so I say thank you for the music

[roga]

So the Life on Mars finale has made me think about other TV moments I love, where the music playing in the background just becomes kind of wired to my brain, forever inseparable from the particular scene in which it appeared, because together with the image they just create this perfect TV moment, that I respond to even years later on an

Comments

[wondygal]

I agree with just about everything here, and the ones I don't are only because I haven't seen them or don't remember. There are a couple of moments I'd add from Ashes at Ashes, 1x06 and 1x08, but I won't go into detail here and spoil you; plus twice on Doctor Who: Doomsday, when Rose is banging on the wall and the Doctor stands there sadly to the (aptly named) Doomsday theme, and with Donna in the end of Turn Left, A Dazzling End (I realize you do not actually watch Doctor Who); and also Gossip Girl, the way URA Fever starts playing abruptly when Serena goes to see Blair and we learn why it was she left NYC, I can't remember the exact episode.

Man, reading this makes me want to see Becoming again so badly. It kinda really is the perfect season finale, isn't it? To this day I can't listen to Full of Grace without wanting to cry. And also to finally sit down and finish season 2 of LoM, must do that eventually.

[roga]

YOU REALLY REALLY MUST, if you have not seen it! Even if you know what happens :-)

Full of Grace absolutely drove me to tears. The who episode was just one huge blow after another -- moments we've been waiting for for so long (Joyce finding out, Angel coming back) getting 180 degree twists -- Joyce kicking her out, and, well, Angel. And after we (my best friend and I) saw that episode, we had to wait... I'm not sure exactly how long, but I'm pretty sure it was about a year for season 3 to arrive, in those days before downloading and before satellite TV and whatnot. I'm pretty sure we waited for it to air not even on an Israeli channel, but on the Indian Star World. And we spent the time basically watching our videos of S1 and S2 over and over again, and reading fic from the post-Becoming archive. Wow, memory lane :-) ER may have been my first online fandom technically, but BtVS was the first big one.

Anyway, I'm happy there are good musical moments in Ashes to Ashes! It lifts my spirits :-)

[npkedit]

Your West Wing moments are great, but my favorite use of music in that series was in the first season's "In Excelsis Deo"--only because the music and the editing were in such synch in the final montage that to this day, I can still see the funeral for the homeless veteran in my mind as "The Little Drummer Boy" plays.

But then Aaron Sorkin excelled at matching music to drama--Sports Night is so loaded with great musical moments that just limiting myself to one or two is impossible.

[roga]

Yeah, I think of TWW when I hear The Little Drummer Boy too. Sorkin really was a genius at that. Even in Studio 60, I can think of a few scenes -- "O Holy Night"*, played by musicians from New Orleans. He knows how to tug on your heartstrings, even though that show didn't carry the same emotional weight with me as the other two did.

Are you thinking of particular songs that played in Sports Night, or the regular instruments playing int he background? The regular music in that show was great.

*Edited because I was mixing it up with a really similarly styled version of Amazing Grace, which this is clearly not.

[npkedit]

Mostly particular songs when it comes to Sports Night (particulary good use of "Eli's Coming"...even if Dan totally screwed up the meaning of the song; and of "Sloop John B" in "The Sword of Orion" because it worked so well. And strangely enough, Sorkin could not have done a better of demonstrating how uncool Casey was when they played "Afternoon Delight" at the end of "The Apology" (I can still hear Casey and Dan bickering over who's cool and who's not with that playing in the background).

[roga]

Clearly I haven't watched SN enough if I don't remember these (or maybe I was obsessed enough with all the other shows to watch them multiple times...) I should go and rewatch; especially Sloop John B, which I love and didn't remember they'd used that at all!

[thedeadparrot]

I adore those FNL moments, and then I was like, "wait, can I list the entire first and third seasons tooooooo?"

I realize that wasn't the point, but omg FNL.

[roga]

Dude, omg FNL is always to the point <333.

[elynittria]

Naturally, the LoM finale is one of my memorable musical moments. (In fact, all of the music in that series was well chosen.)

Another favorite moments is in The Return of the King, the final movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, has sent out his son Faramir and a group of his men to their certain deaths in combat (a direct charge against a fortified enemy line). He then asks Pippin to sing him a Shire song while he dines. Pippin's a cappella song is heard over a wordless montage that cuts between Faramir and his men's doomed charge and Denethor obliviously stuffing his face with food. The final words of the song are "All shall fade, All shall fade," sung as the enemy arrows are let loose. It was a chilling scene and one of the best in the movies, IMHO.

[roga]

Wow, yes, I totally agree with that scene. A lot more chilling than the ones I mentioned, but a really beautiful montage.

One of my favorite LoTR scenes, musically and cinematography-wise, is the scene where they light the beacons, spreading word across the mountaintops. The music swells in the background, and I remember thinking, the first time I watched it: this is what this medium, the movies, are made for.

[elynittria]

Oh, yes. I had forgotten about the beacon scene. Such a sense of reborn hope!

And then, of course, there are Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns, which also made great use of music. I'm thinking particularly of the climactic duel between Harmonica and Frank in Once Upon A Time in the West and the three-way Mexican stand-off in the graveyard in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. (The camerawork in the latter scene is awesome too.)

[roga]

I didn't even go into movies in this post, but yes -- both of the scenes you mentioned are gorgeous. I have the music from that scene in Once Upon a Time in the West on my iPod, and it still makes me shiver.

Man, I need a westerns icon.

[hexapuma]

Exodus was my favourite ER too, with Corday under that building and I just really liked the Dr. George character Carter was chatting with when it all kicked off.

The Yo-Yo Ma thing, with Josh reliving his shooting was amazing.

Roswell, Season 1, Blood Brother. Izzy has invaded Alex's dream-space and she sees him dreaming about her. he's taking her dancing. Save Ferris are playing "Let me in" in the background. It's a beautiful moment and I still love that song.

House , Season 3, Top Secret. The opening scene where we're in the Humvee with the marines and it gets hit by an IED and the song Dimension by Wolf-Mother starts playing. The guy gets dragged away from the wreckage, only for the camera to turn around and we see it's House, bloodied, clutching an M4.

[roga]

And don't forget Doug and Carol trapped in an elevator -- seriously, every subplot in that episode was brilliant. And Dr. George was Mickey Rooney! He was awesome.

I just watched the Yo-Yo Ma scene, to remember, and word. Amazing.

Roswell -- I don't remember that scene (although I had watched S1), but lol, seeing Izzy and Alex is 100% Grey's Anatomy to me. Especially since Katherine Heigl plays Izzy in both shows :-)

The only thing I remember about that House episode it that it was The Riley Episode.