star trek song lyrics

The Star Trek Theme Song Has Lyrics

By eddie deezen | jul 20, 2018.

The Star Trek theme song is familiar to pretty much anyone who lived in the free world (and probably elsewhere, too) in the late 20th century. The tune is played during the show's opening credits; a slightly longer version is played, accompanied by stills from various episodes, during the closing credits. The opening song is preceded by William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) doing his now-legendary monologue recitation, which begins: "Space, the final frontier ..."

The show's familiar melody was written by respected film and TV composer Alexander Courage, who said the Star Trek theme's main inspiration was the Richard Whiting song "Beyond the Blue Horizon." In Courage's contract it was stipulated that, as the composer, he would receive royalties every time the show was aired and the theme song played. If, somehow, Star Trek made it into syndication—which, of course, it ultimately did—Courage stood to make a lot of money. And so did the person who wrote the lyrics.

WAIT... THERE WERE LYRICS?

Gene Roddenberry, the show's creator, wrote lyrics to the theme song.

"Beyond the rim of the star-light, my love is wand'ring in star-flight!"

Why would Roddenberry even bother?

The lyrics were never even meant to be heard on the show, but not because the network (NBC) nixed them. Roddenberry nixed them himself. Roddenberry wanted a piece of the composing profits, so he wrote the hokey lyrics solely to receive a "co-writer" credit.

"I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, strange love a star woman teaches."

As one of the composers, Roddenberry received 50 percent of the royalties ... cutting Alexander Courage's share in half. Not surprisingly, Courage was furious about the deal. Though it was legal, he admitted, it was unethical because Roddenberry had contributed nothing to why the music was successful.

Roddenberry was unapologetic. According to Snopes, he once declared, "I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek ."

In 1969, after Star Trek officially got the ax, no one (Courage and Roddenberry included) could possibly have imagined the show's great popularity and staying power.

Courage, who only worked on two shows in Star Trek 's opening season because he was busy working on the 1967 Dr. Doolittle movie, vowed he would never return to Star Trek .

He never did.

If you're looking for an offbeat karaoke number, here are Roddenberry's lyrics, as provided by Snopes :

Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand'ring in star-flight I know He'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.

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Even if you've never seen a single episode of "Star Trek," you probably know the theme song. First comes William Shatner intoning, "Space, the final frontier," followed by his monologue (backed by triumphant horns) about the " Star Trek " mission to "explore strange new worlds ... to boldly go where no man has gone before." The song then segues into an orchestral arrangement with an eerie melody -- is it a woman or some kind of flute? -- and back into the horn blasts. The original series aired more than 40 years ago for only three seasons, but the theme song is a classic and still instantly recognizable.

The "Star Trek" theme is memorable despite the fact that besides the monologue, there are no words -- and that's the way composer Alexander Courage intended it. But series creator Gene Roddenberry did write lyrics for the theme song, although he never had plans to record them or use them on the show. Roddenberry's move infuriated Courage, who swore never to work on "Star Trek" again.

Here's what happened: Theme song-composing work generally doesn't pay very well -- most contracts are royalty-heavy, which means that the bulk of the money comes rolling in per episode. The more episodes that air, the more lucrative the contract. Hopes apparently weren't very high for "Star Trek," because the producers had a tough time finding a composer. They finally hired Courage, who took a chance on the show, which had been running for a few seasons and would possibly make it to syndication, where the big bucks are (little did he know!). The composer and the lyricist usually split the royalties down the middle, but because there were no lyrics, the spoils would all go to Courage.

Roddenberry wouldn't let the money go that easily, though. He and Courage had a handshake deal that allowed him to pen lyrics for the theme song (or so he claimed; Courage always denied it). So during the first season, Roddenberry wrote them, claimed the lyricist title and started to pull in half the royalties. Legal, but pretty shady. Courage never returned to work.

Soprano Loulie Jean Norman went through a similar situation. Yes, that is a woman's voice you hear in the theme song -- but only in the first season. When the producers realized that Norman's Screen Actors Guild contract entitled her to rerun fees, they removed her vocals from the song and filled them in with various instruments.

In case you're wondering, here are Roddenberry's elusive theme song lyrics:

Beyond the rim of the star-light

My love is wand'ring in star-flight

I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches

Love, strange love a star woman teaches.

