Like its various galaxy-hopping protagonists, Star Trek has undergone a remarkable journey in its 30-year history, rising from canceled 1960s television ratings casualty to become one of the most successful and long-running franchises in history. A key to its success--and crucial human dimensions--has been the symphonic music of some of Hollywood's brightest film-scoring talents. Using Alexander Courage's venerable original theme as a starting point, those musicians (represented here by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Leonard Rosenman, Jerry Fielding, Cliff Edelman, and Dennis McCarthy) have performed the musical equivalent of alchemy, both keeping a tradition alive and imbuing the films and television series with an ever-expanding vocabulary of wonder and emotional resonance. This CD captures the prime of that musical essence, from Courage's original theme, through Fielding's humorous Tribble-hunt, to the new thematic dimensions of Goldsmith and McCarthy. And fear not, Next Generation fans, the title's absence here does not equate to a musical shortcoming. Its theme is represented by Goldsmith's work on the first film adaptation, whence it came. --Jerry McCulley