Jump to content

How would you rank The Force Awakens among the Star Wars prequel scores?


Josh500

Recommended Posts

Is it better than The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and/or Revenge of the Sith?

 

As much as I love the score to The Force Awakens (and yes, it's a grower), I don't think it's better than any of the 3 prequel scores. At most, it's on the same level as ROTS (the weakest of the prequel scores, IMO). The 3 prequel scores, though not necessarily the movies, are instant classics. Not sure yet that TFA actually has that sort of longevity and impact. TFA, in my opinion, lacks strong set pieces like "Duel of the Fates," "Across the Stars," and "Battle of the Heroes" as well as standout action pieces, like "Star Wars and the Revenge of the Sith," "Zam the Assassin and the Chase Through Coruscant," and "The Droid Invasion."

 

What do you think?

 

 

My ranking (at this time):

1. The Phantom Menace

2. Attack of the Clones

3. Revenge of the Sith

4. The Force Awakens

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually I hardly ever listen to the RotS soundtrack... except, that is, for one track: "Star Wars and the Revenge of the Sith."

That title is one of my most-listened JW pieces ever, and it still blows me away. The version found on the OS album as well as the film version. I think this is one of the finest action pieces ever, on the same level as "Belly of the Steel Beast," "The Desert Chase," "The Quidditch Match," etc.

 

The Force Theme heard at the very beginning of this track, right after the Main Title, is my all-time favorite version. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a rather tough one for me. Unsurprisingly, I think that The Force Awakens has a lot in common with A New Hope and The Phantom Menace in terms of style and tone. I firmly believe that it is going to stand the test of time very well, certainly as well as TPM. As Josh pointed out, each of the prequels has a strong concert suite or set piece, possibly stronger than anything in TFA, though IMO, The Force Awakens has a more consistent and cohesive score than any of the prequels did. For now, I'm ranking these four scores like this:

 

1. ROTS

2. TFA

3. TPM

4. AOTC

 

Sith wins for me, largely due to its many highlights, which are all among my favorite film music moments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, amh1219 said:

Sith wins for me, largely due to its many highlights, which are all among my favorite film music moments.

 

 

What are the top 3 RotS highlights for you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. TFA

2. ROTS

3. TPM

4. AOTC

 

Nothing related, but I'd love to hear quality assemblies of the prequel scores. Flawed fan edits are getting quite annoying to listen to!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

01. TPM & TFA

02. ROTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2047. AOTC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Jay said:

That's probably a part of it, yea.

 

It's mainly that. AOTC is a great score, with an incredibly strong love theme and the single greatest cue from the entire PT: Confrontation with Count Dooku and Finale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

"The Conveyor Belt" is one of my all-time favorites. As well as "Jango's Escape," "Chase Through Coruscant," and "The Arena." Not to mention "Across the Stars"!

 

Man, AotC is really JW at its best. The movie, however... well, personally I don't think it was that bad, but yeah, it's probably the weakest SW movie to date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Jay said:

Will never understand why people don't think AOTC is a good score.

 For the record, I think it's a lovely score. I just like all of the others more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to gauge after one viewing of the film and one listen of the album.  At this point, best to worst, I'd place TPM, AOTC, TFA, and ROTS.  TFA may well rise above AOTC, much less likely TPM but I wouldn't count it out.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right now it's just a matter of how much time until it unseats TPM.  The problem with lists is that it gives the false appearance of the lower ranked scores as being "bad".  I don't hate any of the prequel scores.  ROTS just sounds like a bunch of concert suites because the film is all over the place, but it's still great musically.  AOTC suffers from some thematic inconsistency with development.

 

TFA is just a flat out awesome score that has wonderfully-crafted themes that are used incredibly well and makes a great listening experience overall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's hard to judge at this point because I have listened to so much of the unreleased music for the prequels compared to what we've heard for TFA. Having said that, I still think Phantom Menace is the most complete of the prequel scores, with the least obvious edits or tracked music. Right now I have that as number one, probably with TFA right behind it. AOTC is an interesting but not very satisfying score while ROTS has major problems but also major highlights that payoff all the build up of the characters and events throughout the prequel trilogy. So...hard to say right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've had the PT for 10-16 years now and TFA for what... a week now?  I imagine there were quite a lot of people disappointed with  the TPM score when it first came out but they changed their tune over time.  I remember people complaining about the lack of the Force theme.  People have already changed their minds about TFA after a few repeated listens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) ROTS

2) AOTC

3) TPM

4) TFA

 

but TFA could rise over time...I'm still warming up to TFA

 

for the hell of it:

1) ESB

2) ROTS

3) AOTC

4) SW

5) TPM

6) ROTJ

7) TFA 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.