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Hello, All! For those that have been following along the last two years, I've been listing to the Star Trek TOS scores on the 47th anniversary of the recording. (The weird date is just because I had the idea in 2013 and didn't want to wait two years. I'll probably do it again this year for the 50th - starting with Where No Man Has Gone Before - for a rounder number!)
My life has been a little topsy turvy the last month or so. So I missed the recording date for the third season library music (6/25/68) and Jerry Fielding's Spectre of the Gun (7/5/68).
My actual liner notes are in a box in storage at the moment. So please feel free to call out when I make a mistake. I'm going off the track listing on LLL's website. For example I have no idea when they recorded the third season titles or why there is a stereo version.
Here we go!
The third season scores are my least listened to. I keep telling myself that I just don't enjoy the sound. I think it's a dryer sound. It sounds smaller. It sounds closer. To my mind it sounds cheaper. I know there are people who find Courage, Steiner, and Fried's work in the the third season to be their favorite. (Oh, and don't you wish people would stop saying Courage left after season one?)
I did go through a period where I only listened to season three and tried to warm up to it. That helped. Maybe this will as well.
Today I'll wander down memory lane for season three's re-recordings of music from the pilots and seasons one and two.
Wilbur Hatch conducting had a different sound from Courage. (Just as Steiner did.) He sounds a little more like "classic 50's television" to me. (I love his first season library cues.) Vina's Dance here sounds like something from a Crosby and Hope Road picture. I like how he conducted Fried's combative pieces as well.
Courage's early scores are the most interesting re-recorded library cues to me because they were recorded without Jack Cookerly's "magic box". They sound very different from the originals. The Talosian motifs might sound a little less other-worldly. But in some cases they sound more solid and grounded. Monster Illusion sounds really cool with its new instrumentation. I actually like Man Trap much better without its synthesizers.
I'm not as intimately familiar with season three so I'm not always sure where these cues showed up in their "new life". It's interesting to note how much music from the pilots was brought back three years later. Courage really did define that Star Trek sound from the beginning.
Man Trap is much more digestible in this abbreviated form.
It's interesting what was re-recorded and what was not. Look at how much Man Trap was included. But no Charlie X. No Kaplan. Fried would re-record more cues from his own Shore Leave and Amok time later on. A very different set from season two. Also no original library cues were composed like in the first two seasons.
The final season of Star Trek scores is under way. I'll be back later this week to go through the first actual score of the season, Spectre of the Gun. Please post your own comments in the meantime. We don't have much TOS music left!
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Broughtfan, just for giggles I was listening to the audio of The Tholian Web (since I knew that was an episode with no original music). The first music up was either Balance of Terror or Mirror, Mirror. Then some Charlie X. So far I haven't heard any music that was actually recorded for season three! I bet the composers were thrilled. (That was sarcasm.)
OK, first actual score of season three!
Spectre of the Gun. Music Composed and Conducted by Jerry Fielding. Recorded 7/5/68. (I'm posting two days late.)
First off lets hit the season three recording of the main theme. Not hugely different from season two. The mysterioso notes have a double "pling". Kind of like Courage recorded in the outtakes back in season one. It's a slightly different sound but I'd have to really be paying attention to call out that it was third season. (Steiner's season one on cello is still my fave.)
Hey, it's a Fielding score! Last heard having Trouble with Tribbles. I'm not familiar with Fielding's other work. (Sorry!) So I can't tell you how much of this sounds like Fielding other than by comparing it to his other episode. There is definitely a connection. Tribbles was a partial score and this is a full one. Fielding didn't use Courage's theme on Tribbles and he does on Spectre.
If you listen to Melkot's Warning it almost has a Leonard Rosenman Star Trek IV sound. (Now I have to go back and see if I've said that about any previous TOS scores.) Fielding doesn't tip his hand much that this is about to go full on western. Maybe a little bit with the way he ends the fanfare on Melkot's Warning.
It Is Done still sounds like Fielding but it has a much more serious flavor than Tribbles (not surprisingly) and doesn't have the western hooks of the rest of the score. I'm really wishing he had gotten to do another episode now. It's pretty great.
Tombstone: And THERE'S our western in space! Are those harmonicas or an accordion? Wonderful Americana in any event.
