In more ways than just influence-on-theme-tunes, Star Wars is Holst, and Star Trek is Mahler.

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By contrast, McCreary is subtle. It's subliminal, it gets under my skin and as I'm watching a scene, it manipulates on a very emotional level. And often he scores in a way that's in contrast to the main theme of the scene, so there's an extra level of nuance. Even better, I can listen to it on my iPod without attaching it to a certain scene in BSG. I write to it all the time.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but in a world where I can't stand most of the traditional theme-based scores, I'll encourage Bear as much as financially possible.

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Part of this might be just plain musical tastes (I like Philip Glass, who makes some people want to rip out their own eardrums), but McCreary's themes are valuable to me because they aren't the love theme, the escape theme, the sad theme, the suspense theme. Instead they're themes that really get to the root of the characters or the relationship that's being highlighted, and then the themes are bent and blended and changed as the show went on. A lot of the themes, just in pacing and instrumentation and design, are very emotive for me.

The Roslin/Adama theme is bittersweet and mature, and it develops and grows into something younger and hopeful. The Roslin Confesses track is a fall from grace. The Shape of Things to Come is ecclesiastical revelation, and Passacaglia meditative. Much of this interpretation is due to where these themes were used in the show, but it's almost a reverse of traditional themes for me. Where Back to the Future's theme sounds zippy and actiony, it can also only apply to BttF-ish stuff; I would never buy a BttF score to listen to at home. McCreary's stuff is much more open, and while I know some of the spin I put on it is directly derived from the show, I'm able to listen to the tracks and apply them to non-BSG things. (His music is undeniably helpful as I write, because I can apply those broad emotional themes and basically have a soundtrack for the scene I'm writing.)

McCreary's scoring of the show practically became another character for me. I was so attuned to the score, I picked up when Adama instruments were being used in Roslin's theme, or when a particular track was altered, and those tiny hints always paid off in character development. I've never had that experience, where slight alterations in a score truly deepen the emotional experience of the show, rather than just act as an overt prompt.

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Either way, I kind of get what you're saying. I'm very passionate about a themes though. And this approach McCreary's taking is something I'm really not keen to and I'm hoping other composers don't pick up on it. I can't help but feel it's the lazy way out. Why? because the method McCreary uses are a bit easy, not much talent required I suppose... I know you were immersed in the music but I look at that video specifically posted up with his mucis and I can't help but feel cheep because I couldn't follow the music with a melody. And a melodic tune is a bit of work so when it works with the film, I can't help but fall madly in love with the movie.

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The music posted with the video above isn't the stuff I really love, it's what I consider more incidental, fighty music. I prefer the parts that sound like this:

I'm no musician, I can't really judge from talent or effort. I just know that what he writes I find beautiful, very impressive during the show, and extremely useful to me as a standalone work. And considering a very small percentage of scores seem to be in my wheelhouse in that respect, I don't want it getting squashed by more traditional composition!

What sort of theme are you thinking of, that makes you fall in love with a film? What films (I'm unfamiliar with the DS9 score)? And would you ever listen to the score while NOT watching the film?

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On the down side, I keep having this image in my head of Robbie bullying C-3PO and taking his lunch money. I don't think Robbie would do that, but the thought haunts me.

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Doode, eff dat.

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