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RIP James Horner

Horner SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.–Two-time Oscar-winning composer James Horner, who worked on three James Cameron films, two ‘Star Trek’ movies and hits like ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ ‘Field of Dreams’ and ‘Apollo 13,’ died Monday, June 22, in a plane crash near here. He was 61.
MSTies will remember that he composed the theme music for the movie in episode 703- DEATHSTALKER AND THE WARRIORS FROM HELL.

The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

12 Replies to “RIP James Horner”

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  1. Herandar says:

    Thanks for the soundtrack to Braveheart, Mr. Horner. It was oodles more influential for me than Deathstalker’s music. RIP.

       5 likes

  2. okerry says:

    Very, very sad. He still had a lot of music left for us. He was only 61 – that’s younger than I am.

    He composed the best *Star Trek* theme ever – the one used for *Wrath of Khan.* And so many, many movies have his music, far more than I was ever aware of. But what wonderful a legacy he’s left. We should all do half as much.

       8 likes

  3. jaybird3rd says:

    Sad news indeed. His “Star Trek II” and “Star Trek III” scores are among my favorites (I have both on CD), and he did incredible work on “Aliens”, “Krull”, and countless other classic films. When I first heard the news, I had just finished watching a documentary on “Aliens” in which Horner discussed his score.

    The opening theme that we heard in “Deathstalker” was actually written for “Battle Beyond the Stars” in 1980. It was one of Horner’s very earliest film scores. Both “Deathstalker” and “Battle Beyond the Stars” were Roger Corman productions, so they were able to reuse the theme, but by the time “Deathstalker” was made in 1988, Horner had become deservedly famous and was probably outside Corman’s price range. Horner’s theme music was so much better than the “music by a total spaz” in the remainder of the movie that its use in “Deathstalker” seems incongruous.

       7 likes

  4. KidFlash says:

    jaybird3rd:
    Sad news indeed.His “Star Trek II” and “Star Trek III” scores are among my favorites (I have both on CD), and he did incredible work on “Aliens”, “Krull”, and countless other classic films.When I first heard the news, I had just finished watching a documentary on “Aliens” in which Horner discussed his score.

    The opening theme that we heard in “Deathstalker” was actually written for “Battle Beyond the Stars” in 1980.It was one of Horner’s very earliest film scores.Both “Deathstalker” and “Battle Beyond the Stars” were Roger Corman productions, so they were able to reuse the theme, but by the time “Deathstalker” was made in 1988, Horner had become deservedly famous and was probably outside Corman’s price range.Horner’s theme music was so much better than the “music by a total spaz” in the remainder of the movie that its use in “Deathstalker” seems incongruous.

    Love Krull. Cheesy movie, but the score made it seem like the greatest thing ever.

    Corman was notorious for doing that with scores throughout his career. To bring it back to MST3k, Golan-Globus needle-dropped Pino Donaggio’s score to the Ferrigno Hercules (which is non-ironically terrific music) throughout their sword and sorcery flicks in the 80s. Hercules 2, Ferrigno’s Sinbad… and Outlaw.

       2 likes

  5. goalieboy82 says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba9FcQCVmQY
    got this on my itunes.

       0 likes

  6. goalieboy82 says:

    he also did My Heart Will Go On (which was played over and over again back in late 1997/early 98).

       0 likes

  7. Kali says:

    Mr. Horner also did the music to Testament with Jane Alexander, which I absolutely loved along with his Trek themes. I had forgotten he had also done the score for Krull.

    I heard about the crash, but was hoping that he had survived it. RIP, Mr. Horner.

       2 likes

  8. jaybird3rd says:

    goalieboy82:
    he also did My Heart Will Go On (which was played over and over again back in late 1997/early 98).

    I won’t fault Horner for this, but “My Heart Will Go On” was indeed hideously overexposed; it was The Song From Which There Was No Escape. That’s probably one reason I haven’t seen Titanic to this day and don’t intend to … even though Frank Conniff loved it.

       2 likes

  9. VeryDisturbing says:

    This is so sad…
    He’s done so much amazing work.
    One of my favorite film soundtracks that he’s done, is for the Disney movie ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’, by Ray Bradbury.
    Such an amazing score.

       0 likes

  10. EricJ says:

    The opening theme that we heard in “Deathstalker” was actually written for “Battle Beyond the Stars” in 1980.It was one of Horner’s very earliest film scores.Both “Deathstalker” and “Battle Beyond the Stars” were Roger Corman productions, so they were able to reuse the theme, but by the time “Deathstalker” was made in 1988, Horner had become deservedly famous and was probably outside Corman’s price range.Horner’s theme music was so much better than the “music by a total spaz” in the remainder of the movie that its use in “Deathstalker” seems incongruous.

    I don’t know how many cheap Roger Corman fantasy and sci-fi films recycled Battle Beyond the Stars, but it was Horner’s first big recognizable score (after a few other unrecognizable Corman entries). You can hear him working out some of the heroic Robin-Hood licks he would use for Krull three years later.

    And if any of the RiffTrax people (including Cole & Janet) DARE touch Krull for being “so 80’s”, there will be blood.

       3 likes

  11. Lex says:

    I remember seeing Titanic when it first came out and became extremely popular. A popularity that seemed to grow as the weeks went by. After seeing all the cars in the lot, I decided to go on a week day and was the only person in the theater because all the girls were in school. I thought the music was extremely effective, I even sat through the credits, even though the movie was over 3 hours long before they came on.

    I also liked Krull. In addition to that, I found out he scored the Rocketeer, another film I liked. It was supposed to be a flop, but I saw it in a packed theater and people really enjoyed it.

       2 likes

  12. Captain Cab says:

    What an awful loss. My favorite scores of his will always be for Apollo 13 and Aliens.

    It’s alarming how many civilians, celebrities and politicians have died over the decades flying or riding in small planes, you’ll never get me on one. We almost lost Harrison Ford a month or two ago, thank goodness Ford didn’t die and nobody was hurt during his crash landing.

       3 likes

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