The Official JWFan Thematic Tournament

[John Crichton 4]

OK, the combination of the "favorite theme" thread and the upcoming NFL and college playoffs inspired me to have our own little showdown to determine our favorite Williams theme. Let's face it, a straight poll is just too boring. I'm going to set this up as an NFL playoff style tournament: 12 themes, and the top 4 seeds get a bye into the second round. Each matchup will be a one on one poll, and I'll open up every round at once rather than one matchup at a time (4 1st round, 4 2nd round, 2 semifinals, 1 final).

So first off, we need to choose the participating themes. This will be the hard part. I figure the only fair way is to poll it. I'd like everyone to list here their personal top 10 themes, in any order. No rankings please. The top 12 mentioned will move into the tournament. I reserve the right to seed them at my discresion based on the results. If there's a tie for 12th there'll be a preliminary round to determine which one gets in the final bracket.

To give everyone a chance I'll leave this open for a while, until the new year. On January 2nd nominations will be closed and the tournament will begin.

EDIT- Apologies everyone. Looking at the calendar I just remembered that I'm going to be on vacation and out of contact the whole last week of January. So to give the tournament the full time it deserves, I'm moving the nomination deadline up to December 26. Thanks to everyone participating!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Too many.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Sounds fun.

Orca Theme

Force Theme

Imperial March

Yoda's Theme

Princess Leia's Theme

"Island Motiv", or whatever it is called, from "Jurassic Park"

Grail Theme

March from "Superman" (yes, even I heard that theme)

Cowboys Overture

Tale of Viktor Navorski

Whoah, those were hard. This list changes everyday, though....

[John Crichton 4]

I know, picking ten is hard. It'll take me a while to come up with my list. But I figured it was the fairest way.

[King Mark 3,631]

Theme from Jurassic Park

Han Solo and the Princess

Harry's Wondrous World

Hedwig's Theme

Peter's Theme from Hook (aka Neverland Theme)

Superman Theme (specifically B theme if distinction needed)

Force Theme

Raider's March (specifically B theme if distinction needed )

Imperial March

The Search for the Blue Fairie theme

[indy4 155]

Crap...this is difficult.

- Neverland's Theme (I'm not totally sure if this is the correct name, but it's the one heard at the end of "Arrival of Tink and Flight to Neverland")

- Raiders March

- Love Theme from Far and Away

- Double Trouble

- Hedwig's Theme

- Dry Your Tears, Afrika

- The Ark Theme

- Rebel Fanfare

- Love Theme from Superman

- Han Solo and the Princess

EDIT: List edited to include the Ark Theme, which I totally forgot about.

[Ollie 1,059]

Jane Eyre

Superman March

Towering Inferno

1941 March

Raiders March

Schindler's List

Lost World

Jaws

Star Wars

E.T. (Flying)

[Henry B 50]

Sounds like fun.

1. The Force theme

2. Leia's theme

3. Raiders March

4. Ark theme

5. Hedwig's theme

6. Anakin's theme

7. The Missouri Breaks love theme

8. Jazz Autographs

9. The Fury main theme

10. I want to say something from A.I. ... but kind of the entire score... um... Blue Fairy?

[Joe Brausam 214]

1. Born on the Fourth of July - Main Theme

2. The Force Theme

3. Love Theme from Superman

4. Han and Leia

5. Love theme from Jane Eyre

6. Vader's Theme

7. The Ark Theme

8. Indy's theme

9. Window to the Past

10. Cadillac of the Skies

11. (I'm sorry for the extra) E.T. and Elliot

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Flying Theme

Love Theme From Superman

March From 1941

Hedwig's Theme

Theme From Schindler's List

Theme From Jurassic Park

Short Round's Theme

Sean's Theme

Crimebuster's Theme

Avner's Theme

[Hlao-roo 389]

Today's selections from an ever mutable list:

"Main Title" from The Reivers

"The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back

"Flying" from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

"Toy Planes, Home and Hearth" from Empire of the Sun

"Somewhere in My Memory" from Home Alone

"Theme" from Jurassic Park

"The Days Between" from Stepmom

"Ann and Gabriel" from The Patriot

"Monica's Theme" from A.I. Artificial Intelligence

"A Window to the Past" from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[Desplat13 1]

1. Jurassic Park (Second half of "Journey to the Island")

2. Force Theme

3. Anakin's theme

4. Imperial March

5. Superman's theme

6. March of the Slave Children

7. Indiana Jones

8. Star Wars main theme

9 Smee's Plan (whoever's theme that is)

10. Across the Stars

At the moment...

