I see this as an historical allegory with the Enterprise as a fully- rigged sailing ship and the Excelsior as a steam ship with an engine. The Enterprise despite being battered from battle could still make sail, while the Excelsior being sleek and fast was completely useless when it had just a few screws removed. Of course history shows that progress meant that automation allowed us to make great strides in transportation as long as it works and remains profitable, but the art of being under sail is still a thing of beauty to be appreciated.
6:30 When the Enterprise backed out of those doors to that music, that summed up everything that is James Kirk and his crew, with the Enterprise boldly going where no one has gone before. And in that moment, in movie cinema history, is where Star Trek caught up to it's own legend and became immortal. There was no finer moment than that in the whole series or anything after.
Dead right. Sublime movie making and scene writing, here. Spellbinding, Majestic - but, STEALNG the Enterprise?? Who could've conceived such a ridiculous notion!? : D I remember being utterly transported as a kid, and I watch it again and again now. To those non-enlightened to the original Trek films, THIS is the clip they need to see!
Right on. For me one of Kirk's defining moments in the entire series/film series is during this sequence, when the captain of the Excelsior says to him, "You do this, you'll never sit in the captain's chair again," and without a blink of an eye, Kirk orders "Warp speed." The crescendo to that moment with the climax when they jump into warp--it's perfect.
When I first saw this, I was thinking something along the line of "Kirk is gonna F this up somehow, right?" Ohhh, I was an unintelligent TNG and VOY fan. The films 2,3,4,6 and 8 are now my fave, and i grew up on TNG!
As she cleared the doors leading from her gilded cage, she tossed a wink at her would-be successor who was making haste to follow. The feel of the stars on her hull felt so good she found her self momentarily forgetting the stakes at hand. Spreading her wings and souring under the station in her ocean of stars once again was a moment to good to ignore. A fleeting moment it would be as her young headstrong sister gave chase, growling all the while to stay and accept that her time was over. Despite the risks, the dangers, the unknowns, the weariness in her old bones and the fresh bruises on her skin, she was going to bring her captain home, and no one was going to stop her. She felt a measure of her old youthful bravado returning, "probably because Jim is here" she mused, he always brought this out in her. Casting a glance over her shoulder at her now snarling pursuer she decided that someone needed a lesson in humility. With a dazzling grin she let the Excelsior have it. "The stars belong to me little sister, catch me if you can..."
I am pretty sure Excelsior mellowed out after she got humiliated by Enterprise and in the eyes of the various starships of Starfleet became laughing stock.
4:59 - "Alert, yellow alert. All stations, yellow alert." *(As he cleans the tables and collects dishes, a lone busboy in the Earth Spacedock lounge watches as the Enterprise backs away from its berth, thinking "what the shit...?!")*
It's masterful how Horner held off on utilizing the full statement of the "Enterprise theme" he introduced in Wrath of Khan until the moment she slipped past the space doors and burst into open space at 06:50. It's a callback to the drydock launch from the previous film.
@Carlos Saraiva He was already plagiarizing himself long before this point. Thing is, the stuff of his he would reuse was awesome, so I didn't mind. See bits from Genesis Countdown popping in in Cocoon soundtrack.
Oh, this is DEFINITELY the best scene in this film. Often it's the only part of it that I watch (I do often rewatch favorite scenes.) I have never been in the military, but this sequence makes me feel every bit of the sentiment "Leave no one behind."
Can you imagine the Earth Station Spacedock Masters reaction to this event? It would be the equivalent of someone stealing a US Navy Destroyer today. Not only that, but that Destroyer is part of US history and captained by the most decorated admiral in the fleet.
Admiral Halsey steals USS New York to rescue a family member captured in Japan, and Iowa is ordered to get underway in pursuit. Hehe I can imagine the chaos in the harbour master's office too. In her prime, Enterprise was one of the biggest, meanest things "afloat". This piece of music is a real masterwork though, for setting mood and drama. The score over all is probably the best of the Star movies. A really wonderful blending of the other films before, with new elements mixed in.
