Cinefantastique, October 1993.
The Final Frontier’s Musical Dischord
Composers aren’t allowed to exploit the show’s full symphonic potential.
By Lukas Kendell
Picard is trapped in Ten-Forward as the deadly Baryon sweep emerges from the wall.
As the field of radiation moves steadily closer, he calls into his communicator for it to
be deactivated. It is not; he calls again. The sweep still comes, pinning him against a
window until the very last second!...
Whereas a quarter century ago a similar scene would have been punctuated by
relentless brass and flailing percussion, a STAR TREK composer today could do the
same only at the risk of losing his job. A 27-year musical legacy, begun by Gene
Roddenberry, asking composers for CAPTAIN BLOOD has effectively ended with
producers Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson and Wendy Neuss setting intricate and
extensive guidelines for current composers Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway,
who declined to be interviewed.
One fact that people who criticize the music of STAR TREK fail to realize, however, is
that the show’s subdued music is by no means the fault of the composers. Both
McCarthy and Chattaway realize their job description is to underscore the show’s
drama within the guidelines set forth by their employers. They often put aside what
they are capable of doing in order to deliver what the producers want, leaving them to
take harsh criticism from fans.
To set the record straight: the responsibility for STAR TREK’s music lies with its
producers, who tell the composers what not to write, oversee every note recorded,
and dub the music heavily under sound effects. By all accounts, McCarthy and
Chattaway have given the producers exactly what they want, some of it exceptional
work, which won McCarthy an Emmy last year for his score for “Unification I.”
Why the producers would want to clamp down on music is a mystery to many,
including story editor Brannon Braga: “I’ll openly say I’m mystified why a show like
‘Best of Both Worlds’ has stupendous music that kicks it into the classic zone − it
enriched the episode tremendously − and then I look at a show like ‘Real of Fear,’
which is by no means anywhere close to ‘Best of Both Worlds’ but would have been
helped with a more dynamic score. I felt the whole show had little swells of music that
never took off and that frequently happens.”
Ford A. Thaxton produced the first NEXT GENERATION soundtrack for
GNP/Crescendo Records, and has similar sentiments: “Here’s a show where the
producers were so paranoid, they’ve ruined many of their own shows. Case in point:
‘Qpid,’ the Robin Hood show. According to the people who were there, the first thing
Dennis McCarthy said was ‘OK, it’s Erich Wolfgang Korngold time.’ And that was
exactly what the producers didn’t want − it terrified them. They didn’t want to look
silly, so they made Dennis treat it like any other episode. And as a consequence, it
ruined the show. It should have been one of the all-time classic shows, and it ended
up just laying there.”
McCarthy and Chattaway alternate episodes on THE NEXT GENERATION and
DEEP SPACE NINE, recording scores with 40-piece orchestras as few television
shows today can afford to do. The ensemble consists mostly of strings and a battery
of French horns to give the scores their characteristic smooth and sustained sound;
electronics are used as well, to pad out the sound. It is a style which produces
intricate, sound-oriented scores which are often ripe for annihilation by the extensive
STAR TREK sound effects.
For many television composers, such a chance to work with an orchestra would be a
dream come true. Fred Molin is a television composer who has provided synthesizer
scores for science fiction/horror shows such as FRIDAY THE 13th: THE SERIES,
BEYOND REALITY, and FOREVER KNIGHT. Notes Mollin, “I’ve seen a lot of
excerpts from STAR TREK, although I by no means watch it start to finish, and I am
amazed how sublimated the score is, because I know how talented the composers
are and I know how luxurious it is to have an orchestra to do these kinds of scores for
this kind of show. It seems a shame to waste what are probably extraordinary
symphonic scores by sublimating them to an air conditioning sound or the hum of the
spaceship. However, it’s hard to argue with the kind of success the shows are
having.”
One of STAR TREK’s most acclaimed directors, David Carson, concurred. “When
you watch a STAR TREK, whether it be THE NEXT GENERATION or DEEP SPACE
NINE, you’re aware of the amount of money that is spent on music, or at least I am
as a director,” said Carson. “They don’t use a synthesizer and a pennywhistle, they
use an orchestra, and you get this enormous sound coming out of the television
which you normally get only on movies. You don’t have a piano tinkling in the
background on STAR TREK, you have a very heavy, thick, full sound. So therefore,
because you have that luxury, it is a pity to bury it. It’s good to let it thunder a bit.
Now, one of the difficulties is that many TV speakers can’t take a great deal of good
sound, and sometimes what you hear in the dubbing theatre when you mix it is totally
different from what comes out over the TV. You can never get that brass quality. That
disappears entirely, and you’re left with the top end. When I used to look over all
aspects of my own shows while in England, I was horrified by how the scores
sounded over the TV.”
Noted executive producer Rick Berman of the dubbing process, “There’s only so
much you can do with music on the television screen, and we mix the music up as far
as we can, with the exception of keeping it obviously to a point where it doesn’t fight
with the dialogue.”
STAR TREK’s recording sessions are meticulously supervised by producer Neuss
and often by Lauritson as well, to make sure every cue fits the established STAR
TREK aesthetic. The music is scrutinised yet again at the dubbing stage, when sound
effects, dialogue, and music is mixed− “cues,” the individual pieces of music, are
mixed down or dropped if needed. To Thaxton, this demonstrates a desire for control
on the part of the producers: “To the best of my knowledge, once a TV show is up
and running, producers don’t come to the spotting [where it is decided where music
will go in an episode]. Maybe an associate producer will show up, spot the show with
the composer, and then say ‘See you at the dub.’ They don’t have three people
sitting there going over each cue like it was a feature film. That’s ridiculous. The
producers don’t trust the composers, they want to keep them on a leash in case
something slips through. Did these guys have a bad experience at a Vivaldi concert
when they were little or what?”
