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

Film Music Voyage #1--Sojourn Across Space

by Kerry J. Byrnes

A Stop At Willoughby - Nathan Scott

A Stop At Willoughby (D: Robert Parrish), scored by Nathan Scott, was first telecast on The Twilight Zone, May 6, 1960. Scott used a small ensemble of winds, brass, percussion, and vibraphone to paint a vivid musical portrait of Gart Williams (James Daly), a man yearning for escape from a modern world in which he has come to hate his job and his wife. He escapes in the form of a recurring and all too realistic dream as he returns home each night on a commuter train. One evening Gart awakens from his nap as the conductor announces "Next stop is Willoughby." As the train pulls into the station of a small, rural town in July 1888, Gart looks out at a world that, as the conductor affirms, is "peaceful, restful, where a man can slow down to a walk, and live his life full measure."

Nathan's score for Gart's time-travel journey to Willoughby is built on three basic musical themes: the first, to reaffirm Gart's demanding boss, nagging wife, and the pressure of the modern world, is a slow, syncopated drum figure, against dissonant harmonies for winds and brass; the second, to affirm Gart's longing to return to a simpler time, is a slow, sentimental melody in 3/4 time played by brass or winds; and the third, emphasizing the strangeness of Gart's dream, features held chords on vibraphone, against various colorations on winds, brass, and percussion.

As Gart tries to decide whether to step off the train, "Camptown Races" beckons him to do so. Nathan captures the irony of the show's final scene in the theme associated with Gart's boss, wife, and the modern world, arranging it as a funeral-like dirge, followed by a dissonant parody of the sentimental theme. The liner notes for The Twilight Zone, Volume Two LP (Varese Sarabande STV 81178), which includes 12'27" of the score, indicate that these cues capture the mood of this episode's last scene when Gart, in a deep dream, jumps off the moving commuter train to his death. The witnesses to Gart's death are puzzled as to his motives but report they heard him yell something about "Willoughby" as he jumped from the train. Gart's body is taken away in a hearse that bears the sign: Willoughby Funeral Home.'

Planet of The Apes - Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith's innovative score for 1968's Planet of The Apes (D: Franklin J. Schaffner) takes the audience aboard a U.S. spaceship that is traveling across the far reaches of space on a voyage that comes to an end with a crash landing in an inland sea on an unknown planet. On escaping the craft, astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and his crew realize they are marooned on a planet where talking apes rule and mute humans are beast. Taken prisoner by the apes, Taylor is befriended by two apes, Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), who empathize with his plight. They assist him and the story's love interest (Linda Harrison as "Nova...the wild human animal captured and selected for special mating purposes") to attempt escape. Pursued by the apes, Taylor discovers that his spaceship did not crash on an unknown far-away planet but rather back on what remains of a future post-nuclear war Earth.

Goldsmith's avante-garde score for this time-travel journey was nominated in 1968 for "best score" Oscar. Considered among the most innovative and influential scores ever written, the film's soundtrack is available on three CDs -- Project 3 PRD 5023; Intrada FMT 8006D, which includes the "The Hunt;" and the Fox Classic complete score release (Varese Sarabande VSD-5848), which also includes Goldsmith's score for the series' third film, Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971), the second being 1971's Beneath the Planet of the Apes (scored by Leonard Rosenman who also scored the series' fifth film, 1973's Battle for the Planet of the Apes).

Goldsmith introduces this Ape New World through musical vignettes having sounds for which 1960 moviegoers had no earthly reference point. The spaceship's entry to the Ape Planet is accompanied by the foreboding "Main Title" which creates the uncanny impression, through acoustic orchestration, of

When the astronauts first come upon the Forbidden Zone, "arid sounding string scales flutter across the screen..., ...when the gorillas attack, blood-curdling trumpeting spits out from the soundtrack ['The Hunt'] and instantly communicate the fear and confusion of the astronauts" (Tony Thomas, Music for the Movies, 1973, New York: Tantivy Press, p. 211). Captured by the apes, Taylor is offered the companionship of a mute female human, Nova, scored with "A New Mate," a Bartók-influenced, sublimated reading of the main theme. When Taylor and Nova flee their captors, they enter "The Forbidden Zone," the barren terrain Taylor and his crew explored earlier in the film.