This and "Kirk's Explosive Reply" from STII are my all time favorite tracks in terms of telling a story. I don't even have to have the movie on at this point and I know exactly what's happening at every moment.
Don’t forget “The Battle in the Mutara Nebula.” It came on in the car when I was driving my 6 year-old to soccer, and I narrated the entire battle from it.
This track easily has one of the most triumphant sounding sections of music ever composed. Starting at about 6:30, with 6:47 being particularly triumphant. Spectacular composer greatly missed.
Let's not forget how cheeky the score gets at 5:29 with that little sting, it just smacks of the intentions of the crew and how they handled the whole situation.
"And now Mr. Scott," "Sir?" "The doors, Mr. Scott." "Aye, sir. I'm working on it." Apprehensive stare at looming spacedock doors with computer voice (Majel Barret-Roddenberry's voice) "Warning, space doors are closed!"
"...in whatever fleet we end up serving. Best speed to Genesis." It's there that you can feel that the plot has changed for the betterment of Kirk and his four cohorts.
In whatever FATE we end up serving.... Sorry... not trying to be a jerk. But Kirk and crew likely didn't ever expect to serve in any fleets ever again after having stolen a Starship from Spacedock. In Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home they were all expecting to be court martialed for their crimes. And indeed they were court martialed. It's pretty much cause they saved the world upon returning to Earth that they dismissed everyone's charges except the one about Kirk disobeying direct orders of a superior office and demoted him to Captain, and giving him command of Enterprise A, which is where he would really rathar be than flying a desk as an Admiral. But realistically if they hadn't saved the world... after stealing the Enterprise... they likely would never have served in any fleet ever again... at least not as members of Star Fleet.
RIP James Horner, a musical genius if there ever was one. This was his best piece IMO because you could replay every single event when Kirk and company took the Enterprise back on its final mission
Aye Sir. The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. Here doctor, a souvenir. From one surgeon to another. I took the Excelsior's main warp drive computer. Classic Scotty
Kirk "Doctor McCoy and I have to do this. The rest of you do not." Chekhov "Admiral... we're losing precious time." Sulu "What course please?" Kirk "Scotty?" Scotty "I'd be greaful, Admiral if you'd give the word." Kirk with a smile "Stations."
And to add insult to injury, Kirk voiced those two words as if he were just saying "Please pass the potatoes" at dinner! This has to be one of my most favorite scenes in the entire series. Vaskurik! (Vulcan for "beautiful")
And to add insult to injury (or is it "in jury to injury?") Kirk voiced those two words as if he were just saying "Please pass the potatoes" at dinner. This has to be one of my most favorite scenes in the whole series---I call it "Grand Larceny Starship" with a smile.
@@zylowolf7919 Indeed: in discovery i suspect they brought back the terran empire to keep audience engaged while useless "modern storytelling" character-driven drama occurred.
I wonder what "stealing the Enterprise" would look like if it were made in this post-Abrams/ Discovery/Picard era! 300 Enterprises being stolen and pursued by 500 Excelsiors, of course there would be a stand-off and possibly even some obligatory "pew-pew"!
Horner's take is more "blunt" than Goldsmith's, which has its pros and cons. One could say that Horner's score highlights the emotional aspects of having an "adventure" in space (take for instance 4:19 onwards), while Goldsmith's is all about the mysteries of space.
I think that’s a great observation and probably the central aspect of Horner’s scoring style in general. He always takes the emotional angle rather than any other perspective a score could offer. Some would argue that’s the only way to do it, but I think as someone else keenly notes, you can have more than one perspective in a score and it doesn’t always have to be the emotional angle of an individual character on screen. Goldsmiths motion picture is a great example with the romanticism present with Illia and Decker’s interaction. But so much of that score highlights the wonder, awe, and mysteries the audience is seeing on screen. Often some of the most effective scores are trying to elicit a response from the viewer rather than underpinning what a character might be thinking or feeling on screen, in my opinion.
