When it comes to Hollywood composers, everybody's heard of John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmerman. Despite working exclusively behind the scenes to score films, they've managed to become household names. Yet several other composers have provided beloved scores who have yet to receive name recognition.

And, you know, that's just not fair. So let's take this time to shine a light on one of Hollywood's underappreciated gems, James Horner.

During his thirty-year career, Horner has been nominated for the Oscars seven times for his work on such films as An American Tail, Field of Dreams, Braveheart, and A Beautiful Mind.

His only Academy Award win is for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song, both for Titanic. Yep, this guy is responsible for the most devastating earworm in history with the Song Which Must Not Be Named (lest it get stuck in your head all day).

But let's not hold that against him. We're sure he's a good guy despite his crimes against radio airwaves.

Star Tracks

Before working on Oscar-winning films, Horner composed B-rated films for producers such as Roger Corman, a.k.a. "The Pope of Pop Cinema" (These films included the Battle Beyond the Stars, a Star Wars knockoff that is gloriously bad enough to be entertaining.)

Horner's big breakout film was The Wrath of Khan, and when that film became a hit, he was signed on to compose its sequel, The Search for Spock.

Since the film was a direct sequel, Horner revisited many of his previous scores from The Wrath of Khan but remixed them to be more suitable for the third film's motifs. You'll find Wrath's bass and percussion have been replaced with a lighter, airy note of strings and winds for Search. This is in keeping with the films' various themes, loss and danger in Wrath versus hope and loyalty in Search.

Consider "Prologue" which plays over—you guessed it—the prologue. This track underscores our return to the Genesis planet. It features chimes and strings and air instruments, introducing that light, airy motif we mentioned. Then a trumpet kicks in with some notes from Spock's theme from The Wrath of Khan to highlight the two films' connection.

This track is played while we are being reminded of Spock's sacrificial death from the previous film as the camera pans over his coffin. But its feeling isn't one of mourning or loss. Instead, it derives a sense of hope, a promise of better times to come. When the prologue shifts into the main titles and starts incorporating those classic Star Trek theme beats with its uplifting violins, you're ready for the adventure.

And now for something completely different. "Bird-of-Prey Decloaks," plays during the scene when, well, the bird-of-prey decloaks. (Yeah, the naming conventions on this soundtrack can be a little on the nose.)

This track returns to the bass and percussion beats from The Wrath of Kahn but incorporates an industrial clang in the background. By including some trumpets that sound like they're assaulting you, Horner taps into a villainous sound in keeping with classic action-adventure films. The Bird-of-Prey is a threat and the music underscores this perfectly. As a bonus, you'll notice the flutes and strings become more uplifting in the scenes where the heroes start to gain the upper hand.

Let's finish our exploration of The Search for Spock's score by enjoying the track, "The Katra Ritual." The track adds many elements associated with Eastern religions to the track. A heavy gong introduces the track, announcing the solemnness and weight of the ritual and its importance to the story. Yet, as the track continues, the airy strings return to remind the audience of the hopefulness of the Prologue and key us in that this hope will pay off.

Spock will return.

And those are a few examples of Horner's composition work in The Search for Spock. While it hits many of the same notes as other action-adventure scores, it does them so well that it is still remembered today as having some of Trek's best tracks.

And unlike that the Song Which Must Not Be Named, its soundtrack we can enjoy revisiting time and time again.