What is JWFan's favourite franchise?

[Quintus 5,391]

I've done my best to cover the most obvious ones - the heavyweights, the most popular franchises. If you don't see yours here then please tell us what it is!

Thanks for voting!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Geez, this is very hard!

[Jay 27,216]

Wow. This is hard. If the Star Wars OT and PT were separated out I might vote for the OT as my favorite film franchise......... but with the prequels lumped in with it its the bottom of the list.

Similarly I could watch Harry Potter 1-3 over and over and over again no problem, but 4-8 not that often.

Wow. tough.

All of these franchises have amazing scores, that's the hardest to vote. Leaning towards LOTR though........

[Quintus 5,391]

Indeed, movie-wise I'd have been all over LotR when it was at it's peak of fandom, but it's power over me has faded somewhat in recent years, so I might have to go with Indiana Jones in that regard. Difficult.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

It has been done!

[indy4 152]

This is tough. I vote Indiana Jones for film and Star Wars for score.

Honorable mentions to Lord of the Rings for film and Indiana Jones for score.

[Jay 27,216]

I was actually considering voting for LOTR as my favorite film franchise just because I think they hold up so well!

With SW, HP, and IJ, those early great movies are all tainted by later crappy movies.

With James Bond I literally haven't seen all 22 (canon) entries, but I have a feeling I will find a lot of the Moore entries too cheesy for me.....

With the Star Treks I like 2,4,6,8 a LOT, and 1,3,5 to lesser degrees, and have never seen 7 or 10. The reboot was fantastic.

So I guess LOTR wins by default because I have nothing to complain about with any of the films or scores.

[JoeinAR 1,759]

I think the HP movies are more consistent than Star Wars two trilogies.

Of all of these Star Wars, ESB, Deathly Hallows 2, Raiders, and Temple rise about most, oh ROTK as well.

There are tremendous standouts in the Bond series, though none of the Craig, Bronson, or Dalton films stand out, in a good way that is.

As far as scores, Star Wars, ESB, Raider, Temple, STTMP, HPSS stand way above all else. The others scores are not even close.

[Jay 27,216]

For HP scores, I only like the first 3

For Bond scores, I literally haven't ever heard them all, but only LOVE TND and CR.

For Trek scores, I love 1-3 and 8, and I've never heard 6,7,9,10. The reboot is fantastic

For IJ scores I love 1-3, but 4 not so much

For SW I do love all 6, but ROTJ and the prequels all have patches that are frankly a little boring. And ROTS I really don't appreciate as much as most members here.

For LOTR... can't find much to complain about, all 3 scores are full of amazing amazing music. Yea ROTK has some boring tracks but the quality of the highlights nullify that problem for me.

So I guess LOTR and LOTR it is.

Wow!

(I think the OT would have won both categories for me if they weren't combined with the prequels)

[Charlie Brigden 5]

I voted Trek for film and score. LOTR is still amazing, but the music and the films unfortunately no longer hold my breath or attention the way they used to. Star Wars has been horribly tainted, and there's a huge gap in quality between RAIDERS and the other IJs.

Trek obviously has ups and downs in quality like crazy, but the main difference is that it still has my heart like no other. It's also got a good degree of variation, with a bunch of different composers trying to put their own mark on an already iconic franchise.

[Trent B 317]

Star Trek for both. All though for the scores the Star Wars franchise is very close behind.

[Quintus 5,391]

I decided I can't ignore the consistently high levels of quality across the board where LotR is concerned, even if its effect is diminished a little in my opinion. Objectively, it deserves my vote on both accounts. It was magnificent ten years ago in every way, and it still is. It's my own fault for watching it fifteen million times in three years.

[alicebrallice 133]

For HP scores, I only like the first 3

y u no like DH2?

[Charlie Brigden 5]

I guess that's the difference, where I ignored objectivity and went straight for what I loved. If I was going objective, LOTR would win for both.

[Jay 27,216]

For HP scores, I only like the first 3

y u no like DH2?

Both of Desplat's efforts bored me

[Quintus 5,391]

I guess that's the difference, where I ignored objectivity and went straight for what I loved. If I was going objective, LOTR would win for both.

Well, I love a few of the choices, which is why I found voting harder than expected.

[KK 3,202]

Wasn't too hard for me really in terms of film. LOTR was the most consistent and it is my favourite film franchise. I've always loved LOTR and I probably always will, so that gets an automatic win from me.

The competition for best score franchise is far tougher, but again, the enormous quality of the music has always put it as my favourite film music scores. And Jason, I never really found any of the ROTK cues boring. Its my favourite of the trilogy, and the way he combines all the themes is brilliant.

So LOTR and LOTR for me.

[Brónach 490]

Film franchise: Indiana Jones, hands down. If not Indiana Jones, then Toy Story. To mention other isolated films, I'm a fan of Alien & Aliens (waiting for Prometheus), The Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future trilogy, The Two Towers (waiting for The Hobbit) and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I don't consider the existence of any sequel to Jaws so it's excluded of the franchise category.

Score: I don't know. I gravitate between Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park on one side (I don't want to just jump into the LOTR bandwagon), and The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (JW) on the other. Meanwhile, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is one of my favourite scores, as is the first Alien, and I immensely enjoy the Star Wars scores even though I tend to forget about them and I usually don't know what to do with them when I think on my favourite film music. I also like the score for The Matrix trilogy.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Both of Desplat's efforts bored me

He was best when he was re-using JW music from the first film.

[alicebrallice 133]

And Jason, I never really found any of the ROTK cues boring. Its my favourite of the trilogy, and the way he combines all the themes is brilliant.

agreed. TT has the weakest cues imo.

