Music to Our Ears

I'm a huge fan of the Michael Giacchino soundtracks to both the 2009 movie and Into Darkness.

Hearing that the same gent would be working on the Beyond soundtrack instilled a lot of confidence and I can't wait to hear what he has produced for this three-quel. To be fair his work has been one of the high points of this reboot hands down.

I'm not a music critic by any stretch of the imagination nor will I ever attempt to be but the released track listing has given a few hints as to what we might be expecting from the movie. Here's the listing with a few thoughts on the movie chucked in for good measure.

1. Logo And Prosper (1:47)

2. Thank Your Lucky Star Date (2:15)

3. Night On The Yorktown (5:36)
Expect this to the big reveal of the edge of the frontier starbase and the crew taking a break from the five year mission.

4. The Dance Of The Nebula (2:22)
Investigating some new part of space following their trip to Yorktown perhaps? Which might lead them to encounter Krall's armada and...

5. A Swarm Reception (2:30)
Self-explanatory but probably a very fast-paced action theme as Krall's ships overwhelm the USS Enterprise.

6. Hitting The Saucer A Little Hard (6:10)
Is this the death theme for the reboot starship? At six minutes it's going to be a long sequence as the Enterprise breaks up and the saucer crashlands on Krall's planet (conjecture).

7. Jaylah Damage (2:50)
A theme that we might see intertwined elsewhere in the film perhaps seeing as how much publicity is being given over to this guest star over Krall? This might well be playing out when she meets up with Scotty as we've seen in the trailer.

8. In Artifacts As In Life (1:51)

So what's this one? Interesting title so could there be an item that has driven everyone to this planet? It would explain that mine/prison facility and the reason that "everyone is here" which we've seen emphasised in the trailer. Is this going to be an Indiana Jones meets Star Trek adventure? What item could be this important it gets its own track?

9. Franklin, My Dear (2:50)

Welcome to the newest starship design in the movie series. A predecessor to the NX Class this is going to be a key element to the movie since it looks like it saves the crew's lives and helps lead their fight back

10. A Lesson In Vulcan Mineralogy (5:17)
OK. Not a lot I can guess from this but could be linked to that "artifact" from track eight but it might also suggest Spock discovers something about the planet. Let's just hope it's not keeping them young - I mean, who would make that the plot of a Star Trek movie...

11. Motorcycles of Relief (3:17)
Well I don't need to think too much about this. We know it's onboard the Franklin as seen in the recent cutaway pics and it's been featured in the trailers too. How it's woven into the plot has to be to do with stopping Krall I guess.

12. Mocking Jaylah (3:26)
Defeated by Krall in the hand to hand combat which was spotted in both the second and third trailers at his ground base. This would then give Kirk a good opportunity to ride in and save the day.

13. Crash Decisions (3:16)
Two possibilities. Either this is out of sequence on the soundtrack and it's actually from earlier in the movie referring to the Enterprise or we're getting to see the Franklin trashed as well. I'm going for the latter to lead into the finale of the movie.

14. Krall-y Krall-y Oxen Free (4:23)
Not a clue.

15. Shutdown Happens (4:35)
Are we thinking that Krall's digging operation/whatever he's doing is ceased rather abruptly through some Starfleet intervention?

16. Cater-Krall In Zero G (2:17)
Looks like this will be Krall versus Kirk in the zero gravity environment we saw at Yorktown in the second trailer but was omitted from the third and final set of clips.

17. Par-tay For The Course (2:46)
All done and could this be the theme to announce the birth of a new USS Enterprise?

18. Star Trek Main Theme (3:45)
Always a pleasure. Welcome back!

As if that's not enough I also believe I may now have seen and heard everything. Not only does Rhianna launch a range of sunglasses partially inspired by Geordi La Forge's VISOR thus revealing her admiration for the fandom but this week we also discover that she's providing a song for Beyond called Sledgehammer. Fans of Peter Gabriel can rest easy that it's not a rehash of his classic 80's song.

