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I'm looking for the 1982 James Horner interview by Kay Anderson in Cinefantastique. Can anybody help me out with that?
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This made me laugh. 
After scoring a series of low-budget horror films for New World Pictures, composer James Horner has finally been given an assignement which allows him to rise above the derivative nature of much of his earlier work.
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STAR TREK II ARCHIVES: STARLOG AND CINEFANTASTIQUE
New Melodies for the Starship "Enterprise"
By Tom Sciacca
Starlog Number 63, October 1982
'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan': How the TV series became a hit movie, at last"
The score
By Kay Anderson
Cinefantastique, July-August, 1982, Vol. 12 No. 5 and 6
http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/star-trek-starlog-cinefantastique/
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Posted: |
Jul 28, 2016 - 1:47 AM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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I remember some time ago doing a post on WRATH OF KHAN and being honest that when I saw the film in the theater. At the point of Spock's Memorial Service we see and hear Scotty playing the Bag Pipes to Amazing Grace. I just recall when this came on screen and what should have been a very sad moment, I hear the Pipes and see Scotty in full Kilt playing them, I just wanted to laugh. Was it the strange sound of those pipes wailing or the site of Scotty in his kilt, or both? In that post many people found the scene very emotional and not funny at all. Well, here's what Horner had to say about it.
From the Cinefantastique interview:
HORNER:
"I never wanted to use it," states Horner. "I begged, begged, 'Please don't make me use 'Amazing Grace.' It was the only battle in the film I lost. They all seemed to feel that 'Amazing Grace' was the only thing to make them happy. It was 15 seconds—I just did it.""It had already been shot, and I had to match it."
"Then I had the additional problem: Would I continue the bagpipe music outside the ship or would I switch to orchestral music? My feeling was to do something very etheral."
“The bagpipes were the wrong move. They sound like bleating goats. What you heard in the film originally was just the bagpipe alone. Now [Paramount] had a problem in the previews with people laughing at the sound. The producers wanted the bagpipe sound changed."
"The only thing I could do about the curse of the bagpipes," Horner shrugs, "was put in a cue. It starts where there's a pause as Kirk is talking—'Of all the people I have met in my travels, he is the most human.' There, the music came in. I had this strange chord that hangs over the whole scene; it did quite a bit, but doesn't solve the problem completely, because you still get people laughing at the bagpipes. It was, perhaps, a slight miscalculation, but it's one of those things that you're not going to know if it works until you do it with an audience."
Even with Horner's trying to help, I still found it all funny. I felt Amazing Grace was wrong and would have loved to hear some emotional underscoring that Horner might have come up with. I do understand that at Memorial events "Amazing Grace" has been used by many. I personally just wouldn't have chosen it for Spock. Maybe the Vulcan National Anthem if you will, that Horner could have come up with? Possibly even his Spock Theme played ever so gently? Rest in Peace James Horner and James Doohan. I miss you both.
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It's Scottish tradition to plat Amazing Grace on the pipes at a funeral. I always thought it was completely in character for Scotty to do so.
For me, the problem with that scene is that we never actually see a close up of Scotty holding the pipes, so the sound suddenly emerges seemingly from nowhere. Scotty can be glimpsed among the other characters but the scene needed that establishing close-up to really work.
Ironic that Horner had such a problem with the pipes in 1982, seeing as he became Hollywood's resident celtic folk music "go to" guy in the 90s.
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Posted: |
Jul 28, 2016 - 11:34 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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I remember some time ago doing a post on WRATH OF KHAN and being honest that when I saw the film in the theater. At the point of Spock's Memorial Service we see and hear Scotty playing the Bag Pipes to Amazing Grace. I just recall when this came on screen and what should have been a very sad moment, I hear the Pipes and see Scotty in full Kilt playing them, I just wanted to laugh. Was it the strange sound of those pipes wailing or the site of Scotty in his kilt, or both? In that post many people found the scene very emotional and not funny at all. Well, here's what Horner had to say about it.
From the Cinefantastique interview:
HORNER:
"I never wanted to use it," states Horner. "I begged, begged, 'Please don't make me use 'Amazing Grace.' It was the only battle in the film I lost. They all seemed to feel that 'Amazing Grace' was the only thing to make them happy. It was 15 seconds—I just did it.""It had already been shot, and I had to match it."
"Then I had the additional problem: Would I continue the bagpipe music outside the ship or would I switch to orchestral music? My feeling was to do something very etheral."
“The bagpipes were the wrong move. They sound like bleating goats. What you heard in the film originally was just the bagpipe alone. Now [Paramount] had a problem in the previews with people laughing at the sound. The producers wanted the bagpipe sound changed."
"The only thing I could do about the curse of the bagpipes," Horner shrugs, "was put in a cue. It starts where there's a pause as Kirk is talking—'Of all the people I have met in my travels, he is the most human.' There, the music came in. I had this strange chord that hangs over the whole scene; it did quite a bit, but doesn't solve the problem completely, because you still get people laughing at the bagpipes. It was, perhaps, a slight miscalculation, but it's one of those things that you're not going to know if it works until you do it with an audience."
Both times I saw the film in the theater the audience laughed and giggled uncomfortably. It was a huge misstep and they even had the warning. Whats the point of test screening if your going to ignore such a bad reaction? I found it cringe worthy and it ruined the scene.
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