To finish off 2014, we each bring two of our favourite main themes to the table and discuss what they mean to us.

Our first selections include the militaristic Thunderbirds theme by Barry Gray, two themes from Bear McCreary including the musical palindrome that is Da Vinci’s Demons and the unsettling main theme to the television series Caprica, the unforgettable Tara’s Theme from Gone with the Wind by the prolific film composer Max Steiner. For the second round of choices we discuss the beautifully majestic Star Trek Voyager theme Jerry Goldsmith composed, the amazingly bombastic Wing Commander theme by David Arnold, the beautiful, childlike theme for To Kill a Mockingbird by Elmer Bernstein, and the infamous and arguably greatest superhero theme of all time, John Williams’ Superman theme.

Timestamps:

1:49 – Thunderbirds

8:58 – Caprica

15:41 – Da Vinci’s Demons

25:18 – Tara’s Theme – Gone with the Wind

31:29 – Star Trek: Voyager

38:05 – Wing Commander

47:35 – To Kill a Mockingbird

53:23 – Superman

Links from this episode:

Bear McCreary’s blog post on writing Leonardo’s Theme for Da Vinci’s Demons

Link to friend of the show Chad Hopkins´ amazing article on “Movie Music and Its Recognizability” How many themes can you recognise?