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Got a thing against cults, do ya? Now step aside, pentagrams don't summon themselves.
I think you mean ponytails, not pentagrams, no?
Some cultists use quills, others chalk. I guess a ponytail can serve as a paintbrush. Look, whatever brings the boys to the yard, mmmkuy!
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I'm with Mephariel. "Outlander" is fine – I like it – but "Battlestar Galactica" is far and away my favorite McCreary, and to me by far his greatest achievement so far.
I've never been able to warm up to his work on the first couple seasons in particular. I just don't hear what others do in it, somehow -- including those whose opinions I really respect like yourself!
The ingredients for the first couple seasons seemed mainly to be:
1. pounding drums with no melody for all of the action scenes...exciting enough once or twice, but it tends to get old and doesn't hold the musical interest I would hope for...I found his variations on this approach for Black Sails to be more interesting actually.
2. the bagpipe father/son theme, which I found rather cheesy and over the top, intruding distractingly on every scene it was present for (and I like bagpipes!)
3. the Cylon music...neat rhythm and all, and worked fine in the show...doesn't hold my attention much on album
Sure there are some other bits of unique music here and there, but nothing that made me sit up and take any noticed until maybe one piece near the end of season 2. Then season 3 was better, season 4 was even better, and the second half of season 4 had orchestral scoring that really impressed me.
But Outlander wowed me from the very first episode and just kept wowing me as the series went on (except I wasn't crazy about the French baroque stuff in season 2, even though I understood what he was going for).
Yavar
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Human Target is my favorite bagpipe-free McCreary work. 
How do you stand the pipes in BSG?
Yavar
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Posted: |
Aug 24, 2018 - 4:28 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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I'm with Mephariel. "Outlander" is fine – I like it – but "Battlestar Galactica" is far and away my favorite McCreary, and to me by far his greatest achievement so far.
I've never been able to warm up to his work on the first couple seasons in particular. I just don't hear what others do in it, somehow -- including those whose opinions I really respect like yourself!
The ingredients for the first couple seasons seemed mainly to be:
1. pounding drums with no melody for all of the action scenes...exciting enough once or twice, but it tends to get old and doesn't hold the musical interest I would hope for...I found his variations on this approach for Black Sails to be more interesting actually.
2. the bagpipe father/son theme, which I found rather cheesy and over the top, intruding distractingly on every scene it was present for (and I like bagpipes!)
3. the Cylon music...neat rhythm and all, and worked fine in the show...doesn't hold my attention much on album
Sure there are some other bits of unique music here and there, but nothing that made me sit up and take any noticed until maybe one piece near the end of season 2. Then season 3 was better, season 4 was even better, and the second half of season 4 had orchestral scoring that really impressed me.
But Outlander wowed me from the very first episode and just kept wowing me as the series went on (except I wasn't crazy about the French baroque stuff in season 2, even though I understood what he was going for).
Yavar
Though I own all the scores I agree with your criticisms of the music. "Lets be innovative by using the most inappropriate music for certain sequences". There's some outstanding music though when Bear started to write tradional themes for the series.
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There's some outstanding music though when Bear started to write traditional themes for the series.
Agreed. It's just that I don't think he was allowed to do that as early as most other people seem to think. I'm amazed that anyone would place the music for Battlestar overall on a higher pedestal than Lost, when it comes to TV work developed over a series.
Yavar
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Posted: |
Aug 24, 2018 - 11:47 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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I'm amazed that anyone would place the music for Battlestar overall on a higher pedestal than Lost, when it comes to TV work developed over a series.
Anyone? That's quite a blanket statement, Yavar.
Please don't misunderstand, I respect your opinions, of course. As it happens, the "Lost" music really does nothing for me. That's what opinions are, and we all respond to art differently. (I sold my entire "Lost" CD collection several years ago.)
As for "Galactica," I understand your beef, it's just not my own emotional response. Yes, the music for the series started (by Ron Moore's own admission) more concerned with what it wasn't (anything Williams-y or Courage-y) than what it was. That's not an uncommon choice in any department when trying to distance one's self creatively from what came before. In some ways, I think that development from largely un-melodic to extremely melodic accidentally worked for the series – as the crew formed bonds, the music got more intricate and emotional.
