Is it only me who doesn’t like the new style of the theme song for Star Trek: Enterprise? I think it is too lighthearted and not uplifting enough. I always have a lump in my throats whenever I watch the old version. Now, it is just comical. Why, oh why, did Rick Berman and Brannon Braga change the song?
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Lost in Colonisation 
I agree! it’s “nice” but after getting used to the old version (man I was one of the folx who HATED IT initially) the new one is just woos-ey.
the old one made me feel like I believed in spaceflight and space adventure again, despite NASA, the militarization of space, etc.
go old ENT theme!!! ;->
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I will agree with you that it is mushy-“r”. It would seem that as the stoyline changes, so should the music (though i would have prefered a darker theme song to fit the darker stoyline).
BTW, I find myself correcting a lot of people about this; the name of the show. It is Enterprise. Not Star Trek: Enterprise. They deliberately left out the “Star Trek” nomiker to differentiate from the other shows. I keep telling people, THIS IS NOT STAR TREK! It is Enterprise. That’s why the theme song is not the usuall orchestrations. That’s why it seems to be so cheesy to many trekkers. I love it for what it is: the story of Human growth and development. The new adventure that it is.
Call me wierd. Call me a bad speller. Just don’t call me late to watch Enerprise.
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Sorry, the old one was depressing. I felt that it did not succeed in being uplifting either. The new one is still not uplifting, but at least it’s not sad.
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I agree with you. The new lite-Rock version has to go.
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You people must not be real trekkies! Let me tell about how The Enterprise finally got into space. The dream of one man who for years, thanks to the Vulcans, was not able to launch his ship because “we” (humans) were not ready. If you listen to the words, you would realize the song is revelant.
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I agree. The new theme sucks. I was just getting used to the rather patriotic version when this trailer park version is thrust on us. As Capt. Quirk pointed out, it’s a darker story line and therefore deserves a darker piece to start the show. On another note, there is only mention of the HMS Enterprize, but no mention of the other wonderful ships of the Royal Navy: Columbia, Discovery, Endevour… Ring any bells anyone? And also, I think the Russians put people and objects into space before the West did… Let’s be more world centric than US-centric pleez :o)
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Star Trek has always been USA-centric.. the whole idea behind it is rich in American idiology. Not syaing that’s a bad thing but why would they change that now?
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There is no mention of other RN ships because this TV series is called “Enterprise”? 🙂
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I LIKE THE THEME SONG. IS ALSO LIKED THE ORIGINAL VERSION. THE NEW ONE IS TO “POPPY” FOR ME!!!
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With you all on this one. The new Muzak version of the theme song stinks: “I’ve got faaa-ith of the heaaart ” Sheesh!
Even Picard would have ordered the Enterprise to head away from this musical anomaly at Warp 9.
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Come on, both theme songs suck.
First of all, the “musician” who sang this trite crap sounds like the best job he ever got was lead singer for a Bryan Adams tribute band.
There is more inflection in the ‘real american heroes’ parody ad.
Here’s the problem with the theme song:
1. TOO LONG! It clocks in at about 1:15. That’s one and a half less minutes to do things strongly lacking in enterprise – like developing characters and building plots
2. Its SCHLOCKY! Maybe the big orchestrations are passe – but Ron Moore’s excellent BS:G remake used a new sound for its theme that wasn’t cliche sci-fi, but wasn’t schlock either. He chose a very “world music” sound, with different instrumentations, which really carried the story well.
3. Its OBVIOUSLY CHEAP! This is supposed to be the flagship show of UPN, but all they can afford is a crappy little number? Why couldn’t they hire real talent, like Danny Elfman or Stewart Copeland, both of whom specialize in theme music? Or maybe, think outside the box and hire someone like Peter Gabriel?
Its odd, because these three problems also tell of the production problems that have plagued Trek since B&B ‘took the big chair’. Since Season 5 of TNG, the storylines have cheapened, continuity has been thrown out the window, and we have been subjected to abuse of in medias res, the holy reset button, so aptly parodied in Galaxy Quest, and static, poorly drawn characters.
