enderdrag64's Star Wars Cue by Cue

[enderdrag64 1,417]

2 hours ago, Holko said:

Wow, so is this the first cue so far to have the right speed and pitch on any release?

 

Or did you just not note it there because it's unused and you have no good reference or perfect pitch?

Correct yeah, Insert Bar 80 had no reference beyond the radio drama which also makes pitch changes sometimes. Leia's Instructions has the correct speed/pitch on the 1993, while the 1997 is one of the least correct of the entire score (1.63% is more than enough to be audible)

 

9 hours ago, ThePenitentMan1 said:

It seems like they very tippy start of the cue was cut off in the video?  Was there something that overlapped it in the Radio Drama that made it unusable?

I suppose I did ever so slightly cut off the opening. The radio drama is clean I just didn't leave enough of a buffer before the start of the music. Most tracks start after a small amount of silence but my edit starts immediately at 0:00.000

[Brando 2,459]

This cue plays during the opening menu of Jedi Knight Jedi Academy and letting it sit and play over and over for a few minutes while getting up to go do something, anytime I hear it I feel like a kid again because of the nostalgic feelings it brings me. Listening to it here was kind of odd because of the corrected speed, which my copy on my playlist is at the wrong speed, but hopefully someday this’ll be corrected on an official album.

[Jay 42,355]

That's an interesting question.  Did any post-1997 video games feature Empire Strikes Back recordings at correct speed / no-channels flipped / not remixed / etc?

[enderdrag64 1,417]

16 minutes ago, Jay said:

That's an interesting question.  Did any post-1997 video games feature Empire Strikes Back recordings at correct speed / no-channels flipped / not remixed / etc?

This is a great question, something I've been slowly working on trying to answer myself. I made a master index spreadsheet for all Star Wars videogames, I eventually plan to go through every single game with streamed music

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yBeio9CLW7FB4fyUQiM2CQyxyuWPTf7t6cKOdUX-dxI/

 

I've done a couple of the late 90s games with OT music and I was able to identify exactly what releases they came from

 

for example Shadows of the Empire PC:

 

X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter:

 

It may not be possible to do this for every game if the files are poor enough quality unless there are obvious edits exclusive to one source set, e.g. with the mono tracks in X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

[Brando 2,459]

I found this on YT, I think they’re game rips but I’m not completely certain. This game features music from all 3 OT films but the first few videos is ESB

 

[enderdrag64 1,417]

#2.12 ESB (1980) - 3m3 The Snow Battle (Wook link)

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue.

 

Today we're going to be listening to 3m3 The Snow Battle.

 

This cue is 148 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer.

 

Here's the tops of the sketch and orchestrated score:

 

Now let's listen to the cue together:

 

 

At 0:00 the cue begins with a low piano march to represent the impending walkers in the distance. This continues as we move inside Echo Base with the R2 shot at 0:16. 

 

Some percussion at 0:24 with a short fanfare for the troopers entering their vehicles, followed by the main battle A melody on brass at 0:27. 

 

At 0:36 the melody repeats, joined by the rest of the orchestra as we cut back to the walkers. This continues to develop at 0:46 as the speeders race toward the walkers. 

 

The main battle B melody plays at 1:01 as the speeders circle the walkers leading into Luke's POV dive.

 

At 1:10, more aggressive brass as the walkers inch closer to the rebel trenches. The aggressiveness dials back a bit at 1:19, although the intensity and rhythm continues until Luke talks about tow cables at 1:36. 

 

The music becomes a tense rendition of the B melody as Dak warns of a malfunction, but Luke brushes it off. 

 

A rhythm starts to come back at 1:50 but it suddenly interrupted by Dak's death, which is accompanied by loud brass.

 

At 2:03 the aggressiveness returns as the walkers inch ever closer to the rebel trench. This is joined by the return of the battle A melody at 2:14. 

 

The action music slows at 2:20, becoming mostly percussion for the discussion with Vader inside the AT-AT. 

 

Some tense brass as we return to the speeders at 2:29, which plan to trap the walkers with harpoons and towcables. 

 

Then at 2:42 the music picks up one last time as the speeders approach the walkers.

 

Some mickey mousing for the harpoon launch at 2:52, and then some brass music for the cable being wrapped around the walker's legs. 

 

Some percussion at 3:09, and then some additional brass building up to the cable pulling free.

 

One final statement of the battle melody at 3:17 as the walker trips and falls. This leads into one final brass fanfare at 3:28 as the snowspeeders blow it up. Thus, the cue ends...

