THE PHOENIX (ONE OF THEM - 4.02.82)

"Long ago, in a remote corner of the world, ancient astronauts landed from a distant planet with a gift for mankind."

As mentioned before in previous posts THE PHOENIX was a short run show on ABC that was cancelled after five episodes. In the second episode called "One of Them" Bennu discovers a message from Mira and has a confrontation with an old nemesis (even though we only hear the voice of this new enemy). Preminger is still on the hunt for Bennu as well. 

The music is interesting to note as the score has many similarities with the composer's score to BLUE THUNDER (1983). Arthur B would lay the groundwork with synth sounds that he would eventually return to on the John Badham action film. 

Some cues sound as if they were tracked into the episode from other episodes. I'm not sure where they were originally intended to go or if they were recorded for this purpose of tracking them. The first scene shows Bennu on the run from police with search dogs. A synth pulse can be heard under a main idea starting on the same perfect 4th interval as the main theme to the show. The cue ends with a delayed piano sting as Bennu drops his map of Ancient Indian sites in Arizona:





Arthur B creates a tense atmosphere of synth minor 3rds as Delacey visits with her stalker ex-boyfriend who drives a Jeep: 

A Superman moment as Bennu levitates Delacey's car with his powers since there is no jack. 

Preminger believes Bennu is a fake and just uses magic tricks. Here the score is simply a piano version of the middle section of The Phoenix theme. The effect is somewhat sad and creepy, preventing any humor from the scene, especially with the textural synth coda tacked onto the end:

In this cue a synth version of the theme with piano arpeggiation is stated with the middle section before the first phrase again. More BLUE THUNDER synth suspense as Delacey's ex again shows up:

Here is a cue the production team decided to track in several places in the series. I think this scene has more empty space where the score comes through clearly to give an example. In the opening, horns and strings play a native Indian idea followed by a mysterious use of minor 3rds that pass from woodwinds to strings. In the scene Bennu believes he has found an important burial ground and possible clue to why he is on Earth:

"Mira's image deceives. She has been removed from this place. I will find her before you."

When Bennu gets inside the cave he sees an image of Mira that quickly fades and finds only a blue crystal left in her place. The music is interesting as Rubinstein returns to the Love Theme/Noel's Theme from the pilot episode.  This time the theme is bare with only the synth melody with a low pedal bass providing a feeling of loneliness in the cave that is very effective. It is possible that this is now meant to be Mira's Theme:




Overall this episode is a mismatch of styles with tracked cues from the series and only stark 80s synth cues. I will probably discover the other episodes are scored with these same synth cues but I will continue on with anything that is noteworthy to post here. 

-- Brandon F.

THE PHOENIX will return in "A Presence of Evil."