7. Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks:

Aside from the original soundtrack, which plays in full, we found and added quite a bit to this one.  The first curio is “Trailer,” which is, I think, what I scored for the theatrical trailer way before the score was recorded.  Listening to it now, I’m a bit surprised that I got away with such nutty music for a coming attraction. Of course, those days are long gone…. Why this cue has no ending is something of a mystery, but my guess is that we also recorded an early “trial” version of the “Main Titles” and figured the end would come from that. And of course, it’s possible that I’m imagining all of this.

Other oddities and highlights might be the “stirring” music written to accompany the President’s emotional plea for brotherhood in “Final Address”; the “Invasion,” which I really like and have no idea why I didn’t put it on the original soundtrack, but then I would happily take that Martian theme (from the “Main Titles”) and do dozens of variations on it or turn it into a symphony given the chance. There’s the intensity of “Boy Scout Jamboree” (what could be more terrifying than a boy scout jamboree?). And then there’s my favorite, “Ungodly Experiments (alternate version).”  I wrote a number of these, and Tim and I had a hard time choosing which one would ultimately play in the film . And finally, “The Landing (extended film version),” which has been restored to its glorious—or headache-inducing—8:56.

 I close this disc with the previously mentioned unused early version of “Main Title.”

—DE