That part when the enterprise is free from the space dock, and about to go to warp, they're now officially fugitives, it's all real now. This soundtrack reflects that perfectly. The call and response between the french horns and the trumpets, absolute perfection.
The part starting at the 6th minute and going intro the 7th is just sublime! They don't make this kind of orchestras these days. I try to put myself in James Horner's shoes. Having to follow up on thr great Jerry Goldsmith is a daunting task. So a younger composer who has a lot to say will pour his soul and masterpieces will emerge! Rip to his soul. What a brilliant creative person. His work and his genius will be missed on the big screens. His work on Avatar is also mesmerizing. R.I.P. James man you did some great work!
Be careful of what you wish for you may just get. She never looked soo sexy in that scene, even though she was older then. Well maybe there were a few times on ST TOS were we got a shot of her panties while hailing all frequences.:-)
The famous stall scene. There's a gag in Star Trek Online where one of the premium ships comes with a unique Transwarp Drive Computer. On very rare occasions it will go "5...4...3...2...1...clunk!" and do the "stall"
I can just picture the growing anger and frustration on the face of that idiot Styles when he realized that his precious Excelsior wasn't going anywhere! And.. I can still see the absolute ecstasy on the face of Sulu. What an incredible scene. Kirk and Company pulled this one off superbly. And he said "Best speed to Genesis."
For all your critiques of Horner, he brought his A game for 3:10-4:20ish of the score. The music and the scene blend perfectly. The mysteriousness of sneaking on board the enterprise, the thrill of powering her up for another adventure and getting going, but most importantly, the part where Kirk says "gentleman, may the wind be at our backs" the music helps create a moment there. By that time, these actors and characters have known eachother for around 20 years. Thats a lot of time, and its like once more into the breach dear friends. Even though this is only the 3rd of 6 movies, this little moment helped reinforce to me how long they had known eachother.
This piece captures the rash boldness of Kirk and his crew, taking the Enterprise out into a real unknown -- revisiting Genesis and saving his friend Spock, even if it means going against Starfleet itself.
When the Enterprise backs out of Spacedock, combined with Mr. Horner's awesome score, a big grin always forms on my face. RIP, sir. You are greatly missed.
7:07 In the midst of the chase, we are reminded of the reason we are in the beauty of space. To explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, and boldly go where no one has gone before.
"I'm not gonna do anything about it. You're gonna sit in the closet!" "The closet?! Have you lost all sense of reality!?!" "This isn't reality. *(Uhura points phaser at Mr. Adventure) This is fantasy! You wanted adventure, how's this?! Feel the old adrenaline going, huh?! Good boy...now get in the closet!"
Of course, this is a direct call-back/ reversal to Gert's line in E.T. where at someone's question of "Why don't they just beam him up?" Gert (Drew Barrymore) rartly replies, "This isn't fantasy, this is reality!"
Star Trek II and III are still two of my all-time favourite movies. The great thing about this track is that you can hear each part of the caper take place. I think we all wish we could steal the Enterprise which makes this moment in the film so amazing. It's a real shame that the reboot films fail to capture any of this magic.
As awesome as ST2 and ST3 are, they would be far less great without James Horner's amazing scores. The scores are as vital to the overall quality of these films as any of the performances of the actors, special effects, set design, writing, directing, etc.
Yeah I would give at least 50% credit to James Horner as why II & III are great. Both of these movies are space operas & the music for both movies are clearly operatic. Both movies have serious themes. As a musician, if I see the scene & there's no music, the scene's only 50% complete. I have to hear the instrumental piece or song played during the scene for it to be complete. Today's film scores are generic. They don't make you feel anything or punch a scene up. I think the last film score I liked was The Avengers in 2012.
