I personally can`t remember Kate Kestrel`s songs since I was too young when the show was passing in my country, but the general score for this series is superb. I heard somewhere that there were longer versions of the opening and closing themes. Is this true?
shareYes there is. Visit www.tvcream.org and you will find the longer version.
shareIt's actually http://tv.cream.org
shareI've never heard that longer version of the Terrahawks theme before, but I like it. Thanks for the link.
shareThere's also a realplayer recording of the opening and closing theme at TV-Ark, under ITV Children's programs (for some reason it's not loisted under Gerry Andersen)
It is a cool theme tune- cheesy yet undeniably upbeat and feelgood.
The music to Terrahawks was composed and produced by Richard Harvey. I also loved the music on Terrahawks and thought it was very electronic, atmospheric and very 1980's. I think Richard Harvey used a Fairlight CMI sampler synthesizer as I remember some of the sounds used were the famous Orchestra Hits (Orch 3) along side lush synth textures and 1980's drum sounds.
I wish they would release a soundtrack album.
Arthur
There was a soundtrack CD produced that contains all of the music from Terrahawks. The disc also contains a few demo themes that Richard Harvey composed before Gerry Anderson / Chris Burr choose the opening titles that we all know.
Well worth buying if you can get a hold of it.
http://www.fanderson.org.uk/fansales/thcdtracks.html
Paul
There's also an orchestral version of the main theme (you can find it on YouTube) and it rocks. Richard Harvey is a genius, he's up there with John Williams for TV/film scores in my opinion.
shareActually, I'm not sure it's all that cheesy; compared to some TV shows (children's and otherwise) of the period, the end-theme's production values are more like those of a pop song.
Yeah, the first time round, the main melody uses some more "lightweight" keyboard sounds, but this increases the impact when it comes back (after the choral section) with the synth-brass; nice, rich and strident. The tune has also been nicely layered.
It's definitely a 1980s theme (the drum sounds are very 80s too, if you pay attention), but a good example of its time.
I'd have preferred the music in Disney's "Tron" to have sounded like that. Although Wendy Carlos made some interesting attempts to include orchestral stuff, it kind of bugs me that overall her score sounds a bit too analogue. It's like she was using synths from 1972 instead of 1982; it doesn't really fit the (then) cutting-edge feel of the film.
Not that I'm saying Tron was a great film overall; but it was technically brilliant, and the basic concept was pretty different for its time. Hang on, what does this have to do with Terrahawks?... oh yeah, that was it. I liked the Terrahawks music. :)
The CGI in the opening and closing titles also looked impressive for a series made in 1983, and somehow fitted well with the music... SOOOOOOOOOOO 80s!!!! :-)
shareJuat a side note, if you like the Terrahawks music, then I would reccomend also listening to the incidental music from Star Fleet. A similarly filmed puppet series from the same era, (but slightly more expensive effects). The theme tune is well known as Brian May recorded a cover version of it, but the music from the action sequences is very 80's synth rock. I have spent many years looking for it myself without luck, so have to make do with the version in the episodes themselves.
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