Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)

Score on LP: ****

Score in the Film: ***

Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami

Record Label: Rhino RNSP 300 (LP) SCD-98427 (CD)

Produced by James Horner

Music Scoring Mixer: Christopher Banninger

Music Editor: Alan Holzman

Orchestrations: Nic Raine

Track Listing

Total Time: (42:25)

1. Main Title (1:58)

2. The Malmori Rear Guard (4:03)

3. The Battle Begins (4:31)

4. Nanelia And Shad (1:26)

5. Cowboys And The Jackers (3:33)

6. Nanelia's Capture (1:28)

7. The Maze Battle (3:09)

8. Shad's Pursuit (3:22)

9. Cowboy's Attack (1:45)

10. Love Theme (3:53)

11. The Hunter (1:38)

12. Gelt's Death (1:28)

13. Nanelia (1:31)

14. Heading For Sador (:58)

15. Destruction Of Hammerhead (2:34)

16. Epilogue And End Title (5:07)

17-31. Humanoids From The Deep

This is a Horner fan favorite. Horner himself has openly bashed this score, not the music but the performance. He felt that Roger Corman did not provide him with a adequate orchestra to complete the score. The "Main Title" is the best track and it kind of previews every theme in the film. The "Love Theme" is a very good cue with a soft powerful theme, and "Epilogue And End Titles" is a very good end to this score. In May of 1998 a bootleg from Europe surfaced, but was limited to only 500 copies that sold fast. The sound was amazing and the artwork was superb for a bootleg. This disc is already a collectors item.

This is a strait ahead Sci-fi adventure film, and Horner scored it as such. At this point in his career he was a blossoming young composer. He unleashes a giant on this picture. Not only did he all but assure himself the score for Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. He also met James Cameron for whom he would later score Aliens and Titanic. It sets up the film very well in the opening credits. Sometimes the movie overpowers the score, which happened a lot in the late 70's early 80's. If this score was remixed into the film by Shawn Murphy it would be a completely different movie.