My affinity for Doctor Who has to be well-known at this point in time, but there is another Brit series that really floats my boat these days. Coincidentally, or more likely not, both shows are currently headed by the same mad genius, Steven Moffat.

Sherlock co-stars one of my favorite british actors, Martin Freeman, and introduced me to the wonder that is Benedict Cumberbatch. But the show has another secret weapon that I am excited to dig into today, a wonderful score by David Arnold and Michael Price.

The name David Arnold should ring a few bells for a few of you, he is most well-known for his many recent James Bond scores, in fact he the second most frequent Bond composer right after the legend, John Barry. Aside from Bong, Arnold also has several other geek cred credits, most notably writing the scores to Independence Day and Startgate.

There are a few certainties in life, death, taxes and a Danny Elfman score for the next Tim Burton movie. Their creative collaborations have always been among the high points of each new Burton film, even if sometimes the music can sound overly familiar.

In recent years the Elfman music associated with the last few Burton films has been quite exceptional. Elfman’s ‘Burton’ style has been perfected to the point that it sounds effortless. So of course we are excited to hear what Elfman has in store for Dark Shadows in a few weeks.

Well, wait no more, says Warner Bros. as they have put a very expanded preview of the score up on their official website. On the site you will get a full minute and a half of each track, which is more than enough to get a really good sense for what type of music we have in store for us.

Having listened to the expanded preview, I can happily report that this score does not seem to disappoint. The trailers for the movie suggest the film has a bit of a goofy tone, but for the musics part it is all dark and moody. The likely juxtaposition between the music and the tone of the movie feels very right considering the filmmakers involved.

So go check out the expanded preview now and be on the look out for a full review here on The Flickcast when the film is released in early May.

For several years now the modern iteration of Doctor Who has been a high water mark for genre television. Upping the ante with incredible writing, good budget effects and a group of actors that would put most prime time line-ups to shame.

Among this mountain of quality is also the superb musical scores Murray Gold has written for the series since it returned in 2005. The Doctor has always had one of the best themes in the history of television, but what Gold has been able to do is add so much life to the show by crafting complex themes and ideas that span across entire eras of the show.

The last two seasons have been the era of Moffat and Smith, who together have reformed the show into a stylistically very different beast than the Russel Davies run. Massive credit to Mr. Gold who has adapted to this new stylistic direction to write some of the best music of the show’s long and storied history.

So we come to the sixth series, the most recent and thus far most ambitious soundtrack yet. Series Six is a season dominated by answering very large and very important questions that have been presented over the course of the last few years. The season was also split down the middle which gives it a really great pace and flow.

The Dark Knight Rises is one of the most anticipated movies of the year for many reasons, one such reason is the new score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. The previous movie had one of the more subtle, complex and ultimately effective scores for any Super Hero movie ever, so of course anticipation is high for this installment’s music.

While we wait on the upcoming score to be released it can be fun to reflect back on what has come before. A recent YouTube video has popped up with some very interesting revelations about the inspiration for one of the more memorable musical moments from the last film. It appears as if the track ‘Why So Serious’ bears more than a passing resemblance to the score of an early 80’s French film.

Now most people will use this as yet another moment to stand on a pedestal and try to tear down Zimmer as a plagiarizer. Hans Zimmer has a reputation of taking music from his previous films and re-purposing them in future movies, just take a listen to some of the action music in Rango and you will hear more than a little Pirates of the Caribbean.

The third score from this year’s Golden Globe nominated set that I have the pleasure to review is from The Artist. The film is an interesting one, a silent film shot in black and white, set during Hollywood’s golden age. The film goes through great lengths to simulate the style of films the movie is about, and one of it’s biggest assets is it’s score.

Musically this could have come right out of the late 20s, it has a timeless quality, that allows it to feel fresh at the same time it transports you back to film music of a long passed era. Silent films used to rely heavily on music to help convey emotion, and as a result the music would often tell you as much of a story as the pictures did. It is exciting to hear that style of music in cinema again.

There is also a tremendous positivity abound in the music. Ludovic Bource has crafted a musical composition that damn near forces you to smile. One of the things that we too often hear these days is dark, monotone notes played for a mildly uncomfortable effect. This score excels at the exact opposite, and is incredibly fun.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home remains one of the most popular Star Trek films, and is often considered the biggest hit of the original crew’s cinematic run. The movie is certainly the oddest of the bunch and adding to the goofier tone of the film is Leonard Rosenman’s score.

The score is usually sited as one of the weaker elements of the film, but that is an opinion born mostly from one or two very unfortunate cues that made it into the movie. The score as a whole is very good and the movie features one of the best main theme’s written for any of the films.

The wonderful folks at Intrada thankfully see it that way too because they have just announced the release of the complete score for Star Trek IV.

“Intrada ends 2011 with one last major release – the complete Leonard Rosenman score to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The second film in the series under the helm of director Leonard Nimoy, Nimoy choose a lighter approach to this outing and injected liberal amounts of well-placed humor.  For this fourth entry, Nimoy introduced another element he had wanted to bring on board earlier in the series: the music of Leonard Rosenman. Rosenman’s Star Trek IV music bears the hallmarks of the composer’s distinctive style: vaulting brass figures, complex textural passages, thumping suspense motives. The main theme—and also Kirk’s theme—is upbeat, heraldic and heroic, its optimistic flavor cutting a different path than the other scores in the series.”