Here a "subdued piano figure moves under a high-pitched reading of the main theme, embellished by muttering flutes and a bass slide whistle" (Jeff Bond, liner notes to Planet of the Apes CD, Varese Sarabande VSD-5848). Goldsmith's score closes with the title theme in low flute as Taylor and Nova ride along the beach, with an echoing, guitar-like metallic effect finally signalling Taylor's realization, as he sights the half-buried Statue of Liberty, that he has been on Earth all long.

In his liner notes to Intrada's expanded CD release of Goldsmith's score for Planet of the Apes, Doug Fake notes that the score is often incorrectly identified as using electronics, although unusual sounds are

Writing the liner notes for the soundtrack's original LP release, Heston stated: "Goldsmith's score helped us achieve something that was important to every scene...to remind the audience that they were in a time and a place they had never known. The unearthly echoes of his theme reflect very accurately...the lunar landscapes in which we shot the film. To me, the music colors perfectly the mind-bent milieu of Planet of The Apes." (Project PRD 5023SD)

Superman: The Movie - John Williams

John Williams was flying high himself when he scored 1978's Superman (D: Richard Donner). A year earlier, Williams' Oscar-nominated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) score had lost the Oscar to his Star Wars score. By the mid-1970s, Williams already was Hollywood's most "disastrous" film composer, a reputation garnered for scoring several so-called "disaster" movies. That work led to best-score Oscar nominations for The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). In 1975, Williams won his first "best score" Oscar for Jaws.

When the Superman trailer began appearing on theater and television screens during 1978's holiday season, viewers were promised--"You will believe a man can fly!" The film's director Richard Donner, ably assisted by Williams' original score, delivered the goods. Compared with Goldsmith's atonal Planet of the Apes score a decade earlier, Williams' Superman score is rich in leitmotif, having specific melodies for each character. The original soundtrack was issued as a double LP (Warner Brothers 2BSK 3257) and reissued on CD in Japan (Warner WPCP-3859, complete) and in the U.S. (Warner Bros. 3257-2 sans "Growing Up" and "Lex Luthor's Lair").

Williams' score takes off with "Theme from Superman (Main Title)," "a rousingly heroic theme for the superhero, with stirring brassy accents that spell his invincibility." (Didier C. Deutsch, VideoHound's Soundtracks, 1998, Visible Ink Press, p, 429) The score that follows is rich in melody and variation in orchestral coloring. As the planet Krypton is being destroyed, a small rocket carrying the infant Superman travels across space propelled on "The Trip to Earth" by violins, flutes, and horns, the heroic "Superman" theme occasionally hinted as the rocket speeds toward Earth. Clark Kent/Superman (Christopher Reeve) grows up, moves to Metropolis to work as a reporter for The Daily Planet, and falls in love with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Margo Kidder). Lois has no time for Clark as she has a crush on Superman who can't tell her he's really mild-mannered Clark.

Williams helps Superman and Lois get beyond this impasse with the "Love Theme from Superman" which brings "a delightful softer note to the score." (ibid., p. 429) This theme also is heard in "The Flying Sequence/Can You Read My Mind" (vocal: Margot Kidder). When Superman diverts one rocket into space, and is unable to reach Lois in time to save her from the aftermath of a second rocket's explosion, he must decide if he can violate his father's guidance not to use his super powers to intervene in human affairs. Ignoring that guidance, Superman flies faster and faster to the west to reverse the earth's spin and go back in time, assisted in this time-defying feat by Williams' "Turning Back The World" (a reorchestrated "Can You Read My Mind"), thereby allowing Superman to reach Lois in time to save her.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Stu Phillips

In 1978's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (D: Daniel Haller), a 20th century astronaut, Captain William "Buck" Rogers (Gil Gerard), is caught in a freak accident in deep space, causing his Ranger 3 craft to be blown into a trajectory that returns him to earth almost five centuries later. Earth, recovering from nuclear war, is under hostile attack by the Draconian empire. Buck's "old age" habits first amuse but then come to the aid of the people of the future, including Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray).