I know his journey ends never

His star trek will go on forever.

But tell him

While he wanders his starry sea

Remember, remember me.

Lots More Information

Related articles.

• Top 10 'Star Trek' Technologies that Actually Came True
• 10 Crazy Examples of Horrible Movie Science
• How Sci-fi Doesn't Work
• Real Tech or Star Trek? A Quiz.
• Who Said It: Captain Kirk or Captain Picard?
• Deezen, Eddie. "The Star Trek Theme Song Has Lyrics." Mental Floss. Oct. 2, 2011. (Jan. 14, 2015) http://mentalfloss.com/article/28895/star-trek-theme-song-has-lyrics
• Snopes.com. "Unthemely Behavior." Aug. 8, 2007. (Jan. 14, 2015) http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/trek.asp
• Solow, Herbert F. and Robert H. Justman. "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story." Pocket Books. 1997.

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

Star Trek: Enterprise Theme Song Lyrics

Star Trek: The Original Lyrics

Jim C. Hines /

Several decades ago, I acquired the piano sheet music for the Star Trek: TOS theme song. This was the classic soundtrack, the original 60s score by Alexander Courage.

I sat down at my piano, opened the music, and was shocked to discover not only the musical notes, but the lyrics . Words written by none other than Gene Roddenberry himself.

I’m sure some of you know about this already, but for the rest of you, here are Roddenberry’s lyrics to the original Star Trek theme:

Beyond The rim of the star-light My love Is wand’ring in star-flight I know He’ll find in star-clustered reaches Love, Strange love a star woman teaches. I know His journey ends never His star trek Will go on forever. But tell him While he wanders his starry sea Remember, remember me.

Wow. Those are certainly…words. They have syllables and everything.

But it gets better. According to Snopes , the lyrics were a way for Roddenberry to claim half of Alexander Courage’s royalties for the music.

“Pressured by Roddenberry, Courage had made a “handshake deal” a couple of years earlier that gave Roddenberry the option of composing lyrics for Courage’s Star Trek music (and Courage signed a contract — unknowingly, he later claimed — to that effect). Roddenberry exercised that option, writing lyrics for the main theme and then asserting his right to half the performance royalties as a co-composer. It made no difference that the lyrics were not intended to be used in the show itself and had never been recorded or released. As the lyricist, Roddenberry was entitled to an equal share of the royalties, whether or not the lyrics were ever used.”

“Courage protested in vain that although the arrangement may have been legal, it was unethical: Roddenberry’s lyrics added nothing to the value of the music and were created for no reason other than to usurp half the composer’s performance royalties. An unsympathetic Roddenberry proclaimed, “Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I’m sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek .””

This has been your random bit of geek history/trivia for the day.

mg January 13, 2021 @ 2:24 pm

What a schmuck!

Kevin January 14, 2021 @ 8:35 am

Back in the Before Times, when large groups of people still crowded into auditoriums to listen to live music, I attended a live performance of Star Trek: The Music at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.

The music was supplied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the show was presented by John de Lancie (“Q”) and Robert Picardo (“The Doctor” from Voyager). The show was very well done, and didn’t take itself too seriously. One of the highlights of the evening was Robert Picardo gamely belting out Roddenberry’s never-intended-to-be-heard lyrics with full orchestral accompaniment.

Beth Hudson Wheeler January 15, 2021 @ 12:12 am

Those are, indeed, words. Several of them.

Fred January 21, 2021 @ 6:48 pm

tenacious D actually does Star Trek live with lyrics, you can find it on youtube. quite cool

Paula March 25, 2021 @ 1:50 pm

Disappointing. The Great Bird of the Galaxy was a nest-stealing cowbird. As for those lyrics… thing he didn’t quit his day job.

Paula March 25, 2021 @ 1:52 pm

Disappointing. The Great Bird of the Galaxy was a nest-stealing cowbird. As for those lyrics…good thing he didn’t quit his day job.

To Boldly Sing

Star trek has inspired plenty of pop culture, but nothing is as bizarre as the musical fandom following its warp trail..

