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What do you think about The Spark from The Last Jedi?


Jurassic Shark

What do you think about The Spark from The Last Jedi?  

70 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think about The Spark from The Last Jedi?



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12 minutes ago, Bryant Burnette said:

I love it, especially the little hint of Darth Vader's theme that never quiiiiiite develops.

 

I doubt that was in any way intentional. Weren't people hearing the Imperial March in the action material of the climax of The Phantom Menace?

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I hear the similarity alright. Doesn't mean its intentional. There's certainly nothing in the scene that recalls Vader, and Williams had been very, very concise with his use of that theme in the sequel scores.

 

Doesn't take anything away from the track, though.

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I agree with Chen in that I don't think there's intention there to call back to Vader. For me, it's really cool music that plays as Luke strides out of the hunkered saloon to face the banditos in the empty streets.

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2 hours ago, John said:

 

It is very much intentional. I don't see how anyone can't hear the deliberate parallel between the piece and Vader's theme.

People cannot hear the note for note quote of the BotH in Paige's death either. 

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1 hour ago, Sharky said:

As both a combination of film and image and a standalone cue, it's a knock out (if Luke could kill, he probably will...).

 

 

I can't be the only one who sees it as a natural development of the Jedi Steps theme (which is in itself a sly evocation of Vader's theme). It's as Williams is observing that in his final act of mastery, Luke has now fully integrated his own shadow with his self into a well-functioning whole, in a process of individuation. This process has been mediated by his soul-image or anima, in the form of Yoda (and to some extent Rey), the spiritual middle-man between his conscious and unconscious. His tainted family history (Vader) and youthful rebellion has been reconciled with his noble Jedi ideals. The dark now one with the light.

 

That's my bit of cod Jung for the day.

 

Concise yet provocative and insightful.  Where the fuck have you been mate?  Compare this to some of the pseudo intellectual preachery floating about lately.

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It fits the movie perfectly and is a great listen full of familiar and new tunes.

Mysterious opening

Luke and Leia

Han Solo and the Princess (as Luke gives Leia the dice)

and then that ending I think we all love as Luke steps out onto the battlefield.

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14 minutes ago, TGP said:

 

Concise yet provocative and insightful.  Where the fuck have you been mate?  Compare this to some of the pseudo intellectual preachery floating about lately.

Agreed.  One of the few truly insightful posts made in the last few months here (as opposed to the 7,000 word posts arguing over semantics that usually populate these threads)

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3 hours ago, Pellaeon said:

I listened to it after you posted about it so much, and I’m not clear what is the “good part.” Is it toward the beginning, or toward the end?

 

All of it's great, from the funereal, split-third brass choir underscoring Leia's quiet resignation; to the diaphanous, chromatic passage as Luke emerges from the shadows; to the tender medley of Ben & Luke & Leia & Hans' themes for the reunion; and finally that insistent, Adams-ian scale-up as Luke walks out to face the dragon.

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Beautifully summed up. The entire cue is utter perfection. It feels like the most polished, most refined and best performed cue in the entire score. Probably of any score he's written in over a decade. Something just "clicks" with this piece, in a perfect combination of direction, visuals and music, yet it also stands alone as an incredible piece outside the film itself (like all great music does).

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2 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

something from Williams that I can't point to and say that it sounds like something he previously wrote. You just hear it and wonder "woah, where did that come from?"  

 

Yes! I haven't felt that way since No Man's Land in War Horse.

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6 hours ago, Tom said:

People cannot hear the note for note quote of the BotH in Paige's death either. 

 

I hear it.  It made me twitch when I saw it in the theater.  

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9 hours ago, Tom said:

People cannot hear the note for note quote of the BotH in Paige's death either. 

 

Another great example of coincidence.

 

Williams has written about 20 hours of music for this series. Some of it is bound to sound like other parts of it, by sheer coincidence.

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12 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

As far as bringing back an older theme in this score...man, did Williams take the ball, chew it out, then pimp slap it out of the park. The reprise of Luke and Leia is so tender, yet also carries this certain tension that smacks me right in the heart.

 

The ostinato thing feels very strange for John Williams to do in a Star Wars movie, but I think it works.

Almost every single SW scores does something strange... The Magic Tree, Dark Side Beckons, Duel of the Fates, Padme's Ruminations, Coruscant chase.

 

Karol

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5 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

Marian, is that you?

 

If you'd heard Bruckner's symphonies you'd realize that the stylistic similarities in the latter half of The Spark are striking. There's more to music than just film music. ;)

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1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

If you'd heard Bruckner's symphonies you'd realize that the stylistic similarities in the latter half of The Spark are striking.

Can we have a clip from Bruckner?

 

Karol

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Ask me to mix three well-known themes from Star Wars, I'll write you an arrangement in 2 minutes.  Don't know what people are so excited about this.

 

JW do that since 40 years!

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13 hours ago, TGP said:

 

Concise yet provocative and insightful.  Where the fuck have you been mate?  Compare this to some of the pseudo intellectual preachery floating about lately.

 

This cue made me blow my load all over the cinema!

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To assume infallibility on the part of Williams is unrealistic and irrational.

 

Besides, to say that these supposed “connections” are not intended doesn’t take anything from the quality of the pieces, themselves.

 

It reminds me of people hearing “Nature’s Reclamation” as Merry and Pippin hide around in Amon Hen, as if to presage their arrival to Fangorn. Come on...

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I think you're forcing your logic onto Williams' thinking.

 

Williams thematic connections are usually quite straight forward. If it isn't readily appearant, it probably isn't intentional. And there's nothing readily appearant in the sequence that recalls or evokes Vader. Williams has been very, very strict with his use of the Imperial March in the sequel trilogy, using it in concise statements and only in conjuction with direct evocations of Vader.

 

This has happened before, in The Phantom Menace. Here's What Doug Adams said to that:

 

Quote

A handful of listeners have wondered if Williams has used a pared-down version of The Imperial March for a repeating action pattern in one of Phantom Menace’s space battle cues. The ostinato in question—which can be heard on the CD’s fifth track—does bear a passing resemblance to Vader’s theme, but it seems to be more the by-product of Williams’s harmonic style than anything else. Coupled with the fact that the scenes this cue underscores don’t particularly involve the Anakin character or his destiny, it appears no connection was intended.

 

Oh, how history repeats itself!

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