The Fugitive: Season Three, Vol. 2 (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)The music in Season 3 Volume 2 seems to be a mixed bag. Some episodes are nearly free of the awful Heyes replacement music, while others have much more.
NOT WITH A WHIMPER has quite a bit of Heyes replacement music. I noted soft Heyes cues at 18:00, 25:52, 29:32, and loud Heyes at 18:21, 28:40, 36:10. But I gave up taking notes in Act 4 when my hand started to cramp from jotting down all of the Heyes cues that I heard.
WIFE KILLER is a pleasant surprise. Yes, there are a few Heyes cues, but just a few. Overall, this episode's original music is mostly intact. I wonder if we'll ever get an explanation from CBS as to how one episode can be awash in Heyes, while the next is almost Heyes-free? Go figure.
THIS'LL KILL YOU lands somewhere in the middle. It's about 50% original and 50% Heyes. The more prominent Heyes cues are at 15:29, 29:32, 35:25, 42:15, and the one at 47:07 was so loud that it nearly blasted me out of my chair. Most of the too-loud Heyes cues are in Act 4.
ECHO OF A NIGHTMARE has a handful of Heyes cues. The ones that are noticeable are at 0:08 (in the teaser?!), 11:09, 17:11, 28:19, 35:02, 36:18, 43:19, and 47:09. But there are several more that are softer and blend so well that you don't notice them at first. Even though this episode has a fair amount of Heyes, it feels more like an original episode since so much of the Heyes is well-blended. Oddly, even though the music in the episode's teaser has been replaced by a Heyes cue, the identical scene in the episode (from which the teaser is lifted) has the original music! You can thank the roomful of monkeys in CBS' Audio Department for this gaffe.
STROKE OF GENIUS is almost completely untouched. The only Heyes cue that I noticed is at 4:08. The cue has the crisp artificial sound of a synthesizer, but is not overly loud. The remainder of the original music is intact.
SHADOW OF THE SWAN is mostly intact. All of the original carnival music and the cue near the end where the "swan" dies have been replaced.
RUNNING SCARED is almost completely intact, with only the background music in the airport lounge scene in Act 1 replaced. I thought that the scriptwriter gave us a nice bit of humor when Kimble's sister, meeting up with Kimble for the first time in many months, hands over his accumulated mail - mostly junk mail from pharmaceutical companies! It was a nice touch.
THE CHINESE SUNSET has a few Heyes cues, at 10:05, 20:53, 22:48, 44:24, 46:45, 47:25, and 48:38, but most of them are quiet and well-blended. Only the ones in Act 4 are noticeably loud.
ILL WIND is intact as far as I could tell. I heard no Heyes cues. Jonesie's song is intact. However, this episode's audio track is approximately 100ms out of sync with the video. This amateur mistake would never have been made if the cheapskate CBS management had given their technicians adequate time to do a thorough job.
WITH STRINGS ATTACHED is mostly intact. I heard Heyes cues only in Act 4 and in the Epilog, at 46:40, 47:49, 48:05, and 49:24.
THE WHITE KNIGHT is completely trashed with Heyes cues. A few of the Heyes cues that I heard are at 2:38, 4:43, 10:48, 20:04, 20:47, 22:05, 22:58, 23:26, 27:24, 28:00, 31:20, 33:18, 34:51, 35:47, 38:19, 40:26, 43:12, 45:36, 47:01, 48:29, 49:07. I heard only two original Rugolo cues in the entire episode.
THE 2130, probably the series' best 'chase' episode, has unfortunately been saddled with a lot of replacement music. In my estimation, it's about 40% original and 60% Heyes. I noted Heyes cues at 6:51, 12:04, 17:15, 21:38, 22:44, 24:06, 25:08, 37:40, 40:07, 41:35, and 48:08. Many of these are long cues.
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Those Fuge fans who are familiar with the original score will remember the majestic cue that underscores the Establishing Shot of the 'Medical Research Center'. This cue correctly appears at 17:04 (abbreviated), and at 28:58, but is REPLACED by Heyes cues at 12:03, 41:32, and 48:08! This is sheer incompetence on the part of CBS/Paramount - the sort of incompetence that would never have happened at Paramount before the shortsighted, cost-cutting CBS management took over.
A TASTE OF TOMORROW has a few Heyes cues, but just a few. I noted Heyes cues at 0:00 (in the teaser?!), 31:52, 33:45, 34:25, 34:53. The Heyes cues are reasonably-well blended. To my ears, this episode sounds 95% original.