[John Crichton 4]

11. (I'm sorry for the extra) E.T. and Elliot

And I'm sorry- it won't count.

[Joe Brausam 214]

I figured - but I felt it had to be mentioned anyway!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Give me John Williams or give me death!

[Demodex 557]

Han and Leia

Force theme

Imperial March

Yoda's theme

Duel of the Fates

Hedwig's theme

Window to the Past

Marion's theme

Slave Children theme from TOD

Grail theme

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Is this "Window to the Past" that good? I need to check it out....

EDIT: Wow. That was stunningly beautiful. It reminds me of "Recollections" from "Catch Me If You Can".

[Red 75]

Force theme

Remembrances

Raider's March

Superman theme

Jurassic Park

Flying from E.T.

Orca theme

A Window to the Past

Monica's theme

Neverland theme (if I had to pick just one from Hook)

Man that was hard. So many great themes that I didn't include.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Nice idea!

Princess Leia's Theme

Ark Theme

Parade of the Slave Children

Dance of the Witches

Star of Bethlehem

Far and Away Theme

Hedwig's Theme

Monica's Theme

Fawkes the Phoenix

A Window to the Past

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Luke Skywalker's Theme

Ben's Theme

Rebel Fanfare

Yoda's Theme

Raiders March

E.T. Flying Theme

Hedwig's Theme

Superman March

Childhood Theme (from Hook)

Somewhere In My Memory

[Diego 21]

Luke Skywalker's theme (SW main theme)

Imperial March

The Force Theme

Duel of the Fates

Raiders March

Slave Children's Crusade

Love theme from Superman

Over the Moon from E.T.

Flying Theme from Hook ?????? (not sure what it's called, it's the one from the Prologue)

Fawkes the Phoenix

That was harder than I expected and I'm probably leaving some themes I love that don't come to mind right now.

[stuttersteps 1]

Longstanding question I've had regarding the Superman Theme (or March): Is it one theme or in fact two?

I've always felt John Williams composed two themes for Superman, a notion reinforced by the leitmotiv breakdown in the exceptional Superman FSM book released w/ the set this year:

1) Superman Fanfare: "A formal, triumphant statement full of confident heroism...played throughout the score."

2) Superman March, A Theme: "The main theme for Superman often played in conjunction with the fanfare."

Of course the March itself contains the B theme as well as the Love theme but as far as primary themes, does Superman have two? Either theme individually would have sufficed but that Williams gave us both is a true gift to us. I wonder if his approach can be likened to that of the Raiders March, where he wrote two great themes and fused them into one spectacular composition.

What do you guys think? One theme or two?

[John Crichton 4]

I just edited the first post, the nomination deadline has been moved up to December 26. Sorry 'bout that.

Stuttersteps, it's one theme.

[Hlao-roo 389]

I'm surprised the response has been so tepid so far -- quite a contrast from JWFAN Top 10 polling several years ago, when we had several long dormant members reemerge, along with a slew of new registrations.

[Diego 21]

I'm surprised the response has been so tepid so far -- quite a contrast from JWFAN Top 10 polling several years ago, when we had several long dormant members reemerge, along with a slew of new registrations.

I'm a bit surprised too. Maybe they're just taking their time to think about it, it's really complicated I left out several themes I absolutely love (the grail theme, the fury, dance of the witches...)

[jasonblueeyes 0]

1. Raiders March

2. Imperial March

3. Love Theme From Superman

4. Star Wars - Main Title

5. Short Round's Theme

6. Dance of The Witches

7. Schindler's List - Theme

8. Duel Of The Fates

9. March Of The Villians

10. Princess Leia's Theme

I wish I had room to include "E.T. And Me"

[Jay 37,372]

Twice I've started typing out a top 10 and had to abort because i just can't narrow it down to 10... yet. i'll try again soon

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Born on the Fourth of July main theme

Slave Children theme (ToD)

Luke and Leia

Illumination theme (LC)

Dinosaur theme (Journey to the Island, 5 mins in)

Monica's theme

Harry's theme (0:10 into HWW)

Superman March

The Cowboys main theme

The from JFK

[John Crichton 4]

I'm surprised the response has been so tepid so far -- quite a contrast from JWFAN Top 10 polling several years ago, when we had several long dormant members reemerge, along with a slew of new registrations.

Thanks, Alan.

I did some preliminary tallying last night and we have quite the race for the 12th place cutoff, so get those ballots in people! One week left.

