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Posted by The Other Jason on 28-02-2020 at 03:13:

Igo Kantor has passed away

Hi all,

I recently found out Mr. Igo Kantor ('Eee-go,' not 'Aye-go'), Battle of the Planets' music editor, passed away on October 15 at the age of 89.

 

I could take a long time listing his credits, but suffice to say he tried his hand in nearly every aspect of TV/film entertainment. Writing, producing, directing, editing, dubbing, composing, acting, even graphic design. You name it, he probably gave it a go at one point. Take a look at his imdb page for a much fuller listing of his career.

I did a long interview with him once and we traded e-mails for a while. To me he seemed a humble person who didn't really like to talk about his accomplishments very much. Although when he did discuss something, he had very vivid memories. Thankfully that was the case with Battle. I think because it was one of the few television series he worked on, as well as because of its heavy workload.

Everyone else I interviewed who worked with Mr. Kantor said he was an absolute genius at music cutting, that he instinctively knew what pieces would work best in a scene and how they should be used.

One of the nicest recollections about his time on Battle came from Christopher Cooke, one of the series' uncredited assistant editors. He remembered, "Jim Hendrickson (Kantor's assistant on Battle) was also a great music editor. He had been the music editor on the original Star Trek series. One day there was a (Battle) mix where one episode was cut by Jim and the next one was cut by Igo. Jim’s episode was great. But when we heard Igo’s edited music it was amazing. It was almost like there was new music we hadn’t heard before. It really lifted the picture."

I had tried to contact Mr. Kantor late in 2018 to invite him to the big Battle panel at WonderCon, but I never heard back. I also tried to find out more information about how he was doing from one of his sons, but I didn't hear back from him either. On a whim I looked him up again early this year and found the news of his passing.

My impression of him was as an extremely intelligent person who worked very hard at all of his interests. I don't think he gave a lot of interviews, which was too bad because he led a very interesting life. The topics he did talk about in other interviews seemed to barely scratch the surface.

Next time you watch a Battle episode, take a moment to pay attention to how Hoyt Curtin's music was incorporated into the scenes, and think about Igo Kantor's contributions. He told me he thought Battle was "A dream job," and that it was "Exhilarating for kids." He was particularly glad it's still popular with its early fans because, "Adults are kids at heart too."

The Other Jason
www.battleoftheplanets.info


Posted by Becky Rock on 01-03-2020 at 01:26:

Sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing Jason.

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