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Farscape
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Composed and Produced by:
SubVision Guy Gross
Album Coordinated and Produced by:
Ford A. Thaxton Mark Banning
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LABEL & RELEASE DATE
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Regular U.S. release, but out of print as of 2005.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... only if you consider yourself a die-hard fan of the show,
because this product offers a very fragmented overview of the less
interesting music from its first two seasons.
Avoid it... if you expect any sense of cohesion or adherence to
traditional norms of television science fiction scoring.
BUY IT
Farscape: (SubVision/Guy Gross) For the Sci-Fi
Channel, the Jim Henson production of "Farscape" proved to be a popular
series in demand during its four seasons in the late 1990's and early
2000's. Along with many of the concurrent sci-fi series on television at
the time, "Farscape" was a darker, more seductive, and morbid edge on
the previous "Star Trek"-dominated genre. One area in which the two
franchises differed completely, at least at the start, was their music.
Through its unceremonious end on television later in the 2000's, the
"Star Trek" franchise always budgeted the funding to score all of its
episodes with a moderately-sized orchestra. Conversely, series such as
"Farscape" had to rely on the performing talents of just a few
individuals who had to use mostly synthetic elements to fill the
soundscape. And just like the more ambitious stories and characters of
the series, the music for "Farscape" takes a more contemporary and
electronically imaginative approach to its attitude and purpose.
Appealing to a younger generation of sci-fi fans, "Farscape"'s theme and
underscore continues to edge more towards new age, alternative, and
electronica realms rather than the commonly established methods of
scoring such shows in the past. Whether or not that approach to scoring
the genre appeals to you likely depends heavily on your appreciation of
each individual show. Many traditional "Star Trek" fans took a while to
grow accustomed to Christopher Franke's modern application of
synthesizers in the cable series "Babylon 5," and the trend towards even
smaller budget television scores continued to lead to more and more
bizarre results. The title theme for "Farscape" defied the traditional
majesty of space-inspired themes and instead opted for the alternative
rock genre, with a singular, repeating alternation of chords performed
by keyboards (and probably guitars) highlighted by various electronica
vocals that have been mixed to their tonal extremes. As for many of
these scores, mixing is really the key when you're confined to so few
resources with which to create an adequate volume of sound. In these
regards, the difference between the first and second seasons of music
for "Farscape" is not only noticeable, but represents a significant
change in attitude for the show.
The music by the group SubVision (which consists of
Chris Neal, Braedy Neal, and Toby Neal) is an awkward cross between the
styles of Chris Franke and experimental world composer Mychael Danna,
merging harsh electronic loops and motifs with an almost East Indian or
occasionally Arabic tilt and thus producing a sharper, more exotic
sound. The music by Australian Guy Gross, starting in the second season
of the show, represents a more standard use of electronics, resulting in
a combination of Mark Snow's ambient underscores and Don Davis'
synthesized action music for small budget films. Gross' contribution to
the franchise would become dominant through the later years of its run,
and he would eventually push to gain a budget for orchestral recordings
when the spin-off "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" series debuted
several years later. Especially in context with those later scores, the
music from the first two seasons of "Farscape" is difficult to
appreciate in retrospect. The title theme, while simplistic, has a great
sense of attitude and is by far the most interesting single track on the
initial GNP Crescendo album of 2000. The SubVision cues from the first
season often break into nonsensical electric guitar ramblings that do
not form any cohesive whole, and the Gross cues, while highly
listenable, are more subdued material that lack the bite that made the
first season, at the very least, intriguing. As such, the GNP album
remains a fragmented experience, with only the material by Gross
appealing outside of the title theme. If you've never seen the series,
then there's no reason to pursue the album. Fans of the franchise,
however, embraced it thoroughly at the time. The album itself is very
well arranged, with suites from a significant number of episodes and
superior packaging. For fans of "Farscape," this would be the only early
album to come down the pipes, and unfortunately, with the failure of the
GNP label in the near future, the product became out of print and very
difficult to find (sometimes fetching prices as high as $50). The La-La
Land releases for the franchise in 2004 are a worthy alternative and
offer, arguably, superior music. For non-fanatics, the music on this
album will seem like just another fringe element in the spectrum of
modern, cost-effective television scoring.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Total Time: 69:23
Season One: (SubVision)
1. Theme from Farscape (2:04)
Premiere:
2. Wormhole! (5:18)
Back and Back and Back to the Future:
3. Time Trouble (3:07)
Thank God It's Friday, Again:
4. Tannot Grooves (3:02)
5. Fields of Joy (2:47)
PK Tech Girl:
6. Goodbye (4:01)
That Old Black Magic:
7. Maldis (3:32)
DNA Mad Scientist:
8. Namtar's Magic (3:45)
Rhapsody in Blue:
9. Delvian Dreams (3:32)
Jeremiah Crichton:
10. Trouble in Paradise (4:56)
Family Ties:
11. Parting Comrades (3:28)
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Season Two: (Guy Gross)
The Way We Weren't:
12. Pilot Arrives (1:31)
13. Aeryn And Velorek (2:43)
14. Peace Keeping (3:28)
Home on the Remains:
15. The Nogelti Crystal (2:14)
16. Romance (2:12)
Look at the Princess Part III: The Maltese Crichton:
17. Crichton's Daughter (2:34)
My Three Crichtons:
18. Crichton x3 (1:24)
19. Goodbye Caveman (2:46)
Beware of Dog:
20. Vorc Arrives (2:54)
21. Parasite Hunting (5:02)
Look at the Princess Part II: I Do, I Think:
22. Crichton's Wedding (1:30)
23. Theme from Farscape - Reprise (0:48)
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The insert notes contain extensive information about the series and its music,
including the following comment by Guy Gross:
"'Farscape' is a composer's dream come true. It calls for a musical feast
from the sublime to the ridiculous. A typical 'Farscape' episode contains
sequences from the wonderfully bombastic to the subtlety intimate and everything
in between. In the "uncharted territories" there's no such thing as too much -
in either musical direction.
Classically trained, I'm best known for my orchestral approach to film scoring
albeit often created with samplers. My writing approach is very much dialogue
driven. I really enjoy weaving in and around the ups and downs of the spoken
word. And as the performances are so great it's a wonderful source of
inspiration. I'm also not afraid to call upon the classic genre of science
fiction scoring. I find when I deviate too far from the "expected" it draws the
viewers attention away from the story telling which must be paramount in
everybody's contribution to the film.
I first got involved in 'Farscape' when I scored the original 3-minute U.S.
trailer. The producers asked me to join the team a few episodes into the second
series and I've been loving it ever since. I hope the fans enjoy my contribution
and allow it to draw them into the uncharted world of 'Farscape'."
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