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| McCreary |
Battlestar Galactica (Special Events): (Bear
McCreary) It is not uncommon for popular television series to utilize
what they often call "special events" to allow an unwieldy script for a
single episode to be expanded upon for a two-hour presentation. Such
television movies are sometimes considered episodes within the run of a
show, while at other times they are completely standalone entities aimed
at the home video market. During the actual life of the re-imagined
Battlestar Galactica series on the Sci-Fi Channel that began in
2003 and concluded in 2009, there was one of each type of event. In
between the third and fourth seasons (airing in November, 2007), a
coordinated effort between NBC's Universal home video division and the
show's producers led to the budgeting for a movie called "Razor,"
technically part of the renewal of the show for a fourth season and
preceded by a series of short "webisodes" used to promote the movie. Its
story dealt with events not wrapped up satisfactorily in the third
season, filling holes in the overarching storyline going back more than
40 years in the battles between human and their Cylon creations. The
most intriguing aspect of this movie was the fact that the scenes shown
from the earliest years of the conflict utilized character and ship
designs from the 1978
Battlestar Galactica television series.
Reception to "Razor" was strong, including attendance to some theatrical
screenings across America, and the episode was greeted by several Emmy
nominations, though it was criticized for not featuring most of the
regular cast and failing to stand alone as its own story. Two years
later, the second special event in the new
Battlestar Galactica
series followed the conclusion of the series by quite some time and gave
a different, Cylon perspective of the same events depicted in the
"Razor" movie. Targeted primarily at the video market once again was
"The Plan," its production occurring during the active run of the show
but held in its debut until well beyond its end. An airing of "The Plan"
on the renamed Syfy channel in January, 2010, was rumored not to be the
final debut of the concept, with hints by its director and star, Edward
James Olmos, that more special events would come down the pipeline.
Scoring both "Razor" and "The Plan" was series regular Bear McCreary,
whose work on
Battlestar Galactica was already highly regarded
and released on popular albums by the time of "Razor." The scores were
released on one product by La-La Land Records in early 2010, completing
their offerings of the composer's major contributions to the
concept.
McCreary's music for
Battlestar Galactica
generally became more accomplished and especially interesting on album
as the seasons progressed, and both of these special events were
produced at a time when the composer had already mapped out the musical
arc of the entire series. It is fitting that they were released on one
album because of the common storyline elements addressed by the two
movies. They were an opportunity for McCreary to insert his thematic
identities and instrumental elements from later seasons into the context
of earlier music for the franchise, creating something of a hybrid that
doesn't really fit comfortably with either. The instruments introduced
in later years, such as the erhu, join the duduk, taiko, and others
engrained in the entire run of the series, and snippets of themes are
foreshadowed as well. For instance, the Earth theme closing the whole
series has a plaintiff performance at the end of the main titles for
"The Plan," and Starbuck's evolving destiny theme is conveyed in
"Razor." Stu Phillips' classic theme is turned minor briefly in "Razor,"
too. The vedic Gayatri Mantra of Hindu fame used as inspiration for the
main theme of the series became the primary theme of "The Plan," titled
"Apocalypse." This song gives the tune a heavy metal edge that fits
squarely with the final season of music for the show, though enthusiasts
of the more passively lyrical music from McCreary will likely find it an
irritation. A live performance of this piece, complete with ambient
audience sound, finishes the album. The only new theme of note added to
the dozens to exist in the history of the new
Battlestar
Galactica is the primary theme of "Razor," a seemingly appropriate
oriental-flavored tune for the Kendra Shaw character. This pretty theme
is heard first in the latter half of the main titles for the movie, and
while it is alluring in its sensibilities, it isn't allowed to flourish
like many of McCreary's other softer themes. Its omnipresence is
tempered by its very restricted emotional range, making it a bit generic
in the greater whole of the franchise's themes. The Cylons are again
addressed with the usual taiko drum rhythms, returning to the somewhat
more sparse form that embodied the earlier seasons of the show. Some of
this material overlaps between the two movies, as a few of the identical
action sequences are simply being shown from opposing perspectives. This
technique of common approaches may explain why the album of these two
McCreary scores mingles cues from the two movies together. For casual
listeners, however, it would have been much preferred to hear the two
scores separated on different halves of the same product. Absent any of
the gorgeous thematic interludes or truly interesting sustained action
in McCreary's work for the show, the duo of "Razor" and "The Plan" make
for only an average listening experience appropriate only for devoted
enthusiasts of the concept.
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The insert includes extensive information about the score and
events from the composer, as well as lyrics and performance credits.
