Best sci-fi soundtrack? by DMI

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Best sci-fi soundtrack?

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POSTED BY: DMI
UPDATED: Monday, December 5, 2022 19:48
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/HCrwM6
VIEWED: 42456
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:12 PM

Expired, forgotten, spoiled rotten.

Not theme, but soundtrack as a whole. TV or movie. What you got?

I'm a big fan of Bear McCreary's work on the new BSG, but the tunes to Cowboy Bebop are without a doubt the best part of that show. Makes for a tough choice and there's so many others I love....

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012 4:30 PM

WISHIMAY

I don't know about sci-fi, but I love Movie soundtracks in general.

I have The Cutting Edge, City of Angels, Chicken Little, The last Mummy movie (Dragon Emperor)sountrack was EPIC!
Dances with Wolves, Forrest Gump, Blues Bro's 2000...

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012 10:10 PM

NEEDY

The road to Hel is paved with good intentions

This is such a tough question, I'm such a fan of soundtracks in general and I'd say half of my extensive collection of cds are soundtracks

First ones that stick out immediately are:
James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's scores to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (if they count as sci-fi),

John Ottman's "Superman Returns" (taking John Williams' original themes and expanding on them, creating a more-rounded score than even the original movie),

Marco Beltrami's "Hellboy" (one of my favourite composers - his action cues can sound samey after a while but he creates the best themes, and Hellboy is one of the most beautiful scores in a long time)

Bear McCreary's "Battlestar Galactica" scores, in particular his double disc Season 4 collection, which on the first cd has so many remarkable tracks to justify the price of the soundtrack alone, only to throw in the 2nd disc which has the music for the final episode, bringing together all the popular themes from the previous 4 years and making it a hugely satisfying send-off.

Michael Giacchino's "Lost" soundtracks. I love all of the Lost Soundtracks, but the final cd (a limited release entitled "The Last Episodes") has, like BSG's Season 4, brought back many old themes, some from season 1, and blended them perfectly with newer pieces. Even now, listening to this cd makes me reflect warmly back on the episodes, and with certain tracks even gets me a bit emotional too.

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:00 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Ok if we're talking soundtracks here then I'm going with Fight Club.
If we're talking Scores then Danny Elfman's Batman Returns. or John William's score for Empire Strikes Back
Theme wise I'd go with the original Mission Impossible Lalo Shifrin (that's kind of sic-fi)

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Thursday, April 12, 2012 2:25 AM

ANONYMOUSE

John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra for Star Wars: A New Hope.

Close second: The Empire Strikes Back.

Third: Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (improved now in the Director's Cut)

Fourth: Michael Giacchino, The Incredibles - a fun soundtrack if ever there was one

Fifth: John again, Superman

Sixth: Jerry again, for Alien - I always loved the theme track especially.

Seventh: David Newman, Serenity - yeah, yeah, seventh, I know, but what's a Star Wars fan who remembers it the first time around to do?

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Thursday, April 12, 2012 3:41 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Quote:
Originally posted by DMI:
Not theme, but soundtrack as a whole. TV or movie. What you got?

I'm a big fan of Bear McCreary's work on the new BSG, but the tunes to Cowboy Bebop are without a doubt the best part of that show. Makes for a tough choice and there's so many others I love....

Big fan of Bear McCreary's BSG too. Here are some other favs:

Inception - Magisterial, probably my all time favorite
Water World - James Newton Howard, under appreciated by association with a poorly reviewed movie - too bad, excellent score.
The Village - James Newton Howard, spooky & meditative
Latest Star Trek - Michael Giacchino, not easy working with classic themes, great job imho
Alien - Jerry Goldsmith

non-scifi honorable mention:
Beautiful Mind - James Horner, as classic as it gets
Hans Zimmer - Black Hawn Down, especially Danez Prigent & Lisa Gerrard:

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Thursday, April 12, 2012 12:52 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Favorite soundtracks, I don't own them all.

Cold Mountain, Braveheart, Titanic, Gladiator, Firefly (but my copy doesn't have the Mal and Saffron song :(), King Arthur, Man On Fire, Secret of Roan Inish, Whale Rider.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.

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Friday, April 13, 2012 7:48 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

Some of my favorites (not exclusively Sci-Fi, though)...

• Airwolf
• Awake
• Babylon 5
• nuBSG
• Blade Runner
• Conan the Barbarian (Original)
• Cowboy Bebop
• Crimson Tide
• dueSOUTH
• The Equalizer
• The Final Countdown
• Firefly
• From the Earth to the Moon
• Grand Canyon
• Human Target (1st season)
• Inception
• The Incredibles
• In the Shadow of the Moon
• The Iron Giant
• Iron Man
• La Femme Nikita (Movie)
• Miami Vice
• Midnight Run
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Wars
• TRON: Legacy
• Any Wes Anderson movie

I love this Internet radio station, Streaming Soundtracks...
http://www.streamingsoundtracks.com/
It's on iTunes, and this page is very helpful...
http://www.streamingsoundtracks.com/modules.php?name=Queue_Played

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Friday, April 13, 2012 10:43 AM

LWAVES

Quote:
Originally posted by THESOMNAMBULIST:
Ok if we're talking soundtracks here then I'm going with Fight Club.
If we're talking Scores then Danny Elfman's Batman Returns. or John William's score for Empire Strikes Back
Theme wise I'd go with the original Mission Impossible Lalo Shifrin (that's kind of sic-fi)

It's that time again Som!!
I heartily give a double thumbs up for the Batman Returns score. Elfman's best and perfectly matches the film. Plus the ultimate Batman theme.

