While watching the DVD series; I've noticed that the soundtrack is deafening while the dialog is relatively quiet. Was the show broadcast this way or is this an example of over mastering the DVD's? It makes the show a chore to watch peacefully.
shareIt's the way they screwed up the DVD. When it first came out, we fans cried out to Image to redo the very expensive box set to make the sound balanced. I have a few Laserdisc sets that sounded awesome compared to this noise. Still love the DVD set, but must keep the volume control close by.
shareI don't remember the show that way, nor do I notice the score to be loud in reruns. Many of the scores written especially for the show are quite good in themselves. What I have noticed is that the music played under the opening Thriller credits is brash and kind of jazzy sounding in a way that feels wrong for such a Gothic show. The underscoring of the closing credits is often lovely, at times appropriately haunting, as befits the tone of the series.
shareKeep in mind that the opening score was recorded when Thriller was originally conceived as a crime thriller anthology series. The brash, jazzy opening music was perfectly consistent with that genre at that time. Part way through the series the decision was made to delve into goth/horror (although they never fully abandoned the conventional crime thrillers) for which the opening music was very befitting.
The show suffered from that schizophrenia - it's a shame the producers never fully embraced the horror route and completely overhauled the opening to signal the change in direction.
I appreciate the quick response. Oh, I was aware of the early, seemingly directionless nature of Thriller, which didn't gain a head of steam, horror steam, till mid-way through the first season. That modern, "greasy jazz" opening music seems more appropriate for a Warners or Four Star detective series of the era than what Thriller was in the process of becoming. I suppose they were wise to not hedge too much.
Still, while retaining the cracked spider webbed visuals and the lettering of the title Hubbell Robinson might have opted for something a bit more classical,--strains of the Franz Liszt Faust Symphony, so beautifully evocative and just right for the snowy bridge scene at the end of It's a Wonderful Life ("hey, Burt, my lip's bleedin'!")--but they opted for a contemporary sound.
Still, both the John Newland One Step Beyond and Rod Serling's Twilight Zone each, in ts different way, showed that one could evoke eeriness in a modern way. The pulsating score John (then Johnny) Williams wrote for Kraft Suspense Theater is superb, if a bit too intense even for Thriller. That they left the opening music the same did keep the showed that at least the intro remained consistent throughout its two year run.
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Jeberkin: I appreciate your reply. Was that Hermann's score exclusively for the opening and closing of the first season Twilight Zone? I've come to love it over the years, and whenever they broadcast reruns chronologically I tend to stick it out for most of that season as much for the music as the episodes! ( Great or very good anyway, most of them).
Rod Serling's narration for the first season is also his best and most suffinct, though I like all of them, each in its own way, the first is more suggestive of the fantasy aspect of the Zone, and actually somewhat delicately written, not glib in the manner of the later introductions. Overall, TZ morphed, so to speak, over the years, while Thriller had, for the most part, just two modes, crime/suspense and Gothic horror, with a handful of exceptions.
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Yes, Rod was quite a guy. He was actually the right man for the job of hosting the series. Other sci-fi and horror anthologies, such as One Step Beyond and Thriller, tended to use actors. Serling was a newbie. It took him a while to actually appear on the show. I believe it was the final episode of the first season.
His opening narrations were indeed often brilliant. I'm especially fond of his spiel introducing a sullen Steve Cochran about his character having a chip on the shoulder the size of the national debt. Serling's closing narration for the Art Carney Santa Claus episode Night Of the Meek was also nice. I like it when he uses a touch of humor here and there.
Thanks for the info on the music and the composer, JB. I find those later TZ openings annoying; way too strident, emphatic, telling the viewer that he's in for something really special. I'd rather find that out myself, not be hit over the head with it like one of those old Anacin commercials. I suspect that those openings were not Rod's idea, but maybe they were.
Whoever designed those Windows screensavers must have been a Twilight Zone fan. They remind me of the later TZ openings. All they lack is the tick tocking music.
It really depends upon the composer. The late, great Jerry Goldsmith (Patton, The Omen, etc.) scored several episodes and his scores are quiet, classy, perfectly spotted and beautifully orchestrated. Pete Rugolo provided the majority of the episode scores and they are overbearing, loud and inappropriate. Morton Stevens provided the rest and his scores are OK. I can tell with the first few notes who the composer was.
"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, To Kill A Mockingbird
Pardon, but who says it's wrong for horror movie music to be strident? Were the shrieking strings in PSYCHO audio wallpaper? Were the discordant wind instruments in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON subdued? Horror movies are intended to shock, so there's no reason their music shouldn't!
shareThe original poster was remarking upon music that was overbearing, not strident. Herrmann's score to "Psycho" is in no way overbearing. It creates an agonizing sense of dread right from the first few notes of the Main Title. Scores from horror films that are noticeable but not overbearing include Herrmann's "Psycho" and Goldsmith's "The Omen", among many others. On the other side of the coin are quiet, lyrical scores that play against the horror and, because of that, create a tremendous sense of dread. I would include Goldsmith's "The Other" and Komeda's "Rosemary's Baby" in that camp.
"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, To Kill A Mockingbird
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I have the same problem with the DVD set. What would have helped solve the problem is closed captioning. However, the set does not offer that feature.
shareI am watching it on MeTV rite now and the musical score is awesome. Loud, creepy and just rite for this wonderful episode. The voices are not drowned out by the score on the TV version.
shareAmong Jerry Goldsmith's greatest scores for this show -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oyBYIfqEV8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hN-YBW8ui8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4D8NSItHQU&usg=ALkJrhigfwYCd36oygWfQ1MGE_XCtIg8-g
And "Hayfork and Billhook" which I can't locate on You Tube at this time.
I believe it was a case of a mistake in the DVD mastering. Many episodes offer an isolated score where you can hear only the backing music track. What I suspect happened here is that the isolated score track was accidentally added to the main audio track - which of course already had the music underscoring, effectively doubling the volume of the score at the expense of the dialog.
shareI was watching an episode called "Guillotine" the other day, and boy was that music loud. The final minutes of the episode are pretty suspenseful -- a poisoned executioner is trying to reach the guillotine to pull the lever -- if he doesn't make it, the prisoner goes free(some sort of legal loophole). Pretty good suspense sequence -- directed by Ida Lupino, a noted actress and female director -- but the music just POUNDS all over the scene...yes, I turned it down.
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