Working from the oral history in The Five Year Mission: The next 25 years, this is a fascinating deep dive that answers the question “How did a recycled cover of a 1998 song written for Rod Stewart, ‘Where My Heart Will Take Me’ aka ‘Faith of the Heart’ become the title music for Enterprise?”
Also, after resisting melodic scoring in all the 90s shows, it turns out this was the music Rick Berman liked?!!
“…I, for one, can tell you that I thought it was a great opening and I'm not alone in that. I don't think I'm in the majority, but I'm not alone."
And it seems the song does have its own subniche of supporters who share Berman’s view. (But not I.)
I get what they were going for with the song, but it's a swing and a miss for me. I think the opening credits montage fits perfectly with the show, but not the song. When I watch ENT, the only time I don't mute the sound during the opening credits is for "In a Mirror, Darkly, Parts 1 and 2."
" ... another 'space theme for nerds,' so to speak ... "
Not so to speak. Exactly that. Give me the orchestral story telling. Give me that epic space theme.
I agree, the montage is really good. Showing the progression of flight through history works very well with Treks ideal of advancement.
This again. Can we just leave this be for good? Some people like it, some people don't, potentially more people rather do not like it. That is it. Not a single one of these articles is ever adding anything more to the discussion.
I posted this because it is incorporating the oral history, and puts to bed some unfounded speculation.
The full books are reportedly excellent, but not that many of us have read them as yet.
And no matter how great some fans found it, the song really contributed to the perception that the franchise shifted to be very American oriented over the course of Berman’s leadership. It was a real barrier to growing the international audience.
It grew on me. It fit the intended mood of the show, at least until it got bogged down in time fuckery.
Enterprise would have been a lot better if they introduced the Romulans as the big bad in the pilot instead of the temporal cold war bullshit.
Anyone have good insights on the downfall of TNG-era Trek?
With Enterprise and Nemesis, it feels to me like the kind of situation where all the good people left and the person in charge (or Berman) didn’t know how much their success was because of the good people.
And so they run with their ideas, thinking they’re good and indifferent to the pushback from their underlings.
Is that what happened?
EDIT: So my vague guess as to what would have constituted "all the good people left" would have been Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor (and maybe Ronald D Moore counts too?) leaving. I just checked, and it seems by about Voyager S3/4, they'd both more or less left Trek, and, by the time Enterprise comes around, I'm guessing it was just Berman and Braga who'd stuck around, and, I'd also guess they really didn't have much of a role in giving (or understanding) the TNG era qualities that made it good.
Like, if you take the four series and the people who seemed to have driven their creation and writing (taken from wikipedia):
- TNG: Roddenberry,
Berman, Piller, Taylor - DS9:
Berman, Piller, Behr - Voayger:
Berman, Piller, Taylor,Braga - Enterprise:
Berman,Braga
... it seems pretty clear Berman needed good creative minds around him, and Braga just wasn't that person. Moreover, it really looks like it's Piller and Taylor that defined TNG era Trek (or the good parts at least).
Yep! He's also probably the clearest "black sheep" of all the major show runners or writers. Like Voyager and Enterprise do not happen the way they did if he's got an influence.
I'm sure it pisses Berman off to hear about all the fans of DS9 given that it's probably the one he had the least influence over (compared to Voyager and Enterprise at least)
- TNG: Roddenberry,
Right, so I didn’t actually mind the original ENT theme at all during my rewatch earlier this year. Far worse was the outro credits which were deeply jarring every single time.
The revamped theme is appalling though, it’s doubling down on everything that put people off about the original and it’s far, far worse.
I always loved the intro music, and never knew who it was from or how it was selected. It is a very optimistic song, and I think that's what Star Trek is about as well.
The problem with Enterprise's theme is that it undermines the fundamental principles the series had established in every other show. The song along with its imagery may feel like it's fitting for "mankind stepping into the larger galaxy", but it does so at great expense. Everything about that opening is anthropocentric. It's all about humanity and Earth. The show is every bit as broad as its predecessors, but the opening seems to feel like the poster child for HFY fiction. It's jarring.
