A Musical AMA.

Host Brandon-Shea Mutala loves music in all forms. The sounds of Star Trek are great, but this love was making him antsy. He wanted to play different kinds of music on Melodic Treks.

Inspired by Reddit's popular "Ask Me Anything," Brandon-Shea opened the floodgates on Twitter, Facebook, and in The Babel Conference. He hoped listeners would ask him to play some other music. They responded admirably.

In this episode of Melodic Treks, we take a more intimate look at the man behind the mic. So listen on and discover Brandon-Shea's favorite composer, his favorite summer tunes, the music that changed his life, his five favorite scores, his happy song, and his three favorite albums of all time. He also talks about his faith journey, his favorite character in each Star Trek series, and who he thinks was the best Batman!

Chapters
Anton Yelchin (00:00:00)
"I Gotta Beam Me" (from Star Trek, composed by M. Giacchino) (00:00:47)
"Main Title" (from Sisters, composed by B. Herrmann) (00:06:06)
"Main Title" (from Vertigo, composed by B. Herrmann) (00:06:57)
"The Enterprise" (from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, composed by J. Goldsmith) (00:08:50)
"007 (Shanty Town)" (from The Harder They Come, composed by D. Dekker) (00:11:22)
"The Son of Flynn" (from Tron: Legacy, composed and performed by Daft Punk) (00:13:12)
"The Last Man" (from The Fountain, composed by C. Mansell, and performed by Kronos Quartet and Mogwai) (00:15:09)
"D1T1 (Cliffs)" (from Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 by Aphex Twin) (00:24:28)
"Part 1" (from Rubycon by Tangerine Dream) (00:26:25)
"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (from Graceland by P. Simon) (00:28:38)
"A Clearing" (Ambient 4: On Land by B. Eno) (00:31:14)
"Moxica and the Horse" (from 1492 Conquest of Paradise, composed by Vangelis) (00:37:30)
"An Itch" (from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, composed by T. Reznor and A. Ross) (00:40:05)
"The Feeling Begins" (from The Last Temptation of Christ, composed and performed by P. Gabriel) (00:42:07)
"Main Title" (from Planet of the Apes, composed by J. Goldsmith) (00:44:44)
"Main Title" (from The Hunt for Red October, composed by B. Poledouris) (00:46:21)
"Paradise Circus" (from Heligoland by Massive Attack) (00:49:19)
"A Walk" (from Dive by Tycho) (00:51:21)
"White Cyclosa" (from Tomorrow's Harvest by Boards of Canada) (00:54:12)
"Nothing Is Real" (from Tomorrow's Harvest by Boards of Canada) (00:55:40)

Host
Brandon-Shea Mutala

Production
Brandon-Shea Mutala (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Bobby Tucker (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

Star Trek Generations and Dennis McCarthy.

Over the span of 18 years, Dennis McCarthy composed 257 pieces of music for Star Trek, making him the largest contributor to the sound of the franchise. During that period, he composed for 88 episodes of The Next Generation, 76 episodes of Deep Space Nine, 64 of Voyager, and 28 of Enterprise. He also scored the film Star Trek Generations.

This work received a fair amount of attention from the Emmy Awards, earning him nine nominations and one win. In addition to taking home the 1993 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he was nominated in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for the episodes “The Child,“ “Yesterday's Enterprise,“ “Half a Life,“ “Unification, Part I,“ “All Good Things…,“ “Heroes and Demons,“ “Workforce,“ and “The Expanse.“

In this episode of Melodic Treks, part 2 of a 13-part series on the Star Trek films, host Brandon-Shea Mutala is joined by Zach Moore to discuss McCarthy and his Star Trek contributions. We also cover his contributions to other television series including V, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, and Sliders, as well as the film Letters from a Killer.

Some of the score analysis was taken from John Takis’s extended liner notes for Star Trek Generations, available at http://www.gnpcrescendo.com/generations

