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“James Michael Dooley takes the score in a
minimalist direction. Ironically, for a minimalist score, there's
quite a bit to appreciate.”
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The Mars
Underground...Surfaces!
Review by Christopher
Coleman
Mars is certainly no
newcomer to Hollywood
feature films. We've
seen it depicted
countless times in the
not-so-distant-past:
RED PLANET, MISSION TO
MARS, and TOTAL
RECALL, to name just a
few headliners. It
certainly hasn't been
skipped as a subject
for documentary
features either. Our
fascination with the
red planet is no
surprise. It being a
our closest,
potentially-inhabitable,
planet, how could we
not be intrigued? How
could we not speculate
about first getting
there...and now living
there? Dr. Robert
Zubrin's ideas about
us setting foot on the
planet in just a
matter of years is the
topic for one of the
more recent
Mars-documentaries,
THE MARS UNDERGROUND.
Composer James Michael
Dooley was asked if he
would provide the
musical backdrop for
the documentary and
embarked along with
the director and
producers in this
labor of love.
Musically, the end
result certainly
communicates at least
a portion of the love
poured into the
project. James Michael
Dooley takes the score
in a minimalist
direction. Ironically,
for a minimalist
score, there's quite a
bit to appreciate. It
would be easy to think
that Dooley, a
professed "follower"
of composer Phillip
Glass, might have been
influenced by Glass'
recent effort for
ROVING MARS, but the
fact is Dooley had
long written THE MARS
UNDERGROUND before
Glass' score for the
Disney/Imax production
likely came to be.
Once you've listened
to both, you'll see
that there isn't a lot
in common between the
two. In fact, one
would find more
commonalities between
THE MARS UNDERGROUND
and Glass scores such
as THE HOURS.
Relegating Dooley's
effort to just a
comparison to the 2002
Glass score is not to
describe the score in
full. The soundtrack
opens with "Arrival on
Mars" which begins
quite innocuously, but
slowly builds to a
rousing crescendo and
finally the piece
settles back down to
the swells of strings
and synths, you, the
listener, are already
hooked in. This score
is dominated by
Dooley's pensive,
circular patterns -
sometimes on strings
and sometimes on some
close approximation of
a vibraphone or
glokenspiel. Seeming
to signify the long,
monotonous journey
from Earth to Mars or,
with a quicker tempo,
the diligence and
detail of a well
conceived plan, or the
undiscovered potential
for humans on the red
planet, the use of
this circularity
pulses with its own
energy and eventually
becomes a mesmerizing
characteristic of the
score.
While this soundtrack
is front-loaded with
the most energy, as we
wind down to the last
third of the
soundtrack, the music
truly becomes "minimalized"
and somewhat darker.
Tracks such as
"Confrontations,"
"Experiencing Mars"
and "Planetary
Civilization" are
expansive meanderings
and swells that
strongly evoke
thoughts of the
mysteries of the red
planet or the vast
darkness of space
itself. Such pieces
provide a solid
contrast to the more
lively pieces
proceeding them. THE
MARS UNDERGROUND
concludes with
"Building a
Civilization" (21),
which raises the
music's level of
energy again, not
quite to the same
place of the opening
half of the
soundtrack, but enough
to convey a sense of
purpose and a sense of
opportunity.
James Michael Dooley's
work for THE MARS
UNDERGROUND remains
engaging through its
67 minute running
time. When it does
simmer down into wave
after synthesized
wave, it does so with
such subtlty that
you'll likely not even
be aware of transition
that has taken place.
This title might be
familiar to you as THE
MARS UNDERGROUND has
been out for
years...everywhere but
in the good, old, US
of A. This
soundtrack was
produced and released
by James Michael
Dooley himself back in
2005. Finally,
in May 2007, the film
will finally begin
hitting big screens in
the US. Dooley has
recently arranged his
work for this project
to be performed by
live orchestra at the
Southwood Secondary
School in Cambridge,
Ontario. Even if
you are not able to
attend a live
performance or even
see the film, THE MARS
UNDERGROUND is worth a
thorough listen.
Rating:
8/10
|
Track |
Track Title |
Track Time |
Rating |
|
1 |
Arrival on Mars |
6:29 |
***** |
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2 |
Prospects
and Plans |
2:56 |
**** |
|
3 |
Dr.
Zubrin |
3:36 |
**** |
|
4 |
History
Has
Taught
Us |
4:00 |
**** |
|
5 |
The
90
Day
Plan |
5:09 |
**** |
| 6 |
Zubrin's Plan |
3:37 |
**** |
| 7 |
The Journey |
6:49 |
**** |
| 8 |
Mars Direct |
0:50 |
**** |
| 9 |
Spreading the Word |
1:08 |
**** |
| 10 |
First Experiments |
1:09 |
*** |
| 11 |
Corrections |
2:01 |
**** |
| 12 |
A New Direction |
3:52 |
**** |
| 13 |
The Case for Mars |
0:34 |
*** |
| 14 |
The Mars Underground |
1:24 |
**** |
| 15 |
The Mars Society |
1:04 |
**** |
| 16 |
Desert Research |
0:28 |
*** |
| 17 |
Confrontations |
5:52 |
*** |
| 18 |
Experiencing Mars |
3:29 |
*** |
| 19 |
Planetary Civilization |
3:43 |
*** |
| 20 |
On the Surface |
2:36 |
*** |
| 21 |
Our Future with Mars |
6:16 |
**** |
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Total Running Time (approx) |
67 minutes |
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