Star Trek: Discovery, in a parallel universe

My dance with a dream

Before I begin, I want to make something abundantly clear: this is a happy story. This is a story of daring to dream of the near-impossible and celebrating that I even came close. So lest my tone inadvertently come across as bitter, scorned or otherwise disappointed, please let this paragraph serve as a voice in your head reminding you that I consider this to be an amazing experience!

With all that said - TL;DR - here’s the end of the story: I am not the composer of CBS’ new Star Trek: Discovery. That task has fallen to Emmy-winning composer Jeff Russo, and my heartfelt congratulations to him on a truly impressive career thus far (especially for his achivements on Fargo).

Ok, done with disclaimers!

Time for a little backstory: Growing up, I was a rare breed of nerd who found himself equally enamored by both of the sci-fi staples of the era: Star Wars and Star Trek. On a foundational level, both originated as father-son bonding experiences, but whereas Star Wars was about the emotional thrill, Star Trek was all about knowledge and curiosity. We would watch episodes (particularly of The Next Generation) and have discussions / debates about the ideas, morals, etc.

My lifelong love of science and learning is owed in no small part to the impact of Star Trek during those developmental years.

And needless to say, the music of Star Trek became a huge inspiration for me following my discovery of Jerry Goldsmith when I was about 10. In contrast to the swashbuckling, adventurousness of Williams’ Star Wars, Goldsmith’s Star Trek was all about the Romance of exploration. It was deeply imaginative and captured the idea of ‘the final frontier’ with supreme class and elegance.

Pure starship porn

(Side note, the behind-the-scenes of that sequence is one of the most amazing of Goldsmith’s storied career, and well worth this glance)

So, when the news broke in early 2016 that CBS had greenlit a new series, I perked up. Not only as a fan, hungry for more Star Trek, but also with this back of my mind curiosity: could I manage a shot at scoring this show? For added context, I had recently lost my father to cancer, and couldn’t help but feel motivated to pursue the show as a kind of final tribute to him.

I decided to tell my agents (the spectacular Kraft-Engel Management) about my interest, just in case it should become viable. And to my complete astonishment, Richard Kraft came through with an idea only a few weeks later: write and record a demo - my stab at a new Star Trek theme - and he will present it to the team who, by random coincidence, he had had a recent dealing with on an unrelated project. I remember I was blindsided and asked “when?” And he said “how fast can you have it?”

At this point, I’d like to point something out: I’ve been VERY fortunate to win / be nominated for a lot of awards in my career. 7 BAFTA nominations (among them 2 wins), an apparently ‘historic’ GRAMMY nomination, etc etc blah blah blah. Why am I mentioning this? Because it amounts to absolutely NOTHING, especially when talking to television studios. The bottom line is that, going into my Star Trek adventure, I had zero prior TV track record. No amount of lucky breaks, success, etc in games mattered to them, and why should it?

Honestly I’m happy about this. It means I had to prove myself in a very pure, meritocratic sort of way. That includes proving it to myself (which was definitely NOT a given!).

I set to work immediately. Rather instantly it hit me: “Holy shit, I’m trying to write a theme to stand alongside the bonafide classics of Goldsmith, Horner, Courage, etc?” I decided to spend a couple of days trying dozens and dozens of variations, and finally landed on one that seemed to work. I hired a spectacular Hollywood orchestra, and then created a sort of love letter visual montage to the legacy of Star Trek: