Gee. It's hard to imagine Barry had anything to do with this? Granted it doesn't sound like it's the best recording but the singer, whomever she is, sounds somewhat flat and maybe even off key. Very curious?
* I have added some updates/changes to my LP/CD comparison earlier in the thread.
Regardless of your opinion of the film (I think it's a hell of a lot of fun), this is such a wonderful score from Barry! Whatever the status may be of the master tapes?, there is about 20 extra mins or so of great material that may or may not remain unreleased.
I've just watched this terrible movie only to hear the score in context having bought the BSX release which I'm horrified to discover was 12 years ago already. This score is a little gem but I was dismayed to hear there were quite a few cues heard in the movie which are not on the album. I suppose the original masters are lost. A shame because a definitive complete release would be welcome. This score is kind of like Herrmann's "Blue Denim" in relation to "Vertigo". Its a mini masterpiece.
However long ago it was that I watched this Z-grade movie, I can still play the theme in my head like it was yesterday. Such a fun and energetic score. Barry really got inspired when it came to outer space.
It does sound campy, but I think Barry trod the line between camp and melodic brilliance well. If you can still hum the theme in your head years after last hearing it and not find it annoying, well, I think that speaks for something.
The film too seemed to be aware of its own campiness. I don't know if they initially set out to make it such, but somewhere along the way they must have decided to just go all in with it. I mean the robot sounds like an extra from "Bonanza" ramped to an eleven on the looney scale. That just isn't the kind of directorial choice you make if you're seriously trying to deliver the next Star Wars.
It does sound campy, but I think Barry trod the line between camp and melodic brilliance well. If you can still hum the theme in your head years after last hearing it and not find it annoying, well, I think that speaks for something.
The film too seemed to be aware of its own campiness. I don't know if they initially set out to make it such, but somewhere along the way they must have decided to just go all in with it. I mean the robot sounds like an extra from "Bonanza" ramped to an eleven on the looney scale. That just isn't the kind of directorial choice you make if you're seriously trying to deliver the next Star Wars.
I thought thats what the 'Bob' robot sounded like in The Black Hole?
Will the complete score for this abominable movie ever see the light of day?
Never say never, but right now the odds seem against it. When Silva Screen made their CD in 1991 or whenever, the complete recordings were searched for but not located then, and the album master they used reportedly disintegrated during the transfer.
I have always assumed the BSX CD was a transfer of the Silva CD with some cutting and pasting of sections to mask the damage that can be heard on the Silva CD.