Video game composing is fast becoming a significant player in the entertainment scoring world. As games become increasingly cinematic we are seeing more opportunities for the composers of these projects to get more recognition and exposure. The best example of this is Oscar winning composer Micheal Giacchino who first turned heads with music from the Medal of Honor series.

Aside from the changing perception of video game soundtracks, I also wanted to give this score a listen because Batman has long had an amazing history with film and TV music. Dating all the way back to the Adam West series, the music associated with the Bat has been an eclectic mix of styles and sounds that seem to all work perfectly with the capped crusader. So does the new video game live up to those lofty standards? Do we have another worthy addition to the Bat-Music pantheon?

The first thing you will notice about the soundtrack is that it is front loaded with songs, these are the “big draw”, but not what I am interested in. We will come back to these later. The score portion of the soundtrack begins about halfway down the track list. The music is written by Nick Arundel who has some video game experience, but not many listed credits I can find. Hopfully the high profile nature of this game and the quality of his music will change that.

Drive is an interesting film. I have not seen it yet, but I can tell that by its trailers, promotional one-sheets and now its score. The music strikes a very interesting tone that fits in with the minimalistic, and down right retro style we have seen from the movie thus far.

The film features a score by Cliff Martinez, an early Steven Soderbergh collaborator who has since developed an interesting filmography. The Martinez portion of this score is pretty solid across the board. I enjoy the retro, almost electronic sound the score boasts.

It is almost like a minimalist version of the Tron: Legacy score, My only reservation of his music is that it is pretty one note. I don’t know that I could pick one track from another if I wasn’t looking at a track list.

The other major portion of this soundtrack is a selection of tracks by several different artists. This portion of the sound track was very enjoyable during the first couple tracks, but became mildly repetitive as it moved along. Really shining a light on the real problem on this who soundtrack, repetitiveness. I love the general sonic landscape this score is selling, but as an album I don’t know if it stands well on it’s own.

Silva Screen records has done a wonderful job in recent years of putting out “best of” releases of music by absolutely legendary composers. The latest addition to this library are two new releases showcasing a living legend and a modern master, James Horner and Hans Zimmer. The Horner collection is an update to Silva’s original release, adding in some of his more recent scores, Avatar and The Karate Kid, while the Zimmer collection is a second volume focusing mainly on his work in the 2000’s.

These collections are particularly intriguing to film score fans as all of the music is performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The tracks on these albums are new recordings that are arranged for the Orchestra, essentially creating “covers” of the classic musical pieces we have come to know and love.

Like pop or rock songs, covers can be a mixed bad. Sometimes a new perspective on a song can take it from good to amazing, while other times the magic can be lost in translation.

Thankfully, The City of Prague Philharmonic has a long history of successful re-recordings of classic music and these sets are more proof of their ability to recapture the soul of the music they play. While it isn’t all perfect, there are several tracks that they might have even improved with their new renditions.

The fine folks over at La La Land Records recently released a fantastic 3-disc collection of music from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Focusing on the music of Dennis McCarthy, Jay Chattaway and a few choice guest composers, the set features the music of some all time classic episodes. You can check out are full review on this week’s film score friday, but right now you have the opportunity to win a copy of this limited edition set.

All you have to do is follow us on twitter @TheFlickcast and @reply us with your favorite Starfleet captain and why. Now that covers a wide array of captains from the movies, TV shows,even the books, comics and video games is fair game so don’t hold back.

After this weekend we will take all the responses and pick the winner, good luck!

Here at Comic-Con in San Diego La La Land Records just released a brand new limited edition 3-disc set featuring music from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The set looks fantastic, and I for one can’t wait to sit down with it after the show.

But now the masterminds at La La are already thinking about their next Trek TV release.

“We plan on definitely doing at least one more volume of this, we have left overs from this. And Deep Space Nine will probably come next,” says MV Gerhard of La La Land Records.

“Of all the shows, I think that was probably the best of the series, of the new stuff, and also very neglected in previous release”

So provided the sales for the first Star Trek set are good, and so far they are looking that way, we should be looking at a Deep Space Nine set next. This is particularly exciting news for fans of the series who have long clamored for a release of the stellar music composed for Deep Space Nine.

The Trek TV fun might not even stop there, with all of the Trek shows on La La Land’s radar we could be seeing sets like these coming out for a while, and it wont be just Trekkies that benefit from that.

This is going to be a very difficult review. There is some splendid music on the album, and it plays well within the context of the film.

Ah, but it isn’t that easy, this isn’t just some film. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 is the final chapter in a generational defining cultural goliath, for over a decade the story of the boy who lived has captivated the world. The score as it plays in the film is enhanced by cues from the past, making the music in this movie a more complex, and ultimately satisfying, adventure.

Alexandre Desplat had a very difficult task when he came on board for the final two movies. The series started on the strength of the maestro, John Williams, who wrote amazing themes that stand up to this day.

Then came Patrick Doyle and Nicholas Hooper who both valiantly contributed to the franchise, but even then those talented composers came under fire for not having the same magical quality of Williams. Desplat brings the biggest pedigree since Williams left and brought with him huge expectations for an epic sound, does he deliver in the climax?