Month: May 2009

NYC and Me

Posted on by filmscore80

I have a love hate relationship with New York City. On the one hand, I love the convenience, how close everything is, the public transit – a definite advantage for one with a driving record like mine. On the other hand, I hate the crowds.

I’m in New York attending a conference on film music at New York University, which is located by Washington Square Park which is right around Greenwich Village. It’s an amazing part of the city, and the park is a wonderful place, beautiful fountain (appealing to a boy from Kansas City, MO), an American version of the Arc de Triomphe (the Washington Square Arch), vendors, musicians, old men playing chess, everything you see in the movies and episodes of Law and Order (actually, on Friday, they were filming something in park, wouldn’t be surprised if it was some episode of Law and Order and someone playing the role of Corpse #2).

Anyway, Saturday morning I come in for the morning session starting at 9:30 and there is almost no one around, it’s very quiet and peaceful, and I think to myself, “Ya, I could get used to this. It’s nice.” But around noon, there is a huge street festival going on, and by the end of the evening sessions at 6, the place is packed, and all I can think of is, “I’ve got to get out of here!”

If you know me well, you’ll know that I don’t handle crowds at all. Case in point is this conference; I didn’t go to the opening reception thing because I didn’t know anyone, and all I would’ve done is stand around and not talk to anyone. Well now imagine thousands of people, and my anxiety multiplied. I wouldn’t exactly say I have agoraphobia, I don’t really suffer from full on panic attacks (okay, maybe once I had one…but only once), but if there is a mild form, then that is how I might describe it. I just don’t handle large crowds, I don’t deal well with new people all that well, I don’t mingle well at parties with people I don’t know, and I don’t really go up to people and start conversations (though a couple times at the conference I will talk to people who have presented and say how I liked there paper and so on).

I need the wide open spaces of the plains, where the population density is lower, where the world has a chance to breath. Yes, the city is exciting, and walking through the park, or standing in the subway, surrounded by the sounds of people, musicians, the rhythmic clanking of the subways as they pull into and out of the stations…and the unearthly quiet when there are no trains, and you realize that almost no one is talking…it is intoxicating to the aural senses. Sitting here in my friends place writing, I can hear the sound of a block party going on, Latin music playing, people talking, the DJ talking over the music, the soundtrack to our existence. And the car horns! Oh my god, the car horns. On my way back to my friend’s place in Brooklyn, I walk through the intersection of 4th and 6th, and tonight it was really busy. One person honks, than another, and another, and before you know it, everyone is honking but not a single car is moving! How we humans strive against the futile.

The other thing is that riding the subway, walking around, it really does give me appreciation to the unspoken social contract under which society, and civilization, operates. In some ways, it is truly amazing how humanity survives and organizes itself. We have laws and rules, yes, but those are merely manifestations for that social contract: you don’t mess with me, I don’t mess with you. And you realize just how fragile the whole construct is. The genre of science fiction is filled with ruminations of what might happen if something exposes or upsets that construct (be it war, famine, disease, etc.). And we have examinations on both sides, either society actually comes together or it falls apart completely – or the variant where it falls apart or almost does and some totalitarian regime steps in and takes over.

And how many times in sci-fi have we seen these collapses of society represented by shots of empty streets or abandoned cars in New York? Well, to go from the City that Never Sleeps to one of eternal slumber is among the most striking images available to science fiction. But I’ve seemed to have strayed from my topic: NYC and Me.

Sitting here in my friend’s apartment in Brooklyn (and I’m sorry, but every time I think or say that word, I just hear Spot Conlon in Newsies scream “Brooklyn!” or say, “Never fear, Brooklyn is here.”), listening to the sounds of the city, I just can’t help but wonder about our society. I have this romantic notion of some apocalypse that’ll leave most of the cities intact, and either some distant future intelligent race that evolves – or aliens, who knows – will find them and wonder just who we were, what happened to us. Maybe it’s growing up with too much sci-fi, but these are the things I think about.

Film Score Friday Top 5: Video Game Themes (8-bit era) – Early Edition

Posted on by filmscore80

I’ll be leaving for New York and the Music and the Moving Image conference tomorrow, and while I plan to try and blog from the conference, I doubt I’ll have time.  So I’m posting this early, and I’ll try to write some thoughts on various papers when I get back next week.  In the mean time, I’ll try and tide you over with this meager helping.

