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Has anyone ever thought that Spock’s moody bass cue in Amok Time sounds like Whip It by Devo (or vice versa)? I wonder if they were inspired by it.

I thought I'd revisit this one, as I received volume 6 of the soundtrack (which includes this episode) last week and have gone through it. Firstly, I think I'm getting there with identifying Jerry Fielding's musical fingerprint - and if anyone reading this is struggling as I did for so many years, it helps a lot if you watch/listen to his other episode first. It's easier to watch The Trouble With Tribbles with its partial score and look for comical cues that sound like anything out of Spectre Of The Gun than it is to watch Spectre Of The Gun and identify anything from that episode as resembling only the comical cues. The other thing about that volume is Jeff Bond's notes in the booklet confirm we were both right about why the two unused cues were unused - the CD includes both of them btw, these volumes have included a number of cues that never got used, I thought I could be an obsessive completist but this is above and beyond! One final remark, is that in my younger days, one cue you didn't talk about here, "Come On Spock" was one I kept misremembering and believing to have been written for Patterns Of Force. I learned the difference some years back but even now I still find myself thinking it wouldn't be out of place in the episode, and figure I ought to check if it was tracked into that one at all.

One of my favourite episodes from Season 3. Music was great too. Miss you, David!

It’s interesting how over the decades this episode went from one categorized as one of the worst episodes to one of the most memorable. Fielding’s score really helps to lift this outing, making it my favorite of S3. Thanks for this teaser, David-greatly looking forward to an in-depth examination of this exemplary score.

Such a complicated and memorable soundtrack to this ep. A fav of mine. Thanks for posting this.

Haha, I knew it would be a home transcription for this episode! I said elsewhere that Spectre Of The Gun must be the least reused full score the show had. You've done a good enough job - the software has its limitations and will never sound exactly like the real orchestra but to hold that against your sterling work would be like holding the budget limitations of the original series against its effects - that is to say, it would not be fair! I've recently been doing some research online and getting my hands on as many polls of the original series as I can to create some sort of definitive rank order for them. I have a degree in maths which included some modules on probability & statistics and I'm putting that training to use here in identifying trends, outliers, and which episodes polarise the fans based on a property called standard deviation. The higher the standard deviation, the more controversial the episode, and Spectre Of The Gun has the second highest standard deviation, making it, according to the data I have, the second most controversial episode after Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. For the record, I like this episode. It's a sort of a cross between The Corbomite Maneuver and Arena, the latter is unsurprising as they were both great episodes written by Gene L. Coon, the former, well, I've never been a fan of the ending of The Corbomite Maneuver and have said for a while that I think it would have benefitted from Coon's touch, although of course it was before he joined the show. This in a way is a taste of what it would have been like. Looking forward to your more detailed analysis of this score as Fielding's fingerprint is the hardest to spot in Trek! - Liam.

Nice! I also recall the off-center saloon piano cue which has stuck with me since the late Sixties...

Jerry Fielding is my favorite TOS composer and "Spectre of the Gun" has got to be his most ambitious score. I love the upside-down version of "Buffalo Gals" when they come into the saloon, and the music underlaying Chekov's scene with Sylvia is worthy of Aaron Copland. What makes it work for me is the way his themes keep slipping from major to minor-it's like trying to wake up from a nightmare. Thank you, thank you for saving the best for last.

So much tension in this score!

Know what would be great to write a symphony or tone pome on James T. Kirk. Maybe later do one on Mr. Spock.

FIRST😎What a great score for a great episode! The scoring made this episode stand out even more. Fav part of the episode is when Spock said “his own mind killed him” & saves the day. Great vid David. Keep Trekking🖖🏻

You are DELIGHTING this old Star Trek fan beyond my ability to express! THANK YOU for this video. Spock and the music from this episode have meant SO much to me since the series was first broadcast when I was a little kid (I'm 64) THANKS AGAIN!! 🖖LLAP

This was the best music of the series. A close 2nd is the music from “Enemy Within” episode & used in other episodes as well.

Omg so much like JAWS as well but set in space lmao

The ultimate trek score right next to jerry gold smith and James Horner who are both saddly no longer with us.

