After the fiasco that was the non-release of Ron Jones’ Starfleet Academy CD by Sonic Images, Interplay Software decided to cut out the middle man and distribute the music directly. That’s right – this review doesn’t cover an actual CD release, but a collection of MP3 files made available to the public by Jones and Interplay Software. Starfleet Command, a new, flashy rebirth for the Starfleet Battles tactical role playing game, is due for release soon, and in addition to a limited demo version of the game, Interplay has released the music. Jones kicks this new Star Trek game score off with Alexander Courage’s signature fanfare, but after that, wastes no time diving into his own action-packed style. Perhaps my bittersweet feelings about this score come from the fact that, if Jones was still working for Paramount, this is what Star Trek’s television productions could sound like today: active, exciting, and multi-layered. There are some nice Trek scores on TV these days – Dennis McCarthy’s music for the DS9 finale was no slouch – but Ron Jones, who earned the fans’ favor with the pivotal 1990 Best Of Both Worlds two-parter (which probably cemented the future of the Trek TV franchise more than anything 
else), has the most distinctive sound of all the neo-Trek composers who have scored the various new series. Furthermore, Jones has some surprises with his Klingon and Romulan themes from the game, not parroting previous themes (even his own). He also introduces new themes for the Gorn and other races. So go download the files from Interplay’s FTP site and judge for yourself…is this what Star Trek should sound like today?
- Intro Movie (0:52)
- Federation Menu Screen (2:07)
- Federation Mission Failure (1:08)
- Gorn Menu Screen (2:09)
- Gorn Mission Success (1:08)
- Hydran Menu Screen (2:09)
- Hydran Mission Success (1:08)
- Klingon Menu Screen (2:09)
- Lyran Menu Screen (2:06)
- Lyran Mission Failure (1:07)
- Romulan Menu Screen (2:09)
Editor’s note: Interplay has since closed its doors, and took down the FTP site with this music.
Released by: Interplay Productions
Release date: 1999
Total running time: 18:12