.

Once again:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=benhur2016.htm

Considering it needs over $300m just to break even and is sitting well below that, “flop” is probably an appropriate word to use.

@TUP,

It need $370 million to break even (2x the $185 million production budget). STID made over $467 million and the ROI was just $30 million according to Deadline, no wonder the studio wasn’t happy about it & asked Pegg to make a movie that would bring them bigger returns.

@Ahmed – I stand corrected. That’s a FLOP! And potentially franchise-killing, at least as far as these Bad Robot films go…unfortunately.

Naaaahhh, it’s still Paramount Pictures highest grossing film of the year. China is yet to come, expect a final gross of around $375 million as a bare minimum. It’ll also make a truck load of cash on digital download, dvd and blu Ray, just like all the others (even Nemesis).

My personal opinion: very unlikely there will be a 4th entry. The film is struggling just to make back it’s production and marketing budget. Also – none of the calculations I’m seeing here factor in that the studio cut of the box office varies by region. It’s roughly 50/50 here in the States, but overseas the studio cut is often much lower.

As I said earlier – we will be publishing an analysis in the next few days.

@Brian Drew,

“It’s roughly 50/50 here in the States, but overseas the studio cut is often much lower.”

Studios get just 25% from China for example, and between 30%-40% from European markets.

I think there will be a fourth movie, but it will be at a much lower budget than ID or Beyond, and that whole Chris Hemsworth return is probably out the window due to his salary.

They need to learn how to make these films for $50mil each if they want to make a meaningful profit.

That would be a shame, Brian. I hope for a 4th and maybe only because the teased idea of using Hemsworth intrigues me. Hopefully the studio decides they dont want to waste their options on Pine, Quinto and Hemsworth and perhaps if Discovery is a success, they will see the benefit.

As others have said, the DVD sales will likely be very strong too. Maybe it will all be enough to see Paramount cut the budget and let someone write a more thoughtful film. If they get the budget down to around $100m AND write a better film…do they make enough money to make it worth it?

My concern is, if the studio shelves Star Trek, what happens? When will Trek ever see the big screen again. If they cut their losses now, history will look at Paramount’s efforts to make Star Trek a big budget franchise as a failure and it will hang around Trek’s neck.

Would the film rights revert to CBS for possible future films involving the Discovery cast?

Yeah if there is another film expect a huge budget cut. They’d probably have to recast some of the other roles as well to keep costs under control.

As for CBS doing Trek films – they already release films under their own banner, but there might be specific language in their deal with Paramount that would prohibit them from making a Trek film on their own.

If CBS were to take over the Trek movies from stupid Paramount, I could likely get on board. I’m a reasonable man at the end of the day. All that I ask is (a) for Paramount to stop making these ankle-deep travesties-for-the-masses under the title “Star Trek”—they can still make them, just don’t try to sell them as Star Trek, (b) a personal apology addressed to me from Bob Orci and JJ Abrams for ruining Star Trek, and (c) for Gail Berman, the Paramount President who scrapped the Jendresen Trek movie series in favor of these Bad Robot abominations, to be retroactively fired—not for her business decision, mind you, but simply for having inexcusably poor taste. Is that really too much to ask?

Cygnus-X1,

Re:Paramount to stop making these ankle-deep travesties-for-the-masses under the title “Star Trek”

You certainly have a point. They have a perfectly fine property, GALAXY QUEST, upon which they can harmlessly continue with their wildest Frankenstein Blockbluster [ sic ] action sci-fi experiments.

Re:Gail Berman

She was fired barely a year into her Paramount employment. I believe before production even started on what she wrought. So, Santa got your retroactive letter.

Re: Apologies

For that, I think I’m going to have to refer you to this Joan Collins film vehicle, QUEST FOR LOVE (1971):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067645/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_86

where she truly loses her alternate reality virginity (no time travel) and you will find that a visit to a state of the art British particle accelerator will whisk you away to another world where those two gentleman will not only apologize for their alternate selves, but agree with you that for the sake of two universes, and JFK, their doppelgangers must be stopped.