 

 

The film appears to have undergone several visual changes after the scene was scored, all of which led to music edits in the film. The picture edits are as follows:

• 5 seconds of Veers inside the AT-AT were added at 1:26
• Two seconds of material was deleted at 1:57, presumably this was additional footage of Dak's death and Luke's reaction
• Two seconds of additional Veers shots were added at 2:15

 

These edits led to the following music changes in the final cut:

 

0:00-0:25 = silence

0:25-1:53 = 3m3 The Snow Battle 0:25-1:53

1:53-2:11 = 3m3 The Snow Battle 1:52-2:10

2:11-3:20 = 3m3 The Snow Battle 2:07-3:16

3:20-end = 3m3 The Snow Battle 3:12-end

 

The first change, replacing the opening 25 seconds with silence, appears to have been a creative change rather than one made due to picture edits. The others were done to re-sync with the picture, although the music edits are not at the same places that the visual edits were, meaning parts of the cue actually play out of sync in the final cut. Thankfully, the sync notes on the sketch allowed me to resync the cue with the footage as it was intended. 

 

 

Despite not having a recording log, I'm fairly sure that this cue was recorded on December 28, 1979, likely the next cue recorded after 6m4 Training a Jedi (which has the recording date written on the orchestrated score). I'm unsure how many takes were recorded, but according to the sketch the performance edit uses takes 41, 42 and 44.

 

 

This cue has been officially released on four different albums:

1) In 1980 on RSO Records' OST album

2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set

3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set

4) In 2018 on Walt Disney Records' Remastered album (remastered OST rebuilt from scratch from the session masters)

 

More specifically, 3m3 The Snow Battle can be heard:

From 0:00-end of track 9 "The Battle in the Snow" on the 1980/2018 albums

From 0:00-end of disc 2 track 6 "The Battle in the Snow" on the 1993 album

From 4:02-7:42 of disc 1 track 5 "The Battle of Hoth (The Ion Cannon/Imperial Walkers/Beneath the AT-AT/Escape in the Millennium Falcon)" on the 1997 album.

 

All albums have the clean opening, but the 1997 set is missing the clean ending. The 1980, 1997 and 2018 albums are all remixed, but the 1993 album appears to be the film mix. 

 

Chris Malone had claimed in his 2007 document that the 1993 set may have pulled this cue off of the 1980 set, but this appears not to be the case based on careful listening and spectrogram comparison, they do indeed mix instruments differently:

While I'm showing off spectrograms, it's worth demonstrating what the other remixes look like. The 2018 remix is very left heavy, and I think this has to have been a technical error rather than something intentional. The spectrogram looks like they cut off most of the frequencies of the right channel but not the left:

The 2023 ATMOS re-release of the 2018 set replaces the left heavy mix with a more accurate remix, but still has a lot of reverb and doesn't sound great.

 

The 1997 remix normally shouldn't have been visible in a spectrogram but for whatever reason the right channel on every remixed cue has this weird "stepladder" effect that's visible in the spectrogram:

This has to have been added at the mixing stage and not the mastering stage because only the remixed cues on this album look like this. 

 

Additionally, all releases of this cue play at the wrong pitch/speed, although this can easily be corrected in an audio editor:

1980 set has to be sped up by 0.865 to match film

1993 set has to be sped up by 0.65 to match film

1997 set has to be sped up by 0.60 to match film

2018 set has to be slowed down by -0.37 to match film

 

For the video above I used a speed corrected copy of the 1993 set.

 

That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.

Next week we'll be listening to the second part of the Battle of Hoth, 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash. See you then!

 

[BrotherSound 2,487]

5 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

More specifically, 1m2 The Imperial Probe can be heard:

This should read “3M3 The Snow Battle”, right?

[enderdrag64 1,417]

2 minutes ago, BrotherSound said:

This should read “3M3 The Snow Battle”, right?

D'oh, corrected

[Holko 11,342]

A complete masterpiece of action writing. Love all the little touches like the low end briefly falling away, letting the speeder soar after detaching the cable. Also that it never really gets into triumphant heroic mode, but has weight and suggests the futility of the battle, they can make small hits but the Empire is (soon literally) trampling all over them.

[enderdrag64 1,417]

#2.13 ESB (1980) - 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash (Wook link)

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue.

 

Today we're going to be listening to one of my favorite cues from this score, 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash.

