the use of music in scifi & fantasy

[MadaBidyoni]

Hi!
i'm looking for ways they use music in scifi & fantasy as part of the story...
example for that could be an episode of "Sanctuary"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2aARlMTYI
(i don't know if its a good example, but its an example ).
something happned to her & you need to sing if you want her to understand...
so - things like that, but not just singing... music etc as a tool for the storyline.

 

[Jimi_James]

BSG used the song All Along the Watchtower as an integral part of the story, to signal a sort of switching on of several key characters in their realization that they were Cylons. Later on Starbuck used music, a simple piano melody, in a sort of trippy head case realization of where Earth was.
I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for exactly, but it was the most obvious case that jumped out at me as a case of music being used beyond mere background music.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It didn't seem to be an integral part of the story at the time, but turns out it was foreshadowing!

[yt]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4lsvrzfZI[/yt]

 

[Greg Cox]

Buffy's musical episode: "Once More with Feeling." Ditto for Xena: "The Bitter Suite."

Plus, there's a great bit in Tim Powers' novel, The Anubis Gates, where a stranded time-traveler realizes he's not alone when he hear somebody else humming Paul McCartney's "Yesterday"--in 18th Century London!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

If you extend this to anime you might want to check:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Heaven

A couple of examples where music is part of the series rather than just a specific episode.

 

[T'Girl]

There was a episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, were all the dialog was substituted with song lyrics. Nice.

 

[Jimi_James]

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog is a sort of sci-fi musical.

 

[Greg Cox]

And, of course, there's always The Rocky Horror Picture Show.


I don't know if you're interested in books as well as movies and TV, but there are plenty of fantasy novels in which music has magical properties. Like The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin or The Black Opera by Mary Gentle.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Would Mothra count?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

It didn't seem to be an integral part of the story at the time, but turns out it was foreshadowing!

[yt]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4lsvrzfZI[/yt]

More chemistry than NuSpock and Nuhura actually

And my contribution:

Back to the Future used "Johnny B. Goode" for it's Plot... TWICE!

 

[Greg Cox]

Would Mothra count?

Good one!

 

[Kirkman1987]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The opera performance of Plavalaguna in The Fifth Element was set up so that Corbin could make contact and retrieve the stones from her.

Riva's chorus in TNG - Loud as a Whisper helped him to communicate with others.

I suspect the use of music at the end of the most recent episode of Fringe was meant to trigger a specific memory hidden in Walter's mind.

 

[MadaBidyoni]

BSG used the song All Along the Watchtower as an integral part of the story, to signal a sort of switching on of several key characters in their realization that they were Cylons. Later on Starbuck used music, a simple piano melody, in a sort of trippy head case realization of where Earth was.
I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for exactly, but it was the most obvious case that jumped out at me as a case of music being used beyond mere background music.

i remember it now right

I don't know if you're interested in books as well as movies and TV, but there are plenty of fantasy novels in which music has magical properties. Like The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin or The Black Opera by Mary Gentle.

its ok too
how they used music there?

Would Mothra count?

again - how they used music there?

I suspect the use of music at the end of the most recent episode of Fringe was meant to trigger a specific memory hidden in Walter's mind.

right
they also used music notes / vibrations or something like that in early episodes too no?

 

[stj]

Surprising that no one's mentioned Phantom of the Opera.
Especially the non-talking version with Lon Chaney.

Also, going from the sublime to the not-so sublime, Masters of the Universe.

 

[EnsignRicky]

And let's not forget Lapti Nek.

Oh wait, that one went the way of the singing Ewoks

Okay then, let's not forget Jedi Rocks.

Hmm.. I think I'll just go with singing Ewoks.

 

[Stevil2001]

Also in Buffy, the song the First uses to program Spike in Season 7.

 

[JoeZhang]

And, of course, there's always The Rocky Horror Picture Show.


I don't know if you're interested in books as well as movies and TV, but there are plenty of fantasy novels in which music has magical properties. Like The Armageddon Rag by George R. R. Martin or The Black Opera by Mary Gentle.

In the Trek novels, whenever the crew come across a musical species it is always the most amazing thing they have ever heard - anyone know if they have every encountered an alien race who's singing sounds like someone who has their gonads trapped in a vice?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Would Mothra count?

again - how they used music there?

Mothra's song is sung by the fairies to call to Mothra.

 

[Greg Cox]

Would Mothra count?

again - how they used music there?

Mothra's song is sung by the fairies to call to Mothra.

And the tiny singing fairies are kidnapped by an evil show-biz type who forces them to perform at his night club in Tokyo, which is what triggers Mothra's attack on the city.

And more: music is occasionally used to calm the Monster in the old Universal FRANKENSTEIN movie, a schtick that was perpetuated in Mel Brook's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

And didn't MIGHTY JOE YOUNG respond to "Beautiful Dreamer"?