Whats this, another special edition of Film Score Friday? That’s right, with the massive summer season beginning in just a few short weeks I wanted to spend a little time now on a topic I have long wanted to write about, famous film composers who have written classic TV Themes.

Many famous film composers have taken their talents to the small screen, writing music for pilots or crafting original main themes. Unfortunately a lot of that really great work goes under valued in the overall catalog of these talented musicians. In this week’s Film Score Friday I aim to make up for some of that oversight, and spend some quality time focusing on some of the great TV work these renowned film composers have done.

-John Williams-

The best place to start is with the most famous of all film composers, John Williams. Back in his earliest days Williams, then known as Johnny, wrote music for TV shows. He did music for the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants, but his most famous early TV work was writing for Lost in Space.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is a classic show. Rated by many to be one of the greatest TV shows of all time, The Next Generation represents one of the high points for a decades old franchise that has captured the imagination of millions. The fine folks of at La La Land Records have taken it upon themselves to do this series justice by releasing a three disc collection of some of the best and under represented music from the show.

The set focuses on the work of Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway, each getting their own disc showcasing some of the best music they wrote for the show. The third disc, then, takes us through some of the better guest composers during the show’s run, with episodes scored by Fred Steiner, Don Davis and John Debney.

Most of what appears on this disc has never before been released, and honestly it is about time McCarthy and Chattaway got their due. Chattaway has been a Trek TV staple, writing music for some of the best episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. In fact, Chattaway is responsible for writing what may be the most poignant music ever to appear in a Trek TV series. Often referred to as the episode with Picard an a flute, The Inner Light was a high water mark for intelligent, though-provoking and emotionally moving sci-fi story telling, and the emotional core of the episode was Chattaway’s score. The music for this episode is one of the pleasures of this set, almost brining me to tears during the lullaby track, very moving stuff.

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!

Star Trek, as a franchise, has had an incredible history with music. Going back as far back as the original series, music has been a key element in the versatile series. La-La Land Records has put together a limited edition set of the some of the best music written for the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation, bringing more of the seminal music to the general public.

Star Trek: The Next Generation featured music by the likes of Dennis McCarthy, Don Davis, John Debney and Jay Chattaway, and represented some of the best TV music to come off late ’80s, early 90’s TV. The limited edition set features over three hours of previously unreleased music, and will be limited to 3000 units. The album will be sold exclusively at this year’s Comic-Con and will later become available through inline outlets starting August 2nd.

This release is another in a long line of interesting and exciting releases from La-La Land records who have consistently put together quality score releases. Hopefully the release of classic Star Trek TV music will sell well enough to encourage future releases of some of the later series. Deep Space Nine especially has some phenomenal music that few people seem to remember these days.