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was scored by Stu Phillips who also composed the film and television scores for Battlestar Galactica. Perhaps inspired by John Williams' symphonic score a year earlier for 1977's Star Wars, Phillips also provided a score with various leitmotif themes for certain cast members ("Introducing: Twiki & Dr. Theo") as well as dramatic scoring, heavy in the brass, for the film's considerable action footage, including "Buck's Heroics," "Pirate Attack," "Buck vs. Tigerman," and "Tailpipe Torpedo." Buck's time-travel to the 25th century is underscored by the "Cosmic Forces" theme. The score was not without pop influences, containing an in tune with the late 1970s disco theme ("Something Kinda Funky") as well as "Song from Buck Rogers (Suspension)," a vocal composed by the film's executive producer Glen A. Larson.

The Final Countdown - John Scott

It is 1980 and film composer John Scott has been pressed into service aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz ready to embark from Pearl Harbor on a routine mission. Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), Tideman Industries employee on assignment to the Department of Defense, is about to board a helicopter to be flown out to the Nimitz, when a mysterious black sedan arrives. Lasky starts to approach the sedan but is prevented from getting too close by the chauffeur. Tideman's assistant then gets out of the car, leaving only one passenger in the back seat, stating that Mr. Richard Tideman "just wanted to see you off." Lasky, who has never met Tideman, asks if he may introduce himself to Tideman, to which the assistant replies: "It isn't necessary, Mr. Lasky. As I said, he came to see you off."

Scott's symphonic score for The Final Countdown (D: Don Taylor), available on LP (Casablanca NBLP 7232) and German CD (Tarantula 842 221-2), is rich in acoustic sounds imitative of electronic sounds. This time-travel fantasy sets out to sea with a main title one reviewer described as "a proud, brassy theme which sustains [the film's] excitement and drama." The main title "opens with a swelling fanfare and quickly grows into a massive, powerful piece which captivates the audience and immediately suspends their disbelief [in the film's] fantasy concept." (Randall Larson, Soundtrack!, Vol. 5/No. 20, January 1980, p. 20) The film's time-travel device lies in the aircraft carrier traveling through a freak storm-cum-time warp to the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The storm's danger to the ship is heightened by the menacing tones in "The Approaching Storm" and "Rig the Barricades."

The "Mr. Tideman" theme, first heard when the black sedan's backseat passenger, Mr. Tideman, comes to see Lasky's departure, cleverly introduces what later, reorchestrated for woodwind and strings, will become a tender love theme ("Laurel and Owens"). This is heard as Commander Richard Owens (James Farentino) visits with Laurel Scott (Katherine Ross) who, along with her collie Charlie and a U.S. senator, Owens have been rescued from the ocean by Owens. With Japan's fighter planes approaching Haiwaii, Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) turns his attention to using 1980 Navy technology to save Pearl Harbor from imminent attack.

While the senator insists on being taken back to Pearl Harbor, the captain arranges for Owens to take the senator, Laurel, and Charlie to a deserted island to get them out of the way before the fighting starts. A hint of the love theme is heard in an eerie, theremin-like arrangement as Owens prepares to take Laurel to the island. As the helicopter lifts off, the score segues to "Operation Pearl Harbor," a rousing rendition of the main title that bristles with anxious preparation as the crew readies to battle the Japanese fleet. On the island, a struggle aboard the helicopter leads to the death of the senator and crew as the helicopter explodes, leaving Owens stranded with Laurel.

Back on the ship, the helicopter's disappearance from the radar screen leads Yelland to believe that Owens has died. Yelland's chance to stop the Japanese attack and change history's course is thwarted when "The Storm Reappears" to takes the ship "Back Through The Time Warp." Returning from its mission, the ship docks at the naval base, where the mysterious black sedan awaits. As Lasky leaves the ship with Charlie, the sedan's rear door opens and Charlie bolts to run to the car, as we hear a woman's voice say "Charlie." Lasky approaches the car to discover its occupants are an elderly couple (Commander Owens and Laurel Scott).

