Danny Elfman’s Mars Attacks vs David Arnold’s Independence Day

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

“They’re very different scores, I can’t choose!” Yes you can, you don’t need to be nice!

[Xander Harris 9,528]

Of course ID4. Mars Attacks is fun though.

 

WOTW I basically like the dramatic stuff.

[WampaRat 1,953]

Fun! I mean, ID4 is a pinnacle score of the 90s. But the opening titles to Mars Attacks is a personal favorite of mine (and my son’s). Prime zanny melodic Elfman!

[Xander Harris 9,528]

Why are you doing this? Why? Why be enemies? Because we're different? Is that why?

 

ID4 is the well-rounded score of the three, to say the least, with all the stuff we listen to this music for. A little of everything. There is nothing that it cannot accomplish. Think about it.

 

Mars Attacks is mostly zany Elfman with the occasional departure like the Final Address.

 

WOTW is mostly grim and off-putting, particularly when the sticker affixed to the jewel case advertises it as a Gripping Score by the composer of Star Wars and Jaws. Remember those? Yeah, well, forget about them. But then amid the dread, Williams does something very dramatic and emotional similar to his Oliver Stone collaboration, SL (Immolation?) or the more recent Revenge of the Sith.

 

Why can't we...work out our differences? Why can't we...work things out?

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

I actually have never listened to ID4 and started this without any bias either way. Above all else, I’m curious what makes ID4 different from Arnold’s Godzilla, given they’re both scores about city destruction and both have evacuation cues!

[Jill Sandwich 11,000]

Invaders From Mars

[Edmilson 12,182]

Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby.

 

It's Arnold's best score against one of Elfman's least appreciated works.

[Xander Harris 9,528]

I never listened to it outside of the movie until this week.

[Mr. Hooper 8,595]

1 hour ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

“They’re very different scores, I can’t choose!”

Exactly. 

 

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

It's Arnold's best score

I'll take 'Stargate' any day of the week.

[Xander Harris 9,528]

My issue with Stargate is that it has a lot of short tracks. It’s a bit scatterbrained. Godzilla is also good but it probably runs too long. ID4 is the perfect Arnold Emmerich score.

[Mr. Hooper 8,595]

'Stargate' has that unbridled excitement and sense of adventure à la 'Krull' which I love, but may not be for everyone.

[Xander Harris 9,528]

Oh I enjoy it. I own the LLL edition. It’s peak David Arnold era where he was delivering these wildly entertaining scores for Devlin Emmerich flicks and about to remind everyone that these Pierce Brosnan spy movies were in fact 007 after an unnamed composer of crap seemed to forget, whether he or the filmmakers were embarrassed by the legacy or wanted to “Reinvent” things, we’ll never know. It doesn’t matter. We can ignore that one misfire. It’s all essential.

 

But ID4 is Arnold’s best score.

[NL197 793]

1 hour ago, Xander Harris said:

Oh I enjoy it. I own the LLL edition. It’s peak David Arnold era where he was delivering these wildly entertaining scores for Devlin Emmerich flicks and about to remind everyone that these Pierce Brosnan spy movies were in fact 007 after an unnamed composer of crap seemed to forget, whether he or the filmmakers were embarrassed by the legacy or wanted to “Reinvent” things, we’ll never know. It doesn’t matter. We can ignore that one misfire. It’s all essential.

 

But ID4 is Arnold’s best score.

 

 

One is my all-time favorite film score that illustrates everything I love about film music, and how essential it was to the quality of the (still a dear favorite) film it was written for. 

The other is Mars Attacks. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

I actually have never listened to ID4 and started this without any bias either way. Above all else, I’m curious what makes ID4 different from Arnold’s Godzilla, given they’re both scores about city destruction and both have evacuation cues!

I haven't played Godzilla in a long time, but from what I recall, the sound of iD4 is only echoed in a handful of cues from Godzilla: 

Military Command Center
Evacuation
Nick and Audrey
Nick's Big Speech  / The Garden Gets It (the former is very close to the wedding cues in iD4, the latter has a sequence near the end like Mastadge Drag from Stargate and the big Russell / cropdusting theme from iD4)

Independence Day is absolutely more well-rounded and the themes are more interesting. Godzilla isn't as focused and clearly defined either. The main title for Godzilla however, those opening strings are fantastic at conveying pure dread. 
 

1 hour ago, Mr. Hooper said:

'Stargate' has that unbridled excitement and sense of adventure à la 'Krull' which I love, but may not be for everyone.

It's all-around a fantastic score. Wonderfully performed with beautiful themes. 

[Xander Harris 9,528]

They’re all good if not great. WOTW is the only outlier but as I’ve said, it’s salvaged by its dramatic material.

