A Tale of Two Scores, Part II: Alien Nation

by Jason Foster

This is the second installment in my series discussing various rejected scores versus their replacement scores (go here for part one). This particular column was originally supposed to discuss the rejected scores from ALIEN NATION and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. Due to an, as of now, unsuccessful search for a video copy of the latter, I've decided to write a "long" version of my ALIEN NATION analysis. When I'm able to locate a copy of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, I will discuss it in a future installment of this column.

ALIEN NATION

Here's how the story starts: JERRY GOLDSMITH is hired by Oliver Stone to score the 1987 film WALL STREET and he begins working on a rough theme. Soon after this, creative differences between Stone and Goldsmith force the maestro to leave the project without finishing the score. A year later Goldsmith is hired to score ALIEN NATION. He composes a score in which he decides to use the abandoned theme from WALL STREET. The result? Another unused score--which is to say the least, from Jerry Goldsmith, a bit surprising. But even the most talented are subject to miscommunication and troubled projects. This was one of those cases.

ALIEN NATION is a bad sci-fi film in which human-like aliens make contact with Earth and assimilate into our society. There were probably a few ways a composer could've handled this material. Goldsmith elected to go with the all-synth route. His finished score is a cold, drone-filled effort not unlike Goldsmith's scores for other films like RUNAWAY and CRIMINAL LAW. While some are fans of such a style, this writer is not.

"LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, HE'S EVIL." -Homer Simpson

When you watch the film while matched up with Goldsmith's music, it takes on a colder, darker, more foreign feel. One can assume that this is because Goldsmith wanted his music to capture the other-worldly/futuristic aspect of the film, rather than the urban or more human elements. You could argue that film music will comment in some way about the film and what we should take away from it. If one looks for this in Goldsmith's score, you may find this: 1) The future is a dark, cold, heartless and hopeless place almost completely void of happiness or love. 2) Aliens, should they exist, are tolerable, but inherently evil. While this may seem far out, someone felt the music was inappropriate for the film, perhaps for fear of giving off the aforementioned "messages." Or, here's another theory: Though it does so in a somewhat cheesy way, ALIEN NATION appears to try to comment on prejudice and racism, but in the form of "specism." Perhaps the writers (including an uncredited James Cameron) actually were trying to make some sort of social statement.

If this was the case, and the filmmakers wanted to portray the aliens as equals, then Goldsmith's score may have defeated the purpose (I've already discussed how his music seemed to score alien/futuristic, making a coexistence with extra-terrestrials appear bleak and foreboding), causing either conscious or subconscious generalizations about the aliens to be made by us, the viewer. Have I looked too far into this? Probably--I mean, c'mon, it's ALIEN NATION.

One could argue that ALIEN NATION is nothing more than an ordinary cop story told with humans and extra-terrestrials as the key players. CURT SOBEL may have had this in mind when he came aboard to write the replacement score. Whereas Goldsmith's score was more of a sci-fi effort, Sobel's music went for a more "urban" approach. In fact, aside from some barely audible synth drones over the main titles/arrival sequence, there is virtually nothing in Sobel's music that suggests spaceships or aliens or anything extra-terrestrial. His music is more down to earth (no pun intended), or "human" for lack of a better word. Perhaps the best example of the human aspect is the music written for the James Caan character, who is the standard tough-but-lonely/ "I'm too old for this" main character cop. This is where Goldsmith used his theme from WALL STREET, though presented in 100 percent synthesized form (Note: In case you're wondering what it sounded like and don't know the whole story behind the theme, it later became the main theme for THE RUSSIA HOUSE.)

On its own, the melody is seemingly appropriate for the character. It gives off certain feelings of loneliness and longing, not unlike the old-school detective films where an alto sax scores the tired, worn out detective. Even in its all synth form, it serves its purpose well, but still maintains the overall cold feel. You might say that it's a warm melody presented in a cold way.

Sobel, on the other hand, went the more conventional route. He scores the character with acoustic guitar strumming, almost in a "playin' the blues" way. Again, warmer and more human. The rest of Sobel's score follows along that pattern with a by-the-numbers approach: the usual 1980s city-pop sound, complete with guitars and drum machines--all of which make everything look and sound more hip. In fact, the score as a whole is nothing more than standard for the 1980s cop/buddy/action genre. It would have probably made a good score for any episode of HUNTER.

THE FINAL ANALYSIS

After all is said and done, ALIEN NATION remains a stupid movie using a formula that we've all seen before. Even though there are aliens thrown in to try and fool us into thinking we're seeing something fresh, the staleness still bleeds through. Thus, it may be safe to assume that is wasn't the greatest source of inspiration for either composer. Neither the rejected score nor its replacement is anything really interesting. Goldsmith has certainly done much better work, as this might struggle to make a Top 100 list of his best scores. Don't believe it if someone tells you that his score is an undiscovered masterpiece, because it's not. As for Sobel, I'm not familiar enough with his body of work to make a judgment. Neither score has ever been commercially released as of this article.

Editor's note #2: The TV series made of Alien Nation is actually quite good - the music, too. You can watch it Sunday evenings on the Sci-Fi Channel. -Lukas K.

NEXT TIME (hopefully): SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

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