Buy it... on the Intrada Records score-only album if you generally support the label's efforts to promote Bruce Broughton's career and appreciate even the composer's less inspired action material.

Avoid it... on the 1998 TVT Soundtrax album at all costs, for it serves very little purpose for the film score community.

Broughton

Lost in Space: (Bruce Broughton) Although the 1998 large-scale studio adaptation of Irwin Allen's famous concept of Lost in Space performed considerably well at the time of its release, the film failed to become enough of a success to sustain a franchise based on the adventuresome Robinson family. New Line Cinema effectively connected the film to its 1960's inspiration, with numerous cameos and all the major character intact. Lacking, unfortunately, was any sense of an organized script, likely the result of numerous problems that plagued Lost in Space throughout its making. The production schedule was nearly out of control (even within a week of the film's release) due to the endless tinkering with the CGI special effects featured throughout the picture. Inevitably, the score by composer Bruce Broughton became an adventure in and of itself. After the legendary Jerry Goldsmith (an Irwin Allen veteran, alongside John Williams, who composed music for the original TV show) left the project and Mark Isham's recorded score was rejected, Broughton was given only two weeks to provide a large action score with a fully orchestral ensemble. Popular expectation of Broughton's task anticipated the adventure of his famous modern Western scores (and namely, Silverado) in space. And while he made a valiant attempt to do just that, the circumstances of the recording were definitely not in his favor. Every time Broughton thought he was done with the score, he was continuously called back to rescore scenes that were altered due to special effects additions or the complete rearrangement of scenes. Perhaps this additional work was favorable to a hack job of the music in the film's final editing process, but the result of Broughton's effort is an underachieving score that presents a watered-down title theme and little fright to represent Spider Smith, the villain of the film. Indeed, Broughton's score goes through all the moves and provides the basic soundscape necessary while never offering more than that minimum in convincing style. Part of the blame for this result rests on Broughton, but also of note is a sometimes lackluster performance by the Sinfonia of London in portions of the score that required more energy and exuberance. The action material is somewhat reminiscent of some of his Western work; an adventure deep in space isn't that much different from a Western scenario, but Broughton largely abandons the opportunity.

Short of adapting Williams' original theme, there was some expectation that Broughton would compose a whopping, grand Western theme that could stick in the mind long after the film was through (a prerequisite for any franchise scenario). Instead, Broughton's title theme fizzles during its own introduction and reappears rarely throughout the effort. Other issues exists with how the score was dubbed into the film, with a constant battle between the music, sound effects, and dialogue often leaving the dialogue in a more difficult, shadowy situation. For its own part, the fully orchestral score rises and falls at all the right points, workmanlike even in its less inspired sequences and filling in the spaces that the sound effects failed to. It could be argued, though, this equation is backwards; the sound effects should be secondary to the main theme on screen. The non-descript nature of this score is extremely disappointing, especially when noting that Broughton has produced more convincing action and thriller cues for such trashy mid-1990's films as Shadow Conspiracy. The problems with the score were initially accentuated by a terrible, poorly-packaged album release by TVT Soundtrax at the time of the film's debut. This product provided the film music community with another wretched combination of dreadful songs and average score selections, a format that was just emerging at the time. The songs offered on this album represent the very worst of the modern techno genre, not to mention some of the most obnoxious electronica of the 1990's had to offer. Apollo Four Forty absolutely mutilates Williams' original television theme for Lost in Space, mixing it in with irritatingly repetitive sequences of electronic garble and random quotes from the film. The distinguishing aspect of this collection of songs (which constitute well over half of the total CD time) is the fact that all of them are intolerable, a difficult feat to accomplish in any genre. After 35 minutes of these songs, less than half an hour of Broughton's score was presented on that album. Luckily for the film score collectors, Broughton's long-time partnership with the Intrada Records label led to a score-only release early the next year, pushing the amount of score material up beyond an hour in length. The difficulties with the score remain, however, because the Intrada release simply confirms the inherent problems with Broughton's rushed work. It's a piece that suffices at the most, interests in a few cues, and disappoints in its majority. Broughton collectors should have no reason at all to seek the disgraceful TVT album, and they should still approach the Intrada album, unfortunately, with caution.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Music as Written for Film: **
1998 TVT Album: *
1999 Intrada Album: **
Overall: **

Bias Check:

For Bruce Broughton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.3 (in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23 (in 3,620 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.