Not knowing the plot, all I can do is think of analogies. You yourself said that the Star Trek music helped you with this project so I'll use those as the basics: 1st part very reminiscent of George Duning, and Alexander Courage's Mojave interlude. 2nd part, Duning again with a nod to Total Eclipse Of The Heart! 3rd part, Gerald Fried "Shore Leave". 4th part, Mojave again with a hint of Bernard Herrmann's famous theme from Psycho! 5th part, Mullendore phaser overload + Duning Mad Marvick 6th part, maybe Duning from "The Empath" just before they meet Gem 7th part, the darker moments of Fried's theme for Ruth and Courage's Mojave 8th part, again Mojave and again Total Eclipse 9th part, probably a bit more of Ruth 10th part, instrumentally I guess Mullendore again, lyrically I imagine it might fit into Jesus Christ Superstar! For what that's worth! Interesting too that I'm not sensing any Fred Steiner influence, but then again, his music was a lot more general in the show, Fried was the "alien cultures guy" and Duning the "romance specialist". That didn't stop Courage's music from having a wide range of uses! Overall interesting, and I'm sure even better in context. The danger with any song that is part of a long story to it is that it has the potential to not make sense away from the narrative structure. As far as I can tell, you've done a good job. Looking forward to your video on Spectre Of The Gun. It must be the least reused FULL score of any Star Trek episode, it almost never appeared anywhere else. It'll be the first time I'll have seen one of your videos having recently familiarised myself with the music, as I got volume 4 back in about April. I'm keeping my eyes on the La-La-Land Records website for volume 6 which I'm guessing will be out in 2-3wks (and hoping that it's all the rest of season 2). - Liam.

This is as Spock would say "extremely interesting" and "Fascinating". I love the scoring of Star Trek TOS, I really enjoyed this especially seeing the notes as they were played. And how they were put together. Thank you so much. I will remember this every time I watch "Amok Time"; which is frequently since it is one of my favorite episodes.

Interesting video & discussion. Have you ever noticed the similarities between Alex Courage's 8-note "Enterprise Fanfare" and Dominic Frontiere's 9-note [transposed] theme from 12O'Clock High??? Check out Season 1, Episode 11 - "Here's to Courageous Cowards" - the Frontiere 9-note theme is heard @ the beginning of the episode...

Love your channel and your videos, Please keep them coming!!!

Thank you so much. This is fantastic!

That Apollo theme is one of my fave Start Trek TOS music cues.....I like how it's been used for other great episodes, like The Cloud Minders.

One can hear the Tribble motif in Premmingers Advise and Consent (as well as other prototype Trek music)

Superbly insightful and entertaining.

I really enjoyed this. It definitely has a Sixties action-adventure vibe to it, and may have even worked on an episode of TOS we never got to see. I’ve always regarded the ability to compose music as one of Mankind’s most sublime abilities, so I really envy you your talent.

Outstanding musical analysis of one of the finest TV series in history.

