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I was excited to rewatch the series knowing that I could finally FINALLY enjoy the scores... but no.
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Doesn't look like I'll have time to do any episodes today; too busy trying to finish season eight of "Murder, She Wrote".
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CONTINUING
"Galileo Was Right"
By: Mason Daring
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4isiyl
Highlights:
0:49 in.
17:01 in.
35:05 in.
42:38 in.
45:24 in.
47:53 in.
"You wouldn't know a vesicular basalt if it fell on your head." (ooohhh, nerd burn!)
"The Original Wives Club"
By: Marc Shaiman
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4isj02
This is Shaiman's only effort for the miniseries.
Highlights:
2:52 in.
42:05 in.
44:28 in.
I'll save the final effort for tomorrow, not only because it's the final Kamen effort but because I want to stretch this out some.
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Understandable. It's an excellent miniseries, isn't it?
Yavar
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Oh, yes. Even the special effects they felt they needed to re-do recently, are good as they were. Well, expect some shots from one of the early episodes that looked like print outs that didn't changes perspective as they passed by what looked like a photograph (for example).
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FINISHING:
"Le Voyage Dans la Lune"
By: Michael Kamen
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4isj1t
Highlights:
0:53 in.
5:17 in.
15:30 in.*
27:23 in.
31:55 in.
41:44 in.
48:59 in. To the end of the episode.
* = Nerd bumps for the opening.
And that concludes a wonderful miniseries.
I have to say, Stephen Root is an underrated actor and I've enjoyed him in everything I've seen him in. Some of the casting in this miniseries is inspired; rather than go with huge names, they took chances with character actors that while they had film credits, were more known for their TV work. They took chances and they paid off.
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So, some closing words on the contributions by all the composers...
Michael Kamen
Without a doubt, Kamen brought something more to the music than the other composers, especially the score to the first episode; that was something very special.
The colors, the ideas, the level of writing, just all coalesced, and having a memorable perfect theme certainly helped.
Mark Mancina
Blasphemy time!
While okay on it's own, I found Mancina's music to be of a far lesser sophistication in writing skill, and to boot it had what I'll call musical gimmicks. It just didn't have the craftsmanship that made the scenes, like Kamen brought.
Having said all that, it's still better than (more blasphemy) Fiedel's effort.
Mark Isham
While Isham's scores had their moments, often I found the music to not only be lesser than Kamen's writing, but it sometimes didn't work on screen. Added to that was the need to shoe-horn in a solo trumpet, which is presumably him playing (since he's loves it), which just felt out-of-place.
Jeff Beal
what ever Beal's contribution to that one episode where he's credited after Isham, I can't tell. And scoring such amazing moments, in an amazing miniseries, with synths instead of players like had been done prior (but was disappearing episode-by-episode), just made an otherwise excellent experience feel cheapened.
Mason Daring
Second to Kamen in his contributions, in my view, Daring brought such variety and fun to his scores.
James Newton Howard
Yet again more blasphemy time!
J.N.H. has an A-game; we've heard it in multiple films. We didn't hear it here. At best this is his C-game. And scoring the craft testing sequence with those modern synths, was so jarringly out-of-place -- compared to what ever single other composer did on the miniseries -- it's almost like he didn't get it and didn't realize what a fantastic project he was on (on it's own, it's an okay cue and I did cite it).
Brad Fiedel
More nummy blasphemy time!
Fiedel's work, what ever I said of Mancina's, is even a further reduction in writing quality, dragged down by synths in an episode that cried out for an orchestra along the lines of a Kamen score.
It's all over the place, sounds like cues could be interchangeable with other projects (like 14:14, which could come out an ABC after school TV movie).
Marc Shaiman
What a missed opportunity. Not because they hired Shaiman, no, rather that they hired him for an episode that gave him little chance to really shine. Just listen to that first cue I cited and think of what he could have done with a bigger episode. Nope, that was the only cue like that in the episode. An episode tracked with songs and wife drama is where Marc found himself.
I'll go a step further to compliment Marc: Based on that one opening cue alone, I'd like to hear him score an episode of "The Orville". How about that? That's one giant leap for Shaiman-kind that I'd like to hear.
And finally...
I come full circle back to Kamen, who scored the final episode.
Having Michael back was like putting on a comfy plush blanket, even if it wasn't as a grand as the score to the first episode.
No additional composers were found on ASCAP or BMI, so it looks like they may have done these scores by themselves (though I've often found both to be often incomplete).
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Oh, and Mason Daring is the only composer to have a sample from the miniseries, on his website:
https://www.masondaring.com/about1
Mancina and Shaiman don't even list in on their credits on their personal websites; Shaiman, for example, would rather credits "Smash" and "Saturday Night Live" on his television work page.
There are, what I assume to be promos, of the Mancina and J.N.H. efforts.
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Checked out some reviews.on Amazon.
It's worse than.we feared!
Not only.did they crop the image to create. ' a widescreen' image
Not only did.they replace th original visual fx
Not only is the replacement CGI bargain basement work
Not only did they remove original credits
But, this atrocity is the ONLY version that HBO will ever stream or release on DVD!
Damn.you HBO. DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!
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