DC has announced a soundtrack compilation featuring music from movie and TV adaptations of their characters. The collection goes all the way back to the 1941 Superman cartoons by Max Fleischer Studios and runs up through Green Lantern: First Flight. A lot of it is previously unavailable material, like music from the 1967 Filmation cartoons, Super Friends and Justice League Unlimited, and the live-action Swamp Thing and Shazam! TV shows. There are also familiar tracks like John Williams’ Superman theme, Danny Elfman’s Batman, and the themes from the 1960s Batman and 1970s Wonder Woman TV series.
CBR has a detailed article, and The Source has the track list. Neither article has a release date more detailed than “later this year,” but Amazon lists September 28.
I was surprised not to see anything from the 1990 Flash TV series (though they do have the Flash intro from the Filmation cartoons), but they may have decided it didn’t represent the Flash appropriately. Danny Elfman’s theme for the show does sound a lot like his Batman theme.
If you do want to pick up music from the Flash TV series, you can still get La La Land Records’ limited edition 2-CD soundtrack, featuring Elfman’s theme and Shirley Walker’s score from eight episodes.
“Danny Elfman’s theme for the show does sound a lot like his Batman theme.”
I would say most of Elfman’s soundtrack stuff sounds the same…very much the bombastic “buddada-buddada-BUDDADA flourishes propelled by a cacophony of instruments. Gets old really quick.
I’d recommend checking out Music for a Darkened Theater, vol.2. It has a wide variety of Danny Elfman music that doesn’t all sound the same.
Yea his Alice in Wonderland sounds the same with Taking Woodstock and it sounds the same with Terminator Salvation and it sounds the same with The Kingdom which sounds the same with Nacho Libre which sounds the same with Nightmare Before Christmas. Most of them sounds the same!!!!
I’m surprised that the only music from JLU it provides is the main theme song. Didn’t an episode have TWO actual songs in it that have never been available anywhere? Kevin Conroy as Batman singing ‘Am I Blue?’ is something every fan remembers, and I -really- want a copy of Circe (the name of the voice actress escapes me right now) singing ‘Lulu’s Back in Town’. Not to mention Arleen Sorkin’s memorable performance of the Dorothy Shay song ‘Say That We’re Sweethearts Again’ in the BtAS episode Harliquinade. I mean, I have a copy of that for anyone who wants it, but it should be widely available, damnit!
Uh, /endrant
I was rather disappointed that the original theme for the cartoon “The Batman” wasn’t on there…easily the best coolest theme ever. 🙂
And only Elfmans early stuff sounds the same. His recent (since idk Spider-Man/Planet of the Apes. Somewhere around 2000) stuff is in fact very diverse and inspired. John Williams on the other hand…EVERYTHING sounds exactly the same with that guy…:P