David Newman's SERENITY (2005) - NEW! 2023 Varese Sarabande 2-CD Deluxe Edition

[Jay 38,810]

 

David Newman – Serenity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Deluxe Edition) 2CD
UPC: 888072544123
Release Date: December 15, 2023
Regular price$ 25.00

Expected to ship the week of December 15, 2023.

 

Serenity (2005) was the feature film sequel of Joss Whedon’s short-lived space-western TV series, Firefly (2002–03). When fans lamented the loss of the canceled show, Universal rescued the titular spaceship and its charismatic crew (including Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk) for a big-screen adventure written and directed by Whedon.

 

Scoring Serenity was David Newman, whose vast and diverse filmography lent him well-prepared for anything the film might throw at him. From worldbuilding to character comedy to harrowing action, the score runs the gamut—but always hews to a sense of family and “home” for the Serenity and her offbeat crew. Solo cello and folksy percussion are found alongside eerie “ethnic” approaches, which turn dark and brutal for the barbaric villains, the Reavers, as the film explores their secret origin. But Newman balances the weirdness with familiar, dramatic orchestral scoring, ultimately creating an eclectic tapestry for Whedon’s unique vision.

 

Varèse Sarabande’s 2005 soundtrack CD for Serenity was released as a 23-track, 50-minute program. This Deluxe Edition expands the album into a 2CD set, with 54 tracks featuring 90 minutes of prime David Newman sci-fi action, adventure, and emotion, as chronicled in new liner notes by Daniel Schweiger.

 

Track List:

CD1:
1 Opening/Intro To River 3:11
2 Escape 1:30
3 The Operative 0:49
4 Death Of Mathias 3:12
5 Serenity 0:50
6 Going For A Ride 2:24
7 Trading Station Robbery 3:08
8 Reaver Chase 3:41
9 Pop Goes The Reaver 0:15
10 They Never Lie Down 0:39
11 Mal Reminices 1:25
12 Transition 1:23
13 Maidenhead Bar 2:14
14 River Goes Wild 1:28
15 Mal Takes River In 1:04
16 River’s Eyes 0:12
17 Mal’s Decision 0:45
18 Mr. Universe 0:28
19 Subliminal Message 1:08
20 River & Simon In Locker 0:55
21 Haven Guitar 1:01
22 Come At You Sideways 1:26
23 School Flashback 0:35
24 Mal & Inara 0:28
25 Flight To Training House 0:57
26 Training House Fight 1:57
27 Escape From Training House 0:56
28 School Flashback/Miranda 1:37
29 River Gets Out 2:08
30 River Shows Mal & Miranda 0:29
31 Haven Destroyed 0:54
32 Shepherd Book’s Last Words 1:00
33 Warn Everyone We Know 0:36
34 You’re Not A Reaver 0:57

 

CD2:
1 Mal Decides 3:09
2 Population Dead 3:55
3 Truth/Mal’s Speech 3:36
4 Universe Gets It 1:17
5 Space Battle 3:21
6 Crash Landing 1:59
7 Wash Killed/Run To Black Room 2:55
8 Mr. Universe Dead 2:28
9 Generator Room 3:06
10 Mal & OP Fight 2:11
11 Simon Shot/River Runs 1:57
12 Jayne & Zoe/Final Battle 2:44
13 Broadcast Beams/River Is Alive 1:39
14 Funeral/Rebuilding Serenity 2:19
15 Prep For Flight 1:33
16 Love/Serenity 1:06
17 Serenity End Credits Pt. 1 1:38
18 Serenity End Credits Pt. 2 2:03
19 Serenity End Credits Pt. 3 0:43

 

https://varesesarabande.com/products/david-newman-serenity-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-deluxe-edition-cd

[Thor 8,100]

Great score, great movie (and series)!

[Edmilson 8,518]

Isn't this the movie that former JWFan member Drax claims to have not understood it, which made him a target for mockery by other members?

 

Classic JWFan moments™

[Jay 38,810]

3 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Isn't this the movie that former JWFan member Drax claims to have not understood it

Yeah

[Davis 2,757]

Yes!! I’m so happy for David! And us. :-)

[Laserschwert 502]

Though definitely not the cover artwork I would have expected.

