My Favorite Martian (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

In cases like this, you have to be strict. What the hell is this movie all about? I for one was fortunate not to have seen it but I would have, just to hear the music of John Debney. That was how far I would have gone! Now, just before my eyes got sore in seeing My Favorite Martian being ranked as movie on a Saturday night, I immediately slapped me silly, just to remember that I had the bootleg of Debney (still fresh of the shelf) simply lying around. After the initial repeated listens I began to think, perhaps I should have watched the movie, just to hear the music in the context and enjoy a little bit more of the score on its own. John Debney has always been a little stuck in the comedy genre and unfortunately My Favorite Martian tops the bill as being just silly crap. That the music may be all what is salvageable is perhaps a generous statement, but it is one of those scores that flies before me, not knowing why and not realizing how. Debney's score is far more earth shattering than Christopher Lloyd's Martian tweedlesticks on his head but it is also not a score that really sticks out much, especially considering it as a stand alone listen. In the case of this, I must disappoint Debney fans, the bootleg is simply not something of an unreleased gem.

In the disappointment factor, My Favorite Martian still ranks high. I wasn't expecting the world of it but two things got me somewhat on the edge of my toes. 1) Debney is Debney and he can get us some orchestral frenzy material (a piece like Little Giants is still all what I mean) and 2) I was expecting something in the vain of Doctor Who. Some alienating magical force with adventurous rhythms and a choral wash of proportions. Well, the choir is there (just very very briefly at times) and the adventurous tone also (5 minutes perhaps tops) but the rest is comical Mickey mouse music that goes and goes, without actually sounding a bit interesting in the stakes. In fact, the music sometimes is too close to Alan Silvestri (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), James Newton Howard (Space Jam) and basically Debney in Inspector Gadget, Cats & Dogs and Liar Liar mode. Nonetheless, the first track could have come from David Newman (another comical frenzy composer) and 'My favorite Martian Medley' is along with a track at the end the only existing piece of music, meaning it simply attracts your attention. It covers the rush of Liar Liar, a piano theme a la David Newman (which sounds for the first notes exactly like Carol Anne's theme of Poltergeist) and an animated nature like Silvestri did during WFRR. That Debney uses somewhat the theme of Goldsmith is even more disturbing, since he did it also in Hocus Pocus for that matter, of course using a different starting note there.

A choir is briefly heard like in tracks 2, 4 or various others (not much of them though) and other noticed inclusions are electric guitar (think of the monstar's theme though less rockin) like in 'Tim Fights Zoot', jazz like in 'What's a Lizzie' and even if above all odds accordion 'Mrs. Brown' and brief inclusions of classical sounding violin 'The Newscast'. And don't forget the mambo feeling on occasions. Perhaps the main 'Poltergeist' theme is the only redeeming factor worth noting except for the slim use of more suspense building action music (10 and 20) and the only good tracks at the end, being 'Into the Sewer' and 'The Original Martian / Coleye gets It', which has for once interesting things at offer. However, completely observed, the first 18 tracks (except the first) are simply dud after dud, music that achieves something of a goal but doesn't offer one second of interesting music, meaning you actually never think your listening to something, let alone sing with it (which was pretty rare). At the end you come to the conclusion that My Favorite Martian achieves this: after all this time I haven't got a single clue what the hell Zoot is, the music consists of perhaps 15 minutes that can achieve a goal and that the listening time is way over its acceptable limit. Again, shorten the score to maximum 35 minutes and you might get at least something of the listening experience. My Favorite Martian might indeed be a score that can sooth several out there, but apart from them being Martian in nature, it is a weirdo of a score, just like the movie seems to be.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. My Favorite Martian Medley (5.19)

2. Uncle Martin Appears (1.27)

3. Tim Comes Home / Martin Sneaks In (2.13)

4. Operation Deadhead (2.27)

5. Tim Fights Zoot (1.26)

6. What's A Lizzie (1.12)

7. Lizzie Kiss / SETI Operation (2.40)

8. Spaceship Crash Landing (2.41)

9. The Ship Expands (1.30)

10. Followed On The Pier (1.35)

11. Mrs. Brown (1.06)

12. Martin & Tim / Brace Discovery (1.29)

13. Zoot In Love (1.36)

14. Zipper Trouble (2.03)

15. Lizzie & Tim Kiss (0.55)

16. Martian Depression (2.34)

17. Zoot Reacts (0.37)

18. Dr. Coleye's Plan (2.28)

19. Tim & Lizzie (1.24)

20. Lizzie Reduced (2.12)

21. Martin Becomes Brace (2.31)

22. The Newscast (2.07)

23. Mrs. Brown Takes The Ship (0.42)

24. Into The Sewer (1.16)

25. The Sewer Chase (1.47)

26. Toilet Trouble (1.16)

27. Kiss From A Martian (0.30)

28. Martian Gets A Dart (1.22)

29. Captured And Analyzed (2.14)

30. Lizzie Transforms (2.18)

31. Martin Resurrected (2.07)

32. Escape / Saying Goodbye (2.01)

33. The Original Martian / Coleye Gets It (3.41)

34. Uncle Martin Returns (2.46)

35. Martian Mambo (1.31)

Total Length: 67.23

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: John Debney ===