Review
With "Stargate: Atlantis" returning for its
third season on the Sci-Fi Channel this week and Joel Goldsmith
being nominated for his second Emmy award for his work,
I thought it would be proper to review his soundtrack for
the pilot episode of "Stargate: Atlantis."
Everybody knows that Joel Goldsmith is the son of one
of the greatest film composers of all time, Jerry Goldsmith.
However, the careers of these two could not be any different.
Where Jerry Goldsmith started out working on TV shows like "The
Twilight Zone" and eventually worked up to feature
films to become one of the greatest in the field, Joel
Goldsmith has spent almost his entire career working on
either small movies or television scores.
His highest noteworthy score would have to be his contributions
to “Star Trek: First Contact” in 1996. When
Jerry Goldsmith did not have enough time to complete that
score, he asked his son to write the areas of the movie
he didn't have the time for. In the end, Joel wrote almost
40 minutes of music, almost all of it involving the Borg
sequences and the "Flight of the Phoenix" which
sadly remains unreleased.
Afterwards, almost all of Goldsmith's time was regulated
to television work where hardly anything gets released.
One positive thing that came of that has been his listing
as the de facto composer for "Stargate: SG-1" and
its spin-off series, "Stargate: Atlantis." In
the early years of "SG-1," Goldsmith would frequently
switch off with different composers such as Dennis McCarthy,
Richard Band, and Kevin Kiner, but at some point, the producers
in charge decided to make him the primary composer for
the series. It is a distinction that remains ten years
later.
In "SG-1," Goldsmith was saddled with David
Arnold's theme from the original movie. With "Atlantis," Goldsmith
received a greater sense of freedom in developing the musical
palette for the series. It's nothing groundbreaking or
revolutionary like going from regular space music to "Battlestar
Galactica," but it did require a new set of themes
and motives. It's part of the reason why the results are
so good. With rare exception, television music these days
has turned into a blend of electronic music that really
does nothing. In a few cases like Sean Callery's work for "24," the
music will enhance the scene, but when separated from the
show and put on a CD, it sounds awful.
To illustrate the point of why this is much better than
most TV music, we’re treated with Goldsmith's first
Emmy nomination for his work on track one, the main title.
The theme is really the main highlight of the album. More
so than with movies, a television theme has to perfectly
replicate the feel and the mood of the series so the audience
knows what they're getting into. Mission accomplished.
The theme goes through mystery, wonder, astonishment, and
thrilling adventure all in one minute. The other nice thing
is that it's performed by an orchestra, which is sadly
becoming a novelty in television music.
The soundtrack also gives us several other impressive
moments that almost reach the peak set by the main title. "The
Rising" is probably the best track on the album, starting
with dread and leading to elation as Atlantis rises to
the surface. Other strong moments include "Gate to
Atlantis," "Weir Speaks," and "O'Neill
Inbound."
The action tracks, such as "Rogue Drone," "Dart
Battle," and "The Rescue," are nicely written
pieces but they don't exactly thrill you. They are certainly
some of the best action pieces written for TV and it does
put some motion picture scores to shame, but they seem
more content to stay in the background. If you're looking
for action music that comes through the speakers and rips
your face off, this isn't it.
One of the reasons I like the "Battlestar Galactica" Season
One and Two soundtracks so much is that the album producers
take all the best moments from that season and put them
on to disk. The problem with this release (and almost all
of the Star Trek TV releases) is that all the music comes
from "Atlantis'" pilot episode, "Rising." Instead
of getting a soundtrack of the very best moments of the
season, we're left with several unspectacular cues such
as "Teyla's Village," "The Hologram," and "Wraith
Lair" which slow down the proceedings.
I know exactly why they did this. While Goldsmith was
able to record this score in Seattle with an orchestra,
the remainder of the episode score were produced entirely
on synthesizer. Had they used my idea and produced a season
album, the transitions from the orchestra cues to the synthesizers
would have been jarring to some people. There also would
have been others disappointed that there would be orchestra
cues left out because thirty five minutes isn't really
enough for all the best moments from a twenty episode season.
Personally, I would have preferred the "best of" approach
because there's less of a chance for dull material like
the tracks mentioned to get on the soundtrack.
In my last few reviews, I've mentioned how taking a new
approach can benefit a piece of work. I think it's also
important to remember that just because you can reinvent
the wheel, you don’t always have to, and this soundtrack
is proof of it. Even though this music was written recently,
there's a timeless quality to it that it could have been
written ten or twenty years ago that will surpass nearly
all of its contemporaries. I love how Galactica will take
chances to stretch the boundaries, but I also love that
there are shows on TV like "Stargate: SG-1" and "Stargate:
Atlantis" that provides a traditional outlet. I hope
that we will get seasonal releases of music from these
two shows, but just having this is still better than nothing.
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Stargate:
Atlantis