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Is There No Beauty In Noodles?
Ahem...'Is There IN Truth NO Noodles?'
And, yes...we might be out of noodles.
Anyway, on to the final disc, and after a few passes back to the beginning for at least one more time through.
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Posted: |
Jan 24, 2013 - 6:01 AM
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By: |
Mr. Flint
(Member)
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I prefer Metamorphosis and Return to Tomorrow--as episodes and scores. I think Empath and Is There In Truth No Beauty both required a great deal of music to maintain the episodes' "realities"--there's the deliberate artificiality of the sets and the mute performance of Gem in Empath and the presence of Kolos and his ability to bring madness in Is There In Truth No Beauty--that presence and ability is established almost entirely through Duning's music.
Yes, for the most part, but don't forget the interesting camera work in that episode to visualize the madness of the affected characters. But you're quite correct, those two third season episode scores had to be somewhat out of kilter and had to leave common musical conventions in order to create an appropriate level of musical soundscape necessary for the stories. Metamorphosis and Return are indeed more traditionally romantic, and those classic second season scripts were, without a doubt, responsible for bringing out the best of Duning!
It doesn't diminish my appreciation for Duning as a composer--check out his other Trek scores or Picnic or The Devil at 4 O'Clock to hear him at his best.
Yes, I still have that old Varese LP from 1980, which was the very first Duning album I owned. The reason for me to purchase that LP 33 years ago was, of course, Duning's contribution for Star Trek! I wasn't disappointed, at all! A complete release of this great score is much overdue!
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Onto Season 3, Disc 2 - a Fred Steiner double-whammy! Really liked "Elaan of Troyius", with that flexible, exotic theme, Herrmannesque (again) poundings etc. There's even an almost BLUE MAX militaristic swagger to some of the snare-drum driven battle cues. "Spock's Brain" is very good too. We've got the (yet again) Herrmannesque poundings, but there's also some uncharacteristic rollicking stuff going on, and just a touch of the ponderous - compared to the earlier scores.
These are just first impressions. I'll have to listen to the whole set four or five times before I really form a solid opinion. That'll be about in two years' time. Then I'll order JOE KIDD.
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Finished Season 3 Disc 2 - the extras from the Steiner scores on that particular CD (basically rerecorded library cues from those two episodes) - which makes me think that I'll be enjoying the full scores even more the second time around. So much great stuff.
By the way, if I can digress for a moment, I've been noticing what appears to be a slight dialogue bleed-through on some of the later discs, especially when a cue tapers off at the end. No big deal, but is it my imagination? I've also noticed that, particularly when a cue starts on a loud note, I can hear a "preview" of it, very quietly, about half a second before it actually starts. Is that a problem with my CD player or is it on the discs themselves?
And back to the music itself - Season 3 Disc 3: "The Enterprise Incident" (Alexander Courage) -
Very much a return to the feel of the First Season scores. This is some of the best, darkly psychological scoring I've heard yet. It's not as easy to whistle as the majority of the other composers' scores, but to me it's absolutely compelling. As Thomas (member) mentioned earlier, there's certainly a Rosenman feel to some of it - Courage almost does a tone pyramid - and the whole score is infused with turbulent, serpentine low woodwind bubblings. There are also plenty of haunting exotic passages, which are enchanting. I love those little cascades of glittering percussion he does. It puts me in mind of Goldsmith's THE ILLUSTRATED MAN in that respect. Yes, this score is that good.
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And so I boldly go onto the second score on Disc 3 from Season Three, the final one by Alexander Courage, for "Plato's Stepchildren" - and it's every bit as great as the previous one ("The Enterprise Incident") and for much the same reasons. I just find his stark, darkly psychological scores absolutely riveting, and often quite beautiful when they evoke mystery. How could a man with such a talent for powerful drama write such a bloody awful theme tune?
Then we get a bit of Turkish Delight music from "Whom Gods Destroy", and we're on to the songs from "The Way to Eden". Now, depending on how you take this stuff, it could be seen as a mere novelty extra, an important part of the TREK musical archaeology, or just a laugh and a half. Maybe it's all of these things. I did find myself enjoying it immensely - it's funny and witty and pretty outrageous - but I also found myself liking the music per se. Some of the little snippets of instrumental music wouldn't be out of place as source cues from any cop thriller of the late-'60s/ early-'70s, or perhaps more appropriately something like BARBARELLA or MOON ZERO TWO.
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Posted: |
Jan 26, 2013 - 12:21 PM
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By: |
Rollin Hand
(Member)
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And so I boldly go onto the second score on Disc 3 from Season Three, the final one by Alexander Courage, for "Plato's Stepchildren" - and it's every bit as great as the previous one ("The Enterprise Incident") and for much the same reasons. I just find his stark, darkly psychological scores absolutely riveting, and often quite beautiful when they evoke mystery. How could a man with such a talent for powerful drama write such a bloody awful theme tune?
Then we get a bit of Turkish Delight music from "Whom Gods Destroy", and we're on to the songs from "The Way to Eden". Now, depending on how you take this stuff, it could be seen as a mere novelty extra, an important part of the TREK musical archaeology, or just a laugh and a half. Maybe it's all of these things. I did find myself enjoying it immensely - it's funny and witty and pretty outrageous - but I also found myself liking the music per se. Some of the little snippets of instrumental music wouldn't be out of place as source cues from any cop thriller of the late-'60s/ early-'70s, or perhaps more appropriately something like BARBARELLA or MOON ZERO TWO.
