In this article we will not make any musical commentaries; we will not analyze each theme or each track composed by James Horner. For that we invite you to read again the numerous reviews already available on the web and which highlight the great qualities of this music:

• James Southall of Movie Wave
• Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks
• Craig Lysy of Movie Music UK
• A description of the themes and a precise "track by track" written by Ed Chang

Here is an overview of the important differences between this new La-La Land album and its predecessors. Starting with CD1:

• The track "Spock (Dies)" on the 2009 edition becomes "Spock and Kirk" on the 2021 edition. This avoids confusion with the track "Spock" while expressing the composer's desire to set the relationship between the two characters to music.
• "Project Genesis" by Craig Huxley is placed as a bonus on the second CD, instead of placing it in the middle of the Horner material as the 2009 album did. Thus, the emphasis is on the music of James Horner and its narrative continuity.
• The first CD features the film versions of "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" and "Genesis Countdown" already present on the 2009 Retrograde FSM edition and differing slightly from the original 1982 album. On the other hand, "Epilogue/End Title" is the version without Leonard Nimoy's voiceover, previously available on the first of the four discs of Star Trek: 50th Anniversary Collection of 2016 from La-La Land Records.

• The passages "The Eels of Ceti Alpha V" and "Kirk in Space Shuttle" presented together on the 2009 edition and the 2021 CD1 are separated on the second part of CD2.
• "Kirk Takes Command" on disc 2 is a completely different take than the version on disc 1. The film and disc 1 use take 46 while the 1982 album was going to use 47. And in fact, take 47 was the only version archived on the tapes used in 2009 for the Retrograde release, meaning the film version debuts on this release.
• The alternative version of "Buried Alive" presents another take of the piece: micro-variations in the tempo and the entry of the brass, probably due to the absence of click track, a piano a little more sustained during the tutti, and especially a repetition in the last seconds of the harmonic progression of the tutti but this time with the low brass and the energy of the strings that dissipates.
• A first alternative version of the song "Amazing Grace". Its orchestral part is one semitone higher than the original version. And the return of the orchestra is three seconds later than in the original version where, for reasons of synchronization with the image, the bagpipes melody was truncated. This is not the case in this alternative version.
• The second alternative version of the song "Amazing Grace" concerns this time only the bagpipes part. The bagpipe has been pitch shifted digitally to be in tune with the orchestra.
• We also find the first version recorded in April 1982 of "Epilogue/End Title", made before the addition of the scene with Spock's coffin on Genesis. This version therefore does not have the final orchestral flourishes featuring Spock’s theme included in the final version recorded during the additional sessions in May 1982.
• “Wild Orchestra" is a 90-second improvised piece consisting of a first half of whistling plastic tubes (also called "Whirly Tubes") and a second half of eerie colors created by brass, percussion and bass.
• The "Theme of Star Trek II (Edited End Title)” was the second track on the 45 R.P.M. released in 1982. It's a combination of the Main Title and the End Title, with some internal changes. It has never appeared on CD before.

• The writing and publication of the definitve biography on the composer and his career
• The production of a documentary with brand new and exclusive footage
• The creation of a CD album with unpublished works
• The planning and organisation of a series of concerts