I readily admit that most of these top 5 lists do come from my own personal experience, and with video games, most of that experience is limited to the 8- and 16-bit eras (with most PS1 and PS2 games I know limited to the Final Fantasy franchise).  So without further adieu, my selections for best NES (and one Game Boy) themes:

#1: Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros. by Koji Kondo: Ya, I could of picked the main overworld theme, but that would be two easy.  I’ve always liked this waltz theme from the water levels better, anyway.

#2: Moon Theme from Duck Tales by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi: If you don’t know the game, or don’t frequent YouTube game videos, you might not know this level theme, but it’s pretty well known to 8-bit music fans.  I’ll give you two videos, the original music, then brentalfloss’s version with lyrics (you might remember him from second YouTube post).

Original:

And brentalfloss with lyrics:

#3: Main Theme from Mega Man III by Yasuaki Fujita (aka Bun Bun): I already wrote extensively, and shared many videos, on this theme in the above linked YouTube post.  All of that still goes, and even though I only discovered it through video game midis years after the game’s release, it quickly became a favorite of mine from the 8-bit era.

#4: Main Theme from The Legend of Zelda by Koji Kondo: Just as iconic as the main theme from Mario Bros.,  and by the same composer, these are the themes that launched Nintendo’s two power franchises that have lasted to this day; for over 20 years and five consoles.

#5: Prologue from Final Fantasy Legend (Game Boy) by Nobuo Uematsu:  As I said in an early post, Uematsu is the John Williams of the video game world (or in mathematical terms, John Williams : Films as Nobuo Uematsu : Video Games).  For most of my youth I only had a Game Boy, and some of my earliest favorite games were the Final Fantasy Legend games (even though to this day, I have yet to beat one of them!).  This theme was also an early favorite of mine, and introduced me to the musical world of Mr. Uematsu.  (In this clip, it is the first track you hear.)

So that’s it for now, I’ll see y’all when I get back.

Next Week: Top 5 themes from Uematsu’s score for Final Fantasy VI.

Film Score Friday Top 5: Television Theme Songs – Expanded Edition!

Posted on by filmscore80

So finally, I’m doing the TV themes edition, and I had such a hard time picking only five, I’m doing a special expanded version!  It’s a 2 for 1 special here at the Temp Track.

For this, I’m counting all themes songs, both instrumental and vocal songs.  There is no length requirement, but as you’ll see, the list does skew a bit older given that so many TV shows today have either no theme, or a very brief theme song (wanting to sell more ad time has been the death of the TV theme song).  Also, for the list, I have made two lists of five songs each, divided into live-action and animated shows.  It’s all here today, in a super-sized edition of Film Score Friday!

As always, in no real particular order, and for some of these were gonna have to fire up the Wayback Machine:

Live Action Shows:

#1: M*A*S*H (aka “Suicide is Painless”) by Johnny Mandel (music) and Mike Altman (lyrics): Even though the lyrics are not part of the television theme, most people do know at least the title of the song as sung in the original film.  And while it seems odd to have such a melancholy song as the theme for a sitcom, it helps remind the audience just what was the underlying nature of the show: war is hell and there are no winners.

#2: The Dick Van Dyke Show by Earle Hagen: Growing up I watched a lot of  ‘Nick at Nite,’ the late night block of classic tv shows that was on Nickelodeon prior to them spinning the whole thing off into its own network, ‘TV Land,’ and one of my favorite shows was Dick Van Dyke.  I loved the way they synced the theme song to the pratfalls and gags that Dick van Dyke did, most notably tripping on the ottoman (or avoiding it, or tripping on the carpet).  There are a number of great 60s theme songs, but this one stands out as a favorite, along with…

#3: Get Smart by Irving Szathmary: My other favorite show from ‘Nick at Nite,’ the zany Mel Brooks comedic sent up of James Bond, and the theme perfectly captures the spirit.  Using the Bond-type guitars as a basis, this theme plays as Maxwell Smart negotiates his entry into C.O.N.T.R.O.L headquarters.  Classic.