 Filed under: filk , music , novelty music , star trek , star trek music , star trek songs

Hey all, Ernie here with a fresh one from David Buck , who is helping us maintain our mental-health-break status for this week. If you’re a Star Trek enthusiast, you will enjoy this one.

Today in Tedium : Some readers might have noticed my absence last month. Unfortunately, my father passed suddenly and I was out of commission for a while. As I looked through some of his stuff, I came across some things that reminded me of the times we would sit down together to watch Star Trek: the Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Thinking about those moments reminded me of some old files and pitches that I was working on a few years ago. I came across one idea and decided to flesh it out a bit: a piece on songs about a certain science fiction television show. If I recall correctly, the original outline of the piece was written for a certain site that ghosted me a few years ago. So, here it is, completely rewritten with fresh insights. So set your phasers to stun and beam up your sense of humor because in today’s Tedium, we’re going where no one has gone before: down the black hole of songs about Star Trek . — David @ Tedium

Today’s GIF comes from a claymation music video for the well-known novelty song “Star Trekkin’” by The Firm.

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“And on no other show do I police myself as much, because I’m such a fan of Star Trek that it’s important to me that we are as funny as we can be without breaking Star Trek at all times and without being mean about Star Trek. With the network and with the studio, the conversations are mostly when I’m pitching an episode, I’ll be like, ‘Here’s what inspired this episode.’ And it’s always coming from a thing that I love about Star Trek, and then ‘Here are the things that we love about these characters, here’s how we want to explore them, and then this is why it’s going to be funny.’”

— Mike McMahan , creator of Star Trek: Lower Decks , discussing his approach to comedy on the show in a 2021 interview with Collider .

Where no musician has gone before (well, not really)

Last year, I discovered something rather silly: a radio station with an apostrophe in its call letters. I joked with Ernie that it reminded me of the Klingon language. This led to a very interesting journey about Klingon that ended up going pretty far and even made an appearance on Vice’s Motherboard —something for which I am eternally grateful. Revisiting this idea only further brings home the point that science fiction television can be a goldmine for weird stuff.

Star Trek has always been a great source of humor. Where Deep Space Nine and Picard readily take on more serious themes, there’s something to be said about the ever present sense of humor that runs a deep vein through most Trek shows. It’s in “The Trouble With Tribbles,” all over TNG (especially in some of Riker’s most memorable scenes ), interspersed between more maudlin moments of DS9 , and encapsulated by certain characters on Voyager . And that’s only naming a few shows! It’s not difficult to see the humor in the shows.

A few years ago, a surprising new Star Trek show was announced, focusing on the non-bridge crew of a “second contact” starship called The Cerritos . That show was Star Trek: Lower Decks . Created by Mike McMahan (who also worked on shows like Rick & Morty and Solar Opposites ), the show centers on a few quirky characters who aren’t officers but perform the ship’s grunt work. It’s hysterical and the characters are quite fun to spend 22 minutes with each episode.

With Star Trek: Lower Decks already two seasons into its run and a plethora of Trek shows coming out, it’s almost as if a renaissance for the series is upon us. Also, Strange New Worlds looks amazing.

Lower Decks goes out of its way to take itself less seriously, proving there’s definitely some room for a bit of comedy interspersed with the more abstract seriousness the show often aims to hit. What Lower Decks does so well is how it leverages that crazy sense of humor into the fandom at large. It sort of reminds me of what happens when enthusiastic, musically inclined fans get together to write songs about the show.

Music has always been integral to Star Trek . From the opening theme of Star Trek (TOS) onward, music has been an integral part of Star Trek , inspiring viewers and musicians alike. While each show’s own music is instantly recognizable, the program also inspired a great deal of music by other artists (often related to TOS ). You’ve probably heard “ The Trouble With Klingons ,” a pastiche created by Dennis Williams for a certain novelty song contest or “Spock Rap” by the animators at Will Vinton Studios (under the name The Neural Paralyzers ) in the ’80s. Admittedly, not everything in this category is great, but there are plenty of gems around. Here are a few artists/songs that explore strange musical worlds, seek out new melodies, and boldly sing where no one has sung before!

You won’t find William Shatner’s The Transformed Man or Leonard Nimoy’s Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy here. Likewise, we won’t revisit the original Trek theme and its lyrics . Rather, these songs and sketches represent unique takes on Trek by various musicians and comedians past and present.

