If you came of age in the early 1980s like I did, you certainly went through that cherished rite of passage, when a friend explained to you a piece of the secret knowledge that you’d carry into adulthood (or if you were especially mature, you figured it out yourself through experimentation): the fact that most John Williams scores1Except Jaws, unfortunately can be sung to the title of the movie2Although sometimes you have to fudge it to get it to fit, e.g. “In Jurassic Park / you’ll see dinosaurs / but they miiiight / kill you dead”.
Michael Giacchino doesn’t waste time with ambiguity, though. In his theme for Fantastic Four: First Steps, he has a chorus tell you exactly when to sing “Fan-tas-tic Fooooouuurrr!”
And honestly, I think that theme is just great. It does exactly what it needs to do, placing it into the franchise with the sweeping majesty of MCU super hero movie music — even though I’ve spent too much time in Avengers Campus at Disneyland, and I can no longer stand to hear the Avengers theme, that overture they play during the Marvel Studios intro with the comics panels and excerpts from movie scripts gets me every damn time.
But then it really takes off at around 2:20 (of the Apple Music track, about 8:40 in the YouTube video), when it blends into the vibe of retro-futuristic space-age music, having the chorus emphasize those repeated four notes “bom… bom bom bom” that make you want to take your flying car out to go shopping in an ultra-modern supermarket.
The song that I think of as the platonic ideal for this style of music is “Nation on Wheels” by George Bruns, which immediately conjures up images of monorails and molecules and Magic Highways. It’s so perfect, in fact, that First Steps uses it outright.3One of the advantages to being part of an IP-devouring cosmic entity like the Walt Disney Company.
But I suspect that the music that might have more directly inspired Giacchino is the theme(s) for “Lost in Space,” by John Williams. There are two, and they’re both absolute bangers. The original from 1965 feels like an Irwin Allen sci-fi series, which is good because that’s what it was:
The later one from 1967 is probably better known, and it has more of the feel of what the series primarily became known for, a sci-fi adventure primarily intended for kids:
What really impresses me about Giacchino’s work is his versatility and adaptability. He’s in high demand because of his ability to work perfectly within existing styles, like with Star Trek and Rogue One, but also manages to come up with memorable, instantly classic themes, like in his scores for Up, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles. His score for Fantastic Four: First Steps is a showcase for both: combining Marvel music and Space Age music into something intensely hummable, and maybe even more importantly, demonstrating that he understands what this movie is about down to the atomic level.
Plus, I love seeing someone having so much success working with material he so clearly loves. There’s a sense of fun and enthusiasm throughout all of it4Which is apparent in his dad-joke titles for tracks and an enviable kid-in-a-candy-store energy he brings to projects where you just know he’s nerding out over the chance to do it.
One of those is his music for Space Mountain at Disneyland, which had a tough legacy to live up to after Dick Dale’s space surf guitar take on Carnival of the Animals, but which I’ve grown to love. Largely because I hear so much of the influence of the “Lost in Space” themes, not to mention a genuine love of Tomorrowland.
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