Pieter Boelen

This is his best work.
Alongside Lair.

I've ignored this score so far, but thankfully you guys kept insisting about its greatness so much that I gave it more of a try than just the samples. Based just on those, even back when the LLL was in stock, I wrote it off as just overwhelming orchestral noise without memorable parts, but I listened to some entire tracks and holy crap that's just not the case at all. A lot of it is very long-lined and building to a finish throughout the entire track and stuff like that, so giving just the first minute of a track as a sample doesn't amount to much and isn't very representative.

The williams writes great authentic sailor music!

It was part of the original (unrecorded) version of 5M5 Show Us Your Hook, but was replaced with ‘Stick With Me’ when revised.
 
Here’s a mockup from @ragoz350:
 
 
 

Lots.

Yup!
 
 
 

Received my oarrrrghderrrr! 🏴‍☠️

I like Rey fine enough.
The background novels even explain some things on why she's so good at things at the start.
In a novel written even before TFA was released.
So it's not like it's retconning anything.
 
Shame she was turned into a Palps though.
I tend to just ignore TRoS in my opinions.
That one is...
NOT good!

Make it "and the Great Circle of Kronos" or something...

Still have to agree - this is one of the GREATEST of all scores. Back in the good old 90s I used to rank this as the greatest orchestral score, and Hans and co's The Rock as the greatest more synth-based one, happy days.
 
Debney just went all out on this one. Harlin is also a great musician's director and I would not be surprised if he had a lot to say in how massive the final product is.
 
He had a tendency to hire the latest wavemaker (ie. Jones on Cliffhanger after Last of the Mohicans; Rabin on Deep Blue Sea after Armageddon, Silvestri on The Long Kiss Goodnight after Judge Dredd) - for Debney it must have been Hocus Pocus.
 
And all that stuff about how it builds or copies existing work is total nonsense. Like someone pointed out, what are the direct references? It is very much a homage to a sound, much like JW's Star Wars was, but it is purely and perfectly original in its astonishing mayhem.
 
 
 
 

Make it "and the Great Circle of Kronos" or something...

ID4 is indeed a good comparison.
That one similarly has barely a dull moment throughout its entire runtime.
 
I can understand it being a bit much...
But you can always listen in parts.
And when it's all SUCH QUALITY...?
 
Both do have some lovely quieter material.
"Discovery of the Treasure" is gorgeous!

Using all of the available information we have so far, I've gone ahead and drawn a preliminary sketch of what the artifact might look like.
 
This may contain story spoilers, so click at your own risk!
 
 

January 18th at the Xbox Developer Direct there will be footage!  Although take that with a grain of salt it says '10 minutes of game and developer insights' --- whatever that means!
 
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24031246/microsoft-xbox-event-developer-direct-date-2024
 

Thought it might be useful and/or interesting to see all of Leslie Bricusse's lyrics to the various songs from Hook written down somewhere, so here goes.
 
I'll take my best shot at transcribing what I can hear on the new Ultimate Edition 3 CD set. Anything I'm not convinced I'm not hearing as a mondegreen I'll put in italics - please take a listen to these bits in particular for yourself and see if you can hear them better than me. Anything I can't make out all all, I'll just put ??? and you're welcome to make your own suggestions.
 
Mark
 
 
We Don’t Wanna Grow Up (Disc 1, Track 2; Disc 3, Track 1)
We wanna be like Peter Pan:
We don’t wanna grow up.
Wanna stay kids as long as we can;
That’s our plan – pretty neat plan!
 
Then, when it’s time to be a man,
We’re not gonna show up.
Gonna stay kids like we began;
Just like Peter Pan!
 
Being a man means you gotta show up
For work each day in a shirt and a tie – yuck!
Being grown-up means you gotta call up
Your friends and say ‘Can’t stay, gotta fly’ – ach!
 
We’ve got an even neater plan,
Sit down and listen up:
We all oughta be like Peter Pan,
We don’t wanna grow up!
 
We never never never never
Never never never never
Never ever wanna grow up.
Yuck!
 