I listened to it through for the first time yesterday and I'm not greatly impressed. It works nicely with the trailer building up to that rather repetitive crescendo at the end but overall this is a very average and uninspiring pop song. I'd definitely say that Rhianna has done better material (although maybe not for a while). I'm sure it will still sell millions and become a footnote in Star Trek history as only the second time such an occurrence has happened.

Have to say linking Rhianna and Star Trek was never something I'd considered a possibility and it will be the first time a pop song has been fused with the franchise in the movies. Of course we've had a singer provide a theme before and that certainly split fan opinion didn't it Mr Russell Watson?

Rhianna's Sledgehammer is available right now and the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack will be released on July 29th 2016.

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Star Trek Into Darkness: Into Motion

Stateside is still waiting for the arrival of the movie while in the UK we just can't move for any more reviews. It's like being in an avalanche. Seriously.

While it's a real mixed bag, Paramount continues with its marketing campaign and this time on Are You #The 1701? you can search the site and find the link to motion versions of the character posters that have already been released. It's not the hardest search - it's the Bad Robot logo if you must know. If you're not fussed, here's the link through to the images. I was expecting more than some flying dust over the pics. They also now carry the revised launch dates for the US.

Now if images are your thing then you're gonna LOVE this next bit. I've had a bit of a hunt across the 'net and found these beauties hiding out from the movie. Apologies if you've seen them before. I hadn't until today so I hope you enjoy. I've captioned where applicable! I believe they are from startrekmovie.com (also feature pic above is from the same place via Pinterest)

Talking about Spock in the turbolift

Confronting Harrison in the Enterprise brig

Flying to the Klingon homeworld

In Command

Cumberbatch as Harrison

Aboard the Enterprise in sickbay

Uhura on Qo'nos

Uhura, Scotty and McCoy on the Enterprise bridge

It's definitely interview time for the cast with not only John Cho pulling time on the main startrek.com site but writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman dropping in for a chat about their script too. This is a great one, looking at how they wrote the film, the development process and even how it all started off as well as their reactions to the whole Harrison/Khan/Mitchell conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the internet for many months.

Over on iO9 there's a new interview with Simon Pegg which gives insight into the sets used for the movie and some of them are a little surprising - not as much greenscreen as you might have imagined! Also there's a hint of at least one deleted scene in there that MIGHT make it onto the DVD/blu-ray release. In line with this, The World's End director and associate of Mr Pegg, Edgar Wright revealed on his Twitter profile that he directed one of the shots in Star Trek Into Darkness and by the looks of things it's on the Klingon homeworld....

There is some rumbling, particularly on trekmovie.com that Wright "could" be in the frame for directing Star Trek 3 if Abrams is over on Star Wars duty. I think this is HIGHLY improbable even though it's a nice rumour to hear. So that means so far we've got a movie about the Klingons at war directed by Edgar Wright set for the 50th Anniversary in 2016....

Talking of hearing and again, on the trekmovie.com site, you can listen to an interview with Michael Giachinno and 22 minutes of the brilliant soundtrack from the new movie which is available for preorder on Amazon (sidebar here on SKoST) and is out on May 28th 2013. I am seriously excited and wanting to get hold of this asap. I may have mentioned that before...

Two more titbits for you before I head off for the weekend - firstly, if you're seeing the movie at an Odeon cinema in the UK, be sure to get some food before you go in as you can get a free Starfleet badge with a combo purchase. It looks a bit plasticky but it's a momento of the event nontheless. I've dropped a pic of the promo board here if you want to check any details.


The last bit is that The Guardian newspaper in the UK will be running a Making of... supplement on Saturday 11th May 2013 as part of its publication. I've dropped the gorgeous cover shot here so you'll know what you're looking for. It's different to the rest of the recent promo materials and who's going to grumble about the Prime battle phaser sitting alongside the reboot Enterprise...?

You can still check back over the build up to the launch of the movie by clicking on the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below. Be sure to come back and check out our review of the movie and novelisation tie-in soon!

Star Trek Into Darkness: In One Week's Time

A week today I will be sitting here after seeing the first UK showing of Star Trek Into Darkness at 0001 on Thursday 9th May 2013.

