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The music on Star Trek Discovery
- Thread starter Scotty
- Start date
I like it, especially having the Courage elements in it. But I think it's more geared to going with the title sequence than a stand alone theme. I would have wanted the main theme portion to have a little more to it, but it works.
After reading about how some of the cast felt pride or tears in their eyes while it was played probably goes with them not believing they're in Star Trek as well. As a musical piece, it isn't that emotionally moving to me.
I like it, but not loving it yet.
After reading about how some of the cast felt pride or tears in their eyes while it was played probably goes with them not believing they're in Star Trek as well. As a musical piece, it isn't that emotionally moving to me.
I like it, but not loving it yet.
Imagine if someone said, "Madonna's new single didn't blow me away, but I'll leave judgment until I see the video."
It's a piece of music. Its quality should never be dependent on visuals.
It's a piece of music. Its quality should never be dependent on visuals.
I understand what you're saying here completely, and realize what I said was silly. I'm a musician as well, and if I sent a demo of music out to someone and told them that they should see us perform it to actually see if they like it, our band wouldn't get many bookings!
I wasn't aiming at you specifically; several people have said something similar.
I think a good example is Bond credits. The franchise has been celebrated for half a century for both the artistry of the credits and the theme songs. But one has never been dependent on the other.
While I do agree that music should stand on its own, I disagree that it should be memorable and hummable on a first listen... Perhaps for a Madonna-single, or any other pop-artist looking for a hit: a great hook is crucial, but we're not talking pop-singles here... For me, film music is more like classical music than it is pop music. When I delve into a new symphony (for instance Tchaikovsky's 6th or Bruckner's 4th), it takes me many, many listens before I assimilate it all. I remember hearing the Schindler's List theme for the first time back in 1993, and while I was moved, it took me some time to grasp the melody. There's music that needs time to grow on you, and once it does, it's a whole lot more meaningful that a poppy single... Now I'm not saying the DSC theme is on par with Bruckner or Williams' Schindler's List theme, but it is written in an idiom that requires time.
I understand what you're saying, but it's the theme to a television series. Straight away, the TOS theme hooked me, as did the music to the movie The Great Escape and some of the Sergio Leone Westerns.
This has some good points, but for me it doesn't really have the emotional punch, and certainly not the kind of punch that would put tears in my eyes. The bookends using the Courage theme sound great updated, but the middle has points that sound more like incidental music and not a theme.
It has a theme! I played it on the piano today, and it makes more sense to me now. I'll try to make a video of my piano interpretation of it tomorrow.
I get what you're saying Kirkus, but it's not the '60's anymore... Film music has changed a lot since the '90's, and TV themes as well... Sometimes, it's enough to capture a mood, a spirit... I think that is what the DSC theme does... It's the first ST TV theme in a minor key (which is what everyone does these days)... Besides DSC, only the Kelvin films have a theme in a minor key... it's a sign of the times... But I want to make a bet: I'll bet you that by the end of the season, almost everyone here will regard the DSC theme to be one of the highlights of the entire series..!
I get what you're saying Kirkus, but it's not the '60's anymore... Film music has changed a lot since the '90's, and TV themes as well... Sometimes, it's enough to capture a mood, a spirit... I think that is what the DSC theme does... It's the first ST TV theme in a minor key (which is what everyone does these days)... Besides DSC, only the Kelvin films have a theme in a minor key... it's a sign of the times... But I want to make a bet: I'll bet you that by the end of the season, almost everyone here will regard the DSC theme to be one of the highlights of the entire series..!
Someone described this as a Courage sandwich. The thing about a sandwich is, typically, the contents go with the slices of bread around it.
This is like having a filling of dry pasta in the centre of a hollowed out baguette.
There is literally nothing that connects the Courage sections, no motif, no through line, nothing. In fact, those early twinkly bars of Courage feel like they should propel the music up, and out, to bombast, boom and fun.
What we get is something dry, gritty and crunchy which is liable to chip a tooth.
And then to top it off the dry rigatoni then shifts back to Courage with, again, no continuity or flow.
It's like the composer wrote an entire piece and the producers asked "Where's the Trek?" And so just cut off the original top and bottom and glued some Courage to it.
For a fan of the long lost art of the into sequence, this is a disappointment
This is like having a filling of dry pasta in the centre of a hollowed out baguette.
There is literally nothing that connects the Courage sections, no motif, no through line, nothing. In fact, those early twinkly bars of Courage feel like they should propel the music up, and out, to bombast, boom and fun.
What we get is something dry, gritty and crunchy which is liable to chip a tooth.
And then to top it off the dry rigatoni then shifts back to Courage with, again, no continuity or flow.
It's like the composer wrote an entire piece and the producers asked "Where's the Trek?" And so just cut off the original top and bottom and glued some Courage to it.
For a fan of the long lost art of the into sequence, this is a disappointment
The Schindler's List theme does have a very deliberate eight-note melodic hook to it. It's repeated several times throughout--even transposed.
And, yes, a film or TV theme does have a lot in common--and are composed with similar intent--as a pop song. They're a 90 second nugget meant to instantly draw people in. They are not, nor ever have been, meant to be conducted like an hour-long symphonic suite. Now certainly the scores are, but we're not talking about those.
The one unifying factor in any great/classic film or TV theme song (Star Trek included), is it has an instantly memorable melody and hook.
I did. Upthread I said that it "sounds like something between incidental music and accompaniment in an Alexander Courage sandwich." Elsewhere on the board I was even pithier and just described it as "orchestral stuff in an Alexander Courage sandwich."
Yep. That's what I meant. My description of what's between the fine bread was.... not complimentary (for main title music).
I didn't mean to call sandwiches into question. Sandwiches are awesome (or can be).
His work on Fargo was fine.
I guess the Emmy he won for something completely unrelated to Star Trek automatically makes him immune to criticism for his work on Star Trek...You guys are so hilariously off base.
Especially corporal sandwiches.
Have to disagree here. There was a time when TV and film themes were indeed set up to be pop singles, in fact: they often WERE released as singles. There are however many, many film themes that have incredible depth and complexity to it. I do agree, Star Trek does lend itself well to have a very melodic, soaring theme... In that regard, you are correct. And in that regard, the DSC theme seems to be an odd choice. I will keep an open mind though, and I sincerely believe it will really work well.
No, but it does make calls to get rid of him highly ludicrous doesn't it? I'll answer for you. YesHis work on Fargo was fine.
I guess the Emmy he won for something completely unrelated to Star Trek automatically makes him immune to criticism for his work on Star Trek...
Well, back in the day Warner Bros. fired Oscar winner Gabriel Yared after he already finished scoring Troy, less than two months before the film's premiere (IIRC). James Horner was hired to re-score the whole thing and he ended up delivering some fantastic music.
And CBS has already fired someone who's twice Emmy-nominated from the project.
Just sayin.
Just sayin.
On a side note, some of the greatest scores I've ever heard were rejected scores... Yared's Troy is a masterpiece, as is Morricone's Where Dreams May Come... It has nothing to do with the quality of the composers... But replacing composers does happen quite often...
I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but I did like it a lot. If memory serves well, it was rejected because it tested poorly. In fact, the whole movie tested poorly, and just like with Suicide Squad the final cut ended up being shit. Wolfgang Petersen's director's cut is far superior.
Okay, masterpiece was a bit of a stretch...
