Lower Decks: Chris Westlake You Mad Genius You

OK, so my love of Star Trek: Lower Decks is already well established, and especially composer Chris Westlake's incredible work with the theme and it various uses throughout the series... but today's episode just broke my brain in all the right ways.

Entitled Crisis Point, it's about Mariner hijacking Boimler's holodeck program so she can star as the villain in her very own Star Trek movie. You're already thinking "oh, this could be good and meta" and yes, it's very good and very meta. They successfully abuse basically all the Trek memes and themes with reckless abandon.

But then this happens:

Anyone who has watched any of the Trek movies knows this sequence, but the way Westlake converts the Lower Decks theme into a James Horner tribute (with hints of Goldsmith too!) is just... it makes me happy in ways I cannot express.

I cannot wait for this soundtrack. Pure joy.