In "Return To Tomorrow" during the scene where Kirk is supposedly dead in sickbay, there is a music score played in the background and I'm wondering if it was later used in another tv series, specifically "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan. Years ago, I came across an audio tape a friend of mine had that I believe had that theme, various scores from Cosmos, as well as a few others. I can only wish to remember the name of the tape now, but I wish I could find it or even confirm that the score from the Trek episode was on it. Any ideas?
Maybe a difficult question to answer here
- Thread starter billsantos
- Start date
No, there was no TOS music used in Cosmos. I would certainly have noticed if there had been. Its score was a mix of electronic cues by Vangelis and various works of classical music which were presumably in the public domain. Perhaps your friend's audio tape included music from several sources; however, George Duning's score for Return to Tomorrow has never been released on an album or CD. Perhaps the tape included a different Duning score like "Is There in Truth No Beauty" or "The Empath." One thing all three episodes have in common is a motif Duning used to represent Spock, which is actually a quote of a melody from Gerald Fried's "Amok Time" score. Maybe the scene you're thinking of uses that motif.
For reasons of copyright and licensing, it's rare for music from one TV series to be reused on a different TV series. There used to be a time when a studio or network would commission a set of library cues to be tracked into multiple series as needed, back in the '50s mainly, though the practice continued longer for daytime soaps and Saturday morning cartoons, though in those cases it was limited to shows from the same production company (for instance, music from Filmation's Lassie's Rescue Rangers was used in their Star Trek, Tarzan, Shazam, Isis, and others). The latest instance I'm aware of in prime-time shows is when about four bars of a cue from The Incredible Hulk showed up in an episode of Quincy sometime around 1980 or so, but those were both Universal shows. And then there was the case of the theme to The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. being acquired by NBC Sports as the theme to their Olympics coverage and other sports broadcasts, which always struck me as pretty weird.
Given that Cosmos was a PBS show and mainly relied on public-domain music, I doubt they would've had the budget to license music from a network TV series.
For reasons of copyright and licensing, it's rare for music from one TV series to be reused on a different TV series. There used to be a time when a studio or network would commission a set of library cues to be tracked into multiple series as needed, back in the '50s mainly, though the practice continued longer for daytime soaps and Saturday morning cartoons, though in those cases it was limited to shows from the same production company (for instance, music from Filmation's Lassie's Rescue Rangers was used in their Star Trek, Tarzan, Shazam, Isis, and others). The latest instance I'm aware of in prime-time shows is when about four bars of a cue from The Incredible Hulk showed up in an episode of Quincy sometime around 1980 or so, but those were both Universal shows. And then there was the case of the theme to The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. being acquired by NBC Sports as the theme to their Olympics coverage and other sports broadcasts, which always struck me as pretty weird.
Given that Cosmos was a PBS show and mainly relied on public-domain music, I doubt they would've had the budget to license music from a network TV series.
I’m sure there are other instances, but I specifically remember some of Dominic Frontiere’s Outer Limits music cues being used in The Fugitive. Both shows were co-produced by United Artists Television.
No weirder than Lalo Schifrin’s music for the road-tarring sequence in Cool Hand Luke being picked up by WABC-TV in New York for their Eyewitness News, and later by local ABC stations across the United States. Some Australian television networks still use that music for their newscasts today.
Also the pilot episode of Quinn Martin's The Invaders, whose score was credited to Frontiere, incorporated a lot of his stock Outer Limits cues. Like I said, it was more common in the '50s and '60s. These days, as I understand it, there are musicians' union rules that require every episode of a US-produced show to have original music rather than stock. Although it kind of backfired, since the goal was to give musicians more work, but it drove producers to keep their music costs down by switching to electronic scores that could be performed by a single musician. Anyway, these days, apparently the only shows that reuse stock music, even from their own earlier episodes, are ones made outside the US, like in Canada (e.g. Stargate) or Australia/New Zealand (e.g. Farscape and Power Rangers).
In fact, that reminds me -- Farscape's early seasons used stock music that I've heard in other shows such as Power Rangers. I think they were scored by a music service that had a library of cues it rented out to various shows, like US shows often were in the '50s. So that would actually be the latest case I'm aware of, but it's only because the shows were overseas productions.
Music from "The Twilight Zone" was also used extensively on "The Fugitive". In fact, Jerry Goldsmith's score for the episode "The Invaders" was used so frequently on "The Fugitive" that it became just as associated with "The Fugitive" as "The Twilight Zone".
When the time came for "The Fugitive" to be released on DVD, this would have disastrous consequences.
Well, the 2nd season of OUTER LIMITS used the "Fear" theme from ONE STEP BEYOND which was composed for another TV series I'd never even heard of...
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond wiki ref said:
Last edited:
There was a documentary on the Science channel from a few years ago, incorporating music that Ron Jones composed for the "Starfleet Academy" computer game. Alas, I cannot recall the name of the program.
Both the music, including the distinctive three-note motif, and the “ripping paper” title graphics for Joseph Stefano’s pilot The Unknown were later used in The Invaders. When The Unknown didn’t sell as a series, it was reworked as the Outer Limits episode “The Forms of Things Unknown.”
And recycled Outer Limits music was also used in Leslie Stevens’ mythic fantasy Incubus, starring the Shat-Man and spoken entirely in Esperanto.
For me one of the charms of TAS is how the whole series uses about four musical cues. It’s a shame that such genius should now be forbidden.
I think it might be more a case of composers thinking along the same lines.
Consider the similarities in the soundtracks for "The Doomsday Machine" and "Jaws".
Consider the similarities in the soundtracks for "The Doomsday Machine" and "Jaws".
I was just about to mention this too, though I didn't know any specific episodes to have their sound tracks recycled, just Twilight Zone scores recycled on The Fugitive.
They all aired on CBS too.
If anything Star Trek was recycled, it would be other NBC or Desilu productions.
The opening tune of Sea Hunt was also taken from a radio drama (I forget the name).
I think that dramatic part of TNG's "The Best of Both Worlds" cliffhanger ("that" part) was inspired by a section of Gustav Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War", but that's inspiration not recycling an actual soundtrack.
Tons of sci-fi music has been influenced by "Mars, The Bringer of War."
The Imperial March from "The Empire Strikes Back" comes to mind, with a bit of Wagner thrown in...
Nick Meyer wanted Holst's suite for ST VI but ended up going for an "inspired by" score.
Thank goodness. Just dropping in pre-existing music from your record collection is a lame way to score a film (and yes, I'm looking at you, Stanley Kubrick). And Cliff Eidelmann's score to VI is excellent.
Works for Quentin Tarantino...
I don't know...a little too reminiscent of his score to Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" for my tastes. Sounded like church bells.
Wrong composer. 
Leonard Rosenman wrote the score for "Voyage Home" as well as "Lord of the Rings" and believe it or not, Shatner's "Alexander" pilot.
Leonard Rosenman wrote the score for "Voyage Home" as well as "Lord of the Rings" and believe it or not, Shatner's "Alexander" pilot.
Ah. My mistake, long day, got confuzled. Statement still stands regarding TVH, though. Way too ding-dongy.
I think we've all been there. Usually at this time of night, I get wonky myself.
Mind you, "2001" was my introduction to the Blue Danube waltz music used in that film, and it was perfect.
Loved, loved, loved both. I was so excited when I realised the connection the day we got to see the work print of ST IV, about a month before that movie's Australian release.
Similar threads
