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Terrific score. I don't know how many have seen the following interview with Don Davis from years ago, but I thought it provided some interesting insight into the scoring process. http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/07/17/interview-with-composer-don-davis-part-3-of-4 PLUME: On a side note to Horner, you worked with him on Titanic. There was a very famous rift between Horner and James Cameron after Aliens. Was any residual of that evident in what you observed between Horner and Cameron on Titanic? It was originally a falling out based on their differing views on the music for Aliens, wasn't it? DAVIS: No, I think it was a little more than that. It was music too, but Jim Cameron is a very tough guy to work for. Actually, I gained a lot of respect for Horner during Titanic, because Horner was accommodating Cameron in ways that I thought a composer the stature of Horner had no reason to accommodate anyone. He completely handled the situation with absolute humility and professionalism. I don't think there are very many composers who would have acquiesced to Jim Cameron the way Horner did. Horner gave Jim exactly what he wanted. I think there are some people who think that the Titanic score may be overly simplistic, or some people object to the Celtic nature of it, or whatever, but I can tell you that if any other composer had scored that picture, Jim would have fired him and at least four other composers before he got what he wanted. Horner was determined that that would not happen, and it didn't happen, and I think it was the best score that Jim would ever allow into that picture. For that reason, I think he deserves all the Academy Awards and accolades that he got. PLUME: I think that's a perspective that not very many people saw in that. DAVIS: Well, you kind-of had to be there to see it. I mean, it was magnificent. PLUME: It was surprising to a lot of people that Horner would even work with Cameron again after Aliens. DAVIS: I can't really say, because I wasn't there all that much. I would go to Horner's place, pick up the sketches, he'd talk me through them, I'd do them, and I was done. I do know that I made a lot of extra money on that show, because the picture kept changing and Cameron kept making changes, and as the sketches changed, they kept coming back to me to change the orchestration and I'd get more money. That was just fine as far as I was concerned. Through that process, I could see that he was accommodating this director. He was really bending over backwards to do everything that Jim wanted him to do. I couldn't picture a composer of the stature of John Williams doing that, well, maybe he would but there gets to be a point when it's too much. PLUME: Isn't it the job of the composer to conform to the director's view of the film? What line is there that demarcates when it's not worth the hassle? DAVIS: There are situations where directors give composers directives just to give them directives. Just to show "who's boss in this room." PLUME: Is it the film version of busy work? DAVIS: Sure. Go outside and dig a 20-foot hole and then fill it up again. Composers, whether they are or not, certainly like to view themselves as being creative and having a contribution to make to the process. There are some personalities, fortunately they are few, that seem to want to negate that. There's a point where it becomes too much of an insult to bear. If a composer is very highly successful, and James Horner certainly is, that means that he has to take less of that kind of abuse than a composer who is not of that stature. From my limited vantage point, it seemed like changes were coming in just for the sake of changes to come in, and I was wondering, as I was picking up these changed sketches, why Horner was going to such lengths to make this guy happy. Once the film came out, I understood perfectly. That's another tribute to James Horner, because he has not only an amazing visceral insight into what a film needs musically, but he knows how these situations work and he knows when to do something and when not to do something. You've got to hand it to the guy.

I prefer the original:

Film was Valley of the Dolls, don't remember the music but I remember seeing John's name. Mom had the soundtrack. But I read at a very young age and remember Johnny Williams on Gilligan's Island and then all the Irwin Allen Shows. Very early on I realized there was a great relationship between music and visuals.

Back to the Future, easily. All three of them. Part II was my first soundtrack purchase, actually. Also along with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, it inspired me to take up trumpet in the 4th grade.

Well, that's quite a disparate poll...

One Little Ship O'Brien, Dax, Bashir, and their runabout are reduced in size while investigating an anomaly. Meanwhile, the Jem'Hadar attack and commandeer the Defiant, leaving the runabout crew with no choice but to take their miniature ship inside the Defiant and help Sisko and the others recapture the vessel. 16 years before Doctor Who went Into The Dalek, DS9 did it´s own riff on The Fantastic Voyage or Honey I Shrunk The Kids, with a very inventive and fun episode with special effects that still look impressive today. While obviously a comedy concept (cleverly illustrated by having Kira laugh her ass off by the concept of shrunken crew members) the episode isnt played purely for laughs. It's quasi winking/quasi serious tone works well. There is an interesting angle of conflict between Jem Hadar from teh Gamma Quadrant and a new race bred for the Alpha Quadrant conflict that's never followed up on after this episode. Better then average score by Chattaway too, with some rather Goldsmith-like horn work. Fun fun fun!

You're right, they were very interchangeable. I remember listening to a track from CoS and I thought it was from AOTC... it kind of blew my mind at the time. It was more so the quieter moments rather than action cues, but the Coruscant chase music did end up in CoS and worked fine with the scene.

I need three or I'm seriously thinking of jumping off a bridge.

It was Danny Elfman's Batman or Shirley Walker's Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

Also, the 1989 Batman.

This Christmas would be nice. I could deal with that. Even if it ends up being one a year or something that's not too bad as 3 wouldn't be too far away. I don't really care about 5 or 6. I want them but I can definitely wait for them.

If it ever leaks at all. I don't know how the world of film music releases works but it seems to me that there's a lot of money to be made from releasing a complete Star Wars boxset and a complete Harry Potter boxset yet Sony and Warner Bros. seem to have no interest in this money. The Star Wars one I can understand, Lucasfilm may be holding that off until they have the rights to the music back but the Potter one makes no sense. As can be seen from the DVD and Blu-ray releases Warner Bros. have no problem releasing HP material. It's all Obi-Wan's fault!

Can we all acknowledge how awesome the last 30 seconds or so of "Jango's Escape" is? Weirdly medieval, but so great. Starting at 3:08:

Attack of the Clones The transition of the love theme into the end credits. It's my second favorite penultimate cue from the Star Wars saga, with "The Throne Room and End Titles" in the top spot.

I also found the short bit of music microedited from the CR for Gandalf reading the account of Isildur, so with these two bits, almost everything in the EE version of the film should be "out there" in one way or another.

I disagree. Moonraker has all the James Bond hallmarks including a great Barry score And it's the last that felt like a "classic" James Bond film

Masters of the Universe by Bill Conti and Danny Elfman's Batman.

Lately Temple Of Doom has been giving Hook and TESB a run for their money as my fave Williams score

Jaws 1975 in a Cinema and I was only seven!

Bishop is just a likable robot. He's Data. The only interesting character moment in Aliens is the commander who lost it in a panic situation. That was unexpected and shows how easily it would be for the group to fall apart. Luckily for them, they got Ripley, a woman to lead the crying macho men through hell.

How to Drain Your Dragon of the Will to Live

How To Train Your Drawgoon Not To Listen To The Same Section Over And Over Again.

Doyle's and Desplat's scores were good film music in their own right. Hooper's attempts, and I choose the word wisely, were just silly crap.

Harry Potter was Williams' rejected project after he realised he had better things to do.

This is brilliant. Jim Cummings reads Darth Vader dialogue as Winnie-the-Pooh (and Daine Jir as Darkwing Duck) --