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More cool movie, TV and game soundtracks than ever before are hitting score fans every month. But what should you dial into? Here’s a round up of some of the month’s best listens that go great with picture, as well as conjuring your own imaginations. Welcome to “What iF Score Picks.”

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1) BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

(C) 2008 La La Land

Price: $26.98
What is it? He’s been the Dark Knight of a four-color and live-action Gotham City, but this cartoon series is regarded by many fans as the definitive vision of the caped crusader, the character’s knock-out punch delivered with symphonic gusto by Shirley Walker and her composing team over the course of three seasons. Treating each episode like a mini-movie, Walker came up with eclectically unique themes for the likes of The Joker, Poison Ivy and The Penguin with some of the best “comic book” scoring done for the big or small screens.
Why should you buy it?: Numerous fans of the show (just re-released as a deluxe DVD set) have been waiting over a decade for Walker and company’s acclaimed music. Now this La La Land release collects TAS’ greatest hits into two CD’s, compiling the music from such classic episodes as “Christmas with the Joker” “Vendetta,” “Perchance To Dream” and the two-parts of “Two Face,” who eerily emotional music made Harvey Dent the equal of his flesh-and-scar appearance in THE DARK KNIGHT.
Extra Special: Copious liner notes that include comments by Paul Dini and theme creator Danny Elfman, with Shirley Walker herself featured on a CD bonus track where she describes her acclaimed approach to Bat-music.

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2) CHiPs: VOLUME 2: SEASON 3, 1979 - 80

(C) 2008 Screen Archives

Price: $19.95
What is it? Alan Silvestri’s unbelievably groovy music for NBC’s kitsch classic motorcycle cop show.
Why should you buy it?: This may not be what Silvestri did later for BACK TO THE FUTURE. But if you love detective disco, then the composer’s wonderfully silly, and well-produced grooves will make you want to jump into your dancing shoes and hand out tickets to boogie. Even better are the album’s unused vocal versions of its rubber-burning numbers.
Extra Special: Film Score Monthly’s first volume of CHiPs music is now a collector’s item as valuable as an autographed Speedo from Erik Estrada, so be sure to pick up this second season set before you get a massive Ebay fine trying to obtain it.

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3) HALO TRILOGY: THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS

(C) 2008 Something Else Music Works

Price: $ 24.99
What is it? Deluxe four CD collection of Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s music for all three HALO videogames, packaged in a DVD-size foldout-case that hints at these scores’ movie-level quality.
Why should you buy it? Unleash your inner Master Chief with hours of beautifully flowing soundtracks, terrific compositions that are stylistically linked by waves of rocking new age melody and percussive lite rock action, all with an accent on futuristic religiosity. Not exactly the kind of listening that would come to mind for a mix tape when blasting aliens, which makes O’Donnell and Salvatori’s innovatively groovy game music all the cooler, especially with its top-notch production value.
Extra Special: A bonus preview DVD of the upcoming HALO WARS game (with music by Stephen Rippy), a glimpse that makes me want to whip that reflecting green helmet on as soon as possible.

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4) SHORT CIRCUIT

(C) 2008 Varese Sarabande

Price: $19.98
What is it? Number Five is alive again with the long-awaited release of the soundtrack for 1986’s E.T.-via-robot family film.
Why should you buy it? Sure David Shire’s music for this adorable tin thing might not have the kind of musical system updates that filled Thomas Newman’s score for WALL-E. Yet there’s no loss of tread when it comes to enjoying Shire’s combo of richly sweet orchestral music and '80’s-style synths, one of the many reasons that the memory chip of SHORT CIRCUIT has remained embedded in sci-fi fans.
Extra Special: Limited to 2000 copies as a Varese Sarabande club release, Number Five is sure to sell out. So be sure to grab this robot while it’s wheeled out of musical storage.

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5) THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

(C) 2008 Intrada

Price: $17.99
What is it? William Ross’ utterly charming and surprisingly exciting score for a CGI Mouse-keteer.
Why should you buy it?: Ross has always been one of Hollywood’s best-kept orchestral secrets with his terrific scores for such kid-friendly entertainments as MY DOG SKIP and TUCK EVERLASTING, not to mention his frequent orchestrating assists to John Williams (especially for his adaptation of the maestro’s Harry Potter music in CHAMBER OF SECRETS). Now DESPEREAUX gives Ross’ music an opportunity to shine like never before, as his rich symphonic themes capture the kind of swashbuckling thrills that have filled the work of every great adventure composer from Erich Wolfgang Korngold to Williams himself. The fact that Ross’ dramatic flair and Baroque wit is applied to a pint-sized hero only adds to DESPEREAUX’s charm.
Extra Special: It’s hard to think of a more enchanting soundtrack to introduce the young’uns to the magic of old-school orchestral film music.