#4: Battlestar Galactica (Classic) by Stu Phillips and Glen Larson: Co-composed with series creator Larson, the theme for the original series by Phillips is an iconic example of gradiose Space Opera music composition, throughly in the vein of Star Wars and Goldsmith’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture main theme.  In many ways, I enjoy this theme more then either of those.  Its just got more spunk at times.

#5: Cheers (aka ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’) by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy: One of the most recognizable tv theme songs ever, it really set the tone of alot of 80s themes.  So morose and sad before breaking out into cheer when it gets to the refrain of “Where everybody knows your name,” how could you not help but enjoy knocking back a few brews with your buds.  The theme was brillantly parodied in The Simpsons episode “Flaming Moe’s” and began with the lyric “When the weight of the world has got your down and you want to end your life” whereas the original begins “Making your way through the world today takes everything you got.”

Wow, two mentions of suicide in the same post, but fear not loyal readers, my own mental health is not a concern!  (Does it seem like this blog is taking on the tone of either a 1950s comic, or a Victorian era serial?)  Bringing us to…

Animated Shows:

#1: The Simpsons by Danny Elfman:  For almost twenty years now, the adventures of Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Maggie, have been bookended by Danny Elfman’s theme song, opening with a tri-tone resolving up to an open fifth.  It has become a major hallmark on the landscape of television themes.

#2: Cowboy Bebop (aka “Tank!”) by Yoko Kanno: If you haven’t heard this song, go to YouTube and look it up right now…no seriously…right now…I’ll wait……….okay?  Ya, wasn’t that awesome?  ‘Nuff said.   Okay, a few more things.  While the show only rarely gets up to the excitment level of the them (usually towards the end), the theme really sets you up for the general tone of the show, a bunch of cowboys in space who make things up as they go along (aka improvise).

#3: Pinky and the Brain by Richard Stone (music) and Tom Ruegger (lyrics):  The antics of a genius mouse and his dimwitted sidekick as they try to take over the world made up for a lot of tv viewing for me in the 90s.  This theme so-inspired me that I worked it out at the piano and made a version of it for bassoon duet.  Yes, I was that nerdy.  The sheer genius of the lyrics though, with its bad puns and rhymes, still crack me up to this day: “Their twilight campaign is easy to explain / To prove their mousey worth, they’ll overthrow the earth”  Anyway, onto…

#4: Batman: The Animated Series by Danny Elfman:  Based on his scores for the Michael Keaton films, Elfman reworked that material into the theme for this seminal animated show.  What was more striking about the whole opening was that not only was it a dark, fully orchestral theme, but also the name of the show is never shown (not until the later incarnation of the series as The New Adventures of Batman and Robin, which also features a different theme by Shirley Walker, based on her themes for the show).  From the very opening, you know that this is a different breed of cartoon.

#5: Samurai Champloo (aka Battlecry) by Nujabes and Shing02: Created and produced by the same man as Cowboy Bebop (Shinicihro Watanabe), Samurai Champloo shows the same keen musical awareness as Bebop (I’m planning a future blog post to discuss these two shows more in depth).  The theme sets up the hip-hop musical aesthetic of the show and its setting, as it is a mid-tempo rap about samurais in the late Edo period in Japan’s history.

That’s it for now, folks.  Tune in next week for Top 5 Video Game Themes.

Scoring and Thematic Styles of ‘Lost’ and ‘Battlestar Galactica’

Posted on by filmscore80

-or- Wagner vs. Brahms Redux: McCreary vs. Giacchino

I’ve blogged alot on McCreary’s BSG score, and talked somewhat about Giacchino’s Lost, but I’d like to spend some time now and ruminate on the differences in their scoring styles on the respective shows.  I must stress that these are not indicative of their style as a whole, though some of the traits do carry over into their other work.  I’ll mention these similarities and differences where appropriate.

McCreary, as I’ve stated before, in BSG uses a large complex of character and concept themes to weave an aural tapestry to compliment the show.  Every major character, character groups, major concepts, and even some minor characters have had some sort of theme associated with them.  And when McCreary uses that theme, it is usually in a very recognizable form orchestration-wise.  There might be subtle variations here and there (larger ensemble, maybe a different instrument playing the theme), but the large idea, especially melodically, is very recognizable.

