Chen G.

Yes. And, get this: he says this meaning will be magically revealed to the eyes of us simpletons when the next trilogy - which had already been filmed in secret - will come out. Suddenly, all the issues we took with any and all of the previous films will be magically transformed by the context provided by this secret last trilogy. And no, this is not me trolling or being hyperbolic. Its literally what he's been saying for a while now. I need a drink.

Yeah, I get that. I mean, Williams describes his musical procedures in the various making-ofs of the films he makes and in interviews, but one, its less in-depth than Bear's blog which really feel like Bear is being his own Doug Adams/Mike Matessino; and two, something about Williams' mannerism works for me better in that regard than Bear's.

Lovely chat, but I always find it weird to see composers break down their own music. At least in this kind of depth, and the kind Bear does in his blog. Very illuminating, but just...I dunno... Its strange seeing a composer congratulate himself on "This awesome chord progression!"

Not a fan of the movie, myself. But still, the point the movie makes is felt by experiencing it, not by the kind of very reductive, simple-minded, literal approach of looking for literal clues tucked into the corners of the frame and shapes in the background and whatnot. Same with the kind of readings Mattris is trying to make.

Not the point I was making.

I also think good drama and art should be thought of in terms of religiosity. But I still take it as an aesthetic experience: its something you experience, and sort of washes over you. Its not a puzzle to be mechanically worked out: what Mattris is doing is essentially what the rabid Kubrickians do, dialed up to a million.

I think its very complicated. Lucas is getting money off of the successes of Star Wars, insofar as he bought Disney stock as part of the sale. And he HAD greenlit both the sequel trilogy and the spinoffs, in principle, and even helped develop Episode VII and Solo, and had paid courtesy visits to the sets of a couple of the productions. And while I'm sure - and there's lots of testimony - that selling Star Wars off was a moment of mixed feelings for him, its also true that it suits Lucas to play wounded to the likes of Rose, the better to present himself as the anti-corporate rogue he prides himself on being. Certainly, his statement that his ideas for Episode VII were thrown-out wholesale is just false. I ultimately think he was disappointed in the films themselves, but there IS more to it than that.

I think you can scarcely find a better analogy for the expanded Star Wars series under Disney than the ressurected, immobilised, decrepit, kept-on-life-support, life-sucking, line-repeating Palpatine of Episode IX....

Uh-huh...

I get that. But I do think Howard Shore's and Plan 9's contributions to Season One were extremly worthwhile. It'd be lovely to hear Shore's themes peppered into Bear's score, too.

Its also a different format. The "rhyming" idea is that Episode I most closely resembles the original (it better, being that its based on one of its early drafts), Episode II resembles Episode V, and Episode III resembles Episode VI. And, as you say, its in the broadstrokes, not something that controls the specifics of the each entry. "Ring" theory suggests that Episode I corresponds, rather, with Episode IV, and Episode III corresponds with the original. And, most importantly, how any of it makes any of the films or the series any more enjoyable is beyond me.

It was obvious, but I'm assuming that means no Plan 9 compositions this time around...

We should really call it the "Mattris containment thread"...

What about the ones who sit on the sides, open a beer (or four), get a little roast going, and have a good, hearty laugh reading all the shenanigans?

Yes and no. I feel like pegging the core demographic around 12, as Lucas once did, is not too far off the truth.

And if what you're expecting out of it is a good laugh? Frankly, I don't think Mattris can conjur up anything in this thread to quite top the saying that earned him a place in my signature. But I'm more than willing to see him try.

Not to take away from the Mattris Comedy HourTM but I do think there's a wee bit more to it than that. Yes, Star Wars is a kids' movie, but I always felt like that was truer of the original film in isolation than of the series as a whole. Certainly, the kind of dilemmata conjured up by The Empire Strikes Back and Retun of the Jedi about the conflict between family ties and "political" allegiance - and what the choices of the father reflect upon the son - hardly passes for a life-lesson for twelve-year olds. Greek tragedy - a-la Revenge of the Sith - is again not exactly the stuff of children's films. And the fact of the matter, even though Star Wars' main demographic IS unquestionably kids, it HAD been watched and enjoyed - and continues to be - by adults. That itself shows that there's a little bit - just a little bit - in it that goes beyond "message for daydreaming 12-year-olds." Mind you, the whole "its for 12 and 10 year olds" rhetoric didn't surface until after Lucas read Bettelheim's column, by which point Star Wars was already almost entirely written, designed and to some extent even storyboarded. So, while its not too far off-base, it IS something of an affectation: earlier on, Lucas pegged the demographis as more in the direction of 14 and 15 year olds. Okay, enough with the cerebral stuff, lets get back to Mattris Comedy HourTM

Oh, I understand. I understand the restaurant ruined the main course on purpose so they can then serve another main course they've made in secret and it would be all the greater! Oh man, forget food, I need a drink!

O hush you! Can't you see we're talking about food?! We happen to love food!

I...I never had that... Took me a while to get over the whole Kosher business...

Great, now I want fish!

I remember going through marketing and its amazing what emphasis the trailer puts on this "romance."

Yeah, something tells me Mattris isn't exactly one for dinner parties...

I think those sorts of movies don't really lend themselves to sequels at all. Jurassic Park is a pretty closed-ended story, and the only way to do a sequel is to replay the same basic premise - maybe do it in a different way, but ultimately you have to manufacture a way to get people BACK on the island.

Wow, ol' Mattris really let himself go!