rom the original Star Trek through ill-fated projects like Genesis II and The Questor Tapes to the posthumously produced Earth: Final Conflict, Gene Roddenberry's television legacy is brimming with science-fiction tales that emphasize exploration, excitement and, to a great extent, experimentation. The syndicated TV series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda is no exception, mixing outer-space exploits with engaging characters and provocative plots. Of course, such escapades require an appropriately stimulating and suspenseful soundtrack, and a fresh CD showcasing more than two dozen cues from the program spotlights a respectable range of energetic and emotional tunes.
Alex Lifeson, guitarist for the legendary rock band Rush, performs the first selection, "Season One Main Title (March of the High Guard)," an aggressive, martial piece that occasionally reappears, in altered forms, within subsequent cuts like "Andromeda Ascendant." "High Guard Theme (Season Two Main Title)" immediately follows that hard-hitting number, offering a slightly softer yet still grand melody based upon the motif for Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo), the show's main character. Compositions such as "Nietzschean Attack," "Dangerous Maneuvers" and "Mad Pursuit" highlight the tense tones that augment the program's more action-oriented scenes, while other tracks draw together various arrangements of leitmotifs for important individuals, including "Beka Valentine," "The Rev Bem Wayist Theme," "Trance Gemini" and, of course, "Dylan Hunt."
With the exception of Lifeson's lone contribution, the 25 cues on the collection are all written and played by Matthew McCauley, who also provides a few words about each work in the eight-page booklet that accompanies the disc. Additionally, the liner notes contain a brief commentary from executive producer Allan Eastman, plus more than 20 photos featuring the show's colorful cast.
Tunes that are often trite and trivial
Budgetary considerations play an important role in determining the overall quality of any television series, but they're especially significant on syndicated programs. One of the myriad ways that producers can cut expenses is to commission a synthesized score, since contracting a live orchestra is generally time-consuming and expensive. With the right composer, such a setup can result in music that's equally as thrilling as that played by a full-scale ensemble. Unfortunately, that isn't the case
here. While McCauley's artificial Andromeda arias are invariably expressive, his tunes are also consistently mediocre and, in many respects, surprisingly rough-edged.
"Andromeda Ascendant" is one of the few notable compositions, combining a subtle variation of Lifeson's fierce "Season One Main Title" with a mock-horn fanfare and simulated strings. The tender quality of "Rommie's Love" and the ominous ambiance of "Epitaph"—which McCauley describes as "a
darker side of Dylan's theme"—are similarly striking. However, cues like the clichéd "Man and Machine," with its ricocheting electronic noises, or "The Magog," which mingles different incarnations of the mundane Magog motif, are lackluster and, more often than not, exceedingly repetitive.
Even those works that are specifically designed to enhance unearthly moments, such as "Strange Beauty" and "Exotic Worlds," are rather mundane, utilizing reverberant twangs and ersatz percussion in a vain attempt to generate an outlandish air. McCauley is unquestionably talented, and there are a couple of terrific tracks, but on the whole his melodies are not particularly suggestive or special. Though the disc may appeal to the show's faithful fans, most soundtrack devotees will likely find the music of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda trivial and trite.