With the exception of DS9, which Ira Behr did a commendable job with, most of Trek has been lacking because of a lack of on screen story development, an utter lack of character development, and to reiterate point number three – a complete lack of production values.
It all starts with Trek’s idealism that promotes every actor to director. While it might have worked on TNG, where you had very strong, established actors working on the show – Meaney, Muldar, Stewart, Burton, Wheaton and Dorn – working with the comrades was an easier exercise because “professional” directors had already defined their roles.
In Voyager and Enterprise, we see Dawson and Burton stumbling through episodes, and on the big screen, we saw uneven performances from Frakes (as director).
This smacks of cheapness. “First Contact”, lauded as TNG’s best feature, showed that Frakes did have the timing and perspective to fill the big screen. “Insurrection”, however, showed his TV roots.
Whereas TNG started off with two confirmed stars (Wheaton & Burton) plus two actual European stars (Meaney & Stewart) plus “regulars” like DeLancie & Whoopie, also stars – DS9, with the exception of Brooks, was largely devoid of “star” caliber actors, and its most recognizable regular characters where lifted from TNG. Voyager lifted promising actors from the franchise – McNeil and Russ, while Mulgrew, Ryan and Picardo all very talented, they were also very unknown.
Now we have Enterprise, and we only get one “star” – Bakula. Not to say Bakula isn’t a good actor, but he does not have the presence of Stewart.
What I want to say is simple: Modern Trek is the inverse of Old Dr Who. What Dr Who lacked in special effects, costumes, etc, was made up for in keen writing – people like Douglas Adams worked on the show for God’s sake! On modern trek, we see cash thrown at things like F/X and CGI effects, but little attention paid to the quality of writing, production values and hiring competent directors and star caliber actors.
THANK GOD FOR BATTLESTAR GALATICA! At least we’ll know that there will be decent sci-fi next year, and it won’t be on Viacom/CBS/UPN/MTV/Infinity
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Wow, Kurt… everything that’s wrong with Star Trek is summed up by the latest theme music? I think that’s what you’re on about, but I’ll admit that my brain broke trying to decode a few of those acronyms, so it’s possible that you made a great point somewhere near the end and I just didn’t notice. Because of this, my sneaking suspicion that Paramount is now making a commerical program just to annoy you might not be entirely accurate, so take it with a grain of salt… and also maybe go for a brisk walk around the block. Please?
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I am sorely disappointed by this new, poorly thought out upbeat theme. What a serious error of judgement it was to allow this laughable, ridiculous version to be used.
I say go back to the original. This change has severely dented my view of the show’s credibility, and the judgement of its producers.
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all you dumb asses dont realize that this song is good!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I gotta say the new theme makes it sound more like baywatch than Enterprise!
Incidentally, for those going on about who they got to write it, its not a new tune for the show, but an old 70s song by Brit rocker Rod
Stewart (probably spelt that wrong).
If you enjoyed the 90 second opening credits, then check the original out on Kazaa or whatever. Its obviously much longer, more uplifting, and doesnt sound like some Bryan Adams Tribute.
Oh, and as for added star Trek to the name of the latest series, its obviously trying to appeal the lowest common demoninator in the US gene pool, ie trailor trash and TV execs, both of which cant work out the relationships in the ST universe without it being spelt out for them. 🙂
BTW Tucker reminds me of Bush. Texan (?) ignorant, thinks the world/universe should be run by his beliefs and doesnt care who knows it, always eager to fly in shooting even when he has no idea of whats going on around him, oh and blaming anyone even remotely connected or related to the death of his sister. “Lets kill all the Zindi” etc. thats should stimulate some good comments! 🙂
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I have never been a big Star Trek fan. As I was flipping through the channels at some point in Season one, I heard the theme song and said to myslef “you don’t hear theme songs like that on TV anymore” and it made me watch at least the first ten minutes. Right now I am hooked on the show and the theme song pulled me in. That’s what a good theme song should do for the veiwer. I am also a big Scott Bakula fan from the Quantum Leap years, so that has something to do with it as well. All in all, its different, it echoes the exploration theme they were trying ot get across.