Scott scores the scene with "Mr. and Mrs. Tideman," an "eerie, theremin-like arrangement" of the love theme, affirming a love found 39 years before in a 1941 sea rescue. Also, as Randall Larson noted, this theme's "eerie" sound reinforces the movie's fantasy concept (Soundtrack!, Vol. 5/No. 20, January 1980, p. 20). Following a full-blown variation of the theme, the score segues into the main title for the end credits, emphasizing brass sounding equally powerful and dramatic. In a 1991 interview, Scott stated he could have composed a better score for The Final Countdown but

The Philadelphia Experiment - Ken Wannberg

Four years after John Scott scored The Final Countdown, Ken Wannberg scored 1984's The Philadelphia Experiment (D: Stewart Raffill). Described as "something of a reverse Final Countdown" (Andrew Douglas, CinemaScore, No. 13/14, Winter 1984/Summer 1985, p. 70), the soundtrack for The Philadelphia Experiment appears on LP (Rhino RNSP 306) and a Belgium CD (Prometheus PCD 121).

The film recounts a top secret 1943 Philadelphia Naval Yards experiment to make a Navy ship (the Eldridge) invisible to enemy radar. The experiment goes awry when the ship and her crew vanish. In scoring the film, Wannberg combined conventional orchestra and electronic (synthesized) sounds ("The Experiment Begins/Time Slip"). During the experiment, the sailors panic; one of them, David (Michael Par), tries to escape by jumping overboard. Instead of landing in the water, he falls through a space-time vortex that hurls him into the future (1984).

In 1984 David is befriended by Allison Hayes (Karen Allen) who helps him to elude the authorities who are searching for a town that has disappeared, and which has left in its place a mysterious object ("The Eldridge Remains") and a whirlpool-like storm forming on the horizon and sucking everything into it. David and the scientists who are attempting to recreate the 1943 experiment realize the 1943 and 1984 vortexes are interlinked and that David must go back to 1943 to shut down the Eldridge generator ("David's Decision/Fate of the Vortex"). Donning a special suit, David is launched into the whirlpool; arriving on the Eldridge, he smashes the experiment and jumps over the ship's railing. Back in 1984, the vortex closed, Allison drives to the test site where David has returned ("David's Choice/End Title").

To one reviewer, The Philadelphia Experiment's score "seemed to be effective enough in the film. ... The score goes through its paces, slightly ominous as in 'The Experiment,' energetic as in 'The Vortex and Escape' and 'Storming the Compound,' or romantic as in 'Tender Moment' and 'Fugitives in Love,' but...never orchestrally or melodically interesting enough to bear repeated listening." (Andrew Douglas, CinemaScore, No. 13/14, Winter 1984/Summer 1985, p. 70) A second reviewer felt the love theme to be "a bit bland in its execution, but add in the ominous suspense cues that blend electronics with a large orchestra and we have...a worthwhile score." (Roger Feigelson, Soundtrack!, Vol. 12/No. 46, June 1993, p. 21) Such ambivalence to The Philadelphia Experiment's score owes to characteristics in the film and score noted by one reviewer. Wannberg's score:

Asked whether he tries in each film to latch onto a motif to reflect a major undercurrent, Wannberg replied:

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Leonard Rosenman

While The Philadelphia Experiment explored time travel across several decades from the 1940s to the 1980s, 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (D: Leonard Nimoy) took the Enterprise back several centuries to 1986 San Francisco. Leonard Maltin describes The Voyage Home as making "a sharp left turn toward comedy in this uncharacteristic--and very entertaining--movie" in which the Enterprise time-travels back to the 20th century to save two humpback whales and Earth's future. On Earth Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is aided by marine biologist Gillian (Catherine Hicks). But the film's love sparks lie not between Kirk and Gillian but in the efforts of the Enterprise crew to save the whales.

Rosenman reprises Alexander Courage's Star Trek theme but brings a fresh concept--two cues ( "Market Street" and "Ballad of the Whale") arranged in a light jazz style, performed by small combo (The Yellowjackets), anchor the film's ocean- and earth-bound scenes, providing a contemporary (mid-1980s) sound as counterpoint to scenes aboard the Enterprise, where Rosenman employed full orchestra ("Time Travel") to move the Enterprise back in time. Describing the score's thematic structure in a 1987 interview, Rosenman commented:

Rosenman's score provides another entry to the growing legion of Star Trek scores available on CD (MCA MCAD-6195) as well as an interesting change of pace from Courage's Star Trek theme (again heard in "Home Again: End Credits") and the prior scores of Jerry Goldsmith for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and James Horner for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Rosenman discussed the link to Courage's Star Trek theme in a 1995 interview, noting the script required using:

