Buy it... if you want a preview to the ambitious action rhythms and thematic progressions of John Debney's classic score to the 1995 dud Cutthroat Island.

Avoid it... if you are a devoted SeaQuest DSV fan seeking an all-encompassing selection of the best music from throughout the series.

Debney

SeaQuest DSV: (John Debney) With multiple Star Trek series under production and receiving a loyal following, Universal and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment decided to launch their own futuristic science fiction series in 1993. The premise of SeaQuest DSV was that man would be colonizing the seas in the next century and that a military force would need to exist underwater to police these new civilizations. So instead of a starship crew at the center of the drama, SeaQuest DSV gave us a glorified submarine one instead, and the producers and writers of the show took the opportunity to throw some environmental messages in along the way. Unfortunately for Universal, audiences weren't as intrigued by underwater adventures as much as they were about outer space ones, and in the show's final attempts at survival, its scripts began to turn to the alien and outer space route. During its run from 1993 to 1996, SeaQuest DSV's 59 episodes failed to earn much attention from the Emmy's outside of its musical scores, which represented four of the show's five nominations. The rotating composers for the series featured veterans of the Star Trek shows, including names like John Debney and Don Davis that would go on to brighter futures than television episode scoring. The title sequence and feature-length pilot episode were scored by Debney, whose title recording for SeaQuest DSV would beat Mark Snow's theme for The X-Files for the "Main Title Theme Music" Emmy award in 1994. Subsequently, Don Davis would be nominated two consecutive years for his scores for individual episodes, winning the "Dramatic Underscore" Emmy in 1995 for the episode "Daggers." Regular SeaQuest DSV composer Russ Landau would receive the final nomination for the show in 1996 for his score for the episode "Brave New World." The only commercial album for the show's music was Varèse Sarabande's short 1995 release of only John Debney's more notable contributions to the earlier episodes of the show. It includes the title and end credits themes, as well as the pilot score and small samplings of his scores for two other episodes.

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Despite Debney's tendency to be "hit and miss" with projects like this early in his career, his contribution to SeaQuest DSV is undeniably potent. His title theme puts to rest the debate over who invented the 1995 Cutthroat Island style first (Debney or newcomer David Arnold), with the theme offering the seeds of the swashbuckling spirit of the classic 1995 score but without the same powerful ensemble. The memorable theme, capable of being well quoted in one of its many sections, is skillfully integrated by Debney into his underscore for "To Be or Not to Be." This episode's score is as engaging as many of the composer's feature scores, hindered only by the synthetic nature of the choir and an occasional lack of depth. On the whole, though, the recording strikes a lush tone rarely heard on television outside of the Star Trek series. The rhythmically satisfying and bombastic action cues in the first episode ("Preparing for Battle" and "Dangerous Adversary") present much of the same kind of ambitious orchestral sound that the Star Trek producers would finally allow in Voyager and Enterprise. The difference here, however, is that Debney embellishes upon the title theme material at will, often including satisfying statements of the entire theme during the lengthy, pulsating action cues. A handful of unique orchestrations, probably synthesized but still effective, offer an expected underwater atmosphere with accents like those utilized in the latter half of "Dangerous Adversary." The music heard in the other two Debney episodes, including the visually spectacular "Such Great Patience," is far more subdued, relying more heavily on synthetic elements that occasionally betray the majesty of the written composition, especially with the ever-cheapening choral effect. Still, Debney's work for the title and opening episode are a blast on this album and remain among the best music ever written for science-fiction on screen. The album is a disappointment, however, with its 30-minute length not including any of the acclaimed music by Don Davis for the show. Granted, Davis' name was not a selling point at the time, but the album fails to give a rounded view of the music for the show. Fans of SeaQuest DSV will be wanting more, regardless of who composed each particular episode, though Debney collectors will enjoy this ambitious preview to Cutthroat Island. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.23 (in 49 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.01 (in 42,775 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.