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

[Edmilson 12,379]

15 minutes ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

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

But this is so good!

 

 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,744]

I’m open to a revisit changing my mind, but Danny boy usually leaves me wanting to put on Horner’s Casper instead, or any Christopher Young horror score.

[Xander Harris 9,677]

I can appreciate appreciating Horner’s Casper as it’s one of the best scores ever. It’s an interesting case where he seemed perhaps influenced to compose a score similar to Edward Scissorhands and still delivered the greats. Frankly, Horner ripped off Elfman first with Honey I Shrunk the Kids and it’s rather shocking yet competent and always entertaining.

[mstrox 7,348]

Voted Mars Attacks.  I think the highs of Independence Day are much higher but there’s a lot of uninteresting dickin’ around on both the OST and the expansion.  With Mars Attacks, I feel entertained throughout.

[NL197 796]

FSM was all over that in the 90s, saying Horner channeled Elfman for Casper, but I always understood that to mean the gothic comedy aspect of the score, not the tender moments with choir.  

Interestingly, back in 2019 I had a chance to meet Horner's music editor Jim Henrikson, who commented on the similarities between Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and the 'Amarcord' quote (but he made no direct mention of the Raymond Scott 'Powerhouse' music when talking about it)

 

Henrikson said that it was director Joe Johnston's idea to use Amarcord and other music (but again, he didn't say 'Powerhouse') as temp and wanted Horner to follow it, and Horner's response was basically 'if you want me to do this you have to clear it' and left that to the higher-ups to sort out when he wrote the score. 

 

Henrikson went on to say that legal complications happened, when WB filed legal complaints at Disney for copying Elfman's music from 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure', but given 'Powerhouse' was also a known licensed-by-WB staple of their mad scientist cartoon riff you'd hear in Bugs Bunny cartoons for many years, even up to the 90s with Tiny Toon Adventures (remember that and Animaniacs?) it would be safe to assume they probably launched a complaint about that one as well, but outside of FSM magazine and an old Raymond Scott website, which I don't know if that one was official or not, there's never been any documented proof of Disney (not Horner, Disney) being sued for using either of those sources of music. 

As we know, Amarcord was credited in the film's end credit scroll, while Powerhouse was not (and of course neither was Elfman's score for Pee Wee)

[Mr. Hooper 8,958]

4 hours ago, Edmilson said:

But this is so good!

 

 

This is all kinds of awesome.

 

What's that sound at 3:04? The horn of a runaway train?

[filmmusic 3,270]

1 hour ago, Mr. Hooper said:

What's that sound at 3:04? The horn of a runaway train?

Haha. Hadn't ever noticed that!

Of course my favorite is Batman Returns, and I know that score much better.

[Richard P 5,304]

16 hours ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

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

 

Young would've had a lot of fun, for sure.

 

But it's still a lone wolf for me - it's probably the only Elfman score I'll ever wanted expanded, although I've never paid much attention to the music in the original MIB besides the really cool opening and the ending cue. If somene ever expands it, I would give the samples a fair chance.

 

I simply saw the film (SH) at exactly the right time, formatively, and loved the score more than I did the actual film. Unfortunately, that was also when it became clear that I notice mixes and instrumentation very closely, and this score is an epic mess of mixing, alternates, and performance differences. What a difference an isolated score on the DVD would've made...

[Edmilson 12,379]

You know why Christopher Young didn't score Sleepy Hollow? It's because Sleepy Hollow is a good movie.

 

When Chris Young is hired for a movie, there's a 99.5% probability that said movie is utter crap 

 

Spoiler

And I say this as a CY fan.

 

[filmmusic 3,270]

45 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

You know why Christopher Young didn't score Sleepy Hollow? It's because Sleepy Hollow is a good movie.

Why there would be any chance for Young to score the film? It's a Tim Burton film. 

[gbatfatf 109]

[Edmilson 12,379]

On 11/04/2026 at 2:02 AM, filmmusic said:

Why there would be any chance for Young to score the film? It's a Tim Burton film. 

That Superman gif was created specifically for you huh 

[Jill Sandwich 11,170]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

That Superman gif was created specifically for you huh 

 

His confused face reactions are the most predictable thing on this forum. Sometimes I like to set up the most outlandish posts just to attract his confused reactions.

[Mr. Hooper 8,958]

1 hour ago, Jill Sandwich said:

His confused face reactions are the most predictable thing on this forum. Sometimes I like to set up the most outlandish posts just to attract his confused reactions.

(Let's try with a statement I found in the YouTube comments section...)

 

Most people don't know this but John Williams was raised by sparrows in an asparagus forest.

[Jill Sandwich 11,170]

Sounds like something Philip K. Dick would write.

[GerateWohl 6,496]

On 11/04/2026 at 6:16 AM, Edmilson said:

When Chris Young is hired for a movie, there's a 99.5% probability that said movie is utter crap 

Hellraiser, Murder In The First, Copycat, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Entrapment, The Shipping News, Bandits, Wonder Boys, etc. ... and The Fly II is better than its reputation, I say.

 

His record isn't that bad. 99.5% is far too high.