The tensions between utopian dreams and dystopian anxieties permeate science fiction as a genre, and nowhere is this tension more evident than in Star Trek. This book breaks new ground by exploring music and sound within the Star Trek franchise across decades and media, offering the first sustained look at the role of music in shaping this influential series. The chapters in this edited collection consider how the aural, visual, and narrative components of Star Trek combine as it constructs and deconstructs the utopian and dystopian, shedding new light on the series’ political, cultural, and aesthetic impact.

Considering how the music of Star Trek defines and interprets religion, ideology, artificial intelligence, and more, while also considering fan interactions with the show’s audio, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of music, media studies, science fiction, and popular culture.

Table of Contents

Preface; Jay Chattaway

1. Introduction: Hearing Utopia in Star Trek; Jessica Getman, Brooke McCorkle Okazaki, Evan Ware
2. Star Trek: The Original Series, Utopian/Dystopian Spaces, and Music; Amanda Keeler
3. The Trouble with Trebles: Orchestration and False Utopias in Star Trek: The Original Series; Reba Wissner
4. Tracks for Trek: Music in Network Ads for TOS; James Deaville
5. From Spock with Love: Fan Audio, Participatory Media, and Circulating the Materials of Star Trek Fan Culture; Kate Galloway
6. Loving Lwaxana, Trek’s Sonically Disruptive Diva; Josh Morrison
7. I, Musician: Humanity, Music, and Artificial Intelligence in the Star Trek Franchise; Jessica Getman
8. Not Logical, but Often True: The Evolving Role of Religion in Star Trek’s Utopia; Naomi Graber
9. Sinatra in Space: Music for Hope and Loss Beyond the Final Frontier; Timothy Summers
10. Markers of Utopian Difference: Music in Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) and Voyager (1995–2001); Paul Sommerfield
11. No, They’re Not Gonna Change My Mind: Anti-Fandom and the Enterprise Title Cue; Evan Ware
12. Navigating Contrasting Styles in the First Three Star Trek Film Scores; Louis Niebur
13. Songs of the Final Frontier: Listening to Whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Sarah Kessler
14. Days of Utopia Past: Nostalgia and the Star Trek (2009) Soundtrack; Brooke McCorkle Okazaki
15. Epilogue: The Conflicted Utopias of Star Trek’s Renaissance (2017–); Jessica Getman, Brooke McCorkle Okazaki, Evan Ware

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Format: Book: Hardcover
Language: English
Published by: Routledge
ISBN-10: 1138615242
ISBN-13: 978-1138615243
Length: 352
Published On: 2022-12-30
MSRP: 160