Movie/TV/Game Scores Through The Ages - Alan's Personal Favourites

when is the next year going to happen?

When I get around to it.

Am I very weird if this phrase reminds me of the movie Heat?

Does it?

Does the phrase remind people of Heat?

Keep up Tim!

Val Kilmer: "When will you get some furniture?"
Robert DeNiro: "When I get around to it."
(...)
Val Kilmer: When will you get married?
Robert DeNiro: When I get around to it.

I wonder what Alan will choose for 1984? My choice would ( without looking at other contenders as yet? ) be STAR TREK III : THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK but considering Alan already chose Star Trek II for 1982 I doubt he'll go for this, we'll see?

I know, in your own time Alan, I just wanted to get a bit of speculation going here.

My 1984 choice would include this guy

-Erik-

To quote the Oingo Boingo song:

"WAKE UP...It's 1984!"

Okay, here we go (and from my convalescence bed )

1984 - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock - James Horner

Two main reasons for choosing Horner's second foray into the Roddenberry universe: continuing his wonderfully grand (in it's own way) main theme - and it's variations - and the tribal Klingon music. Oh, and the action music, including "Stealing The Enterprise". This second score is just James Horner's Star Trek score Part II and is a great companion piece to The Wrath of Khan. I've never been as keen on the Vulcan ritual tracks on CD (great in the film though) but that doesn't matter when there's the rest to enjoy. FSM's expansion of this score is great and adds another dimension to the listening experience, filling in gaps sorely missed in the original release.

1984 was a good year for themes in films. Yes, there was the continuation of some franchises with Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and Conan The Destroyer that offered some good additions. But several scores from this year gave memorable themes that, for me, outlast the scores they come from: Children of The Corn (Jonathan Elias), Dune (Toto), Paris, Texas (Ry Cooder), Starman (Jack Nitzsche), The Last Starfighter (Craig Safan) and The Terminator (Brad Fiedel) all fall into this category.

Jerry Goldsmith's Supergirl has a lot going for it but I've always been disappointed with the sound quality on the CD and don't tend to listen to it much. And I'm always surprised somehow by how little I listen to Elmer Bernstein's Ghostbusters: "Dana's Theme" is what I listen to most here.

Not much grabs my attention in this year from outside Hollywood.

1980's pop makes some inroads to my favourites list this year with Harold Faltermeyer's theme for Beverly Hills Cop and the "better" Miami Vice (Jan Hammer) on TV. TV themes are a bit scarce for this year with other themes such as Ken Freeman's theme for the BBC adaptation of Samuel Youd's novels The Tripods and Dennis McCarthy's percussion/synth theme for V - The Final Battle worth a mention.

James Horner's banner is flying high at the moment...

Horner's ST3 is good, but far from my favourite this year.

In fact, as we're getting closer and closer to my "own" time, there is an increasing number to choose from.

My own honourable mentions go out to ST3, GREMLINS, TEMPLE OF DOOM, CHILDREN OF THE CORN, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, DUNE and THE KARATE KID (although that's mostly because of the songs), all brilliant scores.

The prize for best score in the film would arguably go to THE TERMINATOR, even though I can't stand it on album.

In the end, though, my choice would stand between three, largely synth-based scores - which is an idiom very close to my heart: Vangelis' BOUNTY, Doldinger & Moroder's NEVERENDING STORY and Faltermeyer's BEVERLY HILLS COP. It's a difficult choice, but it would have to be:

NEVERENDING STORY.

Great year.

(and I also echo the MIAMI VICE pick, even though I - unlike Alan - try to keep TV out of it).

My 2nd choice for this year didn't get a mention from Alan, and that's JOHN BARRY's beautifully sublime UNTIL SEPTEMBER, a love story set in Paris and a score rich in diversity, this score has rarely been far away from my playlist, far better IMO than the composers much lauded Somewhere In Time.