Dave's Blog

This isn’t about TV main themes — that’s a post for another day. This is about music throughout TV episodes. Most TV shows have incidental music that’s not very distinctive — below are the ones that are.

Best of the best

1) Michael Giacchino — Lost

Now scoring movies such as Star Trek, Up, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Michael Giacchino amazingly scored all 121 episodes of Lost.

• 7 albums, 1 for each season + 1 for the finale
• my favourite tracks
  • Hurley’s Handouts (season 2)
  • The Gathering (season 2)
  • Ji Yeon (season 4)
  • There’s No Place Like Home (season 4)
  • Karma Has No Price (season 6 “the final season”)
  • A Memorable Kiss (season 6 “the final season”)

2) Christophe Beck — Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Now scoring movies such as Frozen and Edge of Tomorrow, Christophe Beck scored Buffy mostly in seasons 2 to 4.

• 2 albums, “The Score” and “Once More, With Feeling”
• my favourite tracks
  • Sugar High (from “Band Candy”) (The Score)
  • Faith’s End (From “Graduation Day”) (The Score)
  • Suite from “Restless”: Willow’s Nightmare/First Rage/Chain Of Ancients (Once More, With Feeling)
  • Sacrifice (From “The Gift”) (Once More, With Feeling)

3) Dennis McCarthy — Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Also composing the music for the movie Star Trek Generations and the theme for Deep Space Nine, Dennis McCarthy scored many episodes of The Next Generation and other Star Trek shows.

• various albums such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation Vol. 3”
• my favourite track
  • Suite from the Visitor: Rainy Night (The Best of Star Trek — 30th Anniversary Special!)

4) Jay Chattaway — Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Jay Chattaway scored many episodes of The Next Generation and other Star Trek shows.

• various albums such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation Vol. 4”
• my favourite track
  • Orchestral Suite from the Inner Light (The Best of Star Trek — 30th Anniversary Special!)

5) Greg Edmonson — Firefly

Greg Edmonson scored all 14 episodes of Firefly.

• 1 album
• my favourite tracks
  • Big Bar Fight
  • The Funeral
  • Cows / New Dress / My Crew

Honourable mentions

6) David Arnold & Michael Price — Sherlock

7) Mark Snow — The X-Files

8) Christopher Franke — Babylon 5

9) Joel Goldsmith — Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis

10) Bear McCreary — Battlestar Galactica

The good old days

11) Alexander Courage, George Duning, Gerald Fried, Sol Kaplan & Fred Steiner — Star Trek