Next Stop...Willoughby:
Film Music Voyages in The Soundtrack Zone 1998

Epilogue

by Kerry J. Byrnes

During our three journeys into The Soundtrack Zone, we've travelled on a film music voyage across space, time, and death, reviewing the scores of 30 films, examining 10 films and their scores in each of three time-travel genres across at least four decades (1960s to 1990s) in both Sojourn Across Space and Sojourn Across Time, and across six decades (1940s to 1990s) in the Sojourn Across Death genre. Underlying our film music voyage was the thesis that the films reviewed could be classified as falling into one of these three time-travel genres, and that each genre places its own demands on the composer receiving an assignment to score a film in a given genre. From one genre to the next, our voyage witnessed shifts in film scoring from the scores composed for action-oriented science fiction (a la Buck Rogers in the 25th Century or StarGate), to time-travel romantic fantasies (a la The Time Machine or Time After Time), to dramas steeped in romance and death (a la Vertigo or Romeo and Juliet). We saw from one genre to the next that each genre has characteristics which influence how a composer approaches scoring a film that is in one or another of the three identified time-travel film genres.

Thus, for example, Jerry Goldsmith provided very different scores for the action-oriented, outer-space science fiction of Planet of the Apes (in the Sojourn Across Space genre) compared with either his lighter and lush score for the time-travel romantic fantasy Forever Young (in the Sojourn Across Time genre) or his darker and lyrical score for The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (in the Sojourn Across Death genre). As we shifted from films in one genre to next, we saw a shift away from composers providing scores for lively action films (e.g., Superman in Sojourn Across Space) toward providing scores for films in which a loved one's loss through death prominently figures in a protagonist's emotional state and actions (e.g., Obsession in Sojourn Across Death). In the latter genre, protagonists do not have access to any sort of time-travel device per se to overcome (cheat) death, whereas the availability of time-travel devices is central to all the films in Sojourn Across Time.

While not every reader will be familiar with each and every film or score visited during our film music voyage, one need not despair that it is too late to see or hear any of these films or their original scores, or to make your own independent analysis and comparisons. Modern video and audio players afford film music enthusiasts with your own personal time-travel machines ready to transport you back in time to view any of these films or listen to any of their scores, even if they can't transport you back to 1944 for a front-row screening of Laura at your local Bijou Theater.

If you can access the Internet, fuel your time-travel browser with the latest video and audio plugins and URL at warp speed to distant websites in search of audio or video clips from some of the films and film scores reviewed or mentioned herein or even yet-unreleased films (e.g., Sphere). A case in point in The Soundtrack Zone, surf to the Early Edition Sound Clips page at http://sqx.simplenet.com/ee/sounds/default.asp to catch the Early Edition theme the day before the show's soundtrack CD hits your local "Record City" outlet. But, as you buckle up for your film music voyage to The Soundtrack Zone, watch for that signpost up ahead--your destination may be Blockbuster or Best Buy but take care you don't make an unexpected detour into The Twilight Zone and find your next stop, McGinty's.

In closing, we look back to "A Stop At Willoughby," the first signpost in our film music voyage. That episode of The Twilight Zone was one of many--"Walking Distance," "The Trouble with Templeton," "Once Upon A Time," "Back There," "100 Yards Over The Rim," and "Kick The Can," among others--with a time-travel premise. Perhaps a source of our seemingly endless fascination with time-travel films--and this writer's fascination with the scoring of time-travel films--may be the impact that many time-travel Twilight Zone episodes had on the show's viewers, an influence rooted in the compelling stories that intrigued viewers each week and in the scores crafted by film composers for those episodes and how those scores impacted on our musical palette.

Of the original composers who scored Twilight Zone episodes, two featured prominently in our film music voyages into The Soundtrack Zone -- Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann, both of whom were closely associated for many years with CBS radio and television. Of the 22 composers reviewed during our film music voyage, the only composer to score as many as three films in a single genre was Bernard Herrmann, who scored three films--The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Vertigo, and Obsession--in Sojourn Across Death. By comparison, two composers scored as many as two films in a single genre--Alan Silvestri composed the scores for Back to the Future and Contact in Sojourn Across Time, while Maurice Jarre scored Chances Are and Ghost in Sojourn Across Death.