SEASON 2 TRACKED EPISODE MUSIC BREAKDOWN (INCLUDING CREDIT CORRECTIONS!) After making notes on the creditless episodes of season 2, I thought it might be instructive to see how they compare to the episodes that did give credits, and it turns out to have been more instructive than I expected! There are three episodes that give shared credit to Fred Steiner & Sol Kaplan, either way around, and in two cases the order should be reversed and in the other it should probably be just one name on the credit given that it's pretty much a 50% majority: THE DEADLY YEARS (official credit Fred Steiner & Sol Kaplan) - 21:37 SOL KAPLAN - 9:59, FRED STEINER - 7:10, Gerald Fried - 2:19, Alexander Courage - 1:54, George Duning - 0:15 THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME (official credit Sol Kaplan & Fred Steiner) - 22:41 SOL KAPLAN - 11:19, Fred Steiner - 7:33, Gerald Fried - 1:33, Alexander Courage - 1:28, George Duning - 0:31, library cues 0:17 THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER (official credit Sol Kaplan & Fred Steiner) - 18:45 FRED STEINER - 8:14, SOL KAPLAN - 5:54, Gerald Fried - 2:53, George Duning - 1:23, Alexander Courage - 1:21 Then there are six episodes that give credit to a single composer. Actually some of these credits say "additional music composed and conducted by" rather than just "additional music by" - oops! But that's a minor quibble, as it turned out only half of these episodes credit the right names! The inaccurate credits are on these episodes: WOLF IN THE FOLD (official credit C&C Gerald Fried) - 19:14, no credit justified Gerald Fried - 7:05, Fred Steiner - 6:14, Alexander Courage - 4:53, George Duning - 1:02 THE CHANGELING (official credit C&C Fred Steiner) - 24:27 FRED STEINER - 11:49, GERALD FRIED - 10:01, Alexander Courage - 1:20, George Duning - 1:17 JOURNEY TO BABEL (official credit Gerald Fried) - 24:17 FRED STEINER - 10:18, Gerald Fried - 5:54, Sol Kaplan - 5:53, George Duning - 0:43, Jerry Fielding - 0:42, Alexander Courage - 0:34, Joseph Mullendore - 0:13 The credits that list the right names are: THE APPLE (official credit C&C Gerald Fried) - 30:06 GERALD FRIED - 16:32, Fred Steiner - 9:10, George Duning - 3:19, Alexander Courage - 1:05 A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR (official credit Gerald Fried) - 30:08 GERALD FRIED - 13:37, Fred Steiner - 7:33, Alexander Courage - 4:34, Sol Kaplan - 3:27, George Duning - 0:57 OBSESSION (official credit Sol Kaplan) - 24:28 SOL KAPLAN 11:41, Fred Steiner - 6:41, Alexander Courage - 2:51, Gerald Fried - 2:31, George Duning - 0:44 And that's it! As with my previous investigations, I'm not claiming 100% accuracy with my figures, but I'm confident that what few mistakes there might be will not be enough to call any of my conclusions into question. Unless I care to take another look at any of the episodes I've inspected to correct my mistakes, my work is finished. Season 3 doesn't need any notes made on the music credits, as every credit there is accurate already. And finally, I can go back to watching Star Trek purely for the enjoyment of it - although probably not for a few weeks, I need a break! - Liam.

Powerful and colorful score! Glad to know that the philosophy of allowing the music to massively contribute to the power of the drama (as opposed to being musical wallpaper) is not yet dead.

this is absolutely fantastic!! thanks david page and you tube !. I have been looking for something like this for a looooon time

Interesting. The mixed time signatures reminded me of "Return Of The Musketeers" from 1989, where the title sequence has a piece that flips between 5/4, 6/4 and 7/4 - pretty much every bar so there's 24 beats every 4 bars but easy to lose your place in the rhythm!

SEASON 2 CREDITLESS EPISODE MUSIC BREAKDOWN OK, I did the "tracked episodes" of season 1 last month, this week I took a look at those episodes of season 2 that didn't list any credit for incidental music. There were 5 in total but "The Omega Glory" had music composed for it by Fred Steiner so he should get a composed & conducted credit already (as he should have on "The City On The Edge Of Forever" in season 1). Again, there may be the odd misidentified cue but I don't think I made too many mistakes: BREAD AND CIRCUSES - 26:56 FRED STEINER - 11:41, GERALD FRIED - 9:05, Sol Kaplan - 4:28, George Duning - 1:24, Alexander Courage - 0:18 THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION - 27:50 FRED STEINER - 10:11, GERALD FRIED - 9:07, George Duning - 3:44, Alexander Courage - 3:15, Sol Kaplan - 1:28, Jerry Fielding - 1:05 A PIECE OF THE ACTION - 17:01, no credit justified Fred Steiner - 6:13, Gerald Fried - 3:39, Jerry Fielding - 3:35, Alexander Courage - 2:15, Sol Kaplan - 0:39, George Duning - 0:27, Joe Mullendore - 0:13 ASSIGNMENT: EARTH - 22:57 FRED STEINER - 11:59, Gerald Fried - 4:04, Sol Kaplan - 3:11, Jerry Fielding - 2:13, Joe Mullendore - 0:49, Alexander Courage - 0:41 For reference I think it might be useful to check a few other season 2 episodes, in particular the ones where shared credit was given to Kaplan & Steiner, just in case there's some minimum time value or percentage required.

After playing in the studios or the L.A. Phil. with a lot of these guys, listening to the stories, I think you give one of the best interpretations of what it was to be a Horn Player in Los Angeles in that era. May God Bless them, a debt of greatitude to one and all... Ron Applegate

Would love to see one of these for The Naked Time episode, with the Alexander Courage amazing score.