The big news from today is the arrival of the 3D trailer. It's just the final international trailer, Vengeance and all but grab some specs and take a look at what you might well have in store in the next few weeks. If you were one of The 1701 of course you'll already have a pair to hand!

3D screen capture

I managed to get an early lead on the new Keep Going, Scotty! clip last night so it's a waiting game now. I did however miss the prizes for those in the USA and Canada who were The 1701. Receiving a limited edition movie teaser poster embellished with 1701 Edition, an invitation card and Star Trek Into Darkness 3D glasses they received a special invitation to the trailer you can click through to above. On a side note, here's a little screenshot from the AreYouThe1701.com site which might raise a smile. Sadly the competition was only open on the other side of the Atlantic and once that ended it was a free-for-all...

Also it's the BIG London premiere tonight. Yep, the movie has finally made it to the shores of Blighty - just another reminder of how close we are to it's May 9th launch date. It's kind of odd to think that by this time I will have seen the movie and know all the twists and turns within! In Leicester Square a LOT of people have turned out for the premiere which also means the opportunity for some stupidly large promotional material to be paraded (left). It's a massive Starfleet (Sciences) delta over the white carpet as snapped on the Paramount Pictures UK Twitter feed this afternoon.

I don't recall adding this recently (right)  in addition to the Mazda6 advert - it's their in-store poster as part of the promotion linked to the movie. Nothing earth-shattering but one more element in the Darkness juggernaut.

Good news today as we get to know a release date for the soundtrack as produced by Michael Giachinno; May 28th - so mark your calendars NOW! The first one from the 2009 film is spectacular and played a lot. I can't wait to see what he's done with this film and it's a certain purchase. I have to have this. Here's the track listing for you as well as the cover art for the album. For once it might be a buy rather than a download (listing courtesy of treknews.net). I would have liked it to have the new IMAX poster as a cover but this one will do just fine!

Track Listing

1. Logos/Pranking The Natives (3:01)

2. Spock Drops, Kirk Jumps (1:43)
3. Sub Prime Directive* (2:23)
4. London Calling (2:09)

5. Meld-merized (2:40)
6. The Kronos Wartet (5:25)
7. Brigadoom (3:41)
8. Ship To Ship (2:50)
9. Earthbound And Down (2:37)
10. Warp Core Values (2:56)
11. Buying The Space Farm (3:17)
12. The San Fran Hustle (5:00)
13. Kirk Enterprises* (3:00)
14. Star Trek Main Theme* (3:25)

So what can we find out from the listing? Tracks Two and Three are clearly around the WWSD? clip. Track Four should be to do with the bombing. Track Six suggests it's an action theme on the Klingon homeworld (spelling?! Hmmmm). Brigadoom must be the Harrison and Kirk face off; eight must be to do with the Kirk space-jump over from the Enterprise to the Vengeance. Earthbound and Down suggests it'll be playing out when one of those ships takes a nose-dive. I'm not sure I want to speculate any further actually! Clearly there's some kind of incident in San Francisco (track 12) but I'm at a loss to give any suggestions for some of the other titles - in fact I don't want to ruin the surprise for me or anyone else! 

It looks like they may well be in order of appearance as with the 2009 reboot soundtrack. Any thoughts on what might be going on here? Buying the Space Farm certainly peaks my interest as does Warp Core Values. Just a few days left to wait and work it all out. Fingers crossed that this soundtrack works well with the film. I've got a lot of time for Giachinno's work - very uplifting and inspiring if I do say so myself!

For anyone who has a Pinterest account, get over now and follow Simon and Schuster publishers who are running a brilliant competition to win some Star Trek Into Darkness goodies including Kre-O models, iPhone and iPad cases, posters, books, mugs, audio books, kitchen sinks (ok, the last one isn't a prize)...Create a Star Trek board, pin some of their images, choose some prizes and enter the competition. Easy peezy. 

Don't forget to check out all the latest happenings by clicking the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below. Updated as we get more!!!