Only three composers scored at least one film in two genres--John Williams scoring Superman (Space) and The Time Tunnel (Time); John Barry scoring Peggy Sue Got Married (Space) and Somewhere in Time (Time); and James Horner scoring Field of Dreams (Time) and To Gillian on her 37th Birthday (Death). However, the master of diversity is Jerry Goldsmith, the only composer of those reviewed who scored a film in each of the three genres--Planet of the Apes (Space), Forever Young (Time), and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (Death).

These seven composers--John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, James Horner, Maurice Jarre, Alan Silvestri, and John Williams--provided 16 (over half) of the scores for the 30 time-travel films reviewed. Of these 16 scores, soundtrack CDs were issued for all but two films (The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and Chances Are). Annex 1 [below] provides a listing of the 30 films and films scores reviewed during our three film music voyages in The Soundtrack Zone, while Annex 2--"Film Music Voyage Trivia Challenge: Who Scored That Other Time-Travel Film?"--provides a listing of other time-travel films and the composers who scored their scores. Readers knowing who scored any film whose composer is not identified may e-mail that information to kjbyrnes@erols.com.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges all the original comments of the film music reviewers whose contributions were cited in this article. Liberty was taken to paraphrase and rework many observations and views expressed originally by such reviewers. Further, the author acknowledges liberal use of material drawn from film reviews in the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB), video and CD liner notes for the various films and film soundtracks reviewed, and the film capsules in Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1995 (Signet, 1994).

This article is dedicated lovingly to my wife Sonia and son Shannon for their patience while I frittered away hours watching videos, listening to soundtrack CDs, and working at the computer pursuing a personal passion to explore how film composers have approached scoring time-travel films over the past 50 years. Finally, a note of gratitude to my father, Francis Byrnes, who provided many editorial suggestions during the writing of this article. Additional editorial suggestions were provided by Lukas Kendall, Craig Spaulding, Tom DeMary, Norma Adams, and Judy Gilmore.

Annex 1: Film Music Voyages in The Soundtrack Zone

A Listing of the Films and Scores Reviewed

Sojourn Across Space:

• 1960-A Stop At Willoughby (Nathan Scott)
• 1968-Planet of the Apes (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 1978-Superman (John Williams)
• 1978-Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (Stu Phillips)
• 1980-The Final Countdown (John Scott)
• 1984-The Philadelphia Experiment (Ken Wannberg)
• 1986-Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (L. Rosenman)
• 1986-Peggy Sue Got Married (John Barry)
• 1993-Groundhog Day (George Fenton)
• 1994-StarGate (David Arnold)

Sojourn Across Time:

• 1960-The Time Machine (Russell Garcia)
• 1966-The Time Tunnel (John Williams / George Duning)
• 1978-Time After Time (Miklos Rozsa)
• 1980-Somewhere in Time (John Barry)
• 1984-The Terminator (Brad Fiedel)
• 1985-Back to the Future (Alan Silvestri)
• 1989-Field of Dreams (James Horner)
• 1992-Forever Young (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 1994-Timecop (Mark Isham)
• 1997-Contact (Alan Silvestri)

Sojourn Across Death:

• 1944-Laura (David Raksin)
• 1947-The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Bernard Herrmann)
• 1958-Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann)
• 1968-Romeo and Juliet (Nino Rota)
• 1975-The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (Jerry Goldsmith)
• 1976-Obsession (Bernard Herrmann)
• 1989-Chances Are (Maurice Jarre)
• 1990-Ghost (Maurice Jarre)
• 1991-Defending Your Life (Michael Gore)
• 1996-To Gillian on her 37th Birthday (James Horner)

Annex 2: Film Music Voyage Trivia Challenge: Who Scored That Other Time-Travel Film?