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
About Dennis McCarthy (00:01:20)
V (00:05:59)
“Aqueduct Attack/Planting the Charges/Brad's Sacrifice“ (V: “The Final Battle“) (00:06:56)
“Nathan's End“ (V: “The Betrayal“) (00:08:30)
The Twilight Zone (1986) (00:12:57)
“Voices in the Earth“ (The Twilight Zone) (00:14:08)
MacGyver (00:18:56)
“The Negotiator“ (MacGuyver) (00:19:39)
Star Trek on Television (00:23:21)
“Comedy Store/Code 47/Course Changed/Cavernous/Unconvinced“ (TNG: “Conspiracy“) (00:24:49)
“Main Title“ (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) (00:28:13)
“Where's Freya?/To the Rescue“ (Voyager: “Heroes and Demons“) (00:32:16)
Sliders (00:35:00)
“The First Slide“ (Sliders: “Pilot“) (00:36:34)
Letters from a Killer (00:38:25)
“Main Title“ (Letters from a Killer) (00:39:10)
Star Trek Generations (00:42:47)
“Main Title“ (Star Trek Generations) (00:44:03)
“Distress Call/Harriman and the Ribbon“ (Star Trek Generations) (00:51:28)
“Prisoner Exchange“ (Star Trek Generations) (00:57:30)
“A Christmas Hug/Kitchen Debate“ (Star Trek Generations) (01:00:35)
“Jumping the Ravine“ (Star Trek Generations) (01:07:50)
Overture from Star Trek Generations (01:13:56)

Host
Brandon-Shea Mutala

Guest
Zach Moore

Production
Brandon-Shea Mutala (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Bobby Tucker (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

Goldsmith vs. Jones.

Ron Jones has said that one of the major influencers on his work was Jerry Goldsmith. The latter brought fans incredible scores for film’s such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Final Frontier, and First Contact, as well as the Emmy Award-winning theme from Star Trek: Voyager. The former was a prolific composer of the music that brought TNG to life.

In this episode of Melodic Treks, host Brandon-Shea Mutala compares the plots of and scores for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Datalore” and the 1979 Sci-Fi/Horror film Alien, which was scored by Goldsmith. He also conducts an in-depth analysis of the themes and motifs used by Ron Jones in the music of “Datalore.”

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Alien vs ”Datalore” (00:01:48)
”Data's Beginning” (00:04:02)
”Hypersleep” (00:05:21)
”Sleepy Alien” (00:06:46)
”Knock Out” (00:07:15)
”Welcome Home” (00:10:23)
”Omicron Arrival” (00:10:54)
”The Lab” (00:12:40)
”Data's Brother” (00:14:00)
”Trick Question” (00:15:12)
”Suspicion” (00:15:30)
”Perfect Android” (00:16:48)
”Bad Champagne” (00:18:01)
”Deception” (00:19:53)
”Head Kick” (00:21:36)
”Crystal Attacks” (00:22:15)
”Knock Out” (00:23:14)
”Droid Battle” (00:24:03)

(All tracks composed by R. Jones except ”Hypersleep” and ”Sleepy Alien,” composed by J. Goldsmith)

Host
Brandon-Shea Mutala

Production
Brandon-Shea Mutala (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Bobby Tucker (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)

Melodic Connections: Avery Brooks and Kevin Conroy.

Have you ever played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It's a now-classic game based on the idea that any two people on Earth are just six or fewer acquaintance links apart. While Kevin Bacon has become the game's bundled playing piece, it works with other people too … even in the 24th century.

In this episode of Melodic Treks, host Brandon-Shea Mutala casts galactic distances aside to put a Star Trek twist on Six Degrees. We challenged the members of The Babel Conference, Trek.fm's listeners' group on Facebook, to come up with the name of an actor to connect to Avery Brooks. The winning choice, submitted by listener Davis Grayson, was Kevin Conroy. These two actors have been in many films and television productions, so we decided to use only movies whose scores were composed by Star Trek composers. Listen on to trace a path from Brooks to Conroy.

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
"Suspicions" (from Dynasty "Suspicions," composed by D. McCarthy) (00:03:12)
"Haven/Harpies/Gifts" (from Star Trek: The Next Generation "Haven," composed by D. McCarthy) (00:04:56)
"Happy Ending" (from Roots: The Next Generations, composed by G. Fried) (00:06:46)
"Thicker Fog/Witches" (from Star Trek "Catspaw," composed by G. Fried) (00:07:57)
"Suite from The Leap Home" (from Quantum Leap "The Leap Home," composed by V.R. Bunch) (00:09:47)
"Pathogen Bomb" (from Star Trek: Enterprise "The Augments," composed by V.R. Bunch) (00:11:35)
"End Titles" (from Air Force One, composed by J. Goldsmith) (00:13:33)
"Main Titles" (from Star Trek: Voyager, composed by J. Goldsmith) (00:15:29)
"End Titles (from Apollo 13, composed by J. Horner) (00:17:35)
"Stealing the Enterprise" (from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, composed by J. Horner) (00:19:32)
"Farewell" (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "What You Leave Behind," composed by D. McCarthy) (00:22:35)
"Revelation/Poloiusized" (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Duet," composed by D. McCarthy) (00:24:28)

Host
Brandon-Shea Mutala

Production
Brandon-Shea Mutala (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)