The one major exception to this is the ‘Passacaglia’ theme that I blogged about previously.  Here McCreary takes the basic harmonic structure and thematic content and through the course of four major cues, sends the material into different time signatures and key areas, and even blending it with a new theme depicting Starbuck and Apollo’s “frakked up” relationship in ‘Violence and Variations.’  To put more traditional musical terms on it, this is the only major occurrence of McCreary really “developing” his previous thematic ideas.

Giacchino, on the other hand, uses a much smaller complex of thematic ideas, by my reckoning between 5-10 major themes, and they are not really associated with any of the major characters.  One can make the argument that there is a “Kate Theme” and a “Jack Theme” and so on, but truly, most of the themes convey moods and ideas rather than a character specific thematic identity.

What Giacchino does, though, is that he develops his themes through the course of a cue, and the course of the series, creating various material to subtlety tweak the affect of the theme.  His themes, in general, are fairly simple and are such that allow for a wide variety of both melodic and (some) harmonic manipulation.

It is in this way, McCreary with his complex themes that change very little, and Giacchino with his simpler themes that allow for variations, that they are like a modern day Wagner and Brahms (McCreary and Giacchino respectively).  Consider Brahms’ Fourth Symphony (which I had to for many weeks in a Tonal Analysis class).  The opening theme is a series of falling thirds and ascending sixths (mostly) built over a harmonic progression (which escapes me right, but really isn’t relevant).

In the course of the first movement, Brahms reuses that opening theme seven or so times, varying it in some way each time.  The interval of a third is also the basic  unit from which the entire symphony is built.

Without the actual physical scores from Lost in hand, I can’t exactly tell you how things are constructed, but I can tell you what my ear tells me (sounds like a movement from Mahler’s Third Symphony, “What My Ear Tells Me,” okay, very obscure joke, look up the titles of the movements of Mahler 3).  Some of Giacchino’s most powerful cue are built from a simple piano harmonic progression from which a simple melody comes in, also on piano.  At this point, the chords are in a closed position on the piano, and the melody played close by, the entire range not taking up much more than two or three octaves.  From here, he usually brings in strings, first maybe a solo string then the section.  He also adds a few embellishments to the melody and expands the harmonic support’s range, eventually bringing in his entire ensemble.  Cues built like this are “Life and Death,” “Locke’d Out Again,” and “Parting Words,” which are all from the Season 1 soundtrack album and “There’s No Place Like Home” from the recently released Season 4 album.  But these are merely the most dramatic statements of their respective themes, there are many other examples of Giacchinousing variations of theme elsewhere.  Also, the basic themes presented in these three cues are used througout the series in different forms.  I also think that there is a basic connection between many of these themes.

What made me realize that this is how Giacchino builds his Lost score is that this is also how he builds the Star Trek score.  He uses a small number of themes (in Trek I believe it to be 3: the Federation/Human/Enterprise theme, the Vulcan Theme, and the Nero theme) from which he can build variations to suit the cue.  This is not to say that he builds all his scores in this manner.  I feel that Ratatouille, The Incredbiles, and Speed Racer are not truly in this style, but do show some hallmarks of it.  More Listening is needed.

So where Giacchino is Brahms with his developing variations (a term coined by Schoenberg and affixed to Brahms in Watler Frisch’s 1984 Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation, but also describing the technique widely used by Beethoven and other Romantics), McCreary is Wagner, using a large collection of leitmotifs that,while changing in someways, don’t show a large amount of variation between presentations, but are equally impressive in their variety.

This is not to say that either composer sounds like Wagner and Brahms.  What has helped set these two scores apart is the distinct sound that each composer cultivates.  Giacchino has had from the outset a orchestra of roughly 37 strings, brass, and percussion, with a percussion section that is made up of spare airplane parts from the actual wreckage that was part of the season 1 set.  McCreary has had a much smaller ensemble, made up of a number of instruments from around the globe, including: duduk, erhu, taiko drums, string quartet (later expanded to a string orchestra for some episodes), and others.  But each has used those musicians at their disposal to create something not heard on much of modern television, a score that is an integral part of the overall aesthetic of the show.  A score that accentuates the grand, cinematic (dare I say epic in the case of BSG) aspirations of the many modern serial television programs.  And where a score like Sean Callery’s for 24, I feel, does little more than ratchet up the tension of Jack Bauer racing against the ticking clock, McCreary and Giacchino’s scores are just as much a character of their respective shows as are Admiral Adama, Jack Shephard, Kara Thrace, Kate Austen, the Galactica, or that damn mysterious island.

