Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and your musical experience.

A: My name is Michael Ducharme, and I'm a composer, living in Winnipeg, Canada. I've been interested in music since I was young - my first real notice of music was in film. The music from the late 70's and early 80's science fiction films (John Williams' brilliant and brassy "Star Wars" scores, James Horner's regal "Star Trek II" and especially John Barry's mysterious "The Black Hole") captivated me when I was little. So, I took piano lessons and eventually started to compose when I was around 14 and computer MIDI technology for composing first became affordable. Over the past several years I have composed the music for various projects including short films.

Q: What was your first recollection of Space: 1999 and the music?

A: I didn't know of or see an episode of Space: 1999 until I was around 11 or so. It was a rerun (I wasn't born yet when it originally aired) and I don't remember which episode it was, but it was Season One. I saw the beginning of the episode and thought the show was very interesting, and then came the actual main titles and that wonderful majestic fanfare that opened it, and I was entranced and blown away by the fanfare. I remember thinking when the fanfare played "why isn't this as popular as Star Trek, this is great" - then suddenly, as if in response, the music changed to the 70's style guitar and wah-wah pedal and at that moment I wasn't sure whether I wanted to watch the rest. But I did, and was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the music besides the main title sequence wasn't trying to be 70's hip and was very well written and inspiring. I enjoyed the episode itself so much that I wound up tuning into the entire series, and have been a fan since.

Q: What are your thoughts on Barry Gray?

A: Barry Gray is a legend, and he was an amazing composer. I have the utmost respect and admiration for his work including his work on Space: 1999. The 1970's and 1980's were a time where studio executives, trying to improve ratings with younger viewers, were really trying to make the TV shows and movies hip, and in that, have the music be "of the times" as much as possible. I suspect Barry Gray was also pressured to arrange it in a popular fashion to draw the younger audience, and complied as any composer would who wanted to continue working for the studios. Unfortunately that causes the music to become dated very quickly, which in my opinion hurts the show in syndication and damages its appeal to possible future audiences.

Q: How did the trailer theme to Space: 2099 come about?

A: I read an article online about Eric Bernard's Space: 2099 project and thought it was very interesting that he was wanting to update the series for modern audiences. So I decided to contact him and share some thoughts about the series. I discovered that he was very much of the same thinking as me, that the 70's sounding parts of the original main title sequence dated the show quite a bit and that he would love to hear a fully orchestral arrangement. So I decided to put my mind to looking at how the theme could be altered in terms of orchestration and timing to remove the pop-feel and keep the classic space opera feeling and came up with the idea for the new arrangement, and did it and sent it to Eric, and it took off from there.

Q: What were some of the changes made to the original theme in your new arrangement?

A: I kept as many elements of the original theme as I could, where I felt they would work. I wanted to keep the section of the theme where you see Barry Morse and the planets largely untouched, because it worked so well in the original. As for the main section I made various changes to the rhythm and harmony and instruments to remove the pop-feel, and to really try to get across the amazing heroic story of a group of individuals who are put through extraordinary circumstances to fight for survival against incredible odds. The original introduction to the theme was that grand fanfare evocative of "2001: A Space Odyssey", which worked brilliantly well in the original. In my arrangement, with everything so bombastic the entire way through, I felt there needed to be a bit of a quiet section to provide a contrast from the bombastic parts, and so a quieter intro was written that I believe contrasts nicely from the bombastic materials. I like to think my new arrangement is my own personal tribute to Barry Gray, whose music really inspired me, and I hope this "re-imagining" of the original theme is taken as such.