Search - Richard Gibbs :: Battlestar Galactica

Diehard original series fans won't want to read this.

Eric Weaver | Vancouver, BC, Canada | 02/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The new Battlestar Galactica series on SciFi Network has radically "re-imagined" the original, upbeat 1978 cult series as seen through more jaded, post-9/11 eyes...and it works. The series is dark and melancholy - a moving story that plays upon the emotions of loss, defeat, and hope, and even moreso through its music.



The new score by Oingo Boingo's Richard Gibbs reflects this tone through a minimalistic score meant to pull at the heartstrings rather than make you salute the Colonial Fleet. With its Middle-Eastern chord progressions and vocals, distant ambient sounds and sparse percussive sequences, the individual pieces set moods and play to emotions, and do so masterfully.



Old-school BSG fans who (as I did at the tender age of 17) want to regale to the shiny happy 1978 version may find this new series difficult to connect with, since it combines bits and pieces of the original story with some very radical and interesting departures. I suspect this will impact listeners' interest in the soundtrack as well. That disco-era space opera feeling is nowhere to be found in the series, nor in the new soundtrack.



If you long for triumphant, feel-good trumpet lines, go buy an Aaron Copland CD. In producer Ron Moore's universe, however, the human race is nearly extinct. That calls for a minimalistic, tense, and melancholy score. For listeners who are looking for moving, emotive and ambient washes that reinforce this 2005-era remake: this is a great CD.



- weave"

Pretty good, for a TV score

Bryant Burnette | Tuscaloosa, AL | 01/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Television scores are a notoriously tricky genre. Often, even if they're great scores, they tend to be heavily reliant on synthesized sounds, and the scores can sound rather cheesy when put onto a CD by their lonesome. This is true not merely for sci-fi television, but for television in general.



Richard Gibbs' score for the "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries isn't necessarily one of the best scores in the history of the world, but it is definitely a good one. It's a minimalist composition, in some ways, and if you want a couple of similar scores offered up, here goes: the remake of "Solaris" for one, and "The Ice Storm" for another. The music isn't very similar to those scores, but some of the instrumentation is.



As for comparing this score to Stu Phillips' music for the original... why would you do that? This is, like the miniseries itself, something new. It's good, too: bold and daring, even.



In other words, it ain't the same old thing you always hear on this type of show. I, for one, am glad of it."

Great and well suited to the excellent new show

Seanmoon | New Jersey | 01/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please don't listen to the people who can't get beyond the original series. Yes, I too loved that series--when I was 12. This new series is more thoughtful, with better writing, direction, and infinitely better production values. The new soundtrack is correspondingly updated, as well. It's great: non intrustive and atmospheric at times, and extremely tense and driving at others. It's great soundtrack for a great reimagining of the series."