Forgotten Star Trek Episode Has Better Music Than the Films
Even the biggest haters of Star Trek: Voyager had to admit that the music was excellent. That was because most of it came from Dennis McCarthy, the Emmy-winning composer who essentially created the signature sound of modern Trek from the ground up. He even did the music for Star Trek: Generations but later admitted that he ended up putting even more effort into the forgotten Voyager episode “Ex Post Facto” than he did into the first TNG feature film.
Dennis McCarthy
Before this Star Trek: Voyager tale can reach its crescendo, we need to review how McCarthy shaped the music of the franchise. His musical career began in 1980, and he scored many now-obscure TV shows (what, you don’t remember hit series like Goodnight, Beantown or The Barbara Mandrell Show?).
Fortunately for Trek fans, he also got some sci-fi experience by composing music for V: The Final Battle, the V series, and the ‘80s Twilight Zone.
This paved the way for his Star Trek career as he would work on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, creating truly unforgettable music.
That’s not just our fanboy opinion, either: the composer won a Primetime Emmy for his Deep Space Nine theme (which is so good that we never skip the intro). On top of that, he was nominated for nine other Emmys based on his Trek work.
Star Trek: Generations
While Dennis McCarthy would go on to compose for Voyager and Enterprise, the culmination of his work for this franchise was arguably scoring the music for Star Trek: Generations. While the movie had flaws big enough to fly a starship into, the music was (ahem) pitch-perfect. It was a great way to bring TNG to the big screen and a great honor for McCarthy, the series’ best composer, to provide the soundtrack.
Making Up For The Dog
After composing the music for Star Trek: Generations, he worked on 64 different Voyager episodes, bringing new tunes to the depths of the Delta Quadrant. The fourth episode he worked on was “Ex Post Facto,” a noir-flavored murder mystery that admittedly had more style than substance.
McCarthy really poured himself into creating the music for this episode, and he later brought up a striking irony about how hard he worked on this score.
According to the veteran Star Trek: Voyager composer, “I even worked harder on ‘Ex Post Facto’ than I did on [Star Trek: Generations].”
Ironically, McCarthy didn’t work so hard on this episode because he liked it but because he was worried that audiences wouldn’t like it. In his words, “that episode was a murder trial with the dog as the surprise witness! I really had to sell that.”
A Beloved Score
To really put that comment in context, we should point out that his score for Star Trek: Generations is generally beloved and acclaimed. He won an ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) award for that movie in the category of “Top Box Office Films.” Presumably, it occupies a crowded shelf filled with the other eight ASCAP awards he received for work for Paramount on the different Star Trek television series.
Scores Are More Important Than You May Realize
Hearing this tale of Star Trek: Voyager’s “Ex Post Facto” music, we’re going to pay close attention to the score next time we rewatch the episode. Generally speaking, we agree that the episode was weak sauce, filled with over-the-top noir influences and a particularly awful portrayal of Tom Paris as a womanizing jerk. Beyond all that, though, is the passionate music of a man who devoted his life to Star Trek, and fans everywhere should never waste an opportunity to honor Dennis McCarthy for everything he gave to this franchise.
