Kevin Kiner's TALES OF THE JEDI (2022)

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Apparently he got the cat out of the bag.

 

https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-disney-plus-show-animated-next

 

Quote

“You know, we are working on a new project. It’s an animated project. It’s a Star Wars project. And that’s all we can say. It’s really, really frikkin’ great… To the point where Lucasfilm and Disney are giving us full orchestra for every episode… It’s a very special project, some great, great people are involved, and we’re really privileged to be part of that one. And I probably said too much already.”

 

[DarthDementous 1,059]

This will be a good chance to give Kiner a proper go as a Star Wars composer because the horrible sound of the synth instruments (especially the brass) were a massive barrier for enjoying his compositions and recognizing it as Star Wars music.

 

When a full orchestra was used were usually my favourite tracks from him, like Battle of Christophsis

[Drew 590]

Why would Kiner brag about a full orchestra? It's not like he cares. No one who cares about that kind of thing would purposely put a mockup version of a cue on an album.

 

ICYMI, Kiner put the mockup of the cue "Battle of Yerbana" on the last Clone Wars album instead of the orchestral version used in the show. To make things worse, it wasn't Kiner's cue. It was Glen David Russell's (I think). Kiner himself made the decision to put the mockup on the album, according to a Lucasfilm representative. GDR says there was no hard feelings. If a head composer made the decision to release a mockup of my ghostwritten highlight cue instead of one that was actually recorded, I'd be pretty upset.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,889]

4 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

This will be a good chance to give Kiner a proper go as a Star Wars composer because the horrible sound of the synth instruments (especially the brass) were a massive barrier for enjoying his compositions and recognizing it as Star Wars music.

 

When a full orchestra was used were usually my favourite tracks from him, like Battle of Christophsis

 

Hey, don't be knocking on good 'ole EWQL Symphonic Orchestra! 

[Drew 590]

Battle of Christophsis was Kiner's peak in my opinion. That's one heck of an early peak though...was he just so overworked that nothing else could come close? I remember hearing in the commentary of the 2008 film that the director had Kiner work the hardest on the Christophsis cue (and perhaps keep re-writing it) out of any of his compositions for the film. And boy did it show, but I just wish his music was always that good.

[bored 306]

I still haven't recovered from Alderaan being scored with Princess Leia's theme...

[enderdrag64 624]

On 12/03/2022 at 10:40 PM, Drew said:

Battle of Christophsis was Kiner's peak in my opinion. That's one heck of an early peak though...was he just so overworked that nothing else could come close? I remember hearing in the commentary of the 2008 film that the director had Kiner work the hardest on the Christophsis cue (and perhaps keep re-writing it) out of any of his compositions for the film. And boy did it show, but I just wish his music was always that good.

I actually like quite a bit of the early Clone Wars music. The best was when it was experimental.

The music sounds a lot better when it isn't trying to emulate an orchestra with synths but instead tries something new:

 

 

[Manakin Skywalker 4,889]

I've always been curious if Lucasfilm paid for licenses for the music that was blatantly copied from other films. They probably did I assume, otherwise surely there would have been legal issues by now.

[Richard Penna 3,669]

On 13/03/2022 at 1:19 AM, Drew said:

Why would Kiner brag about a full orchestra? It's not like he cares. No one who cares about that kind of thing would purposely put a mockup version of a cue on an album.

 

ICYMI, Kiner put the mockup of the cue "Battle of Yerbana" on the last Clone Wars album instead of the orchestral version used in the show. To make things worse, it wasn't Kiner's cue. It was Glen David Russell's (I think). Kiner himself made the decision to put the mockup on the album, according to a Lucasfilm representative. GDR says there was no hard feelings. If a head composer made the decision to release a mockup of my ghostwritten highlight cue instead of one that was actually recorded, I'd be pretty upset.

 

Is it conceivable/likely that someone told him to use a synth version to reduce album costs and so he chooses a cue he didn't do? I agree that the 'something special' excuse is clearly bullshit.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

Star Wars Rebels Season 4 finale soundtrack, albeit mostly being done by people other than Kevin Kiner like Sean Kiner, is a pretty good Star Wars TV soundtrack and that's one of the rare times they have access to a full orchestra

[artguy360 1,843]

I wonder what this new show is about. Another story post-ROTJ but before TFA? 

 

I want a show with an all new cast doing their own thing unrelated to the movies.

 

[Groovygoth666 650]

Could potentially be this?

[Jay 37,280]

Gotta be Tales of the Jedi, yea

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Jedi_(TV_series)

[Jay 37,280]

 

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Nice

[Jay 37,280]

 

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Oh, hehe.

 

she would have a made a good mara jade though….