[Edmilson 12,182]

Eh, I think I like Zilla's action music more than ID4's. 

 

With Independence, the only action music that made me go like "hell yeah!" was Base Attack. The final battle was fun, but it came out a bit short for me the last time I heard it (though the build-up to the alien attack was awesome).

 

As for Zilla, the entire finale, from the battle with the baby zillas in the shopping mall to the final confrontation with the lizard himself, it was, as the kids these days say it, banger after banger. 30 minutes of Arnold turned to 11.

[Xander Harris 9,528]

Hey, they’re both excellent. Let’s not pit one against the other. This is about alien movie scores.

 

The baby Zillas were not in a mall, it was Madison Square Garden. The hell is wrong with you?

[Edmilson 12,182]

12 minutes ago, Xander Harris said:

The hell is wrong with you?

The last time I saw the 98 Zilla, cable TV was still very popular (it was where I saw it anyway), Star Wars belonged to George Lucas and the last James Cameron movie was Titanic.

[Jill Sandwich 11,000]

Godzilla vs the Shopping Mall

[Xander Harris 9,528]

I saw Godzilla opening day May 1998 in the theater and they wanted to blow up Madison Square Garden.

[Edmilson 12,182]

That movie makes me nostalgic for the time when Sony Pictures blockbusters yielded animated spin-offs for kids.

 

 

 

 

Even Spider-Man, who always has a cartoon playing somewhere at any given time, got a new show that more closely resembled the movie... And in CGI, because it's hip and kool!

 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand... I remember watching Mars Attacks on TV at age 8 with my mom on a late Friday or something. Everything about the movie (the star-studded cast, the humor, the political commentary, even the score) went over my head. To me, it was a somewhat serious alien invasion, but with goofy-looking aliens who absolutely wrecked the human armies, we weren't winning anything against them and those bastards were totally blowing up the human armies, which made me slightly creeped out... Until a kid found out that playing horrible music in the surround system of his pick-up made the aliens' heads explode. 

 

Still a better experience than watching 2001 Apes on DVD at circa the same time and asking mom whether that movie was going to have a sequel because it didn't have a happy ending with a clear victory for our hero Marky Mark (answering the dumb kid: yeah, the idea was to have a sequel, but the movie was so horrible and underperformed, so they scrapped it).

[NL197 793]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

The last time I saw the 98 Zilla, cable TV was still very popular (it was where I saw it anyway), Star Wars belonged to George Lucas and the last James Cameron movie was Titanic.

AKA the good old days. 

Buffy was dealing with the fallout of Spike, Drusilla and of course Angelus who killed Jenny. 

Dawson was looking at Jen, while Joey was looking at Dawson, while Pacey was looking at Ms. Jacobs...well more than looking.  

Deep Impact was competing against Armageddon (a movie I never saw and never will)

That stupid CGI dancing baby was a hit for Ally McBeal. 

Jerry and friends attended Joe Mayo's party, fully prepared to get jiggy wit it. 

[filmmusic 3,191]

I don't remember any of the 2 scores, so I cannot vote at this time.

I only remember that I enjoyed immensely the Mars Attacks main titles music.

[GerateWohl 6,471]

I remember both scores just from watching the movie. None impressed me. ID4 was a cheesy Star Wars pastiche, so was the score, which is orchestrated like woodwinds nevr were part of the team, just strings, brass and percussion (plus choir as additional mayonaise of this hot dog of a score). While Williams WotW score is a gourmet dish as usual. His fine grained action set pieces, rhytmically sophisticated. Not as rough as the other two.

And I don't remember Mars Attacks standing out in any way.

[bollemanneke 4,317]

Okay, I won't be nice. Elfman will most likely never get my vote in any poll unless Edward Scissorhands is involved.

[filmmusic 3,191]

56 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Okay, I won't be nice. Elfman will most likely never get my vote in any poll unless Edward Scissorhands is involved.

Not a fan of his Batman scores?

[bollemanneke 4,317]

Nope.

[Richard P 5,234]

I've never heard a note of Mars Attacks 

 

A poll with Sleepy Hollow against anything else would get an Elfman vote from me.

 

Regardless, it's almost certainly ID4 AINEC.

[filmmusic 3,191]

3 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Nope.

Please don't tell me that in a poll between Elfman's Batman and Zimmer's/Howard's Batman, you'd prefer the latter! 

[bollemanneke 4,317]

I would, yes.

[Jill Sandwich 11,000]

Batman Begins is more modern and sophisticated.

[Richard P 5,234]

36 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Please don't tell me that in a poll between Elfman's Batman and Zimmer's/Howard's Batman, you'd prefer the latter! 