That said, I think you dismiss so much of the striking music of the first season too casually as "other bits of unique music here and there." "The Shape of Things To Come"? "Passacaglia"? These were major themes that continued through the run of the series. And some of the one-off pieces ("Battlestar Operatica") are gutsy, in-your-face scoring choices.
Season two then explodes with new melodies. I'm surprised you lump that season in with number one (unless you mean the mini-series as the first season, which I agree is by and large less interesting, and mostly by Richard Gibbs).
Regardless, you are very much entitled to your opinion, and I respect that. But McCreary's "Galactica" work remains some of my favorite music of this millennium. "Lost" bored me. Luckily for us, we have both!
So I guess we'll agree to disagree here. And also agree that this has probably gone on way too long in a thread about "Mulan"!
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Posted: |
Aug 25, 2018 - 12:13 AM
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By: |
A. A. Ron
(Member)
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I've not listened extensively to the music from LOST, but I do remember loving several of Giacchino's themes during the show's run. Unfortunately, from what I remember of the albums I tried, it seemed like every time I'd start to get into the music the track would abruptly end with a crescendo or a sharp brass stinger. It was just so unsatisfying and well, jarring. Outside of the album for the series finale, I've always struggled to finish any of the LOST soundtracks, which is funny because I do actually own all of them.
Battlestar and its spin-offs don't necessarily have better themes than LOST, but I like their scores better because I find their albums much easier to listen to. I'm particularly fond of the albums from the first 2 seasons of BSG, where most of the major themes are established and thematic recycling was kept to a minimum.
Bottom line: Tracks from BSG make it into my playlists at least once a week. Tracks from LOST come up too, but proabably only once every 2 months or so. Similarly and back on topic, I'll play parts of Goldsmith's Mulan every month or so, but I couldn't even tell you the last time I listened to something by Menken. January? I guess it must have been whenever Disney put out the expanded Beauty and the Beast.
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Posted: |
Jul 7, 2019 - 12:09 PM
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By: |
Jeff Bond
(Member)
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Something must be wrong with me because I enjoy the music from Lost and Galactica. I do prefer Lost for listening outside the series but the Galactica music is terrific in context (IMO).
I'm sure it's been mentioned but for me Mulan's reputation took a huge hit from what happened to the score's best cue, "Mulan's Decision." The director-ordered mutation of that cue in the film is just an embarrassment and reduces the impact of the entire score for me because I just can't get the taste of it out of my mouth--it's clear that everything in Goldsmith's material was building to that moment and then it's turned into the most pandering piece of crap imaginable in the film (and this is the instance where reportedly Goldsmith, after getting multiple requests for changes from the director, finally walked away from the podium and said, "You write it!").
I don't tend to measure Goldsmith's scores against anyone else's, even in cases where Goldsmith was working in territory that had been obviously trod by other composers, as in Superman/Supergirl or Raiders of the Lost Ark/King Solomon's Mines. I just see a hierarchy of Goldsmith's output, and even that has changed radically since his death, where I appreciate his final decade or so of work far more than I did at the time it was being produced. Mulan had its own accomplishments, but it's certainly never been one of the great Disney animated musicals as far as the songs go. It was more recognized for its relatively serious tone and as an action epic, something the other Disney musicals hadn't been--and that made Goldsmith a good choice for the project, given his experience with action and exotic epics.
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Unlike the black Little Mermaid atrocity Disney just announced.
How about we wait until they actually MAKE the movie before condemning it.
Or making a racist comment, sheesh. Lets keep that crap out of this forum.
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So back on topic, I'm a little confused. I thought I saw a reference somewhere that they were using Jerry Goldsmith's score in Mulan. Is HGW writing a brand new score with new themes, or adapting the established score from Jerry Goldsmith?
If it's a brand new score, it'd be a new direction from the other live action Disney adaptations which thus far have adapted chunks of the existing songs, themes and even score just expanding the orchestration (Beauty and the Beast intro, etc).
I'm also curious to see what Hans Zimmer does with his own score for The Lion King, as the original already has a huge sound. Will he be creating an "innovative" new 2 note theme for Scar?
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