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The Enterprise theme music has always been a firm favourite of mine, to the point where I find myself singing along every week. I even downlo…erm..bought the full version. Russell Watson is a great singer, and if some of you guys took the time to do some research, you would realise he is one of Britains best classical music singers. “Where my heart will take me” (which is the title, “NOT Faith Of The Heart”) was actually a departure from the stuff he usually does. I really enjoy Star Trek: Enterprise, especially season 3. Im glad its been confirmed for Season 4 and I hope it runs all the way to the end, although I would like to see less time travel in Star Trek… the writers seem to use time travel far too often. The series should get back to its roots of exploration which a moderate dose of combat intermixed with it.
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Well after a google search of “enterprise old new theme” I found this site to come in first place, and must say I agree that the new theme song just can’t compare to the old theme song, which I really enjoyed to the point of singing along to it. However, season 3 is really where the show has improved with the whole xindi affair, IMO. I’ll be downloading every show in season 4 now in hdtv-lol format on IRC because I’m confident that season 4 will be good, they just need to ditch that theme song and go back to the original.
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Season 3 is definitely much better than season 1 or 2. I think most people (excluding Trekkies) forget about the ‘4 seasons’ rule of Star Trek TV series. The rule (I come up with this rule, BTW) says all Star Trek TV series only become exciting enough to generate good rating by season 4. Just look at TNG and DS9. Voyager is a bit of anomaly in that it is not until season 5/6 (depending on your taste) that it took off.
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No love lost for me over the original theme song, but I will agree that the new version has about as much ooomph as a can of JOLT cola sitting open for a week on the kitchen counter: all syrupy and sweet but not a bit of fizz to make it go down easier.
And Kurt, I also agree that the production of late seems to be cobbled together from bits and pieces from a Blue Light special. In fact, the latest ad campaign from The Discovery Channel shows greater flair for style and content, and these are commercials! Wait til you see the one with the transporter. HA!!! (http://media.dsc.discovery.com/knowmore/)
These posts are awesome. Thanks for making my workaday go by much faster.
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As an avid fan of Enterprise (th elow ratings don’t surprise me becuase would rather watch a bad Jim Belushi show, shows the american taste), i truly love the theme song, but not the current version. I would say that its the best theme song in TV right now, where good themes songs are very hard to find. Most shows don’t even have one anymore, and if they do, there are 15 seconds long. After hearing Rod Stewart and the full Russell Watson verson from the soundtrack, I think the Watson version is better, and that is coming from a big Rod Stewart fan.
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But, you can’t beat CSI’s use of The Who 🙂 I wonder which song they will choose for CSI:NY…..
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I think they will steer away from the Who. To be honest, as a big Who fan, there are no other popular Who songs that would fit the bill.
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For the love..! We now have episodes with prequel sections featuring people destroying earth or vulcans screaming in pain, or people getting flamed to death, and then it cuts to a truly, amazingly, unbelievablu schlocky piece of muzak. The season 1 and 2 theme at least had some sense of pathos. I got used to it. It was humanistic, existential almost. The crappy beat over the new one is truly out of place.
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The new CSI: NY is going to be using The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” . . . “out here in the fields, I fought for my meals.” I saw the promo tonite; gotta love The Who!
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The theme song for Enterprise is an absolute disgrace. It is appalling. Anybody who likes it has no idea what star trek is about, and is as intelligent as a dog who has been run over by a bus.
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How could someone say the original soundtrack of Enterprise was not uplifting? Infact it is one of th emost uplifting songs I have ever heard. If anyone else has heard more uplifting song than this than just email me the list please!
