Battlestar Galactica - Season One

Composed by Bear McCreary

01 - Prologue (0:38)

02 - Main Title (U.S. Version) (1:02)

03 - Helo Chase (1:29)

04 - The Olympic Carrier (5:39)

05 - Helo Rescued (0:59)

06 - A Good Lighter (1:52)

07 - The Thousandth Landing (3:04)

08 - Two Funerals (3:22)

09 - Starback Takes on All Eight (3:44)

10 - Forgiven (1:28)

11 - The Card Game (3:01)

12 - Starbuck on the Red Moon (1:58)

13 - Helo in the Warehouse (1:59)

14 - Baltar Speaks With Adama (1:52)

15 - Two Boomers (1:46)

16 - Battlestar Operatica (2:33)

17 - The Dinner Party (3:12)

18 - Battlestar Muzaktica (1:41)

19 - Baltar Panics (1:44)

20 - Boomer Flees (1:14)

21 - Flesh and Bone (4:04)

22 - Battle on the Asteroid (6:50)

23 - Wander My Friends (2:55)

24 - Passacaglia (5:13)

25 - Kobol's Last Gleaming (2:47)

26 - Destiny (4:42)

27 - The Shape of Things to Come (2:53)

28 - Bloodshed (1:46)

29 - Re-Cap (0:34)

30 - Main Title (U.K. Version) (1:06)

Additional Music by Richard Gibbs

Produced by Bear McCreary, Steve Kaplan,

                       and Ford A. Thaxton

Released by La-La Land Records on June 21st, 2005

Total Running Time: 78:33

     When I first read the leaked script for the new Battlestar Galactica mini-series, I saw this being a complete disaster and a move that the Sci-Fi Channel and all of those involved would come to regret. I am actually happy to say that I have completely reversed that opinion. When I finally saw the mini-series I felt that it was far better than I had imagined it would be, and I was interested in seeing where the series would go. And hey, for this first season, there was no way I was going to miss an episode after I got into it. The new Battlestar Galactica series, along with 24, were the two shows that I watched religiously week after week, and I’m anxiously looking forward to the beginning of the second season in July, especially after the cliffhanger they left us with at the conclusion of the final episode in season one.

     With the approach being to take the “space opera” genre and turn it on its head, it’s no wonder that Richard Gibb’s score to the mini-series would also do the same, eschewing the large orchestral “Star Wars” approach into something more visceral. It generally worked, through with mixed results. I think that the opening cue is tremendous and it’s one I keep listening to. The battle cues were definitely not for album consumption as they are mostly percussion-based. They work well with the visuals, but not so much when you have no context for them.

     I gave this mini-review of Gibb’s score to the mini-series as a jumping-off point for an overall look at the first season’s music. Gibbs stayed on long enough to compose a few additional cues before handing the primary duties over to his protégé, Bear McCreary. For the most part, McCreary handles the transition invisibly, which adds a nice layer of consistency. Primarily, Battlestar Galactica is filled with a style resembling Middle-Eastern type music, which definitely gives it an off-kilter feel. Sometimes it gets a little to close to Stargate musings for my liking, but McCreary manages to pull it off for the most part. Where McCreary departs from the mini-series is with his stylistic wanderings that can go from the Middle-Eastern vibe to Celtic, Italian opera, and even some conventional moments. These departures are rather hard to stomach as they turn so hard to the left or right that it can leave this album feeling disjointed at times. It’s a primarily consistent affair, but near the middle to last third of the album where these cues appear, things start to fall apart somewhat.

     The percussion battle moments are still a major part of this series, though these moments are thankfully left to nothing more than what would amount to a sample of their occurrence in the show. It is the character moments that find their cues the primary focus of the album, and it is better off for it. Still, the main stylistic focus of this music is so off the beaten path, than many who have not experienced it within the show might not be able to connect with this album. I for one find such cues as the “Prologue” bit to be quite interesting and would have loved to have more of this style present. I was hoping that the mini-series theme would have found its way on the show as the U.K. theme (for some reason the opening title theme is different on both sides of the Atlantic), but the U.K. theme is basically the same in construction as the American version, with the main difference being a choral based approach in the beginning (aside from the wailing that the American version has).
     Fans of this show will enjoy the album for what it is, but for those who didn’t both to watch the new series may find themselves at a loss as to what it’s all about. For these, it may be worth it to look to the more conventional work of Stu Philips for their enjoyment of a score from the Battlestar Galactica universe.    

See Also