1984 saw an unstoppable robot hit man power onto cinema screens. The film shot Arnold Schwarzenegger to stardom despite playing the ultimate bad guy, equally it made director James Cameron a name in the film world.
James Cameron was burning up with a fever when the vision of The Terminator came to him. In 1984, with a tiny budget, that dream became a reality. With Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the T-101, Michael Biehn as Reese the soldier from the future and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner, the will be mother of John Conner the saviour of the Human race.
The film was shot on the streets of L.A with a budget 15 times smaller than for T2 and was driven by Cameron�s desire to make a masterpiece that was action packed yet thought provoking and populated with realistic characters and realistic emotions.
Due to the extreme lack of a budget Cameron hired Brad Fiedel to score the film and traditionally with the 80s that meant a synthesized score. Brad Fiedel was at that time completely unknown, he had scored for several films but none of the scores or really the films were that successful and this score brought him albeit briefly into mainstream scoring.
The score is everything you�d expect of an 80s synth score. Filled with weird whizz bang noises and muffled, wheezy sounding electronic instruments. Much of the score sounds muffled and fake however in places the muffled nature of the score works to its advantage.
The most obvious example is the main theme which sounds like an echo through a dark, misty environment. The theme itself is most definitely Brad Fiedel�s best piece of music for any of his films. It flows by without a flaw and is instantly recognisable and personifies (or Robotifies) The Terminator with the choppy percussion motif.
The rest of the score unfortunately lives up to what is generally expected of Fiedel in his other scores. Filled with electronic noises rather than music and quite often the music that there is stereotypical 80s action music (Tunnel Chase is a good example of this) that might have sounded fine with an orchestra performing them but with a synth pad�..please!!!
This has not doomed the whole score though. There is still enough reasonable or good material depending on whether you can tolerate the sound of the synth. Certainly, despite being atmosphere music tracks such as �Gun Shop/ Reese in Alley�, �Garage Chase�, �Factory Chase� and �Death by Fire� are unrelenting in pace and produce some exciting motifs both in the tense build ups and during the otherwise predictable chase music.
The horror music although jarring is particularly effective in the score as are the quieter character scenes which Fiedel scores with a gentle piano and string backing, that build up to a gentle and flowing duet of pianos performing the main theme.
The final Concert version of the main theme or the Judgement Day Remix is great and offers a more diverse take on the theme that sounds fuller and considerably clearer than the recordings from 1984. This sythn version of the orchestration for the main theme of T2:3D is the best version of the Therminator theme not including Marco Beltrami's version on the T3 release. Although this is a sythn version of the orchestral theme for T2:3D the performance here conjours up a similar amount of noise and is infinitly clearer than the original Terminator recordings. An electric guitar bolsters the performance for an all round solid and enjoyable performance that packs considerable punch.
In the end the score is only a must have to completest fans of the films or fans of Fiedel. The are some definite hair pullingly annoying cues in this score that will test listeners patience with the often stupid sounds but if you persevere with this score there is enough good or reasonable material to forgive Brad Fiedel for falling into musical pitfalls of the 80s. It serves as a reasonably robust score with the main themes being the obvious highlights. This release makes the original score/song release obsolete and is at the least value for money if you are prepared to put up with a few bad cues whilst waiting for all the good or okay ones. But if your�re not a Fiedel fan or an avid Terminator fan and youre after some good action music this score isn�t really one to go for.
* - If you like robust and complex chase or action music and don't really care for the themes.
*** - if you want to hear all the themes and don't mind simplistic action music.
**** - If you're a fan of the film
***** - if you're an avid Brad Fiedel fan.
1. Theme from "The Terminator" (4:16)
3. The Terminator's Arrival (4:57)
4. Reese Chased (3:50)
5. Sarah On Her Motorbike (0:38)
6. Gun Shop / Reese In Alley (1:30)
7. Sarah in the Bar (1:52)
8. Tech Noir / Alley Chase (7:38)
9. Garage Chase (6:52)
10. Arm & Eye Surgery (3:19)
11. Police Station / Escape From Police Station (4:49) 12. Future Flashback / Terminator Infiltration (4:18)
13. Conversation By The Window / Love Scene (3:45) 14. Tunnel Chase (3:38)
15. Death By Fire / Terminator Gets Up (3:13)
16. Factory Chase (3:57)
17. Reese's Death / Terminator Sits Up / "You're Terminated!" (3:28)
18. Sarah's Destiny / The Coming Storm (3:04)
19. Theme from "The Terminator" (August 29th, 1997, Judgement Day Remix) (4:44)
