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Head to Head: The Phantom Menace vs. The Force Awakens


Will

The Phantom Menace vs. The Force Awakens  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. The Arrival vs. Starry Night

  2. 2. Droid Fight vs. I Can Fly Anything

  3. 3. Droid Invasion vs. Village Attack

  4. 4. You're Under Arrest vs. Follow Me

  5. 5. Escape from Naboo vs. The Falcon

  6. 6. The Flag Parade vs. March of the Resistance

  7. 7. The Race Begins vs. Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle

    • The Race Begins
    • Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle
    • Tie
  8. 8. Anakin's Great Victory vs. Finn and Poe, United

    • Anakin's Great Victory
    • Finn and Poe, United
    • Tie
  9. 9. Anakin is Free vs. Maz's Counsel

  10. 10. Darth and Qui-Gon vs. Escape in the Millennium Falcon

    • Darth and Qui-Gon
    • Escape in the Millennium Falcon
    • Tie
  11. 11. Coruscant Arrival vs. Arrival at Takodana

    • Coruscant Arrival
    • Arrival at Takodana
    • Tie
  12. 12. Take to Your Ships and Take Off vs. Scherzo for X-Wings

    • Take to Your Ships and Take Off
    • Scherzo for X-Wings
    • Tie
  13. 13. The Great Duel-The Duel Continues vs. The Ways of the Force (OST version)

    • The Great Duel-The Duel Continues
    • The Ways of the Force (OST version)
    • Tie
  14. 14. Qui-Gon's Noble End vs. Torn Apart (Force theme alternate)

    • Qui-Gon's Noble End
    • Torn Apart (Force theme alternate)
    • Tie
  15. 15. Battleship Destroyed-The End of Darth Maul vs. The Journey Home

    • Battleship Destroyed-The End of Darth Maul
    • The Journey Home
    • Tie
  16. 16. Conferring with Yoda vs. Farewell and the Trip (film version)

    • Conferring with Yoda
    • Farewell and the Trip (film version)
    • Tie
  17. 17. Qui-Gon's Funeral vs. The Starkiller

    • Qui-Gon's Funeral
    • The Starkiller
    • Tie
      0
  18. 18. Augie's Municipal Band vs. The Jedi Steps

    • Augie's Municipal Band
    • The Jedi Steps
    • Tie
  19. 19. End Credits (TPM) vs. End Credits (TFA)

  20. 20. Anakin's Theme vs. Rey's Theme



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My results:

 

TPM - 8

TFA - 6 

Tie - 6

 

So it seems that I prefer TPM! (I was already starting to lean that way while I put together the poll, but I guess this confirms it)

 

One of the things I really realized about the two scores was how much of a letdown TFA's almost nonexistent action climax is compared to TPM's incredible drawn out battle score. Of course that's not Williams' fault, though! 

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1 minute ago, Richard said:

No contest. TPM all the way. It is one of the very best scores that JW has written, in the last twenty years. TFA...is not.

 

Totally agree!!

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1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

Non-existent action climax?

 

What I meant by that was that the "final battle" only contains two cues, "The Trench Run" and "The Ways of the Force." Of course, if you stretch the definition of "climax" to go all the way back to "The Bombing Run," or even farther back to "Landing at Lightspeed," that adds a little more, but I don't really consider those part of the climax. TPM, meanwhile, has a really awesome long, continuous stretch of action writing. Probably if Williams had a shot at that in TFA he would have knocked it out of the park, but the final battle was unfortunately more rushed. 

 

One would imagine our next (and last) chance at getting a drawn-out final battle for Williams to score will be in Episode IX, although you never know! Maybe TLJ will come through for us...

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4 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

The OST of TPM has very little action in the final tracks actually.

 

OST, maybe. But I'm talking about the film (or, technically, the originally intended film score). 

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1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

 

Than I don't see your point.

 

Are you thinking that the TFA OST didn't include the whole action climax in the film? Because it did, essentially, unless you go back to "The Bombing Run," which was only on the FYC, but that was a little earlier. 

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7 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

I don't really see the point in directly comparing the two film wise.

 

Why? I mean, I understand that the films are not exactly parallels of one another, but I think that should be added as a disclaimer after a comparison, not preclude a comparison. 

 

For the record, if it were just an OST comparison, I think TFA might win, because several of the TPM selections in my poll were originally unreleased. 

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15 minutes ago, DominicCobb said:

What is Escape in the Millennium Falcon?

 

I thought I'd get asked that! It's heard in microedited form at the end of the OST track "The Rathtars!" Here's the full cue with SFX:

 

 

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10 hours ago, Evil-Lyn said:

Williams is a tired old man.

 

9 hours ago, Sally Spectra said:

 

He can't score this movie without me. And besides... he doesn't know.

 

Remember... Williams...is...the #1...guy!

He's of a mind to make some music.

He-he-he...manuscript.

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35 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

More people like "Scherzo For X-Wings" over "Take To Your Ships"??

 

Both are good.

 

Anakin and Ray's themes aren't worth fighting over. Compared to the old SW themes, they're pretty bland. Compared to more modern masterpieces like Hedwig's Theme and Harry's Wondrous World? Autopilot Williams.

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Some of my results are a little skewed because I don't particularly like "Duel of the Fates."

 

Also: Good Lord is this section of the forum boring when we're just waiting to hear TLJ.

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The Scherzo lacks emotion and excitement to me.  Musically it doesn't sound as if anything particularly important is going on.  There is a sense of danger, heroism and triumph in Williams' other space battle pieces.  The scherzo is more like the Flag Parade, like it is meant to score an X-Wing air show rather than a space battle.

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48 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

Either way it still loses.

 

You're right. However, Scherzo is awesome. It sounds like NBC News crossed with the Star Wars main theme AKA Luke's theme which Williams awkwardly associated with Han and the Millennium Falcon cockpit in TFA. What? Anyway, you all know the part I'm talking about where Williams has been gradually building up to the full rendition of Luke's theme and then suddenly blows his load. I'm not sure it's ever sounded better and even the grumpiest of JWFans should have a smile on their face at that point.

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