Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #256
Written 4/1/98, Revised 4/14/16
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Buy it... on either of the Intrada Records score-only albums if you
generally support the label's efforts to promote Bruce Broughton's
career and appreciate even the composer's less inspired action
material.
Avoid it... on the 1998 TVT Soundtrax album at all costs, for it
serves very little purpose other than to taunt the film score community
with its wretched collection of songs.
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| Broughton |
Lost in Space: (Bruce Broughton) Although the 1998
large-scale studio adaptation of Irwin Allen's famous concept of Lost
in Space performed considerably well at the time of its release,
the film failed to become enough of a success to sustain a franchise
based upon the adventuresome Robinson family. New Line Cinema
effectively connected the film to its 1960's inspiration, with numerous
cameos and all the major characters left intact. Lacking, unfortunately,
was any sense of an organized script, likely the result of numerous
problems that plagued Lost in Space throughout its making. The
production schedule was nearly out of control, even within a week of the
film's release, due to the endless tinkering with the CGI special
effects featured throughout the picture. The final product was a
haphazard mess with studio meddling written all over it. Inevitably, as
a result of the madness, the symphonic score by composer Bruce Broughton
for the film became an adventure in and of itself. After the legendary
Jerry Goldsmith (an Irwin Allen veteran, alongside John Williams, who
composed music for the original television show) left the project and
Mark Isham's recorded score was rejected, Broughton was given only two
to three weeks to provide a large action score with a fully orchestral
ensemble. Popular expectations of Broughton's task anticipated the
adventure of his famous modern Western scores (namely, Silverado)
in the space opera context. And while he made a valiant attempt to do
just that, the circumstances of the recording were definitely not in his
favor. Every time Broughton thought he was done with the score, he was
continuously called back to rescore scenes that were altered due to
special effects additions or the complete rearrangement of scenes'
action. Perhaps this additional work was favorable to a hack job of the
music in the film's final editing process, but the result of Broughton's
effort is an underachieving score that presents a watered-down title
theme and little fright to represent Spider Smith, the villain of the
film. Indeed, Broughton's score goes through all the moves and provides
the basic soundscape necessary while never offering more than that
minimum baseline sound in convincing style. Part of the blame for this
result rests on Broughton, but also of note is a sometimes lackluster
performance by the Sinfonia of London in portions of the score that
required more energy and exuberance. The action material is somewhat
reminiscent of portions of his Western work; an adventure deep in space
isn't that much different from a Western scenario, but Broughton largely
abandons the opportunity.
Short of adapting Williams' original theme for
Lost
in Space, there was some expectation that Broughton would compose a
whopping, grand Western theme that could stick in the mind long after
the film was through, a prerequisite for any successful franchise score.
Instead, Broughton's title theme fizzles during its own introduction and
reappears rarely throughout the effort. Other issues exist with how the
score was dubbed into the film, with a constant battle between the
music, sound effects, and dialogue often leaving the dialogue in a more
difficult, shadowy situation. For its own part, the fully orchestral
score rises and falls at all the right points, workmanlike even in its
less inspired sequences and filling in the spaces that the sound effects
failed to. It could be argued, though, that this equation is backwards;
the sound effects should be secondary to the thematic substance on
screen. The non-descript nature of this score is extremely
disappointing, especially when noting that Broughton has produced more
convincing action and thriller cues for such trashy mid-1990's films as
Shadow Conspiracy. The problems with the score were initially
accentuated by a terrible, poorly-packaged album release by TVT
Soundtrax at the time of the film's debut. This product provided the
film music community with another wretched combination of dreadful songs
and average score selections, a format that was just emerging at the
time. The songs offered on this album represent the very worst of the
modern techno genre, not to mention some of the most obnoxious
electronica that the 1990's had to offer. Apollo Four Forty absolutely
mutilates Williams' original television theme for
Lost in Space,
mixing it in with irritatingly repetitive sequences of electronic garble
and random quotes from the film. The distinguishing aspect of this
collection of songs, which constitute well over half of the total CD
time, is the fact that all of them are intolerable, a difficult feat to
accomplish in any genre. After 35 minutes of these songs, less than half
an hour of Broughton's score was presented on that album. Luckily for
the film score collectors, Broughton's long-time partnership with the
Intrada Records label led to two score-only releases, pushing the amount
of score material up beyond an hour in length on a 1999 album and a full
2-CD presentation in 2016. The difficulties with the score remain,
however, because the Intrada releases, the latter complete with endless
alternate variations of cues, simply confirm the inherent problems with
Broughton's rushed work. It's a piece that suffices at the most,
interests in a few cues, and disappoints in its majority. Broughton
collectors should have no reason at all to seek the disgraceful TVT
album, and they should approach the Intrada albums, unfortunately, with
caution.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on the 1998 TVT Album: *
- Music as Heard on the 1999 and 2015 Intrada Albums: **
- Overall: **
Bias Check:
For Bruce Broughton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.36
(in 11 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.28
(in 4,522 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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