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| McCarthy |
V/V: The Series: (Joe Harnell and Dennis McCarthy)
Bridging the gap between the
Star Wars phenomenon on the big
screen and the soon to come resurrection of
Star Trek on
television,
V was the most popular sci-fi series on television
from its premier in 1983 to its untimely end in 1985. The original pilot
mini-series, alternately known as "The Final Battle," was, in concept,
supposed to be a literal drama based on the rise of the Nazis in
Germany, but given the popularity of science fiction at the time, NBC
insisted that the Nazis be mutated into an alien race. That race
advertised themselves as friendly, but in reality their own planet was
dying and they needed the resources of the Earth and its humans to
survive. The resistance was on, and so was a follow-up TV series. For
two years and 19 episodes,
V explored the aftermath of the
human's partial victory over the aliens. But budget restrictions didn't
allow for miniature models of the 50+ alien motherships to be made, and
laser effects were limited due to their exorbitant costs. To save on
make-up costs, aliens could also disguise themselves as human. The
production, while worthy in some of its concepts, was a failure of its
own restricted expenditures, and its inevitable cult following continues
to hope for NBC to explore the series once again, which the network has
expressed an interest in remaking for years. Some merit should probably
be given to such rumors because the series did, after all, attract 80
million viewers for each episode (NBC's top show for two years) and gain
a few Emmy nominations. One nomination was for Joe Harnell's score for
the opening mini-series. Harnell's relationship with director Kenneth
Johnson from the days of
The Incredible Hulk would lead to only
the score for
V's opening story. His music has a spirited, albeit
occasionally hokey feel perfect for the equally cheesy visuals, though
his work isn't without its own merit. Several creative inspirations can
be heard. For instance, the four-note motif used upon the arrival of the
alien ships represents the letter V in Morse code, used, of course,
during the resistance in World War II. It also owes to Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony, and pieces of Wagner and Herrmann are evident in various parts
of the score as well.
Otherwise, Harnell tones back the intelligence and
allows for a plethora of genuinely fun B-flick sci-fi music, complete
with sparsely brassy marches and squeaky strings. Over one lengthy
listen, Harnell's music has definite congruency, despite a title theme
that barely registers with any memorable melody whatsoever. A
re-recording of this title theme by The City of Prague Philharmonic for
the Silva Screen label is among the least interesting pieces they have
ever performed. Still, the now-antiquated spirit of the genre for that
era is alive and well in
V's score, and it'll be worth the
investment for any fan of the series. The music for the concept would
take a drastic turn with the arrival of Dennis McCarthy on the scene for
the actual 19 episodes that followed. In his pre-
Star Trek fame,
McCarthy managed to retain only some of Harnell's flair with his music,
taking the series further away from Johnson's vision. As the show became
more of a character-driven soap opera (and less of a purely sci-fi
action concept), the music began to shun all of the Harnell
characteristics. McCarthy's music for
V, apart from the show,
doesn't sound much different than that of a regular
Star Trek: Next
Generation episodic compilation. His more memorable cues include
"Dreadnaught" and "The Sanction," and they succeed because they exhibit
a touch of synthesized choral accompaniment and even some light jazz to
break the consistency. As the show neared its doom in 1985, the music
also suffered a decline; the bizarre and unnecessary wedding, banquet,
and reception music from "The Rescue" is quite irritating. The only time
that any original music from the universe of
V was released came
in the summer of 1998, when the now defunct Super Tracks label issued
two promos, one each for Harnell and McCarthy. On album, it is
absolutely essential to place these two releases in perspective with the
TV show and its plot. Outside of that context, it won't serve any
digital age listener or more recent sci-fi fan well. Harnell's album is
no masterpiece, but it embodies more of the spirit of the show than
McCarthy's album, which still maintains some of the best individual
moments on either product. They are both promotional items, originally
available at a slightly higher cost than a usual CD, and both are
completely out of print. If sampling on neutral ground, go with the
Harnell promo.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The insert notes for both albums include information about the shows and the respective
composers' career.