[Holko 10,016]

great cover

[Davis 2,757]

One of the best covers in recent years. 

 

(they could've made David's name a little bit bigger and more visible, though...)

[enderdrag64 801]

Love the movie, I'm definitely excited to check this out - hopefully it sells well enough that they might expand the show too

[Cindylover1969 46]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

great cover

That is not what folks on the FSM boards are saying... Note the old Varese Sarabande logo on the cover...

[Jay 38,810]

Is that cover art something newly commissioned for this release, or existing art from 2005?

[Jurassic Shark 12,801]

Happy for Drax.

[Yavar Moradi 2,872]

2 hours ago, Holko said:

great cover

 

Especially surprising positive comment from the self-described "Master of Negativity / Professional Nitpicker"!  How is it great to make Serenity look like King of the Hill? I think it's just bizarre. But... it's the music that counts!

 

19 minutes ago, Jay said:

Is that cover art something newly commissioned for this release, or existing art from 2005?

 

Newly commissioned, 100%. Ugh. What Jim Titus could have done with this assignment if given the chance...

 

Luckily, Spinmeister to the rescue!

http://i.imgur.com/PdO87V8.png

 

I do wonder why Varese didn't go with the traditional "composed and conducted by" credit... surely David Newman conducted this as he conducts virtually all his scores?

 

Yavar

[Naïve Old Fart 10,229]

What on Earth have they done with the cover?

It looks like a cross between HAPPINESS, and a Studio Ghibli film.

 

Like @Thor says: great score, film, and series.

[Jay 38,810]

I don't see any Ghibli in there

The style reminds of the style of a lot of adult color books, with some comic book flair as well

[Jurassic Shark 12,801]

Probably some rights / price issue regarding pictures from the movie.

[Stark 471]

I’ve noticed that Varese tends to have their own logo on CDs, so I’m not surprised they would be quick to use other art. If it makes it easier to release the music, who am I to complain?

[The Great Gonzales 6,041]

1 hour ago, Yavar Moradi said:

 

Especially surprising positive comment from the self-described "Master of Negativity / Professional Nitpicker"!  How is it great to make Serenity look like King of the Hill? I think it's just bizarre. But... it's the music that counts!

 

 

 

Yavar

I think it might be sarcasm? Note the lowercase and lack of punctuation.

[Holko 10,016]

1 hour ago, Presto said:

I think it might be sarcasm? Note the lowercase and lack of punctuation.

ding ding

[Davis 2,757]

Sorry, guys, I like this cover. 
As much as I like Summer Glau and her body, it would have been just another film cover art, and the original poster art isn’t anything special. I would have been totally fine with it as well, but this is something original for a change. Again, sorry for liking it. 
 

[HunterTech 1,161]

I appreciate the idea, but the style and composition seems like a rather odd fit for the sort of franchise I hear this is.

[The Great Gonzales 6,041]

42 minutes ago, HunterTech said:

I appreciate the idea, but the style and composition seems like a rather odd fit for the sort of franchise I hear this is.

Yeah, it makes it look like a Adult Swim etc. cartoon

[Yavar Moradi 2,872]

Exactly.

[pete 947]

Who are the people on the cover?

[TSMefford 1,525]

Mentioned this in the Varese thread, but I've ordered this.

We finally have the "Haven Guitar" cue clean of SFX.

 

I don't know of anything else that was missing tbh.

[SilverTrumpet 642]

When I was scrolling by on Txitter and saw the post announcing it, before I read what it was, I thought it was one of those Golden Books. 

[IheartMelissaBenoist 53]

1 hour ago, pete said:

Who are the people on the cover?

 

L-R: Jayne, Book, Inara, Mal, Zoe, River.

 

Where TF are Wash and Simon???

 

My God, that has to be one of THE worst covers I have EVER seen. 

 

Still pre-ordering it.

[A. A. Ron 1,845]

I don't mind the idea of a heavily stylized cover, but in this case the art itself is terrible and the characters are barely even recognizable. And what the hell are they all looking at? Easily the worst cover for a Varese DE since Dolores Claiborne.

