This month marks the release of the much anticipated soundtrack for Fox’s hit sci-fi show TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. The soundtrack provides us with 64:04 minutes of music composed by BATTLESTAR GALACTICA composer Bear McCreary. In the past composers used to score operas or symphonies, today the great ones score soundtracks. Bear McCreary has proven himself over his career to be the top composers for television and film. His unique ear and willingness to find the right notes in the most unusual places mark him as a master at his craft. We fans are lucky to have one of the industry’s bests scoring our favorite show. The soundtrack comes with notes inside of it from TSCC Executive Producer Josh Friedman, Thomas Dekker, Shirley Manson, and Bear McCreary. Bear talks about how to him this is a dream job come true. He had always wanted to remix and redo the Terminator theme and thanks to Josh’s vision for his new show, his dream came true. I’ll work on getting scans for you all later. The soundtrack it appears was slightly delayed because we have several new tracks on it from season 2 along w/ many




recognizable, signature tracks from season 1. The soundtrack opens with Shirley Manson & Bear McCreary’s arrangement of SAMSON AND DELILAH. The music which opened our season 2 episode of the same name is every bit as haunting and chilling to listen to on the soundtrack. One of the great things w/ TSCC is that we rarely have actual songs playing on the show because they’re really not needed thanks to having a skillful composer handling the music for the show, but when they do utilize songs, they always make the scenes that much more memorable. Even listening to the song again evokes vivid memories of a damaged Cameron hell bent on terminating John Connor. Shirley Manson’s voice is just wonderful - it’s so nice having a real professional singer controlling the song. The soundtrack provides the basics for us which include the shows Opening Titles (something that they’ve done away with in order to give us 30 more seconds of episode screen time) and the shows End Credits. The opening credits when listened to without the voice overs are wonderfully engaging in how harmonically they build from opening with one booming drum beat and moving into rapidly building frantic violins. Large drum beats signify changes in the music’s tone until the end when more drums come in and over power the violins and take over the music, culminating into the booming out of the Terminator theme music from the film franchise created by Brad Fiedel. The end credits are filled with heavy percussion that beats loudly over the Sarah Theme music and ultimately ends w/ a large percussion ending. Since nearly all of TSCC’s episodes end w/ some sort of horrific or gasp-worthy ending, the dramatic ending credits nearly always perfectly end an hour of exciting entertainment.
Next up is Sarah Connor’s Theme from the Pilot. The Sarah Connor theme is probably my personal favorite on the show, and not just because Sarah is my favorite character but because of it’s emotional depth. It starts off soft and sad with violins and no drums - Sarah’s life. Then the theme gets darker with drums, the violins rise over the percussion to try to lighten the mood but there’s always an air to it’s haunting quality - mirroring a life that isn’t her own but of a person being swept up into events that are larger than herself. There’s a lovely duality in the music. The drumbeats and heavy percussion often signify Terminators and war on the show; Sarah’s theme is about her constant struggle against the machines. The violins signify her character and the hope of

humanity as it tries to rise above and battle the machines. The next theme is Cromartie’s theme from THE TURK. In stark contrast to Sarah’s theme, Cromartie’s theme is nearly all percussion with possibly some synthesizers thrown in to give it some weird tribalistic undertones. The score is very commanding yet very foreign sounding which is appropriate for being the theme for a Terminator from the future. The theme is very in your face and powerful. Having it follow Sarah’s lovely theme tells a story in itself - we move to what it is that Sarah is fighting against and it’s heartless and cold. We then switch to Andy Goode’s Turk theme from The Queen’s Gambit. There are Asian inspired tones in the music to signify the scene in THE TURK when Andy’s computer is in the final round w/ the Japanese at the competition. The music is riddled with rounds of heavy drumbeats that coincided in the episode with Andy’s turk gaining an upper hand in the match. Again, drums equate Terminators and Skynet. The theme then shifts into Sarah’s theme as the match comes to an end and Andy’s Turk loses the match. It’s a victory for Sarah Connor. We then fly to the Central America (From Queen’s Gambit) theme from the flashback scene where Sarah is watching John play chess in the jungle. Again Bear McCreary uses his wonderful ear for music and incorporates flutes and more woodwind type instruments to give us a native South American flare to the score. The score also has John’s Theme it’s played on a guitar giving it a more earthy and natural sound. In the scene Sarah watches on, even from her past Sarah can’t escape her Terminators, drums interrupt the music as a reminder of why John is learning chess - it’s not just to play a game but to learn to stategize and to become the great leader who will be the last hope for humanity after Judgment Day.
