I did a quick Google and found this (link): In short, The Adventures of Superman relied on existing music cues which were rerecorded for the show.
And speaking of influences v. copying....
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12 O'Clock High Rips Off Star Trek Theme?
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And speaking of influences v. copying....
Thanks. I bought that album when it came out in 2000. I just wish that web review or the liner notes mentioned the movie I saw!
It does sound a lot like the Star Trek fanfare, but neither Courage nor Frontiere were the first to use fanfares based on the interval of a perfect fourth. Quartal harmonies had already been been in use for decades by that point; go back and listen to what Copland was writing in the '40s or Hindemith in the '20s and '30s, or Liszt well before either. Much of the music heard on those and other TV shows of the time is derivative of music by earlier composers. It's true of Star Trek in particular - it can be fun to play "spot the reference" or "what composer/piece is being imitated here?"
When Zubin Mehta was doing Star Wars concerts with the LA Philharmonic, interviewer Tom Snyder asked if he felt embarrassed conducting mass-market pop culture music. His reply was something like "No, because I have conducted most of that music before in many of the great classics."
(BTW, Mehta is married to everyone's favorite Kahn-ut-tu woman, Nancy Kovack.)
Actually, it's credited to Frontiere only. A music supervisor isn't a score composer; they supervise the music of music in the episode.
I posted this to Youtube years ago:
In the comments section somebody noted -- and take it with a grain of salt since it is the internet -- that (the comment is gone now; thy must have deleted it) that Alexander courage was there at the sessions for the "12 O'clock High". I would guess as a friend.
I posted this to Youtube years ago:
In the comments section somebody noted -- and take it with a grain of salt since it is the internet -- that (the comment is gone now; thy must have deleted it) that Alexander courage was there at the sessions for the "12 O'clock High". I would guess as a friend.
There was a particularly interesting iteration of "the theme" in the Act III opening of the second-season episode "I Am the Enemy" (aired Nov. 8, 1965), as guest star William Shatner was on screen for it. Interestingly, the full-episode videos available on YouTube don't have the original act cards and seem to have edited out the scene that I saw on H&I.
Here's a "ripoff" (it's even in the same key):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r3mdfb86ryep33e/Intro-1-1.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r3mdfb86ryep33e/Intro-1-1.mp3?dl=0
Huh? I can barely hear 4 notes in that.
It's very quiet at the beginning, but it's there. You may want to increase the volume.
SpockboyApologies for arriving late to the party, but I am compelled to attempt to settle this issue with the Star Trek Fanfare and it's appearance in episodes of 12 O'Clock High. It has been documented online elsewhere and I will attempt to find it again asap but it was Dominic Frontiere who "plagiarized" Courage. During the week that Courage was recording The Cage score he was using Frontiere's down time in the same studio. Whether it was Frontiere arriving as Courage was wrapping his time or lingering after his session to hear what Courage had written, either way he was in the studio as Courage worked on the Star Trek Fanfare. Frontiere was very impressed with the theme but felt bad that no one would ever hear it as the space opera Courage was writing for would never ever see the light of day. Rather than wasting such a great piece of music Frontiere simply went ahead and used it, presumably without asking permission.
FYI, if V For Vendetta was the first 12 O'Clock High episode to use the fanfare it was aired a good 3 months after Courage's sessions earlier in January which would give Frontiere plenty of time to mull over the idea of using it and introducing it into his series.
As for why there was never any legal recourse taken can be explained that in the long run the show or the music from 12 O'Clock High is in no way as famous or so thoroughly ingrained in society and pop culture as is Star Trek. There would simply be no money in it to sue. I would suggest as well that this also substantiates my assurssion that Courage wrote the fanfare because if Frontiere did I would imagine that he or his estate would most certainly have sued over this.
Dave
FYI, if V For Vendetta was the first 12 O'Clock High episode to use the fanfare it was aired a good 3 months after Courage's sessions earlier in January which would give Frontiere plenty of time to mull over the idea of using it and introducing it into his series.
As for why there was never any legal recourse taken can be explained that in the long run the show or the music from 12 O'Clock High is in no way as famous or so thoroughly ingrained in society and pop culture as is Star Trek. There would simply be no money in it to sue. I would suggest as well that this also substantiates my assurssion that Courage wrote the fanfare because if Frontiere did I would imagine that he or his estate would most certainly have sued over this.
Dave
That wasn't the first use. I responded to you in the other forum, but since you bumped this thread as well, see my post #15 in this thread. 12 O'Clock High was using their version of the fanfare in episodes that aired on television as early as October 1964.
BAM!
Star Trek's first pilot didn't even start shooting til a month after that date, so no way did Frontiere lift it from Courage scoring Trek, since that would have been Jan 1965 given when the principle photography wrapped.
Following up on this for what it's worth...having just rewatched the first four episodes of 12 O'Clock High as 55th anniversary business, I can confirm that the Trek fanfare-presaging musical motif in question here does indeed first turn up in the fifth: "The Climate of Doubt," aired October 23, 1964.
Yep. I pulled a sample clip from that episode.
To clarify, that it appeared in "The Climate of Doubt" was already definite. I was just verifying that it hadn't popped up even earlier.
Was also a fairly common practice then. Composers in the Baroque era frequently recycled themes from other works, including their own. Much of the musical material which makes up The Messiah, for example, was repurposed from various of Handel's own previously-composed works.
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