Okay, I know this one will run the risk of generating a bit of flack from some people – but i really love the theme from Enterprise (or Star Trek: Enterprise as it latterly became). Actually (and I might have to whisper this one) I also quite liked the show too…or at least I did once it got past the pretty dreadful first season. I’m also one of those who really liked the whole Xindi arc too.
Anyway, the theme – a real departure for Star Trek series, all of which had had to date sweeping orchestral scores…and then we get this little tune sung by the delightful Russell Watson. Many, many (did I say many?) fans hated the theme, but for me it hit the perfect pitch for a series full of the ideals of hope and exploration; two things very close to my own heart. I loved the procession of images that ran alongside it, chronicling man’s journey from the dawn of time, cross oceans and finally to the stars. And yes, including that bit from my favorite ST film (First Contact) of the Phoenix jumping to warp helped it all go down nicely.
Russell Watson’s wonderfully sonorous performance really sold the whole song and the tune is pretty uplifting too, but I think it was the lyrics that really won me over most of all. The song is very much a lyrical ballad to following the dictates of your heart no matter what the world (or universe might throw at you). And that spoke to me, my life and in particular my relationship with my then girlfriend (and later wife). In particular the opening lines:
It’s been a long road
Get’n from there to here
It’s been a long time
But my time is finally near
If that didn’t sum up our entire 7 year long courtship, nothing else would! It was a courtship with ups and downs, a stunning inciting incident and opening act, a second act full of reversals and odd B-plots that went off at a tangent and made little sense at the time, and finally a third act that brought us back together…just when we thought nothing would ever bring too strange lost souls together in unity.
I will see my dreams come alive at last
I will touch the sky
And they’re not gonna hold me down no more
No they’re not gonna change my mind
Back together because…well, after all we went through, the living apart, the lives at other ends of the country, we ended up following where our hearts would take us…to our wedding. And that was 11 years ago this week, a day I’ll always remember for so many reasons. And on that day, well there was only one song that we could choose to be our first dance. Yep you guesses it, Faith of the Heart. It was a perfectly geeky choice, and I’m sure many people assume we picked it for that reason (we came down the aisle to the overture to ST:First Contact on the organ after all), but it was always the lyrics that spoke to us, and about us and our relationship. And they’re lyrics that are as true today as they were then.
And yeah, we both get a bit teary-eyed when the theme comes on my computer, or in the car or we just happen to catch an episode on TV. It’s not us weeping over One Night in Sickbay or even that whole first season (sob), it’s because we’re hearing a fragment of our past, and the echo of our love, resonating in a simple song. It’s about togetherness, it’s about how we make each other greater than we ever were as individuals. And it’s about a simple faith that we hold in each other’s ability to overcome whatever odds we face – so long as we face them together.
‘Cause I’ve got faith of the heart
I’m going where my heart will take me
I’ve got faith to believe
I can do anything
I’ve got strength of the soul
No one’s going to bend nor break me
I can reach any star
I’ve got faith
I’ve got faith
Faith of the heart
And it’s as valid today as it was then. Happy anniversary baby!
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