 
Childhood (Disc 3, Track 3)
Shadows, memories, lingering laughter.
Reach out, touch me, half my life after.
Glimpses, moments, smiling inside me.
Spirits that guide me back to the days of childhood, childhood.
 
Echoes, whispers, I can still hear them.
Something makes me long to be near them.
Places, faces, dreams I’d forgotten.
Dreams that had gotten lost in the haze of childhood, childhood.
 
Where our dreams go, who can say?
They live inside us somewhere.
And they guide us every day,
Like a friend who’ll always be there.
 
Picture childhood: summer and sunshine.
Misty memories make everyone shine.
Cherish childhood as every child should.
Gather the golden moments the way a carefree child would,
And, when the world’s asleep,
Childhood’s the dream you’ll dream and keep.
 
Cherish childhood as every child should.
Gather the golden moments the way a carefree child would
And, when the world’s asleep,
Childhood’s the dream you’ll dream and keep.
 
 
When You’re Alone – Moira’s Lullaby (Disc 3, Track 4)
There’s an angel watching you,
When you’re alone.
 
 
Presenting the Hook (Disc 3, Track 24)
Hook! Hook! Hook! Hook!
Hook! Hook! Give us the Hook!
Hook! Hook! Hook! Hook!
Hook! Hook! Show us the Hook!
(repeat ad lib)
 
 
Low Below – Pirate Sequence (Disc 3, Track 8)
Down in the deep below, full fifty fathoms, 
Dead men are sure to get to sleep tonight! 
You'll meet your mates below: hale an' hearty dead men! 
Bed, board an' keep are very cheap! Dead right!

Low below, we're food for all the fishes!
Low below, they're havin' us for lunch! 
Low below, the fishes can be vicious! 
Down at fifty fathoms where the wind don't blow! 
 
Where the sharks'll chew your bones! 
Turn your teeth to coral stones!
Near the grave of Davy Jones,
Low below!
  
Low Below, where dead men go!
Low below, the time goes slow!
Low Below, your bones’ll show!
There’s the grave of Davy Jones: low below!
 
1:39 - 'Hookers'
Look, look, ‘s got to be Hook’s hook!
(Well, you should know)
Symbol of fortune and fame
(Keep ze fame – I’ll take ze fortune)
 
James Hook, son of a sea cook,
(That’s not all he’s a son of)
Jimmy is our claim to fame.
(Him and a few hundred more I could mention)
 
Swordsman, poet, debaucher,
Hobbies: sailing and torture
Hookers, beautiful lookers,
That’s what he calls us:
Jimmy created our name!
 
James Hook, son of a sea cook,
Jimmy is our claim to fame.
 
2:25 - 'Pirate Makeover Salon'
Yo ho ho! Sir? Aye. Listen:
I want to look as fierce as Hook
No dissin’?
Homey? Mmm?
Ya got an eye patch? Show me.
Fresh! What a catch I am!
A hole? A mole?
Heads are gonna roll!
Gonna eat ‘em up whole!
Now you'll chill them to the bottom of their souls!
Yo ho ho!
 
Smee? ‘Sup? How about a Hook tattoo?
Word up!
Knock me in me mouth with a hammer.
Ooh, so rough I am.
 
A snip? A flip?
A bad boy clip with a Cap’n Hook tip?
Brother, better not trip or I’ll bust your lip
Yo ho ho!
 
This Peter Pan highboy, he ain’t no flyboy.
He'll take him and break him
And shake him and bake him
And make him give his propers to the Hook.
 
 
3:25 - In the Tavern
It’s fun to maim, kill and plunder,
Drink till you’re dead,
It’s lovely playing football with a human head,
Or dunking kids in a hot pot, p’raps two or three.
We boil ‘em one by one, they’re tasty when they’re done
Delicious eating children’s ears for tea.
Two, three, four:
 
It’s hell to lose a limb,
Like him, and him, and him.
But quite a nifty way of losing weight!
(Too true, mate!)
 
