I can't say I ever cared much for the original Battlestar Galactica; it seemed to pilfer the hardware and some of the look of the original Star Wars, but turned the human drama into TV camp. Needless to say, the original series didn't last long. Rumours of a new series or feature film have been floated for years, but finally it came to fruition as a miniseries. In an age when television acting and production values can easily equal those for features, this seems a good solution. From what I've seen, it's extremely well made and avoids most of the pitfalls of the original. Evidently the producers have diligently avoided the larger than life heroes and villains approach, something that shows in the score. Richard Gibbs hasn't quite hit the upper echelons of film composers, but has written for an impressive array of decent flicks (albeit mainly comedies of one sort or another), notably 28 Days, Doctor Dolittle and Queen of the Damned, the latter leading him to Galactica.

Stu Philips' score for the original TV movie pilot has been re-recorded by Varese and an anthology of music from the series is something of a collectible. However, in keeping with the sleeker, grittier approach, Gibbs eschews the faux Williams of the original in favour of an edgy, percussion driven score. In his liner note, Gibbs makes pains to point out that he attempted to disguise any kind of ethnic dimension in the choice of drums and while there are some hints of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the writing, Gibbs is true to his word and diligently avoids any specific far eastern sound. That the drawn out string textures use very modern, western harmonies ensures the locality is neutral. Almost all of the battle sequences are scored with various combinations of percussion and sustained string textures. This works for the short, sharp shock sequences, but the more extended Battle towards the end goes become a little tiresome. Only when the rest of the orchestra chimes in toward the end does it become interesting again.

Perhaps the score's most pleasing parts are those that underscore the human drama. It's usually these passages in sci-fi scores that are the token quiet moments between the action, but here the combination of female vocals and strings is slightly mysterious, but extremely engaging. As if to link it to the action, Gibbs often underlines these sections with the odd bit of percussion and thus gives the entire score an organic construction where everything somehow relates to everything else. Unfortunately, this becomes a little bit of an achilles heel as after over an hour, the level of variety doesn't always warrant such a generous release. It's not so much that it's repetitive outright, but, because each track is so closely derived or echoed by the others, one eventually starts to yearn for a change in timbre and perhaps just a bit more of the orchestra. The latter is clearly on display in the terrific opening track, but a little more brass or woodwind here and there wouldn't have gone a miss. Still, a cool and elegant take on the space opera score and with plenty of fine moments to make it recommendable.

Rating ~

1. Are You Alive? - Battlestar Galactica Main Title (5:28)
2. Goodbye, Baby (2:24)
3. Starbuck Buck Buck (1:49)
4. To Kiss or Not to Kiss (2:42)
5. Six Sex (1:48)
6. Deep Sixed (1:59)
7. The Day Comes (1:08)
8. Counterattack (2:40)
9. Cylons Fire (1:34)
10. A Call to Arms (1:03)
11. Apollo to the Rescue (1:56)
12. Launch Vipers (4:26)
13. Seal the Bulkheads (2:10)
14. The Lottery Ticket (3:06)
15. Eighty Five Dead (1:23)
16. Inbound (1:23)
17. Apollo is Gone - Starbuck Returns (2:19)
18. The Storm and The Dead (2:40)
19. Thousands Left Behind (2:09)
20. Silica Pathways (3:32)
21. Reunited (1:56)
22. The Sense of Six (3:01)
23. Starbuck's Recon (1:11)
24. Battle (7:40)
25. Good Night (2:38)
26. By Your Command (1:56)

Total Time ~ 68:24