Tribbles had it's mewling violins. Spectre has its off kilter Buffalo Gals on piano. It fits the episode to a T, but it also feels gimmicky.
His love theme is terrific. It gives the episode so much weight. I think that it's a bigger and more layered sound than Star Trek is used to at this point. It really stands out in the episode. Oh my gosh it's SO sad! With music like that they could have killed of Chekov for real!
I've also gone back and listened to the Label X re-recording conducted by Courage in 1986. (Wow. Did we really have to wait THAT long for even re-recordings of TOS scores?!?) I never got into this album except for Enemy Within. Funny. Now Conscience of the King is one of my favorite Trek scores of all. Spectre of the Gun definitely has a much bigger sound with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
My conclusion is that it is a very nice score for a pretty solid third season episode.
Please post your own thoughts on the score. I'll be back on 7/12 for Fred Steiner's Elaan of Troyius. See you then!
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The third season scores are my least listened to. I keep telling myself that I just don't enjoy the sound. I think it's a dryer sound. It sounds smaller. It sounds closer. To my mind it sounds cheaper.
If there's any kernel of truth in that, then The Paradise Syndrome, Elaan of Troyius, and Spock's Brain are exceptions. Because they sound full and satisfying.
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The third season scores are my least listened to. I keep telling myself that I just don't enjoy the sound. I think it's a dryer sound. It sounds smaller. It sounds closer. To my mind it sounds cheaper.
If there's any kernel of truth in that, then The Paradise Syndrome, Elaan of Troyius, and Spock's Brain are exceptions. Because they sound full and satisfying.
Ehhhhh... I'm a little more sold on Elaan. We'll see about Spock's Brain. I agree, I never had that problem with Paradise.
So here's the next episode:
Elaan of Troyius
Music Composed and Conducted by Fred Steiner
Episode #57, Recorded 7/12/68
This might be my breakthrough. I'm getting used to season three. I might be coming to the conclusion that it was harder for me to get into this season because there was so much NEW music that I'd never heard before (I don't watch season three episodes very often). Season one is so iconic to me and season two built a lot on season one. (Except for Doomsday Machine and the Fried scores which are as well known as anything in Star Trek.) Season three is really its own creature.
We start with Steiner's Enterprise theme. Nice. Welcome back for season three, Fred.
This definitely sounds like a Steiner show. It's very much in the flavor of Mudd's Women or What Are Little Girls Made Of without ever explicitly quoting those episodes.
Of all the tracks in this episode I love Battle Music. It's just really really cool. I like it for bad guy music almost as much as Ruk Attack's from back in season one. Unlike the movies there isn't really a lot of "spaceship" music in TOS. You have some fantastic intros for the Enterprise based on Courage's fanfare but those are mostly very short. This is much longer.
The bass guitar under Battle Stations is also really neat. Star Trek did nice things with bass guitar.
Steiner had a habit of tracking his own episodes. Rather than re-recording or using a library cue he just dropped Balance of Terror or Corbomite Maneuver (for example) into an episode as newly recorded music. This drove me nuts in season two. He doesn't do it nearly as much here.
Speaking in terms of the La La Land TOS Box rather than the music itself: It is so cool that we have all the re-recorded library cues. Others have said it before and I agree: I can't see any other format where we would have gotten these. Maybe if we got individual episode sets. (Which is how I have all my playlists organized.)
I'll see you folks on 7/19 for Gerald Fried's Paradise Syndrome (and some library music)! Talk amongst yourselves!
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The Paradise Syndrome
Music Composed and Conducted by Gerald Fried
Episode #58, Recorded 7/19/68
A couple of weeks ago we did cowboys. Now we do Indians.
*sigh* This score is OK. Can we get that out of the way up front? I only think this score is OK. I know a lot of people put this as a favorite. I'm trying. Really I am. I probably like this score more than I did before. I've been playing it for almost a week now. It finally began to grow on me Friday.
I'm sure part of this is because I hate the episode. There are at least a half dozen places where if the characters acted smarter then the episode doesn't happen. (This is by no means the only Star Trek episode that does this. But this one really bugs me.)
