Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I just received my copy of this and have to say what a delight it is! I was a big fan of the show in the 70s. Then again in the early 80s when it was in syndication. I asked Neil if he would drop by and answer some questions about this set. So Neil, should you drop by, I'd love to hear how you got involved in the set and how you chose what to focus on in the set. I understand from the liners that most of the first season music was missing (bah!) but interested to know your approach. These TV series are always intimidating given the massive amount of music. And a dream was to always have all the different versions of the theme...now they are all there!

Hi Roger!

Thanks for the kind words about this set.

I wish I had a good story about how I got involved with this set, but basically MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys of La-La Land Records asked me to produce it. I've done a lot of TV stuff for them, so maybe they thought I was a natural. I was happy for the work and I'm pleased with the final release.

It was always planned as a 3 CD set. Our original goal was to do a disc per season. This proved troublesome though as we couldn't find any music, beyond the original pilot film for season one. Even that didn't turn up right away. At first all we could find for "The New, Original Wonder Woman" was a mono music stem. I had it transferred and it sounded just like you'd think: potted and not pleasant. A little more searching revealed a set of nine 35mm mag reels of the scoring sessions. They were transferred and perfect. But we couldn't find anything else from season one. We did a really deep scan of the archive (I remember it took awhile to get the results) and nothing turned up. I made the decision then to put "The New, Original Wonder Woman" and "The Return of Wonder Woman" on one disc and run both in complete form. They're really important shows for the series. The first obviously launched it and the second re-launched it on a new network with a revised premise. In that way, we could use the lack of season one material as an advantage.

For season two, we had more luck. We couldn't find everything from that season, but we found enough to fill a disc of season two music. Once I knew what shows we had available, I watched them all (in HD!) to determine which ones I found interesting enough to include on this set. I also decided at this point not to do two parters for this release, as I wanted as much variety as possible and space was limited. Maybe if this does well and we get to do a volume 2 we'll include some of those.

Season three has the most variety because it had the most composers and I wanted to be sure that everyone who scored a Wonder Woman show was represented on this set. I was familiar with many of these shows already because I'd seen them in the last few years on MeTV, prior to working on this set. I remember watching "Going, Going, Gone" on TV and realizing the final cue was definitely by Angela Morley. I also remembered "Spaced Out" utilized the blaster beam, so I wanted that included. "Skateboard Chase" by Johnny Harris is possibly the most memorable cue of the entire series (the is certainly memorable) and I wanted that on here, too. Robert O. Ragland only scored one episode of the show, that decision was easy to make and "The Man Who Could Not Die" was the last episode filmed and seemed like a fitting end to the set. "The Deadly Sting" (also by Johnny Harris) was included because the tapes had to be transferred (the main and end titles plus bumper were recorded at these sessions) and the cue "The Big Fight" was used throughout season three for the "Next Week on Wonder Woman" .

Whittling these scores down to fit on a CD was a challenge I'm not used to. Usually the albums I produce are everything composed, but that couldn't be an option for discs 2 and 3 and I had to come up with a methodology that would make sense and to make sure I was using my time efficiently (why mix a cue if it wasn't going to be on the CD?). So once things were edited I listened again for what I thought was the most interesting, what was the most redundant and what could be shortened. I also listened to make sure I had every "Wonder Woman" vocal in the right place. Once this was all figured out, I made a track list and stuck with it.

I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of for now. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask!

Neil

I've only listened to parts of discs 1 and 2 thus far and am already quite pleased with this set. There will usually be some of our favorite scores and cues missing from these albums, but I for one easily overlook that as I would much rather have an affordable product of great music that also allows many other series to be worked on at a faster rate.

Thanks, Neil, for your meticulous efforts. You play an extremely important role in this industry.

Many thanks to Roger for asking the question, and for Neil's great reply. I too am really enjoying this release although I've only listened to Disc One a few times so far, I don't want to rush into it, I'm enjoying taking it slowly. The sound is superb, every thing about it really is superb, the liner notes, artwork etc! Many thanks to Neil for all his great work and to LLL! I'll certainly buy a Volume 11 if one becomes available!

Mr. Bulk,

Your work on the Wonder Woman set is ASTOUNDING !!!!!! I have always been fascinated by the
mastering / remastering process and would LOVE to hear about the steps you took to remaster
the tracks for the release

Thanks everyone!

"The New, Original Wonder Woman" came from 35mm mag while everything else came from 1/2" 3-track tape. It was all kept in pristine condition. There was never a case where I had to omit something because of damage. WB also did a terrific transfer on this. Their sound department is top notch.

Like a lot of music from this era, Wonder Woman was meant to be heard monophonically. While all of the material was 3-track, it wasn't a typical stereo Left-Center-Right configuration. Instead groups of instruments were combined, so all of the strings for instance would be on channel 1, instead of having them spread out across the channels depending on orchestra position. Mixing it to give a coherent sound took a long time but after a lot of trial and error (and feedback) I had a method in place that pleased me.

Before working on the scores we had to get the vinyl single done, and that was my testing ground for this. Once I had those mixes done everyone liked them. So much so that WaterTower included the season 3 mix on their Music of DC Comics Volume 2.

I should also point out that these scores were well recorded. We sort of lose sight of that after listening to the original shows. The broadcast episodes were mixed in mono and designed to be reproduced by the little 3" speaker in your TV. But when you go back to the original tapes it's striking how good they can sound. We had the same revelation on the original Star Trek television series. So hats off to the original engineers who captured this sound in the first place. Without that we'd have nothing.

Neil

Thanks again Neil for all your insight into the project. I just finished disc 3, which also sounds great. The Angeal Morley episode really does sound like her -- with shades of Watership Down. I noticed a lack of overt reference to the transformation music that Artie Kane had so explicitly scored. Did the composers just choose not to emphasize it in the third season or did they just score it without regard to a consistent sound?

And do you feel another volume would bring additional music that would add to the experience or would it be more of the same? When I finished with all three CDs I felt that it was a great ride, but thought it was well covered. The Artie Kane stuff in particular does get somewhat repetitive, so is there anything more to say, missing elements aside?

This thread is about Wonder Woman, but what other series scores would you like for labels to have you work on? Sticking to Warner Bros., do they have the elements necessary for a three-disc album of Kung Fu?

Roger, by season 3 they were going in a different direction musically than what Artie Kane had established, so it made sense not to use his "spin" motif. Johnny Harris came up with his own variation and I know at least one other composer referenced that variant.

Regarding potential future volumes, inevitably when doing a "best of" you leave off someone's favorite cue or episode. So while there may not be as much variety, there's still value in doing it. I wouldn't object.

T. Newman Fan, what other series scores would I like for labels to have me work on? All of them!

I have no idea what's available on Kung Fu. Sorry.

Neil

Since I got my hands on this set it has had more spins than Diana Prince.
A huge thanks to all involved on this project over at the LLL camp.
Over the years LLL & Intrada have given us some great television scores that really have been given the royal seal of approval.
With sets like Mission Impossible, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone to name just a few.
There are still lots of titles that are pure TV gold that have yet to be uncovered.
Columbo, Scarecrow & Mrs King, The A-Team, Magnum P.I., and not forgetting a certain individual's grail on this board, Morton's Wheels.
The list just goes on. I am so grateful that these labels explore the television world and the results speak for themselves. Keep up the great work.

_________________
Grail: ONE OF OUR DINOSAURS IS MISSING (Ron Goodwin)