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Also for Your Consideration:

• THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL – If you thought that Bernard Herrmann was being experimental by conjuring extraterrestrial eeriness with an organ and Theramin, just wait until you hear Tyler Bates’ completely alien use of electronics here. Yet he’s also smart enough to ground his brain-frying use of experimental music with ethereally beautiful passages, cosmically impressive choral music for Klatuu’s glowing arks, and pounding action that turns Gort into an overwhelming engine of percussive fear. Sure this ain’t your granddad’s EARTH score, but it’s definitely interesting stuff for the musically open-minded. And don’t worry. The Theramin’s still here- even if it's been mutated by X-Men proportions.
  
• GEARS OF WAR 2 – Swing out that shotgun and rev up the chainsaw for Steve Jablonsky’s clanking choral hosannas, as the composer behind STEAMBOY and TRANSFORMERS applies his brand of amped-up excitement to the second entry of high-tech soldiers behaving badly. It’s a deliberately metallic jam of orchestra and samples that rock with energetic destruction.
  
• INVASION (1000 Edition) – We’ll never know if those alien hybrid bastards succeeded in taking over the planet due to the 2005 show’s single season. Yet the seed was planted, and surprisingly melodic music grew from John Ehrlich and Jason Derlatka’s effective mix of ethereal beauty and ominous action. They’ve given this INVASION a humanistic sci-fi sound that any alien critter would be proud to plant its terran flag with. 
  
• MARLEY & ME – When it comes to cute scores, few composers get the “awww” quotient down like Theodore Shapiro. Whether it’s 13 GOING ON 30 or ALONG CAME POLLY, Shapiro knows just the right, sweet strings and guitar funk to conjure that special rom-com feel, except here the crush object is the sweetest engine of canine destruction since BEETHOVEN. The fact that Shapiro gets the job done with pleasant themes and real emotion shows that you can have an intelligent bite with melodic family fun. Take this one home from the record store.
  
• 9 TO 5 – Though Charles Fox has made ‘em laugh with such rollicking scores as FOUL PLAY, ZAPPED and EUROPEAN VACATION, he’s remained under-represented on CD. Now Intrada does their part by releasing one of his most popular soundtracks for this classic office revenge comedy. Beyond its hit Dolly Parton song, 9 TO 5 more than earns its underscore pay with delightful screwball suspense melodies, especially with a homicidal Bugs Bunny-style revenge fantasia where Lilly Tomlin and her cartoon friends get decided un-Disney-esque payback from Dabney Coleman’s uber-rotten boss. 
  
• NOBEL SON  – Though this deliciously twisted thriller deserved better from the box office, it certainly got an enticingly mean groove from beat-master Paul Oakenfold (with an assist by Mark Adler, turning his BOTTLE SHOCK talent to cool, nasty shards). Rarely has kidnapping, thumb cutting and general bad behavior sounded so danceable hip with SON’s wall-to-wall score, which is topped off by Spitfire’s great title track. Oakenfeld’s glowstick groove makes SON the best rave score since B.T. tackled the slightly less nasty GO.
  
• SEVEN POUNDS – Venezuelan composer Angelo Milli makes a promising Hollywood debut with this understandably melancholy score, which combines beautifully somber strings with an interesting electronic “EKG” effect. Though there’s a bit of similarity to the poignancy at hand, Milli’s deliberate approach ends up building to a movingly emotional release that’s one of the year’s standout musical cues.
  
• STARCRASH – Who would have thought that the composer behind James Bond and OUT OF AFRICA would score one of the most delightfully inept spectaculars of all time? But when you consider that Barry also composed for cheesy flicks like GAME OF DEATH, his wonderfully melodic Ragu for this Spaghetti sci-fi opus isn’t so surprising. For no matter the material (Barry evidently wasn’t aware how this would turn out), the composer has always brought every score a touch of orchestral class, giving a “Bond in space” sound to Stella Star’s bodacious antics here, as well as the kind of cosmic grandeur that any galactic emperor would be proud to call his own.
  

Find these soundtracks at these .com’s:  Amazon, Buysoundtrax, Intrada, iTunes, Screenarchives and Varese Sarabande.

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