The Influence of Stingray on Star Trek?

[Christopher]

I've been watching 12O'Clock High on MeTV and what I finding interesting is it has a number of musical riffs and cues that sound akin the the Star Trek theme music. so it sometimes makes me wonder in Alexander Courage was consciously or subconsciously ripping off something from Dominic Frontiere - the later who also did excellent music on/for the original Outer Limits and The Invaders.

There are only so many ways to put notes together in a way that sounds good, so different works of music have coincidentally similar melodies all the time. And composers working around the same time are influenced by the same styles and precedents, which makes it even more likely that they'd use similar patterns.

I've occasionally seen people say they thought two works of music were the same when they clearly had different melodies and just used similar chord structures, orchestral arrangements, and the like. Lots of composers use similar structural and stylistic components like that, but it's the specific melodies that distinguish one composition from another.

I found the 12 O'Clock High theme music on YouTube, and it didn't sound anything like the Trek theme to me, though I don't know if that's the part you're talking about.

 

[Ssosmcin]

He’s not thinking about the theme music, but a background score that does come very close to the Star Trek theme. I think both Courage and Frontiere were influenced by “Beyond the Blue Horizon.”

 

[Christopher]

He’s not thinking about the theme music, but a background score that does come very close to the Star Trek theme. I think both Courage and Frontiere were influenced by “Beyond the Blue Horizon.”

Or other pieces that used similar chords and progressions, perhaps. The TOS theme was very much in a popular song style of the day (it actually has lyrics, such as they are), so it probably had a lot of formulaic elements in common with other compositions from the era.

 

[Maurice]

This has been discussed extensively before (LINK). There is a motif that the Enterprise fanfare is very reminiscent of, as per the start of this video and again at 44:!2:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Christopher]

Okay, there's a string of 6 notes that are identical, but that's not unusual. It took me years to realize that the first four notes of the DS9 theme are the same as the first four notes of the ST:TMP theme, albeit paced differently.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It took me years to realize that the first four notes of the DS9 theme are the same as the first four notes of the ST:TMP theme, albeit paced differently.

That arrangement was likely on purpose, methinks.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It took me years to realize that the first four notes of the DS9 theme are the same as the first four notes of the ST:TMP theme, albeit paced differently.

I never did notice that. Amazing that it could slip by me so totally.

 

[Gov Kodos]

James Garner would have been an awesome Capt. Kirk just as he was a great template for Troy.

 

[Neopeius]

I've been watching 12O'Clock High on MeTV and what I finding interesting is it has a number of musical riffs and cues that sound akin the the Star Trek theme music. so it sometimes makes me wonder in Alexander Courage was consciously or subconsciously ripping off something from Dominic Frontiere - the later who also did excellent music on/for the original Outer Limits and The Invaders.

There is a long discussion of this in another thread. There's no question in my mind that the Sandy Courage "Kirk theme" is based on the "Savage theme". It came out in October '64, right around the time Courage would have been composing music for the first Trek pilot.

 

[drt]

@Christopher Agreed, the majority were variety/game shows/ specials at 30 and the Westerns remained the largest genre overall, which was a standby from the beginning. But it’s not so much that SF/spy/Fantasy was in the majority, but that they boomed to such a degree that year and a number of them hung around in syndication after the other shows faded into history (and the boom faded just as quickly while Westenrs hung around). Star Trek, at least two of the Irwin Allen shows, Jeannie, Bewitched, The Wild Wild West, Batman, Get Smart, Mission: Impossible and I, Spy were all over the dial when I was growing up. Shows like The Fugitive and 12 ‘Clock High and a lot of other dramas/westerns were nowhere to be found. The comedies, like F-Troop were around, as was The Big Valley.

I was thinking about this... Back in the 70s most of the syndicated shows on your list were shown in the afternoon when the audience was largely kids just home from school, so maybe not surprising that the shows represented tend to be more on the fun side of things.