[Quintus 5,391]

And even then it's has plenty of STELLAR ones.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

I had to go with LOTR.

but I feel dirty....

[Quintus 5,391]

The Hobbit will cleanse you.

[alicebrallice 133]

And even then it's has plenty of STELLAR ones.

of course! it's still one of my favorite scores.

[Quintus 5,391]

To the King!

[Andy 1,492]

Duh. Star Wars.

[Thor 5,273]

None of my favourite film franchises were listed (ALIEN first, JURASSIC PARK second). So I voted LOTR on film and STAR WARS on score.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,476]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars vs. Indiana Jones? I feel like Teddy in that scene from A.I. where both boys are calling to him and he doesn't know wtf to do.

Screw it, I'll take them all (except LOTR).

[Wojo 2,442]

Star Trek film, LOTR scores.

Not difficult.

[Jay 27,216]

Yea I guess you could make cases for Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Alien, Predator, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and Jaws being on the lists.

[indy4 152]

I don't think anybody would vote for Jaws.

[Jilal 436]

Indiana Jones!

[Sergeant 1,093]

All the franchises mentioned here are quite bad.

Couple of good single movies like ESB , Potter 3 and maybe the first Lotr film.

Music-wise this is easy.In my world there is only one film composer.

Greatest music ever written. 6 movies. After CE3K of course.

[Richard Penna 2,082]

Score: Lord of the Rings

Film: Indy*

* KotCS not included. My vote is strictly for the trilogy.

[Jay 27,216]

Well yea if we could remove certain entries from the franchises than obviously a lot of us would have voted differently (I would have voted Star Wars for favorite film and score), but the exercise of this poll, as I understand it anyway, was to vote when thinking about the entire franchise as a whole

[Quintus 5,391]

Correct!

[Wojo 2,442]

I don't think anybody would vote for Jaws.

Of course not. The original is my favorite film of all time and in the top X of scores.

But as a franchise...2's movie is watchable only for Roy Scheider and the score. The other two are pure dung.

I mean, according to Wikipedia, Jaws (1) has an RT rating of 100, while Jaws: The Revenge sits at 0. It doesn't get any better and worse than that.

[indy4 152]

I think the worst is Jaws 3D. It's just so boring, at least there's something to laugh at in Jaws: The Revenge.

[wanner251 17]

I had to go with IJ for film franchise, and SW for score. I almost picked IJ for score as well, but it's just not as amazingly dense and brilliant as SW. As far as LOTR, I almost picked them for film franchise, but it's hard for me to think of them as a film franchise when it's all one story. IJ is more of a franchise. As far as LOTR's score is concerned, it is absolutely brilliant. However, I don't find it to be anywhere close to as interesting as what JW puts out in his franchises. I own all 3 recording sessions cd sets, and let me just say they are REALLY repetitive, though the content is brilliant.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

I own all 3 recording sessions cd sets,

No such thing!

[wanner251 17]

Oh I thought the giant 3 cd box sets were pretty complete to be referred to as recording sessions. My mistake. Anyway 3 CDs each, gets repetitive. That was the point.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Recording sessions is a posh name for very complete bootlegs. Which is something the rather stunning Complete Recording (also a misnomer) sets are not!

Respect, sir!

[Incanus 5,519]

Recording sessions is a posh name for very complete bootlegs. Which is something the rather stunning Complete Recording (also a misnomer) sets are not!

Respect, sir!

Also you are a terrible nit-picker sir! Almost like Jason when it comes to the name Tintin.

But of course you are completely right in this case.

[Jay 27,216]

I am not picking nits when it comes to spelling that name/title/franchise properly. It is disrespectful to call it "Tin Tin".

Using the wrong terminology for these CD sets is in a completely different ballpark.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Jason, just admit you have OCD.

[Jay 27,216]

Not even close

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

LIER!

[mrbellamy 5,231]

For films, it's LOTR by miles. I like the others, and unmentioned series such as The Thin Man and Toy Story, but I have yet to see a more cohesive film franchise. Much credit goes to Tolkien, of course, but the keen sense of unity in those films goes beyond the source material, and I really think it's the best use of the "franchise form" so far. Just hoping The Hobbit films don't screw things up.

Scores are more of a toss-up. I picked Star Wars because I love JW and I think it's a great symphonic work, but LOTR isn't far behind.

I've probably watched/listened most to Harry Potter, but I think that's mostly because it was pretty much non-stop for 10 years. It's part of my adolescence, so I'll always appreciate it - especially the books - but I've noticed my interest in the films/scores has rapidly faded since the final movie. I used to pop in the movies and listen to the scores all the time, but I'm Pottered out, and now that I can look at it with some objective distance, it really is all over the place. Some good stuff came out of those films: Johnny's music, Stuart Craig's sets, the adult character turns, Alfonso Cuaron's and some of David Yates's directorial work, the very unique claim of showing a young cast grow into maturity. But there were a lot of missed opportunities.

[Jay 27,216]

But there were a lot of missed opportunities.

That sums it up perfectly for me.

[mrbellamy 5,231]

What makes it worse, too, is that it came so close. They're such beautifully designed movies, with an army of great technical professionals and featuring roughly half of the best character actors working in the UK. Everytime I see a trailer or a wordless clip show set to JW's music, I'm reminded of how good it could have been. Yet the storytelling always manages to drag everything down, which is so disheartening given the source material. With different writers and directors, it could have been a truly special movie series, as opposed to the somewhat functional and more or less entertaining one we ended up with.