 

There are at least two people here that don't 'get' Elfman's Batman. I'm the other one - I saw the film years ago, probably skimmed the OST. I just don't get what's so amazing about it.

 

Would I rate Zimmer/JNH's score above it? Probably not, as I'm not really a fan of those either. I'd rate Gia's The Batman above all of those, in terms of creative enjoyment for myself.

 

We need another 'classic scores you never liked' thread. It's fun to read everyone's admissions, and even more fun to read others' panicked reactions 

 

[NL197 793]

6 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I remember both scores just from watching the movie. None impressed me. ID4 was a cheesy Star Wars pastiche, so was the score, which is orchestrated like woodwinds nevr were part of the team, just strings, brass and percussion (plus choir as additional mayonaise of this hot dog of a score). While Williams WotW score is a gourmet dish as usual. His fine grained action set pieces, rhytmically sophisticated. Not as rough as the other two.

And I don't remember Mars Attacks standing out in any way.

[MedigoScan 409]

I do like Mars Attacks and a lot of Elfman scores, but still ID4 is superior.

[Jay 45,771]

I love Mars Attacks!  I was a fan of the Dinosaurs Attack! trading cards from before the movie, and ending up liking the movie very much, though I haven't seen it in 30 years and who knows how I'd feel about it now.

 

I loved the score right away too, and was disappointed by the short OST, but then loved the isolated score track and eventual LLL expansion.  Would still love a proper & complete 2-CD version some day.

 

All that being said, ID4 is better and it's not even close.  Independence Day is one of the best scores of all time.  Incredible stuff.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

3 hours ago, Richard P said:

 

There are at least two people here that don't 'get' Elfman's Batman. I'm the other one - I saw the film years ago, probably skimmed the OST. I just don't get what's so amazing about it.

 

Would I rate Zimmer/JNH's score above it? Probably not, as I'm not really a fan of those either. I'd rate Gia's The Batman above all of those, in terms of creative enjoyment for myself.

 

We need another 'classic scores you never liked' thread. It's fun to read everyone's admissions, and even more fun to read others' panicked reactions 

 

Danny Elfman scores almost always lose my interest after the main titles. The man cannot do thematic development to save his life.

 

With two exceptions (NBC and Batman Returns).

[bollemanneke 4,317]

My main problem with Elfman is his awful low brass writing and especially the fact that he scores 99% as if either the movie world or the viewer is drugged up, spaced out and laughing inanely at whatever might be happening.

[Rachael Foley 10,001]

I voted WOTW, but I don't hate ID4 per se.

[filmmusic 3,191]

OMG, what is this I hear about Elfman? 

Have you heard, all of you who have a problem with his music, any alternative scores, meaning the ones that are not for Burton movies/fantasy/adventure/action genre?

Sommersby is one of my favorites.

[Edmilson 12,182]

I mean, my favorite Elfmans are Spider-Man 1 and 2, followed by M: I, Hulk, Sleepy Hollow, Batman Returns, Red Dragon, Alice, so what do I know? 

[Richard P 5,234]

It became apparent some time ago that I'm not an Elfman fan outside of SH and large parts of Spidey 2.

 

A Simple Plan is also really good, but I can only otherwise think of scores that are a handful of tracks: MIB, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Dark Shadows.

 

On the poll, I'd choose WotW over Mars Attacks, but ID4 is going to win over realistically nearly anything else.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

He sure likes his Final Confrontation though! 

[Edmilson 12,182]

2 hours ago, Richard P said:

It became apparent some time ago that I'm not an Elfman fan outside of SH and large parts of Spidey 2.

Not the first Spidey? 

 

It's my favorite Elfman and one of my favorite scores of all time. Of course, the movie being a childhood favorite plays a huge part in it.

[Richard P 5,234]

I sort of liked the OST when I played it on Spotify a while back, but it didn't leave a huge impression really.

[Xander Harris 9,528]

The first Spider-Man is better

[CinderTech 1,769]

SM1 is probably the simplest score of the trilogy, yet it's for that exact reason it's perfect for the movie (and definitely as the first musical entry). That being said, it is constant high energy for the whole runtime, so I wouldn't be too shocked if the sequels are more people's speed.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

I also like this one, even if I think Christopher Young would’ve done this better. 

[Edmilson 12,182]

SH is pretty fun. I like Elfman's energic brass writing and swirling strings in action/horror mode from the late 90s/early 2000s (Red Dragon, SH, Hulk, parts of MIB 1 and 2, Apes).

[Xander Harris 9,528]

The brass is excellent in that one. It was to me a return to to form to the kind of stuff he did in Batman. Nowhere near as great!

[Kasey Kockroach 2,712]

Batman is 😴 after the opening. All bones and no meat!

 

 

[Xander Harris 9,528]