 

This cue is 150 bars long and was orchestrated by Fred Steiner (most well known for his work as a Star Trek composer). The orchestrated sheet is dated December 7, 1979.

 

Here's the tops of the sketch and orchestrated score:

Now let's listen to the cue together:

At 0:00 the cue begins with a string march as we get to see Leia and C-3PO in the control room, as Echo Base shakes around them from the impending ground invasion.

 

At 0:10, a drum hit for the cut to Han and Chewie, with the continuing march accompanied with some military drums as the rebel troopers run in the background.

 

C-3PO's goodbyes to R2-D2 at 0:23 are accompanied by a quick statement of the droids motif, before the battle music returns with some loud brass at 0:31, briefly hinting at the opening piano of the previous cue.

 

The music gets darker as the walker approaches, and it's clear that the Rebel trench is getting decimated. This builds to an Imperial March statement for the cut to Veers inside the walker at 0:53. 

 

This develops directly into this cue's setpiece theme at 0:58, which continues to play as we refocus on Luke and the snowspeeders. 

 

Some ascending strings at 1:10, which lead into some brass crashes for Rogue Two's death at 1:19, which build into more ascending brass as Luke loses control of his snowspeeder. 

 

A quick statement of Luke's theme at 1:34 as he unbuckles and tries to get out. This is interrupted by a loud crash at 1:41 for the approaching walker. I've always loved how the crashes at this part line up with the walker's steps, you can hear it approaching in the music.

 

At 1:57 the music becomes more energetic as we switch focus back to Han trying to survive the collapsing ceilings. Luke's theme joins in at 2:04, alternating between the woodwinds and brass. At this point in the series, Luke's theme has started to become less of a theme about Luke and more of a generic hero theme for any of our protagonists.

 

The music becomes more aggressive at 2:15 as Han climbs over the rubble, leading into a big drum hit at 2:25 for the explosion. More Luke theme at 2:32 as Leia gives her final commands.

 

A sad rendition of the Force theme starts at 2:41 as the Rebels retreat from their trenches, and are fired upon by the ever-approaching walkers. 

This builds directly into some heroic brass at 2:57 for Luke running toward the walker. Some mickey-mousing for the cable at 3:02, and then more ascending brass as Luke ascends the cable, incorporating a couple statements of the Rebel fanfare.

 

The brass quiets when Luke hits the ground at 3:19. After a couple seconds of silent anticipation, the orchestra builds back up with the first signs of explosion at 3:22. 

 

Some heroic brass fanfare for the collapse at 3:30, which is immediately followed by more Imperial March as we jump back inside the AT-AT with Veers at 3:34. Some harp accentuates the explosion at 3:46, and some aggressive brass accompaniment joins in whenever the shield generator is shown. This leads into a final crash at 3:59 as the pilots admire the explosion. Thus, the cue ends...

 

 

Just like last week, the film appears to have undergone several visual changes after the scene was scored, most of which led to music edits in the film. The picture edits are as follows:

• A 2 second shot of the AT-ST "Chicken Walker" was added at 0:53. The storyboards for these AT-ST shots are all dated 2-23-1980, which implies that these shots weren't even conceived of until after Williams had finished recording the music for the film. 
• Another 2 second AT-ST shot was added at 3:24
• A 3 second shot of an AT-AT firing on retreating troops was added at 3:35. This shot doesn't really fit continuity wise with the preceding shot, since the collapsed AT-AT seems to have disappeared.

 

These edits led to the following music changes in the final cut:

 

0:00-0:34 = 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash 0:00-0:34

0:34-0:36 = 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash 0:33-0:35

0:36-3:45 = 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash 0:34-3:42

3:45-end = 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash 3:36-end

 

You'll notice that no music edit was made for the added shot at 3:24, as a result the music for 3:24-3:45 plays out of sync in the final cut. 

 

 

Despite not having a recording log, we know that this cue was recorded on the first day of the recording sessions, December 27, 1979, thanks to the note on the orchestrated sheet. This makes it one of the first cues recorded for this score. I'm unsure how many takes were recorded, but according to the sketch the performance edit uses takes 15, 17, 19 and 20.

 

 

This cue has been officially released on four different albums:

1) In 1980 on RSO Records' OST album

2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set

3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set

4) In 2018 on Walt Disney Records' Remastered album (remastered OST rebuilt from scratch from the session masters)

 

More specifically, 3m4-4m1 Luke's First Crash can be heard:

From 1:37-end of track 12 "Rebels at Bay" on the 1980/2018 albums

From 0:00-end of disc 2 track 7 "Luke's First Crash" on the 1993 album

From 7:39-11:42 of disc 1 track 5 "The Battle of Hoth (The Ion Cannon/Imperial Walkers/Beneath the AT-AT/Escape in the Millennium Falcon)" on the 1997 album.

