Favorite Movie/Television/Animation Incidental Music

[klothos]

Ive been noticing some members have been citing some of these in other threads...I even had a discussion a week or so ago about "The Carl Stalling Project" CD, so I thought Id start a thread by posting a few of my personal favorites.

I'll start with this one: "The Jetsons Theme"........ it perplexes me how amazing these musicians are. Just listen to the speed and accuracy of the arpeggios by the string section from :03 to :11 and keep in mind that these guys are sight-reading this

[klothos]

The Sesame Street "Jazzy Spies" series is another favorite. Some great players here - especially the drummer

[klothos]

Sesame Steeet "Pinball Series" is another favorite

[PeterG]

FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL KIDS

Vernon Elliott


Vernon Elliott


and
Picture Box, threatening and beautiful at the same time

[PeterG]

FOR TEENAGERS

[PeterG]

DETECTIVES





In the avenues & alleyways

[mogrooves]

Fave TV themes:




The drumming (à la Mike Giles) on Neal Hefti's well known theme slays:

[gpeccary]

ANYTHING by Thomas Newman.

[walt]

Music by Henry Mancini.Tenor sax played by Plas Johnson.

[rcarlberg]

ANYTHING by Thomas Newman.

Word. American Beauty, Six Feet Under.

[Vic2012]

Always loved that Jetsons intro. I like the trumpet solo during the "daughter Judy" part.

Two of my all time favorites:



The wah wah guitar on this theme is sick:

[Mr. Grizzly Bear]

[Dave (in MA)]

One of the fight themes from Star Trek was so classic it was reference in Cable Guy 30 years later.

[Dave (in MA)]

Gilligan goes down to the lagoon.

[Proglodite]

Virtually anything Vic Mizzy did (Ghost and Mr Chicken, Green Acres, Addams Family, etc, etc, etc). --Peter

[PeterG]

The various Gerry Anderson sci-fi marionette series with music by Barry Gray

[PeterG]

Here are some more Barry Gray sci-fi themes for more Gerry Anderson sci-fi creations



Wow! check out those 60s dresses!

[augdimsus]

Excellent topic...thought I was the only person on the planet to own a copy of the Carl Stalling Project CD. "Powerhouse" has been a favorite for 4+ decades. Also, Barry Gray, especially the UFO theme, is a personal favorite.

Already mentioned the Speed Racer "Mammoth Car" theme on another thread, incidental music used only in that episode and one other ("Mach 5 vs. Mach 5"). Other great incidental music is the "Melange X3" theme from the "Race for Revenge" episode, and only that one, if memory serves.

More favorite themes from early anime:

King Kong (1966) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od9lTgt1GDk

Marine Boy (only the one with vocals, no humming, please) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNl_X85vF9s

Star Blazers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5xz8alVfo

An opinion: one of the most effective uses of incidental music in cinematic history is "Scorpio's View" by Lalo Schifrin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp8DGoaDZ5k
If you watch the scene in the movie (currently can't find it on YouTube), it's clear how the (excellent) drumming is meant to mirror Scorpio's mood (excitement, confusion, etc.) as the tableau unfolds and the tempo builds. Absolute audio/visual masterpiece there.

One of the fight themes from Star Trek was so classic it was reference in Cable Guy 30 years later.

Don't know about Cable Guy, but if it's the music from the "Amok Time" fight scene...ditto. Also from Star Trek, "The Doomsday Machine" has a couple favorites: the music as Decker goes into the mouth of madness (only repeated, I believe, in "The Immunity Syndrome"), and the little mournful motif when Decker is first discovered by Kirk and company. Excellent moods...

Also, the "runaway vehicle" motif sometimes used in The Little Rascals is a long-standing favorite.

[nosebone]

Long live Lalo!

I dig the 70s!!

[Dave (in MA)]

Don't know about Cable Guy, but if it's the music from the "Amok Time" fight scene...ditto.

[Dave (in MA)]

Haveguncard.png

[walt]

This post will self destruct in five seconds.Good luck Cozy.

[GuitarGeek]

Holy dren! 23 posts in and it takes an AMERICAN to post the greatest TV theme of all time?!?!?!



The Tomorrow People and Star Blazers themes were already posted, so I don't need to do that one. Doctor Who also gave the great all electronic score (done on an EMS Synthi 100!) to the Jon Pertwee era story The Sea Devils:



Another that's become a favorite lately:



I've played all three of those on Journey Of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, along with The Tomorrow People theme. I would play the Star Blazers, but I can't find a version that doesn't have the sound effects.

[GuitarGeek]

Here's another favorite cartoon theme:



Not a cartoon, but still a ridiculous Japanese show:



And another Japanese cartoon:

[GuitarGeek]

As for movie music, there's the Forbidden Planet score:


Because Louis and Bebe Barron didn't belong to the musician's union, the score couldn't be billed as music, so the producers identified their was "Electronic tonalities". Hence, it wasn't eligible for that year's Oscars (though it probably should have won one). And after doing this one film, they were blackballed by Hollywood, because assholes at the musician's union were afraid that electronic music would put the orchestra and other conventional musicians out of work.

Then there's the classic French animated feature film La Planete Sauvage (English title: Fantastic Planet), which I has one of my favorite "rock group" scores:



Then of course, there's this thing:



Once you get past the ridiculous opening song (though it does feature one of my favorite Brian May guitar licks) and ignore the superfluous dialog soundbites, there's some cool music on this record. If I ever get married, I want to use Doctor May's guitar orchestra rendition of The Wedding March in the ceremony. And The Hero is still one of my favorite Queen songs.