Disinvited Today 2:27 pm

Ha. What a strange, obscure movie that I’ve never heard of. I wonder if kmart has heard of it. He’s referenced some that are even weirder than that Joan Collins vehicle. One was a George C. Scott auteur film about mother/son incest. In any case, one thing I’d add about Gail Berman is that her decision to scrap Jendresen for JJ was actually a bad business decision in the long-run, as it has weakened the Star Trek brand and diminished its cachet. And by cachet, of course, I’m referring to Trek’s cultural value as “cerebral” (I say thoughtful) science fiction entertainment. Whether or not one likes, or approves of, or is entirely satisfied by the Bad Robot movies, there’s no valid argument to be had about whether they’re cerebral, thoughtful, science fiction movies. They’re simply not. Some people don’t mind that, while others do. But, there’s no other entertainment franchise like pre-BR Trek (even the terrible TNG movies were trying to be Trek-like), and as such, Paramount could have hung on to a very well differentiated brand in its Trek movie franchise. But, instead, they chose to trade that competitive advantage for some quick cash in the short-term. And that strategy obviously hasn’t panned out like Paramount had hoped, with two of the three movies falling well short of expected returns. And now all that Paramount has to show for it is a tarnished Star Trek movie brand, that is more of a wanna-be Marvel than its own brand, and has alienated a substantial swath of the former fan base. Such are the fruits of Gail Berman’s decision, as Paramount now finds itself short of both cash and cachet with regard to its Star Trek movie franchise.

It was a fantastic movie, and everyone I took to see it loved it (7 times now). If it underperformed it is squarely Paramounts fault. The marketing was atrocious. I know several people who are pretty movie savy that didn’t even know Beyond existed. I don’t think this film ever recovered from that awful first trailer.

Marketing wasn’t that bad in the last month before release. I think Paramount did better than the Ghostbusters or Jason Bourne campaigns, for example, and certainly look at the BFG, Pete’s Dragon, or Ben-Hur fiascoes to see how to not promote a movie. But I agree that initial trailer, where it looked like Fast & Furious In Space, just really damaged the movie’s reputation before it even got close to the cinema.

While the marketing wasnt great, the film itself wasnt very good. Im glad you loved it enough to see it 7 times but that is hardly the widely held opinion. The movie was fine but forgettable and didnt do enough to generate positive word of mouth in the same way 09 did.

so true. i watched it five times now and enjoyed it each time. in germany, however, marketing is almost not existing. some posters, some (few) ads in tv, thats it. compared to the medial presence of other movies this summer, they really “flopped” in promoting beyond – concerning germany. beyond still is in the top 5 of movies right now with ghostbusters, ice age and ben hur lost in the backyards of the top 10 …

What a crappy year for Paramount!

—————————————-

Viacom’s Boardroom Battle May Be Over but Star Trek Could Add to Paramount Woes
The studio could lose $560 million over two years as the Ninja Turtles, Star Trek and ‘Ben-Hur’ fail to deliver.

The company’s Paramount studio began the summer with the June release of the big-budget Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which generated a relatively puny $81.5 million in ticket sales that the company blamed for the studio’s $26 million loss in its fiscal second quarter. On Friday Paramount releases another big-budget movie, a remake of the iconic 1959 film Ben-Hur (itself a remake) that Hollywood insiders already forecast will open with a thud.

The biggest disappointment for investors, however, is Paramount’s apparent inability to send its flagship Star Trek movie franchise into warp drive. The studio spent $185 million to make the latest installment, Star Trek Beyond, which stars Chris Pine as a younger Captain Kirk, and another $120 million to market it. Released on July 22, the movie has so far generated $142 million in domestic ticket sales, according to movie site Box Office Mojo, 60% less than the 2013 installment, Star Trek Into Darkness, despite the benefit of higher ticket prices three years later.

Nathanson cut his fiscal 2016 and 2017 estimates for Viacom following its second-quarter earnings report in part from what he wrote were “unbelievable Paramount losses.” He estimated that Paramount will have operating losses of $50 million in the coming quarter and what he calls a “mind numbing” $360 million for the year. In fiscal 2017, he estimated the studio’s losses at $200 million.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13679963/1/viacom-s-boardroom-battle-may-be-over-but-star-trek-could-add-to-paramount-woes.html

Music was very low key & uninspiring. One of the only low points of an otherwise excellent Star Trek movie.

” an otherwise excellent Star Trek movie.”

Well….um uh…nevermind.

Interesting how the comments are suspended on the spoiler discussion thread. I wonder If it has to do with the movie tanking in the theaters. I saw it twice, and while there were some terrific Easter eggs throughout the film, it’s clear to this 40 year Trek fan that J.J, Simon, Doug, Kurtzman, etc. have zero clue on what Star Trek is all about, and what makes it work. To them, it’s all about the money, and it’s shameful.
The Kelvin Timeline movies wouldn’t be half as bad If they would give the audience a chance to digest what’s happening before they quickly dangle the next high-paced scene in your face. Their stories consistently lack substance, and only deal with thing’s superficially. Star Trek was NEVER a high speed freight train with fancy lights, and SFX. I feel like i got to have ADHD to understand what’s going on. Then when I finally am able to digest what I’m seeing, and hearing, I pick up on all kinds of plot holes, and end up with the same impression every time.
I’ve seen, and read everything Star Trek has produced, but these JJ movies are NOT Star Trek. This is a new Star Trek, and should not be considered REAL Star Trek. These JJ movies are a parody, and an insult to the tradition of Star Trek.
Since the Soundtrack is based on pseudo-Trek, I cannot allow myself to be influenced by it- whether I like it, or not. I don’t even feel right buying the KT DVD’s. These movies will only confuse the next generation of fans, and they should be excluded from everyone’s collection.

