Comments on: Review of Friday’s Child Remastered

By: Leonidas

Leonidas — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:48:45 +0000

I note, visual effects notwithstanding, that the ‘clean up’ of the film didn’t work out well here; a lot of the footage is washed out.

Not one of the better episodes, and the restoration here leaves a lot to be desired.

However, the redo of the phaser is pretty good. Will they now fix the work on better episodes?

By: Jeff Bond

Jeff Bond — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:15:31 +0000

“Miri” also had at least one cue written for it when Miri is breaking down–I’m sure it was done by Fred Steiner and shows up in later episodes like “Space Seed.” But for the most part, the “good episode/original music” relationship is due to the fact that usually the first eight episodes or so of the season would have original music written and the rest of the season would be tracked unless something (like “City on the Edge of Forever”) came up that was too unusual to work with a completely tracked score. But in TOS’s case the early episodes of the season were often the better ones, with fatigue, budget and schedule limitations eating away at the quality of the later episodes. Of course there are many exceptions to that rule of thumb but I think it accounts for the connection between new music and a good episode.

By: Joe Medley

Joe Medley — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:58:45 +0000

When I first heard about the remastering of TOS I was upset and concerned. I had a fear that it would be overdone in an attempt to match the overproduced effects-heavy extravaganzas that pass for science fiction these days. Then I started seeing stills from the new Trek on memory alpha (I don’t have cable any more). What I had seen caused me to warm to the idea little.

I just saw the outtakes posted on this site from Friday’s child. Now, I’m a convert. These effects are completely in the spirit of the old show. My absolute favorite shot is of the Enterprise moving from a standard orbit to flying off into the distance. WOW! Simple though it was, it made me feel like I was seeing the Enterprise for the first time.

I also like the shot of Enterprise pulling away from orbit with the planet shrinking in the background. Did they take their inspiration for that shot from New Voyages? One of their episodes had a remarkably similar shot.

By: neal

neal — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:08:23 +0000

Wow, thanks, I haven’t seen this list before, obviously.

It really is striking: the correlation between episodes’ fan-rated quality, and whether new music was written specifically for it. “City” is the one obvious exception, but the other old consensual favorites all had purpose-built scores driving their plots: Doomsday, Mirror, Balance, Amok, Tribbles, Shore Leave, yep they’re all there! This realiy is an underappreciated, yet utterly pivotal aspect of any cinematic success.

(Or maybe I’ve got it backwards. Maybe the producers went out of their way to commission new music for those scripts that were obviously superior …).

By: yo

yo — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:14:47 +0000

> Is there a web listing anywhere that makes note of which
> TOS episodes had original music composed for them,
> and which eps were pastiches of re-used music from previous eps?

This list is borrowed from Usenet posts by
William Kenlon (1998): http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.star-trek.tos/msg/e6bf2498f842b9cc
and Jeff Bond (2000): http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.star-trek.tos/msg/8d1230601acb4d04
(bottom half of post)

According to those posts.
these episodes had original music:

(in alphabetical order)

Amok Time
And the Children Shall Lead
Balance of Terror
By Any Other Name
Catspaw
Charlie X
Elaan of Troyius
Friday’s Child
I, Mudd
Is There In Truth No Beauty?
Metamorphosis
Mirror, Mirror
Mudd’s Women
Patterns of Force
Plato’s Stepchildren
Return to Tomorrow
Shore Leave
Spectre of the Gun
Spock’s Brain
The Cage

The City on the Edge of Forever
(”a few brief cues, mostly based on the song ‘Goodnight, Sweetheart’”
were new music, according to Jeff Bond’s Usenet post.)

The Conscience of the King
The Corbomite Maneuver
The Doomsday Machine
The Empath
The Enemy Within
The Enterprise Incident
The Man Trap
The Naked Time

The Omega Glory
(the only new music is played when the flag is shown)

The Paradise Syndrome
The Trouble With Tribbles
What Are Little Girls Made Of?
Where No Man Has Gone Before
Who Mourns For Adonais?

Whom Gods Destroy
(”the eastern-sounding piece played over Marta’s dance number”
was new music, according to William Kenlon’s Usenet post.)

By: neal

neal — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 06:00:46 +0000

Great review, and I agree totally about the music score being a significant aspect of this episode. I keep noting the same idea repeatedly in my own posts. The music on TOS, and *especially* in the second season, is far superior to anything that’s come since. That formless, character-less synthesizer music on TNG, so dull. I loved that post that suggested the Enterprise series would have been better with Gerald Fried music in it. Absolutely, any action show would become ten times better with it.

Is there a web listing anywhere that makes note of which TOS episodes had original music composed for them, and which eps were pastiches of re-used music from previous eps?

By: TomBot2007

TomBot2007 — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:37:21 +0000

Yeah, it is odd that they couldn’t pop in something quick for that blue cyclorama…
And though, I was surprised at the concentration on this episodes music in the review, which seemed to be a carryover from the original talkback, it is true that TOS music is the best. :-)

By: Thomas Jensen

Thomas Jensen — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:27:42 +0000

I’m with #23 & #24, they should release all the remaining music from the series. I love the soundtracks and just as with the show, they’ve never been as good as the original soundtracks were.

(And re-mix the soporano singer during the titles). The journey continues….

By: sean's clone

sean's clone — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:56:36 +0000

I really want to like “Friday’s Child” but I count get over the technical flaws in the picture, clumsy staging and blocking and the fruity costumes.

For me, this is an episode to forget, but not to dislike.

By: Cafe 5

Cafe 5 — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:55:28 +0000

“Friday’s Child” is a very good episode. It is basic Star Trek. It is well written
and only diminishes in quality because of the limited budget of the times.
The music by Gerald Fried is a major standout. His music has endured for
40 years. The themes he created would have been grand had they been
used for “ST:enterprise” instead of the glop use by the bermbraga’s. The TOS
episodes only get better with remastering and are far superior to many of the
later incarnations.