The music of Star Trek: Picard season 3 will honor what came before by referencing and paying homage to the scores from several past Star Trek movies. Music continually plays a large part in Star Trek's appeal, beginning with Alexander Courage's immortal theme from Star Trek: The Original Series, which almost every Star Trek series and movie has featured, at least in part. From Star Trek: Voyager's epic, soaring theme to the understated beauty of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's intro music, music has always set the mood for what was to come in the final frontier.
That said, the biggest, most majestic Star Trek music has always come in the movies. While the film itself is highly divisive, Jerry Goldsmith's score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is generally considered not only a franchise peak but one of the best scores in popular film history. Goldsmith's main theme from The Motion Picture was even slightly reworked to serve as the theme song to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Composers like James Horner, Cliff Eidelman, and Michael Giacchino have all contributed tremendous scores to the film franchise as well. While those massive, epic scores have largely been absent on the small screen, that's set to change with Star Trek: Picard season 3.
How The Music Of Picard Season 3 Will Honor The TOS And TNG Movies
The modern Star Trek shows have all featured memorable themes but tend to fall back on amelodic mood music during the actual stories. The first two seasons of Picard were scored by Jeff Russo, who also composes the music for Star Trek: Discovery. New showrunner Terry Matalas has brought in his 12 Monkeys collaborator Stephen Barton as Picard's primary composer for season 3, and Matalas has promised a decidedly new direction for the music.
Over the months that Picard season 3 has been in production, Matalas has shared clips of the music being performed for the series, including several of Goldsmith's themes from the TNG and TOS movies, as well as original compositions that homage both Goldsmith and Horner's work on the franchise. The show will also feature a new theme song developed by Barton and Matalas, but the real revelation is the use of movie-style themes within the show itself, something that hasn't really happened in a Star Trek TV series before with any regularity. Matalas has stated he sees season 3 as a ten-hour movie, so using the movie themes within the story makes creative sense.
The Music Of Picard Season 3 Is A Bold Change For Modern Star Trek
To this point, modern Star Trek TV scores have been something of a mixed bag. All of the main themes are musically solid and memorable enough, in particular Michael Giacchino's breathlessly fun Star Trek: Prodigy theme. But virtually all of the shows (except for Nami Melumad's playful scores in Prodigy) tend to fall back on bland mood music during the actual stories. This isn't a new phenomenon - the 90s Star Trek shows suffered from the same problem, as producer Rick Berman felt the music shouldn't be intrusive.
Picard season 3 could potentially mark a turning point for the way at least some of Star Trek sounds on the small screen. Jean-Luc Picard's final adventure is going to be larger in scope than the fairly personal stories of the first two seasons, and matching that epic story with big, familiar themes is a smart move, and an important creative pivot. Star Trek: Picard looks to be going out in style, and it's going to have the music to match its lofty ambitions.