Film Score Friday Top 5: Television Scores

Posted on by filmscore80

So I know I said last week that I’d do Television Theme Songs, but I’ve decided to put that on hold for a broader topic that will lead into an upcoming post: top five television scores.  The basic criteria is the overall quality of a television show’s score.  Again, these are just my thoughts, reflecting my own viewing, so if you know of something better, please let me know so I can give it a listen.  You’ll recognize some of them because I’ve mentioned them before, but I hope to surprise you with some choices.

#1: Battlestar Galactica– Bear McCreary: I’ve got nothing but love for this show’s score, as you well know.  Enough said.

#2: Lost– Michael Giacchino: I haven’t said much about this score yet, but it is quite remarkable, especially for a weekly series.  While not showing the same level of interplay as BSG, and quite different in construction, it is still of equal quality.

#3: Batman: The Animated Series– Shirley Walker, et al: One of the best scored cartoon series ever, and based heavily on Elfman’s Batman scores initially, this series its own voice quite quickly and had some of the best character themes of any series.

#4: Cowboy Bebop– Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts: Most of you probably don’t watch Anime, but you really should make an exception for this one.  Kanno’s jazzy score perfectly compliments the eclectic nature of this sci-fi/noir/western series about a group of bounty hunters in the future.

#5: The Simpsons– Alf Clausen: For almost twenty years, this show has featured a string for wonderful incidental music and parody songs that have made this show one of the best on television.  Oh, and the theme by Danny Elfman is pretty good too.

So three animated series on the list?  Ya, for some reason cartoons have tended to have some of the best scores on television.  Love it or hate it, those are my picks.

Michael Giacchino’s ‘Star Trek’

Posted on by filmscore80

So now that I’ve thoroughly digested Giacchino’s Star Trek score, and seen the film twice (yes…twice on opening weekend…let the name calling begin), I felt it time to publish some thoughts on Giacchino’s contribution to the Trek film score legacy.

As intimated in my latest Film Score Friday list, my first ear trip through this score was fraught with hesitation.  I wasn’t sure I liked what Mr. Giacchino was doing.  It sounded like a Giacchino score, which is well and good, I have liked everything of his I’ve heard (which is a good chunk of his TV and Film work, but by no means all), and liked it all…but this is Star Trek, which has a distinct flavor to it.  My first time through…I heard more Giacchino and less Trek.  I also didn’t like just how mono-thematic the first part of the score was, mainly because I wasn’t sure I liked the theme.  It sounded flat and didn’t seem to go anywhere, as my friend and fellow blogger Herr Vogler said, his initial impression was that is seemed more like like a counter-melody.

But a funny thing happened after I got through the score…I listened to it again almost immediately, and I really started to like it.  A lot.  I reminded myself that this is going to be a different Trek, the previews had showed us that, so I tried to distance myself from the other scores, and listen to it on its own, and there is a lot of like.  The typical Giacchino playfulness is here, along with his talent for writing heart-wrenching moments (I don’t know of many others who can really make me feel a sense of longing like Giacchino can), though many of those moments reminded me of Lost scores.

Then something else strange happened, I started hearing the other Trek scores.  Little bits of Goldsmith mixed with a heaping cup of Horner.  Certain orchestral colors and harmonies started popping out from the score that made me think of Horner and Goldsmith, and even the 60s TV scores.  And I maybe wrong, but it almost seems like the main theme was derived from Horner in some way, or written so that it could easily be adapted to some of his harmonic language from Trek II and III (this can really be heard in the cue “That New Car Smell,” I love his cue titles!). 

And is it just me, or does the music for Nero sound a lot like the music for Isengard (especially in “Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns”?)  Maybe its just the trombone writing.

If there is a major complaint I have with the score it is actually not with the score itself, but the release.  Really?  Only 39 minutes of music, of which 9’11” is the end credits?  I know that there is a lot more music in the film, can we please stop with the half-hearted chopped up releases and just give us the complete scores that we all want?