And don’t forget: your knee was once a tree.
Drinks are on Smee.
[script has ‘…on me’]
 
Low Below, where dead men go.
Low below, the time goes slow.
Low Below, your bones’ll show.
There’s the grave of Davy Jones: low below.
 [script has ‘Near the grave…’]
 
Hook! Hook! Hook!
Show us the Hook!
Hook! Hook! Hook!
Give us the Hook!
(repeat ad lib)
 
 
The Never Song (Disc 3, Track 11)
In Neverland, there’s a song we never sing: The Never Song.
At the start of Never Spring, we always never sing it
In Never Winter too; it’s the nicest Never Song we never knew.
 
And Never Food is the food we never eat in Neverland,
Every time we never meet.
We always never eat it for every Never Lunch.
It’s the finest Never Food you’ll never munch.
 
Before every meal, we never wash our faces,
Never brush our teeth, we never comb our hair.
We never take Never Trips Never Places
Because we're almost always never there.
 
In Neverland, things are always never planned,
In Neverland, things are never out of hand.
We hate to never say it, we’re always never wrong:
We always love to never sing the Never Song.
 
You’ll love ‘em – the words – if you can learn ‘em;
No way, José - never!
They’re crazy, they’re mad! So, OK, burn ’em,
We’ll learn ‘em tomorrow, like when we play our Never Games.
 
They’re the games we never play in Neverland.
Almost every Never Day.
We always never play them in Neverland Lagoon,
Every morning, when it’s never afternoon.
 
And then, every Never Night, when Never Moons are shining,
Never Stars appear, the Never Sky is clear.
We never write never home to our parents,
Because they’re always never ever here in Neverland.
 
You must never understand, we sing along
With the latest Never Band.
We sing each Never Evening, all Never Summer long,
We always love to never sing most never ever anything,
Especially the never-ending Never Song.
 
 
Mothers (Disc 3, Track 15)
Mothers are amazing things,
Mothers are angels wearing no wings.
Mothers do things just for us;
Minimum grumbling, minimum fuss
 
More than mere mothers, mothers are friends,
Their kind of caring never ends.
 
Mothers far outshine a star,
Every last one shines bright as the sun shines,
Showing the wonders mothers are.
 
It’s hard to figure, when you are seven,
What makes a mother shine.
P’raps when I’m older, ten or eleven or maybe even nine.
 
And, if you decide to roam,
While you are wandering,
If you are wondering,
Always remember: mother is home.
 
Mothers are lovely, they’re really lovely,
And they’re amazing too.
 
 
Stick With Me (Disc 3, Track 16)
 
(Come here, boy)
 
Looking at where we’re at sensibly,
Boy, if you will spend a little time with me,
You can be – I guarantee – anything you want to be.
Be a winner: stick with me.
 
‘Snot a sin, living in luxury,
Using your imagination, you will see,
Hooked to me, you’ll surely be anything you want to be
I’m a winner: stick with me.
 
Wanna be an actor? Go ahead and be an actor!
Wanna be a doctor? I approve that too!
Wanna be a neuropsychiatric etymologist?
Let me see what I can do.
 
There’s no doubt I live outrageously,
In a world the rabble never get to see.
Total raging ecstasy, everything you dreamed ‘twould be.
Be a dreamer: stick with me.
 
You can be a preacher, or a teacher teaching Nietzsche,
You can be a traitor or dictator or a waiter,
Every day, you’ll see caviar for tea,
Anything! Stick with me.
 
If you’re bright, view it quite shamelessly.
Boy, you won’t regret the time you spend with me.
You can be – I guarantee – anything you want.
Stick with me.
 
 
Believe (Disc 3, Track 19)
Great things can happen if you believe,
Greater than any make-believe.
Daydreams, we never achieve them;
Believe them and you’ll see them come true.
 
Believers have magic they love to weave,
Something given to very few.
They know the value of rainbows,
So join them and then you’ll know it too.
 
Believing above all’s a state of mind
Treasure rich as you’ll ever find.
Blessings you cannot conceive
Await you when you start to believe.
 
