Battle Beyond the Stars / Humanoids from the Deep


GNP Crescendo US (0052824807525)
Movie | Released: 2001 | Format: CD
 

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# Track   Duration
Battle Beyond the Stars
1.Main Title2:00
2.Malmori Rear Guard3:52
3.The Battle Begins4:33
4.Nanelia and Shad1:27
5.Cowboy and the Jackers3:36
6.Nanelia's Capture1:29
7.The Maze Battle3:11
8.Shad's Pursuit3:23
9.Cowboy's Attack1:45
10.Love Theme3:52
11.The Hunter1:40
12.Gelt's Death1:30
13.Nanelia1:32
14.Heading for Sador0:59
15.Destruction of Hammerhead2:36
16.Epilogue and End Title5:03
 
Humanoids from the Deep
17.Main Title2:27
18.The Buck-O3:45
19.Unwelcome Visitor2:02
20.Night Swim1:48
21.Jerry and Peggy0:57
22.Trip Upriver1:58
23.The Humanoids Attack2:54
24.Jerry's Death2:04
25.Search for Clues1:56
26.Strange Catch1:07
27.The Grotto3:22
28.Night Prowlers2:08
29.Final Confrontation3:04
30.Aftermath and New Birth2:22
31.End Title2:12
 76:34
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Battle Beyond the Stars / Humanoids from the Deep - 06/10 - Review of Tom Daish, submitted at (English)
Hey, it's Prokofiev, no, wait, that's from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, or is it Star Wars, but hang on, this sounds like Krull or Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Battle Beyond the Stars isn't especially original, you might have gathered that by now. However, it is a hideously enjoyable score - sorry it's true. It bubbles with youthful enthusiasm and more copying from other scores than you can shake a stick at, but done with such recklessness that it's more amusing than annoying. The opening track is actually reasonably original, only the echoing trumpets recalling Jerry Goldsmith. The main theme is close to exceptionally cheesy, but Horner is just able to keep it on the right side of kitsch.

The score is brimming with action cues - this is where you start spotting other scores. The opening action cues contains an ominous three note motif lifted right out of Prokofiev's marvellous Alexander Nevsky. The motif is well integrated and if you didn't know better you'd never realise what it was. What most film music fans will pick up on is the twanging, low electric guitar sounding instrument, the blaster beam that was used extensively in Goldsmith's classic Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This cue and several of the other action cues have sections that are incredibly similar to the Klingon Attack cue with even some of the musical climaxes lifted note for note. I suspect not a small amount of temp tracking and director influence was levelled here, but given Horner's track record since, you never can tell.

The love theme is very nice indeed and distinctly precursor's the love theme from Krull, although I think I actually prefer this one. While the theme itself isn't actually borrowed from anywhere, the concert arrangement in track ten uses similar orchestrations and ideas to Princess Leia's theme from Star Wars. Ending with a reprise of the main theme and the love theme, the echoing trumpets let Horner's music drift off into eternity. Perhaps a fraction over poetic given the nature of the film and score.

Humanoids from the Deep looks even more corny than Battle Beyond the Stars, although I've not seen this particular cinematic feast. Horner's score is here somewhat more original, even if it's not nearly so entertaining. Unlike the strongly thematic Battle Beyond the Stars, Humanoids is more musical fragments and ideas. Little hits sign post the shocks of the film, which probably works better in film than on disc, but still has some fine moments. Some of the action cues work particularly well, The Humanoids Attack being a particular stand out and probably one of the more convincing aspects of the sequence.

The sound, while apparently mixed from vinyl, is good although in the case of Battle Beyond the Stars it helps to highlight just how poor the orchestral performance is - quite possibly the worst I've ever heard on a soundtrack album. Horner's writing doesn't help, the trumpets often required to play repeating figures long after fatigue sets in. The zero budget of the film probably didn't allow for (m)any retakes either. I think these two scores go somewhere between guilty pleasure and novelty interest; that time just before Horner wrote some of his best scores in the early 80's.
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

Other releases of Battle Beyond the Stars (1980):

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Battle Beyond the Stars / Humanoids from the Deep (2000)
Battle Beyond the Stars (2020)
Battle Beyond the Stars (2023)
Battle Beyond the Stars (2023)

Other releases of Humanoids from the Deep (1980):

Humanoids from the Deep (1981)
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
Battle Beyond the Stars / Humanoids from the Deep (2000)
Humanoids from the Deep (2023)


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