• 1933 - Berkeley Square (?)
• 1933 - Roman Scandals (Al Dubin, Alfred Newman, and Harry Warren)
• 1949 - A Connecticut Yank in King Arthur's Court (Victor Young)
• 1957 - The Undead (Ronald Stein)
• 1958 - Terror from theYear 5000 (aka The Girl from 5,000 A.D.) (?)
• 1962 - The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (Paul Dunlap)
• 1963 - The Yesterday Machine (?)
• 1964 - The Time Travelers (aka Time Trap) (?)
• 1967 - Journey to the Center of Time (aka Time Warp) (?)
• 1972 - Slaughterhouse Five (Glenn Gould)
• 1976 - Time-Travelers (TV) (Morton Stevens)
• 1978 - A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court (TV) (Dean Elliott)
• 1978 - The Time Machine (TV) (?)
• 1978 - The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (TV) (?)
• 1979 - Unidentified Flying Oddball (Ron Goodwin)
• 1980 - Running Against Time (TV) (?)
• 1981 - Time Bandits (George Harrison & Mike Moran)
• 1982 - Yor, the Hunter from the Future (John Scott) (Label X LXCD 7)
• 1983 - Timerider (Michael Nesmith)
• 1985 - Cave Girl (Jon St. James)
• 1985 - My Science Project (Peter Bernstein)
• 1985 - The Blue Yonder (Time Flyer) (David Shire)
• 1985 - Trancers (aka Future Cop) (Phil Davies and Mark Ryder)
• 1986 - Biggles - Adventures in Time (Stanislas)
• 1986 - Flight of the Navigator (Alan Silvestri) (Super Tracks STCD 499)
• 1987 - Playing Beatie Bow (Garry McDonald and Laurie Stone)
• 1987 - Evil Dead II (Joseph Lo Duca) (Varese Sarabande 7198)
• 1987 - Frenchman's Farm (Tommy Tycho)
• 1987 - The Time Guardian (Allan Zavod)
• 1987 - Time of the Apes (Toshiaki Tsushima)
• 1987 - Timestalkers (TV) (Craig Safan)
• 1988 - Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (aka The Navigator) (Davood A. Tabrizi)
• 1988 - Norman's Awesome Experience (?)
• 1989 - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (David Newman) (A&M 3915)
• 1989 - Millenium (Eric N. Robertson)
• 1989 - Quantum Leap (TV) (Velton Ray Bunch and Mike Post) (GNP/Crescendo 8036)
• 1989 - Time Trackers (Parmer Fuller)
• 1990 - Frankenstein Unbound (Carl Davis)
• 1990 - Running Against Time (TV) (?)
• 1990 - The Spirit of 76 (David Nichtern)
• 1990 - The Two Way Mirror (TV) (Alberto Delgado)
• 1991 - Beastmaster 2: Through the Portals of Time (Robert Folk) (Intrada MAF 7019D)
• 1991 - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (David Newman) (Interscope 91725)
• 1991 - Karate Cop (Cecil Ramirez and Ralph Stover)
• 1991 - Les Visiteurs (Eric Levi)
• 1991 - Trancers II (aka Future Cop II) (Phil Davies and Mark Ryder)
• 1992 - Freejack (Trevor Jones) (Morgan Creek 20008)
• 1992 - From Time to Time (aka Timekeeper) (Bruce Broughton)
• 1992 - The Grand Tour (TV) (aka Disaster in Time, aka Tiescape) (Gerald Gouriet)
• 1992 - Iceman (Bruce Smeaton) (Southern Cross SCCD 1006)
• 1992 - Trancers III (aka Death Lives, aka Future Cop III) (Richard Band/Phil Davies/Mark Ryder)
• 1993 - Time Runner (Braun Farnon and Robert Smart)
• 1993 - Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 3) (Danny Elfman/Joseph LoDuca) (Varese VSD-5411)
• 1993 - Metusalem (Milan Kymlicka)
• 1993 - Philadelphia Experiment II (Gerald Gouriet)
• 1994 - Star Trek: Generations (Dennis McCarthy) (GNP/Crescendo GNPD 8040)
• 1994 - Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things... (TV) (Dennis McCarthy)
• 1995 - A Kid in King Arthur's Court (J.A.C. Redford) (Walt Disney 60885-7)
• 1995 - Der Trip (Jochen Schmidt-Hanbrock)
• 1995 - El Ni¤o Invisible (Bom Bom Chip and Jos‚ Carlos Parada)
• 1995 - The Drivetime (Rob Brezsny)
• 1995 - Timemaster (Harry Manfredini)
• 1995 - Twelve Monkeys (Paul Buckmaster) (MCA MCD11392)
• 1995 - W.E.I.R.D. World (TV) (Nicholas Pike)
• 1996 - Hellraiser: Bloodline (Daniel Licht)
• 1996 - Star Trek: First Contact (Jerry Goldsmith) (GNP/Crescendo GNPD8052)
• 1998 - Sphere (Elliot Goldenthal)

Source: Internet Movie Data Base (http://us.imdb.com)
Time-Travel Page (http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/time.html)

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