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Cosmos 2014 - John Williams almost scored it for Seth MacFarlane


12-Mile Reef

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Would have been interesting, for sure.

 

I like what Silvestri did (especially the electronic bits), but it's rather hit and miss. There's a lot of rather perfunctory music inbetween the highlights. I'd like to say that Williams would have done something more consistent than what Silvestri did, but that's not a guarantee either, since he -- too -- has been rather hit and miss in the last 14 years.

 

Furthermore, the project would have been too massive for Williams to take on at that time. The only TV things he's done in the last decades are short themes (the last of which was GREAT PERFORMANCES in 2009). So it would have to be a mix between some original pieces, re-used throughout the show, and music by another composer. Perhaps some existing electronic music which they used for the original show.

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I was surprised at the time that Silvestri took on such a big project - you don't see many composers maintaining busy film schedules and TV at the same time.

 

I find TV scores are always hit and miss, regardless of who's composing. They need so much music, and by a certain point they start tracking music. Tyler's Yellowstone and McCreary's Outlander are two current TV scores I keep an eye on, and they both have the same issue - some great highlights, surrounded by a lot of average or repetitive material. As much as I'm sure many around here would love to imagine JW would nail every second, I don't think the TV world is optimised for that.

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Whoa. Wish we could have heard what that would have sounded like - although I wouldn't want to lose Silvestri's beautiful writing for the show, either.

 

Very interesting. (The show is well worth watching, BTW, for anyone who hasn't seen it.)

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2 minutes ago, Datameister said:

Very interesting. (The show is well worth watching, BTW, for anyone who hasn't seen it.)

 

The first season, at least. I have a number of issues with the second season, which just aired.

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This is VERY interesting. Not least of all because I can't imagine what it would have sounded like. Would Williams have been (or made) aware of the musical concept of the original Sagan series? Would he have decided on the musical direction purely by his own impression of the new version (as he usually does)? And would that have been on a grand orchestral scale, or more minimalistic, or perhaps even with a stronger electronic focus?

 

As Thor says, it's unlikely that he could have "through-composed" too much of it, so it's hard to say how much of a musical concept the series as a whole would have ended up with. But it would have been fascinating to find out.

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30 minutes ago, theBT said:

 

I would love to hear all the misses during that period. 


Somewhat simplified for rhetorical purpose: Everything but The Post and War Horse.

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Carl Sagan was also spot on about his thoughts on Star Wars back in 1977 so it would have been "poetry" if JW had scored Cosmos.  He called out why Chewy didn't get a medal!

 

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