In no order and not exclusively sci-fi:

Inception.
Any John Williams score is worthy as well but I do feel that he works best on main themes, love themes and other 'themes' rather than the score as a whole.
Firefly but not Serenity.
New BSG is great.
Lost is great in parts but not others.
Blade Runner is a classic (and other non-scifi scores by Vangelis).
Twin Peaks.
Anything by Ennio Morricone (a musical genius IMO).
Lord Of The Rings
Probably Game Of Thrones once I get to hear it without the TV show.
Star Trek main themes are great but the rest does nothing for me.
Lethal Weapon (the Michael Kamen/Eric Clapton parts).

There's probably others but I can't be arsed to think of any more. :-)

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Saturday, April 14, 2012 4:45 AM

GWEK

I'm assuming we're talking scores (instrumental). I have probably 100+ movie scores that I use for background noise when writing and to set the mood for RPGing.

Anything by John Williams, of course, is at the top of the list.

I'll agree that the Firefly score is better than Serenity, and I also like Edmondson's video game work on the Uncharted series (I haven't played the games, so I have no idea if they're sci fi).

Trevor Rabin's score for Armageddon is one of my favorites, quite possibly my favorite non-Williams sci fi score (although for favorite, it gets strong competition from some other non-sci fi Bruckheimer scores, especially The Rock and Crimson Tide). Although his sound is pretty consistent, I tend to pick up anything by Rabin.

Another favorite is (not quite sci fi, but genre) the first Banderas Zorro. Great stuff mood music.

I could probably come up with a few more dozen, but since those are the first once that pop into my head, I have to assume they're close to my favorites. :)

Oh, also Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. Pitch Black is the better of the two, and the gaping hole in my collection, since it's out of print. If anyone knows where I could acquire it, please let me know!

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Saturday, April 14, 2012 11:28 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Originally posted by lwaves:

Quote:
It's that time again Som!!
I heartily give a double thumbs up for the Batman Returns score. Elfman's best and perfectly matches the film. Plus the ultimate Batman theme.

Ha,ha Lwaves...Awesome! I thought the Returns score was a real step up from the first one. Kept on theme but also of it's own. A masterpiece. I adore the Children's Hour piece.

I forgot to mention STARMAN by Jack Jack Nitzsche. A very haunting and romantic piece of music, and while I usually enjoy what Carpenter does with his own scores (HALLOWEEN, THE FOG) I thought for Starman he was right to go with Nitzsche.

Thereafter pretty much whatever Trent Reznor (Nine inch Nails) does I think is awesome. Looks like he's settling on film scores now which is great and I look forward to more from him in the future. David Lynch used him particularly well for LOST HIGHWAY.

Oh and yes. INCEPTION - one of the best for a long time. Zimmer I don't always gel with as he tends to fall back on familiar motifs, but he really out did himself with Inception. A really clever and well thought out score.

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Saturday, April 14, 2012 2:18 PM

CALHOUN

Logans Run (series)

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:20 AM

ASORTAFAIRYTALE

Can I include video games in this? Because the Mass Effect series has some really awesome music that you should check out!

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012 1:57 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

How did I forget LOTR?

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.

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Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:29 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

Star Trek tmp
Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back
Last Action Hero actually had 5 or 6 tunez that made the pop/rock charts even tho the movie flopped.
Firefly and Serenity, gorramit!
The 1st 3 Dirty Harry moviez.
The spagetti westernz.

Herez a really intense song frum Last Action Hero:

----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early

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Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:18 PM

MACBAKER

Personally, I'm burned out on most of Bear's work, because so many sci-fi series have used him. I actually like Richard Gibbs music for the mini-series for Battlestar Galactica better! That being said, I do like Bear's music for The Walking Dead.

