"Chase Through Coruscant" in CoS?!

[Datameister 2,044]

Okay, I've been fuming over this for a long while but never thought to post my frustration. Why on Earth was a horrid mockery of AOTC's "Chase Through Coruscant" used in CoS's Quidditch match?! The first time I heard this in theaters, I tried to believe that the similarity was only superficial. But it's not. This is very similar (if vastly inferior) music.

WHY?!

I know that we don't really know exactly what William Ross's job was on the score, and that Maestro Williams had little time to write the score. But still...why would a cue from Star Wars be slightly modified and implimented in Harry Potter?

[John Crichton 4]

Because, just as you said, Williams had no time. Notice how Lucious Malfoy's theme is just a reworked version of the Seperatist motif or conflict theme or whatever you want to call it from Ep. II also.

[Datameister 2,044]

Still...he could have at least disguised that part of the cue a little better...I mean, this is bald-faced self-plagiarism between movie sagas, without any sort of implied joke (like Yoda's theme in E.T.)!

Perhaps I'm overreacting. But it does bother me.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I noticed this from the first time I watched the movie in the theater. I thought it was a direct track from AOTC. So its 'newly' written eh?

[King Mark 3,631]

Well it's Williams writing something at the last minute for CoS.It's fairly well established that whatever Ross composed for the film had to be re-written by Williams at the last minute,so maybe that's all he could think of.

K.M.

[Damo 0]

I guess that one of the reason it didn't make it on the soundtack.

[GoodMusician 56]

is that music on the album?

I'm not seeing it... lol... why do I feel that was intentional? lol

"The Spiders" track reminds me of TLW music, even has part of the theme playing near the end...

[Miguel Andrade 1,264]

Still...he could have at least disguised that part of the cue a little better...I mean, this is bald-faced self-plagiarism between movie sagas, without any sort of implied joke (like Yoda's theme in E.T.)!

Perhaps I'm overreacting.  But it does bother me.

Yes, you're overeacting.

This is film music. This is film music and plagiarism comes with the territory.

There is really nothing one can do... The reasons for this particular case are already well explained.

But things can get really worst. I remember a story André Previn once told in an interview, form his years in Hollywood, when he was the big young composer star -- we then left and was replaced by buddie Johnny Williams and Hollywood's top composer.

He was writting a score for a Katherine Hepburn film, and Ms. Hepburn wanted a certain song in there. Previn told her that he hadn't written in so they couldn't use it, but for her was much more simple... she replied "we'll call it our own!"

And on the ET note... that's not really plagiarism, but rather a quotation. Smae thing when Bruce's thumb-thumb theme makes an apearence on 1941, or when the bit from Basket Chase form Raiders pops up on Temple of Doom.

[Josh500 1,615]

Okay, I've been fuming over this for a long while but never thought to post my frustration.  Why on Earth was a horrid mockery of AOTC's "Chase Through Coruscant" used in CoS's Quidditch match?!  The first time I heard this in theaters, I tried to believe that the similarity was only superficial.  But it's not.  This is very similar (if vastly inferior) music.

Maybe that's just William Ross trying to adapt material written by JW. Unfortunately he worked from the wrong score!!! LOL

Well, to be honest, it doesn't bother me that much. JW had little time, Ross couldn't write anything worthy of the franchise, so Johnny had to work on both scores at the same time. So they're a bit similar -- so what? Give the man a break!

[Luke Skywalker 1,796]

Look, i watched that movie just to heard this Chase through Coruscant 'rip off' and definately, I remembered it just being a repetition of some measures that were similar to AOTC's, not as equal as the quidditch from the 'pure genius' Philosopher's stone, aka Ludlows demise.

And williams was time challenged to write COS.

[Marcus 390]

I was never bothered by this at all... It's still AMAZING writing (compositionally speaking), and far superior to what anyone else could have done, and I don't really mind when artists quote themselves, or rely on their stock techniques to finish a rush-job. The work is still excellent, albeit informed by earlier efforts.

[Datameister 2,044]

I agree that it's great writing...in fact, the first big blast of that trumpet/flute appoggiatura motif in "Chase Through Coruscant" is one of my favorite musical moments in AOTC. It's just bothersome that it would be re-used in an entirely different saga.

In response to your question, BurgaFlippinMan, it has indeed been rescored. The orchestration is slightly different (and inferior, IMO) and I believe the key has been changed. But this is definitely a rehash of the AOTC cue--it's not a matter of the tonalities, tempi, and orchestrations being similar.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I'd only be annoyed if the rest of the score was above average in the first place. As it is, there's copy-and-paste jobs and thematic misuse (and neglect) all over the place.

[Incanus 5,716]

I think the scoring was badly handled. The album turned out decent but in general the score is just cut and pasted in the scenes and the new thematic material is scarcely used in the score (e.g. Chamber of Secrets theme and Dobby's theme). There is also the overkill of the Philosopher Stone motif and it is all wrong.

[John Crichton 4]

The underuse of the suberb Chamber theme, the best new theme in the score IMO, is criminal, even before considering the use of the reworked Stone theme in its place.