[JNHFan2000 2,943]

I've listened to some of the cues. I think it sounds great and I've heard The Force theme already in big statements. Not sure if any other Williams themes are heard yet.

 

1. Birth of Ahsoka (1:33)
2. Ahsoka’s Village (2:47)
3. Sanctity of Life (2:45)
4. Tiger (2:19)
5. The Bond (2:33)
6. Ahsoka Returns (2:59)
7. A Real Test (3:28)
8. Let’s Go Again (2:19)
9. Training Pays Off (1:36)
10. Secret Mourner (2:10)
11. No One Is Safe (4:13)
12. The Inquisitor (3:45)
13. Ahsoka Is Ready (1:13)
14. Dooku Arrives (2:44)
15. The Kidnappers (2:34)
16. Soldiers Are Here (4:52)
17. No More Suffering (2:24)
18. Murder Case (2:25)
19. Mystery in Raxus (2:09)
20. Dooku Investigates (3:10)
21. Dooku Contemplates (2:33)
22. Qui-Gon and the Sith Lord (4:59)
23. Flight into Darkness (4:04)
24. Dooku vs Yaddle (3:16)
25. Dooku’s Fall (2:45)

 

 

 

[GerateWohl 4,326]

2 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I've listened to some of the cues. I think it sounds great and I've heard The Force theme already in big statements. Not sure if any other Williams themes are heard yet.

 

1. Birth of Ahsoka (1:33)
2. Ahsoka’s Village (2:47)
3. Sanctity of Life (2:45)
4. Tiger (2:19)
5. The Bond (2:33)
6. Ahsoka Returns (2:59)
7. A Real Test (3:28)
8. Let’s Go Again (2:19)
9. Training Pays Off (1:36)
10. Secret Mourner (2:10)
11. No One Is Safe (4:13)
12. The Inquisitor (3:45)
13. Ahsoka Is Ready (1:13)
14. Dooku Arrives (2:44)
15. The Kidnappers (2:34)
16. Soldiers Are Here (4:52)
17. No More Suffering (2:24)
18. Murder Case (2:25)
19. Mystery in Raxus (2:09)
20. Dooku Investigates (3:10)
21. Dooku Contemplates (2:33)
22. Qui-Gon and the Sith Lord (4:59)
23. Flight into Darkness (4:04)
24. Dooku vs Yaddle (3:16)
25. Dooku’s Fall (2:45)

 

 

 

I am not a fan of Kiner's action writing. To me it mostly sounds a little cheap in an rcp way. But, man, apart from that at last again we got some real music in the Star Wars world.

[JNHFan2000 2,943]

I watched the 6 shorts with the music next to it. I really enjoyed this. Some of the synths wasn't great but the more action/choral and beautiful stuff was great. Awesome to hear both Ahsoka's theme & The Force theme in full. After listening to this I'm actually really sure I don't like Andor's score (as of know). This to me sounds like Star Wars. I don't mind Andor's music in the show, but on album it's just not interesting. And I really hope the live action Ahsoka show next year has an orchestral score.

 

 

All the music from the series is on the album. Chronological order is not fully right.

Don't have exact timestamps for some of the seperate tracks (might do that later). But I know that parts of them are from seperate moments in the episode.

 

Spoiler

Episode 1

1. Birth of Ahsoka (1:33)
2. Ahsoka’s Village (2:47)
3. Sanctity of Life (2:45)
4. Tiger (2:19)
5. The Bond (2:33)
6. Ahsoka Returns (2:59)

 

Episode 2

14. Dooku Arrives (2:44)
15. The Kidnappers (2:34)
16. Soldiers Are Here (4:52)
17. No More Suffering (2:24)

 

Episode 3

18. Murder Case (2:25) (1st part plays at the beginning. 2nd part comes after 1st part of track 19)
19. Mystery in Raxus (2:09) (1st part plays here. 2nd part comes after Dooku Investigates)
20. Dooku Investigates (3:10)
21. Dooku Contemplates (2:33)

 

Episode 4

22. Qui-Gon and the Sith Lord (4:59)
23. Flight into Darkness (4:04)
24. Dooku vs Yaddle (3:16)
25. Dooku’s Fall (2:45) (1st part before Flight Into Darkness)

 

Episode 5

7. A Real Test (3:28) (this and 8 intertwine the whole episode)
8. Let’s Go Again (2:19)
9. Training Pays Off (1:36)

 

Episode 6

10. Secret Mourner (2:10)
11. No One Is Safe (4:13)
12. The Inquisitor (3:45)
13. Ahsoka Is Ready (1:13)

 

[DarthDementous 1,059]

Well, I watched the show. ‘The Sith Lord’ was cool and filled in some very necessary gaps in Dooku’s story with some great VO. That’s about it, the rest was either very stock standard post-Disney Star Wars or incredibly dull