IMO, JJ Abrams is the most overrated Director/Producer in Hollywood. He was out of the running for director of Star Wars ep. VIII even before he was finished with ep. VII. The powers that be were very disappointed with his directorial vision, and he will never direct Star Wars ever again. He’s a hack who think’s much too highly of himself to offer anything to a franchise such as Star Trek. The quicker he’s done with the franchise, the better.

I’m sure this post will likely be flagged for not following in lock-step with the JJ-obsessed editors of TrekMovie, but in the unlikely event it remains, thank you for letting me share my opinion- for what it’s worth.

Trekmovie usually locks comments on articles after one month of its publication date.

Ahmed, TUP –

We just reopened the thread.

Brian Drew,

Re:Brian Drew

Extremely grateful to you all for doing that, thanks.

In the old comment chain system, you had a way of what I can only describe as “paging out” extremely long comment chains. I can’t imagine it would be so easy under the new chains but I’ve saved off a couple of copies of that article and presumably its chain at the Internet Archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160824002146*/https://trekmovie.com/2016/07/21/star-trek-beyond-spoiler-discussion/

I haven’t been able to verify if it has indeed captured the whole 2163 Comments but if you could verify that it had maybe you would be willing to try to do that paging trick to reset its comment chain to a new page while maintaining a link to the older 2 thousand plus chain?

Regarding JJ and Star Wars, the speculation I had read online was that there was early trouble between him and LucasFilm execs until Kathleen Kennedy basically put him in his place. JJ is used to being the man on his films and that wasnt going to happen on Star Wars…at least not to the extent he was used to.

If I recall, he was able to toss Lucas’ own stories and the original script and bring in his own people and himself help re-write Episode 7, so his stroke was still considerable. But Star Wars was not going to become JJ’s in the same way Star Trek did.

I believe Lawrence kasden cowrote the movie. He also wrote empire the most acclaimed star wars movie so I’d be curious how much of the script was JJ vs kasden

I’ll look into it.

“He was out of the running for director of Star Wars ep. VIII even before he was finished with ep. VII. The powers that be were very disappointed with his directorial vision, and he will never direct Star Wars ever again.”

Though I didn’t end up thinking all that much of THE FORCE AWAKENS that’s a pretty serious accusation. Cite?

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jj-abrams-star-wars-episode-viii-1201667205/

“J.J. Abrams is evidently already having second thoughts about his decision to step out of the director’s chair for the next “Star Wars” film.”

As the quote mentions, it was HIS DECISION. If TPTB were so disappointed in JJ he wouldn’t have been kept on as producer.

That’s 100% hyperbole created to protect JJ’s reputation. Star Wars fans are EXTREMELY disappointed with his ‘so-called’ vision. Those who are familiar with the subject know better, and his peers know how overrated he is. Fact is: His legacy is ruthlessly protected those he hires, and gives work to. It’s all political, and JJ has friends in high places. His failures are defended better than Hillary Clinton’s, or Obama’s for that matter. One of these days JJ will reduced to editing B movies, and real, non-political talent will return to Hollywood.

“His failures are defended better than Hillary Clinton’s, or Obama’s for that matter.”

Ah–that clarifies the source of your info considerably, it having apparently originated where the sun don’t shine. Thanks.

@ Michael Hall – They hate Star Wars on Fox News. Sounds like that’s the “source” for ‘Great Birds’ information or Rush Limbaugh or some other right wing nut job website. Fact remains that Rian Johnson is doing the next one so a new excuse for its probable wild success will have to be made up for the haters.

Harry Plinkett,

Re:They hate Star Wars on Fox News

Probably just sour grapes over the Disney purchase, but come to think of it: doesn’t the FOX Studio still enjoy some distribution points from the STAR WARS library, i.e. aren’t they risking shooting themselves in the goose’s foot ?

Harry Plinkett,

Re:They hate Star Wars on Fox News

Yep, FOX got some distribution rights:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

SW fans are extremely disappointed? Not sure where that comes from, and sure there might be some who were, but I’ve spoken to (and read) very few who were. Your conclusion is based on proof texting.

I don’t know a single Star Wars fan who didn’t love The Force Awakens. Not one. I know several dozen who did love it. That’s just my experience, granted, but the box-office indicates I’m not alone.

And what you were going for was for the quotation marks to be around “vision,” not around “so-called.” See, when you intend to describe something sarcastically, you place the quotation marks around the thing you’re being sarcastic about, which is your case here was “vision.”

