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| McCreary |
Battlestar Galactica (2004 Television Series):
(Bear McCreary) For enthusiasts of the original
Battlestar
Galactica show on television in the late 1970's, the 2003
re-imagination of the concept was, despite some initial controversy in
its alterations to certain aspects of the characters and story, a
resounding victory. Having languished for so long in limbo,
Battlestar Galactica was finally embraced by the Sci-Fi Channel
and ultimately dominated its lineup in the late 2000's. Four seasons of
75 episodes depicting the war between humans and their mechanized Cylon
creations contained all the fateful twists of betrayal and redemption
that one would expect from a space opera, throwing religion, a bit of
Terminator mythology, and even Earth's own history into the
equation. Multiple "special event" features, web episodes, and a prequel
spin-off show resulted from a phenomenon which received significant
awards consideration through the years, usually in the technical fields
related to sound and visual effects. Strangely, one aspect of the show
that garnered nearly unanimous praise but never achieved success during
the awards season was Bear McCreary's music. The composer had risen
through the ranks of USC and studied under Elmer Bernstein, eventually
supplementing the six years he spent on
Battlestar Galactica with
other television series work, as well as video games and low budget
feature thrillers. McCreary had originally been an assistant to the more
established Richard Gibbs for the 2003 mini-series that kicked off the
resurrection of the concept, and Gibbs did score a few episodes in the
first season before choosing to return to film scoring. Gibbs' original
title theme and supplemental material, however, was used to augment
McCreary's material in later episodes, extending all the way to the
spin-off,
Caprica. In part due to Gibbs' early departure and in
part due to the fact that his output is by no means the flashiest or
most enjoyable of the series, the mass of music to ultimately result for
this show is often praised as the work of McCreary alone. And, all
things considered, that's an appropriate distinction, for the music for
Battlestar Galactica didn't seem to really impress the masses
until the second season, by which point McCreary had really begun to
evolve the style of the show's soundtracks into an attractive form that
also translated into decent album presentations.
It's impossible to discuss the reasons for the immense
popularity of McCreary's music for
Battlestar Galactica without
understanding where science fiction scores on television had recently
come from. The era of John Williams' space opera extravaganza scores had
directly informed Stu Phillips' music for the original series, and while
that sound was still the expected norm for the genre on film, television
series often couldn't afford such a luxury. The various
Star Trek
series of the 1980's through 2000's had enjoyed orchestral scores,
though they were conceived and executed as purely vague background
elements, switching between composers frequently and limiting the
opportunity for overarching thematic continuity outside of a blazing
title theme. Later on, you started hearing the genre utilizing
stylistically unique music, from
Babylon 5,
Farscape, and
Earth: Final Conflict to truly bizarre sideshows like
Lexx. Instead of orchestral bombast, sci-fi and fantasy scores
were employing exotic or synthetic music once again, partially as a
result of limited budgets. In its beginning, the resurrected
Battlestar Galactica franchise had its eyes on the same general
idea, bucking once again the John Williams sound and doing so
cost-effectively. Gibbs' 2003 mini-series was the clearest manifestation
of that approach. As McCreary became entrenched in the franchise, he
began slowly incorporating themes and soliciting funds from the Sci-Fi
Channel for periodic orchestral recordings (still limited to small
string and brass sections) that ultimately yielded the show's popular
hybrid sound. There is some irony to the fact that by the end of the
fourth season, and especially for the lengthy closing episode,
McCreary's score is constructed much more like a melodramatic orchestral
drama than the experimental collection of worldly (and otherworldly)
sounds that defined the initial season. Regardless of where you stand on
the issue of minimalism versus traditional orchestration, McCreary's
work for
Battlestar Galactica has created the same kind of cult
following that Christopher Franke enjoyed with his distinctive
Babylon 5 scores. And, for any enthusiast of those synthetic
1990's scores for the TNT show, rest assured that when Gibbs and
McCreary set out to use unconventional instrumentation and structures
for their
Battlestar Galactica scores, their product is far more
palatable than Evan H. Chen's unlistenable music for the
B5
spin-off
Crusade, a disaster that broke the hearts of many
enthusiasts of Franke's style.
