Richard Penna

Not difficult for me with Goldsmith to at least pick the finalists. It's either The Mummy or The Edge. One's complex, exotic and just damn exciting, but the other's evocative and provides such a unique atmosphere, with a lot of personal meaning.

Not seeing why that needs a radical rethink. I honestly can't conceive of why anyone except plain old racists would have any problem with a minority Bond. But then I'm rather strongly on the side that I don't really see why it has to be a male character, in much the same way that The Doctor is no longer an exclusively male (nor white) character.
 
No doubt if I said that on a Bond forum I'd be banished to Trenzalore forever because "tradition", but 007 is just a codename, right? Couldn't it be literally anyone?

Not seeing why that needs a radical rethink. I honestly can't conceive of why anyone except plain old racists would have any problem with a minority Bond. But then I'm rather strongly on the side that I don't really see why it has to be a male character, in much the same way that The Doctor is no longer an exclusively male (nor white) character.
 
No doubt if I said that on a Bond forum I'd be banished to Trenzalore forever because "tradition", but 007 is just a codename, right? Couldn't it be literally anyone?

Isn't that pretty normal for shows that want to capitalise on a recently prominent figure? IIRC one of the Godzilla movies had a trailer heavily featuring Bryan Cranston fresh off his BB prominence, whereas I read he was in the movie for only a few minutes.
 
Evidently the makers of MotA think Gatwa is now sufficiently well known both sides of the pond to use his as promotion.

I have a very niche obsession which over a few years I shared with someone on the other side of the world (long story... one of those endless searches for stock music used in a TV show) and my co-searcher admitted to me once that he was starting to have problems a bit like this. He was so obsessed with searching endlessly that he was starting to neglect basic social activity and family interactions.
 
My limit on this subject has more been at the level of those making detailed edits of the prequels, for example, i.e. searching for the best sources, making careful edits, and celebrating when a new source of music is found. A lot more detective work and internet research is needed for my thing, and I wrote a blog based on our findings, but I've always been very conscious of when it's time to switch off and go and do something else, like any hobby. It's partly helped by another group of obsessives looking for stuff from a different TV show (with overlapping music usage) and nowadays I just let them do the hard work 
 
Thankfully I have a personal distraction in the form of a website I run, which occasionally needs attention and has rather a lot of bodges to iron out gradually.

That's good news, although I think I have a more positive view on the four new episodes thus far than some.
 
I hope Gold is maybe going to put out a specials soundtrack to coincide with this series' premiere, but given his most recent comments about being pissed at his own fans for "stealing" his music (I'd have a few questions about what sort of security his agent's site has, or why it was stored there to begin with) I wonder what sort of release he's going to do at all. I hope he doesn't become the sort of composer that decides his music is just for the show and say FU to fans that have bought his entire DW discography.

That's good news, although I think I have a more positive view on the four new episodes thus far than some.
 
I hope Gold is maybe going to put out a specials soundtrack to coincide with this series' premiere, but given his most recent comments about being pissed at his own fans for "stealing" his music (I'd have a few questions about what sort of security his agent's site has, or why it was stored there to begin with) I wonder what sort of release he's going to do at all. I hope he doesn't become the sort of composer that decides his music is just for the show and say FU to fans that have bought his entire DW discography.

My first encounter was back in the early 00s, back when I would scour the internet for 'main title' music and similar and would come across scores that were in general circulation at the time, hence having come out within the last few years.
 
I have an exact snapshot of my score collection from January 2003 and I have no way to know which of these was my first Goldsmith track, but it was either The 13th Warrior, The Mummy or The Edge. Specifically Fire Dragon and the end credits suite from the former, half a dozen tracks from Mummy, and Lost in the Wild from the latter. I know I had AF1 too, but evidently not yet because it's not here!
 
In the first two cases I have the end credit suites which indicates where my general lack of hostility to edited credit suites comes from. I think if you're just starting out in scores and you're looking for tracks that represent lots of ideas, a bit of dodgy editing here and there is not forefront of your mind. (and I think that nowadays that extends to basically anyone outside our communities).
 
I also got the 40 Years of.. box at some point as an attempt to get into his music more, although with only partial success. I basically kept a bunch of interesting tracks but wasn't (and still am not) bothered about expanding on those with the original soundtracks. His music doesn't often work for me in full form outside of my favourites.

That's good news, although I think I have a more positive view on the four new episodes thus far than some.
 
I hope Gold is maybe going to put out a specials soundtrack to coincide with this series' premiere, but given his most recent comments about being pissed at his own fans for "stealing" his music (I'd have a few questions about what sort of security his agent's site has, or why it was stored there to begin with) I wonder what sort of release he's going to do at all. I hope he doesn't become the sort of composer that decides his music is just for the show and say FU to fans that have bought his entire DW discography.

I really enjoy the 3rd too - watched it again last week with a friend who was loving it. I do think that in terms of story ideas it needs a bit of fresh air, but Atkinson's pitch perfect timing and chemistry with Bough are still brilliant. I could probably watch English or Bean doing anything for 2 hours and it would be funny.
 
Sounds like a fourth is indeed happening! https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/johnny-english-4-officially-confirmed-newsupdate/

Those who want to see Atkinson as Bond, just watch Johnny English. I love all 3, although the third is running a bit low on credible ideas.
 

I'd prefer Cavill or Elba. I don't see how being young (in the sense of still in your 30s) is very important for Bond.
 
And yep, The Sun is not a paper I'd use for anything more than clickbaity speculation.

My first encounter was back in the early 00s, back when I would scour the internet for 'main title' music and similar and would come across scores that were in general circulation at the time, hence having come out within the last few years.
 
