The Musical Origins of Star Trek

The music in the Star Trek universe is some of the most well known soundtrack music ever – especially The Original Series, as well as the original Trek movies and The Next Generation – which shared the same theme. That said, I couldn’t remember the music from DS9 if you paid me; I’d just like to forget the awful theme from Enterprise; and did the J.J.-verse Trek movies even have a theme?

This short documentary from CBC Music’s Tom Allen explores the history and inspirations behind the Alexander Courage’s original Star Trek theme, which includes some judicious “borrowing” from Mahler, who stole it from Brahms, who got it from Beethoven. Though none of those guys had a theremin.