Despite successfully transcending the old space opera
sound, McCreary perhaps inadvertently embraced a new set of sc-fi and
fantasy cliches in the process of assigning stylistic identity to
Battlestar Galactica. Both the use of a duduk and ethereal female
vocal had been explored in
Earth: Final Conflict, for instance,
and the combined works of Graeme Revell and Brian Tyler for Sci-Fi
Channel's own
Dune adaptations had spanned nearly our entire
planet's instrumental spectrum to adequately address an alien world.
Even the Japanese taiko drums and their associated combination of
rhythmic clicking and pounding has become somewhat commonplace, heard
frequently, somewhat strangely, on the Discovery Channel's super-popular
crab fishing show, "Deadliest Catch." Where McCreary manages to excel is
not in the singular employment of such elements in ways to accent an
ensemble the way Tyler or Mychael Danna would. Instead, he practically
throws every regional instrument of any significance at the scores for
Battlestar Galactica, using the taiko drums, Armenian duduk,
Chinese erhu, Indian sitar, Uilleann pipes, Irish whistles, Balinese
gamelans, among many others, along with a variety of ethnically fluent
female vocals to augment the familiar Western tones of orchestral
strings and brass. He doesn't skimp on the American electric
instruments, either, lacing later seasons with guitars and violins of a
distinctly abrasive, electronic edge. He crosses genres as well, moving
beyond Gibbs' slightly electronica tone to eventually incorporate
operatic classicism and even a touch of hard rock. There's material in
these scores that has even been translated into a ballet. And, not
unexpectedly, whenever you have specialty instruments and vocalists
capable of conveying immensely personal beauty, there are inevitably
spine-tingling moments of allure that some might consider guilty
pleasures because of their somewhat undemanding constructs. Where the
intelligence in McCreary's music easily eclipses most other television
scores is in its thematic development, an aspect that gained it
countless comparisons to Michael Giacchino's concurrent (and also highly
acclaimed) music for
Lost. In the first season of
Battlestar
Galactica, the show's producers decided to abandon their
anti-thematic stance; McCreary had already been using various thematic
and instrumental identities for various characters and that technique
was eventually openly encouraged. That led to an abundance of themes for
the show, including at least a dozen for specific characters and a few
for general purposes of situational awareness.
The irony of all the remarkable success that the show
enjoyed because of its music is that the Gibbs and McCreary
collaboration ultimately suffered from one overwhelmingly disappointing
weakness: the lack of a main thematic identity. There is an abundance of
compelling, lovely, and interesting thematic development in
Battlestar Galactica, but unfortunately none of that coordination
resulted in a title theme as recognizable for casual listeners as Stu
Phillip's original concept theme. The sum of McCreary's work therefore
maintains all the descriptors that usually plague any collection of
episodic scores. Great work overall, most agree, but lacking in the kind
of cohesive arch or blatant identity to yield awards and grace concert
halls for ages to come. Now, McCreary does have an arch to the overall
collection of four seasons of music, despite some thematic elements left
hanging without resolution here and there. But it's telling when you
hear Phillip's theme adapted in the second season and then sending the
fleet off in the final episode and recognize that its major key
structure (which is vastly different from the completely bittersweet
nature of practically everything McCreary wrote) is still the most
instantly recognizable representation of the concept. In that aspect,
the new
Battlestar Galactica is the catnip of series fans rather
than the mainstream population. Still, you can't underestimate the cult
fanaticism of the fans of this show and their affection for the
creativity and thematic continuity contained within its music. The La-La
Land Records label has been among this group of devoted followers,
supplying more than half a dozen albums of music from Sci-Fi Channel's
(or "Syfy," as it ridiculously calls itself now) production for an eager
fanbase. Starting with its release of the primarily Gibbs-scored
mini-series in 2004, the label has offered one album per season
(culminating in a double CD set for the final season) and pressed music
from the two "special event" television films to date, as well as the
Caprica spin-off. These CDs allowed McCreary to assemble the
highlights of his best work for each season, ranging from one cue per
singular episode to many. Sound quality is always consistently
outstanding and the albums each contain relevant notes from the composer
and producer about the particular music contained within (the season
four CD, in fact, contains notes from damn near the entire cast and
crew). For fans who want even more information about these scores,
McCreary, in a style once pioneered by John Ottman, has published notes
about each episodic work on his blog, a rare glimpse into the intriguing
details of these compositions.
