Kamen's theme for Logan and Rogue is just exquisite -- one of the best things Kamen wrote in his lifetime. Expansive with a sense of fragility and poignancy. It's a shame Ottman didn't reference it in X2, but I don't think there was a chance to use it either.
It was originally scored with Gandalf The White (in Nature), meaning Gandalf acts as an agent of nature to aid Rohan. It's not too big of a jump to assume it was eventually decided Nature has a more direct hand in it, with the Huorns coming to Helms Deep and all, so Nature Reclamation was then used. The use in RotK is then just consequential. I don't think it's used twice for Rohan in RotK just because PJ felt like it. The fact that no alternates ever showed up for these points towards intention by the composer.
I used to check the Web for the lyrics to Hymn to Red October (in phonetic English, of course) so I could sing along. I never managed to memorize the whole thing, just snippets.
All of the above is good and shall be cherished. I've finished listening to (increasingly brilliant) Pet Sematary yet again just now (my third listen) and now Patriot Games grace my headphones. I'm really impressed with this score. Not your schmaltzy Horner - this music is chilling, eerie, abrasive and cold. It is also his best example in using Celtic-like colours - not intrusive or cheesy, as it usually happens with this individual. It might be one of my favourites of Horners at the moment - he seems to have achieved what he's always on about in all those interviews and never really does, which is to go underneath the surface.
Then people are boorish louts who do not understand good music even if it walked right into them and said "Hello I am good music"! And I don't think the ticket prices are too high either, especially when you consider the cost of a single ticket to a normal pop concert.
Well I'm going to watch the EE of AUJ now. Thinking about liveblogging it.... not sure if here on on Facebook, hmmm Screw it, I'll do it in both places.
Still a super noticeable music edit when the The Hobbit title card appears, and it switches to the insert
Such a shame they build a Dale set indoors instead of filming outdoors, looks so fake.
Same actor playing Thrain in the prologue, they didn't change that
First new scene! Thranduil arrives in Erebor to pay homage, Thror presents a chest full of crystal jewels that Thranduil deeply admires. Bilbo has done great narration here, and it even cuts back to him in Bag End, looking sadly contemplative as he narrates about old feuds and wondering how they started. Really good scene! Music seemed looped from what we already had before. Smaug's attack on Dale seemed extended from the theatrical, with more destruction. Don't remember if a shot of someone blowing a giant horn was there before. The shot from all the DOS trailers of someone shooting a giant arrow at Smaug was inserted too.
Smaug 's design seemed changed. In the shot of his hands opening the door they seemed bigger; but overall he seemed more slender.
Still a damn shame PJ removed Thorin's theme from his charge When Thorin calls for Thranduil to help and Thranduil refuses, this scene has more weight now with the prior Thranduil scene. Pretty cool actually. Bilbo still narrates that Thranduil didn't want to risk the lives of his men against a dragon, but the expression on his and Thorin's faces speak to the prior scene now. Ooh, neat! After the end of the prologue with "and he never forgave, and he never forgot" as Thorin is making that sword, it smash cuts to a shot of a giant firework going off in Hobbiton and Hobbits celebrating, as Bilbo narrates "far away in another corner of the world, dragons where only make believe, a party trick conjured by Wizards on Mid Summer's eve". It shows young Bilbo partying with Gandalf, his mother comes and grabs him. Very nice little scene! Bilbo then narrates this this isn't where the story really begins, and it cuts back to the house where he is writing and continues from there with "In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit", etc. The entire party scene is scored with Flaming Red Hair, btw. Nothing new in the Old Bilbo / Frodo scene that I noticed. Bilbo talking to Gandalf about Old Took's fireworks now has more meaning with the prior scene, very nice. Bilbo has two extra lines as he walks into his house telling Gandalf to go away, and the music is looped Oh, very cool! After the scene of Bilbo in his house looking out the window and Gandalf makes the mark and he watches Gandalf leave, it cuts to a shot of him looking just as worried as he leaves his house later in the day. He walks through Hobbiton and arrives as a market with lots of Hobbits doing Hobbity things and selling meats and fish and fruits and vegetables, etc. One of the Hobbits looked JUST like Sean Austin! A Hobbit tries to sell Bilbo a giant tuber, and Bilbo asks him if he's seen a Wizard. As the other Hobbit describes Gandalf, Bilbo notices what looks like Gandalf's hat going by and he tries to hide, but it's just a blanket on top of things. It then cuts to a new exterior shot of Bag End at night time, before continuing as before with Dwalin showing up. The entire marketplace scene is scored with "Bag End" from FOTR Nothing new with all the dwarves showing up that I noticed Haha! When Bifur speaks to Bilbo, now there's a new bit where Oin tells Bilbo that he has an injury "From the axe in his head?" Bilbo says, and Oin says "No not dead, just between the ears" or something like that The music was just looped I believe. Everything else through Blunt the Knives and Thorin arriving seemed the same
The entire rest of the Hobbiton sequence didn't have anything new that I noticed.