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I’ve been a fan of Star Trek for as long as I can remember – I’ve watched every episode of TOS for at least 10 times, couldn’t get me out of the house when it was airing – I had my doubts when TNG came to the screen, decided to dislike it without even seen a single episode, but after overcoming my prejudices I gave it a change – and you know what I grew to love it
DS9 had an easier start with me, remebered my old misjudgement and did the right thing by getting hooked on it – the storyline was fantastic – it reminded me of Babylon5, but it was even better, way darker for anything you could expect from Star Trek – it really made a difference (I thought to be taught better by Voyager)
Saddly Voyager showed the changes in lead in every possible way, B&B made a comedy show of the ST universe – the storyline consisted of ‘let’s go home’ and ‘let’s go home’
Unfortunatly they were never willing to make the decisions Sisko would have made – they always took the polite and gentle way, like hey stealing their technology would get us home, sound and save, but wait – nah, we can’t do that’ – it’s what already p*ssed me off from the pilot, even though I didn’t realise it back then, but since they brought the same scenario up again and again and again, they gave me enough chances to do so
And now to the newest additon in the ST universe, though no Star Trek anything anymore, just Enterprise
Well, of course I didn’t like the choice for a main theme, who from the old fans could really like this from the start? No one I know.
It’s obviously an attempt to get non-Trekkies to watch the show, like they wanna spread the message: hey were no geeks, look we got naked women (oh come on, how often have we seen T’Pol down to almost nothing for the most absurd reasons?), we got sex (goes along with the previous comment)
And for all of you who Trekkers out there: what the hell have they done with the Vulcans? Aren’t the supposed to suppress their emotions, acting completely on logic instead of being annoyed, angry and disgusted all the time?
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So anyway, long post, but I had to let it out, well, the hope dies last – I am still willing to give Enterprise a chance, I just don’t want to believe ST is going down like this and if it should be meant to proof me wrong I hope someone out there will erase this bad dream from my memory
Thanks for listening, feels much better!
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Thanks to TiVo, now I can just start watching ENT a few minutes late and fastforward past that sissy song!
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I too hate the new song. I think the old one rocked and inspired adventure. I have missed the last two seasons due to non cable tv. Recently I got an active antenna that lets the channel come in, but very fuzzy.
(whats this about downloading the shows from the net.. i need details please!)
Anyway, I did a search and found out Russell Watson sang the song.. Question: Who sings the new song? To me it doesn’t sound like Watson.. Why did they change the sone in the first place??
Thanks,
John Phoenix
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The new theme song has some amazing qualities. It’s basically reminding us that this is where it all began. We all became ST fans and followed with a faithful heart. I personally believe that B&B has wanted to fill in the gap that we all wanted filled. We always hear references to Archer in the other shows and now we are watching the begining. This song was more designed for the fans and not the show. Its a tribute to the fans. As for all the other ST shows, the characters never really evolved and always stuck to its prime objectives. As for Enterprise, they stumble along the way and show more of our human side (we aren’t perfect). However, from their stumbling, these episodes and future ones will learn from their mistakes and bring us closer to the ST we all love. Be patient and really enjoy the theme song and see it for what it really is!!!
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Hm.. wait.. help me out here, I’m confused.
Is it true that Diane Warren write and compose the song (I think in 1998)?
If so, then how is it possible that Rod Stewart sang it first in the 70s? (time machine?)
If not, then how could she dare to claim to have composed the song? (Even change the title of the song to “where my heart will take me”)
If anyone can enlighten me, please do.
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Daine Warren did compose it in the 70’s. Any Rod Stewart fans knows he can’t wirte songs, alot of his bigger hits are covers. Rod Stewarts verson is on the Patch Adam’s soundtrack if you want to compare verson. To be fair though, conpare to Russel Watson’s verson on the Enterprise CD. As a big Rod Stewart, I think Russel did a better job.
Matt
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The theme song for Enterprise did caught me off guard, but it grew on me and I like it now. In fact, I wouldn’t want the show to have any other theme song to play at the beginning. Still, the old Star Trek symphony is still a must for the show.
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