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"The Flash"
This was a live-action 1990 series that had one full season.
By this point in her scoring career her work was already sounding very very much in line with "Batman: The Animated Series". Perhaps her work with Elfman had shaped her
"Out of Control"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x220c7x (42:00)
Highlights:
About 10:20 in: some pleasant slow-moving strings with a touch of woodwinds.
20:40 in.
About 27:40 in.
29:26 in: very much like a B: TAS cue.
34:57 in.
39:05 in.
Around 43:00 in.
There were also other nice parts, but they were just that -- parts of larger cues.
I hope this episode isn't representative of the sound affects work we'll hear, 'cause this isn't exactly very good.
Police Officer: "That ain't no mut, that's dogzilla!"
"Honor Among Thieves"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x220n91
Highlights:
0:00 in.
17:07 in. And after the commercial break.
22:20 in.
28:23 in.
31:06 in.
37:20 in.
About 41:40 in.
"Double Vision"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x220tz1
Highlights:
0:06 in: a shaker, wooden block, and an ethnic woodwind of some sort lead a paced pleasant cue.
8:07 in.
9:01 in. Another ethic instruments piece but short about not even thirty seconds in length.
25:49 in.
34:50 in.
Doomed. How do you know the villain is doomed? He's using a glove that looks like the Nintendo Power Glove. That how you know he's doomed. Just watch the Angry Video Game Nerd's video on it. He'd have better luck playing Pick-Up Sticks with his but cheeks.
"Sins of the Father"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2254tg
Highlights:
0:06 in: a jazzy piece with a wing feel and a beat.
4:01 in.
12:33 in.
15:32 in. Really just for those first twenty or so seconds.
"Child's Play"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22g3pn
Highlights:
39:15 in.
I absolutely do not like it when she does rock & roll stuff, which was most of the episode score.
"Shroud of Death"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22mlgg
Highlights:
6:08 in. Some more string work 7:14 in that would go together with the first part.
About 10:50 in.
About 16:48 in.
32:45 in.
About 39:40 in.
42:15 in.
I had to skip "Sight Unseen" (no load found).
"Beat the Clock"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4kw6fp
Highlights:
5:46 in.
15:49 in. A jazzy cue with sax's.
18:01 in. Another jazzy cue with sax's.
25:56 in.
34:13 in.
I had to skip "Tina, is that You?" (no load found).
"Be My Baby"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4l1ms1
Highlights:
1:25 in. Some jazz-influenced scoring
2:56 in.
9:39 in: you have to suffer through little kids crying though.
14:35 in.
28:42 in.
About 31:00 in. And after the commercial break.
"Fast forward"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5s3mx2
Highlights:
16:03 in.
26:47 in. There's a brief lull.
About 41:30 in.
That's it for today. I'll probably finish tomorrow.
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Her non-TV and film score work (that I know of):
• Oncogenic Quietude (composed while her husband was sick, which she said inspired work on it).
SWCD-009
From her FSM interview:
"was inspired by your husband's tragic diagnosis with lung cancer and his wonderful and inspiring recovery."
• Spring Hodgepodge (Walker also plays piano on it)
SWCD-006
"Commissioned by Gerry Aster and Dorothy W. Carlson, MD for for Pacific Serenades World Premiere April 13, 2002."
Those numbers refer to promos.
SWCD-001 = ???
SWCD-002 = ???
SWCD-003 = "Turbulence"
SWCD-004 = "Final Destination"
SWCD-005 = "Mystery Men"
SWCD-006 = Spring Hodgepodge
SWCD-007 = "Final Destination 2"
SWCD-008 = "Willard"
SWCD-009 = Oncogenic Quietude
I assume there was no "SWCD-010".
And back to scores:
"There are some uncredited things that I have done that I'm never going to talk about,"
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"The Flash" (CONCLUDED)
"Deadly Nightshade"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5s3pze
Highlights:
0:06 in.
12:55 in.
16:12 in.
21:05 in.
About 27:00 in.
30:34 in.
"Twin Streaks"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5y6vv3
Highlights:
About 7:00 in.
About 13:00 in.
18:28 in.
Around 25:30 in.
29:27 in.
43:17 in.
Ideas (I didn't note above) in this score, notably a repeating up and down flute pattern, can be heard in the "Batman: The Animated Series" episode "Feat of Clay: Part II".
"Good Night, Central City"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5yepof
Highlights:
0:00 in.
About 2:30 in.
10:28 in. Some more at 11:54 in.
36:45 in.
42:09 in.
