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What attracts me the most after seeing the previews is the way Cameron and his visual artists have depicted the world of Pandora: it gives me nice feelings of those illustrations done for the paperback editions of sci-fi novels and short stories I always loved. That's the main reason I'll go to see this movie.

Pandora's environment seems to be too over saturated with colour, perhaps to give the world a deliberate fantasy styling, but I can't help but be reminded of the plastic greens seen in KotKS jungle chase. Again, if the script is good then I don't see the visuals being a problem. Moviegoers will believe anything they see if care is taken with the preparation.

you mean kashyyyk + felucia... and the naboo battle is pretty much what it was meant to be..in 1999 ten years ago. in fact it seems TMP might be more groundbreaking that this one in the quality of cgi (not speaking about 3d experience or the likes) Yes, compared to TPM, both AotC and RotS looked underwhelming. As for Avatar, I also got impression that Pandora looked like one of the planets from RotS, but this time completed, unlike fake-looking original versions. Anyway this movie does not look better than others before. It just has several Davy jones, gollum, yoda quality characters in the same movie instead of just one*. CGI forest and water has already been done, the metalic machines look far worse than others before them... *and if you have a good sfx company devoted entirely for the movie, with several years of work, it's the least they can do. dont get me wrong i cant wait to watch the movie, but part of the trailers look stunning, and many look undelwhelming. that's why im dissapointed.

you mean kashyyyk + felucia... and the naboo battle is pretty much what it was meant to be..in 1999 ten years ago. in fact it seems TMP might be more groundbreaking that this one in the quality of cgi (not speaking about 3d experience or the likes) Yes, compared to TPM, both AotC and RotS looked underwhelming. As for Avatar, I also got impression that Pandora looked like one of the planets from RotS, but this time completed, unlike fake-looking original versions. Sure, the movie isn't that photorealistic as it was advertised, but it looks better than any similar project of that kind. I never believed in the promises so now I am not disappointed nor tricked. I have strange feeling that the ones who criticize its look so much feel either fooled, or try to prove something to others or themselves by not succumbing to the hype that surrounds this movie. Judging by the trailer itself the movie definitely looks gorgeous and the director's name warrants quality entertainment.

Alan Silvestri is GREAT! Definitly one of my favourity composers. The Back to the Future main theme is awesome, Back to the Future III had very cool action music and the western music is great. The last couple of tracks from The Abyss are amazing as well. Forrest Gump is very good. Judge Dredd has a good theme, Lilo and Stitch has some nice action/adventure music, The Mexican is really quite silly, but fun nonetheless. Night at the Museum has a good main theme, The Polar Express is really very good as well, Richie Rich is good fun, "Pandora's Box" from Tomb Raider 2 is beautiful, "March of the Lava" from Volcano is good and The Wild also has some really good parts, such as "Tales from the Wild" and some really touching music in there somewhere, but I don't know which track. The Mummy Returns must be his best action/adventure score, especially in its complete form. The themes are great, the action music is great, there beautiful music there, good incidental music, good use of choir. It's all really big and sometimes even completely over-the-top, but it's quality stuff for sure. Van Helsing is really good as well. Especially in its complete form where there is a bit more beautiful music in the score as heard in Reunited on the OST. Beowulf could do with less of a modern touch, but it does have some good themes and enthusiastic music. Alan Silvestri is one of those composers who really understands the kind of music a film should have and comes up with stuff that is (almost) always very much appropriate, very much enhances the film and works well outside the film as well. I consider music truly good when I can imagine a film to go with the music when listening to it and Alan Silvestri very much manages that. I do agree that his latest scores are not as good as the earlier ones. Van Helsing is not as good as The Mummy Returns and Beowulf is not as good as Van Helsing. It's obvious that the greatness is still in there somewhere, but it doesn't really come out anymore. That's unfortunate. I am looking forward to another knock-out Silvestri score.