I have an exact snapshot of my score collection from January 2003 and I have no way to know which of these was my first Goldsmith track, but it was either The 13th Warrior, The Mummy or The Edge. Specifically Fire Dragon and the end credits suite from the former, half a dozen tracks from Mummy, and Lost in the Wild from the latter. I know I had AF1 too, but evidently not yet because it's not here!
 
In the first two cases I have the end credit suites which indicates where my general lack of hostility to edited credit suites comes from. I think if you're just starting out in scores and you're looking for tracks that represent lots of ideas, a bit of dodgy editing here and there is not forefront of your mind. (and I think that nowadays that extends to basically anyone outside our communities).
 
I also got the 40 Years of.. box at some point as an attempt to get into his music more, although with only partial success. I basically kept a bunch of interesting tracks but wasn't (and still am not) bothered about expanding on those with the original soundtracks. His music doesn't often work for me in full form outside of my favourites.

My first encounter was back in the early 00s, back when I would scour the internet for 'main title' music and similar and would come across scores that were in general circulation at the time, hence having come out within the last few years.
 
I have an exact snapshot of my score collection from January 2003 and I have no way to know which of these was my first Goldsmith track, but it was either The 13th Warrior, The Mummy or The Edge. Specifically Fire Dragon and the end credits suite from the former, half a dozen tracks from Mummy, and Lost in the Wild from the latter. I know I had AF1 too, but evidently not yet because it's not here!
 
In the first two cases I have the end credit suites which indicates where my general lack of hostility to edited credit suites comes from. I think if you're just starting out in scores and you're looking for tracks that represent lots of ideas, a bit of dodgy editing here and there is not forefront of your mind. (and I think that nowadays that extends to basically anyone outside our communities).
 
I also got the 40 Years of.. box at some point as an attempt to get into his music more, although with only partial success. I basically kept a bunch of interesting tracks but wasn't (and still am not) bothered about expanding on those with the original soundtracks. His music doesn't often work for me in full form outside of my favourites.

Williams is pretty unique in having started several franchises where subsequent composers are actively expected to use his themes in some form or another - Potter and Jurassic particularly. However in both of those cases he benefitted from films that needed the big fanfare approach to their scores and directors that wanted it, resulting in themes that the general public recognise. No one outside of this community would know the Lost World theme if they were hit over the head with it.

It lends the sequence a bit more of a mythical feel as you're not seeing any real characters except Sauron. The final bit with the one ring is a bit underwhelming though.

It's in the credits, that's what it had to do with the film.....

I'm currently at episode 4 of BoB.
 
Confession time, never seen it before. I was always too young and it was too much for me.
 
It's incredible! I have to watch an episode and then have a break for a day or 2 because it's just so heavy, but it's absolutely brilliant

Well in this case, the cue is short (2 minutes). and large portions of the cue are replaced with inserts of decent length, so there wouldn’t be too much repetition

Clear hierarchy of the songs for me. Where No One Goes is awesome, Together From Afar is just barely interesting enough to keep, but Sticks and Stones has about as much business being on a soundtrack album as I See Fire (i.e., bugger all).
 
One simple change would make all three at least a passing interest, and only the second one does it - use Powell's theme.

My recollection (from reports here) is along those lines; that he thought it was a silly movie. However, as you say it may not be directly the movie itself, but also what he went through - the suggestions that his schedule only really allowed him to score part of the movie and Sommers ended up forcing him to write the whole score anyway. That's generally going put him in a bad mood, particularly if he thought the movie was stupid.
 
I usually come to this score first as an example of movies where a composer wrote a properly good score for a movie they thought of negatively some degree.

I'm of the complete opposite opinion. Ever since I was a kid, I was obsessed with getting more stories from fictional universes I loved. I've never been able to understand those who refute them almost on principle, as if a film is a closed entity that should never be explored further. There is plenty to build on in the world of GLADIATOR that I would be interested in. Especially in the hands of the same director.

My recollection (from reports here) is along those lines; that he thought it was a silly movie. However, as you say it may not be directly the movie itself, but also what he went through - the suggestions that his schedule only really allowed him to score part of the movie and Sommers ended up forcing him to write the whole score anyway. That's generally going put him in a bad mood, particularly if he thought the movie was stupid.
 
I usually come to this score first as an example of movies where a composer wrote a properly good score for a movie they thought of negatively some degree.

Well, try to look through the commercial point of view: Robin Hood and Napoleon were "original" epics, not tied to any franchise or Academy Award-winning movie. It was just "another" epic from a famed but not exactly "every one of his movies is a box office titan" director. Both of them failed at the box office (Napoleon was a little better financially-wise because it was an Apple movie and they have literally trillions of dollars in money, so a movie underperforming wasn't that hard for them).
 
On the other hand, movies that are tied to a previous successful and beloved flick may perform a little better. So, even if the idea of a Gladiator 2 is silly, it is more likely they're using the name of a previous movie for commercial reasons to attract attention to what will be another Roman Empire epic that presumably will involve gladiators.
 
That said, I'm not sure if even that is going to work. In 2000, the idea of seeing epic gladiator battles recreated with then cutting edge technology was enough to create a box office hit. These days, after everything from Attack of the Clones to Thor: Ragnarok to Dune 2, how are you going to convince people that gladiator fights (one that, unlike those three movies, doesn't involve aliens and monsters) is still something worth paying an IMAX ticket for?

I would say that the original film was rich enough too (not only the Roman empire in general) to room a number of new stories. As I said, I think it's close, but removed far enough to basically be another independent story set in the same era. Time will tell. I'm optimistic.