But the new version is far grittier and all the cutesy junk has been lost along the way in favor of more realistic explorations of the human condition. The debut miniseries' music, by Richard Gibbs (assisted by McCreary), added a lot to the general perception of BSG as a mature work. Now on his own, Bear McCreary has added a lot of shine to that image. Without his work, BSG wouldn't be what it is.

Things on this third-season sampling get under way with "A Distant Sadness," from "Occupation." Featuring the voice of Raya Yarbrough, this has a Sheila Chandra groove to it, a cross between Indian and Celtic, which is very pleasantly exotic. The second cue has a semi-Celtic groove to it, too, and a taste of the Indian once more, though this cue is from "Precipe," a different episode. But McCreary's hand is firm and he is obviously in control. A deep, insistent bass line drives this cue.

Overall, McCreary has moved away from the more militaristic themes of the first and second seasons, and toward Indian and Asian stylings. Indeed, one of the best cues offered here is the third, "Admiral and Commander," from "Exodus, Parts I and II," which reprises Adama's theme from earlier episodes and is a pure delight to hear. The addition of a bagpipe-like patch and a delicate acoustic guitar open this up in an unexpected and affecting way.

Taking a chance along the watchtower

There are, in fact, a number of themes here, attesting to the development of McCreary's musical world through the preceding seasons. He continues to expand his use of "world music," intended to point up the multicultural makeup of the Galactica's crew, and deploys taiko drum settings and percussion for action sequences. There's a bit less of the drumming in evidence on this disc, but one might almost wish for a bit more in place of a couple of the "fluff-ier" cues, such as "Adama Falls," Cue 9, and "Under the Wing," Cue 10, which are both short and aren't particularly compelling. One is unsure why they were included in this compilation, because their particular episodes, "Unfinished Business" and "Maelstrom," respectively, are better represented by other cues.

Other standout moments include Cue 7, "Violence and Variations," from "Unfinished Business," with a rich string setting allowing for some of McCreary's best-developed themes, and Cue 14, "Someone to Trust," from "Taking a Break From All Your Worries," another string set piece with a truly delightful melody.

Included on the CD is a real-world song, the first time this has been done in BSG. The season's big "reveal" of four Cylons living among the humans was done to the strains of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" (Cue 21, from "Crossroads, Part II," performed by Bt4 on vocals), presented using BSG's musical idiom of taiko drums, strings and piano. With heavy electric guitar added on, as performed by Steve Bartek, the cue is a perfectly appropriate ending for the season and shows that BSG's creative team isn't afraid to strike out in new directions.