[Drawgoon 104]

I think the goal here might have been to avoid additional licensing fees that they may had to incur had they gone with actual character portraits from the film.

 

I don't know the film at all, but it won't surprise me if this turned out to be a... "cartoonzed" image of a particular scene from the film.

[TSMefford 1,525]

14 minutes ago, Drawgoon said:

I don't know the film at all, but it won't surprise me if this turned out to be a... "cartoonzed" image of a particular scene from the film.

 

I do know the film. Based on the costumes, this would've been from the first action sequence, but there are no shots or scenes like this.

It's likely just an artist creating a unique composition based off some various different images perhaps.

 

I don't mind it. I mean, it's not remotely in keeping with the style or tone of the film, but eh. It's fine.

[enderdrag64 801]

One thing I just thought of; this score was recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony. It's a late 2005 score. Doesn't that mean it should be subject to AFM reuse fees?

Or does Varese having perpetuity rights (do they have them for this score?) mean that those fees don't apply?

[Jay 38,810]

Yes, Varese has perpetuity rights. No, that has no impact on AFM fees.

 

The film came out in August 2005, so the score was clearly recorded  before the AFM cutoff date (July 2005).

[Naïve Old Fart 10,229]

Speaking of all things Varèse, didn't they release the Violin/Flute Concerti, in 1983?

Any sign of a remaster, or has it already happened?

[Thor 8,100]

The cover is a bit odd, but it's also very much in line with boutique vinyl releases these days, like Mondo, completely rethinking the graphic design and often in an 'animated' style. Yes, I know it's a CD and not an LP and yes, I know it's probably because there were some rights issues involved rather than visionary thinking, but it isn't that bad in and of itself, is it? I kinda like it.

[TSMefford 1,525]

28 minutes ago, Thor said:

The cover is a bit odd, but it's also very much in line with boutique vinyl releases these days, like Mondo, completely rethinking the graphic design and often in an 'animated' style. Yes, I know it's a CD and not an LP and yes, I know it's probably because there were some rights issues involved rather than visionary thinking, but it isn't that bad in and of itself, is it? I kinda like it.

yeah exactly. It’s fine. 

[IheartMelissaBenoist 53]

Well, thankfully Kaylee, Wash and Simon are on the back of the booklet. 

 

And oh my goodness, that booklet. Apologies to Daniel Schweiger if you're here, but oh dear those were very poorly written and edited liner notes. Poor grammar, punctuation errors, missing words, poorly worded sentences, the word "the" in front of almost every mention of the ship, and just flat-out mistakes (Nathan Fillion was a former co-star of Buffy? He wasn't on Buffy until 2003, well after the 2002 debut of Firefly). Do editors or proofreader actually exist in this world anymore, or are we all just relying on autocorrect for everything now? 

 

I pray that the actual music presentation on the CDs isn't as messed up as most everything else with this release has been. 

 

Sorry to be so negative about this release. I love the movie, it's score, the TV show and everything, which is why it's so frustrating seeing such poor quality on this release. 

 

Still, I always smile when I see familiar names on trumpet in the orchestra lineups. 🎺

[Pellaeon 596]

I thought it kind of generic and forgettable after Greg Edmondson’s TV score. :/

[A. A. Ron 1,845]

Honestly, same. I like the movie well enough though.

 

Also, I want to know why the track "Into the River" from the OST and the bootlegs is called "Intro to River" here. Was the title wrong on the previous album? Or did they bungle the title of the very first track on this new release?

[Trope 706]

57 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Also, I want to know why the track "Into the River" from the OST and the bootlegs is called "Intro to River" here. Was the title wrong on the previous album? Or did they bungle the title of the very first track on this new release?

Nothing would surprise me. I've been very disappointed in Varèse's expansions of late - In my mind, they lie right at the bottom of all the labels doing proper expanded releases (I have erased Disney from my consciousness).

