Michael Giacchino to score Star Tours II

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

Michael Giacchino will finally be writing some Star Wars music—for the new Star Tours II ride.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

Indifferent.

[Henry B 50]

So, Michael Giacchino is the next Joh--

[Jacob 0]

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

More like Michael Giacchino is the next Richard Bellis, really.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Olivier 5]

Interesting-- and funny: guess where I went today?

...

http://ob777.free.fr/disneyland_paris/

[OneBuckFilms 324]

Lets see what he does with John Williams' themes.

[John Crichton 4]

Nice! Very, very nice!

EDIT- Man, I love seeing those articles start out "Oscar winner Michael Giacchino". Still can't believe the Academy finally got one right.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

There's no indication what this will be like. Richard Bellis' music for the original was a chime that he composed for Star Tours, a kind of dated 80s electronic piece for the droid room and basically everything else was arranged/adapted directly from Williams' original material. So will Giacchino keep the old Star Tours chime melody? Will he compose original music or just arrange and adapt Williams' music? I just hope it sounds nothing like Star Trek.

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

So will Giacchino keep the old Star Tours chime melody?

According to the original article at LaughingPlace.com (linked in the TrekMovie article), yes.

[Henry B 50]

There's no indication what this will be like. Richard Bellis' music for the original was a chime that he composed for Star Tours, a kind of dated 80s electronic piece for the droid room and basically everything else was arranged/adapted directly from Williams' original material. So will Giacchino keep the old Star Tours chime melody? Will he compose original music or just arrange and adapt Williams' music? I just hope it sounds nothing like Star Trek.

They wouldn't have hired a big name like Giacchino if there wasn't going to be substantial original music.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

There's no indication what this will be like. Richard Bellis' music for the original was a chime that he composed for Star Tours, a kind of dated 80s electronic piece for the droid room and basically everything else was arranged/adapted directly from Williams' original material. So will Giacchino keep the old Star Tours chime melody? Will he compose original music or just arrange and adapt Williams' music? I just hope it sounds nothing like Star Trek.

They wouldn't have hired a big name like Giacchino if there wasn't going to be substantial original music.

They probably also wouldn't have hired him if they didn't want it to sound like his work that's most similar to Star Wars AKA Star Trek

[Datameister 2,056]

There's no indication what this will be like. Richard Bellis' music for the original was a chime that he composed for Star Tours, a kind of dated 80s electronic piece for the droid room and basically everything else was arranged/adapted directly from Williams' original material. So will Giacchino keep the old Star Tours chime melody? Will he compose original music or just arrange and adapt Williams' music?

Well, he wrote more original stuff than that - there were several short cues written for the film clips that played on the big screen in the queue. (At least at Disneyland...dunno about the other resorts.) These included the chime motif, as well as a longer theme for the attraction. I very much hope that all of that is adapted for Star Tours II.

I just hope it sounds nothing like Star Trek.

I strongly agree. I definitely enjoyed that score, but hearing Star Wars music intermingled with and reinterpreted in that style would just be...wrong.

[Ollie 1,061]

I'm not too concerned because the only way anyone will end up hearing it is by going to Disney or getting some shitty sounding recording someone made.

[OneBuckFilms 324]

If there is one thing Michael Giacchino does really well, it is adapting other composer's work. Mission: Impossible III and The Incredibles show this.

It'll be interesting to hear what he does with John Williams. Perhaps one score, which I have not heard, could give us a better idea? The Lost World game score?

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

Nope, his Lost World is completely original.

[Luke Skywalker 1,799]

I'm not too concerned because the only way anyone will end up hearing it is by going to Disney or getting some shitty sounding recording someone made.

Excuse me but Disney has released several Theme park music CDs over the years...

At last my wishes come true! Giaccchino, do not dissapoint me!

[Ollie 1,061]

Was the Star Tours music ever released?

[Datameister 2,056]

Was the Star Tours music ever released?

Yep. The main music track for Star Tours II will almost certainly be officially released within a few years after the attraction opens.

[John Crichton 4]

Was the Star Tours music ever released?

Yep.

Really? Could someone, er, *cough*...pass along a sample please?

[Red 75]

Hearing what Giacchino does with Williams' material is pretty exciting, for me at least.

[Datameister 2,056]

Was the Star Tours music ever released?

Yep.

Really? Could someone, er, *cough*...pass along a sample please?

That's the recording Bellis did for the original Star Tours. The onscreen image just shows which parts of the films the music was adapted from.

[LongTallJodie 59]

Pretty much all of Bellis' music has seen official release, except maybe for the score to the travelogue videos that play in the queue. The "Star Tours" track (4:07) on the official albums for each park features the goofy "travel agency" arrangement, which segues into his on-ride soundtrack. The exit music (4:57), a re-recording largely based upon the Throne Room and the end credits to Empire (if memory serves), was released on the Tokyo Disneyland "Treasures of Fantasy" set. Oh, and that track playing on the Droid's radio (the appropriately named "The Droid Rooms") has been on the official CDs since 1987.

As for Giacchino's score, I'm 100% certain you'll see at least his on-ride soundtrack released on one of the official albums, which get revised almost every year. They got most of his Space Mountain music out pretty damn quick, either on the official albums or online (I seem to recall a radio show with a Giacchino interview playing the tracks for all three Space Mountain attractions).

In any event, Randy Thornton (the guy in charge of putting together Disney's official albums) has been extremely good within the last ten years of listening to the community and trying to get as much new music out there as possible. I'm not at all worried.

