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

[King Mark 3,624]

it's not really a tough poll .HP by 1000%

[filmmusic 1,821]

I'm not really a fan of franchises (I think 3 is enough for a composer to score), so I'd say none!

[Josh500 1,615]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

I'm not really a fan of franchises (I think 3 is enough for a composer to score), so I'd say none!

 

So you're not a fan of Star Wars?

 

Okay, gotcha.

2 hours ago, King Mark said:

it's not really a tough poll .HP by 1000%

 

Well, it's tough for me, because I love both franchises (almost) equally...

9 hours ago, Bespin said:

John Williams doesn't score inferior sequels!

 

(just remembered he scored Jaws 2)

 

 

Jaws 2, the score, is not really inferior. The movie, yes, but the score, no.

[filmmusic 1,821]

1 hour ago, Josh500 said:

So you're not a fan of Star Wars?

No, I'm not.  I just love the first original trilogy.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

To me Harry Potter is certainly more intriguing. The development of the movies, their style, their seriousness, their thematic focus and portrayal of characters was so diverse and diverging from each movie's predecessor. Williams' musical interpretation that could have been is something that I've been thinking about again and again. I mean, after The Prisoner of Azkaban we learned that he could do a hell of a shift in mood and atmosphere.

[danbeck 123]

As others mentioned HP had more room for new themes and deeper emotional evolution. It would be great if Williams had scored them all (including a full Williams score for Chamber of Secrets).

Jurassic Park was never a favorite score for me. The two main themes are great but the action music is far from my favorite from Williams (which are in his Indiana Jones and Star Wars scores). Among the two I prefer The Lost World with its percussion and better action tracks, but it still is not among my favorite from Williams.

Sorcerer Stone and Azkaban are much superior to JP, IMO.

And I think the replacement composers on Jurassic (Don Davis and Giacchino (specially with the new theme Giacchino wrote - As The Jurassic World Turns - which integrated very well with the Williams theme) did a better job than the replacements on HP (although I liked the Doyle score and Hooper`s score to Half-Blood Prince they do not compare to the William's scores and I really disliked the Desplat generic scores). 

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Why can't I vote? Is the poll closed already or am I banned or something?

 

Would have voted for Potter, no brainer.

 

[Thor 7,451]

4 minutes ago, Sibelius6 said:

Why can't I vote? Is the poll closed already or am I banned or something?

 

Would have voted for Potter, no brainer.

 

Potter has enough votes already!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I wouldn't wish Trevorrow on poor Johnny if he were my worst enemy

[mrbellamy 6,270]

It almost happened!

[Jay 37,249]

Just opened this thread for the first time

 

Went to vote in the poll

 

The poll is closed?

Why is the poll closed?

[BrotherSound 2,241]

Voted Harry Potter, because I still vividly remember the score to Prisoner of Azkaban reigniting my interest in Williams after a few years where I wasn't paying as much attention, and being quite disappointed that ended up being the last of his scores for that series.

 

Kind of surprised Superman wasn't an option here, but I'd only have wanted it if Donner also stayed on for the sequels (or another director who'd been able to match the quality of the first film).

[Bellosh 3,368]

Nothing in the Jurassic World movies would have inspired JW.

 

He doesn't do shit sequels.

[p0llux 392]

Harry Potter by millions of light years. The number of characters, the variety of villains, the different locations, the gradual evolution of the characters, the drama, the magic, the list goes on and on. JP movies are just shallow action flicks. It's not even close. If Williams continued to score HP, it could've equaled Star Wars as his magnum opus, if not surpassed it. 

[Josh500 1,615]

15 hours ago, Jay said:

Just opened this thread for the first time

 

Went to vote in the poll

 

The poll is closed?

Why is the poll closed?

 

Sorry, must have accidentally hit the close button. It's open again!

17 hours ago, Sibelius6 said:

Why can't I vote? Is the poll closed already or am I banned or something?

 

Would have voted for Potter, no brainer.

 

 

It's open again.

[GerateWohl 4,319]

9 hours ago, Bellosh said:

Nothing in the Jurassic World movies would have inspired JW.

 

He doesn't do shit sequels.

I liked Jurassic World better than Home Alone 2.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Oliver Stones President trilogy

[mrbellamy 6,270]

John Williams scoring W. and Obama's inauguration within a few months of each other would have been fun lol

 

Honestly Alexander, World Trade Center, and W. all in a row feels like something he could have done. 

[Thor 7,451]

50 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Honestly Alexander, World Trade Center, and W. all in a row feels like something he could have done. 

 

I'm thankful he didn't. I can't speak for W, but ALEXANDER and WORLD TRADE CENTER have amazing scores already.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

8 minutes ago, Thor said:

ALEXANDER and WORLD TRADE CENTER have amazing scores already.

 

Really? Highlights, please.

[GerateWohl 4,319]

What movie is "W"?

[Thor 7,451]

13 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Really? Highlights, please.

