Buy it... if you have already sought and enjoyed all of Jerry Goldsmith's related adventure music of the era and won't mind the derivative nature of this score.

Avoid it... if the price of finding Innerspace on album isn't worth hearing strong, but redundant Goldsmith filler material without a particularly memorable identity.

Goldsmith

Innerspace: (Jerry Goldsmith) A film that has fallen off the radar screen since its hyped release in 1986, Innerspace was a comical remake of Fantastic Voyage by director Joe Dante, with Dennis Quaid meeting an equally young Meg Ryan, getting shrunk to the size of a few microns, and inserted into Martin Short. The idea was inventive and the film works to a basic level as a romantic, silly comedy film, with decent special effects paving the way for an active orchestral score provided by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith. Despite the film's absurdity at times, the employment of music in the film is divided between pop tunes meant to appeal to viewers of contemporary inclinations and Goldsmith's straight adventure score, which treats the film as a serious topic with practically no hints of comedy relief. The composer and director had collaborated two times previously, with the most recent pairing leading to an adventurous and creative score for Explorers, and their works together would extend to the composer's very last score in 2003. In many regards, the environment of Innerspace would offer Goldsmith a canvas very similar to that of Explorers, and the composer would approach the new film with nearly an identical treatment of orchestral and electronic elements in his distinctive blend of the era. The resulting effort would be a serviceable action score, sustained by Goldsmith's usual, strong sense of rhythmic propulsion and bold instrumentation. At the same time, the raw energy and kid-like enthusiasm that was present in Explorers is lost to an extent in Innerspace, creating a workmanlike atmosphere that doesn't engage the listener as actively. The consistency of the harmonic action material presented in Innerspace is to be commended first, however. While the film suffers from its moments of ridiculous sidebars, Goldsmith approaches the science fiction elements with a genuine eye for action and suspense. Several lengthy cues of brass-ripping heroism alternate with the same kinds of electronic sound effects that you heard Goldsmith use for similar efforts in the 1980's: the twisting of metal, the tingling of light keyboarding, and the occasional rumble of an instrument that can only be described as the cousin the infamous Blaster Beam from the original Star Trek film score. The orchestra is well balanced in this recording, from menacing cello rhythms to meandering woodwind counterpoint.

On the other hand, Innerspace takes no chances. Its thematic constructs are in no way as memorable as in Goldsmith's other works of the era, yielding a score that presents itself as a collection of very strong filler material from the composer that desperately needed a defining identity to complete the picture. The work is highly derivative of Goldsmith's other music for similar situations, and it dutifully reflects the composer's 1980's action scores in the same way that Star Trek: Nemesis reflects his 1990's music in a similar genre. Listening to Innerspace, while it is enjoyable from start to end, you easily get the impression that you have heard all of this music before, and, in many cases, performed with more enthusiasm by equally dynamic instruments. A clear example of this phenomenon is the suspense cue "Environmental Adjust," which pulls its rolling foundation from Poltergeist and utilizes a sporadic a heart-thumping effect as its only distinction. The metallic clangs heard throughout Innerspace are clearly lifted from Explorers, but you can hardly blame Goldsmith for continuing that sound for the director. On album, the score is a decent listening experience, but if your Goldsmith collection is already of moderate size, you won't likely be seeking Innerspace for a listen too often. Geffen released the score internationally in 1987 on a split song and score album, with four 80's pop songs (including Rod Stewart's interpretation of "Twistin' the Night Away"), one 50's song (Sam Cooke's wonderful "Cupid," though it's out of place), and five cues of Goldsmith material amounting to 25 minutes of score. The best two cues of the score, representing 10 minutes, are presented at the start, and collectors will be enthused by the relatively vibrant sound quality of especially these two entries. Despite its widespread production, the Geffen CD disappeared from the market in the 1990's and, although it took longer than many had expected it would, a bootleg finally appeared in 1998. The "Soundtrack Library 020" bootleg of over an hour in length features only the score in good sound quality, but it is also a perfect example of overkill. Presented in almost thirty short cues, the music ironically doesn't sustain itself as well on the bootleg as it does on the flawed commercial album. Overall, Innerspace is a pricey proposition whether you seek the bootleg at auction houses or a used copy of the Geffen album, and because of its redundancy factor, you'd be better off exploring Goldsmith's other, similar scores of the era. ***

Bias Check:

For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.25 (in 82 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.46 (in 116,682 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.