John- who'll have his in later this afternoon

[Romão 2,274]

Heinrich's theme (from Seven Years in Tibet, heard in the beginning of Leaving Ingrid)

Dry Your Tears, Afrika

Remembrances

A Prayer for Peace

Call of the Crystal

The Force Theme

Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra

The Days Between

David's Theme (the unreleased piano theme from AI)

Theme from Sabrina

[John Crichton 4]

Force theme

Superman March

Love Theme from Superman

Across the Stars

Ark theme

Raiders March

Hedwig's theme

A Window to the Past

Schindler's List

Han Solo and the Princess

[sandman609 0]

Force Theme

Raiders March

Hedwigs Theme

Harry's Wonderous World

Imperial March

Anakin's Theme

Superman March

Jurassic Park Theme

Prayer for Peace

Han and the Princess

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I'm taking my time to come up with my 10 all-time greatest.

I'm up to 4 now...

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I didn't realise entire tracks qualified, so I'm changing one of my selections - HWW in place of Hedwig's theme - much more coherence as a piece.

[Jay 37,372]

Tracks shouldn't count, it should just be themes. Harry's Wonderous World shouldn't count. Pick one of the themes in it

[indy4 155]

Yeah, I don't even think that Superman should count as one theme.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

Meh, I'll go choose some actual themes then.

[Jay 37,372]

Yeah, I don't even think that Superman should count as one theme.

Right, you should specify "Superman Fanfare", "Superman March", or "Love Theme From Superman"

[SF1_freeze 131]

So, here are my top ten:

1) Star Wars Main Title/Luke's Theme

2) Jurassic Park Island Theme

3) The Force Theme

4) Imperial March

5) Raider's March

6) Fawke's the Phoenix

7) Hedwig's Theme

8) Hook Flying Theme

9) Emperor's Theme

10) JFK Main Theme

[Ollie 1,059]

I'm taking my time to come up with my 10 all-time greatest.

I'm up to 4 now...

I just went with my gut reaction. If I were to stop and think about it I could come up with a different top 10 list today.

[Jay 37,372]

1) Luke's Theme from Star Wars

2) The Force Theme from Star Wars

3) The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back

4) The Raiders March from Raiders Of The Lost Ark

5) The Flying Theme from ET

6) Neverland Theme from Hook

7) Hook's Theme from Hook

8) The Island Theme from Jurassic Park

9) Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter and the Philorcer's Stone

10) Gryffindor Theme from Harry Potter and the Philorcer's Stone

But that leaves out so many....

I'd love to fit Han Solo and the Princess and The Ark Theme in there but what do I take out...

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Up to 5...

[John Crichton 4]

All components of the Superman March will count as one theme. The love theme is a seperate theme. I'm interpreting Harry's Wonderous World entries to mean Harry's theme, which would also include the "friendship" theme as it's just a variation on the same theme. So I have spoken, so it shall be.

The themes I need to make sure people are making distinctions on are Jurassic Park, if you're voting for the actual theme from Jurassic Park or the island fanfare theme. So far all the entries have been clear on this as far as I can tell.

And if you edit your list please let me know either via post or PM what you've changed (as rich did earlier). I'm adding these up as they're posted so it'll be less work later.

[Desplat13 1]

I edited my post to specify which "Jurassic Park" theme.

[John Crichton 4]

8) Hook Main Theme

I need clarification here please. Are you referring to the Prologue theme (first theme heard in Prologue), the Peter/Flying fanfare (later in Prologue, the end of Remembering Childhood), Capt. Hook's main theme (Presenting the Hook, Smee's Plan), or the Neverland theme (end of Flight to Neverland)?

Gotta love Hook.

[Henry B 50]

8) Hook Main Theme

I need clarification here please. Are you referring to the Prologue theme (first theme heard in Prologue), the Peter/Flying fanfare (later in Prologue, the end of Remembering Childhood), or Capt. Hook's main theme (Presenting the Hook, Smee's Plan)?

This just goes to show what an awful name Hook was.

[King Mark 3,631]

the theme that opens the End Credits (Part 2 of Flight to NeverLand concert Version)...what theme is that? I consider it the "main theme"

[indy4 155]

I thought it was the "Neverland Theme." It made my top 10 list, as posted earlier in the thread.

[King Mark 3,631]

I thought the Neverland theme was the one in "Exit music" (unused cue,Concorde boot)

[John Crichton 4]

The Neverland theme is played in virtually every cue in the score. It's the big one at the end of Flight to Neverland, and it's used as a theme for old Wendy at the start of the score. You're right, it could be that one too. I added it to the list. Whew.