Tag Archives: Bear Mccreary

Main Titles Artwork for our Film and Television Soundtrack Podcast

Episode 13 – Main Titles

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?

There Be Pirates Artwork for our Film Soundtrack Podcast

Episode 5 – There Be Pirates!

Ahoy, mateys! Join us as we set sail for the pirate-inspired, soundtrack waters we love! Cap’n Dodson and shipmates Wend and Xander discuss Brian Tyler’s video game soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and the first four Pirates of the Caribbean film scores by film composer Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. To finish, our Captain guides us through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Adventureland, Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, featuring the song “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)”, the most iconic piece of pirate music in pop culture today, written by George Bruns and X Atencio, and based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s sea shanty “Dead Man’s Chest” from Treasure Island.

They also briefly touch on Bear McCreary’s Black Sails music, and present their honourable mentions to the crew, including Cutthroat Island by John Debney, the masterclass that is Treasure Planet by James Newton Howard, Harry Gregson-Williams’ Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, Muppet Treasure Island by Hans Zimmer, The Goonies by Dave Grusin and The Sea Hawk by Erich Wolfgang Korngold for good measure.

Enjoy the show ye scallywags or you’ll walk the plank! Arrr!

Timestamps:

2:17 – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

22:03 – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

27:40 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

33:38 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

44:28 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

49:23 – Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

58:55 – Pirates of the Caribbean Ride

1:04:30 – Honourable Mentions