We jump to Season 2 with the John and Riley theme from Automatic for the People. It opens with John’s theme on violins, much like his mother’s theme it’s sad, but it’s even more emotional because it’s heavier, more depressed if you will than Sarah’s music because of the burdon that he bears on his shoulders knowing what could be in store for his future. There’s a new lightness that comes into the music to signify Riley coming in to break up the pressure that he feels, yet the theme is still very dark and brooding with drums and slow, drawn out violins signifying
that for all that Riley might be a bright spot in his life, John cannot escape his destiny.


he soundtrack then shifts it’s focus from the Connors and onto Derek Reese and his theme from The Demon Hand. Derek’s themes are my favorites because they’re complicated in their arrangements. There are a lot of drums in them signifying that Derek’s a military man, yet he gets his own violins that are much more action oriented in their composition than Sarah’s theme which means hope. There’s wonderful movement in his theme that signifies that he’s a man of action and purpose. Yet there are undercurrents of sadness and longing. The theme also has chords of John’s theme mingled in it tying the 2 together with their familiar blood bond. The next theme song is “Ain’t We Famous” from Automatic for the People - which was the song playing in the bar when Sarah and Cameron were trying to unearth info about the power plant. This is probably my least favorite part of the soundtrack, I didn’t mind it opening with Shirley’s SAMSON AND DELILAH but I feel like this song interrupts the flow of the soundtrack, and frankly it’s not something that I would listen to on my own. If there is one thing to say about the song, it gives us a shift in the soundtrack as we’re now moving away from the more emotional themes and onto more music that is action/storytelling oriented. Onto Motorcycle Robot Chase from Gnothi Seuton. I’ve always loved this theme. There’s no dialog during this chase scenes so it’s all action oriented. The music has these wonderfully weird mixtures of sounds in it. There’s a lot of electronic gun fire and such that reminds me of old school video games like Space Invaders or Centipede that go along w/ heavy percussion and Bear’s signature long drawn out notes to tie the action moments together. The theme has brief lulls in it but it’s very in your face and has that very Sarah Connor Chronicles banging of drums throughout it that gets your heart racing. In the Hand of God (From The Demon Hand) is the next theme on the album is a nice mixture of many of the themes above and yet there’s a sense of longing to it with the Terminator drums crashing throughout it. This theme also has some very faint chorals (which might be synthesized) in it that remind me a lot of John Williams STAR WARS prequels works when Anakin is turning to the Dark Side and that is not a bad thing. There are some nods to the T2 soundtrack in this track as well considering that The Demon Hand heavily focused on T2 for it’s storytelling. Prisoners of War (From Dungeons & Dragons) is from our first episode where we got glimpses of what life was like in the future war. This particular theme music opens very sad with soft violins that rise up with longing. There’s a long drawn out strangely synthetic note that comes in and the theme changes - the captors are in control. Violins come in again and lightly play John’s Theme introducing purpose and hope which is what John Connor would represent in the future. The theme music is overall pretty subdued but there is a musical struggle between the violins and the drums that still signify the war between the humans and the robots with the drums again over powering the theme to remind everyone that they are in control. This is further emphasized by ending on a wild drum crescendo that includes Cromartie’s theme. With Miles Dyson’s Grave (From The Turk) we move onto a memorial theme for Terminator’s first civilian casualty, Miles Dyson. The theme music is haunting w/ Sarah’s Theme yet it has a different sound, I believe her theme is being played on a wind instrument like an oboe. There are the ever present drums but they sound more like funeral drums rather than Terminator drums. The theme then builds with violins that are often used whenever the Connors come across a big clue or achive a big victory - they’re filled with hope. Atomic Al’s Merry Melody (From Automatic for the People.) Hee hee - I do have to say that I love this theme. If I didn’t know that Bear had composed it I would’ve thought that Josh and his gang went into the WB archives and gotten a theme song from a Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny cartoon to use. It’s lively, quirky and totally clashes w/ the TSCC soundtrack. The hilarious inclusion of a “TA DA!” moment just makes it that much more comical and a silly, nice break from the gloom and doom that is riddled through most of the rest of the soundtrack. Knowing that Cameron a killer cyber robot from the future was being taught the basics of nuclear fusion from an animated chipmunk is just comdic gold storytelling. You can read more on Bear’s inspiration for this piece on his blog. The Reese Boys (from What he Beheld) score always gets me. The score is probably the most poignant moment in the entire series so far with Sarah’s going bezerk on Cromartie’s chip in Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today coming in a close second. The theme has all of the longing and slow parts of Derek’s theme and ends with the more upbeatness of Sarah’s theme rather than John’s more somber theme that beautifully showcases the wonderous joy of John seeing his father for the first time. The Connor family is complete. It’s emotional and just wonderful to listen to. Removing Cameron’s Chip (From Vick’s Chip) - The score for this scene has a very reminscent feel of the films to it. There’s significant drumbeats throughout it that aren’t