Okay, it is time to get things going again with the Mindcast. A new show will be uploaded this week, but before that happens I’m announcing a few changes and a few potential changes. You could read the brief summaries below, or you could listen to my audio explanation and hear more details below. Read More…
Composer Alexander Courage died on May 15, 2008. He worked on several television series, but is best known for composing the theme music for the original Star Trek. He stopped working for Gene Roddenberry after Roddenberry took 50% of the royalties from the theme song for himself. Would the quality of music have been better had Courage stayed on during the series?
Each Star Trek incarnation develops its own musical pattern, but pays homage to the original theme created by Courage. Either in the opening moments of the main theme, used as a baseline to come back to in the closing theme, or mixed somewhere into the score. Deep Space Nine and Voyager didn’t seem to obviously use the original theme, but still borrow some of the style and mood. Enterprise totally abandoned the style and went with Where my Heart Will Take Me, which, if you ask me, was half the reason why Enterprise failed. (The other half was the lack of relevance)
Later this year, as Star Trek XI comes out in theaters, Alexander Courage’s memorable musical phrasing is sure to be a part of the score. It will continue in the ST franchise, and continue to influence science fiction music. And he didn’t even like science fiction!
(Cross-posted at Sociologique)
Yesterday morning, Ariela and I were up at the crack of, no, actually we were up before dawn, racing down to WORT 89.9 fm in downtown Madison for a show of Other Voices. from 5-8 AM Ariela was playing some classical music performed by and/or conducted by women. This was, after all, a show intended to highlight the contributions of women to classical music.
You can listen to the show online here at this link, but it is not available to be downloaded as an MP3. (This will be available from now through May 4th 2008 - on May 5th next week’s show will record over it)
For the first hour and forty-five minutes, Ariela went solo, playing music performed by women, and its good stuff if you want to listen to it. At the 105 minute mark (you can skip ahead if you want to), Ariela cut the music that was playing to introduce the next topic: Holst’s The Planets, and some of its influence on science fiction film music. Let me tell you a little about its genesis, and what happened off the air during the show. Read More…
I’m currently preparing to go on the radio tomorrow morning for a little spot on a classical music show. The radio station is WORT 89.9 fm, and the show is called Other Voices. It’s a show that focuses on women in classical music. Then why the heck am I going to be on it?
Well, my extensive science fiction soundtrack collection has shown me consistent patterns and themes running throughout the SciFi film/TV genre. Not only have my ears picked these things out, but my lady-love Ariela has been sprinkling musicology terms in my midst and it’s hard not to think about them. Consequently, I have come to notice and understand the pervasive influence of Gustav Holst’s The Planets in science fiction music.
So Monday the 28th of April, I’ll be talking about Holst and SciFi music and the composers that wrote that music. All men. On a show about women. Actually, the feminine focus of this portion of this week’s show will be Read More…
The second of April is here, and none too soon. For those of you who may have logged on in the last 24 hours, things might have seemed a little bit weird. All of a sudden my blog went all red, and all wrong and well, evil. A friend of mine thought for a moment it had been hacked. For April Fools 2008, this was The EXPELLED Mind. Read More…
Success! Due to my repeated playings of Captain Kirk screaming “Khaaan!” last night, Ariela just added Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to our Netflix Queue.
Also, via BadAstronomy, it seems that the 11th Trek movie is coming along nicely, with this teaser trailer. Let’s hope they can break the curse of the odd-numbered Trek!
Here are some questions asked and answered about the trailer. All I can say is that they’d better figure out how to restore what has made Star Trek so classic, and update it for our more modern age, without stripping it of its present-day and future relevance! (Got all that?)
‘Course you know this means that I’ll have another soundtrack to buy. Can’t wait!
It’s not like I watch cable TV directly. But I support the current strike by the Hollywood Writers. Why?
There’s a metric ass-load of crap produced out there. On TV and in the theaters. I’ve gone to one crappy movie too much and regretted not buying a book on philosophy with the movie instead. I’ve sat through way too many crappy sitcoms and other TV shows when I was younger. I’ve watched with dismay as “Reality TV” shows cropped up and people ate them up without thinking. Because not a lot of thinking goes into it all. Read More…
Previously, I suggested that the conduct of the Apple computer company with regard to its iPhones may qualify it as the new evil empire. (Whereas Microsoft was the first.) Hackers had gleefully unlocked their new $499 iPhones from the AT&T deal and were able to install third-party programs, which irked Apple - they were hoping to make tons of money on the side with their exclusive AT&T deal. So with the release of its 1.1.1 firmware patch, Apple “bricked” those phones - turning them into expensive paperweights. That was round 2. Get ready for round 3 - the rebel hackers are fighting back.