 

You'd think speciality labels selling limited, exclusive products would have some kind of quality control, but clearly these guys don't seem to care. I may be overreacting, but this is a supposedly "professional" company that makes money from these niche products! The fact that some guy on an online forum is the first to notice this mistake is just plain embarrassing for them.

 

(I'm definitely not still salty about them bungling Powell's Bourne Identity expansion.)

[A. A. Ron 1,845]

24 minutes ago, Trope said:

(I'm definitely not still salty about them bungling Powell's Bourne Identity expansion.)

 

I'm salty about that one too, but it was Powell's own studio who produced that expansion for Varese, so not really the label's fault.

[HunterTech 1,161]

So these posts have made me decide to double check some things on the release, since I do seem to recall hearing that their deluxe for The Crow was basically just the bootleg officially pressed (which I'm guessing doesn't reflect the music in-film much if people used to think it was fake).

 

Haven Guitar was noted as the one omission from the various bootlegs, so that was a no brainer in checking if they accidentally included a DVD rip of it, and I can thankfully confirm that it is clean (if definitely unedited compared to how it appears in-film). I imagine no one was going to have this particular concern, but with the implication of these posts that they're becoming increasingly lazy, I might as well address this one anyway.

 

2 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

Also, I want to know why the track "Into the River" from the OST and the bootlegs is called "Intro to River" here. Was the title wrong on the previous album? Or did they bungle the title of the very first track on this new release?

As for this one, it appears that just is what the track is titled on the cue list proper (1m1 Opening/Intro To River). I did notice on the Ice Age OST that Newman only renamed one or two cues from how they appeared on the sheets, so your call on if they should've kept the OST title for consistency between albums.

 

The liner notes are strange though. I'm not about to scare another label producer off the site by @ing BryonDavis in this post, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask him about it if you're that invested (even if I suspect the negativity so far would be off putting anyway).

[Holko 10,016]

5 minutes ago, HunterTech said:

so your call on if they should've kept the OST title for consistency between albums.

If it's the same take or same edit of the same takes then technically they have to have the same name because of licensing shit. But apparently only Mike bothers to impose such restrictions upon his own workflow (that's where things like a cue being named (extended version) or (film version) without any other version being present on the set come from, the name without these brackets is already taken by the OST take/edit), it doesn't matter for other people.

[IheartMelissaBenoist 53]

6 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

Also, I want to know why the track "Into the River" from the OST and the bootlegs is called "Intro to River" here. Was the title wrong on the previous album? Or did they bungle the title of the very first track on this new release?

 

Wow, I never noticed that on the OST! 

 

I would guess "Intro" is correct, despite what the cue list has it as. In terms of the film it's during our introduction to River. And I can't recall anyone or anything going into a river at any point in the film. I've seen other instances of cue sheets and sheet music having misspellings. None spring to mind of course (thanks, brain), but I swear I've even seen at least one JW cue where I think a character's name is misspelled. 

 

I'm relieved to hear the "Haven Guitar" track on this release was not a DVD rip. Thanks for checking that! 

 

I wouldn't mind being hired as a proofreader, I'd do a damn sight better than a lot of them. If they're even actually proofread. I read a "Doctor Who" original novel from circa Space Year 2000, and holy geez that thing had an error at least every 2 to 3 pages. It was so frustrating to read. 

 

(Edited to add a "y" to "ever" in the next to last sentence. Took me literally only a second or two to notice it once I posted it. Did I spell it wrong? Did autocorrect do it? Well, my autocorrect has been insisting "cue" should be capitalized every dang time, so who knows. But see how fast and easy it was to catch a simple error like that? 😁 ) 

 

(Edited again to add, well my first sentence in this reply shows I ain't perfect... D'oh!) 

[A. A. Ron 1,845]

Whipped up my own cover for this album this morning. I believe the art I used was technically made for the show, but I think it works just as well for the movie.

 

[TSMefford 1,525]

I have pretty extensive experience with this score, so I'll try to dive into it next week when I FINALLY get to take a vacation.

 

Haven Guitar was the first thing I checked as well and it's so nice to hear it so clean and without the space ship SFX. A bit odd too though as I've gotten so used to hearing it that way. Lol.