I dont remember the original show but i always knew it as the "Spock theme" - the slightly ominous walking bassline. Was used primarily in Amok Time, but sure that I heard it elsewhere. I remember it and the dramatic piano line that would highlight an action scene. I remember those as much as some of the actors.

You deserve many more subs! This is good stuff.

there is a four note cue used in the cage and in the episode tommorow is yesterday after the enterprise slingshots the sun. i have had great difficulty finding it in any star trek recording can you help me find it.

your vids are not to long they are just right any that click off early are to young to stick.

Thank you for this marvelous presentation! Presented with a flair and context - wonderful!

Prayers for a productive and educational sabbatical. Cue the music from Shore Leave.

I'm pleased and fascinated to have finally come across these videos you have done, just today (May 2024); I'm not yet able to afford the box-set of Classic Trek CD soundtrack material, but I'm happy to see the 'work' of a person called 'Fishman' get another 'airing' on TH-cam (he constructs suites of music for episodes from the original episodes). This vid you have done on 'City...' is very well done; finally on TH-cam, there is a 'complete' clip of the scene that takes place immediately before the 'Let me help' scene, and where Steiner's beautiful music-cue 'anticipates' what follows. or 'is' the musical term 'segues into' (?) th-cam.com/video/mObWL8zz9x8/w-d-xo.html

Who would one contact to use one of Fried's Star Trek music cues in a TH-cam video. Who owns the copyright? ... Soney?

God Bless you Brother! Take your time. We'll be here when you return.

Wow - all you guys! A little overwhelmed here. Appreciate the encouragement and support. Y'all are great, and that means a lot. Thanks for the positive vibes. I'll have something to share before too long for those interested in the Mary Magdalene project. Star Trek fans are the BEST 🖖

What better reason for studying fun music scores than to gain some expertise to bring some good music into the universe. I grant two minutes to you and your noble crew.

Sounds like an exciting project and a great opportunity to push some personal musical boundaries! I hope you share it with us when it’s complete, I for sure would love to see and hear it. Good luck! (And yeah, definitely looking forward to Spectre of the Gun, one of my fave episodes and scores!)

enjoy - excellent way to employ all the skills you've explained so well over the last several years. We'll be here when you get done

Good luck with that! I've just finished both Star Trek projects that had been long on my to-do list! I shared my findings re the tracked season 1 episodes on your video about tracking - funny, I set out to prove that the Alexander Courage credit was wrong in some episodes but it turned out to be justified more often than not - special mention to "The Devil In The Dark" and "Operation - Annihilate!" which I thought would have more of Fred Steiner's music on them but turned out to be more Courage than anyone else. While my detailed notes of what episode cues were used where may not be quite 100% accurate (the odd short one might be pruned to a point where it's hard to tell), it's accurate enough to justify my conclusions. The only two episodes where there might be a slight question mark on my verdicts are "The Galileo Seven" which is a very close call between Steiner sole credit, Steiner/Courage shared credit and no credit justified, and "The Squire Of Gothos" where the question of Ivan Ditmars' contribution is a tricky one. And I finally went through volumes 3 & 4 of the "1701 Collection" this week, now waiting for volume 5, which I'm guessing is going to be the complete George Duning plus "I, Mudd" and "The Trouble With Tribbles", leaving "Amok Time", "The Doomsday Machine" and the two pilots, which had CD/cassette releases back in the day, for the final volume. So I think I too will be taking a break from all things Trek - right in time for the new series of Doctor Who so that's where I'll be getting my sci-fi fix the next few weeks! - Liam.

It's good to have an update as I've missed your wonderful videos. Would love to hear your efforts at some point. Thanks for looping us in.

Go and enjoy your sabbatical David. We'll be waiting for you when you get back. I love these videos you post diving into the nitty gritty details about Star Trek music!

Best wishes to you on your music project. Jerry Fielding’s score to “Spectre of the Gun” is my favorite non-Fred Steiner ST score-can’t wait!

Very much respect your reference to “your thing.” It is not “my thing,” as you say, and I didn’t at take it as you apologizing for your faith - nor should you. But it is refreshing, and very Star Trek, for you to be so openly respectful of the most basic kinds of differences we share. Anyway, I’m so happy to hear that your study of, and adoration for, Trek’s composers are having a practical impact on your own music. You’re a gentleman. I’m a fan. And we wish you well on your project while awaiting your take on Spectre of the Gun. 🖖🏻