listen long and prosper

Do you remember the background music when Captain Kirk first faces the Gorn? Or when he and Spock go at it with Lurpas? How about when he almost found himself in a fast draw with Morgan Earp? If you're a Star Trek fan -- or even if you're not -- you're probably familiar with the music. You may not know exactly which piece plays when, but it probably brings the show to mind.

Now, you can listen to these -- and other Star Trekian musical gems to your heart's content. The Wall Street Journal reports that La-La Land Recotrds has just released a fifteen-volume set of CDs featuring all the music from the original series. The WSJ reported described it better than I could (I wish I could write like this):

Even non-Trekkies will likely recognize some of the more memorable passages—like the tyrannical horn motif of the treacherous Romulans in the episode "Balance of Terror." Or the screaming trumpet threat of the mindless, planet-destroying berserker in "The Doomsday Machine."

Now, not all Star Trek music was brass-heavy and foreboding like the pieces cited above. There were the playful bits, like when Kirk and Spock are caught stealing clothes back in the 1930's, or when Scotty drinks an alien (from the Andromeda galaxy) under the table. Whatever good and bad there was in that show, the soundtrack music was arguably the best in television.

The downside to this is that the CD set is priced at $225, which places it out of the realm of impulse purchases. I suspect that the good folks at La-La Land are simply taking advantage of Trekkies. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- I believe in the free market, and recognize that we don't have any kind of fundamental right to cheap Star Trek music. But I won't be buying this collection unless the price comes down a lot. No matter how much they begs.

Ahhh ahhh ahhh. Bitter dregs.

another word on soundtracks

So, one of my kids is watching the movie, Paul, on the internet. And I hear it beginning to the strains of the new wave song, "Another Girl, Another Planet." And recently I was in the room when someone started watching Bad Teacher on DVD. That movie opens with Rockpile's "Teacher Teacher." In both cases, hearing this made me want to watch the movie. Never mind that I have both songs on CD, and otherwise had no interest in seeing the movie. Somehow, though, the inclusion of a song I like tells my brain that I'll like the movie. Even if I won't.

It reminds me how, two years ago, I was looking on Youtibe for Wreckless Eric videos, and found a scene from Stranger Than Fiction, in which Will Ferrell picks up a guitar in his date's apartment and starts singing "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World." Video follows:

I remember seeing that, and my estimation of the movie shot up. I still haven't bothered seeing it, but still...