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Posted: |
Aug 7, 2018 - 5:54 PM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Every summer, I make my way through the Star Trek TOS soundtrack box set. Why in the summer? When I was a kid, Star Trek was typically shown in syndication between June and August, so it is part of my summer experience, for better or worse.
Anyway, I feel like the scores for the earlier shows have much more of a "science fiction" feel then many of the other scores. Obvious examples would be "The Cage," "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and "Man Trap."
It feels to me that, generally speaking, the show's music started moving away from an overt sci-fi sound. One exception would be "Amok Time," which stylistically fits nicely with those that I referenced above.
Does anyone share this observation?
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The common thread of the first three scores you list is Alexander Courage. He leaned more toward that sci-fi sound and with The Man Trap, he went way over the top as far as Roddenberry was concerned. He hated it. He wanted a more dramatic, adventuresome and swashbuckling sound. Bob Justman liked what Fred Steiner brought to the series and was "always hot to trot with Fred Steiner."
The series itself was more sci-fi in the early days. Primarily because that's when actual SF writers were submitting ideas, before more conventional TV writers were used when the SF legends balked at being rewritten by the Trek staff.
I found the first season scores to be superior overall, but my favorite was in the second season (The Doomsday Machine by a mile and a quarter). I also found the first season had more "old fashioned" scores, thanks to Joe Mullendore's one episode and his library cues. The second season sound was lush and exciting. And while I greatly enjoyed the third season's music, it felt less full. But man, Elaan of Troyius and Spock's Brain from Steiner were amazing.
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I've been re-focusing on TOS music lately. The box is six years old, yet it feels like the Complete Era has only begun. It's hard to wrap your head around how much is in the box. And how about the fact that we have every note of classic cast Star Trek music in our hands now? Do you think we're intelligent enough, does man have the wisdom to handle that kind of power?
Among the many things I could say about listening to TOS music, one item is that the Royal Philharmonic recordings have not passed into oblivion. The Corbomite Maneuver, "Kirk's Command" from Charlie X, and The Empath are still very much in play. I've also found that the Royal Phil version of The Paradise Syndrome can be played as an immediate encore to the OST version, and it works.
My personal stash:
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And how about the fact that we have every note of classic cast Star Trek music in our hands now? Do you think we're intelligent enough, does man have the wisdom to handle that kind of power?
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When I, as a teenager, first discovered the TOS music I always prefered Fred Steiner (not knowing it was Steiner's music since almost every Season 1 episode credited Courage) because of his 'Wagnerian' tendencies.
But as I grew older I started to apprectiate Courage music more. It's more subtle and more specific per episode next to the overal sound Steiner gave the series. The Man Trap is actually one of my favourite TOS scores.
That being said, I absolutely adore Steiner's Space Cube motif from The Corbomite Maneuver and it's a shame it hasn't been used in Discovery or in the Kelvin timeline films.
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I adore The Man Trap in every respect and having the score was one of the primary reasons I was so excited about this back back when it was announced (other than - "OMG this is the music I've had in my head ALL MY LIFE!"). It's bleak and stark and completely fits the empty and fragile existence of the creature who is trying to survive. "Top Security" is my favorite cue of that score, it gets replayed a lot. Other than Tribbles and I, Mudd, I cycle through all of this stuff repeatedly. I'm not a big fan of blatant comedy music, so you can imagine a huge chunk of Lost in Space's music never hits my playlist. 
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What are the three CDs on the middle row? What label, who is the conductor, and which scores?
The thing on the very left is the booklet from the box set. The other two are Label X re-recordings done by the Royal Philharmonic: Star Trek Symphonic Suites Arranged From The Original Television Scores volumes One and Two.
They contain rerecordings of Is There In Truth No Beauty, The Paradise Syndrome on Volume one and Spectre of the Gun, The Enemy Within, Conscience of the King and I, Mudd on volume two.
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t the LIS box is amazing. You get the John Williams material, including previously unreleased cues, plus all your favorite non-JW cues, and staggeringly, the Fox film music library cues that were "never" going to be included in a Lost in Space soundtrack release because they weren't really from Lost in Space. I could hardly believe it.
Oh, I totally agree! I only wish a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea box were actually on the horizon, but they just don't make their money back on these ventures. Voyage had a VERY good average for great music and the library cues were even more emphasized, especially in the third season. Luckily, many of those Fox scores got releases on their own, but there are a few which still elude me.
The LiS box set is still a no-regret buy. I just don't visit Courage's stuff as much on there - his work in the Comedy episodes was frankly dire.
But yes!!! Collision of Planets! Especially the fight music. And Mullendore's music was some of his best. Even though very light and airy, it truly fit the series.
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