It's Pandora's Box from Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life by Alan Silvestri. It's pretty good, I might add. Karol

Mark mancina was Media Ventures. He was the 1st one to left it also. But that's where he got that sound. http://users.pandora.be/soundtrack-fm/Revi...ark_Mancina.htm

I think I have opened up Pandora's Box.... 8O Hehe.. But, those avoiding it thus far....FieryAngel's and Jesse's very well-informed, comprehensive posts and narratives over there are MORE than worth the price of admission! Greta

I just came with the idea... Isnt this a sequel to tomb raider? 'Tomb Raider and the Time Travel' She is using the All seeing Eye to try to stop Alexander getting pandora's box out of India.... that's why she tries to seduce him (i havent seen the movie, but i think Alexander had an affair with his mother right? )

I'm late, as usual, but I had to get in on this one. This'll be in two parts, the first post dealing with the article, the second the rest of the discussion. Concerning the article: Wow. Absolutely fascinating. It's about time someone saw this series the way I've been watching it for years. There are so many symbols and allegorical references in these films that people miss, and finally I know that there are others out there who understand the purpose of the Rancor, and its inate connection with the rest of the parable between Luke and his father. One of my favorite images, though, that he did miss, concerns that beast sitting outside Jabba's palace. The scene comes in the midst of the plot developments, even as one by one, the heroes are drawn into the smuggler's web and caught. In the middle of that, we see a small, scurrying creature, unaware of his danger, suddenly sense something is amiss. He tries to dart away, but too late--like lightning, the larger creature captures him, just like the characters, unaware of their true danger, are pulled inexorably into the trap. Then, in the real moment of brilliance, the creature burps, signifying Jabba's satisfaction, and cannily foreshadowing the belch of the Sarlacc as Boba Fett--wearing green, of course--ends his career unceremoniously, which in turn is a clear mirroring of the Space Slug in Empire,--full of mynocks, which obviously represent the worlds within the greater Empire as they attach themselves to witless victims--trying to grab hold of the escaping Falcon--which, like the heroes had been doing until that point, does manage to get away, only to wind up betrayed in Cloud City, which is a "floating device", another vivid image in the series, meaning.... I trust that by now my point is becoming clear. (If not, we need to talk.) Whatta buncha hooey. I read this article with an increasing sense of disbelief, until at one point (I think it was the footnote on colors) I actually began to think it was a joke, just like what I wrote above. I mean, no one would really think this stuff is valid, right? By the time I finished, though, I was convinced that the author meant every word of it. While doubtless well-meaning, he's done an astounding job of stretching for this one. Reminds me of my high school days when, in order to please the teacher and filch a good grade, we'd drum up some wildly outlandish analysis for an expository paper on some book or short story. It was usually complete BS. The teacher knew this, of course, but having spent the semester trying to coax any sort of rational thinking out of us, she wasn't about to discourage even the most meager fruits of her labor (what was she gonna do, write in red pen What the hell is THIS crap? across the top?). So she accepted it, even though she knew it was bupkiss, and we knew that she knew, and so on. Same thing here. I haven't seen someone work this hard on arguing a senseless thesis in years. I had a whole pageful of notes in direct response to many of the gratuitous, sometimes contradictory, and all too often just plain strange assertions brought to light in this analysis, but it just became too much. I'll sum up instead by nailing down the bottom line, the one point of logic that makes the whole house of cards tumble (in my opinion, at least): If George Lucas was that sharp a tack, if he was capable of weaving so many intricate and profound allegorical nuances into the same tapestry, then he would have written a better film. Period. A character who has changed heads as an ellucidation of the paradoxical juxtaposition of diplomacy and military might within the New Republic does not say things like, "What a drag" and "I'm beside myself." To say such clumsy simplicities as well as such sagacious symbolism have the same source is like trying to connect two magnets at the same pole. I'll never believe it. Ironically, coming at it from the other direction and actually agreeing with the points laid out in the article provides an even graver condemnation for Lucas's efforts....because if he really was bringing all that to the table intentionally, then shame on him for doing it so ineptly. What use is allegory, if it's presented so poorly that hardly anyone gets it (other than those deep-thinking film school students desperately seeking an A on their final paper)? I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. I think there are a few symbols worth noting (the crucifixion below Cloud City was a particularly fascinating viewpoint), but I don't for a second believe that Lucas had even a fraction of the icons this guy suggested in mind when he made these films. George Lucas is certainly a student of myth, as is well known, but he's trying to make his own myth here, full of its own symbols and meanings; to credit him with unlocking a Pandora's box of ancient hierograms is either to give him too much credit, or to show he doesn't deserve it to begin with. The argument is self-defeating. - Uni

Other Dutch John Williams-fans (I'm actually from Belgium, but I speak Dutch), mail me if interested in a talk: obelisk@pandora.be