There’s something about the TNG theme (played during the opening credits) that seems unique and special to my ear. But I don’t know about music and orchestral production to make sense of it.
It sounds to me like the mix or maybe arrangement is somewhat unusual, even compared to other TNG era star trek themes. It seems to have a brightness and sheen to its tones that are almost synth like (??) But also the arrangement seems to hit some sweet sci-fi spot, like the way strings and trumpets with oboes/clarinets underneath (??) all mix together? Or is the chords that are played some where?
I don’t know, but I’ve always thought it had a sheen and sparkle that almost sounds like star trek (or at least TNG star trek).
Anyone else notice something similar? Anyone know what’s going on?
Speaking of unused music, the final TMP/TNG theme itself was almost different:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbdhC-OXXa0
There’s an interview where they tell stories, and apparently after they made this early version of the music, Robert Wise listened to it and gave the best three word critique ever - “There’s no theme!”
Goldsmith basically went “…oh.”, then went back and reworked what he had already into the 2nd version, and there you go that’s the final theme.