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Out of curiosity, has it been confirmed the scores for Six Million Dollar Man even exist? I don't think we've heard a word about it, for the studio vaults or the composers' personal tapes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Nelson#Breakthrough_and_afterwards "On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Oliver Nelson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire." I hope it was only his jazz album tapes that were burned up, and not his television scores. But Universal wouldn't tell us about it either way. The studios always play down their losses after every vault fire, to the point of not being entirely honest about it. In theory, Oliver Nelson's estate could do what Joe Harnell did, and sell us a wonderful set of CDs from the composer's own tapes. But it's also possible that Nelson's widow went out to the garage in late-1975 and said "I want to park my car in here. All these dusty boxes can go in the trash." We don't know, but in my opinion that's very possible. So it could be that all TSMDM tapes exist, or that none of them do.
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Out of curiosity, has it been confirmed the scores for Six Million Dollar Man even exist? I don't think we've heard a word about it, for the studio vaults or the composers' personal tapes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Nelson#Breakthrough_and_afterwards "On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Oliver Nelson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire." I hope it was only his jazz album tapes that were burned up, and not his television scores. But Universal wouldn't tell us about it either way. The studios always play down their losses after every vault fire, to the point of not being entirely honest about it. In theory, Oliver Nelson's estate could do what Joe Harnell did, and sell us a wonderful set of CDs from the composer's own tapes. But it's also possible that Nelson's widow went out to the garage in late-1975 and said "I want to park my car in here. All these dusty boxes can go in the trash." We don't know, but in my opinion that's very possible. So it could be that all TSMDM tapes exist, or that none of them do. Yes, but Doug, Mike, MV and Co. could us and themselves really do a favor: make some kind of inventory in the Universal vaults, the TV-section in particular and check, what's there and what's not.
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Yes, but Doug, Mike, MV and Co. could us and themselves really do a favor: make some kind of inventory in the Universal vaults, the TV-section in particular and check, what's there and what's not. I'm sure that would be an enormous undertaking. It's not their inventory and I'm sure they have more than enough on their respective plates on any given day. I'm also sure that Universal knows exactly what they have. And if they don't, it's on them to do an accounting of their own inventory. I wouldn't think it would be necessary for outside people to do it for them.
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I'm sure that would be an enormous undertaking. It's not their inventory and I'm sure they have more than enough on their respective plates on any given day. I'm also sure that Universal knows exactly what they have. And if they don't, it's on them to do an accounting of their own inventory. I wouldn't think it would be necessary for outside people to do it for them. That's right. We all remember what happened when the 2-inch reels of Superman were discovered in an underground vault in Kansas. Once recognized, they were barcoded and logged into Warner's inventory. From that point on, the studio always knows where a tape is. When it gets moved, the barcode is scanned at the new storage location, and the records stay up to date. So if TSMDM tapes exist, and if they were ever barcoded, then Universal could probably find them in a flash. If not, one would hope they have a clerk somewhere whose job is to find and barcode uncataloged tape boxes.
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Before we start clamoring for a re-recording, we should at least get some official statement on the condition of the tapes. On the one hand we get told the scoring tapes were not part of the fire losses, but then First Breath talked to one of the "Miami Vice" composers who said otherwise. When this was pointed out, one of the label heads (I wont' say who -- no need to poke anybody here) that brought up scoring tapes were not part of the losses, did not reply. Like pointed out before, the studio hasn't been honest or forthcoming in the past about such things. Hell, I'd like a list of lost a scoring masters assets. If it's gone, it's gone -- better to know than continue speculating. Now that doesn't mean everything is gone for any series that suffered a loss; back-ups may be other places. They may be mis-catalogued tapes elsewhere (is it possible there is still uncatalogued tapes?). Estates and universities may have donated materials. Duped copies may be afoot (remember Len Engel). And, the fire may not have consumed everything in the vicinity before it was put out. My old Len Engel thread: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=111070&forumID=1&archive=0
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Before we start clamoring for a re-recording, we should at least get some official statement on the condition of the tapes. On the one hand we get told the scoring tapes were not part of the fire losses, but then First Breath talked to one of the "Miami Vice" composers who said otherwise. When this was pointed out, one of the label heads (I wont' say who -- no need to poke anybody here) that brought up scoring tapes were not part of the losses, did not reply. Like pointed out before, the studio hasn't been honest or forthcoming in the past about such things. Hell, I'd like a list of lost a scoring masters assets. If it's gone, it's gone -- better to know than continue speculating. Now that doesn't mean everything is gone for any series that suffered a loss; back-ups may be other places. They may be mis-catalogued tapes elsewhere (is it possible there is still uncatalogued tapes?). Estates and universities may have donated materials. Duped copies may be afoot (remember Len Engel). And, the fire may not have consumed everything in the vicinity before it was put out. That's why, I prefer an inventory, because I do not think, that Universal knows, what's there and what's not, especially after one (?), two (?), three (?) fires. Maybe nothing is left, maybe a little bit, maybe everything. But there is hope: the fire was in a part of the studio where mostly the masters of the Universal Music Group (UMG) were stored, not Universal Studios' stuff! These are two different companies. A lot of masters are lost (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Louis Armstrong, The Who..., but I think there are backups), but maybe nothing of the TV-stuff ended up in smoke.
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