Nothing new all the way through Bilbo joining the party and the night camp on the cliff. Long stretch with no new scenes now! Moria flashback looks the same, same awful color grading and "filmed on a set" feel. Didn't notice if Thrain actor was changed here or not (he is at this battle right?) The entire Radagast sequence seemed identical to before as well. It's been a long time now since any new footage!
The entire troll sequence had no new footage either!!
Still no footage through the troll-hoard sequence and Radagast's flashback to Dol Goldur story. Never would have guessed there'd be so long a stretch of no new footage!!
Man do I love the unreleased cue as the first 2 wargs show up!!!!!!! Didn't notice anything new through the entire Warg chase into Rivendell either. Yawwwwnnnn.
OMG, FINALLY! The first new scene since Bifur's tiny new bit in Hobbiton is at Rivendell. The entire arrival at Rivendell is the same, as is Elrond's meeting of the company, and the start of the dinner scene. Then Kili notices the harp-playing elf and is clearly attracted to her, but tells the other's he doesn't fancy elves because the aren't hairy enough Then he points out one that isn't bad, which turns out to be a male elf Funny scene, which helps set up the Kili/Tauriel romance in DOS.
After Elrond describes the swords they got from the troll-hoard, there's more new footage! Thorin excuses himself when Elrond asks what they were doing on the Great East Road, and then Elrond asks Gandalf what he's doing with 13 dwarves and a halfling. Gandalf explains how they are from the line of Durin, but then they are all complaining about the music so Bofur gets on a table and sings a dwarf song! This leads to a food fight. Another good addition! BTW, Bofur's song had no background music, and the extended dinner stuff was scored with a longer version of Shore's "The Valley Of Imladris" source cue.
OK, this is bad. After Bofur's song, it quickly cuts to Thorin, Elrond, Gandalf, and Bilbo being in that indoor place talking about Thorin's map, with no explanation of why they are there, just picking up with "our business is no concern of elves" line. This line starting the scene made sense in the theatrical, because it came right after Elrond asked "What were you doing on the Great East Road" in the theatrical. They should have ADRed in some other line here to have the scene make more sense coming after Bofur's song! Very sloppy. Also the scene not having any score until Thorin takes out the map made sense with the theatrical flow, but here it was odd and should have had some score added.
Another new scene! After the Weatherop scene, which is unchanged, it cuts to Bilbo wandering around Rivendell, and coming across the Shards of Narsil and the painting of Isildur facing Sauron. As he looks at it, you hear battle sounds and glimpses of Sauron's theme. Very cool. Then, it cuts to Bilbo wandering around outside, and he takes in the air and seems to be loving everything about RIvndell. Elrond then finds him and they have the conversation we've seen before. Really good performances by both actors here. Elrond basically tells Bilbo he is welcome to stay in Rivendell if he wishes, as Bilbo had expressed concern that he didn't fit in with the company. This was all very good stuff!! I think the music was entirely from the White Council Extended Edition, though part of it might have been replaced by tracked music. Next comes Elrond walking with Lindir, who notices all the dwarves bathing and having chicken fights in a large fountain, all naked. Pretty funny.
After the scene where Bombur crashes down after Bofur tosses him a sausage, it now cuts to Bilbo walking alone up some steps instead of cutting right to Elrond and Gandalf talking. Bilbo overhears Gandalf and Elrond talking about Smaug and how Elrond fears waking him. Gandalf insists its a good idea to try to take back Erebor and Elrond reminds Gandalf that both Thror and Thrain succumbed to dragon sickness. We now see that Thorin is listening to them talk along with Bilbo. It then cuts to Gandalf and Elrond walking up the stairs as seen in the theatricalre. All of these was good stuff that shouldn't have been cut.
