Fast forward to present day and in need of a show to produce, I went back into the archives and found this much-neglected script dedicated to one of my favourite sub-genre of film.
So what is a HERO KIDS film? Ryan McKee’s article defines the HERO KIDS film as a movie where “children regularly saved adults from bad situations.” You can extend that to ordinary kids going on extraordinary adventures. McKee’s list doesn’t include films about teenagers, however, our “list” does since teenagers are still essentially kids… just a bit taller.
On the program today you will hear music from such HERO KIDS films as EXPLORERS, THE GOONIES, FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, ZATHURA, THE MONSTER SQUAD, THE LAST STARFIGHTER and many more.
NOW PLAYING: PART 1
NOW PLAYING: PART 2
NOW PLAYING: PART 3
PLAYLIST
PART I • SUPER 8 (Giacchino) • EXPLORERS (Goldsmith) • CITY OF EMBER (Lockington) • THE GOONIES (Grusin) • PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THEIF (Beck) • THE LAST STARFIGHTER (Safan
PART II • THE NEVERENDING STORY (Doldinger) • FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (Silvestri) • RUSSKIES (Howard) • THE MONSTER SQUAD (Broughton) • JUMANJI (Horner) • ZATHURA (Debney)
PART III • HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (Powell) • E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (Williams) • THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (Horner) • BACK TO THE FUTURE (Silvestri) • THE KARATE KID (Horner) • THE KARATE KID (Conti)
I used to love these kind of movies. Chilhood never was as exciting as that, but they do make you feel like you’re living the adventure with the characters.
Awesome scores, all of them, by the way.
Absolutely, Richard. Those 80’s hero kids films are still some of my most cherished films… even the ones that don’t hold up all that well! 😉 And I’m so excited to share these films with my kids. Hopefully, they are just as inspired by them as I was.
Great show again! And with E.T. you are absolutly right! In 1996 I was surprised, that the first expanded release presents for the first time the film versions, but no track of, as you said, the brilliant re-recording for the original LP-release. The same problem on CD we have with John Williams JAWS (1975).
You chose great classics in your show, that I like too, since the 80ths, in which I grown up. Only “Honey I shrznk the kids” from 1989 ist missing here.
I missed such great scores like in these three shows in the aktual days so much.
Greetings from the Unesco-middle-Rhein in germany
André
Thanks for the wonderful note. Honey, I Shrunk The Kids made the short list of scores I wanted to play but didn’t make the final cut! Fun score though and one that I remember fondly from my childhood as well. Cheers!
Hi Erik,
Fantastic 3 part show!!! It took me a few days to listen to it all because it was so extensive. I was thrilled to see you listed so many of my all time favourite movies and scores. (e.g. Goonies, Monster Squad, E.T.,Explorers and BTTF), all of which I own the scores for. I also enjoyed listening to you talk about the movies themselves and what they mean to you as well as the different versions of the E.T. soundtrack. You’ll notice all the movies I listed are from the ’80s as these are the movies I honestly believe had the most memorable scores. Maybe down the track some you could do a show all about the best scores of the ’80s? (That’s a subtle request).
Thank you once again for the effort you put into producing your radio show, particularly this episode which is my favourite so far.
All best Erik.
Josh from Oz.