"Alpha"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5yeps8
Highlights:
0:06 in.
About 13:50 in.
About 21:20 in.
27:22 in.
And that concludes all the episodes (that I could find) that are not covered by the set from La La Land Records.
If you're a fan of her "Batman: The Animated Series", you should definitely have the set from La La Land. It's sold out though, so good luck hunting.
I'd certainly be up for another 2CD set.
"The Love Bug"
A 1997 TV movie return of Herbie the Love Bug.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PS88dtp4g (the volume is a little low, so you may need to raise it)
Highlights:
About 11:30 in.
16:59 in.
18:01 in.
44:51 in.
48:35 in.
57:55 in.
About 1:06:00 in.
About 1:09:00 in.
1:17:00 in. It picks back up at 1:18:23 in.
About 1:22:00 in.
1:23:30 in.
1:27:24 in.
I'd say stylistically, this is kind of close to her "Superman: The Animated Series" work.
Just skimming this thing I'm finding so many reason why this is best forgotten.
That's it for today.
I'll probably start doing "Space: Above and Beyond" tomorrow.
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"Space: Above and Beyond"
A 1995 science fiction series that's supposed to be good.
"The Enemy"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x62uuuh
Highlights:
36:45 in.
There's not much scoring in this episode and what there is, doesn't really deserve a release. I think this episode score was wisely passed over for the LLLR's set.
There was one short bit inside a longer boring cue, that I liked, starting at about 31:00 in.
"Choice or Chance"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x630iol
Highlights:
Around 12:10 in.
About 13:30 in.
About 15:00 in.
37:30 in. There's a brief lull, then we get some of that delicious theme music.
About 42:00 in.
"Level of Necessity"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x636jy7
Highlights:
About 28:20 in. It's a short bit of a longer cue though.
37:21 in. Another short bit of a longer cue though.
I understand why this episode score was also skipped over.
"R & R"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x63uhg6
Highlights:
About 3:10 in.
37:58 in.
"Stardust"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vhd51
Highlights:
About 1:07 in.
About 34:20 in.
And that concludes all the episodes not covered by the sold out release from La La Land Records.
"The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon"
A Disney TV movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4xrCbmJbHg
Highlights:
About 34:10 in: If this an original piece by Walker.
58:50 in.
About 1:13:20 in.
About 1:19:50 in: Walker does a string arrangement of a Christmas song, "Oh Christmas Tree" (yeah, I know that's not the actual name, so sue me). As the cue keeps going to another scene, a guitar plays another Christmas favorite ("We Wish You a Merry Christmas"). It's a long cue, at about four minutes in length.
1:29:32 in.
About 1:30:40 in.
A cheesy sitcom-sounding scoring with sax's opens the TV movie; there are a number of cues like that throughout the score (including, unfortunately, the end credits). There are also some regular orchestral pieces.
That's it for today.
I'll probably spawn some more reviews tomorrow...
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"Spawn"
A 1997 animated adult series on HBO.
Season 1:
"Burning Visions"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaRfoWHAAw
Highlights:
Nothing.
A synth-scape score.
"Evil Intent"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaRfoWHAAw
Highlights:
Nothing.
Another synth-scape score.
"No Rest, No Peace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaRfoWHAAw
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Dominoes"
Highlights:
Nothing.
A little less synth-scape sounding.
"Souls in the Balance"
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Endgame"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy1_SOlJnD
Highlights:
About 22:30 in. The only real orchestra-sounding cue I've heard so far. Are these real players?
Season 2:
"Home, Bitter Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKAf0UwLJDo
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Access Denied"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjsXEDAjB2E
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Colors of Blood"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IJYbgRh8LQ
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Send in the KKKlowns"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5lATFEbE9A
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Deathblow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwJkRsQVXsw
Highlights:
Nothing.
"Hellzapoppin"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j90M4QUg5g
Highlights:
Nothing.
And that concludes her work for the series. The show had one more season and it was scored by J. Peter Robinson.
A lowest points in her scoring career.
I've had to skip a number of works simply because I could not find any videos to watch.
"The New Batman Adventures"
I'm going to skip this since -- unless plans have changed -- La La Land is working on it.
"Simply Sisters"
A spin-off of animated series "Angry Beavers", three episodes were made but ultimately the series was not picked up and none of them aired.
ASCAP and/or BMI lists her for the theme and cues, I assume at least one episode score was completed.
"Mystery Men"
An apparently easily forgotten film from 1999, after Stephen Warbeck compelted his score, the troubled film was re-cut, some scenes reshoot, and special effects scenes shot and added into the film; Warbeck was not available to do new music.
