Varese Sarabande has one last Christmas present in their long-running CD Club series: an expanded edition of the most recent soundtrack of the Star Trek series.

Star Trek Beyond, this year's third entry in the "Kelvin timeline" reboot series of films based on Gene Roddenberry's 50-year-old sci-fi series, finds the crew of the USS Enterprise at various crossroads as they reach the halfway mark of their five-year mission. James Kirk (Christopher Pine) tires of the episodic nature of their work and considers a more commanding position, while Spock (Zachary Quinto) considers his place in the universe in light of the amicable end of his relationship with Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and the passing of Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy)--his "future" self from a different timeline. Their soul searching is put on hold when the ship crashes on a distant planet and the crew must battle the powerful alien Krall (Idris Elba), whose grudge against Starfleet runs mysteriously deep.

With director Justin Lin (director of four The Fast and The Furious films) taking over from producer J.J. Abrams (who helped revived Star Trek and Star Wars for new 21st century audiences) and Simon Pegg co-writing in addition to playing the ships engineer Montgomery Scott, Beyond felt in many ways like a classic episode of Trek on galactic steroids--and although it failed to match the financial expectations of its predecessors, it was one of many fine touchstones of the Trek series as it reached the half century mark.

Again, Michael Giacchino returned to scoring duties for Star Trek Beyond (and, ironically enough, will add a Star Wars film to his resume with this week's release of Rogue One), utilizing his catchy Kelvin-era theme while still subtly utilizing Alexander Courage's original Trek theme in parts of the film. This two-disc set, limited to 5,000 copies, features the complete score, improving greatly upon the original hourlong soundtrack released earlier in 2016 (and with better cover art, to boot). Star Trek Beyond is shipping now!

Michael Giacchino, Star Trek Beyond: Music from the Original Motion Picture (Varese Sarabande VCL 1216 1177, 2016)

Disc 1

1. Logo and Prosper *
2. Trick or Treaty
3. We Come in Pieces
4. Thank Your Lucky Star Date *
5. Night on the Yorktown *
6. To Thine Own Death Be True
7. We Make a Good Team
8. The Dance of the Nebula *
9. A Swarm Reception *
10. Krall Hell Breaks Loose
11. The Evacuation Variations
12. Hitting the Saucer a Little Hard *
13. Scotland's Worst Cliffhanger
14. A Hive and Kicking
15. Port of Kroll
16. Jaylah Damage *
17. No Enterprise for Guessing
18. In Artifacts As in Life *
19. She's One Hell of a Dish
20. Make No Escape About It
21. Eat My Thrusters
22. The Krall of the Wild
23. Spock's Vulcan Grip on Death
24. Captain on Ice

Disc 2

1. Franklin, My Dear *
2. Transporting Good Time
3. Krall Work and No Play
4. A Lesson in Vulcan Mineralogy *
5. The Cost of Abronath
6. MotorCycles of Relief *
7. Mocking Jaylah *
8. Jaylah House Rock
9. Bright Lights Big Velocity (Part 1)
10. Bright Lights Big Velocity (Part 2)
11. Spock Speaks Hive
12. Crash Decisions *
13. Krall-y Krall-y Oxen Free *
14. Shutdown Happens *
15. The Root of Krall Evil
16. Cater-Krall in Zero G *
17. The Dreaded Rear Admiral
18. Par-tay for the Course *
19. Space, The Final Frontier/Main on Ends
20. Jaylah's Theme
21. Yorktown Theme
22. Star Trek Main Theme *
23. Krall Things Being Equal

* previously released on Varese Sarabande 302 367 397-8, 2016