A number of STAR TREK soundtracks have been released through GNP/Crescendo
Records, the producers’ guidelines hardly making their job easier. “As people who
produce the STAR TREK records, we like music with feeling − bombastic emotional
music that’s interesting to listen to,” said Crescendo’s Mark Banning. “Rick Berman
and Peter Lauritson seem to go out of their way to make sure the music is not at all
like that. They think for some reason that the music detracts from the visuals, as
opposed to adding something important to them, and the way they make Jay and
Dennis compose their music is more than evidence of that. We put out the ‘Best of
Both Worlds’ score by Ron Jones and it won best soundtrack of the year for us.
That’s the kind of music we get requests for, that’s the kind of music people watching
STAR TREK want to hear, and the kind of music we would very much like to see
back.”
STAR TREK expert Mark Altman joined in criticizing the producer’s use of music. “I
have very few qualms with the show, as people know, but there is little question that
burying music in the mix has impacted adversely on the show,” said Altman. “One
particular recent episode that comes to mind is ‘Starship Mine,’ which is a balls out,
action/adventure, run-and-jump show, which was hurt initially by budget
considerations, but which could have been saved by a strong musical score, along
the lines of what we’ve had in ‘Brothers,’ which Ron Jones supplied with a tour de
force score that makes the first fifteen minutes of the episode unforgettable. That’s
what ‘Starship Mine’ needed, a Goldsmithian bombastic score. By going with
subtlety, it just castrates and emasculates the episode and makes it suffer, and it’s a
shame. You can say that the old show was hokey and corny but as far as I’m
concerned there’s something to be said for it. People are still humming ‘Doomsday
Machine’ today, a very effective score, albeit slightly melodramatic, whereas people
aren’t humming anything from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.”
When the new STAR TREK began, producer Rick Berman’s taste for subtle music
was countered by Bob Justman, a veteran of the original series who liked music big
and bold, which composers McCarthy and Jones delivered. When Justman left at the
end of season one, however, Berman was free to institute his subtle approach.
Senior composer McCarthy complied with the decisions that came down: Don’t use
your Picard theme anymore; don’t use electronic percussion on the bridge; don’t be
excessively melodic. Junior composer Jones, who was chronically overbudget and a
behind-the-scenes trouble-maker, got around these orders by effectively ignoring
them. As the series progressed, McCarthy’s work got more and more toned down,
while Jones cranked out dynamic scores for some of the show’s most memorable
episodes, like ‘The Best of Both Worlds.” McCarthy, only able to produce the
occasional bombastic score like “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” ended up taking an
ungodly amount of criticism from fans who did not understand that he was not
incapable of writing as Jones did, he had just been told not to. The producers’
patience with Jones finally ran out with fourth season’s “The Drumhead.” He hasn’t
scored a show since.
Enter Jay Chattaway, a veteran of feature films like MANIAC COP, MISSING IN
ACTION and RED SCORPION. Chattaway’s first TREK outing was for third season’s
“Tin Man,” which he provided with a melodic, bombastic score, full of developed
themes and exotic instrumentation. The score was deemed too melodic by the
producers, and Chattaway turned in a slightly less bombastic fill-in score for fourth
season’s “Remember Me.” When Ron Jones was let go, Chattaway came aboard,
and developed a non-thematic, ambient style the producers liked. He was recently
able to do a spaghetti western style score for “A Fistful of Datas.”
Outside composers working on THE NEXT GENERATION have included Don Davis,
a veteran of the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST TV series, who provided an earful of
active melodies of yesteryear for THE NEXT GENERATION episode “Face of the
Enemy.” The producers objected to many of the bombastic and melodic qualities
present on his score, and if Davis happens to score any more episodes, it is likely
such qualities will not be present.
Being new to the series, Davis got to experience the meticulous set-up the producers
have to oversee music. “What was unusual about the spotting was that they were
organized,” said Davis. “There were three producers present, and they looked at the
picture independently of each other and made their own personal notes as to where
the music should go. I’ve never encountered that before. It was also interesting
because their notes were fairly consistent with each other and they were also pretty
consistent with where I thought the music should go. So I felt we were pretty much in
synch during the spotting.
“The recording session was very meticulous and Wendy [Neuss] recommended
some changes which I implemented, and Peter [Lauritson] was in for one cue and he
suggested some changes here and there and I made those changes. It was very
much a collaborative effort and I feel it went very well. There was a general toning
down, but I felt it was making the score more streamlined…During the dub there was
some indication they prefer certain things and tend not to like certain other things, but
it was all in the spirit of ‘next time around.’
“I haven’t gotten real clear communication on the score, whether they liked it or not,”
said Davis. “I think what it came down to is they didn’t want to use me right away as
they recognize I’m going to need some breaking in, and they weren’t willing to do that
right now. They didn’t have the time or energy, and it would be in anticipation of next
season anyway. I’m hoping I have an opportunity to work on the show again because
it’s really an inspiring thing to do.”
For the time being there would seem to be little possibility for change in STAR
TREK’s musical direction. The producers have two phenomenally successful shows,
so they’ve obviously done something right. Ford Thaxton summed up the argument
against them: “This is a show celebrating the human spirit, and to do that effectively,
when you’re on a big planet with cardboard rocks, you need a big musical score to
sell it. To have a big ship travelling through the galaxy, and not allow the music to
have any humanity, that’s insane! The producers want cold-sounding music − if the
composers try to slip in any humanity, any warmth, they get crucified. The producer’s
attitude is: no it’s too big. I hate to point this out, but it happens to be a 1000-foot
starship boldly going where no one has gone before. What do you want, a kazoo?”
