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In the spring of 1987 it was announced
that Star Trek would at long last be returning to television with a brand new
cast. It would be helmed by its original creator, Gene Roddenberry, and it would
be set 78 years in the future from the original adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Fans were both elated and cautious about the news. After all, who could possibly
hope to fill the shoes of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. "Bones"
McCoy?
Having been allocated a budget of one
million for the pilot episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, Gene
Roddenberry had rounded up many of his staff from the original series and movies
including producers Eddie Milkis and Robert H. Justman, writers D.C. Fontana and
David Gerrold and costumer Bill Theiss. Andrew Probert, Rick Sternbach, and
Michael Okuda were brought in to design the new look of the show. Industrial
Light and Magic was contracted to do the series' special effects. Cast as the
new crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise were Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes,
Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, LeVar burton, Wil Wheaton and
Michael Dorn
No one ever needed to worry. The new
series flourished, and the new characters were embraced by the fans. STAR TREK:
THE NEXT GENERATION continued to air on television for seven seasons. Since that
time the new cast has successfully made the transition to feature films, having
completed both STAR TREK GENERATIONS and STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT. A third film
featuring the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION cast is slated for November of
1998.
The series' initial scoring chores were
handled mainly by Dennis McCarthy and Ron Jones with occasional guest composers
like Fred Steiner (who scored several of the original series' episodes) and
George Romanis filling in. Veteran feature film composer Jay Chattaway came to
the attention of Paramount Television Music Vice President David Grossman
through a tape of music he composed for National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau
specials. Rick Berman and Peter Lauritson were both impressed with Jay's music,
and when it came time to score the episode "Tin Man," Jay got the gig.
Since that episode, he was asked back to score the episode "Remember
Me," and shortly thereafter he replaced Ron Jones as a regular composer for
the last four seasons of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. He continues to score
episodes of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and STAR TREK: VOYAGER as well as having
created the exciting music for the Las Vegas attraction STAR TREK: THE
EXPERIENCE.
Jay's career in the music industry began
when he was A&R director for Columbia Records. Among the hundreds of albums
Jay produced was Maynard Ferguson's Conquistador, which actually contained an
arrangement of the theme from STAR TREK. His interest in film scoring began when
he met composer and saxophonist Gato Barbieri who had scored the Marlon Brando
classic LAST TANGO IN PARIS. Jay produced and arranged several albums for Gato,
and later the two collaborated on the Sophia Loren film FIREPOWER. Film director
William Lustig invited Jay to score his classic horror film MANIAC. Among his
many other feature scores are MISSING IN ACTION, STEPHEN KING'S SILVER BULLET,
RED SCORPION, THE AMBULANCE, RELENTLESS, the PBS series SPACE AGE, and many
award-winning National Geographic television specials.
Tin Man (Stardate 43779.3)
The Enterprise crew and a Betazoid scientist, Tam Elbrun, are sent to
investigate a space traveling alien organism known as TIN MAN. Tam has formed an
empathic link with the being and hopes to be able to communicate with it. The
Romulans, having an interest in the being as well, dispatch a warbird in the
hopes of beating the Enterprise to Tin Man and discovering its secrets.
Jay employed samples of whales and
Australian digeridoos to give the episode a mystical, organic quality. A cut he
wrote for the appearance of the Romulans was left out of the final dub, but it
is revealed here for the first time.
JC: this was my first attempt at doing
Star Trek. Although I was a fan of the original series, I was not all that
familiar with the music concepts of THE NEXT GENERATION. I wrote what I thought
epic space music should sound like. This was a show about communication, and I
chose to use lots of imitation in the winds. I also chose a very thematic
approach to this episode. The orchestral whales were performed by keyboardist
Pete Levin.
The Inner Light (Stardate 45944.1)
The Enterprise encounters an alien probe which emits a particle beam that knocks
Picard unconscious. When he awakes, he is not on the Enterprise but on the
planet Kataan where the citizens see him as Kamin, a local ironweaver who lives
in the community of Ressic. Back on the Enterprise, only minutes pass, but from
Captain Picard's point of view, 30 years pass on Kataan as the citizens, facing
extinction by drought, prepare to launch a missile containing a device which has
stored a record of the way of life on Kataan for future explorer to find.
Peter Lauritson directed this episode
which later won the 1993 Hugo Award. Jay wrote a delightful melody which Picard/Kamin
plays on the flute. The piece has become a favorite among Star Trek fans, and it
made its first appearance in CD on THE BEST OF STAR TREK: 30th ANNIVERSARY
SPECIAL (GNPD 8053) with solo pennywhistle played by Brice Martin. It is
interpreted here as a duet with Jay Chattaway on piano and his daughter Amy on
pennywhistle.
JC: Early in the preproduction of this
episode, director Peter Lauritson and I decided to use the pennywhistle as the
voice of the Ressican flute, both for its plaintive and pure sound as well as
the fact it is small and would not cover Patrick Stewart's face in the close up
camera angles. This melody came to me in an instant and invokes a bit of the
folk quality of the Ressican culture. The closing shot of this episode was very
unique in that it ended with the pennywhistle solo being heard alone in space.