the usual Terminator signifiers but count as marks of danger looming ahead. The score is mostly soft and slow with long drawn out notes and reverberating deep drumbeats that show the danger of John taking Cameron off line. In some ways it’s rather like a funeral dirge as we are all left wondering if Cameron will ever be restored again to her usual self once the chip was restored. Ellison Spared (From What he Beheld)- This has always been one of my favorite musical transitions from the show. We cut from Johnny Cash’s A MAN COMES AROUND to Bear’s haunting score with Ellison being the last man standing over the carnage of human destruction left in Cromartie’s wake. The music is a mixture of Ellison’s very choral filled theme and Cromartie’s angry theme. It’s a wonderfully confusing blend of good vs. evil and was a great way to end the season with the promise that these 2 cowboys would again be facing off at some point - that this showdown was not over yet. I Love You (From Samson and Delilah) - We now move to the second time that Cameron gets her chip removed. The theme opens with it filled with our Connor’s on a mission music - John is rising up to defeat the machines, even if that means destroying the one that he trusts the most. Throughout it Cameron is pleading to him that she corrected her programming and that she loves him. After John rips the chip out the music gets darker and the funeral dirge music from when he removed her chip in Vick’s Chip returns, but it’s much more sorrow filled because for all that we know at that point, it could’ve been her real funeral. Catherine Weaver (From Samson and Deliliah) - this theme is significantly different than any of our other themes that we’ve had for the show. It’s strangely mysterious, brooding, with long drawn out notes that leave you hanging, wondering what’s going to happen next. Cromartie’s theme was very obvious wth his being evil, Catherines theme is less so. In fact most of the theme is pretty to listen to until the end when the mystery unravels and her true self is revealed. There’s a frantic buildup of violins that for some reason remind me of old time movies yet it ends with a very T2 vibe. Derek’s Mission (From Dungeons & Dragons) - this is the theme where we first hear the chords of hope and determination that later get included in Derek’s theme in Vick’s Chip. There’s a lot of interesting drum beats going on - I believe we’ve even got metal drum beats in it. The music is filled with renewed hope after Derek felt like he had lost everything. His declaration that he could save Kyle was his driving force and his love of his brother is what allows the melody to swell in the music along w/ the heightened, powerful drumbeats. There’s a Storm Coming (From Dungeons & Dragons) - From D&D this is from the scene where Charley says goodbye to Sarah. The theme is filled w/ unrequited, unfulfilled longing in the violin chords. Sarah’s Theme is drawn out and slow signifying her saying goodbye to that last part of her past that she had to leave behind when they jumped into he future and she left Charley behind. Sarah appears tough on the outside but upon seeing Charley in this episode you can tell that for all that she was willing to leave him on a moment’s notice - she did love him. The sorrowful music evokes some of the softer music from T2 as well. There are only a few drumbeats in the score that indicate that whether she wants to or not, Sarah can’t dwell on the past. Highway Battle (From Queen’s Gambit) - We are treated with another action sequence score. This time we’ve got the prisoner truck heist where Sarah/John/Cameron/Derek try to escape form the T-888. The music isn’t as flat out over the top shoot-em-up rapidfire the way that it was in the Motorcycle theme. Instead it’s somber because the whole family is now in danger, not just Sarah and Cameron going after a Terminator. The drums are there throughout the score but they’re more subdued and remind me more of Terminator film scores rather than a TSCC score. The music is complex with Sarah’s Theme getting mingled in to again signify the danger of the fight. The drumbeats when Cameron is beating down the T-888 in the back of the truck is primal and fun to listen to. It ends with John’s Theme signifying another victory for the Connor’s but it’s bittersweet considering that Derek was wounded. Perfect Creatures (From The Demon Hand) - This last theme is a nice way to end the soundtrack. It’s light, full of hope with Sarah’s theme music resonating throughout it. Overall the soundtrack is delightful to listen to. The fact that I could visualize what was going on screen for each of these themes when they aired in the episodes shows the power of Bear’s music and it’s ability to stay with a person even when they’re watching the series. The music is very much a character along w/ those enacting their parts in the story. Great TV scores always stay with you, you can be in your car and start tapping out theme chords on your stearing wheel because they have high retention value in their sound and melody. The TSCC soundtrack has that. Much like Bear said in his notes on the soundtrack he had hoped to redo Fiedel’s score but instead found that his TSCC score took on a life of its own as the show veered away from the films and took it’s own path. There are wonderful harmonics throughout the entire soundtrack that link each score to the next and the scores for season 2 show a natural progression with new themes being introduced and the promise for those who love music that the music for the second season will be just as rich. The only thing I would’ve liked, I would’ve enjoyed Ellison’s theme on the soundtrack rather than the “Ain’t We Famous” from Automatic for the People song. But hey, there’s always the season 2 soundtrack for that right? Click on the video below to get more insight into how Bear goes about working on the score for TSCC. Video was a part of TV Guide’s INFANITY special from the beginning of this season.