Along with the subtle hints at earlier scores is the way he slowly teases the audience with the opening four note original Trek theme motif, the intervals show up a few times in the score, but usually hidden, or at soft levels (the first time in the film itself, I believe, is when we camera shows the shuttle with Kirk in it lifting off from Earth with the Enterprise under construction in the background…now why you build a starship on the ground in Iowa, I have no clue).  And finally, we get the notes in their normal presentation at the very end when they lead into the original theme played during the end credits.

And this is part of a larger game I believe Giacchino is playing with his score.  We get these hints at aspects of the oloder score scattered throughout the film score, and it’s a sort of meta-commentary on the film’s plot of the characters becoming those that we know from the original series/films, so in this sense it is reasonable, dare I say logical, for the score to mirror this aspect of the plot.  In this sense, it also liberates Giacchino from much of the pressure of having to strictly follow the examples of previous scores.

As many have said elsewhere the previous week, the release of a new Star Trekscore is an anticipated event within the film score community.  A pressure Giacchino was keenly aware of.

One last thought, I just really love how Giacchino used the erhu to represent the Vulcans.  Not exactly a far leap to make, but still an inspired piece of instrumental color choice.  But even that color does seem to harken back to aspects to Horner’s scores, especially in the aforementioned “That New Car Smell.”

So, in the end I do give this score a 5/5, putting it right along Goldsmith’s Motion Picture and Horner’s Wrath of Khan in the pantheon of Trek scores.  Keep up the good work, Mr. Giacchino.

P.S. – The movie is also pretty awesome!  It’s fun and enjoyable, and while it may not have the deep philosophy of a previous Star Trek films, it does recapture the kitchy/campy essence of the original series that made so many of the episodes a pleasure.  I do hope that for the planned sequels that Abrams and Co. do start to explore the philosophical element of Trek because it is a large part of what made the franchise have a lasting impact on our culture.

P.P.S. – I promise to get the third part of paper up soon…this past week has been really busy with end of semester stuff.

Film Score Friday Top 5: “Star Trek” film scores

Posted on by filmscore80

Okay, so you may have heard, there is a new Star Trek film opening today, and everybody is all a twitter (that word takes on new meanings these days).  So we have reached the end of our 3 week countdown with this: Film Score Friday Top 5’s Star Trek film scores. 

#1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Jerry Goldsmith:  You really shouldn’t be surprised by this, considering that in the last two weeks, both lists have been topped by a cue from this score.  Goldsmith really set the trend of what Trek should should sound like with this Oscar-nominated score.

#2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:  If anything, this might be my favorite of the scores, but I respect Goldsmith’s work on the series too much to put him below Horner.  If anyone has heard Horner’s Battle Beyond the Stars score, it sound like an audition tape for the Trek II gig.  Supposdly, the studio wanted a smaller budget so they went with the relatively unknown Horner…largely due to his Battle score.  Guess it worked.

#3. Star Trek by Michael Giacchino:  I’ll post a more extensive review of this score shortly, but after some initial hesistation upon first listening, I have quickly grown to love this score.  It is quite different than previous Trek scores, but it also references them in many subtle ways.  Besides the obvious when the original theme comes in full force in the end credits, there are colors throughout that sound alot like Goldsmith, and to a larger degree, Horner.  As Herr Vogler points out in his post on the score, Giacchino actually uses one of Horner’s former orchestrators.

#4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country by Cliff Eidelman:  This score, much like the film, does not get nearly enough credit.  The real fans of Trek and Trek scores certaintly know and appreciate them, but we need to do more to inform the public at large.  From the moody “Overture” to the poignant closing send off material, this is a great score from a composer who was getting his first major work (much like Horner in Khan).

#5. Star Trek: First Contact by Jerry Goldsmith: I was really trying to only have one Goldsmith score on the list, but when one person scored 5 of the previous 10 films (and Horner alos racking up two with parts 2 and 3), it’s hard.  The only other composers left after using Eidelman are Dennis McCarthy (and the less said about Generations overall, the better), and Leonard Rosenmann’s Star Trek IV, which was good, I enjoy it, but…I think First Contact is better.  Yes, the film overall, while lightyears better than the previous installment, feels flat after the opening Borg battle, but listening to Goldsmith’s score on its own makes me appreciate it more than the film.  So I’m putting it in the 5 spot.