&The score nicely complements The Voyage Home's joyous mood, heard in "Whale Fugue," a semi-exuberant piece that celebrates the saving of the whales. But the score's principal melody, heard for the first time in "Main Title," is repetitive with Rosenman's earlier score for Lord of the Rings (1978), a similarity not escaping one reviewer:

Proving, however, that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, another reviewer, a decade later, provides a very upbeat assessment, seeing Rosenman's score for this same film as "an energetic, Oscar-nominated effort that refuses to take itself too seriously; Rosenman's main theme is a lot of fun, written in the same vein as some of his other genre works (i.e. Lord of the Rings), but his music for the film's aquatic protagonists, the Humpback whales, is more serious and noble in nature. The music by itself is highly enjoyable." (Andy Dursin, VideoHound's Soundtracks, 1998, Visible Ink Press, p. 418)

Peggy Sue Got Married - John Barry

In 1986's Peggy Sue Got Married (D: Francis Copppola), a forelorn housewife (Kathleen Turner), attending her high school's 25th anniversary reunion, bangs her head in a fall and is transported into the past to live, with the benefit of hindsight, her young life again. This time-travel fantasy includes several 1950s rock'n'roll songs: "I Wonder Why" and "Teenager In Love" (Dion & The Belmonts), "You Belong To Me" (Marshall Crenshaw Band), and Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue Got Married" heard over the film's opening titles. Charlie Bodell (Nicholas Cage), Peggy Sue's boyfriend, performs "He Don't Love You." But the film's heart is John Barry's score which garnered a 1987 BMI award, although only a scant 14 minutes of the score appears on the film's soundtrack CD (Varese Sarabande VCD 47275).

The film's score is an excellent example of "John Barry in one of his expansive moods, and writing music that was beautifully stated and melodically attractive." (Didier C. Deutsch, VideoHound's Soundtracks, 1998, Visible Ink Press, p. 334) Barry's score, a "sumptuous blend of strings, guitar, and piano" (Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker, Music from the Movies, Issue 12, Summer 1996, p 32), was described by another reviewer as "pretty and pleasant," providing "a sense of quiet drama, of the weight of the past and the choices one has made." (Steven J. Lehti, Soundtrack!, Vol. 6/No. 21, March 1987, p. 17)

The score begins with a tinge of sadness in "Peggy Sue's Homecoming" which segues to a lilting, slow waltz. A guitar in the foreground is featured in "Charlie's Unplayed Guitar." Calmer under-dialogue dramatic music with a sensual beat is heard in "Did We Break Up?" "Charlie, I Had The Strangest Experience" is the score's strongest cue, "primarily for its sense of resolution and repetition of the waltz in grander, happier fashion." Overall, the score "veils itself in a misty, dreamlike and nostalgic mood." (Steven J. Lehti, Soundtrack!, Vol. 6/No. 21, March 1987, p. 17)

Groundhog Day - George Fenton

Where Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home toyed with people's fascination with whales and the possibility of going back in time to save them, 1993's Groundhog Day (D: Harold Ramis) exploits another fascination -- Punxsutawney Phil's legendary ability to predict each February 2 whether there will be six more weeks of winter. While one might ask where they dug up (only a pun intended) Groundhog Day's composer, the film's soundtrack CD (Epic Soundtrax EK 53760) proves George Fenton knew how to deliver a score that is just right for Groundhog Day.

Fenton employs pop songs (Delbert McClinton's "Weatherman," Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe," Frankie Yankovic's "Pennsylvania Polka") as well as classical music ("18th Variation" from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini) to complement his original score, providing a soundtrack perfectly supplementing "the atmosphere (comic and poignant) of the picture itself." (Andy Dursin, Film Score Monthly, #38, May 1993, p. 9) The pop songs help set the mood for the film's narrative, in which Phil (Bill Murray), a Pittsburgh TV weatherman, travels to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover Groundhog Day but finds himself trapped in a daily replay of the same 24 hours.

