h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I actually put each of your numbers down as contributors so that you can simply put down your comments on each song as you feel like it and then later I can organise them and turn them into quotations, use the 3rd person POV, etc.

If you folks would prefer me to move it back here, though, then that's fine with me!

-Lucrecia

Unfortunatrly only you can edit the page we are jsut contributing writers if that is what you thought that would do.

Here's a challenge for people who think that three of the listed theme tunes are so distinctive... (note: this IS possible, but it's harder than you think)

1. Hum/lala/sing whatever the theme tune to Star Wars.
2. Now do the theme to Raiders of the Lost Ark (it's with a "k", btw)
3. Now do the same with the theme to Superman.

Not as easy as it sounds...

Is the X Files on the list?

H.

Hey, sorry guys. I'm moving it back to collaborative workshop now... My bad...

PS: Hoovaloo, good suggestion with the X-Files. And, yes, I can hum all three themes you listed! But then again I'm a huge fan of all three movies, so what ya gonna do?

Sorry about the mix up!

-Lucrecia

Oh, one other suggestion - The Prisoner.

H.

I'm assuming you meant to put Bossel's researcher number into the researcher list rather than the GR Manoeuvre... seeing as this is the first time it has posted here and has contributed nothing to the Entry... I'm going to remove it from the list... and perhaps you could put Bossel's U-number up instead Wouldn't want him to miss out on being credited, would we?

Caper Plip

Sorry about that! Consider it done! (Must have mistyped Bossel's #)

And I'm adding the Prisoner... That's the show with the opening "I'm not a number... I'm a free man!" right?

-Lucrecia

A744897

That's the one. Theme music by Ron Grainer, the man who wrote the theme to Dr. Who.

H.

Ron Grainer deserves an entry of his own

Not only did he write Doctor Who (ably arranged by radiophonics innovators Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills), he was also the man behind Steptoe and Son (the theme tune was very clunky and sounded just like an old rag and bone cart, which suited the junkyard setting of the show perfectly) and Man in a Suitcase, a jangly bit of sixties jazz for the all-but-forgotten detective series of the same name - DJ Chris Evans reused the music for his TFI Friday show.

Another Doctor Who musician, Dudley Simpson, wrote the eery Tomorrow People theme with its timpany drum-roll leading into a very pacey synth theme. It's recently been reused on a game show on Channel 5.

Grange Hill - the music's called something like 'Chicken Walk', and it was used on Grange Hill until the mid-1980s (they probably ditched it because the gameshow 'Give Us A Clue' used a different arrangement of the same theme).


Just a couple of corrections to previous posts - Twin Peaks was made in 1990, not 1980, and the show that Lucinda mentioned is Trigger Happy TV - not Happy Trigger, as listed on the entry.

This should be a fun one - it'll generate lots of discussion when it's finished

Jims

OK, Jimster, I like Dr. Who and The Prisoner too, but your knowledge is sick, wrong and distrubing.

wow.

I hope you had to look SOME of that stuff up!
Whew. . .

Friar


(although I knew about the Twin Peaks bit too, but did it premier in '90 in the UK, but '89 in the US or am I off).

I'm proud to say that was all out of my head. Want an expansive knowledge of useless trivia? I'm ya man.

Want someone practical in a crisis, who can fix things like cars or put up shelves? That's my dad you'll be after as I'm an airhead with anything *useful*

Twin Peaks was aired in the spring of 1990 in the States, coming to the UK in the autumn of the same year.

Oh, and you *have* to have Starsky and Hutch, with their '70s wahwah guitars and big brassy jazz sound - the James Taylor Quartet (JTQ) do a superb funked up version of it.

Starsky and Hutch.... Done!

-L.

The University Project Reminded me of this one: Star Wars: Episode 1's "Duel of the Fates"

-Lucrecia

Okay, everything's in GuideMl. If you guys could give me some "quotable" stuff that I can put in there. And BTW: I know that the intro is hokey, but I'm off to the second half of a double shift I'm pulling tonight, so I don't have time to do much more... I just wanted to get it out of first person!

As quickly as you guys can get me your quotes (especially for the songs I've never heard like Dr. Who, Twin Peaks, etc) the sooner we can all send this to the Peer Review!

Excitedly,
Lucrecia

Jaws:
The eerie twinkle of bass. The main theme sounds as if something is lurking in the water. In the movie the theme is always there, like the shark. Sometimes it will crescendo with the action, but more often it's just out there. . .lurking. Still very creepy.

Star Wars:
This is classic John Williams. Trumpets blaring, sounding all heroic. Even more impressive is the number of musical themes from the movies that are familiar. The Imperial March. . .The cantina song. They are all classics, but one's blood really gets going when the main theme plays as Luke swings with Leia across the chasm.

Friar

Thanks Friar! A wonderful way to get the ball rolling!

-Lucrecia

Halloween:
That repetitive piano theme. Very haunting, but it keeps driving, really picking up the tension in the movie.

X-files:
Marc Snow had a tough job coming up with a supernatural theme that was still modern enough. The theme is pretty inderstated, but sounds so unlike anything else on television that it is still refreshing to hear.

Buffy:
The band that does the theme for Buffy is called the Nerf Herders Han Solo was called a "scruffy looking nerf herder" by Leia in the early part of Empire Strikes Back. The light-punk meets guitar rock is a great sound for high school kids from California. The quick pace of the song has been used very well by the show in its various opening credits, as they change frequently. The show has had some good and some very bad music come around in its run, but the theme song definately rocks.

Friar
ps. I'll shut up now and let others talk, but so many of these songs are great that it's hard to mention only a few.

I keep thinking of more great songs too:

Sound of Music: the hills are alive
Lord of the Rings: Let It Be (new movie, but great song)
Titanic: that nasty bit^h Celine, bit^h. . .I can't stand it, but it was distinctive, if only for its omnipresence.
Shaft: the main theme. . .yo' damn right! I'm a baaaaad {shut yo' mouth}

heh heh, I can go on all day!

Hey!

"Talking Point": Do you think that musicals should count for the purposes of this article? If so, that opens up a whole new category! ("Oklahoma", "Luck be a Lady" from Guys and Dolls, "Kids" from Bye, Bye Birdie, most of the songs from Les Miserable, etc.) My initial thought would be to say that musicals *by definition* have distinctive music, but if you guys think I should include them, then I suppose its okay by me... It'll create a lot of work, though...

the other three are a-ok though... I suppose it *really* proves that a song is distinctive if you really *hate* it, and yet it remains synonomous (<- spelling?) with the movie it comes from in your mind!

-Lucrecia

Do you think that a hightly opinionated piece like this will even be considered for the Edited Guide? Or should we simply submit it to the Alternative Guide area or what? I don't know... It seems about as subjective as the "Put Downs" article that recently graced the front page, but who knows? Any opinions?

And a note: Feel free to comment on any song, even those with a comment already on them! I want to get as many quotes and memories of these songs down as possible! (As you can see, I've already gone a little nuts...)

-Lucrecia

Collaborative entries like this one are a bit of a different breed, IMO.

Because they are a collective opinion, and you are quoting us in the article, those usually get by just fine!

Friar

BTW lucrecia I don't know if I ever told you what a great idea for a thread/article this was!