 

Off the top of my head too, we are of course missing the "Fruity Oaty Bars" source music and the acoustic guitar version of "The Ballad of Serenity", though I assume they are not included because they were not written by David Newman. Would've been nice though. As far as I know there weren't any significant alternates or anything like that though.

 

I'll write back sometime next week after some comparisons with previous material.

[TSMefford 1,525]

Alright. Well. I tried to put together a spreadsheet (which I am still continuing to tweak) to organize my thoughts, but it's all a bit confusing...

 

When speaking about what we had before this expansion (outside of the OST) it's an utter mess. However it was put together, it was done very clumsily. Which is unfortunate because clearly there was access to certain material that was not available anywhere else, though not all of it.

 

The prior version(s) have a couple clean openings and endings in certain areas, as well as extended silences between some cues (allowing them to be split). There's even one track that seems to be an OST version, but clearly has extra orchestra noise that abruptly cuts on and lasts a fair bit longer than any noise you hear on the OST itself). However, some cues are just OST edits or mixes...and some are even edits of the OST edits. With all that in mind, the prior version(s) were also labeled and organized horrendously - made up cue titles, incorrect order (which leads to flat out inaccurate titles), and mislabeling things as alternates or even unused that are simply OST edits or mixes. Like I said... a mess. Maybe it originated from some sessions, maybe a promo or something, who knows. I personally have never seen an "original" version that wasn't tampered with in some way.

 

So, what do we gain here with the Varese deluxe edition? Mainly, an extra cue (Disc 1, Track 21 "Haven Guitar") plus seemingly increased dynamics and better sound, not to mention having everything properly organized and titled (with exception to some very slight tweaks of the original titles here and there). So, to me, the gain is nice - this is a definitive presentation of this score and I think there's quite a few pieces left off the OST that deserve to be heard.

 

So what's missing / what's the trade-off? Well, my biggest pet peeve with the set...some cross-fading and tracks bleeding into one another. I can understand doing it when it is done in the film - many of the tracks during the big climax of the film are really meant to go together (but at that point, why not just put them in one track rather than have awkward track splits?).

 

However, there are definitely areas where crossfades are present here where the cues are clearly separated in the film.

None of these crossfades are present in the previous material that was available.

CROSSFADES:

• 1-02 "Escape" and 1-03 "The Operative" have a 25 second gap between them in the film, yet Track 2 crossfades into Track 3.
• 1-04 "Death of Mathias" and 1-05 "Serenity" have a 10 second gap between them in the film, yet they're crossfaded together here.
• 1-15 "Mal Takes River In" and 1-16 "River’s Eyes" have over a minute long gap between them in the film, yet they're crossfaded here.

• 1-19 "Subliminal Message" and 1-20 "River & Simon In Locker" have over a minute long gap between them in the film, yet they're crossfaded here.

• 1-23 "School Flashback" and 1-24 "Mal & Inara" aren't crossfaded, but have a poor track split. There's a full 2 seconds of silence at the end of 1-23 before the opening of 1-24 begins before the track ends.

• 2-03 "Truth / Mal's Speech" and 2-04 "Universe Gets It" actually do overlap in the film, but are separate here.

 

CLEAN OPENS & ENDS:

• Clean Ending for 1M2 "The Escape" can be found on both the OST and the Boot
• Clean Open for 1M3 "The Operative" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Ending for 1M3A "Death of Mathias" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Open for  1M4 "Serenity" can be found on both the OST and the Boot
• Clean Ending for 2M7 "Trading Station Robbery, Part I" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Open for 2M7A "Trading Station Robbery, Part II" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Ending for 2M7A "Trading Station Robbery, Part II" can be found on both the OST and the Boot
• Clean Ending for 2M18 "Mal Takes River In/Operative Ship" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Open for 2M19 "River's Eyes" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Ending for 3M21 "Subliminal Message" can be found on the Boot
• Clean Open and Ending for 3M22 "River and Simon in Locker/Miranda" can be found on both the OST and the Boot
• Clean Open for 5M43 "Space Battle" can be found on both the OST and the Boot
• Clean Ending for 5M45 "Wash Killed/Run To Black Room" can be found on the OST
• Clean Open for 6M58 "Broadcast Beams/River Is Alive" can be found on the Boot
• A Clean Ending for part of 6M58  "Broadcast Beams/River Is Alive" can be found on both the OST and the Boot, though it may have been made in editing for the OST.
• Clean Open for 6M59 "Funeral/Rebuilding Serenity" can be found on both the OST and the Boot