5. “Banned from Argo,” Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew

“ And we’re banned from Argo every one, banned from Argo just for having a little fun…”

Filk music is full of talented musicians who share a love of science fiction and community. Filk music—folk music with lyrics based on science fiction—has a rich history , with a strong connection to Trek.

Leslie Fish is perhaps the genre’s best known figure. With her 12-string guitar and larger than life persona, Fish writes about science fiction and beyond.

“ Banned from Argo ” is an upbeat shanty with slightly twisted lyrics. The Enterprise crew goes on shore leave and various hilarious hijinks ensue. It doesn’t reference TOS characters by name, it’s obvious which crew members she’s singing about.

The first few lines of a song explore the mischievous misadventures of the crew checking out “every joint and bar” on Argo during their shore leave. Listeners then learn about the Captain’s sinful tastes and complex methods, the engineer’s ability to “outdrink space marines and a demolition crew,” and the first officer teaches the computer how to swear. It’s a shame what happened to the doctor … but I digress.

Surprisingly, Fish doesn’t seem to like the song much. As she states in several interviews (notably her brief appearance in Trekkies 2 ), the tune was written as quickly to fill out an album. It rapidly became her best known song—something she is a bit cranky about .

Leslie Fish has a large ouvre of other songs, both Trek related and otherwise. Her exuberant performances and love for storytelling shine during her performances. If you’re not a fan of folk music and/or sea shanties, you may want to give this one a pass.

If you enjoy her Trek music, check out the song “Carmen Miranda’s Ghost” and its accompanying anthology . For the full Leslie Fish experience, give Folk Songs for Solar Sailors a spin—if you can find it .

4. “Everything I Do, I Do with William Shatner,” Warp 11

”I don’t want to go to work, just wanna hang with Captain Kirk and if I had my way, I’d make it so…”

Dedicated to all things Trek , Sacramento’s Warp 11 built a career playing Trek -themed music. Originally devised as a “band that only plays Trek songs” for a one-time video project of bass player/singer Karl Miller, the idea stuck and Warp 11 was born. Two decades and six albums later, the band is still on their musical journey.

Through incredible energy, crunchy electric guitar, and hilarious lyrics, “ Everything I Do, I Do with William Shatner ” from 2002’s Red Alert perfectly reflects the band’s “mission statement” —to convert listeners into Trek fans. Despite its title, the song is about Captain Kirk rather than Shatner himself.

Effortlessly juxtaposing the manic energy of The Presidents of the United States of America and the killer chops of The Ramones with a wider mix of blues, rock, and punk styles. Add their DIY punk-meets- TOS cosplay aesthetic, and you get one very eclectic listening/visual experience.

With Warp 11, you’ll find songs about Q and Betazoids, an entire album covering The Borg, and a few sporadic tunes about Voyager . The band’s healthy mix of TOS and TNG material is the epitome of Trek music created by fans, for fans.

While I enjoy their music, it skews toward a teenager/adult audience and is definitely not for kids. Warp 11 are well known for their sense of humor and double entendre and they can be a bit R-rated at times, with mildly NSFW album art. Some of their stuff can be a bit of an acquired taste, but if you dig pink, scifi, humor, and Star Trek , they’re worth checking out!

For those interested in Warp 11, start with Red Alert , then dive into any of their post-2007 work from It’s Dead Jim onward, available at their website and most streaming services.

3. “StarDrek,” Bobby “Boris” Pickett and Peter Ferarra

“ To boldly go where everyone has gone before !”

What do The Godfather , the most famous Halloween song of all time, and Star Trek have in common? Bobby “Boris” Pickett, of course. After having his breakout smash with “The Monster Mash” in 1962 (we wrote about this classic novelty tune in 2018 ), Pickett forged a career as a writer, playwright, comedian, and songwriter.

In 1975-1976, Pickett got together with producer Peter Ferrara to record “Godfather’s Respect”—a song about the 1972 film set to the tune of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”—and an original spoken word spoof of TOS called “Star Drek” (not to be confused with the MAD Magazine spoofs of a similar name).

The sketch follows the daily operation of a parody version of The Enterprise and its crew, focusing on the most exaggerated aspects of each character.