[Datameister 2,056]

Yeah, the material that hasn't seen official release (to my knowledge) is the music for some of those travelogue videos you mentioned. They're all similar to the one at the beginning of the "Star Tours" track. Thanks for the tip about the exit music, too - I didn't realize that'd been released. Now I've just got to find that track without paying for an 11-disc set.

[Luke Skywalker 1,799]

wink wink if you find it...

[Datameister 2,056]

One interesting thing about the exit music recording is that it does incorporate the insert from the ESB end credits (the full-length Yoda's theme) but the transition into the Imperial March isn't quite right. The strings don't play the sustained note over the start of the ostinato. Kinda ruins the transition for me.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

The travelogue cues are pretty inconsequential as far as I'm concerned. I think I read that The Droid Room wasn't actually composed for the ride, it was something he'd already come up with and felt would fit there. Truth be told, I could barely ever hear that music playing in the queue at MGM. I had it on the Disneyland/Walt Disney World cassette years ago. I recorded it onto another cassette with Star Wars music to simulate the ride soundtrack on my Talkboy. His arrangements of JW's music are decent, including Indiana Jones. I've actually heard his Star Tours exit music playing at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom in recent years, which is kinda weird.

[Datameister 2,056]

Oh, yeah, they're not too important. I'd certainly like to have them (in better sound quality than the boot I've already got), but the one on the albums is probably the best of them. LOVE the "Cantina Band" cameo.

[Luke Skywalker 1,799]

from the main page: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118025207.html?categoryid=16&cs=1

williams is supervising Giacchino's work in Star Tours.

Nice to see Giacchino mentioned in the main page without it being an april's fool

[Jay 37,441]

Giacchino and Williams working together.... nice

[Demondm810 399]

This can only be a good thing for future Giacchino scores.

[Jay 37,441]

For a second I thought that was a Hlao-Roo post

[fommes 154]

That can only be a good thing for future Demondm810 posts.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

[Demondm810 399]

I feel I am completely in the dark. lol

[Jay 37,441]

When is this opening again?

[Datameister 2,056]

This May, approximately. Er, that's the Disneyland version - I'm not sure about the Walt Disney World version, but it should be around the same time. It would be fantastic if they let employees preview the attraction for testing, which I believe they often do...I'd get to skip the long lines that will inevitably plague the updated attraction for years to come...

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Just release the damn music!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

I read Jar Jar's in it. Seriously.

[Datameister 2,056]

Just release the damn music!

Chances are fairly good that at least some of the music will make it out onto CD by...oh, 2013 or so. Whenever they do the next resort soundtrack. The last one was in 2008, I believe.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the official Disney Parks Blog. I wouldn't be surprised if they posted a few clips of the recording sessions in a few months.

[LongTallJodie 59]

Disney's resident producer extraordinaire, Randy Thornton, always does an stellar job on the park's official soundtracks. You're talking about a guy who recently released the entire 17-minute score to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (and almost all, 11 minutes worth, of Bruce Broughton's new Spaceship Earth over at WDW). When Star Tours II shows up, you can bet that Randy will cram as much of the new score as he can onto the official album. That's a 100% mortal lock.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Also it's Star Wars and Disney so it's a marketing goldmine and guaranteed sales.

[Datameister 2,056]

Well...no recording sessions yet, but still related:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/02/george-lucas-visits-star-tours-at-disneyland-park/

[Demondm810 399]

This May, approximately. Er, that's the Disneyland version - I'm not sure about the Walt Disney World version, but it should be around the same time. It would be fantastic if they let employees preview the attraction for testing, which I believe they often do...I'd get to skip the long lines that will inevitably plague the updated attraction for years to come...

May as well. For Star Wars weekends.

[BraveheartDC 0]

Am I missing something?

Why even bother with this? Why not just use tracked music from the films?

I think if Lucas can chop up and reuse pieces of William's score in the movies I don't see the problem doing it on this ride.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

http://disney.go.com/disneyfans/insider/article/20110510?cmp=dcom_EMC_ins_disney_insider_110510_MA-ReadMore__Extl

Musical history was made when the Imagineers worked with Academy Award®-winning composer John Williams, who wrote the original Star Wars film scores. "John and his music editor found passages from the scores to use in our show. The cabin music is taken from the original recordings!" Composer Michael Giacchino lent his Academy Award-winning talent to create additional arrangements of various Star Wars themes for the commercials and pre-show videos.

Exactly what they did for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

[Datameister 2,056]

Well, on the one hand, we know the performances will be top-notch. And if Williams and Wannberg really were the ones in charge of figuring out which music would go where, we can be pretty sure it'll be well-spotted. But on the other hand, that means no new material during the ride itself. =/ It'll still be interesting to hear Giacchino's take on the queue music, though.

By the way, Disney cast members have begun previewing the attraction, and although I haven't read or heard any extensive reviews, the reaction has been positive so far.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

There could be various arrangements since the ride has many different combinations. Either way, I call shenanigans on the initial report that spawned this thread!

[LongTallJodie 59]

So, really, the cabin music will be similar to the original Star Tours: cut and pasted music from the original score. Granted, back then, it was (barely) rearranged and then rerecorded by Richard Bellis (if memory serves). In this digital age, I guess they decided they could just easily edit together all the cues they wanted from the original score rather than go to the expense of rerecording certain parts.

Anyway, half the fun of Star Tours is the queue. The music Mikey composes for the travel videos and other random music should be great. Wonder if we'll hear any hints of Bellis' original Star Tours jingles?

EDIT: BTW, if you want the whole ride spoiled for you with details about how there are actually 54 possible ridethroughs you can experience, scroll down a bit here and check out the detailed report. It's sounding pretty awesome!