I am impatient to read your comments on the great Duning's scores: the best of the three is "The Empath" and the orchestration was recycled on a "Mannix" score.
"The Empath" is a turning point and a versatile love score. Notice the palette of impressions.
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I was wondering if people reading this thread can help me. I have listened to my TOS box backwards and forwards and seem to have trouble finding one small piece of music from an episode. It could be that I have just skimmed past it, but I have looked for it. If anyone has the show close by or is very knowledgeable, that would be great.
It comes from the episode "Shore Leave", and it is the scene where they are on the planet, about 10 mins into the episode where Kirk, McCoy and the Yeoman hear Sulu firing the Police Special pistol and they go running towards him. It is a great action-y piece with the Trek theme heard a couple times and a snare drum. If anyone can identify this, let me know where I have stupidly missed it on the set. Thank you all and have a great day!!!!
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How could a man with such a talent for powerful drama write such a bloody awful theme tune?
I don't think one of the most popular and memorable TV theme tunes needs me or anyone else to defend it here, but I did finally turn up a tiny bit of video of the Air Force Band playing it at the 1976 rollout ceremony for the Space Shuttle Enterprise, near the end of this clip:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2015616n
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How could a man with such a talent for powerful drama write such a bloody awful theme tune?
I swear Gerald Fried once referred to the main title as "that awful thing with the bongos." But I can't recall where. I myself always liked it, with it's mysterious, alluring opening notes, then the iconic fanfare that would be adopted by the movies, and then the principal, long-form melody. It was the perfect kickoff to the episodes, especially when I was a kid.
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Thanks very much Heath! And here I was, looking through all the episode scores. Always a new gem to come across in this set. Loving every minute of it and it got me re-watching the Blu Rays as well.
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Sorry. Double post.
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I called the great Alexander Courage's theme "bloody awful" because I want it to sound more like JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE. And if anyone points out that the JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE theme would be incongruous for STAR TREK, I'd simply point out that it wouldn't be any more incongruous than the actual theme, which is closer to I LOVE LUCY than an SF/ action series. I wonder if Desilu himself/ herself (!) had a hand in the theme.
Ah, Thomas - Thank you for waiting impatiently! I've just got through the disc which has "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "The Empath" on it, and - surprise surprise - I think it's absolutely wonderful. It's difficult for me to pick a favourite between the two... I'm veering towards "Is There In Truth?" at the moment, but it's very close. Both episodes have typically sumptious Duning melodies, beautifully tender. "The Empath" also has some great "frazzling" sounds for scenes of torture and mindgames, plus gongs and bells and chimes and all sorts of inventive intrumentation. The theme itself is lovely, but when carried by the Yamaha organ it reminds me just ever so slightly of the "Goldsmith-lite synth sound" from the '80s. Great stuff nonetheless.
I think I prefer the Yamaha sound on "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" - I love the beautiful, tentative and mysterious theme heard throughout, but the "music for madness" cues are amazingly inventive. The organ is genuinely nerve-jangling here, and there are plenty of great orchestral punches for the Enterprise in freefall. This episode truly disturbed me as a child, so maybe my opinion is slightly biased now in its favour. Whatever, as I said, both are truly superb scores from a truly superb composer.
Final question for those who have mentioned "noodly" and "noodling" - What does it mean?
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Posted: |
Jan 27, 2013 - 5:54 AM
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By: |
Rollin Hand
(Member)
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I called the great Alexander Courage's theme "bloody awful" because I want it to sound more like JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE. And if anyone points out that the JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE theme would be incongruous for STAR TREK, I'd simply point out that it wouldn't be any more incongruous than the actual theme, which is closer to I LOVE LUCY than an SF/ action series. I wonder if Desilu himself/ herself (!) had a hand in the theme.
Ah, Thomas - Thank you for waiting impatiently! I've just got through the disc which has "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "The Empath" on it, and - surprise surprise - I think it's absolutely wonderful. It's difficult for me to pick a favourite between the two... I'm veering towards "Is There In Truth?" at the moment, but it's very close. Both episodes have typically sumptious Duning melodies, beautifully tender. "The Empath" also has some great "frazzling" sounds for scenes of torture and mindgames, plus gongs and bells and chimes and all sorts of inventive intrumentation. The theme itself is lovely, but when carried by the Yamaha organ it reminds me just ever so slightly of the "Goldsmith-lite synth sound" from the '80s. Great stuff nonetheless.
I think I prefer the Yamaha sound on "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" - I love the beautiful, tentative and mysterious theme heard throughout, but the "music for madness" cues are amazingly inventive. The organ is genuinely nerve-jangling here, and there are plenty of great orchestral punches for the Enterprise in freefall. This episode truly disturbed me as a child, so maybe my opinion is slightly biased now in its favour. Whatever, as I said, both are truly superb scores from a truly superb composer.
Final question for those who have mentioned "noodly" and "noodling" - What does it mean?
"The Empath" features dreamlike passages like "Slow Motion Kirk".
"No Beauty" has some wild passages like "Marvick Berserk".
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