Frank Pepito
  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me

BLOG

Star Trekkin': A "Blast" from the Past

6/13/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
On December 7, 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture arrived in theatres ten years after its last first-run episode aired on NBC. I became a fan - a Trekkie - while watching the reruns during the 70's. And I remember being caught up in the excitement of the release of the new movie and the new starship and the new uniforms, even as I knew watching it that something was definitely off about this latest “episode” of Star Trek. But there were clunkers among the show’s 79 episodes (e.g., "Spock's Brain"), so no matter what, fans like me would forgive the fact that the movie, like any one of the carbon-based units in the film, is not perfect. Star Trek was back one last time (so we thought at the time), and that was great!

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, referred to commonly as TMP, arrived two years after Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a year after Superman: The Movie. Those were the films that John Williams astounded moviegoers’ with, introducing heroic scores and signature themes that would make him The Composer for fantasy adventure films of the day. Naturally, he influenced the works of other film composers working on similar projects. I bought his records and sought out any other works that were just as exciting to listen to, that carried a weight that was as epic, romantic and inviting as Williams' work. And Jerry Goldsmith’s score to TMP easily met the criteria.

Picture
Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams are contemporaries. Both started working in the 50’s in Hollywood, both composed music for scores of 60’s television shows – Goldsmith counts The Twilight Zone and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. among them and for Williams, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea – before moved on to scoring for films. Williams won his first Oscar for adapting the music from Fiddler on the Roof for its film adaptation. Goldsmith earned his one and only Oscar for his score to The Omen. But you’ve also heard Goldsmith’s work in Patton, Chinatown, The Wind and the Lion, The Sand Pebbles, Legend, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Rudy, Hoosiers, Gremlins, First Blood, Air Force One, The Mummy and Poltergeist.

If by chance none of the above films are familiar, everybody still knows at least one Goldsmith piece of music. The "Main Title" from TMP was re-used as the theme for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically, the music wasn’t composed to be a TV theme, but no one can argue the theme sounds right for a Star Trek show. It exudes confidence, adventure, discovery, even a little whimsy. Hum a few notes and everybody knows the show you’re talk about.

Picture
On June 4, 2012, Jerry Goldsmith’s seminal work on TMP was celebrated at an event promoting the release of a new expanded edition of his score to the film. Titled “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” Soundtrack Celebration, it was sponsored by La-La Land Records and Creature Features and featured a panel of speakers who worked with Goldsmith including some who were orchestra members during the TMP scoring sessions. In addition, the discussion featured video interviews of Goldsmith, who died in 2004, and footage from TMP with rare music cues composed by Goldsmith that were re-written after feedback from director Robert Wise. A screening of the 2001 Director’s Edition of TMP concluded the evening.

Some friends and I attended the event, where we also got to buy our copies of the new 3-disc collection a day before its official release date plus have them autographed by two of the panelists. The 115-minute panel discussion, hosted by Jeff Bond, included among others the soundtrack's producer and long-time Goldsmith recording engineer Bruce Botnick, and Craig Huxley and David Newman who both performed on this score. It was a much better program than I had expected it to be. Many of the anecdotes that were shared were very informative or very entertaining. David Newman, who played violin in the score and would become a successful film composer himself, scoring the Star Trek-inspired comedy Galaxy Quest and the sci-fi cult favorite Serenity, explained that Williams’ popular romantic style of film music that had quickly become the norm to film goers and filmmakers, and that challenged Goldsmith’s own modernistic style of music, a challenge he slowly but obviously successfully overcame. Goldsmith’s agent Richard Kraft shared with us the composer’s annoyance of a young James Horner who hung around the recording sessions to watch Goldsmith but also spend a lot of time talking to the Paramount execs. Horner would later go on to compose the score to TMP’s next two sequels, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock before scoring Titanic.

Another highlight of the evening was a demonstration of an instrument called the blaster beam. It’s featured prominently in the TMP score. In another intersection of the Star Trek universe, the creator and performer of the blaster beam, Craig Huxley, was formerly a child actor who was cast in two episodes of the original Star Trek series. As he explained at the event, he went on to become William Shatner’s musical director when the actor “…wanted to combine beat poetry and jazz scat singing with outer space.” He produced Shatner's infamous “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and "Rocket Man" during those days.

