Star Wars Film Scores Discussion

[Doctor Cringelord]

I like Rey's theme, even though it reminds me of music Williams wrote for Harry Potter.

My favorite SW score is The Empire Strikes Back. I remember buying the double CD set in the 90s and cranking it up on my shitty little CD player boombox.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I like how Giacchino referenced old Williams motifs in Rogue One without making it feel like he was shamelessly aping Williams themes and style. He melded it into his own themes and style.

If Williams kicks the bucket though, I would rather see Desplat take over. Or maybe Howard Shore.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

In Jedi, when Wedge and Lando are flying in and about to destroy the Death Star II reactor, the music featured is tracked from Empire, the music used when Leia is turning the ship around to save Luke from the weather vane on cloud city. I always associated that piece with the Death Star II destruction, so it was jarring when I bought the Jedi score and that was not the music I was hearing. On the one hand, I understand composers' frustration when their intended music isn't used in films (Goldsmith had to deal with his Alien score being butchered and in some spots replaced with tracked music from his own older score to the 1962 film Freud) but I also get so accustomed to hearing what ended up in the finished product, that I have a hard time appreciating the music the composers intended.

Here's what we hear in the film:

And here's what Williams had written and intended:

Some of Williams' intended music remains but they spliced the Cloud City music into there. I had always assumed he was just reusing that motif and didn't learn until later that it was tracked in.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

What makes Williams great is that he can convey a lot of emotion in the music, even if that emotion may not always be there in the visuals and performances of the actors:

Also one of my favorites from Sith:

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Not as well known as The Imperial March, but I think this motif captures pure evil:

 

[miss fortune]

despite the fact that I'm not much of a star wars fan myself (the man is... he decorated an entire room in star wars theme ), we've been to several concerts of orchestras playing the music of star wars... we're going again this year. the music is one of the best parts of the movies, but then again, John Williams tends to do a pretty good job.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

despite the fact that I'm not much of a star wars fan myself (the man is... he decorated an entire room in star wars theme ), we've been to several concerts of orchestras playing the music of star wars... we're going again this year. the music is one of the best parts of the movies, but then again, John Williams tends to do a pretty good job.

Williams is at least half the reason I love the original trilogy.

 

[miss fortune]

Williams is at least half the reason I love the original trilogy.

his music supplies the emotion to cover up some pretty flat acting on some parts in the original trilogy (admittedly, I dislike star wars because I can't stand Luke and feel that his character is flat and boring on its own... the music helps make it work)

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

his music supplies the emotion to cover up some pretty flat acting on some parts in the original trilogy (admittedly, I dislike star wars because I can't stand Luke and feel that his character is flat and boring on its own... the music helps make it work)

Yep. a good composer can convey all of the emotions and carry the film. It can seem to enhance the actors' performances. John Barry was a master of this. Connery just played Connery in Bond. Moore was wooden as fuck. But when Barry was scoring, he conveyed the tension and emotion that Bond should be going through.

 

[miss fortune]

Yep. a good composer can convey all of the emotions and carry the film. It can seem to enhance the actors' performances. John Barry was a master of this. Connery just played Connery in Bond. Moore was wooden as fuck. But when Barry was scoring, he conveyed the tension and emotion that Bond should be going through.

I do love the old Bond movies, but you are correct there... the acting wasn't that great, but the mood was

will always think that they're a lot of fun to watch

also, back on Williams... the Harry Potter theme really DOES sound magical

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I do love the old Bond movies, but you are correct there... the acting wasn't that great, but the mood was

will always think that they're a lot of fun to watch

also, back on Williams... the Harry Potter theme really DOES sound magical

I'm of the opinion that of all the Bond's, Connery gave the least Fucks which is why regardless of acting skill I think he more perfectly encapsulates the character because that was just who he was. On screen. And off.

 

[miss fortune]

I'm of the opinion that of all the Bond's, Connery gave the least Fucks which is why regardless of acting skill I think he more perfectly encapsulates the character because that was just who he was. On screen. And off.

it helps that he was the first Bond and therefore set the standard for all that followed

watching him play the part is just so damned FUN though!

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Watching the original trilogy, I think there's a lot of moments when the music was mixed too low, it could have been louder for greater dramatic effect.