It's almost hard to deal with the fact that Gerald Fried only scored one episode in season three. He was the Fred Steiner of season two. (Fred Steiner was also the Fred Steiner of season two.)
I like the score for the Enterprise's struggle with the incoming asteroid. I certainly enjoy Fried bringing back Spock's theme from Amok Time. The bass guitar is much more clipped here than it was then. If anything it sounds even colder.
The Coplandesque theme for the planet that tops the episode is nice. It's an echo of Shore Leave. I enjoy how he weaves some of the themes into the Star Trek theme, never quite completing it to show how Kirk isn't quite complete.
I'm not as fond of his "god theme" for Kirok. It's just too "Ooga Ooga" for me. I know it's following the "Indian music" conventions of Hollywood. (Of course I loved it when Greg Edmonson did it for Firefly.)
The Miramanee / love theme is a little too cute for me. But yes, Death of Miramanee is a winner.
The library cues that Fried recorded (from Shore Leave and Amok Time) are terrific. They sound like new versions using existing themes rather than straight re-recordings.
I'm also listening to the Label X recording of the episode. I'm getting into this a little bit more. Hmmm. I might need to go back and listen to the whole episode again...
What do you all think?
Next up on August 5th is The Enterprise Incident by Alexander Courage!
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Noticed while watching "Whom Gods Destroy" recently Fried's "Fog Planet" cue ("Catspaw"), which sounded like the original S2 cue recording (the library re-recordings Hatch made didn't utilize strings). There's also an S3 episode that uses a cue from "The Doomsday Machine," though I don't recall which segment.
The Lights of Zetar starts off with Doomsday Machine material.
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The Enterprise Incident
Music Composed and Conducted by Alexander Courage
Episode #59, Recorded 8/5/68
This episode has a bolder sound than Mr. C. left us with back in season one. He's using his fanfare with gusto, kind of returning to a sound more like The Cage rather than Where No Man or Man Trap. We get a nice intro to the episode with his fanfare as well as his captain's theme. I've always loved that theme and he uses it well throughout. The end of the first cue introduces the punching four note motif that will show up in the rest of the episode.
Listening to this score I've been trying to pay attention to the parts that are not the Romulan Commander / Love Theme. It goes on forever. Of course, re-watching the episode so do the scenes with Spock and the Commander. I do enjoy when Courage mixes the Commander's and Captain's themes in Free Enterprise. That's becoming one of my favorite TOS tracks ever.
This is score that I'm sure people were very excited about having as part of the TOS box. Almost three years later it's becoming a favorite of mine.
Go shout it from the rooftops: Courage wrote for season three! (Take THAT Solow and Cushman!)
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The Paradise Syndrome
Music Composed and Conducted by Gerald Fried
Episode #58, Recorded 7/19/68
A couple of weeks ago we did cowboys. Now we do Indians.
*sigh* This score is OK. Can we get that out of the way up front? I only think this score is OK.
Can't disagree with you more - I think this score is one of incomparable beauty and sensitivity, and a very unusual one in the TOS universe (as befits the subject matter). I grew up with that gorgeous, long-lined love theme for Kirk and Miramanee practically engraved on my brain. What a treat to have the original tracks along with the Label X re-recording. I do hope you come around on this one! :-)
It definitely grew on me as the week went on. I knew when I wrote that I wasn't a huge fan that there are people who consider this to be one of the best Star Trek scores.
Enterprise Incident was another that very much benefited from me spending a lot of time with it. I'm now diving into And the Children Shall Lead. So wish me luck.
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And the Children Shall Lead
Music Composed and Conducted by George Duning
Episode #60, Recorded 8/9/68
Drat, I'm a day late. Sorry.
Well. It's a Duning episode. It's actually quite a good score. But for me there really isn't a hook that I can grab onto to get me into this score. I've listened to it a few times in the last week. I like it more than when I started. But I haven't discovered a cue that makes me say "Hey, I'm going to go back and listen to that!" So I really don't have much to say about this one.
When I'm not thrilled about a score I'm always glad when it's defenders come forward to set me right. Have at, folks!
Next up in two weeks: Spock's Brain!
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Spock's Brain
Music Composed and Conducted by Fred Steiner
Episode #61, Recorded 8/26/68
Whoa! Spock's Brain. Poster child for "Wow, man, season three sucks!"
It's not nearly that bad. Would you rather watch Spock's Brain or: And the Children Shall Lead, Alternative Factor, Miri?
The score rocks. It really is the Return of Fred Steiner. I've always been a little disappointed at how much his season two scores re-used his season one material. But this is so solid. The score runs a really nice gamut of moods and styles. Steiner put on his Bernard Herrmann hat rather often in this score. But then I love it when he does that.
I know this is a lot of people's absolute favorite. I can finally see why.
Next up is 9/6 with Is There in Truth No Beauty? AND The Empath. That's a LOT of Duning!
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The Spock's Brain score is undeniably great, but I have an unintended knee jerk reaction to the first cue.
They used it so often in the 3rd season for the opening Enterprise Flyby's, that now when I hear it, I remember the feeling I had when I was watching Star Trek in syndication back in the 70's, and hearing it at the beginning of an episode, and thinking "ugh, 3rd season".
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Is There in Truth No Beauty?
Music Composed and Conducted by George Duning
Episode #62, Recorded 9/6/68
The Empath
Music Composed and Conducted by George Duning
Episode #63, Recorded 9/6/68
Holiday weekend here, so I'm a couple of days late. But happy Star Trek day, everyone! Forty-nine and still going strong! One year until the big Five Oh.
First off, why did so many of my least favorite episodes get full scores in the third season? I'm not a total season three hater, but wow these were some turkeys.
I don't have much to say about these scores. They're lovely. I'm finding Is There in Truth No Beauty? to be more involved than I've previously believed. I think the organ music in this and in The Empath to be a little gimmicky. As always I find Duning's Enterprise music a treat. They're both really strong scores. Duning definitely had his own sound.
This was the last music recorded by George Duning for Star Trek. Spock's Brain saw the exit of Fred Steiner. Gerald Fried left Star Trek with The Paradise Syndrome.
The last full score recorded for Star Trek was Plato's Stepchildren by Alexander Courage. Next up on 10/25. See you then!
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Hi All!
Well, I'm a day late. Life. Sorry.
Plato's Stepchildren
Music Composed and Conducted by Alexander Courage
Episode #67, Recorded 10/25/68
This is it! After this will be the songs recorded for Way to Eden and the source pieces recorded for Requiem for Methuselah and The Savage Curtain. This is the last full score of Star Trek recorded.
Fittingly it's Mr. Courage at the helm. Listening to scores like this I sometimes wonder what a fourth season of Star Trek would have sounded like. To be sure there is some good even great stuff here. But all of it is very much in line with Courage's bag of tricks. There are strong hints of Where No Man Has Gone Before throughout and not just because of his frequent (and appreciated) use of his Captain's Theme. The Aristocrats has that "Courage Love Theme" sound to it. That sound is as much a part of Star Trek as Theiss' creative use of gravity.
I did discover that I like Brain Bout quite a lot. And how can you not love The Little Visitor? If you're a Firefly fan then I'm sure you know the story of how Greg Edmonson compused the funeral music from The Message. He was writing his goodbye to Firefly. I don't know if Courage gave it much thought, but this is a fine track to close out Star Trek.
This is a score that I can get into more if I hit a track or two at a time rather than trying to digest the whole thing at a go. And I like it way better than The Man Trap.
I listened to the vocals once. I'm done now.
This will probably never be one of my go to scores. (I did used to say that about Spock's Brain. I've changed my mind.) I appreciate having it, because there is almost no way this score would have been released other than as a set like the TOS box.
This is the kind of score that I'm always interested to hear from someone who says it's their favorite.
Oh, also recorded this day was Courage's music for Whom Gods Destroy. RIP Yvonne Craig.
I'll post on the recording dates for the next three sessions. 11/20, 1/15, and finally 1/24. (Egads, I have to listen to Way to Eden!) But this is really the last hurrah.
Thanks for reading for the last three years! And thanks to everyone involved in both the original recordings and the glorious impossibility that is the TOS box!
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Oops. Posted in wrong thread. But should say I love reading these episode reactions - I often find myself going to the episode in question after I read it.
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