Huxley told the audience how excited and intrigued Goldsmith was when he learned about the blaster beam, and how the composer was eager to use it in his score for TMP. In the middle of the panel discussion, Huxley stepped behind the blaster beam to recreate some of the tones Goldsmith composed for it in the score and sounds used in the sound design of the film. For all the geeks in the room, it was an amazing experience to hear these familiar sounds performed live in front of us! I recorded the entire demonstration. Take a look at it below.
Picture
Since that evening, I’ve played the hell out of my new CD purchase! My friend has too, sharing with each other over the next few days how nostalgic it's made us feel and how much we love the new recordings, which were drawn from a different source as any previous releases which essentially makes every track on the set previously unreleased. And let me tell you, the fidelity of every bit of the score is AMAZING!! It even inspired me to pull out a book that I've owned for quite a while, Star Trek: Phase II: The Lost Series, and finally read the story of what would have been the 1970's return to television of most of the original cast in a series continuation before Star Wars and other factors forced Paramount to elevated the project into a motion picture production.

The new Star Trek: The Motion Picture 3-disc original soundtrack collection is limited to 10,000 copies and can be ordered from La-La Records or Screen Archives Entertainment.

0 Comments

    All About Me

    A fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Batman, comic books, Blu-rays, Disney, soundtracks, taking pictures, theatre and...Barry Manilow!