Believing will bring you unbounded joy,
Joy you’ll be proud to receive.
Use it, don’t ever lose it,
And each day will become Christmas Eve
 
And some day, in time, when you’ve lived and learned,
You’ll share all of the powers you’ve earned.
Wisdom will shine in your mind
And, leaving every bad thought behind,
You will find that you now truly do believe.
 
 
 
Pick ‘Em Up (Disc 1, Track 24)
Pick ‘em up! Move ‘em down.
Pick ‘em on up. Move ‘em on down.
 
Ain’t no time to celebrate,
You are old and overweight.
Gotta lose a million pounds,
Get your fat butt off the ground.
 
Reach on down and touch your toes,
How long since you looked at those?
Shape up, lose weight,
Get thin, gotta win.
 
Make your knees go up and down,
Get that belly off the ground.
Jumping Jacks are good for you,
Now your face is turning blue.
 
Swing your arms around your back,
Give yourself a heart attack.
Gotta train in the rain,
Gotta run in the sun.
 
In the snow, ten below,
Gotta moan, gotta groan,
Better yet, gotta sweat,
 
Pick ‘em up! Move ‘em down.
Pick ‘em on up. Move ‘em on down.
 
 
 
When You’re Alone (Disc 1, Track 28)
When you’re all alone, far away from home,
There’s a gift the angels send when you’re alone.
 
Every day must end, but the night’s our friend.
Angels always send a star when you’re alone.
 
At night, when I’m alone, I lie awake and wonder:
Which of them belongs to me.
Which one I wonder?
 
And any star I choose watches over me,
So I know I’m not alone, when I’m here on my own.
Isn’t that a wonder, when you’re alone?
You’re not alone – not really alone.
 
The stars are all my friends, ‘till the night-time ends,
So I know I’m not alone, when I’m here, on my own,
Isn’t that a wonder, when you’re alone?
You’re not alone – not really alone.

Episode IXa

Alien and Terminator had strong female characters, I thought.
CutThroat Island even flipped the gender dynamics all the way, even if it unfortunately wasn't well received.
And I'm watching Stargate SG-1 again lately, where I'd say the relation between the male and female protagonists is perfectly okay.
They even toned it down from the very first episode, where they originally really pointed it out.

ID4 is indeed a good comparison.
That one similarly has barely a dull moment throughout its entire runtime.
 
I can understand it being a bit much...
But you can always listen in parts.
And when it's all SUCH QUALITY...?
 
Both do have some lovely quieter material.
"Discovery of the Treasure" is gorgeous!

ID4 is indeed a good comparison.
That one similarly has barely a dull moment throughout its entire runtime.
 
I can understand it being a bit much...
But you can always listen in parts.
And when it's all SUCH QUALITY...?
 
Both do have some lovely quieter material.
"Discovery of the Treasure" is gorgeous!

There's definitely more than 35 minutes of goodness in there.
I'd say it's pretty much never a dull moment all the way through.

ID4 is indeed a good comparison.
That one similarly has barely a dull moment throughout its entire runtime.
 
I can understand it being a bit much...
But you can always listen in parts.
And when it's all SUCH QUALITY...?
 
Both do have some lovely quieter material.
"Discovery of the Treasure" is gorgeous!

There's definitely more than 35 minutes of goodness in there.
I'd say it's pretty much never a dull moment all the way through.

In all my searching, I've never found anything quite like it.
Sure, it's inspired on the swashbucklers of old.
But HOLY MOLY, does it run with that theme!
Main Title, Carriage Chase, complete Battle and End Credits alone are SUCH stunners!
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Pretty much!
It does everything exactly right.
Love how it doesn't even feature the choir at all.
It really doesn't need it.

There's definitely more than 35 minutes of goodness in there.
I'd say it's pretty much never a dull moment all the way through.

In all my searching, I've never found anything quite like it.
Sure, it's inspired on the swashbucklers of old.
But HOLY MOLY, does it run with that theme!
Main Title, Carriage Chase, complete Battle and End Credits alone are SUCH stunners!
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Pretty much!
It does everything exactly right.
Love how it doesn't even feature the choir at all.
It really doesn't need it.