Walker came in and did the rescoring, as well as redoing some scenes Warbeck had scored. I can't tell you exactly how many cues she did, but based on a 2CD bootleg -- I hope the moderator will undertstand why I'm bringing it up -- there are thirty-four tracks marked as "Alternate or Unused Cue", meaning whomever made the tracklisting couldn't find them in the film. To me that means original Warbeck cues that couldn't be used because of the changes to the film, suggesting a good deal of the final film score is by Walker.
There are also some alternates and cues marked with having score that wasn't used, so if any of those are by Walker, that's more on top of that.
"Superman: The Animated Series"
I'm going to skip this for now, incase La La Land relents are decides to loose money on a second volume of score. I don't want to go over the episodes not covered if they end up covering them. I'll just wait and see.
"The Others"
I've actually already covered this series. See the link below:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=115542&forumID=1&archive=0
"Tiny Toons"
Walker scored one of those approximately five minutes segments inside an episode. The score was rejected and replaced. I found the episode name, but I don't recall it off hand.
That's it for today. Sadly, I'm coming close to the end of her career. There will also be a seperate list of mysteries when I am done.
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"Premonitions"
A 2000 featurette on the "Final Destination" DVD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu5JKPca0RU
I thought this must be a mistake and it's probably just a track just of the FS film score, but going through the featurette, while I can identify ideas and themes from the film score, none of the score I can hear seems to be directly lifted from the film. It sounds like it might actually be an original effort with orchestra. Worth checking out if you love the film score like I do.
"Disappearance"
2002 horror film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOYiEsNA9nM
Highlights:
54:54 in: opening with some kind of ominous synth work for a couple of minutes, then some quick frantic light percussion parts (kind of reminds me some of that part of a cue from "The Chronicles of Riddick"). A little trumpet included.
About 1:00:17 in: some brief brass work.
A small percussion, synth pads, synth sounds, and strings work. A serviceable score featuring a number of light percussion rhythm ideas, dark moody synth scapes. It's a paycheck is a way to describe this work. And a waste of the talents she had displayed just a decade ago.
Even the highlights are barely highlights.
"Ritual"
A 2002 "Tales from the Crypt" movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBICz9WtpK0
Highlights:
About 22:30 in
1:25:11 in. Some percussion stuff from the end credits. Sounds like it was just tracked from earlier in the film.
Another wasted opportunity and serviceable paycheck-collecting score.
Tim Curry (playing random Tim Curry character): "I've just been considering your ladies real estate ... tips. Such a pleasure." (after looking at her cleavage)
"The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space"
I forgot this, so I'm double back. A 1996 TV movie.
I saw this back when it originally aired on TV. I remember it being an amusing and enjoyable enough TV movie something akin to ideas of "Galaxy Quest".
The score is half orchestra and half synth, due to the budget.
It's got themes and ideas an it's interesting to listen to. I'd say it deserves a release. There's a promo (well, I assume it's a promo).
I guess you could say it's kind of a "Batman: The Animated Series"/"Superman: The Animated Series"/"Space: Above and Beyond" mesh job, stylistically speaking.
Much better after the two torture entries above.
I made some suites for my listening pleasure and put two of them online for people to sample:
Suite #1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXy69dltVg
Suite #2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbKkPPduLI0
That's it for today.
I'll be watching for falling bricks, puddles of water, and exploding barbeques next week for more reviews...
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"Final Destination"
In 2000 James Wong of "The X-Files" fame, along with Glen Morgan (and introducing writer Jeffrey Reddick), brought us a tense suspense film about a student onboard a flight overseas who has a vision the plane explodes in flight, wakes up and tries to get everybody off. He fails and what students that do get off, find themselves dying in a myriad of ways.
Walker, who had worked with Wong before ("Space: Above and Beyond"), scored the film. A rather uniquely dark and somber score, Walker approached it mainly with orchestra, although she used some electronics for special touches, melding them in well.
The score features at least two themes, reoccurring motifs and ideas, and lots of lower-octave dark colors. It also features an interesting idea heard in one cue, what I call the "Breath of Death" -- almost like Death himself is laughing at his victims before hand.
To this day, bizarrely, the score has never been officially released. There was a DVD with an isolated score; it was part of an audio commentary by Walker; people who knew how to rip it without the dialogue, did so.
Walker released a promo. While not the full score, it did offer different mixes of the cues as opposed to what the DVD isolated score gave us. Some of the music was different (to degrees) than what was heard in the film. I think some of the mixes on the DVD isolated score were better, plus the promo sound a little raw, like it wasn't mastered.