 

As far as anything that is missing (film versions, extra cues, etc.):

NOTABLE FILM VERSIONS / EDITS:

• 1M3 "The Operative" (Disc 1, Track 3) in the film, is a fair bit shorter (20 seconds or so). It was likely edited down using the stems (but might be accomplished without them).
• 2M12 "Mal Reminisces/Land at Beaumonde" (Disc 1, Track 11) in the film, tracks over the opening half of the cue with a bit of 6M60 "Prep for Flight", though the music stems would've probably been used to fully make this work.
• 3M22 "River and Simon in Locker/Miranda" (Disc 1, Track 20) in the film, tracks the final bass drum hit to occur again earlier in the cue, stems may not have been needed for this one, but were likely used.
• 3M29 "Training House Fight" (Disc 1, Track 26) in the film, is artificially split into two parts utilizing the music stems, dialing out at about 1:30, before coming back in again around 1:41.
• 4M37 "Warn Everyone" (Disc 1, Track 33) in the film, dials out the last two chords, ending early with (I assume) a faked ending - this one is doable with what's present here.
• 4M38 "You’re Not A Reaver" (Disc 1, Track 34) in the film, seems to track guitar from later in the cue over the opening (so the cue starts with guitar). The music stems would've been used for this one.

MISSING TRACKS:

• "Fruity Oaty Bar" by Mark Brooks & Peter Gilstrap (Can be found on home media release bonus features)
• "Firefly Main Title (Acoustic Instrumental Version)" by Joss Whedon (Can be found in the end of the credits)

OST VERSIONS:

• "Truth / Mal's Speech" is edited on the OST (and the Bootleg)
• "Jayne & Zoe / Final Battle" is a condensed edit of 6M55 & 6M58
• "Funeral / Rebuilding Serenity" is the "as recorded" version of 6M59. The strings present on the deluxe are actually the ending of 6M58, meant to crossfade into 6M59.
• There also appears to be some slight mixing differences at times, for example "Going for a Ride" and "Generator Room" has noticeably more reverb.

 

And of course Disc 2, Tracks 18 and 19 are not used in the film, but were used plenty on the films bonus features.

In the film, the credits include:

• 6M62 "End Credits"
• 1M5 "Going For A Ride"
• 6M59 "Funeral/Rebuilding Serenity"
• "Firefly Main Title (Acoustic Instrumental Version)" by Joss Whedon

Hope this helps a bit.

 

EDIT: Added clean opens and ends

[A. A. Ron 1,845]

On 13/12/2023 at 9:44 AM, A. A. Ron said:

Whipped up my own cover for this album this morning. I believe the art I used was technically made for the show, but I think it works just as well for the movie.

 

 

For anyone who may have been using this cover, I've updated the above post with a cleaner, freshly made version. On the original, I had extended the star field manually in Gimp, literally painting in the extra stars myself. This time, I used the built-in AI in Photoshop to do the extension, getting much better results.

[crumbs 14,629]

The Deluxe Edition banner is very well integrated too! Clean and stylish.

 

Nice work @A. A. Ron

[Tallguy 4,122]

On 18/12/2023 at 10:59 AM, TSMefford said:

"Firefly Main Title (Acoustic Instrumental Version)" by Joss Whedon (Can be found in the end of the credits)

 

Awwwww!

[Tom Guernsey 2,574]

At the risk of being "that guy", has anyone else received their copy with a disc missing? Mine had no disc 2! I have emailed Intrada, from whom I purchased it, but presumably I'll need to contact Varese at some point. Very strange! Looking forward to this one (although I remember it not quite being the quasi-Star Trek of Galaxy Quest that I hoped for when it was first announced Newman was scoring it).