Leonard Maltin described Groundhog Day as a "clever comedy-fantasy [that] keeps coming up with new twists and turns, even when you're sure there's nowhere else it can go." Setting the clock radio alarm (Sony Dream Machine or miniature time-travel device?) each night before going to bed, Phil is awakened the next day by "I Got You Babe" and having to go to work to cover Groundhog Day yet one more time. After several replay days during which Phil takes advantage of knowing how each day will unfold, Phil's frustration begins to transform him into a kinder, more caring person, this change fueled by a growing love for his colleague Rita (Andie MacDowell).

The task of scoring Phil's transformation falls squarely on Fenton who accentuates Phil's changing personality through several pop vocals and instrumentals, including Susie Stevens' "Take Me Round Again," Ottmar Liebert's "You Don't Know Me," and Nat King Cole's "Almost Like Being In Love." But Fenton also provides his own compositions ("Sometimes People Just Die," "The Ice Sculpture," and "A New Day") as tender underscore late in the film when cold fish Murray starts to warm up to Rita whose beauty, inner and outer, he previously had not appreciated. Fenton's approach to Groundhog Day is on target for a different kind of love story where Punxsutawney Phil is no competition for Rita's heart once Weatherman Phil is transformed. As one reviewer commented, the "mix of songs and the score is flawless, making it a must-have for fans of the film who will no doubt get more than a few kicks out [of] this album ... over, and over, and over again." (Andy Dursin, Film Score Monthly, #38, May 1993, p. 9)

StarGate - David Arnold

In 1994's StarGate (D: Roland Emmerich), Professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is challenged to go through a gateway that may hold the answer he seeks to the origin of Egypt's pyramids. Composed by David Arnold, StarGate's score is "replete with grandeur: sweeping romantic themes, heavy dissonance, sighing and moaning choral passages, blaring processionals." (Mark Walker, Music from the Movies, Winter 1994/95, p. 46) The score, in short, nicely complements the development of the film's plot.

StarGate begins with the discovery of a mysterious artifact in Egypt's Giza Plateau ("Giza, 1928"), then jumps to a present day U.S. military installation where scientists seek to unlock the mystery of the object's purpose. Dr. Catherine Langford (Viveca Lindfors), the daughter of the man who discovered the artifact, persuades Jackson to decipher the object's markings. Soon Daniel discovers that the object is a StarGate that enables travel to distant corners of the universe. On discovering how to decode the markings, the team activates the StarGate. Realizing the expedition team will need Jackson's expertise to help ensure a safe return, he is told "You're On The Team."

The journey begins as "The StarGate Opens" and the team travels to "The Other Side" and discover an ancient civilization in Nagada, a village whose people are enslaved by an evil ruler "Ra-The Sun God" (Jaye Davidson). The slave people come to the aid of the team. Daniel, assumed by them to be a god, is offered the beautiful young woman Sha'Uri (Mili Avital) as a bride. While not immediately attracted to Sha'Uri, Daniel's efforts to communicate with her leads to the discovery that her people speak an ancient Egyptian dialect. Soon Daniel and Sha'Uri are talking with one another, and she helps him find the map ("Symbol Discovery") the team needs to open the StarGate and return home. In the meantime, Ra returns to the pyramid, wreaking havoc on the base camp team and sending out forces to destroy Nagada ("The Destruction of Nagada"). The Nagadians, inspired by the visitors, mount a "Slave Rebellion" to destroy Ra and liberate the people. Daniel's team enters the StarGate as Daniel decides to stay with Sha'Uri.

StarGate marked British composer David Arnold's Hollywood debut. The film's score, heard on CD (Milan 35697-2), is presented in chronological order. The main theme, recurring throughout the score, is both heroic and tender depending on its orchestration.

"'The StarGate Opens' is a standout cue, from its rhythmic orchestral flurries to its furiously energetic action figures, capped by evocative female choir vocalisms. 'You're On The Team' is a softer, introspective piece, mirroring both [Daniel's] innocence and, now, commitment as part of the heroic team. 'Entering the StarGate' is a brooding, textural cue, taking many turns though retaining a consistent rhythmic pace, very nicely orchestrated. 'King of the Slaves' is one of several eclectic cues, suggesting the music of earth's past while looking ahead to the future envisioned by the film. 'Caravan To Nagada' is a stunning rendition of the main theme, let loose in a grandiose, sweeping gesture, occasionally reminiscent of Miklós Rózsa." (Randall Larson, Soundtrack!, Vol. 14/No. 53, March 1995, p. 23)

