Favorite scores

[THX1138]

Hi folks,

I understand that many TOS episodes containeed a patchwork of musical scores from previous episodes, but of those episodes that featured a mostly-original score, which are your favorites?

"Is There In Truth No Beauty" frequently is mentioned, and I agree that those lush strings are pretty gorgeous.

"The Paradise Syndrome" has some great original stuff, too.

Others?

 

[Noname Given]

I like:

The Corbomite Manuever
The Doomsday Machine
Elan of Troyius

^^^
My favorite scores (one from each season.)

 

[Christopher]

I'm tempted to count "The Corbomite Maneuver" (by Fred Steiner), but it only had about 6 minutes of original music along with stock from the pilots and several later-filmed but earlier-aired episodes, so it doesn't quite fit the "mostly-original score" parameter.

"Spock's Brain" by Steiner is a particular favorite of mine. It's as though Steiner was pulling out all the stops to compensate for the goofy story and create a sense of power and poignancy through the music. The part where McCoy is using the Great Teacher is just magnificent.

"The Doomsday Machine" by Sol Kaplan is worthy of inclusion. Both Kaplan's scores (the other being "The Enemy Within") were excellent, and it's a shame he only did the two. But "Doomsday"'s score really makes the episode. Honestly, it's a pretty shallow episode, TOS's version of an FX-driven action blockbuster, and parts of it are rather silly. But Kaplan's score, like Steiner's "Spock's Brain" score, elevates it to a grand, operatic level. I'm convinced that if the episode had had a stock score, it wouldn't be as well-regarded.

Other particular favorites:

"The Paradise Syndrome" by Gerald Fried.
"The Empath" by George Duning.

 

[Whill]

Hi folks,

I understand that many TOS episodes containeed a patchwork of musical scores from previous episodes, but of those episodes that featured a mostly-original score, which are your favorites?

"Is There In Truth No Beauty" frequently is mentioned, and I agree that those lush strings are pretty gorgeous.

"The Paradise Syndrome" has some great original stuff, too.

Others?

I love film and TV scores. But perhaps someone could post a list of the episodes that had mostly original scores recorded for them, for thoise of us that are less educated on the matter of TOS scores? Thanks!

 

[THX1138]

Yes all those George Duning scores are pretty special.

I agree that a list of which episodes had new music written for them would be great, although I lack the knowledge to provide such a list. Anyone?

 

[Roberta Lincoln]

Hi,

My favorite scores are:
1. Catspaw (has a good bassoon/oboe going on)
2. Amok Time (fight scene -- okay that one is used in more than one episode!)
3. I also like the "babe" music that seems to come on whenever someone starts giving Kirk (and occasionally Spock) the "come hither"!

 

[Christopher]

I love film and TV scores. But perhaps someone could post a list of the episodes that had mostly original scores recorded for them, for thoise of us that are less educated on the matter of TOS scores? Thanks!

Sure thing. By composer:

ALEXANDER COURAGE
"The Cage"
"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
"The Man Trap"
"The Naked Time"
ST: THE MOTION PICTURE (uncredited assist to Jerry Goldsmith -- log entry scenes)

SCOTT HUSTON (credited to Courage)
"The Enterprise Incident"
"Plato's Stepchildren"
(This has never been officially confirmed, but Huston was a friend of my father's and spoke to him and to a local newspaper about his work ghostwriting Trek scores for Courage. And the style of these two scores is distinctly different from Courage's.)

FRED STEINER
"The Corbomite Maneuver" (partial score)
"Mudd's Women"
"Charlie X"
"Balance of Terror"
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
"The City on the Edge of Forever"
"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"By Any Other Name"
"Elaan of Troyius"
"Spock's Brain"
TNG: "Code of Honor"

GERALD FRIED
"Shore Leave"
"Catspaw"
"Friday's Child"
"Amok Time"
"The Paradise Syndrome"

GEORGE DUNING
"Metamorphosis"
"Return to Tomorrow"
"Patterns of Force"
"And the Children Shall Lead"
"Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
"The Empath"

SOL KAPLAN
"The Enemy Within"
"The Doomsday Machine"

JERRY FIELDING
"The Trouble With Tribbles"
"Spectre of the Gun"

JOSEPH MULLENDORE
"The Conscience of the King"
Various library cues
[Alleged to be the uncredited composer/arranger of "Spaceship Titles", aka the opening fanfare of the main titles, as a variation on Courage's Main Theme.]

