Tuesday 5 July 2011

Pulp sounds (4)

The slow wander after a soundtrack to gaming goes on. Here's another piece which manages mystery and militarism, but which doesn't seem limited to any one genre despite being part of a well-known sci-fi score, to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Interesting film, and interesting that it seems to grow in the memory over time. Star Trek is a funny old thing. I wrote a recent post here on the radical in the franchise, and later read this enjoyable post at The Secret Sun with a different focus. It goes deep.

I'm pretty sure there was discussion of The Wrath of Khan somewhere else recently as well, but I can't remember the place. Damien G. Walter mentioned it today too.

Inspired by the film, a response to Jennie's Expansion Joints this week. The idea is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this time the word is free. For some discussion of the nature of stories and how short they can be see the last post here .

Free! But free's a crowd, of choices...
We strike out; by our decisions close caskets.

If you write your own 15-worder, you can leave it or link to it here. And have a listen.
_

9 comments:

Bartender said...

I feel sorry for the blokes at my local GW. They have to endure the soundtrack of the dark knight and lord of the rings on loop all Saturday!

??? said...

We listened to the Sleepy Hollow soundtrack countless times while playing Vampire and it does fit well, but we overdid it. The GM of my 7th Sea round played the Hook soundtrack last time and that was awesome (and none of us had any idea that it was Hook).

Khan was a great villain. One of the few memorable ones in the classic series for me. Plus Ricardo Montalban was seriously hot, even at 62.

Laughing Ferret said...

Interesting 15-word story idea.. so here's what I came up with:

Steel doors close behind me. But freedom is illusion everywhere man has power over man.

Porky said...

@ Bartender - Most definitely agreed. The same goes for any shop or other workplace where there's looped sound. It would be rough having to sit through the same thing daily, let alone more than once a shift. What might that do to the mind?

@ Jedediah - I don't remember the Hook soundtrack, but I do have fond memories of some of the ideas in the movie. I'll go seek it out. Based on your past recommendations, if you like it, I will.

@ Laughing Ferret - Superb. I haven't linked mine up at Jennie's yet, but I'll head over now and make sure there's mention of yours too. Jennie posts a new challenge every week, usually on Sunday. Also, you might like Flash Fearsday on Thursdays at Lunching on Lamias.

Anonymous said...

The score to Aliens bears a lot of similarity to that of Wrath of Khan.

James Horner (who wrote them both) was under huge time pressure when writing the Aliens soundtrack, due to James Camerons down-to-the-wire editing.

Horner mentioned on the Aliens DVD extra that he recycled elements from his earlier works to score Aliens. When I watched the two movies within a week of each other recently it was obvious that he borrowed a lot from WoK for Aliens.

So if you like one then you may well like the other.

The Happy Whisk said...

I enjoy soundtracks. Loved Wrath of Kahn. Cried my eyes out at the end, of course. Spoke is my favorite of all.

Have a groovy day, Porky. Hope you get a lot done and it goes fast. I'm headed offline in a few to get more sewing done.

10K is ten kilometers. It's a nice reward if I get the relaunch done in time.

Cheers.

Trey said...

What sho3box mentions is sort of a problem with Horner. His Troy soundtrack retreads some old ground, too, and it was another rush job.

Porky said...

@ sho3box - I had no idea about that, but I have just listened to bits and pieces of the Aliens soundtrack and I can hear what you mean. How much of it is the power of suggestion I don't know, but I haven't watched the movie right through for a while and if I do soon, I'll certainly keep an ear out.

@ The Happy Whisk - Lack of imagination on my part. I should have guessed it was distance. It's been a busy couple of days, but groovy in their own way. I hope for you too.

@ Trey - I find soundtracks in general can get a little samey, but that's a problem that goes far wider of course. Troy's another one of the many I've never seen, but ideally will one day. I just can't keep up..!

The Happy Whisk said...

Haven't been bad days for me, but I haven't finished all my assignments for the week. No 10K until I do.

Bummer, but come reward time, I'll really have fun with it.

Happy Weekend.