Music of the Spheres

In the New Jersey Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall profiles two of the best composers on the scene right now, Michael Giacchino of LOST and Bear McCreary of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA:

In recent seasons, McCreary's music has even become a part of the plot. At the end of the third season, "Galactica" producer Ronald D. Moore wanted to use Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" as the song that four human characters would hear to realize that they were really robotic Cylons. He tasked McCreary - without telling him what the story was - with penning a version of the song that didn't sound like Dylan, or Jimi Hendrix, but "like 'Galactica.'"

Working blind, McCreary cooked up a version that was equal parts Middle Eastern and heavy metal, and Moore liked it so much that it became far more prominent than originally planned. This past season, McCreary was asked to write an opera song for one character to sing while recovering from the loss of a limb, and the writers have come up with a musician character for the final batch of episodes (due sometime in 2009) who's loosely modeled on McCreary.

..."For me," says McCreary, "it's an opportunity to show that it's still possible to write music for television - on a deadline and budget that would make composers for film weep - that's intelligent and artistic and something that is worth a second viewing."