Alexander Courage Alexander " Sandy " Mair Courage , Jr . was an Academy Award - nominated , Emmy Award - winning composer , arranger , conductor , and orchestrator who wrote several scores for , among them the main title theme . He even made the " whoosh " sound heard as the flies past the screen during the music . ( " Music Takes Courage " documentary ) This theme was adapted and used in all of the and its opening bars can be heard at the beginning of Jerry Goldsmith ' s theme for . It was Jerry Goldsmith who recommended Courage to Gene Roddenberry . Roddenberry asked Goldsmith to score , but he had to decline due to other commitments . He thus suggested Courage ( who was mostly an arranger at the time ) be given the job instead . ( " " audio commentary ) After his work on , Courage was rehired to score the second pilot , . He also contributed scores for two first season episodes , and ( and some cues for the trailer of , which also ended up in the episode itself ) . His commitment ( as arranger ) to the feature film , " Doctor Doolittle " prevented him in writing music for more episodes . ( " " , p 185 ) During this time , Courage discovered that producer Gene Roddenberry wrote ( unused ) lyrics to his " Star Trek " theme , in order to get half the royalties for each episode ( or other usage of the main theme ) . This resulted in a long feud between the two men , and ( despite efforts by Robert Justman to re - hire him ) Courage refusing to work on the series any further . ( " " , 1997 , pp 178 , 185 ) He only returned in the third season , to score two more episodes , and , as a courtesy to Justman . In his twilight years , mellowed over time , Courage downplayed the incident to some extent , " " There wasn ' t any rift , really , with Gene . What happened with Gene was a I got a phone call once . . . it was Gene ’ s lawyer , [ Leonard ] Maizlish . He said , " I ' m calling you to tell you that since you signed a piece of paper back there saying that if Gene ever wrote a lyric to your theme that he would split your royalties on the theme . " Gene and I weren ’ t enemies in any sort of way . It was just one of those things . . . I think it was Maizlish , probably , who put him up to doing it that way , and it ’ s a shame , because actually if he ' d written a decent lyric we could have both made more money . " " Courage also composed cues for at the request of Goldsmith , who wrote the film ' s main score . Courage later orchestrated Goldsmith ' s scores for and . Outside of the " Star Trek " franchise , Courage ' s " Star Trek " Fare can be heard in the films " Wayne ' s World " , " Muppets from Space " , and " RV " . It was also played in " They Saved Lisa ' s Brain , " a tenth season episode of " The Simpsons " . Early life and career . Alexander Courage was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , but moved to New Jersey as a child . He began playing the piano and the horn , and in 1941 , he received his degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester , New York . After graduation , he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a band leader at various bases in California and Arizona . Following the war , Courage worked for CBS Radio , where he composed and sometimes conducted such popular programs as " The Screen Guild Theater " , " The Adventures of Sam Spade " , and " Yours Truly , Johnny Dollar " . In 1948 , Courage began working at MGM , and over the next twelve years , he orchestrated , conducted , or arranged music scores for such films as " Annie Get Your Gun " , " Show Boat " , " Singin ' in the Rain " , " The Band Wagon " , " Seven Brides for Seven Brothers " , " Bad Day at Black Rock " , " Oklahoma ! " , " Guys and Dolls " ( starring Jean Simmons ) , " Funny Face " , " Raintree Country " ( featuring DeForest Kelley ) , " Gigi " , " The Big Country " ( also starring Jean Simmons ) , " Porgy and Bess " ( 1959 , featuring Brock Peters and Nichelle Nichols ) , " Some Like It Hot " ( 1959 ) , and " Bells Are Ringing " ( featuring Frank Gorshin ) . Also during the 1950s , Courage composed the scores for a number of films , including the drive - in B - movie " Hot Rod Girl " ( featuring the aforementioned Frank Gorshin ) and Arthur Penn ' s Billy the Kid biographical western , " The Left Handed Gun " . Throughout the 1960s and 1970s , however , he composed primarily for television . Besides " Star Trek " , he also scored episodes of " The Untouchables " , " Wagon Train " , " The Alfred Hitchcock Hour " , " Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea " , and " Lost in Space " . In 1967 , Courage wrote the original score for the pilot of " Land of the Giants " , however his entire score ( including his series theme ) was thrown out and replaced with a score by Joseph Mullendore , which was also thrown out and replaced with a score by . Thus , his theme for the 1967 - 68 legal drama " Judd for the Defense " remains the only other television theme he composed besides " Star Trek " . While composing for television , Courage did continue conducting and orchestrating for films , notably the musicals " My Fair Lady " and " Hello , Dolly ! " and the acclaimed comedies " Irma la Douce " and " The Americanization of Emily " . He received his first Academy Award nomination as a composer on the 1964 musical comedy , " The Pleasure Seekers " . A few years later , he earned a second Academy Award nomination , this time as conductor and orchestrator on the classic 1967 family film " Doctor Dolittle " . Both nominations were shared with composer . Later life and career . In 1973 , Courage was nominated for his first Emmy Award , for composing the " Cycle of Peril " episode of the CBS series " Medical Center " . He was again nominated by the Emmy Awards in 1987 for arranging the music of the TV special , " Liberty Weekend " . The following year , he received a third Emmy nomination – and his only win – as the principal music arranger of " Julie Andrews : The Sound of Christmas " . Courage , Jerry Goldsmith and Arthur Morton alternated scoring duties on " The Waltons " during the show ' s entire run , from 1972 through 1981 . Courage scored over 100 episodes of this series , in addition to five " Waltons " TV specials – one in 1980 , three in 1982 , and one in 1993 . The latter , " A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion " , featured Steven Culp in the cast . In 1979 , at the request of Jerry Goldsmith , Courage created several " Captain ' s Log " cues for using a subdued version of his " Star Trek " Fanfare . Throughout the 1980s and 1990s , Courage continued to collaborate with Goldsmith , orchestrating his scores for films like " Legend " , " Gremlins 2 : The New Batch " , and " Matinee " – all featuring Robert Picardo – as well as films such as " Basic Instinct " , " First Knight " , Stuart Baird ' s " Executive Decision " and " U . S . Marshals " , " Air Force One " , " L . A . Confidential " , " Mulan " , and " The Mummy " . Courage succeeded Arthur Morton as primary orchestrator for Goldsmith in the 1990s . Courage also conducted and orchestrated ' scores for films such as the 1971 musical " Fiddler on the Roof " , 1972 ' s " The Poseidon Adventure " , 1978 ' s " Superman " , " Star Wars : Episode VI – Return of the Jedi " ( 1983 ) , " Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom " ( 1984 ) , " Empire of the Sun " ( 1987 ) , " Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade " ( 1989 ) , " Hook " ( 1991 ) , and " Jurassic Park " ( 1993 ) . Courage also adapted Williams ' " Superman " themes and wrote some original cues for the 1987 sequel " Superman IV : The Quest for Peace " . In addition to their many film collaborations , Courage wrote many orchestral arrangements for the Boston Pops during Williams ' 1980 - 93 tenure as conductor . After working with Jerry Goldsmith one last time on the 2000 film " Hollow Man " , Courage retired from show business . In 2005 – the same year Courage ' s third wife , the former Shirley Pumpelly , died – Courage ' s health began to decline . Three years later , he died at the Sunrise assisted - living facility in Pacific Palisades , California . He was 88 years old .