For the purposes of the reviews of the music for
Battlestar Galactica at Filmtracks, the series has been divided
into its sub-sections. The original Phillips score albums (and there
have been plenty!) and the Gibbs mini-series album have been featured at
Filmtracks in their own reviews for many years before the writing of
this one, and the "special events" (the television movies "The Plan" and
"Razor") and
Caprica are also to be considered separately. What
follows is brief commentary about the music for the actual
Battlestar
Galactica series of 2004, represented by La-La Land's four
season-specific albums. As is the case with any show with music that has
been released on CD in episodic or seasonal snippets (such as
Babylon
5,
Lost,
Alias,
Star Trek, or the bulging
plethora of CDs from Varèse Sarabande for the
Xena and
Hercules phenomenon), there are better albums than others,
especially for casual listeners not attached to the show and not
interested in maintaining a complete collection. For such prospective
buyers, your best bets for the seasonal
Battlestar Galactica
albums are #2 and/or #3 for the reasons subsequently outlined. The first
season's album is far more sparse, only barely establishing motifs that
are much better enunciated later in the show. To those uninterested in
the thematic foundations, the album will play like a disjointed
collection of metallic percussion loops, Celtic flavor, chamber strings,
and female vocals that call upon cliche but are nevertheless enjoyable.
The overall mood of all of these scores is somber, though this is
particularly the case in the first season; everything is acutely
afflicted with a depressing minor-key mode. Notable themes heard on the
album include the first of two Starbuck themes ("Starbuck on the Red
Moon" and "Forgiven"), the latter one of the album's highlights. The
elusive Apollo theme is conveyed late in the challenging "The Olympic
Carrier." The many metallic taiko rhythms slap a harsh edge on the Cylon
theme. A beautifully melancholy theme for Roslin echoes from a boy
soprano in "Kobol's Last Gleaming." A recurring operatic theme
throughout the show's run is the first strictly classical identity in
"Passacaglia." The standard "Prologue" music containing the Number Six
theme in the form of Gibbs' gamelan rhythm is included on this album, as
is Gibbs' two different main titles themes (neither of which memorable
at all) for the differing American and British airings. Of all of the
season-specific albums, this one is easily the weakest, for it wasn't
until the second season that McCreary really hit his stride.