 

For WORLD TRADE CENTER (my favourite score of 2006), I discuss and play a little bit from it at 56:10 in this podcast episode.

 

For Vangelis, we discuss and play it on several occasions in the 3-hour Vangelis special. There's one discussion from about 26:50 in the first part, and then again from about 13:35 in part 3.

 

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

What movie is "W"?

 

The George Bush biopic.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

ALEXANDER was a big disappointment😣

9 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I'm thankful he didn't. I can't speak for W, but ALEXANDER and WORLD TRADE CENTER have amazing scores already.

Well WTC doesn't fit into the theme of " political leaders". I hadn't thought of AL but it fits into the theme#

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

I'll add to the list of Harry Potter voters. And I don't say that lightly, Jurassic Park was the first soundtrack I ever bought but given that character development isn't really a critical part of the JP/JW franchise, they wouldn't really have built on each other in the way that Harry Potter scores would have done. I mean, The Lost World is already an entirely different score from Jurassic Park the tone, style and thematic material is almost entirely unrelated. It's a great score, but it's not building on the original in the way that subsequent Potter (or Star Wars or even Indy) scores did. Having said that, I'm glad to have Patrick Doyle's entry and don't actually mind the Nicholas Hooper scores, but I never really got into Desplat's efforts despite being a big fan.

[mrbellamy 6,270]

15 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

ALEXANDER was a big disappointment😣

Well WTC doesn't fit into the theme of " political leaders". I hadn't thought of AL but it fits into the theme#

 

Yeah but World Trade Center would fit snugly into that other Williams/Stone theme of American trauma i.e. Vietnam, JFK assassination, Watergate

[Schilkeman 951]

Jurassic Park. Because if Williams had to write a score for Jurassic World, we would have gotten his whole "I'm just going to write concert music" thing 7 years ago. He could be on Violin Concerto 5 by now.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

On 07/03/2022 at 5:31 PM, Jay said:

The poll is closed?

Why is the poll closed?

Sorry, that was a little late, but I could not resist.

[Edmilson 7,367]

How do you guys think a Williams score for Jurassic World 1 and 2 would sound like? I imagine he'd write a new theme for the park (like Giacchino did) and his action music would be more like War of the Worlds and maybe No Man's Land from War Horse.

 

I still stand by my vote on Potter, but part of me is curious to know how he would approach the JW movies.

[bored 301]

Gotta vote Potter (obviously, look at my profile pic). Would have loved to see what he'd do with the thematic material he had already set up, and what new stuff he would have written.

 

I'm especially curious because I don't know for sure if he would have reprised old themes at all from movie to movie, as Azkaban makes me think he might not have ever built up a strong continuous opera-like symphony a la Star Wars, and just resigned to changing everything just like the movies did half the time.

 

I'd like to think he would have reprised more than Hedwig's Theme or the cloak motif, but I wish we knew for sure. 

[GerateWohl 4,319]

6 hours ago, Edmilson said:

How do you guys think a Williams score for Jurassic World 1 and 2 would sound like? I imagine he'd write a new theme for the park (like Giacchino did) and his action music would be more like War of the Worlds and maybe No Man's Land from War Horse.

 

I still stand by my vote on Potter, but part of me is curious to know how he would approach the JW movies.

I think, the JW movies and the HP sequels got the scores they deserve. With Williams' scores both would have got undeservedly brillant scores.

[Holko 9,491]

But he'd have been more wasted on shallow JP movies.

[Thor 7,451]

22 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

I think, the JW movies and the HP sequels got the scores they deserve. With Williams' scores both would have got undeservedly brillant scores.

 

Sorta, but not quite, IMO. I do think that ORDER OF THE PHOENIX is the best film in the whole series (along with AZKABAN), and would have become even better with Williams' music. There's a weird disconnect now between the largely non-descript Hooper music and the fine quality of the movie and its setpieces.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

On 09/03/2022 at 12:13 PM, Tom Guernsey said:

I'll add to the list of Harry Potter voters. And I don't say that lightly, Jurassic Park was the first soundtrack I ever bought but given that character development isn't really a critical part of the JP/JW franchise, they wouldn't really have built on each other in the way that Harry Potter scores would have done. I mean, The Lost World is already an entirely different score from Jurassic Park the tone, style and thematic material is almost entirely unrelated. It's a great score, but it's not building on the original in the way that subsequent Potter (or Star Wars or even Indy) scores did. Having said that, I'm glad to have Patrick Doyle's entry and don't actually mind the Nicholas Hooper scores, but I never really got into Desplat's efforts despite being a big fan.