    Archives

    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    007
    12 Angry Men
    50th Anniversary
    70mm
    Action Comics
    Adam West
    Adventureland
    Alex Theatre
    Alien
    Amazon
    Amy Adams
    Andrea Romano
    Andrew C Robinson
    Andy Griffith
    Angela Cartwright
    Applause
    Aquaman
    Arclight Cinemas
    Ariel Winter
    Artoo Detoo
    Avengers
    Barrie Chase
    Batcave
    Batgirl
    Batman
    Batman80
    Batmobile
    Batwoman
    Beatles
    Bespin
    Best Buy
    Bill Conti
    Bill Finger
    Bill Mumy
    Billy Crystal
    Birds Of Prey
    Blaster Beam
    Blu Ray
    Blu-ray
    Boba Fett
    Bob Kane
    Book Review
    Brad Meltzer
    Brent Spiner
    Brian Epstein
    Bronson Canyon
    Bruce Timm
    Bryan Hitch
    Camp Hollywoodland
    Carl Reiner
    Casino Royale
    Castle
    Christmas Card
    Christmas Carol
    Christopher Reeve
    Cloud City
    Club 33
    Comic Books
    Comic-con
    Comicon
    Crafts
    Craig Huxley
    Creature Features
    D23
    Daniel Craig
    Danny Elfman
    Dark Horse Comics
    Dark Knight
    Dark Shadows
    Darth Vader
    Dave Avanzino
    David Goyer
    David Newman
    David Selby
    Dc
    Dca
    Dc Comics
    Dc Comics
    Dc Guy
    Death Star
    Delta Shield
    Detective Comics
    Dickens
    Dick Shawn
    Digibook
    Disney
    Disney 50th
    Disney California Adventure
    Disney Juju
    Disneyland
    Disneyland60
    Disney Parks Blog
    Diy
    Dr. No
    Dvd
    Earth One
    Egyptian Theatre
    Endeavour
    E.t.
    Fifth Beatle
    Film Music
    Film Score
    Fiona Huxley
    Firefly
    Firehouse Five Plus Two
    Flash
    Flash Gordon
    Floating Cloud City
    Folk Song
    Foodie
    For Your Eyes Only
    Francesco Francavilla
    Frank Miller
    From Russia With Love
    Frontierland
    Gary Frank
    Gene Roddenberry
    Geoff Johns
    George Barris
    George Lazenby
    George Lucas
    Golden Ticket
    Goldfinger
    Graphic Novel
    Half Marathon
    Hall H
    Hawaii Five-o
    Henry Cavill
    Henry Mancini
    Henson
    Hfr
    Hiking
    Hobbit
    Hogan's Heroes
    Hollywood Sign
    Hunger Games
    Ian Fleming
    I Love Lucy
    Imagineer
    Indiana Jones
    Infographic
    Insignia
    Invitations
    Iron Man
    Irwin Allen
    James Bond
    James Horner
    Jeff Bond
    Jeff Heimbuch
    Jerry Fielding
    Jerry Goldsmith
    Jim Aparo
    Jim Henson
    Jj Abrams
    J. Michael Staczynski
    John Barry
    John Javna
    John Williams
    Jonah Hex
    Jonathan Winters
    Julie Andrews
    Justice League
    Kermit
    Kirk
    Kyle Baker
    La La Land
    Leap Day
    Leap Year
    Leonard Nimoy
    Letthewookiewin
    Logo Design
    Lois Lane
    Longlivethebat
    Long Live The Bat
    Looney Tunes
    Lost In Space
    Lucasfilm
    Mad
    Mad World
    Magic Cube
    Main Street Usa
    Man In Space
    Man Of Steel
    Marketing
    Marshall Rogers
    Marvel
    Marvel Comics
    Marvin Kaplan
    Marv Wolfman
    Medal
    Men Of War
    Michael Keaton
    Michael Piller
    Mickey
    Mickey Ears
    Mickey Mouse
    Mickey Rooney
    Middle Earth
    Millennium Falcon
    Minnie
    Monstrous Summer
    Morton Stevens
    Mouseadventure
    Mouseplanet
    Movie Review
    Muppets
    New 52
    Newsarama
    New Year Resolution
    Nine Old Men
    Noir
    Norman Rockwell
    Norm Breyfogle
    Note Cards
    Ohmss
    One More Disney Day
    Paper Engineering
    Patrick Stewart
    Pbs
    Peter Gunn
    Peter Jackson
    Peter Weller
    Pierce Brosnan
    Plush
    Poison Ivy
    Popup
    Pop Up
    Princess Leia
    Prometheus
    Promotions
    Props
    Qmx
    Quantum Mechanix
    Radio Drama
    Relay For Life
    Resolution
    Retailer Exclusive
    Review
    Rick Berman
    Roald Dahl
    Robert Iger
    Robert Wise
    Rocketeer
    Rod Serling
    Roger Moore
    Rolly Crump
    RPG
    Rundisney
    Running
    Sally
    Sam J Jones
    Samuel Goldwyn Theatre
    Scavenger Hunt
    Science Fiction
    Scotty
    Screenplay
    Scrooge
    Sean Connery
    Secret Origin
    Seth Macfarlane
    Shane Davis
    Sheena Easton
    Sideshow
    Skywalker Ranch
    Soundtrack
    Space Shuttle
    Spider-man
    Spielberg
    Spock
    Stan Freberg
    Stanley Kramer
    Starfleet
    Star Trek
    Star Trek Insurrection
    Star Trek The Next Generation
    Star Wars
    Steelbook
    Superman
    Taco Bell
    Target
    Ted
    Thank You Card
    Theatre
    The Black Beetle
    The Case Of The Chemical Syndicate
    The Dark Knight
    The Dark Knight Returns
    The Flash
    The Life And Times Of Ward Kimball
    Theme Song
    Thunderball
    Tim Burton
    Time Tunnel
    Timothy Dalton
    Todd James Pierce
    Tomorrowland
    Tom Skaggs
    Toot Whistle Plunk And Boom
    Top Five List
    Torrance Theatre Company
    Toy
    Trail
    Trivia
    Tumbler
    Tv Theme Song
    Twilight Zone
    Unboxing
    Universal
    Vampire
    Vinyl Record
    Vivek J Tiwary
    Voodoo
    Walmart
    Walt Disney
    Ward Kimball
    Warner Bros
    William Shatner
    Wonder Woman
    Wonka
    Writing
    Yoda
    Zack Snyder

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Contact Me