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| Silvestri |
Flight of the Navigator: (Alan Silvestri) Kids
getting caught up with friendly alien creatures and ultimately improving
their own family bonds was a common storyline pitch after the success of
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and 1986's
Flight of the
Navigator was one such shameless spin-off concept. A 12-year-old
Florida boy is abducted by aliens that take him across the universe and
fill his brain with all sorts of galactic star charts and other
knowledge, only to return him to Earth per their normal methods of
studying other species. The twist of the story is that the boy returns
to Earth eight years later despite not aging at all, and his experience
understandably alarms his family and gains the attention of a
not-so-friendly NASA. An alien vessel is captured by the nasty human
adults, and the boy has to help the robot life form of the ship in
guiding its way back to safety 560 light years away. He strikes a deal
to send himself back to his proper timeline and, naturally, his
relationships with his family are improved. It's innocuous, derivative
fluff aimed at young audiences, but the movie did have the distinction
of being an early adopter of CGI technologies to show morphing and other
special effects on screen. A moderate fiscal success,
Flight of the
Navigator generated enough lingering interesting to keep talk of
remakes alive for many years. Despite the director's long-running
collaboration with composer Basil Poledouris, the assignment for this
film's score went to Alan Silvestri instead, his career launching at the
time due to the success of
Back to the Future. Most of his scores
of the era were still electronic in nature, Silvestri's use of
Synclavier keeping him employed at a time when synthetic scores were not
only acceptable but considered a viable alternative to the John Williams
mould of Golden Age nostalgia. For
Flight of the Navigator,
Silvestri's entirely electronic score strives for a dramatic heart but
achieves mostly sci-fi ambience in the absence of convincing depth. The
Synclavier tones are sometimes interesting but ultimately reduce to the
work to generic stereotypes of the decade. Interludes of pop-oriented
electric guitar, keyboarding, and drum loops for the 1980's setting are
highly dated, and an excess of tingling keyboarded loops and other
lighter effects represent the technological aspect of the tale. This set
of ingredients doesn't really match the genre's move towards organic
music in the blockbusters of its era, though, and few will recall this
score in retrospect.
The score for
Flight of the Navigator is
essentially a fully electronic version of Silvestri's similarly
conceived
Mac and Me in 1988, the films sharing common topics.
The basic quality of the composition may not have yielded a better
result with an orchestra, though. Some cues accomplish nothing
narratively, as in the thumping suspense of "David in the Woods," and
the high string ostinatos in "Flight" are mildly annoying and offer no
excitement. Minimally explored villain material is concentrated in the
deep pulsations of "The Shadow Universe." The thematic arc of the score
is extremely basic and not every satisfying, either. Silvestri's main
theme is a meandering identity of moderate wonder but lacking enough
dramatic gravity to suffice. The rendering of the idea, which at times
sounds like real horn tones, betrays its purpose, though tingling
secondary lines for celeste emulation are a highlight, often
contributing in short bursts; these techniques vaguely remind of the
Back to the Future scores' descending triads for the element of
magic and time travel. This theme is developed throughout "Theme From
'Flight of the Navigator'" and flourishes at the end, but the percussive
hits on each measure in the final performance are almost silly. It is
shortened for the slight fantasy atmosphere on fake woodwind and choir
in "The Ship Beckons" and barely evident against wandering synth tones
of curiosity in "Transporting the Ship." The theme reprises its fuller
form in "Ship Drop" with continued over-presence of cymbal crashes, and
solo woodwind and brass tones carry fragments in "Have to Help a
Friend," a surprisingly shallow cue that offers no sense of duty or
commitment. Returning to its base form with the tingling keyboarded
effects in "Finale," nothing has changed with this theme since its prior
performances, and the lack of evolution is disappointing. The only other
facet of the score worth mentioning is its contemporary pop rhythms,
which debut in very generalized form without much melodic distinction
during all of "Main Title." This material builds out of the score's
defocused suspense alternations of chords in "Robot Romp." It's
enthusiastic stuff, but the clapping and drum kit are really tired. An
exploding parody version with quirky sound effects in "Star Dancing"
reminds of Danny Elfman, the banging cow bell and squishy toy sounds
somewhat amusing as tools of torture. In the end, the score lacks enough
substance to appeal. The tracks on the short 1995 Super Tracks album,
which is considered by some to be a bootleg, often fade out at their
ends rather than follow synchronization points. For Silvestri
collectors,
Mac and Me is easily the better direct sibling to
pursue, because it translates the same general ideas for an orchestral
ensemble.
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| Bias Check: |
For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.21
(in 68 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 43,741 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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