Customer Rating: 
Summary: "The Mountain" is truly the "peak" of this work!
Comment: When I saw
Star Trek 5 upon it's initial release in '89,
I saw three different stories attempting to be force-sealed into one:
Sybok's spiritual as well as physical search for God and Sha-Ka-Ree.
Spock's discovery of his long-lost half-brother, Sybock.
Kirk's attitudes towards death, and towards spiritual-healing "tricks".
["Faith-Healers" have never impressed me to begin with.
Give Kirk an "ATTA-BOY!" on that one!]!
[Somebody, in response to Kirk's cry of
"I don't WANT my pain taken away - I NEED my pain!
once made this interesting comment:
"No 'New-Age Easy Answers for Kirk, thank you!'"
I liked that. I'm no fan of New Age thinking myself.]
The new Enterprise-A being full of malfunctions, I felt, detracted from the story, for, in the end, the ship rose to the occasion, and carried crew and guests into danger and back as well as her predecessor had always done.
Roddenberry is said to have deeply felt this film was very apochryphal, and should not be regarded as official
Star Trek "canon".
Having said all that, I was deeply moved by Goldsmith's fine compostion
"The Mountain". This piece of music, for me, stands very well
all alone in it's own right, in additon to being a part of this soundtrack.
When I and my wife have vacationed in Oregon, I played this music on our car stereo during one of our drives around Mount Hood, our favourite mountain in all the world. For me, especially, "The Mountain" has become my personal love song to the Pacific Northwest that we love so much.
"The Mountain" raises images and notions of new possiblities, as another reviewer of this CD noted, and it also captures, for me, the great majesty and great splendor that is the American Pacific Northwest.
I was very honored to see this great part of our country finally represented - albeit briefly - in a
Star Trek production.
"The Mountain" is a piece of music that could - and should - have been used again in other
Star Trek productions which followed ST5.
Goldsmith also brings new fresh excitement to the action sequences and his updated version of the
Star Trek - The Motion Picture theme.
Here, the theme is more of an uplifting march.
While "The Mountain" is, for me personally, the highest point of this CD,
the entire collection here rises well above the film itself, and is the movie's saving grace.
By this CD - and go climb a mountain!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The More I Listen ...
Comment: to Jerry Goldsmith's orchestral score for
Star Trek V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, the more I've grown to appreciate this marvelous thematic score which had the great misfortune to be attached to one of the weakest of the Original Series films (right behind ST: TMP).
Yet, this score stands out for a couple of my favorite cues. First, there's the beautiful and awe-inspiring "The Mountain" which opens the film. With its richly orchestrated strings and mellow brass notes, this song never fails to give me goosebumps every time I hear it. The effect is further enhanced if you're listening to it when you're driving through a hilly countryside or walking through a forest.
My second favorite cue is "A Busy Man". This cue also hits just the right notes of delight and awe as you listen, and it's interesting to note that this theme is echoed in Goldsmith's score for STAR TREK: NEMESIS. I was also pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear the theme for the Klingons (which I first heard in ST:TMP) reprised once more in the closing credits theme.
Once again, Jerry Goldsmith managed to raise the quality of a somewhat lackluster film (William Shatner's questionable "directing" talent notwithstanding) with a score that's powerful, rousing and filled with the kind of delightful and awe-inspiring music we came to expect from the Maestro.
Customer Rating: Summary: Take this one for a drive
Comment: While I can understand why people did not much care for the movie, I have to confess that I liked it myself -in no small part because of the musical score. It is a real pleasure to finally have a copy of this soundtrack.
I agree with many writers that the music from the scene where Sybok and his troops take the city should not have been omitted, while we could have done nicely without the version of "The moon's a window...", but I think most of us bought it for the themes from "the mountain" and "a busy man".
I do a lot of long-distance driving, and find movie soundtracks very enjoyable to listen to as the miles and the hours pass by. To get the most out of a CD like this, my advice would be to listen to it while driving through the Rockies or whatever mountain range, or rugged stretch of countryside you may be handy to.
If you find that works for you, I can also recommend John Barry's "Dances with wolves" soundtrack (excellent for driving across the prairies or during a spectacular sunset), or just about anything by James Horner.
