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Which one? If John Williams had kept scoring only one of these franchises: Jurassic Park or Harry Potter?


Josh500

Which would you have preferred? If John Williams had kept scoring only one of these franchises: JP or HP?  

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  1. 1. Which would you have preferred? If John Williams had kept scoring only one of these franchises: JP or HP?

    • Jurassic Park I-III, Jurassic World I-III
    • Harry Potter 1-8


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This is a tough one.

 

Which would have been better?

 

These days, I actually prefer the Jurassic Park scores over the Harry Potter scores... by a very slight margin. The action pieces in both Jurassic Park movies are second to none (well, maybe the Star Wars and Indiana Jones action pieces)! So I voted for Jurassic Park!

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Harry Potter, better movies.

 

I can't see how JW would have scored Jurassic World anyway, since it is kinda a remake of Jurassic Park.

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4 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

The HP movies provided a better palette of emotions and new characters, places and events. JP would have just been a canvas for more of the same action writing.

 

Not at all. Williams would have constantly come up with new themes and ideas, giving each installment its own unique personality and tone, the way he did with the 9 Star Wars movies that he scored. Or are you of the opinion that the 9 Star Wars movies all have the "more of the same" kind of action scoring, too? 

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5 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

No. The 9 Star Wars movies provide each a wide palette of emotions and new characters, places and events. Just like Harry Potter. 

 

Well, the first 3 JP movies alone seem very different in tone, characters, and emotions to me...

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I would also add Fallen Kingdom which despite all his defaults has a very different tone, closest to the horrific than the others.

The only JP which is redundant giving the plot is Jurassic World but Williams showed with TFA that no matter how close the script are as long as there are new characters he can write fresh and incredible music

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2 minutes ago, May the Force be with You said:

I would also add Fallen Kingdom which despite all his defaults has a very different tone, closest to the horrific than the others.

 

Added to what? 

 

All JP and Jurassic World movies are included, including the new one not even released yet...

2 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Potter, but only if Doyle can keep his score.

 

Good one! :D

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3 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

Added to what? 

 

All JP and Jurassic World movies are included, including the new one not even released yet...

I was reffering to you previous post where you wrote that "the first 3 JP movies alone seem very different in tone, characters, and emotions". I think there's only JW which is not different enough

Sorry for the misunderstood

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6 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

Added to what? 

 

All JP and Jurassic World movies are included, including the new one not even released yet...

 

Good one! :D

I can't tell if you're agreeing or being sarcastic now.

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15 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I can't tell if you're agreeing or being sarcastic now.

 

Funny. I couldn't tell whether you're joking or serious...

 

 

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I voted for Harry Potter, because it tells one coherent story over the course of 8 movies. There would have been so much potential for continuing thematic development and introduction of new themes for characters and locations, if he had returned with Order of the Phoenix. Lots of missed potential.

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38 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I wasn't joking. I'd be very interested in JW or Doyle's scores for HP5-8. Desplat isn't bad at all, though, but Hooper needs to go.

 

Maybe you didn't understand this poll? If JW had kept scoring... 

 

So he'd have scored the entire franchise. No other composer would have been involved. 

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JURASSIC PARK, of course. I only have a very casual relationship to everything Harry Potter, as I was 24 years old when the first film premiered.

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3 minutes ago, Thor said:

JURASSIC PARK, of course. I only have a very casual relationship to everything Harry Potter, as I was 24 years old when the first film premiered.

 

That's great, but... 

 

You make 24 sound like 64 or something.

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He, he...just too old to have a childhood nostalgia connection to it. I think the films are fine, and the Williams scores wonderful (esp. 3), but JURASSIC PARK level enthusiasm, it's not.

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Really tough one. 
 

I feel like both Hedwig’s and the JP theme after several films would completely loose their potency.   Either way, I would hope for radical reimagining of tone and palette and new themes eclipsing old ones. 
 

I think I have to give it to Harry Potter though. The films matured along with the characters.  Instead of “cutesy” magical themes with lots of celesta, I could imagine more dramatic tones with measured action music. 
 

JP on the other hand would certainly be tempting to ramp up the frantic strings and piccolos to accompany the modern camera angles and cg action.  Lost World was a wonderful departure, but I can imagine more JP sequels being a bit exhausting. 

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10 minutes ago, Thor said:

He, he...just too old to have a childhood nostalgia connection to it. I think the films are fine, and the Williams scores wonderful (esp. 3), but JURASSIC PARK level enthusiasm, it's not.

