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This show was part of my TV Golden Years as well. Being 10 years older than a couple of you, it makes sense since it was during the series' original run. It's a pop culture legend and is referenced in conversation (someone at work mentioned it yesterday in regards to whipping up a solution out of thin air and scraps) and media. Hell, if not for MacGyver, the name Richard Anderson would only mean "Oscar Goldman."
I love the theme, one of the very few 100% synth themes I enjoy. It's perfect for the show.
I really appreciate shows like MacGyver. They were fun, exciting and fun for the entire family without pandering to one particular age group. Fun + TV = Rare these days. Say what one wants about the 80's, but TV was fun.
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What's with the cover?
WHoever these "fans" are don't know the show very well. MacGyver detests firearms!!!!
Reminds me of a Stuart Gordon film I got a while back called EDMOND. The DVD cover showed a big gun amongst the other images...yet there's no gun anywhere in the film that I can recall. Guess they thought it would sell more DVDs with a weapon on the cover.
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I'm going threw the series for the first time (believe it or not, I never really watched it when it was on, except a handful of episodes).
Episode score highlights so far:
"The Heist" (Dennis McCarthy)
Which has a nice small orchestral score (with, of course, some synths). There's a nice little James Bond parody cue in there as well.
"Trumbo's World" (Randy Edelman)
Has some nice highlights, particularly a climax cue around the end.
"Last Stand" (Dennis McCarthy)
Has a fun driving score with a beat, something along the lines of a driving "CHiPs" score, but not with a disco sound. And of course the theme laced throughout.
"Hellfire" (Dennis McCarthy)
There's some nice quiet suspense music, particularly the cue leading up to MacGyver running from, then running from the powder shed. Then the climax cue, and the feel-good closing piece.
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"Target MacGyver" (Dennis McCarthy)
Some action music throughout, often times kind of catchy. A fun score, though not as good as some before. McCarthy has clearly defined the show's sound, even though it changes a little from score-to-score so far.
"Nightmares" (Dennis McCarthy)
A great brassy chase cue in the opening chase. An upbeat montage piece as MacGyver sees what he can put together in the room he's being held captive in. I hear some early ST:TNG precursors. The brief piece as the bad guys think they may have foudn a way to MacGyver and the following waking nightmare. The dramatic effort as the bad guys search the abandoned apartment building looking for MacGyver.
I'm wondering if the score has an orchestra as big as it sounds, or if doubling was involved.
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"The Enemy Within" (Dennis McCarthy)
And exciting chase cue as MacGyver and another agent are escaping in a car without brakes from the German's, in the oepning scene. I wish the rest of the score had been that thrilling; the scoring wad was spent so early in the episode.
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"Every Time She Smiles" (Dennis McCarthy)
The fun Indiana Jones knock-off music when MacGyver tries to escape the airport security room.
"Ugly Duckling" (Dennis McCarthy)
A strong tension cue with moments of drama when the hackers starts shutting off systems in the government building and then escapes.
A little disappointing that the overall episodes scores have declined as the season progresses. Maybe that will change with the season finale, and hopefully new season.
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Posted: |
Feb 12, 2014 - 9:22 PM
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By: |
Dave Frolik
(Member)
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Thanks for the recaps Justin, I completely agree on your points.
I found that McCarthy's work in the 1st season in general was simply exceptional. Keeping in mind that this was one of his very first assignments. It appears that he fairly quickly took over from Randy Edelman, basically after "The Prodigal" it was only McCarthy for the rest of the season.
Dennis McCarthy's MacGyver scores were very dynamic, thematic and powerful, with a fair bit of resemblance to his season 1-3 ST:TNG scores, a perfect example being "The Arsenal of Freedom" which was just announced by GNP Crescendo, which was fairly MacGyver-esque. Each (or most) of his 1st season MacGyver scores seemed to be very unique, more scored like a movie, more similar to Jones' approach in ST:TNG.
In addition to the episodes you are mentioning, I found "Deathlock" and "Countdown" to be exceptional as well, especially the actual countdown sequence at the end of the episode was just superb. "To be a Man" was also outstanding, especially the scene where Mac escapes the army after building his own delta-flier, and then again at the end where he is escaping with the Jeep while being shot at by the army, very powerful and catchy. "The Assassin" was also unique and very interesting, kind of had its own theme. "Ugly Duckling" seemed so be cut together with music from earlier episodes (Countdown and Deathlock mostly), it didn't have much original scoring.
Season 2 was musically less interesting (but by no means bad), one big highlight was "Eagles", also "Twice Stung" was pretty good.
Season 4 had two very strong scores with "Blood Brothers" and "Deadly Dreams" which were extremely dramatic and had many fantastic action/suspense cues.
Season 5 opener "Legend of the Holy Rose" could be an album on its own, especially starting the end of part 1 and all of part 2. "Cease Fire", "Black Rhino", "Halloween Knights" and "Jenny's Chance" were also superb, resembling his early season 3 TNG scores.
Ken Harrison was definitely a great addition to the team as well. I wouldn't say better or worse, just with a very different approach. I love his music, but in season 5-7 a lot of it would be quite interchangeable. I think most of his later scores were synth, with little or no real musicians (just a speculation, I really don't know for sure).
Ross seemed to adapt McCarthy's style quite a bit in his music, but still brought some new and interesting themes to the show.
Randy Edelman was certainly instrumental when it came to building the show with his fantastic theme, but I always found that McCarthy was the one who set the tone for the series. I felt that in MacGyver he truly developed as a composer, which I'm sure was part of the reason he caught the Star Trek producer's attention.
As Ford mentioned long ago, getting MacGyver cleared by Paramount is very difficult, but I wonder why it is different to ST which is also Paramount. I really hope that a release will be possible in the near future, all this music could easily fill 8-10 discs without getting boring.
I also noticed that especially in season 2-5, a lot of episodes had no original score and were just mixed together with music from earlier episodes. They always seemed to credit the composer who had the most minutes of music in the episode. I also always wondered how big the orchestra was, as it sounded quite big at times, while I'm sure their budget wasn't exactly generous, I think it's fantastic that they went with a real orchestra most of the time.
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