In the world of science fiction, the landmark television series Star Trek and feature film Star Wars became so popular and influential they took on lives of their own. They spawned sequels and various spinoffs (especially novels) tied to the established mythology that original creators Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas were only marginally involved with, if it all, other than official approval. The classic 1984 film The Terminator, directed by James Cameron and starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cyborg and Linda Hamilton as the reluctant heroine, joined this exclusive sci-fi club. It was a lean and mean, highly effective movie in every way, and one of its best features was the haunting score by
Brad Fiedel. Cameron,
Schwarzenegger, Hamilton, and
Fiedel teamed up again for the 1991 follow-up, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a box-office smash far exceeding the original's success. After a handful of commercial and critical failures,
Schwarzenegger reprised his signature role in 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines for a reported $30 million. Cameron declined to return and the film was directed by Jonathan Mostow.
Fiedel was replaced by veteran
Marco Beltrami. The film was a hit but it had a different feel; Mostow and
Beltrami definitely put their own stamp on it. Whereas
Fiedel's score -- especially in the original film -- relied heavily on synthesizers and keyboards,
Beltrami's
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' score is a professional orchestral work performed by a collective of session musicians credited as the Hollywood Studio Symphony. A number of pieces stand out, such as "A Day in the Life," "Hooked on Multiphonics," "Graveyard Shootout," "Magnetic Personality," and "Terminator Tangle."
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines also includes the Hollywood Studio Symphony's arrangement of
Fiedel's memorable original theme and the folk-flavored pop bonus tracks "Open to Me" by Dillon Dixon and "I Told You" by Mia Julia. ~ Bret Adams