Battlestar Galactica CD Review
by Jeff Bond
Battlestar Galactica ***
Music by STU PHILLIPS
Varese Sarabande VSD-5949. 17 tracks - 48:31
It seems like just centons since I was watching Battlestar Galactica
every Sunday night on ABC, but actually it was many, many yarns ago. Battlestar
Galactica is one of those shows whose fans are almost completely defined
by their age. In other words, if you were much older than 16 in 1978, odds
are you're not a Galactica fan. In fact, I recall having approximately
the same reaction to the debut of Galactica that I did to my first
screening of The Phantom Menace: months of breathless anticipation
followed by an evening of crushing disappointment (and one interrupted
by news coverage of the Middle East peace talks to boot).
Galactica took an idea that was charmingly unsophisticated (Star
Wars) and turned it into something that was just plain dumb. At least
George Lucas seemed to have some idea what a solar system and a galaxy
was and didn't litter the airwaves with made-up jargon like 'centons' and
'felgercarb.' But the series was worth watching (once) for its impressive
library of spaceship special effects shots, and for Stu Phillips's symphonic
music score, which launched with a sweeping, epic-style title theme that
has to rank as one of the most enjoyable ever produced for television.
A soundtrack album (which consisted of a truncated and re-recorded adaptation
of the original pilot telefilm score) was produced in conjunction with
the show--while this was never released on CD domestically, collectors
have had access to a German version of the CD within the past few years.
A much more complete (and expensive) four-CD set of the series' music was
made available in promo form by Super Collector, but this new recording,
with Phillips conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is the
first affordable version of the score available domestically.
As such, the new Galactica CD sports all the benefits and pitfalls
of new digital rerecordings of older music: in terms of sound quality and
clarity of performance it roundly defeats the original, but it still often
lacks the urgency and dynamism of the original and takes certain action
sequences at a more leisurely pace. Phillips's score is a mixed bag, and
I'm tempted to echo his liner notes query of 'Why?' as regards creating
a new recording of this work. While the approach here is strongly thematic
and the basic material (the opening title themes and a crashing, ominous
theme for the Cylons) is good, the dramatic underscoring varies wildly
in quality not just from cue to cue, but even from moment to moment within
each cue. The opening Cylon ambush cues ("Mysterious Derelict/Zac
in Trouble"-- or "They've killed Rick Springfield!"-- and
"Cylon Freighter/The Trap") are exciting, but often segue into
material that sounds like silent movie jeopardy music played by a full
orchestra. Likewise, "Cylon Attack/The End of Atlantia" gets
off to a great start with some thrilling, rapid-fire horn material before
descending into pure doggerel.
Most of the quiet moments ("Adama's Theme," "Boxey's
Problems," etc.) are as undistinguished as the show's dramatic scenes
were uninvolving. There are other good action cues like "Escape from
the Ovion Mines" and "Red Nova," but these were performed
with a little more gusto on the original album. The best additions (like
the linking of the "Cylon Attack" and "End of Atlantia"
cues and the addition of pieces like the climactic "Red & Blue/Destruction
of Carillon") give this album more of a sense of completion than the
original LP, but that's something that's also obtained in the Super Collector
CD, which also runs the cues in a more chronological order. Since the 4-CD
Super Collector version is really only worth buying for Disc One, which
is largely duplicated on this album, collectors are faced with a tough
choice: blow $75 for the original soundtrack (with its endemic sound problems)
or spend $15 on this slightly less compelling performance. The choice is
yours. I'm afraid I must also point out that Paul Tonks's liner notes misspell
"felgercarb" as "feldercarb," ruining the proud legacy
of "felgercarb" for all of us.
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