Having rewatched JP3 this week (the Rocketeer too, it was a Joe Johnston fest this week), I was reminded how much closer in done and style DD's score is to the original JP. Right down to quoting bits of some of the more incidental motivic material - notably the idea that plays when Ellie etc. find the wrecked cars before being chased by the T-Rex. Davis uses this idea as a nice tension building idea a few times in JP3 very effectively. I guess JW could have ended up with a string of scores that, like Indy, had some common ideas, but weren't telling a continuous story. However, the possibilities for story, character, magic and action in the Harry Potter series seem far richer than the fairly repetitive nature of people being chased by dinosaurs in lots of slightly different ways.

[GerateWohl 4,319]

33 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

magic and action in the Harry Potter series seem far richer than the fairly repetitive nature of people being chased by dinosaurs in lots of slightly different ways.

...and in less and less exciting and believable ways.

[bored 301]

5 hours ago, Thor said:

Sorta, but not quite, IMO. I do think that ORDER OF THE PHOENIX is the best film in the whole series (along with AZKABAN), and would have become even better with Williams' music. There's a weird disconnect now between the largely non-descript Hooper music and the fine quality of the movie and its setpieces.

 

I personally think Chamber of Secrets is better than Order of the Phoenix in terms of filmmaking, accuracy to the book, and the overall storyline, but regardless.

 

The Potter Scoring Project did such a great job of making the Order of the Phoenix film's score actually match the quality of the film. It's not John Williams, but man do they do a brilliant job IMO, especially in developing "Window to the Past". 

[Thor 7,451]

33 minutes ago, superultramegaa said:

I personally think Chamber of Secrets is better than Order of the Phoenix in terms of filmmaking, accuracy to the book, and the overall storyline, but regardless.

 

The first two movies are very "Columbus", and I like the saturated, kitchy Columbus. But IMO they can't compare to the maturity of the Cuaron and Yates movies. That finale showdown of PHOENIX is unsurpassed.

 

So while I easily voted for JURASSIC PARK in this poll, I would never have been opposed to Williams exploring the world further, with the added maturity that the subsequent movies contained. He was definitely on to something in AZKABAN that would no doubt have progressed over the next few movies (that being said, Doyle's GOBLET is my third-favourite of the whole series, after AZKABAN and STONE).

[Brundlefly 2,385]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

The first two movies are very "Columbus", and I like the saturated, kitchy Columbus. But IMO they can't compare to the maturity of the Cuaron and Yates movies. That finale showdown of PHOENIX is unsurpassed.

The strenght of 3 and 5 is especially the translation from the book to the screen - everythink that would overload the films is cut out of the story. The films handle with the very essence of the books with their unique palette of narrative devices.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

7 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

The strenght of 3 and 5 is especially the translation from the book to the screen - everythink that would overload the films is cut out of the story. The films handle with the very essence of the books with their unique palette of narrative devices.

Agreed... the thing I dislike the most about the first two films is that they pretty much include every scene from the books and so the narrative ends up being kinda plodding. I used to say that Harry Potter would have been much better as a big budget miniseries, especially the earlier films which are very episodic; he gets the letter, he travels to Hogwarts, he learns to fly/make potions/cast spells/play Quidditch etc. but of course it was pre-GOT and so it got turned into kinda enjoyable, but fairly slow moving movies. It was only with the third and fourth that they were essentially forced to strip out chunks from the books in order to make them into coherent movies and, for my money, much better movies. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire thing gets remade as a lavish multi-part miniseries at some future point, you can get all that trivial detail from the books into a long form version.

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

On 07/03/2022 at 11:40 PM, p0llux said:

If Williams continued to score HP, it could've equaled Star Wars as his magnum opus, if not surpassed it. 

 

I used this line of reasoning in another thread to explain why I think Harry Potter is actually Williams' closest-to-perfect score, while Star Wars might be his best. Some of us can just feel the thematic potential in the particular symphonic invention he built with HP, and many of these themes were so spot-on for being fresh inventions. It's hard however to say how movie direction would assist this feat, if Williams would have to work with or more against the demands.

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

My choice would easily be Harry Potter. In addition to all the other great reasons listed, a smaller one that keeps creeping into my mind is the fact that if he had continued to score those films, as a continuation of the idea of him writing one new theme for a winged creature per film, we would have been essentially guaranteed in getting a John Williams dragon theme, and I can only dream what that would have sounded like. 

[Holko 9,491]

Damn. When has JW scored a dragon, seriously never apart from Norbert?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Well, he did score Stepmom.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

He did score dinosaurs which are almost dragons

[Jay 37,249]

Krayt Dragon in Star Wars

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

I'm sure there was some sort of dragon creature, in Lost In Space.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I'm sure there was some sort of dragon creature, in Lost In Space.

Let’s leave dragon scoring to John Powell. 😜

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Let’s leave dragon scoring to John Powell. 😜

... and Alex North 

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

10 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

... and Alex North 

Good call. And Ed Shearmur!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I'm not sure we can "leave dragon scoring" to North when he's been dead for more than 30 years.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

I'm not sure we can "leave dragon scoring" to North when he's been dead for more than 30 years.

Now you’re just splitting hairs 😜