Tarzan and South Park Disqualified

by Lukas Kendall

According to wire service reports, Tarzan by Mark Mancina and South Park by Marc Shaiman have been disqualified from being entered in the Best Original Score category by the Motion Picture Academy. The reason is because both scores have a lot of songs, and would have an unfair advantage over purely instrumental scores -- which is what people complained when Alan Menken won several score Oscars early in the '90s. (However, Randy Newman's Toy Story 2 score is eligible, even though it features two original songs.)

Keep in mind that Tarzan and South Park are still eligible to win Best Original Song Oscar nominations and the award itself -- they just can't be entered for their scores. For the past few years, the Academy has had two score categories: best dramatic score and best comedy/musical score, but this year they've gone back to a single category.

The composers must feel like Curly: "I'm a victim of coicumstance!" Please vote in our new poll as to the fairness or unfairness of this new Academy decision.

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