The now familiar melody was also heard in the episode "Lessons." My
"Inner Light" was the joy of performing this piece with my daughter,
Amy.
Sub Rosa (No Stardate)
While attending the funeral of her grandmother, Felisa Howard on Caldos colony,
Dr. Beverly Crusher encounters the spirit of her grandmother's young lover,
Ronin. The spirit claims to have been the lover of all the women in Beverly's
family line since the 17th century. Ronin then sets about seducing Beverly, who
becomes obsessed with the lovelorn spirit. It is discovered that Ronin is
actually a being composed of anaphasic energy and requires Beverly's lifeforce
to survive.
Jay has written a haunting, Bernard
Hermannesque score to accompany this episode. The cue "Hooked on Ronin"
underscores Beverly's initial seduction by Ronin.
JC: This episode, brilliantly directed
by Jonathan Frakes, was a challenge to film making and composing. The seduction
sequences, all filled in later with computer imagery, were not present during
filming or composing. The music needed to establish the presence of the ghost
lover. I used alto and blass flutes to provide the breathy representation of
Ronin's supernatural passion.
A Fistful of Datas (Stardate 46271.5)
Lieutenant Worf, his son Alexander, and Counselor Troi embark on a "Wild
West" holodeck program as Geordi conducts experiments with Data, linking
him to the Enterprise computer. A malfunction occurs in the computer
system resulting from Geordi's experiment. Consequently, in Worf's "Wild
West" program, the bad guys, Eli Hollander and his father Frank, manifest
themselves in the likeness of Commander Data, along with all of his android
special abilities. When it comes down to a shoot-out between Worf and the
Hollanders, Worf must fin a way to stay alive.
For this episode, Jay was given the
opportunity to combine western elements along with those of Star Trek, thus
creating a very unique and entertaining score right to the point where the
Enterprise flies off into the sunset. Veteran musician Tommy Morgan, who has
played on the scores for many famous westerns is featured on harmonica.
JC: This was one of the most
interesting scores I have had the privilege of composing for the series. In many
previous holodeck experiences, the music was never permitted to becomes on of
the characters in the program. I pre-scored one of these sequences to ask
producers Peter Lauritson and Wendy Neuss, and director Patrick Stewart,
permissions to approach the music in this manner. Their response was, "OK,
as long as it's still Trek." I used harmonica, bass harmonica, dobro,
guitar and fretless bass along with the orchestra. This sequence appears
relatively dialogue free in the show…a true composer's dream.
Dark Page (stardate 47254.1)
The Enterprise has taken on a delegation from a species called the Cairn,
which is just learning spoken language after communicating only via
image-orientated telepathy. Counselor Troi's mother, Lwaxana, is on board to
help train the Cairn to master verbal communication. When Lwaxana begins to
suffer a mental collapse, Deanna attempts a mind link with the help of Maques, a
member of the Cairn. It is discovered that Lwaxana is tortured by resurfacing
memories of Troi's older sister Kestra, who accidentally drowned while Troi was
still an infant.
"Painful Revelations"
underscores a tender moment between Troi and her mother, where Lwaxana must
finally confront the painful memory of Kestra's death.
JC: It's always a joy to get to score a
purely emotional episode. I chose a rather complex electronic ostinato to
represent the childlike quality of the moment. The orchestral instruments played
against that ostinato helped point up the emotional quality of the intense scene
about the loss of a loved one.
Descent, Parts 1 and 2 (Stardates
469821.1 and 47025.4)
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from Ohniaka III. Upon beaming
down they encounter a group of Borg possessed of apparent human emotions. When
Data kills one of the Borg, he realizes it was out of anger, an emotion he has
so far never possessed. As Data struggles to understand his emotional outburst,
Picard and his crew try to unravel the mystery of the Borg's new behavior, only
to discover that they have found a new leader, Data's evil twin brother, Lore.
JC: Action, action, and more action! I
was given the opportunity to write and develop a new Borg theme and within the
same episode deal with the complex subject of Data's emotions. To help represent
the emotional sound, I used an Electronic Wind Instrument, played by Fred Seldon.
This instrument is able to electronically play sampled sounds comprised of a
saxophone, garden hose, and computer effects. These samples are manipulated by
the very emotional qualities of expression and breath control, thus creating a
musical representation of android feelings.
Birthright, Part 1 (Stardate 46578.4)
At station Deep Space Nine, an alien informs Worf that his father is alive in a
Romulan prison camp. Worf is angered at the news, feeling a Klingon would rather
die than face imprisonment. In engineering, Data and Dr. Julian Bashir of Deep
Space Nine are examining a battered cylinder when Data is struck down by a burst
of energy. He then experiences a surreal vision of his creator, Dr. Noonien
Soong. While Data tries to discover the meaning of his dream, Worf sets out in
search of his father.
Jay conveys Data's vision in an incredibly
soft, ethereal piece showing his substantial acumen in combining electronic and
orchestral textures.
JC: Here is another example of
struggling with the problem of android emotions. In this instance, I chose a
purely electronic path. Steve Croes performed on Synclavier the unique sounds of
Data's vision. As more human elements are introduced in the story, the
orchestral instruments are introduced until we soar free of the enterprise as a
bird soars through space.
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