I've never fully compared the two, but I suspect the promo has some music not in the film.
The film itself is quite good and I recommend it.
The score (only):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cg-4pZOqPc
Highlights (though there is no such thing as a bad cue in this score):
About 1:05 in: the somber brass-filled and strings opening credits.
7:29 in: the hair-raising piece as the premonition of the plane explosion is happening.
About 12:00 in: the sadness-evoking string work.
About 14:30 in: leading up to the chilling bathroom death, featuring appearances of the Breath of Death. Turn up the volume, the cue is mostly quiet. Unfortunately, about 18:20, the load is screwed up; part of the cue is missing and a tiny bit repeats.
26:34 in: shakes, strings, and brass, with the main theme and the ideas she used in what few action/suspense cues are in the score.
30:14 in.
31:45 in: a unique cue in Walker's entire body of work. Still prefer the DVD mix of the cue, but it has volume fluctuations.
38:22 in. There's a brief lull. It's a long cue at over seven minutes in length.
And 47:46 in: the end credits, which reprise the opening credits ideas.
IMDb has Randy Kerber and Charles Bernstein (uncredited) listed for additional music. I don't know anything about it.
"Final Destination 2"
In 2003 a sequel was released.
Not as good as the first film and more of a sequel for sequel's sake, the film was okay enough and features a frightening highway accident involving a log truck and multiple vehicles. It brought back one of the characters that survived from the first film, to help a new group of youths who escaped death due to a premonition as well.
The highway premonition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfDLkem6iEs
Unfortunately, the sequel score features more electronic work than the first and it stands out more than meshes into the score. Especially egregious is the opening credits.
The main theme from the first score is used in this new score. Some loose ideas from the first score give this new one a connective feeling to the first. When I saw the film in the theater, I kept hoping I would hear the Breath of Death, but I didn't; if I missed it, let me know.
There was a short promo (15 tracks, 30:35), but again no official release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huk1mhmZSaY
(I don't know what the source of this load is since it's SFX free and longer than the promo)
Highlights:
6:14 in.
10:21 in.
18:11 in.
About 21:50 in.
23:28 in.
26:48 in: one of my personal favorite cues from the scores. There's a brief bit in it not on the promo.
The next cue following the above, so just let it play.
About 31:00 in.
36:18 in.
38:44 in: another personal favorite of the scores. A suspense/action piece. I just low the way the cymbal splash sounds in there.
About 43:40 in.
About 48:20 in.
IMDb has the late Harvey R. Cohen (uncredited) listed for additional music. I don't know anything about it. Another talented composer who died young (younger than Walker).
"Final Destination 3"
And then in 2006 a second sequel came out.
This next sequel was awful. It use a gimmick for the sake of adding something "new" to tell a story and was nothing more than an exercise is seeing what kind of horrible and disgusting ways it could kill people. It completely misses the point of the first film and is gore for gore's sake. I can't recommend this film. Avoid.
It was the final film in the series that Walker scored. In fact, it was one of the last of two projects she scored at all because she died young, at 61, that year.
The score also uses the theme from the first film and general ideas to connect it like the second score did. It's the weakest effort.
There is too much synth work and synth scape ideas.
Again, the score is unreleased. Not even a promo is to be found. Some fans have ripped the score with SFX from DVD.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL8oVJRq3OqeTTKE0v504gA/search?query=Destination
Highlights (I'm putting track numbers in here so you don't lose track of where you were in the list):
Track 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rwFnAso5HQ
Track 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LqLS8ejdZk
Track 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDnQQRisGl8
Track 16: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw0pBgVZZEo
Track 20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5EGNU0zSU
Track 23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HdsnqU3v8E
Track 29: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbHwQ_90zhw
Track 34: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9TIDGRJ6pc
Track 40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKcEqnsHdk
The only cue that stood out to me when I watched the film. Particularly the music from 1:00 to the end.
There's some kind of sounds on the last ten seconds of so of this cue which could be the Breath of Death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQFLqZ3a2Fk
Sadly, rather than trust the people Walker worked with that did orchestrations and additional music on various projects -- "Batman: The Animated Series" composers/orchestrators -- Brian Tyler instead ended up getting the sequel films, unfortunately. Just another in a line of sequel scores I feel he butchered.
He did carry over her main theme in at least one sequel score.
In what I personally feel was quite distasteful, shortly and I mean very shortly, after her death, they announced the third sequel.
