Talking to the Star Trek: Legacy composers
Hum a few bars of the by-now classic Star Trek theme song by Jerry Goldsmith and you’re bound to be replied by the equally classic “live long and prosper” hand gesture. (Conversely, hum a few bars of “Faith of the Heart” and some Trekkies will suffer a headache. What? I liked Enterprise.). Music is a big part of space opera. If it doesn’t sound Star Trek, a Trekkie told me once, it ain’t Star Trek enough.
So the composers of Star Trek: Legacy‘s OST, Rednote Audio’s Rod Abernathy and Jason Graves, had some big shoes to fill. It helped that they were Trekkies themselves, they tell TeamXbox. A lot of Legacy‘s OST are variations on classic and familiar themes by Trek composers Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. At the same time, Bethesda gave them the freedom to create their own themes for the game.
Expect to hear the leitmotifs of Captains Archer, Kirk, and Picard. The three were picked by Rod and Jason because each represented their specific era through which the game will play out. At the same time, each race has its own theme as well – Federation, Romulans, Klingon, and Borg (I guess the Borg is where the “electronic” and “techno” elements Rod mentioned fall under). They’ve designed the OST so that these themes blend into each other (Jason says they actually “battle” each other) in the background.
As a Trekkie myself – even one who likes ST: Enterprise – I’m looking forward much to the fruits of their labor. Much like the PC’s Homeworld, the OST is an integral part of creating the right “feel” for space opera. “If a score has strong thematic continuity, we feel it has a strong soul and can contribute the emotional impact and weight needed for grand-scale space combat,” says Jason. Our ears will find out soon enough on November 21.
I wouldn’t mind hearing “Faith of the Heart” one more time, though.
Pre-order: [Star Trek: Legacy]
Hum a few bars of the by-now classic Star Trek theme song by Jerry Goldsmith and you’re bound to be replied by the equally classic “live long and prosper” hand gesture. (Conversely, hum a few bars of “Faith of the Heart” and some Trekkies will suffer a headache. What? I liked Enterprise.). Music is a big part of space opera. If it doesn’t sound Star Trek, a Trekkie told me once, it ain’t Star Trek enough.
So the composers of Star Trek: Legacy‘s OST, Rednote Audio’s Rod Abernathy and Jason Graves, had some big shoes to fill. It helped that they were Trekkies themselves, they tell TeamXbox. A lot of Legacy‘s OST are variations on classic and familiar themes by Trek composers Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. At the same time, Bethesda gave them the freedom to create their own themes for the game.
Expect to hear the leitmotifs of Captains Archer, Kirk, and Picard. The three were picked by Rod and Jason because each represented their specific era through which the game will play out. At the same time, each race has its own theme as well – Federation, Romulans, Klingon, and Borg (I guess the Borg is where the “electronic” and “techno” elements Rod mentioned fall under). They’ve designed the OST so that these themes blend into each other (Jason says they actually “battle” each other) in the background.
As a Trekkie myself – even one who likes ST: Enterprise – I’m looking forward much to the fruits of their labor. Much like the PC’s Homeworld, the OST is an integral part of creating the right “feel” for space opera. “If a score has strong thematic continuity, we feel it has a strong soul and can contribute the emotional impact and weight needed for grand-scale space combat,” says Jason. Our ears will find out soon enough on November 21.
I wouldn’t mind hearing “Faith of the Heart” one more time, though.
Pre-order: [Star Trek: Legacy]
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