Arnold's approach to scoring StarGate was discussed in the original version of Daniel Schweiger's liner notes for the soundtrack CD. While, only one-third of those notes made it to print, Film Score Monthly (#52, December 1994, pp. 18-19) reproduced the full text:

"When I first read the script for StarGate, I knew what approach to take, which was to be as big and bold as possible," Arnold recalls. ...talking with James Spader about the actor's Egyptologist gave the score its most vital direction. "Every time there was an amazing sight, the characters would stand back and say, 'Oh my God!' But James would just smile and walk towards it. That was the basis for the StarGate score, moving forward with a sense of majesty instead of being frightened by what's around the corner."

The ethnic flavor of the Nagadians was scored by incorporating Egyptian rhythms and instruments into the film's broader European-style orchestral score, using ethnic instruments--ney flute, tabla, duf, mahar, and Chinese buzz flute. The unusual sounds are featured in "King of the Slaves" and "Giza 1928."

For the CD's liner notes, Dean Devlin, the film's producer, notes that the StarGate production team was "overwhelmed with the power and the beauty of this wonderful music.... [David] created a masterful score resonant with swooping romantic themes which hearken back to some of the classic movies of our time. He has successfully blended the old with the new and come up with a rich, emotional score that is at times epic in size then subtle in intricate detail." Daniel Schweiger also lavishes praise: "With his rousing melodies that bring audiences firmly back to the glory days of [John Williams'] 'Star Wars' and 'Close Encounters [of the Third Kind]', ...Arnold has transported himself through the StarGate into the front ranks of film composers."

Instant Replay

In our Sojourn Across Space, the protagonists in the films and scores reviewed typically found themselves being accidentally transported to another place in time by circumstances largely beyond their control. Generally, the plot in each film was not based on the protagonist building a machine or device to travel through time--rather time travel was the accidental byproduct of a trip through space. Of course, leave it to Clark Kent, Captain Kirk, or Professor Daniel to conjure up a way to use Superman's powers, the Enterprise, or the StarGate to speed through space to the past or future. Excepting these cases, time travel in this first time-travel genre is the accidental or unanticipated byproduct of a protagonist's efforts to travel across space, with time travel not the protagonist's primary motive. Excepting A Stop At Willoughby, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Groundhog Day, five of the other seven films would be classified as science fiction tales in which the protagonists travel from earth to space or vice versa, whereas all the action in the remaining two films (The Final Countdown and The Philadelphia Experiment) takes place on earth. Indeed, action is the common denominator across almost all these most science fiction or fantasy films.

The original scores for the 10 films reviewed in the Sojourn Across Space genre were composed by as many different composers over a 35-year span from 1960 to 1994. In several films, the composers' approach was to go back to the "golden age" of scoring Hollywood films, creating leitmotif themes interpreted by large symphonic orchestras. This approach is heard in Superman, The Final Countdown, and StarGate, although electronic (synthesized) sounds are a basic ingredient in two of the scores--The Final Countdown and The Philadelphia Experiment. While Arnold's 1994 StarGate score received wide critical acclaim for reviving the art of the leitmotif-rich symphonic score, Goldsmith's fully acoustic score for 1968's Planet of the Apes, at times mistaken as a synthesized score, established a new standard for innovative orchestration. Most of the films in this genre generally qualify as action-oriented science fiction, except A Stop At Willoughby, Peggy Sue Got Married, and GroundHog Day, these films tending more toward fantasy than science fiction.

Most of the film scores in this first time-travel genre feature action-oriented heroic themes (e.g., Superman, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Final Countdown, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and StarGate). Yet several films in this first time-travel genre also contain a touch of romantic scoring, notably Williams' Superman and Scott's The Final Countdown. Perhaps the genre's two most romantic scores being Peggy Sue Got Married and GroundHog Day, the former featuring Barry's lush romantic blending of strings, guitar, and piano, the latter mixing Fenton's original scoring with pop songs.

"Film Music Voyages in The Soundtrack Zone" continues in Film Music Voyage #2 with an examination of the second genre of time-travel films and their scores, a genre spanning 38 years from 1960's The Time Machine to 1997's Contact. Next stop...Sojourn Across Time!

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