 

Yeah, that's actually true for me as well... 

 

I think I was 18 when PS came out. 

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Probably Potter.

 

There are two ways to look at this question - whose sequel scores would I prefer were Williams instead, or which franchise do I prefer had Williams' touch?

 

Funnily enough, both have the same answer for me. I love Davis and Gia's scores, and I look forward to the day when I can have all six complete in my collection. But Potter also has far more thematic opportunities for Williams to add to his tapestry of themes. Imagine Voldemort's theme developing all the way to the final movie, instead of that generic RCP-inspired battle music Desplat was no doubt mandated to compose.

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Both series are interesting. Williams ended his involvement in each with an enthralling score that largely reinvented the themes and overall sound. So predicting what later installments would have sounded like is difficult.

 

Still, as others have mentioned, the JP films are weighted more toward action and suspense—areas where I don't necessarily think Williams has gotten better in recent years. The HP films are more character-focused by nature, and I think they would have been better-suited to Williams's strengths in the late oughts and early 2010s. So Potter it is for me.

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1 hour ago, Thor said:

JURASSIC PARK, of course. I only have a very casual relationship to everything Harry Potter, as I was 24 years old when the first film premiered.

I was 19 when HP SS came out and I love the franchise!

 

1 hour ago, Thor said:

He, he...just too old to have a childhood nostalgia connection to it. I think the films are fine, and the Williams scores wonderful (esp. 3), but JURASSIC PARK level enthusiasm, it's not.

But that would make you 16 when JP came out, isn’t that a little out of the realm of “childhood nostalgia”?

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1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Imagine Voldemort's theme developing all the way to the final movie, instead of that generic RCP-inspired battle music Desplat was no doubt mandated to compose.

 

Even a consistent Voldemort theme from 4-8 would have been good. Or 5-8. Or 6-8. Or 7-8.

 

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1 hour ago, Hedji said:

I think I have to give it to Harry Potter though. The films matured along with the characters.  Instead of “cutesy” magical themes with lots of celesta, I could imagine more dramatic tones with measured action music. 

Williams had already moved on from the cutesy by the third installment.  

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Precisely. Hedwig was already taking a back seat, appropriately so, and to everyone’s delight the scoring matured. Just following that trajectory, and it’s Potter for the win.  (Although I can’t say I enjoy either franchise’s sequels more than the other. )

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Azkaban was something special because Cuarón really took advantage of all the musical possibilites the movie to had offer. I have my doubts the following directors would be interested in expanding from that, and according to the actual movies, I don't think they would have allowed Williams to shine that much, really.

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I don't feel particularly attached to the Harry Potter movies, but I think they would have given him the opportunity to build a musical universe similar to the Star Wars one, because they show many characters, many dramatic situations... and what he did with the first three movies is extraordinary. So, I voted HP. 

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Harry Potter presents a better opportunity to craft a musical saga in the style of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: its less anthological than Jurassic Park. There's the same cast of characters, the same central conflict, Hogwarts and so forth: there's more of a chance to introduce a body of material and continue to develop it and expand on it.

 

But, alas, that opportunity was never siezed.

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Harry Potter, no brainer. The stories and characters have more range, and as far as the existing JW music goes I prefer Harry Potter to Jurassic Park. Even Chamber of Secrets. 

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We would have found things to gripe about in a complete John Williams Harry Potter saga like we have with Star Wars, maybe POA would have remained the most interesting one, but it definitely would have been something. In 2011 it also would have resulted in more scores than Star Wars while completing the same kind of epic musical storytelling in a shorter timeframe, so that also would have been kind of a landmark for him in and of itself. Would have been interesting to compare to SW.

 

Another Jurassic Park score - or four - would have been cool. Maybe on a micro-scale in terms of individual highlights or scores, they could have offered some stuff we wouldn't have gotten in Potter sequels. But I think HP is obviously a more unique missed opportunity, conceptually. 

 

I guess it's sort of like imagining if you had to give Star Wars vs Indiana Jones to other composers. Star Wars would take the bigger hit, but you could always choose to save Indy instead on personal preference.

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If we had to decide before we even knew about the next films and what may come, although JP may have been a better head start for Williams, the HP scores were already becoming much more deep and sophisticated than the latter, being more like Star Wars in effectiveness and scope, and even beyond Star Wars imo in potential, we just desperately needed to witness Williams develop it. I think HP was Williams' greatest diamond in the rough, the greatest seed he planted. It's a no-brainer.

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