 

As for the music, I honestly didn’t like it overall. It’s in that annoying middle ground that Obi Wan’s score was in where it touches the Star Wars sound occasionally but then either does it’s own thing entirely or falls into modern orchestral stylings. Very uncanny feeling overall that kept taking me out of the show. Full orchestra this time around but not very well utilised for a Star Wars score of all things. For the record, thanks to the consistency of Andor’s score, I actually prefer it’s soundtrack to this as it fits the material much better comparatively

 

Speaking of which, ever since Andor other Star Wars things have just been hitting differently, and not in a good way. I noticed it with this show in particular, I just need far more substance out of Star Wars now, I can no longer accept storytelling that dances around something interesting but never properly commits to fleshing it out. Thankfully there was not incessant fan service in TOTJ as that would’ve been genuinely insufferable at this point

[artguy360 1,843]

Listening to the album now, I'm enjoying it. Kiner has always done a good job writing brisk, fun music for SW. I'm especially enjoying the tracks that incorporate east Asian instruments. 

[mstrox 6,642]

Was please to find that the shorts are almost TV-episode length.  When they first announced it I was expecting something like Forces of Destiny or those YouTube bits they do.  Bought the album this morning and excited to give it a listen some time after I’m able to watch.

[Tydirium 1,166]

Were the episodes released in the wrong order? I thought I had heard somewhere that the Ahsoka ones were going to be the first half, and the Dooku ones the second half. Pretty weird to have the Dooku ones sandwiched in there the way they are.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Oh full “season” released. Nice i would hate to wait one week for a few

minutes 

[JNHFan2000 2,943]

23 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Were the episodes released in the wrong order? I thought I had heard somewhere that the Ahsoka ones were going to be the first half, and the Dooku ones the second half. Pretty weird to have the Dooku ones sandwiched in there the way they are.

Not sure. But it actually makes sense how they are now.

The first is baby Ahsoka. 2, 3, 4 are about Dooku before Phantom Menace & Attack Of The Clones.

5 & 6 are about Ahsoka during one Wars and after Revenge Of The Sith.

So timeline wise it actually all makes sense

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I'll wait for the YouTube compilation of the Yaddle scenes and watch that.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

I couldn’t stop laughing at those scenes because Bryce Dallas Howard’s Yaddle sounds like Backstroke of the West Yoda (10:30): 

 

9 hours ago, Tydirium said:

Were the episodes released in the wrong order? I thought I had heard somewhere that the Ahsoka ones were going to be the first half, and the Dooku ones the second half. Pretty weird to have the Dooku ones sandwiched in there the way they are.

No, but the Baby Ahsoka episode is utterly pointless as we learn literally nothing new about the character. It’s also very dubious that even a toddler that’s force sensitive could just tame a giant savage beast to the point it is able to ride it home

 

This whole series would’ve been vastly improved imo if it had focused entirely on Dooku’s journey from Jedi to Sith as that was easily the strongest material here

[enderdrag64 624]

19 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

No, but the Baby Ahsoka episode is utterly pointless as we learn literally nothing new about the character. It’s also very dubious that even a toddler that’s force sensitive could just tame a giant savage beast to the point it is able to ride it home

Yeah I thought the same thing after I watched it that that was sort of pointless. I liked the episode where she trained to protect herself from clone attacks, I feel like that was a good explanation for why she was able to survive Order 66 when so many other Jedi couldn't. The final Ahsoka episode was okay, it felt very rushed like there's more of a story there that they condensed down into only 10 minutes.

 

The Dooku stuff was by far the strongest. It finally explained some stuff I'd been confused about ever since watching Attack of the Clones.

 

As far as the score I'll have to rewatch/listen to the album to pick out more specific highlights but I do remember liking some of the variants of Ahsoka's theme

[Faleel 5,328]

8 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

The final Ahsoka episode was okay, it felt very rushed like there's more of a story there that they condensed down into only 10 minutes.

 

 

It kinda is:

 

[DarthDementous 1,059]

We’ve had so much Ahsoka content lately and she’s about to get her own show…

 

Don’t see why she needed to be in this show too, and make up half the run-time

[Faleel 5,328]

36 minutes ago, DarthDementous said:

she’s about to get her own show…

 

 

 

It's kind of funny how the one aspect of Ahsoka's origin it seemed like everyone wanted to see (Plo Koon finding Ahsoka) was absent

[CGCJ 394]

Here's my spreadsheet on the score if any one wants a breakdown of the soundtrack release: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qOTSAim1nPrYbJxYvHNoVLi_vKAXBv_Sc5oyGfKg3UM/htmlview

[JNHFan2000 2,943]

 

[Faleel 5,328]

Nice.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Cool!