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BIONICLE Movie Soundtracks

Aanchir

Entry posted by Aanchir

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I was just listening to some BIONICLE movie soundtracks on BioMedia Project. While it's good for a nostalgia kick, I'm finding that much of the music is just as generic as I remembered.

 

I don't mean that in the sense that it's not memorable or distinctive. It definitely checks both of those boxes. But there's nothing about it that makes it a particularly apt fit for the BIONICLE story and universe in particular. A lot of it sounds like it could just as easily belong to an adaptation of any adventure story, like an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Most of the instrumentation feels like very typical Hollywood adventure movie fare.

 

Anybody else remember BIONICLEmusic.com? Something that's always stuck in my head was the description on the mixer page: "The music of BIONICLE is a mixture of the mystical and the mechanical. Like the Toa, it blends the power of high technology with a raw elemental force." The only music that checks either of those boxes in the first three BIONICLE movie soundtracks (at least the selections featured on BMP — I don't know how much they might be omitting) is the end credits music. In the first movie, the end credits movie has some very clear tribal drum rhythms, while in the second movie it includes both those rhythms and some synthesized electronic/mechanical sounds. The third movie's end credits music keeps the exciting drumbeats but for some reason loses the electronic sounds once again.

 

I respect Nathan Furst's work here, and what he's capable of, but this is the reason these have never really ranked among my favorite BIONICLE music or my favorite soundtracks in general.

 

What kinds of soundtracks do I generally like? Well, the soundtrack to The LEGO Movie is one good example. The music in that has a feel that perfectly suits the janky, stop-motion-style action that characterizes the movie. Likewise, the soundtracks for Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra both do a fantastic job evoking the Asian-inspired fantasy world with their rhythms and instrumentation. Even LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu does a good job with this — give this playlist a listen if you want to hear plenty of amazing examples.

 

If next year's BIONICLE revival has a soundtrack even half as well-suited to the franchise as any of these franchise's soundtracks, I will consider it a major improvement. BIONICLE has had some fantastic music over the years, but I feel that in the movies in particular, it too often came at the expense of the soundtrack's sense of identity.

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fishers64

I don't know, but I always thought they fit. Maybe it's because that the movies were mostly about the Metru Nui story, but I didn't think they needed to be tribal. The soundtrack for Legends of Metru Nui is probably the only one I could throw in the "generic movie soundtrack" category.

 

I remember the Web of Shadows soundtrack as fitting to the entire story of the thing, dark and grim as it was. It's a bittersweet anthem, which isn't something I find in movies a good deal. And MoL has too much percussion for me to find it standard movie dramatics.

 

Although I thought Caught in a Dream had electronic sounds. :shrugs: That's actually my #1 complaint about that track: Caught in a Dream doesn't make sense with the rest of the movie. It's nauseating to hear that song after that movie, because they have completely different moods. But that's my opinion. :shrugs: 

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Vorahk1Panrahk2

I can't say I was ever a fan of the heavy electronic music My favorite aspect of BIONICLE was the adventurous and mystical rather than the mechanical, so I happily take Furst's work over music like what was in the power pack and Cryoshell's music in the later years. To me they even feel much more generic than Furst's score, although I also recognize that his music wasn't perfect.

 

The Mata Nui Online game, though, got it right. I'm actually surprised you didn't mention it here. The (synth) tribal/orchestral moments mixed with the electronic moments created something that I feel was very unique to BIONICLE, moreso than the Power Pack's generic techno and Cryoshell's music.

 

But music, like everything in life, is subjective.

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Aanchir

I can't say I was ever a fan of the heavy electronic music My favorite aspect of BIONICLE was the adventurous and mystical rather than the mechanical, so I happily take Furst's work over music like what was in the power pack and Cryoshell's music in the later years. To me they even feel much more generic than Furst's score, although I also recognize that his music wasn't perfect.

 

The Mata Nui Online game, though, got it right. I'm actually surprised you didn't mention it here. The (synth) tribal/orchestral moments mixed with the electronic moments created something that I feel was very unique to BIONICLE, moreso than the Power Pack's generic techno and Cryoshell's music.

 

But music, like everything in life, is subjective.

Mata Nui Online Game is indeed some of my favorite BIONICLE music. It wasn't nearly as cinematic as the music in the movies, most of the time, but it was still very good at having a distinctively BIONICLE sound (even during moments like the Kahu flight where it was riffing on existing music). I didn't mention it here because this blog entry was basically just about the music in the movies.

 

Though Mata Nui Online Game did use some of the Power Pack music itself for certain action sequences, and I found that very fitting. I don't in any way think that the Power Pack captures everything about what made BIONICLE what it was, but I feel like it put forth a more visible effort to try and create a uniquely BIONICLE sound than the music in the movies. But perhaps that's just because I don't listen to a lot of techno, and what I have heard doesn't typically have a lot of chanting in it. Maybe that's more normal than I give it credit for.

 

I don't hold promotional songs like Cryoshell's stuff for BIONICLE or The Fold's stuff for Ninjago to the same standard as soundtracks. They perform totally different functions. A promotional song's main function is to set the tone for the series with a catchy melody and memorable lyrics. I think Cryoshell's stuff did that pretty well. I was more or less disinterested with earlier songs like Hero and Caught in a Dream, though. Nothing about the lyrics spoke to me.

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