XtraonionsonmyPizza It's kind of ironic, actually. In Star Trek 3, the Enterprise was backing out of Spacedock, but in Star Trek 2, it was backing away from the Reliant.
+EpicPigmasks there is an interview with Horner on YT and he talks about how he dovetailed both scores to do exactly what you noticed. You might find it interesting
if i would be in that situation, i would stand up, ask "i will never sit in the captaians chair again?" sit down and say "it looks like i'm sittigin again in this chair, max warp speed engage
And it took just two seconds for Admiral Kirk to say it: "Warp speed"---as casually as he would have said "Please pass the potatoes". And the Enterprise came through.
That's the James Horner signature. May he rest in Peace, he was already with THE BEST... Jerry Goldsmith and of course THE BES OF THE BEST, John Williams
James Horner really nailed it on this score, BIG TIME! I LOVE this score, a lot. The moment when the Enterprise got away from Starfleet's defenses and the Excelsior thinking they can get away with themselves by going after the Enterprise and the Excelsior transwarp drive breaking down on them because of Scotty's genius idea, to me, that was pretty much the biggest fail for the Excelsior. :) Great job on nailing this score, James. You are deeply missed to this day. May your music, including Star Trek II and Star Trek III, continue to live long and prosper.
ZITA CARNO Noooooooo, they abandoned transwarp technology because they couldn't get the science behind it to work at the time, _despite_ Scotty's earlier sabotage which was only meant to temporarily disable the system and not to interfere or disprove the experiment itself (despite his personal feelings on the matter).
I don't think it can truly be considered a fail for Excelsior. Scotty taking parts out her.main transwarp computer core and in effect sabotaging her is not truly a failing in the part of her and her crew. As much as we may like to fantasize that Enterprise would have simply dusted Excelsior in all likelyhood... Excelsior would likely have caught her is Scotty hadn't sabotaged her. Again... not due to any fault on her or her crew.
4:59 Love that synth bending the key down. Chills and thrills. Despite the movie being a mixed bag over all - this sequence is incredible. A masterclass in tension building with the score swelling and some of ILMS's best model work pre digital era.
This scene serves as such a great example of the fact you don't need layers upon layers of CGI to produce something dramatic. I give so much more credit to what these people produced in the 1980's with models and other types of SFX compared to what you saw in the current Star Trek movies. Of course, another reason why it excels is the score by James Horner. Sadly, between he, John Williams and Hans Zimmer, we'll never have movie composers like them again. It's incredibly rare now where you hear a movie soundtrack cue and you can immediately place it. These composers have/had that ability.
6:06 Now Mr. Scott - Sir? - The doors Mr. Scott?! - Aye, I'm working on it sir! 6:15 DANGER SPACE DOORS ARE CLOSED 6:48 We have cleared space doors :) 7:41 You do this you'll never sit in the captain's chair again. 7:51 Warp Speed! 7:59 ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM 8:14 Ah ah ah, you didn't say the magic word, ah ah ah, ah ah ah ;-)
4:40 "Yellow Alert, Captain to the bridge!" "Bridge, this is the Captain. How can you have a Yellow Alert inside Spacedock?" "Sir, someone is stealing the Enterprise!" "I'm on my way."
I always want to know what the deal was with 2:55, it's not in the movie and just goes mental for a sec. Otherwise, what a track. I love 4:13, the score lets you know the Enterprise is BIG, a lot of ship for 6 dudes to be hotwiring.
... James Horners musical score adds so much emotional weight in the scenes of Kirk and his crew stealing the USS Enterprise,and it's so damn epic,dynamic and truly magnificent. " Kirk !!! ,you do this you'll never sit in the captain's chair again ".... Scotty ?
It's funny how they are still using that hull design for Excelsior all the way up to the time of elderly Picard. It really was a great feat that old 1701 bested her, legendary.
Space dock was badly designed, in an event were all starships were needed immediately or had to evacuate quickly it wouldn’t be possible. Also in ST4 the probe killed all power and the door couldn’t open.