As admitted by McCreary, the second season's album is a
much smoother, easier listening experience, due mostly to his ability to
arrange the cues into a longer format more conducive to satisfactory
thematic development. The instrumentation in this season, as with the
third, is better balanced between the specialty instruments and the
occasional symphonic backing. The duduk, for instance, bleeds together
with an electric violin in interesting ways. Fans are also treated to a
remarkably effective arrangement of Phillips' original theme, scaled
back in enthusiasm to serve as the "Colonial Anthem" without changing
his tone too far into positive ranks. Series highlights are "Prelude to
War," with chopping string rhythms announcing battle, and "Worthy of
Survival," a solemn version of the above cue that becomes its own form
of a tragedy theme. Notable character themes include Adama family theme
in "Reuniting the Fleet" (open to obvious James Horner comparisons with
its Irish and Scottish flavor), a rare brass theme with resolve for Tigh
in "Martial Law," and the tender friendship theme for the two stalwarts
in "Roslin and Adama." The third season's album comes as recommended as
the prior one, the instrumentation expanded to include enhanced roles
for electric guitars, sitar, and especially erhu. Newly developed
identities this year include Starbuck's destiny theme on erhu in
"Deathbed and Maelstrom" and a Lee Adama/ Kara Thrace love theme in
"Under the Wing." Singular points of interest are the piano solo of
"Battlestar Sonatica," a slightly Marco Beltrami-like bit of twangy
Western style in "Dirty Hands," and the more forceful rock influence in
the finale's "Heeding the Call." The most controversial use of music in
the entire series came with the use of the Bob Dylan song "All Along the
Watchtower" adapted for the season's concluding revelation scene. While
memorable, it is a somewhat obnoxious adaptation if you haven't enjoyed
any of the versions of that song through the years. The fourth season's
album strays away from the creativity of the previous two years, but is
still recommended due to its more melodramatic stance with McCreary's
largest ensembles. The finale, "Daybreak" (occupying the second CD of
the set alone), is more of a conservatively standard orchestral score,
extremely consistent in the flow of its selections but lacking in the
outward instrumental flavor of prior years. Varied applications of
voices highlight the first CD of episodic music in this set, both "The
Signal" and "Diaspora Oratorio" using fresh performance aspects from
choral groups. There's even a weighty, musical-like song presence in
"Gaeta's Lament" to open the album.
McCreary bids farewell to most of his themes in the
fourth season with effective sentimentality, too. A lengthy tribute to
Adama family theme in "Farewell Apollo" is joined by an equal nod to
Roslin's theme in "Roslin and Adama Reunited." More subtle is "Among the
Ruins," which faintly reprises the once robust Tigh theme. For those
enthused by "All Along the Watchtower," McCreary gives its melody
another abrasive performance in "Kara Remembers." Better than all other
references is the delicate translation of the original Phillips theme
for the heartbreaking "The Heart of the Sun." The only really notable
new theme for this season is an important part of the long "Daybreak"
episode, finally representing the end goal of reaching Earth with the
identity that will send off the series on an optimistic note. Summarized
in "Earth," this somewhat whimsical idea is adequate at its task, but
lacking in much romantic appeal. It's also extremely reminiscent of the
theme with which Jerry Goldsmith closed his respected score for
Alien, an interesting reference if in some dose intentional.
Overall, the fourth season set is the most impressive product to come
from La-La Land for the series, but in the interest of finding some of
the most rewarding cues from
Battlestar Galactica, the second and
third seasons contain the most compelling blend of creative sounds. Even
the first season's CD, despite short track times and the sparse nature
of some of its material, has five to ten minutes of necessary music for
any fan of the series. A person could take these four CDs and compile a
truly fantastic compilation of McCreary's most lyrically appealing cues
(such a "best of" product might be a good bet for La-La Land, just as
the Sonic Images compilations of the best of Franke's
Babylon 5
were their strongest offerings). What McCreary has managed to accomplish
with these
Battlestar Galactica episodic scores is remarkable to
consider even if you loathe television altogether and, if not for
Giacchino's equally immense coordination of development for
Lost,
groundbreaking. Even if you have no tolerance for the wild swings in
musical genre heard within the scope of this music, they at least serve
you with clear evidence that McCreary has the kind of talent to
accomplish what Giacchino has on the big screen. It's satisfying in
another regard, too, finally proving that the leitmotif format of
writing can work wonders for television science-fiction, regardless of
budget. Hopefully, this music will put to rest the days when equivalent
shows sought conservatively minimalistic, anonymous music. As McCreary
has proven, such limitations are folly.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Heard on the Season 1 Album: ***
- Music as Heard on the Season 2 Album: ****
- Music as Heard on the Season 3 Album: ****
- Music as Heard on the Season 4 Album: ****
- Overall: ****
The inserts of all the albums include insightful information from the
director and/or composer. The Season 4 album also contains extensive notes about
the music from nearly the entire cast and crew of the series.