It isn’t an outright mockery of the franchise and its fans, either. “Star Drek” is a carefully crafted satire of the genre that plays to the absurdity of the occasional technobabble used on the show, taking a light hearted approach to the action. We won’t spoil the punchline for you here.

Barrett Hansen—a.k.a. radio host Dr. Demento—included the sketch on his 25th Anniversary collection, writing the two were on opposite coasts during the recording process so Peter ended up doing all the voices himself. They shared the credits, as Pickett helped write the piece.

The sketch is uproariously funny every time you hear it—a rare accomplishment for a comedy/novelty song—full of nuance and spot-on characterizations. Of course, your mileage may vary. The humor may be a bit dry for some, but it’s a fun piece that holds up remarkably well today.

If you like Pickett and Ferrara’s style consider listening to Pickett’s The Monster Mash LP. For more Peter Ferrara, watch the Jonathan Winters specials On the Ledge and Spaced Out .

(via Terry McGovern’s website )

2. “Beam me up Scotty,” Terry McGovern

”Beam me up Scotty, oh beam me up Scotty, life sure is trouble below …”

Terry McGovern is known today for his voice acting (he was the voice of Launchpad McQuack in the original Duck Tales ), but he began his career as a radio broadcaster . Later, he would work in movies and television as well. In 1976, he released a Trek song of his own, “Beam me up, Scotty” on Baseball Records as a B-side to his rendition of the classic tune “ Pachalafaka .” You can hear the entire thing on SoundCloud .

Not to be confused with an obscure country tune of the same name, McGovern’s song is a quiet rumination on how boring/awful life on earth can seem sometimes. The singer longs to join the crew of The Enterprise and escape the banality of modern life.

The song received airplay on various radio shows, but languished in obscurity for years until being officially re-released on a compilation album in the early 2000s. While it may not be the most well known Trek tune, it’s certainly well loved .

McGovern regularly attends conventions and teaches acting classes—on top of his legendary voice work.

1. “Star Trekkin’,” The Firm

“ There’s Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow… ”

The final entry in our list may be the best known: “Star Trekkin’” by The Firm. No, not Jimmy Page’s post Zeppelin band; this group was a side project of John O’Connor, a British music producer.

The song was popular in its own time—it hit Number One in the UK music charts and stayed there for quite awhile back in 1986—but took on new life in the internet age. It was used in one of the episodes of a Flash-based web series called Stone Trek (a mashup of The Flintstones and TOS ) and a claymation video makes the internet rounds every so often. Not bad for a novelty song that was rejected by every record company O’Connor approached. Then it became a million seller, prompting O’Connor’s move to America, where he went on to compose for television .

The Firm released a full-length LP, Serious Fun , that’s worth at least a slip of gold pressed latinum. “Star Trekkin’” is the best and catchiest of the tracks. Good luck getting the tune out of your head.

The number of songs in the Star Trek musical Boldly Go! Written by a Caltech theoretical physics graduate , Grant Remmen, and his brother Cole, the show is a humorous and satirical take on The Original Series . With songs like “Dammit Jim, I’m a Doctor” and “Captain’s Log (As Great As I Know I Am),” the show is well worth watching for its two hour runtime. According to a 2016 Caltech ad for the show, Boldly Go! is ”a story about being true to oneself and one’s convictions, about friendship and love, about discovery and wonder, about the triumph of the individual over adversity, and about the joy of sharing with each other this vast and mysterious Universe.” For those interested in such things, it’s available in its entirety on YouTube .

When I originally outlined this —several years ago now—it had quite a few more songs. But over time, my interest and enthusiasm for Trek has waned somewhat.

And of course we couldn’t fit all of our favorite goofy science fiction songs into this piece. But there are plenty of great Trek bands around like “one-chord punk rockers” No Kill I (and NKI: the Next Generation and NKI:Deep Space Nine; they’re all different bands), modern filkers Ookla the Mok , and the Klingon metal group Stovokor , whose performances take Trek music to the next level.

Songs and sketches about Trek continue to endure well into the 21st century and beyond and it will be interesting to see what strange musical moments the future of Trek fandom holds.

And although this piece no longer resembles anything close to the original idea I had for it, I’m glad I was able to take a quick reprieve from the insanity of our modern world to find—and share—some humor from the bridge of The Enterprise that can still resonate with audiences today.

