Welcome back to Scoring for Films and specifically to the new episode of "What's Underneath"; just like the Enterprise, our journey continues. Last time, we analyzed the main theme. Goldsmith takes us with the Enterprise and with the Admiral towards danger, giving it a highly distinctive theme, a theme that expresses the authority of Admiral Kirk. You mentioned character, assertiveness in this theme, but now we have a moment where this same theme is used in a completely different way, thanks to masterful orchestration. Kirk is visiting the shipyard, what a marvel, and the concept of a shipyard in space, a dockyard in open space... the ship floating in the dock in space...

Kirk is going to visit his starship. This is his historic spaceship, but it’s now been entrusted to another captain. Look at this gaze—he’s in love. This is a sort of love theme. Between him and the spaceship. And the orchestration is not so different from the love theme, another theme in the film.

So, first of all, everything is light, the theme palyed in the bass, with cellos and strings doing this delicate accompaniment, then the horn comes in, adding a touch of masculinity. Glory. Exactly—masculinity and glorious sound. Kirk has lived through great adventures on the Enterprise. The glory of the past is also one of the elements immediately evoked by the horn, right? The echo of a glorious past.

Slowed down. The theme is slowed down. Let us always remember that the mechanism of sacralization lengthens the time. Even more so in the universe, in space. The spaceship becomes the center of Kirk's amazement, through the echo of a glorious past expressed by the horn. And this theme begins to slow down.

And thus, paradoxically, it gains strength and wonder. Listen to this, Fabrizio. Listen to the flutes and the triangle that provide this beautiful sense of lightness. Where? On the astronaut who is floating in space. In all soundtracks, we must always keep balance in mind.

Since we’ll soon be seeing the Enterprise, and at that moment the theme will explode, we must keep it light here. If we weighed it down now, first of all, we wouldn't achieve the sense of lightness of floating in space... but also - when we see the Enterprise soon - the theme would feel weaker if it wasn’t prepared with minimal elements first. The psychological expression of wonder - associated with Kirk’s marvelous gaze - can only be entrusted to a light sonic system. The wonder in Kirk's eyes compels us to lift upward. This upward lift cannot be entrusted...

to the tuba! It’s a light movement, so flutes, triangles, and violins, of course, in the upper register. You like this part a lot because it makes very quick use of chromaticisms to lift toward him. And this piece is truly stunning. Yes, because the lightness - even in Kirk's mind - is expressed through chromaticism leading to... a point where there is indeed lightness, but it is expressed differently.

And we realize this from the fact that the violins no longer perform tremolos as before, but instead play in unison at this octave plus the higher octave; and what are the violas doing? I found this thing about the violas very striking. We also find it in Harry Potter, right? Of course. We find all the flourishes of violins, the strings in the high register, because it is essentially the symbol of flight. The viola flourish immediately conveys a sense of lightness, and of movement, underlying the theme.

So now we have a double layer that we’ve also sought to express visually. Below, we see the violas, and above, we have the theme's development. What we see is the gaze of a lover looking at his beloved! Extactly. The "flaght" of the violas is not only the flight of the Enterprise; it is also the flight of those who visit the Enterprise for the first time; it is also the echo of past journeys. Of course, memory.

And here, we don't have the horn, we have violins, because the sound of love of the violin is the most suitable to narrate Kirk’s experience on his spaceship, and it is tied to the glorious theme. Indeed. So, here there is something special: this use of the piccolo clarinet - which is already a high-pitched instrument - in this very high register. There is something that reminded me of certain aspects of "Jaws". where even Williams adds elements that are almost grotesque. So, do you know what our psychologist says?

He says this is a symbol of industriousness. We are seeing the shipyard at work. Not only that, but the flourish we heard earlier, are in sync with the unveiling of a part of the spaceship. We see the shuttlecraft moving. We perceive that the spaceship is in the dock. The music has narrated Kirk’s love for past journeys (the flight of the violas, the theme presented by the violins) But the spaceship is being built, it is under construction.

And that genius, Goldsmith recalls the industriousness of the shipyard with these repetitive notes. And this symbolizes the hammer. Indeed, we see many elements of the shipyard. We truly perceive the construction. So, we had the first reveal of the Enterprise. Goldsmith immediately implanted in us all of Kirk’s experiences, the meeting with his beloved, the glory, the expansion, the sanctification of the theme, the past returning with all its strength.

Well, now it’s time for awareness. And how do we approach awareness? Always through the wise use of orchestration and of course, themes. Let’s see how we approach it. We haven’t yet seen the Enterprise well; we’ve seen glimpses. It’s like a beautiful woman revealing herself.

We’ve seen an ankle, we’ve seen the neck, but we haven’t fully seen her. Let’s see this beautiful woman! Look at Kirk’s eyes. Now he’s aware. The theme in all its glory. And the brass comes in to deliver the maximum level of strength and power.

The horn has both a heroic quality and a sense of recollection, while the trumpet, especially in this type of music, is used in the most glorious section. We are reaching the end of the scene: the most assertive theme possible. The bass moves in a very particular way. It creates this sort of perpetual motion; the sixteenth-note pattern is increasingly displaced. I hear an engine that’s about to start. Here, underneath, the theme is still slow.

Do we remember the speed of the opening theme? There, the Enterprise is speeding through space: the speed of the theme also symbolizes the speed of the Enterprise. Here, the Enterprise is stationary. So we are still in the realm of potential, of recollection... What is the Enterprise doing? Right now, it’s doing nothing.

But it has done, and it will do. And what gives us motion, then, since the theme is slow? That motion, dictated by the anxiety to act, the anxiety to depart, is precisely the bass. Kirk has the anxiety to depart. The Enterprise has the anxiety to showcase its potential; the bass, figuratively rendered in this marvelous way, is never the same; this tension is like a mooring cable. Look at this part as it matches the correct speed in relation to the approach.

The speed of the music aligning with the camera dolly’s speed is something... phenomenal. And now, he knows. He already has in his eyes what will come. It’s a manual on how to score a movie. It encompasses everything you could ask from a composition that prefigures in the listener something that goes beyond the potential of the images, right?

The strength of this film is conveyed not only by its pioneering sci-fi imagery but also by a theme that makes such an impact on the imagination, tying itself to a great actor who becomes the multiplier of all the sensations we are experiencing through the music. I’ll wrap it up with something about Spock. Leonard Nimey - the actor who played Spock - maybe he was a terrific actor but let’s say the role didn’t require great expressive qualities... He had only one face... And despite this, though, human characteristics emerge to which he sometimes gives in; other times he criticizes them... But the funny thing is that Leonard Nimoy wrote a book - after doing several years of Star Trek - called “I Am Not Spock,” meaning I’m an actor, I do other things....

I don’t want to be boxed in exclusively with Spock. And about fifteen years later, he wrote another book called... “I Am Spock.” Well, we’ll stop here for today, but stay tuned because next time we’ll take a look at what exactly?... You mentioned Spock. How does Goldsmith describe Spock? With sound choices that draw from synth sounds.

So, next time, we’ll talk about the synths of Star Trek. Don’t miss it.