@Bryant Burnette,

“I don’t know a single Star Wars fan who didn’t love The Force Awakens. Not one.”

Hyperbole much? TFA was a massive box office success, second only to Avatar but that doesn’t mean that everyone love it. All you need to do is to look for fan reviews on Youtube to see that, or go to any SW forums or IMDB boards to find out.

Here is just one thread from the Force.net

The Official “List Your Complaints About TFA” Discussion Thread
http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-official-list-your-complaints-about-tfa-discussion-thread.50035604/

The negative voices are usually the loudest however the majority of fans and the public seemed to enjoy it and multiple times at that. You ďont reach those kind of numbers when everyone only goes once

It’s considered one of those rumors that come from “Inside sources” but never reveal themselves. It’s all over the Star Wars boards, and considered true since he was not asked to return for ep. VIII. People still want to keep their jobs in an industry that severely punishes whistle blowing.

From the beginning, Lucasfilm & JJ both said he would only do E7. It was never the plan for him to do 8 or 9. The original trilogy never had the same director twice. This was the plan for 7,8,9 as well.

DLux,

Re:From the beginning

Now, now now, no rewriting history, from the beginning both Lucasfilm and JJ said he had been approached but WASN’T going to direct ANY “Star Wars” as he turned them down. There was even some tossing of the loyalty word around.

The ‘Great Bird’ never dies,

Re:an industry that severely punishes whistle blowing

Which I find ironic as this comes up in discussing a company that promotes whistling “while you work” and giving a little whistle “and always let your conscious be your guide.”

Good soundtrack, but I’m not buying it since it didn’t include the end credits music. I noticed that the Courage theme was updated for the credits since the last movie and I’m very bummed that it’s not on the album! Why did they not include the end credits music????

I mourn the truncation of Courage’s theme at the end — and, even more insulting is that they repeat the theme w/o its middle, so running time wasn’t the excuse.

Other than Urban’s tribute to Kelley, and the uniforms, can’t they give us one thing of the past, to hold onto?

In Melbourne Australia. I have seen only one bus advertising the movie, furthermore on one night saw three teasers. That was it, nothing further. So has Paramount dropped the ball? Clearly it has. Not only has it failed to build on the momentum created by the first of the new trilogy, it has also failed to create an effective marketing campaign (certainly in Australia).
That all aside what concerns me more is the volume of negativity I see from a number of fans who appear to want StarTrek to fail, who appear to view with relish the current box office failings. I don’t understand it. I can only assume these same don’t want the franchise to continue for another 50 years.
Be very careful what you wish for.

@Picknett,

You are aware that ‘Star Trek Beyond’ world premiere was in Sydney, right? This was all over the news in NA and in Australia as well.

Star Trek Beyond Australian Sydney Premiere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZzuegZURg

Trek Stars Shine Bright at STAR TREK BEYOND World Premiere in Australia
https://trekmovie.com/2016/07/07/trek-stars-shine-bright-at-star-trek-beyond-world-premiere-in-australia/

Fully, I am only commenting on what I saw 1000kms away in Melbourne.

“Sadly, even in the film, this moment seemed to be a lost opportunity musically….”
That’s a good summary of not only this film, but the previous two soundtracks as well. In 2009, it was said that the spartan use of the Alexander Courage classic musical cues was because ‘the crew hadn’t earned it yet’, in their first film. That was fine, but there’s little excuse for its continued exclusion in the subsequent films.
Giacchino is a talented composer, and while I enjoy “Enterprising Young Men” and its reworkings, I was hoping for more musical cues from Courage, especially during this anniversary year. It’s not like they’ve shied away from using John William’s classic music in The Force Awakens, so I don’t know why they hid the classic Trek theme music away in these films.

I’ll skip buying this album – first time since I was 8 years that I don’t have the latest score – until the inevitable 2 disc Collectors’ Edition comes out in a few years.

Nice article, Rich. Thanks for the review.

This score didn’t wow me upon first listen the way the last two did. But the more I hear it, the better certain cues sound. By far the best cue is Night on the Yorktown, such a triumphant song, although the last two minutes of it are kinda meh. Overall I think it’s a mixed bag, but the expanded edition will probably reveal a lot of gems that didn’t make the cut this time.

I like the score overall (bought the soundtrack), and while I generally enjoy it, I don’t like his main theme in the past 3 films at all. To me it has always sounded a bit melancholy, ending on a down note, not at all like the more heroic, upbeat Courage, Goldsmith, and Horner themes. Lots of excitement and bombastic action music in this score, but somewhat lacking inspiration. IMHO, of course.

I thought ST09 score was fabulous. STiD seemed to copy some of the music without the emotional visual impact to go with it. I enjoyed STB but the music really didn’t make me “listen closely”. Didn’t dislike any of it, but I think his recent scores don’t hold up to the first one.