Well that’s it, I’ll have to start thinking of new topics that are non Trek related now.  But for now, go see the movie because we want them to make more of them!

Next Week: Top 5 Television Themes that are not from the Star Trek franchise

Film Score Friday Top 5: “Star Trek” cues or themes

Posted on by filmscore80

So part two of Film Score Friday Top 5’s homage to Star Trek is my Top 5 choices for individual cues or themes (with themes here being identifiable character/group of characters theme).  So with that said…onward, ever upward (forward, never backward).

1. “Klingon Battle” from Star Trek: The Motion Picture– Jerry Goldsmith:  How could I not put this one on top?  Not only is it one of my favorite cues, but Goldsmith’s music for the Klingon’s has come to define the warrior race.  Goldsmith himself reused the rocking open fifth horn call in his later scores, and the theme can even be heard in the television scores occasionally.  And even when it wasn’t directly quoted, the overall aural effect of the cue is invoked.  Good case in point is James Horner’s music for the Klingon’s in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.  And speaking of Horner…

2. “Surprise Attack” from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by James Horner:  My love for Horner’s Khan score was already stated last week, and after the Main Title, this cue stands out in my mind next.  Alternating between the ominous music for Khan and the Reliant and the more hopeful Kirk and the Enterprise sound truly ramps up the tension.  As Khan puts it, they’re “one big happy fleet!”  But my favorite moment might be one that is my first conscious memory of a music-sound-sync point when Spock is pointing out on a bridge screen the damaged portions of the ship after Khan’s attack and as he points to each blinking light, it is accompanied by a low trombone note.  It may seem corny on the surface, but even now, it really seems just perfect.  Listening to just the cue, I know exactly when those notes are coming.

3. “The Ritual Ancient Battle” from “Amok Time,” Star Trek by Gerald Fried:  Also know as the music when Kirk fights Spock, or just Kirk fighting anyone, or simply, “dun dun dunn dunn dunn dunn dun dun dum dun!”  This might be the most recognizable piece of music from the original Trek series, but it got its start in “Amok Time” as the music for the ritual fight between Kirk and Spock, as Spock is trying to work through his Pon Farr rage (you know…Vulcans only do it every 7 years, and if they don’t…bad things).  The cue, though, proved so good, that it was made into a stock cue for most subsequent fight scenes in the series.  Maybe this clip will help jog you’re memory if you still can’t hear it:

4. “The Cloud” from Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Jerry Goldsmith:  “Two cues from Motion Picture?” you’re asking yourself.  Yes.  I’m doing this for a few reasons, but mainly to drive home a point:  say what you will about the relative quality of this film – personally I think it’s underrated, especially the Director’s Cut – but Jerry’s score is really top notch.  His music here for the Enterprise’s first encounterwith the V’ger is a great ambient track with arppegiated harp notes and some of Goldsmith’s trademark electronic sounds.  In a recent episode of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, the main characters (all nerds) are debating what is the worst Trek film, either Star Trek V or The Motion Picture.  One of them makes the argument that Motion Picture is worse because “it fails across the board: art direction, costuming, music, sound editing.”  Ya, I just about punched my computer screen when I heard that (yes, a physical response directed against a visual device, when the offending media was aural).  If there is one level on which The Motion Picture does NOT fail…it is music.  Bringing us to…

5. “Crash-Whale Fugue” from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homeby Leonard Rosenman:  I was not actually really sure what to put here, but I really did not want to put another Goldsmith cue, but when he’s score 5 of the current 10 films, he’s hard to avoid.  I really do like Rosenman’s cue here for the penultimate scene of the film.  It shows a great care and detail for not just making a good cue, but also a good piece of music.  Runner up cues from this film go to his two chase cues for Chekov on the aircraft carrier and the escape from the hospital.

Well there it is, and while I’m not sold on the five spot, there are so many great musical moments from the films and shows (I almost put Ron Jones’ cue from the very end of “The Best of Both Worlds, Part I” in that spot), I will stand by these choices.

Next Week: Top 5 film scores (Will Giacchino make the list?)