Of course, not to disparage the excellent SFX work. That deserves credit too.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I like how you can hear the Imperial March foreshadowed in this theme

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Another brilliant piece of foreshadowing. Listen closely and it’s the major key variant of the Emperor’s theme:

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watching the original trilogy, I think there's a lot of moments when the music was mixed too low, it could have been louder for greater dramatic effect.

Of course, not to disparage the excellent SFX work. That deserves credit too.

I'm not sure about that. I know in a few cases they fucked up the music mix during some of the various "improvements". The original DVD release of ANH totally screwed up the cue for the Battle of Yavin. There's a wonderful trumpet fanfare mixed with the Force Theme as the Y-wings (I think) descend towards the Death Star, and on the VHS version, you could hear it, but it was so muted on the DVD to be barely noticeable.

Another brilliant piece of foreshadowing. Listen closely and it’s the major key variant of the Emperor’s theme:

That's pretty cool.

I also think, even though I was snarky about the "enhancements" earlier, there are a few changes in the Special Editions I'll defend. One is the change made in 1997 to the ending of Return of the Jedi. I think that new cue is much more epic, and I think they visuals, as they were in 97, worked. (Again, they screwed this up in 2004 in an attempt to include references to the prequels, but they're awkward and none of them feel like they fit. This is also when they changed Anakin's Force Ghost (which again, looks awkwardly copied and pasted). I think the thing that bugged me the most is showing the Jedi Temple in the background in Coruscant..... why would the Emperor have let that stand? I liked how they handled that in the new canon, though, and made that so that Palpatine made the Jedi Temple the Imperial Palace, which also explains why the Death Star's throne room tower looks like the Jedi Council tower. That makes me feel a lot better about that.)

Jedi Rocks is really stupid, though, and the original music was a lot better, if kind of 80s.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I'm not sure about that. I know in a few cases they fucked up the music mix during some of the various "improvements". The original DVD release of ANH totally screwed up the cue for the Battle of Yavin. There's a wonderful trumpet fanfare mixed with the Force Theme as the Y-wings (I think) descend towards the Death Star, and on the VHS version, you could hear it, but it was so muted on the DVD to be barely noticeable.



That's pretty cool.

I also think, even though I was snarky about the "enhancements" earlier, there are a few changes in the Special Editions I'll defend. One is the change made in 1997 to the ending of Return of the Jedi. I think that new cue is much more epic, and I think they visuals, as they were in 97, worked. (Again, they screwed this up in 2004 in an attempt to include references to the prequels, but they're awkward and none of them feel like they fit. This is also when they changed Anakin's Force Ghost (which again, looks awkwardly copied and pasted). I think the thing that bugged me the most is showing the Jedi Temple in the background in Coruscant..... why would the Emperor have let that stand? I liked how they handled that in the new canon, though, and made that so that Palpatine made the Jedi Temple the Imperial Palace, which also explains why the Death Star's throne room tower looks like the Jedi Council tower. That makes me feel a lot better about that.)

Jedi Rocks is really stupid, though, and the original music was a lot better, if kind of 80s.

I’m not an original trilogy purist, I think some of the improvements were unnecessary but some were OK. Jabba was a dumb addition to A New Hope because we already know all we need to know about Han’s bounty from the Greedo scene. The Saarlaac beak never made sense to me.

The Wampa is Ok, and I like the new end of Jedi, but they should have kept the old Anakin ghost.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watching the original trilogy, I think there's a lot of moments when the music was mixed too low, it could have been louder for greater dramatic effect.

Of course, not to disparage the excellent SFX work. That deserves credit too.

I’m not an original trilogy purist, I think some of the improvements were unnecessary but some were OK. Jabba was a dumb addition to A New Hope because we already know all we need to know about Han’s bounty from the Greedo scene. The Saarlaac beak never made sense to me.

The Wampa is Ok, and I like the new end of Jedi, but they should have kept the old Anakin ghost.

The other two changes I liked other than the end of Jedi are the expansion of Cloud City and the use of CGI to cause more dynamic spaceship movement in the Battle of Yavin. Both things enhance rather than detract from the movie, IMO. But yeah, I dislike the addition of Hayden Christensen.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watching the original trilogy, I think there's a lot of moments when the music was mixed too low, it could have been louder for greater dramatic effect.

Of course, not to disparage the excellent SFX work. That deserves credit too.

it helps that he was the first Bond and therefore set the standard for all that followed

watching him play the part is just so damned FUN though!

No, he wasn't:

Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond