The Terminator franchise probably has one of the most memorable themes to it as far as movie scores go. Brad Fidel’s percussive score has already been featured heavily in the ad campaign for the new movie, from the initial teaser trailer that played with the soundtrack by mixing it with radio static, to the digital motion poster, which turns the landscape into a Terminator face by blowing it up to the classic tones. So why isn’t Fidel’s score a requirement for the picture?

MTV’s Movies Blog got the exclusive beat that Danny Elfman is the lucky composer to land the scoring job for this year’s Terminator Salvation. Normally that news would excite me tremendously. After all, Elfman is one of my favorite movie composers, second only to John Williams. But something the musician said bothers me greatly: Fidel’s classic theme isn’t currently being used in the movie, nor is there any requirement that Elfman put it to use in his own score.

“I think if it comes up and it seems appropriate, we will [use it],” Elman told MTV. “And if it doesn’t, we [won't]. I never really know what to expect when I begin other than just kind of get into it and have fun. Especially a movie like T4 – just have fun. So that’s what I intend to do.”

I’m going to have to trust that Elfman knows the franchise and the fans enough that he knows leaving out the score would be a big mistake. I can’t think of a single score he has let fans down on before, so having him involved with this picture is really good news.