igger6

A feature in yesterday's paper about Anthony Daniels' new memoir noted that (as of the interview date) he was still getting calls from J.J. asking him to record new lines into his iPhone and send them along to drop into the movie. I guess this is more doable when your character's voice is supposed to be filtered through a tiny, tinny speaker. But as long as there's a new statement of the droid motif behind it, I don't care if it's recorded on a Talkboy. B-)

WOW.

But back to score predictions: Anybody think Disney will commit the ultimate act of corporately humble fan magnanimity and re-institute the 20th Century Fox fanfare before this film—freshly re-recorded, of course—since, you know, it's just one more subsidiary now? Yeah, didn't think so.

That doesn't count in my book because it's almost impossible to hear in context in the movie, and despite the "scherzo" title, I find the main theme statements in it to be kind of staid and obligatory. It seems like too obvious a pose—"Hey! Recognize THIS?"—rather than an organic part of the score that underlines a burst of heroic action.

You know what I want to hear more than anything in this score (or at least as much as the other stuff I've mentioned in this thread)? A return of the punchy, fun statements of Luke's theme that used to punctuate moments of heroic action in the OT. Not since the climax of TPM have we seen a quick, energetic little concussion missile of joy like that. Every time the main theme plays in scores of the Disney era, it's done like a hymn—think of the Falcon reveal in Solo. I know there are other examples, but they're deserting me right now. Honestly, the closest we've come to a fun rendition is the droid cameo in Rogue One.

Wow, never thought of that, but brilliant! This would have been perfect. Where were you seventeen years ago? At any rate, it would be better than the sappy pop tune James Newton Howard wrote for him last year.

!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic!

Rey's theme begins with the same three notes that Kylo's main motif ends with. But they never (as far as I know) overlap or intertwine in any meaningful way during "The Ways of the Force" or "A New Alliance." I don't know if there's any way musically to capitalize on that, but it sure seems like there ought to be. Somewhere in Williams' office, a bobblehead of Howard Shore is shaking its head in nerdy disappointment.

I'm still stunned that Williams wrote a pair of themes for (apparently) profoundly related characters that begin and end with the same phrase and, as far as I know, he has yet to capitalize on that overlap, despite numerous scenes together, two of which are epic battle scenes.

I'm not disagreeing, but can you elaborate on "energetic and extroverted"? I've heard TFA many, many more times than TLJ, and I'm curious what you mean.

Yeah, that seems like something that would appeal to some news show looking to fill ten happy minutes at the end of a broadcast. For the record, I say it's fake. It pushes too many of our Williams buttons. If not, great. It sounds good. But I don't buy it.

I'll bet that unimpressive piano/harp-sounding ostinato thing in the opening is from the score, just heavily changed. I thought there was no way "The Spark" was real, and look where that got me.

You know what this score needs? A shoutout to Krennic's theme when Giacchino's stormtrooper comes on screen.

Whatever can be said of the sequel trilogy itself (or as I think of it, sequel series-of-interconnected-scenes-some-of-which-I-enjoy-immensely-and-many-of-which-I-don't), there's no question this is a big musical deal. My money right now is on the sudden and not-quite-thematically-justifiable return of some random prequel theme. Hopefully "Duel of the Fates," which would be thematically justifiable almost no matter what with Palpatine back, but more likely "Across the Stars," since it's probably bouncing around Johnny's brain thanks to the ASM album. I just have a feeling Episode IX is cruising for a Thorin running moment. Overall, I want a movie whose plot justifies the return of as many themes as possible. And I don't want Williams to forget about "Lando's Palace." But I'll bet he has. B-)

My CD/DVD is finally here! Anyone else think the awkward jump from the A section of Hedwig's Theme to the Nimbus Two Thousand material in the concert version has been bugging Williams for eighteen years, and that's why he wrote those few bars of transitional fiddling for ASM's version? Not sure how that could work for the full orchestra, but I'd love to see him try one of his trademark unannounced arrangement switcheroos...