Thanks again to David for the great piece. Find this one a worthy read? Share it with a pal ! And see you all next week.

Your time was just wasted by David Buck

David Buck is a former radio guy/musician who researches and writes about all manner of strange and interesting music, legacy technology, Nintendo and data analysis.

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Theme (From "Star Trek: Voyager")

Nic raine , jerry goldsmith , prague philharmonic orchestra.

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Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King "Jerry" Goldsmith (February 10, 1929 – July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring. more »

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• ‘Star Trek’ theme song has lyrics? Yes, it does

Those lyrics already exist, written by the series’ beloved creator, Gene Roddenberry.

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For those who grew up with syndicated UHF programming, the opening to “Star Trek” is about as indelible as it gets.

With delicate orchestral flickers framing an introduction that begins with William Shatner’s stentorian narration “Space — the final frontier,” the familiar, one-minute theme gallops on an operatic soprano that resembles a theremin framed by strings and brass. But what if that wordless melody actually had lyrics?

Before you start picturing Bill Murray’s swinging lounge singer delivering a theme to “Star Wars,” those “Trek” lyrics already exist, written by the series’ beloved creator, Gene Roddenberry. And somehow, they’re more awkward than even Nick Winters could have imagined. Read them below:

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The rim of the star-light

Is wand’ring in star-flight

He’ll find in star-clustered reaches

Strange love a star woman teaches.

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Screen Rant

Star trek's original theme had lyrics by gene roddenberry.

Gene Roddenberry wrote unused lyrics to Star Trek: TOS theme song for less than noble reasons, alienating the show’s composer Alexander Courage.

Star Trek: The Original Series creator Gene Roddenberry wrote a set of unused lyrics to the show's iconic theme song for less than noble reasons, alienating the theme song's composer, Alexander Courage. Courage was the second choice to compose TOS ' theme song and incidental music in its first season, after composer Jerry Goldsmith was forced to decline due to other commitments. Largely an orchestrator, TOS was Courage's chance to show he had the skills to create compelling themes of his own.

Courage more than succeeded. While TOS ' full theme song is one of the most recognizable in television history, the opening fanfare has taken on an even larger life, appearing in virtually every Star Trek television series and movie . The incidental music he composed for TOS set the tone for the series with big, bombastic cues pairing perfectly with bright, action-packed adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Unfortunately, Courage's contributions to the franchise ended up being short-lived due to an underhanded move by Roddenberry.

Related: Leonard Nimoy Made Star Trek's 1970s Animated Series Better

Why Roddenberry Wrote Lyrics To The TOS Theme Song

During production of Star Trek: TOS season 1, Roddenberry published a set of lyrics for the theme song. The lyrics themselves were saccharine, looking at Kirk's Star Trek voyages through a lover's lens, but that wasn't really a problem as Roddenberry never intended to use them. The Star Trek creator was exploiting a loophole in Courage's contract that stipulated Roddenberry would be able to claim half of the song's royalties if he authored lyrics.

Roddenberry's move blindsided Courage, and when the composer contacted Star Trek's creator , Gene was entirely unapologetic, arguing he had to profit off the underperforming TOS any way he could. Understandably upset, Courage left before production on TOS season 2 began. Courage was replaced by Fred Steiner, who produced the majority of TOS ' incidental music.

Why TOS' Theme Composer Never Worked With Roddenberry Again

Courage's animosity toward Roddenberry endured, and he would never directly work with the Star Trek creator again over the royalty issue. Courage did return to score two episodes of TOS season 3, "The Enterprise Incident" and "Plato's Stepchildren," as Roddenberry had stepped down as the executive producer of the series by its third and final season. Courage was persuaded to return at the behest of producer Robert Justman.

Courage wasn't quite done with Star Trek yet. Composer Jerry Goldsmith invited his friend Courage to rework his original TOS theme for segments of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Courage would also go on to orchestrate Goldsmith's scores for two of the films featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection . Alexander Courage deserves a more enduring legacy than he generally gets for his contributions to Star Trek: The Original Series , and it's unfortunate that he's not as highly regarded as some other Star Trek composers due in part to Roddenberry's dubious dealings.

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