Galaxy Quest
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Composer: David Newman
Lable (Release Year): Promotional Release (1999) Availability: *** Rating: **** |
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Despite the fact that David Newman and Thomas Newman are brothers and both have great success in Hollywood, they are heading different directions in their scoring careers. David Newman leans toward the genre of comedy while Thomas Newman leans toward literature films. Unfortunately, due to the type of genre, David Newman's scores don't get released as often as his brother's. David Newman's scores to The Nutty Professor, Jingle All The Way, and The Flintstones are all good. Unfortunately, only a few minute of his scores made to the soundtrack albums of the latter two movies. This bad trend continues with his latest effort Galaxy Quest. It actually surprises me because the movie did not do so bad in the box office and it does not have a commercial song soundtrack. (The same can be said about Inspector Gadgets.) Luckily, the nice people from Super Tracks Music Group put out a promotional release for him. If I have not mistaken, this is the first time that Newman scored a space adventure. However, after you hear the score, you probably would not think so. His symphonic score is very effective and enjoyable. The score is often serious and rousing but yet you can strongly feel the comical elements inside. The score has only one dominant theme, the main theme. The theme has a double identity, it serves as the main theme of the movie and the main theme of a TV series that sits inside the movie. The theme starts with a single piano note. And for some reasons, that single note reminds me of the introduction of the classic Star Trek theme by Jerry Goldsmith. Then the heroic melody of the theme kicks in with a solo trumpet. The melody is very catchy and hummable and has a good feel of a spaceship cruising in space. The rest of the score is built on base around the main theme. You can hear many different arrangements and variations of the theme through out the score. Although the score is being mono-thematic, it certainly doesn't feel like one. It is because the variations and arrangements are excellent and the theme sounds very fresh and different each time. For example, a slow piano version is used in the sadder moments of the score ("Pathetic Nesmith" & ""`I'm So Sorry'"). There is a love theme in "Big Kiss" but it is very brief and can only be heard there. Angelic female voices are also used frequently to enhance the "outer space feel". Other than the beginning of the main theme, there are also other brief moments that resemble Jerry Goldsmith's score to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. "`Digitize Me, Fred'" and "The Battle" are being the obvious ones. Especially for "The Battle," I am pretty sure that one particular moment is an intentional spoof of "The Klingon Battle" from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The high energy level of the score maintains pretty much through out. Militaristic rhythm and the variations on the heroic theme keep the score interesting from track to track. Galaxy Quest is easily one of the best space comedy scores. Unfortunately, most of the tracks are very short and the music is hard to build up (The problem that many comedy scores face). Consequently, the two longest tracks, "Red Thingie, Green Thingie" and "The Battle", are the best tracks. If you like a big orchestral space comedy score, look no further. Galaxy Quest is the one. | |
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