SAMUEL MATLOVSKY
"I, Mudd"

WILBUR HATCH
music to song "Beyond Antares" (lyrics: Gene L. Coon) from
"Conscience of King"

IVAN DITMARS
Brahms paraphrase from "Requiem for Methuselah"

UNKNOWN
songs from "The Way to Eden"

 

[Whill]

Re: scores

Thanks, Christopher!

 

[Esteban]

An excellent list, Christopher. Catching "City" earns you extra points.

For me, this exercise is like choosing favorites among one's children. But here I go:

For Courage, I give the nod to The Naked Time. It's completely original and has great subtle and moody cues, used countless times in later episodes.

For Fried, I've got to go with Shore Leave.

For Kaplan, Doomsday Machine...which may be my one favorite score if you held a knife to my carotid artery and forced me to declare.

But my favorite composer will always be Fred Steiner. He himself said that "Elaan of Troyius" was his favorite because he got to do so much, but I will go with "Who Mourns For Adonais". No wait: "Mirror Mirror". No wait: "Charlie X".

Damn.

 

[THX1138]

That piano flourish in "Doomsday Machine" always slays me:

Kirk: Something like the old H-bomb used to be... (piano goes "WHOOOOSH")

Love that. Gives me tingles every time.

 

[Vonstadt]

That piano flourish in "Doomsday Machine" always slays me:

Kirk: Something like the old H-bomb used to be... (piano goes "WHOOOOSH")

Love that. Gives me tingles every time.

Sol Kaplan's score for The Doomsday Machine has always been my favorite. I still get chills with the haunting tone of the music as Decker is describing the Monster that wrekced his ship and killed his crew and then Kirk begins to postulate just what it might be...

Really creepy scene that still chills me as well every time i see it.

Vons

 

[Steve67]

Hi folks,

I understand that many TOS episodes containeed a patchwork of musical scores from previous episodes, but of those episodes that featured a mostly-original score, which are your favorites?

Others?

Jerry Fielding's two scores, "The Trouble with Tribbles" (he composed a Tribble theme! And it's as cute as they are!) and Spectre of the Gun ("Dark Americana") are two favorites. However, Gerald Fried and Fred Steiner are the musical "voices" of Trek, IMO.

Do yourself a favor and seek out Jeff Bond's indispensible The Music of Star Trek. It's the source for Trek music info.

 

[Myko]

Any place to find a scene-by-scene list of reused scores for every episode?

 

[Harvey]

My favorite score is easily Fried's work on "Shore Leave." It gets a little annoying having nearly every comedic moment on the series being scored with tracked music from the episode, but the score itself is a joy to listen to on CD.

 

[scotpens]

My favorite score is easily Fried's work on "Shore Leave." It gets a little annoying having nearly every comedic moment on the series being scored with tracked music from the episode, but the score itself is a joy to listen to on CD.

The quasi-Irish theme for Kirk's old PITA Finnegan is one of the best bits of music in the entire series.

 

[THX1138]

The "Ruth" theme from "Shore Leave" is also pretty special --re-used to great effect at the end of "This Side of Paradise".

 

[KirkPicard]

Thanks for the detailed list Christopher! Although the first comprehensive list I ever came across was in Jeff Bond's excellent "The Music of Star Trek" I have attempted to create a complete, chronological playlist of Trek episodic scores and tracks but remain stymied by the lack of releases for episodes such as "The Man Trap," "Spock's Brain" and others. Perhaps Screen Archives Entertainment (the same company that recently released the complete scores for TWOK and TSFS) will deign to release a season by season box set of music in the coming years?
My favorite score, after having immersed myself in much of TOS music, I would have to choose both "Doomsday Machine" and "The Enemy Within" by Sol Kaplan. The former for the pulsating, relentless beats to characterize the destructive path of the Planet Killer and the crescendo of Kirk's beamout from the derelict Constellation. The latter for both the the plaintive and aggressive motifs intertwined throughout, underlying the dual nature of Kirk's self.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

You can hear several Star Trek-esque musical cues and phrases in Gerald Fried's score of "Curse of the Faceless Man" which has been playing lately on the MGM Channel. The story itself was written by Richard Matheson, and features Star Trek guest star Felix Locher (who appeared in "The Deadly Years"). It's passable monster movie stuff, but the music was very intriguing even though it pre-dates Star Trek by eight years. I wonder if those who heap grief upon James Horner for reusing his work will do the same to Fried here...