IN A PLAIN PAPER WRAPPER has a few Heyes cues, at 12:56, 13:12, 27:40, 35:08, 38:40, 40:23, 41:09, 43:53, 45:36, 49:51. Acts 1 and 2 sound mostly original, with the replacement music getting heavier in Acts 3 and 4. To my ears, this episode sounds 80% original.
CORALEE, the final episode of the set, is completely saturated with Heyes replacement music. It would be pointless to list all of the cues here. There are only two original Rugolo cues in the entire episode, at 36:02 and 50:08 (during the final fade-out!). Some of the replacement cues are obvious soundalikes for classic Rugolo cues, e.g., those that occur during the Act fade-ins and fade-outs.
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The efforts of the CBS audio technicians were obviously cut short by their cost-cutting management, as evidenced by the fact that this episode's audio track is 150ms out of sync with the video. This amateur mistake would never have been made if the cheapskate CBS management had given their technicians adequate time to do a thorough job.
I've noticed that in several episodes, CBS has used overly-loud Heyes cues to underscore the episode's climax, usually occurring in Act 4. In Heyes-heavy episodes, Act 4 generally seems to be the most contaminated with the awful replacement cues.
SUMMARY --
Even though there are some good episodes in this set, they are overshadowed by the unconscionable amount of replacement music in S3V2. The haphazard and needless replacement of original cues has Fuge fans shaking their heads in disgust.
In the wake of the S2V1 music fiasco, CBS promised to reinstate the original Rugolo cues, as there was never any legal problem with their use. Now CBS has gone back on their word, replacing a great many Rugolo cues with awful synth music.
It wouldn't be so bad if CBS replaced an occasional cue whenever there was some difficulty in obtaining legal clearances. But there's no excuse for reneging on their promise to reinstate the original Rugolo cues.
I find it utterly mind-boggling that CBS would throw away perfectly good Rugolo cues, and replace them with the awful Heyes cues. I can think of only one reason why CBS would do this.
My guess is that CBS management is trying to rationalize the utter fiasco of S2V1 by trying to put a positive spin on it.
"Hey, we didn't REALLY make a colossal blunder by commissioning the Mark Heyes music. We made a WISE INVESTMENT in new replacement cues, which we can now use to replace all of those old, classic Rugolo cues. You see? We're getting our MONEY'S WORTH out of the Heyes music!"
No, you're just fooling yourselves, CBS. S2V1 was a major screw-up, plain and simple.
Let's look at this in dollars and cents, CBS. You probably paid Mark Heyes roughly $20,000 to compose the replacement cues. But when you use the Heyes cues to replace PERFECTLY GOOD Rugolo cues, you end up PISSING OFF legions of Fugitive fans, who then STOP BUYING your dvds, causing you to lose $100,000 or more in sales. You tell me, is that good business?
It's time to admit your mistake, CBS. You screwed up. Your lawyers didn't do their homework, causing you to commission new replacement music that wasn't necessary.
And now you're throwing away perfectly good Rugolo cues just to give you an excuse to use those unnecessary replacement cues. And you're deluding yourselves by thinking that you're now getting your money's worth for what was paid for the replacement music.
But here's the rub, CBS. Whenever you use the Heyes cues, you make the situation worse. You piss off even more fans. You lose even more in sales. You dig the hole a little deeper.
It's time to cut loose the dead weight of the Heyes music. Time to let it go, CBS. Just write it off, as you would a bad investment. That's what it is, really. A bad investment. A bad decision. A world-class blunder.
Take the Heyes music and toss it into the nearest trash can. Then, do your best to salvage the situation. FIX THE MUSIC. Otherwise, you'll alienate the very same people that you're counting on to buy your dvds.
Remove EVERY LAST HEYES CUE from Seasons 2 and 3, and restore the original music. (And don't make use of any replacement music in the upcoming release of Season 4.)
It's time for you to stop making excuses and cutting corners, CBS. It's time for you to go back and DO THE JOB RIGHT.
MY RECOMMENDATION --
I recommend giving this one a miss. Rent it, if you must, but don't buy it. Don't put your money into the pockets of CBS, which continues to ruin one of television's greatest dramatic series.
By CBS' own admission, the only musical cues in question are those which were originally licensed from the Capitol Music Library, the ownership of which is currently in dispute.
If CBS had attempted to stay as true as possible to the original music by only replacing those few Capitol cues -- "We had to replace just one Capitol cue in this episode, two Capitol cues in that episode, while we were able to leave this third episode untouched." -- then most Fugitive fans would have cut CBS some slack.
But to replace thirty, forty, even fifty cues in a single episode -- cues...Read more›

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