That's it for today.
Tomorrow's reviews will make an impact on the majority. ;-)
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Posted: |
Jan 30, 2018 - 2:16 PM
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By: |
SBD
(Member)
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My own thoughts on the Final Destination franchise:
First of all, I think that Tyler overused the theme for The Final Destination to the point that I was sick of it. (Of course, given the film he had to work with, who could blame him for not giving a shit?)
Final Destination 5 was a giant step up in all departments, esp. the music, from its nicely apocalyptic main title to the rather canny reprise of Walker's theme near the end.
Staying on topic, I've never been as entranced by Walker's FD scores as a lot of others, though there are some stray cues I like (the backbeat in 2 just before the big crash, the opening credits of 3, esp. the strings near the end). If someone does put them out, I'll probably buy them a) to give them another chance and b) to encourage future Walker releases.
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"Majority Rule"
A 1992 TV movie. I had to skip it -- no load and I don't have the promo. I didn't know that when I hinted at it coming in this review batch.
"It Came From Outer Space II"
A 1996 TV movie. I've skipped this too; no video.
In an interview, Walker isn't exactly nice about having scored this; clearly it was a paycheck.
There are handful of minutes of it on Youtube, but I'm going to wait for somebody to load the whole film; I don't want to have to re-watch anymore of this reported turd than necessary.
"The Notorious 7"
A failed 1997 pilot. I have to skip this as well -- no video I can find.
"Asteroid"
A 1997 TV movie.
A synth score. Synth strings, synth percussion, etc. I think I heard some brief real instruments. The budget must have been limited (assuming this wasn't a late-game replacement score).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rov8O6OOk9E (the volume on this load is low, so you may need to turn your speakers up)
Highlights:
13:38 in.
24:33 in.
About 27:00 in.
About 27:50 in. More at 28:55 in.
29:23 in.
31:21 in.
38:08 in.
40:11 in.
42:06 in.
1:06:39 in.
About 1:09:00 in. But it's covered in SFX.
1:16:15 in.
About 1:21:30 in.
1:22:03 in.
About 1:34:30 in.
1:36:16 in.
Around 1:42:00 in.
1:49:53 in.
1:59:30 in.
It's cheesy at times, too synthy sounding (as in fake) at times, and even has some faux power anthems here and there, but it's not bad. It's also no great shakes. Does it deserve an official release? I don't know.
That's it for today.
The next couple of reviews should close out what I can watch or listen to, thus ending my journey -- for now. Then I'll sum up things and also handle unsolved mystery items.
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I always tended to refer to Child's Play 2 as a Shirley Walker score myself. I just find it easier to believe that score's merits are because of her involvement.
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Thanks, I didn't know. I have submitted a title deletion request to IMDb for the duplicate entry.
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Just one today.
"Chicago Joe and the Showgirl"
A 1990 movie.
Even though Hans Zimmer is credited with the score, as Walker said in a 1998 interview:
"It’s nothing he wrote a note of, but his contractual obligation was such that he kept his name on it."
Walker's score is orchestral in nature. I couldn't readily spot themes but I'm sure there was one or two.
It's a jazz score with some swing cues (or swing bits in other cues) and some low-key stuff. Strings, brass, drum kit, saxophones, etc. There's even a female solo vocal in two cues.
The swing material has a beat that reminds of that notorious cue from "1941".
There are some nice bits here and there, including one twenty or so second part that may be one of the prettiest things she ever wrote. I don't know how much she did, but I know there is at least 50:46 worth. There has been no official release.
Overall it's a mixed bag. Some of the low-key stuff is too low-key and slow. Some of the cues just abruptly end. the big finale piece with the return of the female vocal, reached a crescendo and then some low-key stuff ruins that closing moment; I don't know if that was a crossfade or what not.
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Just one today.
"Willard"
A 2003 remake film of the original film, which was scored by Alex North.
Walker's score is orchestral in nature, with six accordions used to add a special flavor. Light writing and orchestration touches of her score to the first "Final Destination" film can be heard.
Southall's review of the score: http://www.movie-wave.net/willard/
Overall I just couldn't connect with the score.
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Looks like we may get that "Superman: The Animated Series" second volume; posted today:
We have a tentative vol 2 box set in the wings that would be either 6 or 7 discs that would complete the series for just die hard fans. Ultra limited edition release (probably 500 units) with a possible cost of $150. Still working out the numbers and seeing if its possible. Toying with pre order concept.
Thoughts?
MV
I'm still looking for titles I had to skip, before I finish off this thread. It takes time.
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