Sci-Fi TV soundtracks
1. Firefly. - Greg Edmonson
2. Battlestar Galactica, The Mini-Series. - Richard Gibbs
3. Children of Dune, Mini-Series. - Bryan Tyler
4. Doctor Who (Doctor's 9 thru 11). - Murray Gold
5. Ghost in the Shell, SAC (including 2nd Gig & Solid State Society). - Yoko Kanno
6. Cowboy Bebop. - Yoko Kanno
7. Fringe. - Michael Giacchino
8. Heroes. - Wendy & Lisa
9. Torchwood. - Ben Foster
10. The Walking Dead. - Bear McCreary

Sci-Fi movie soundtracks
1. The Fifth Element. - Eric Serra
2. Serenity. - David Newman
3. Flash Gordon. - Queen
4. Dune. - Toto
5. Inception. - Hans Zimmer
6. Star Trek. - Michael Giacchino
7. X-men, First Class. - Henry Jackman
8. The Book of Eli. - Atticus Ross
9. Blade Runner. - Vangelis
10. Star Trek, The Motion Picture. - Jerry Goldsmith

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 1:51 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I'm Xing King Arthur off of my list because I found out that the "soundtrack" is different than the movie music, the "soundtrack" doesn't have Vanora's song in it which is why I put it on the list in the first place, that song alone was worth the list, but if its not on there then the King Arthur soundtrack goes off the list.

Replaced by Fly Away Home, which should have been on my list to start with but I just forgot.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 1:51 PM

HKCAVALIER

A.I.

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 3:13 PM

the movie is not the Series. Only the facts have been changed, to irritate the innocent; the names of the actors and characters remain the same

Quote:
Originally posted by DMI:
Not theme, but soundtrack as a whole. TV or movie. What you got?

...snip... but the tunes to Cowboy Bebop are without a doubt the best part of that show

Never saw the series, but the movie soundtrack by Yoko Kano, I'm with you there

I have a question for the class: Can a soundtrack that you notice ever be "the best"? or might a soundtrack that you don't notice be even better? (OK, maybe that's two questions)

I'd answer "Yes" to that second part

I love Smallville up to season 6 (less so s7, little interest in the series as run by Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson). One of the things I love about it is its use of licensed music [prereleased songs], which tapered off after s4, & was almost gone by s6, but with my favourite song in that season ("Ache" James Carrington)

( http://www.kryptonsite.com/smallvillemusic.htm used to track it, but stopped halfway thru season 7)
I would rewatch every season before watching each new one as it came out. I've watched season 6 about a dozen times, season 1 over twenty times, and it's only been in the last couple times that I've even begun to notice Mark Snow's soundtrack. That impresses the heck outa me

Keep the Shiny Side Up,

YT

YTonTw1tt3r

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 7:57 PM

CALHOUN

sweet tune! (I cant wait for a sarcastica font to be invented)

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:24 PM

the movie is not the Series. Only the facts have been changed, to irritate the innocent; the names of the actors and characters remain the same

Quote:
Originally posted by HKCavalier:
A.I.

Lovely tune, and that video is a great find. It's also fine work by the editor, both video & audio, good enough to have been a special feature on the DVD

Keep the Shiny Side Up,

YT

YTonTw1tt3r

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Thursday, April 26, 2012 11:15 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Originally posted by YT:

Quote:
I have a question for the class: Can a soundtrack that you notice ever be "the best"? or might a soundtrack that you don't notice be even better? (OK, maybe that's two questions)

Yes to both questions. Lets use Jaws as an example. You have to notice that theme to dread what's coming. Without that, much of the fear factor would be lost. So yes you need it in that instance as it's essentially a character.
To the second part of your question ,yes again only this time considering the Psycho theme during the shower scene. It's music of a sort but it doesn't register as such. It resonates more like a scream or a cry and it's not until a repeat viewing that you realise that shower theme had been used earlier through out the film - only more subtle and with less high pitched strings.

Quote:
I love Smallville up to season 6 (less so s7, little interest in the series as run by Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson). One of the things I love about it is its use of licensed music [prereleased songs], which tapered off after s4, & was almost gone by s6, but with my favourite song in that season ("Ache" James Carrington)

Totally agree with you YT. Smallville was great for that and for the duration you speak of. My personal favourite was 'Precious' by Depeche Mode for the finalé to season four I think it was? Very well used with the editing and the heart of the piece.

Quote:
I would rewatch every season before watching each new one as it came out. I've watched season 6 about a dozen times, season 1 over twenty times, and it's only been in the last couple times that I've even begun to notice Mark Snow's soundtrack. That impresses the heck outa me

Mark Snow is an awesome composer and he's done some quite exquisite compositions for Smallville. Way beyond the scope of what the show was as at times.

I always thought that X-Files (though I disliked the show) had one of the most apt scores since Jaws. Snow immediately informed the viewer what that show was about with just a few bars of that haunting theme. He's a very clever fellow and vastly underused.

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Sunday, December 4, 2022 11:39 AM

JAYNEZTOWN

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special soundtrack: Every song in film

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/guardians-galaxy-holiday-special-
soundtrack-song-disney-plus/

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Sunday, December 4, 2022 1:44 PM

THG

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Sunday, December 4, 2022 7:17 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special soundtrack: Every song in film

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/guardians-galaxy-holiday-special-
soundtrack-song-disney-plus/

Yeah... You're going to have a hard time topping that soundtrack.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Monday, December 5, 2022 7:48 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Terminator. And T2.

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