Awesome new bit during the White Council! After Saruman says "Sauron is vanquished, he can never again regain his full strength", in the theatrical Elrond jumps right in with "Gandalf, for 400 years we have lived in peace". But here, Gandalf instead talks about the 7 Dwarven Rings, and how 4 were consumed by dragons, 2 were taken by Sauron before he fell in Mordor, and that the whereabouts of the final ring, Thrain's, is unknown. Saruman then reminds Gandalf that without the One Ring, the other rings cannot be controlled anyway. Saruman then says how the ring was lost long long ago, and swept out to sea by the waters of the Anduin. Then Elrond comes in with his "400 years" line, and it all makes more sense. This was a great addition! It was cool to introduce what the One Ring Bilbo will find is here, and also Thrain's ring seems to set up when he will appear in DOS (which I'm sure was originally in Film 1 when there was only 2) Oddly, no Ring Theme was used when Saruman mentioned the One Ring! Not sure if the music used here was looped, new, or unused from the album.
Bilbo's remorse at leaving Rivendell now makes much more sense with all the extra scenes of him wandering around!
No extra dialogue or anything with Gandalf and Galadriel's goodbye scene, or the company's journey to the mountains and the escape from the stone giants
Nothing new in the cave sequence, but Bilbo wanting to leave now seems to not just be a reaction to Thorin chewing him out after the Stone Giants, but also a result of his time in Rivendell. Neat.
Yikes. After Bilbo falls fighting that one goblin, there is this giant new sequence where as the company is brought to the Goblin King, he sings this entire song about Goblin Town and how they torture people. It was pretty bad and grinds the film to a complete stop. The CGI was pretty bad too. Some things are best left on the cutting room floor!
Then, after the Goblin King tells the other goblins to search them, instead of going right into him asking the company what they are doing in these parts, there is a sequence where they actually look at what they find with their search, which makes way more sense. They find a stash of things the dwarves stole from Rivendell (which they were seen doing during the EE dinner scene), and the Goblin King recognizes them as being made in Rivendell during the Second Age. Then in answer to his question about what they are doing there, there is a funny bit where Oin then Bofur speaks to him. Bofur really gets the most amount of new stuff in the EE!
Entire Riddles in the Dark sequence is identical to before. Getting sleepy, is there anything new at the end of the film?
BTW, The Goblin King's second song, after the Riddles in the Dark sequence, is completely identical to before.
Nothing new at all in the film after the extra Goblin King bits. Even Smaug at the end was identical to before
End credits begin running at 2:52:22 of the EE compared to 2:39:34 of the TE, meaning the film proper is 12:48 longer Extra "cute Hobbit children" listed in the EE end credits compared to theatrical.
Overall film is 3:02:28 compared to 2:49:37, so I guess the end credits are 3 seconds longer... New song credits: "FLAMING RED HAIR" Music Composed and Performed by David Donaldson, David Long, Stephen Roche, Janet Roddick with Peter Daly, Chris O'Connor, Ruairidh Morrison, Grant Shearer Courtesy of Mana Music "BAG END" Music Composed and Produced by Howard Shore "MAN IN THE MOON" Music Composed by James Nesbitt Performed by James Nesbitt "GOBLIN-TOWN" Lyrics by Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh Music Composed by Stephen Gallagher Produced by Stephen Gallagher Performed by Barry Humphries (These last credits are identical to "Torture Song" BTW)
Dixon Hill got a reaction from crocodile in Howard Shore's The Desolation Of Smaug (Hobbit Part 2)
Dixon Hill reacted to alicebrallice in Howard Shore's The Desolation Of Smaug (Hobbit Part 2)
Dixon Hill got a reaction from Incanus in The Hobbit Film Trilogy Thread
Dixon Hill got a reaction from Marian Schedenig in What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Dixon Hill got a reaction from Bespin in The Classical Music Recommendation Thread
Dixon Hill got a reaction from Once in The Hobbit Film Trilogy Thread
Dixon Hill got a reaction from Ludwig in John Williams Darker Moments