 

The clean opening and ending is available thanks to the 1993 set. The 1980/2018 sets have the clean ending only, and the 1997 set has neither. The 1980, 1997 and 2018 releases are all remixed, but thankfully the 1993 set has the film mix. The 1997 release is also brickwalled.

 

The 1980 and 2018 releases are microedited, missing a large section of the cue:

The section from 0:31-0:58 wasn't released until 1993. 

 

Additionally, all releases of this cue play at the wrong pitch/speed, although this can easily be corrected in an audio editor:

 

1980 set seems to be at two different speeds on each side of the microedit. The first part needs to be sped up by 0.300, and the second part needs to be sped up by 0.740.

1993 set has to be slowed down by -0.393 to match film

1997 set has to be sped up by 0.250 to match film

2018 set has to be slowed down by -0.400 to match film

 

For the video above I used a speed corrected copy of the 1993 set.

 

That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.

 

Next week we'll be listening to the third and final part of the Battle of Hoth, 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again. See you then!

 

[BachSkywalker 106]

I agree, this is one of my favorite cues from this score. It's brilliant. So fun to see all of the cue markers underneath. 

 

Speaking of: "Big foot!!" on the sketch. Amazing. 😄

[Jay 42,355]

Just an AMAZING cue from start to finish.

 

Never thought about how the Force theme is used for the Imperials blowing up a bunch of Rebel stuff before.  Is it the most appropriate theme to use there?  Maybe, maybe not, but it sure sounds incredible!

[Tallguy 5,603]

"and was orchestrated by Fred Steiner"

 

No. Way.

 

I didn't comment on Battle in the Snow. It's an awesome track. It has a kind of "stand alone" feeling. Which is probably why it was on the single LP of Empire (and subsequently on the only CD until the Anthology) and Luke's First Crash was not. I perhaps hold a grudge against Battle in the Snow because I like this better. But come on. This string of cues is arguably one of the greatest sets of action pieces in the trilogy. And BTW? I LOVE the way they were presented on the original LPs. (Although I may have forgotten that there was a section missing.)

 

Williams utilizes the themes here pretty much the way he did in The Last Battle (or I guess Approaching the Target). Only with the addition of Luke's theme which was largely absent from the X-Wing battle. But the Force Theme (Ben's Theme) was played for the Hero side A LOT. And of course there is a different Imperial theme.

 

It's cues like this that make me disappointed any time Williams quotes a previous arrangement of a theme verbatim. (Or close enough, you know.) The permutation here are so rich and so varied.

 

Thanks, as always!

 

 

[enderdrag64 1,417]

#2.14 ESB (1980) - 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again (Wook link)

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue. Apologies for not posting last weekend, I was very busy.

 

Today we're going to be listening to 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again. 

 

This cue is 124 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer. 

 

Unfortunately, this is one of two cues from this score for which I do not have a scan of the sketch, so I can only show you what the orchestrated score looks like:

 

As a result, there won't be any sync marks written in the video when we listen to the cue. 

 

Unfortunately this cue doesn't match the picture in the final film - I've attempted to reconstruct the scored cut of the film based on my guesses for the sync marks as well as the frame counts for the ILM shots in the storyboards, and what's written in the script, however I can't guarantee that my guesses were 100% correct.

 

Without further ado, let's listen to the cue together:

At 0:00 the cue begins with some energetic strings, as the heroes try to navigate the collapsing hallways. 

 

A quick woodwinds statement of Leia's theme at 0:17, and then the strings get faster at 0:23 as Han and Leia quickly reverse directions to head toward the Falcon (and C-3PO struggles to keep up).

 

The strings continue as we cut to snow snowtroopers entering the base, which builds into an Imperial March statement at 0:34 as Vader emerges.

More strings at 0:45 with brass accompaniment as the heroes reach the room with the Falcon. 

 

Another Imperial March statement at 1:07 for Vader getting closer, followed by a quick sweeping strings transition for the establishing shot of the Falcon.

More energetic strings at 1:16 for Han rushing to get the ship ready. This is joined by a quick statement of the love theme at 1:30. 

 

More Imperial March at 1:37 as the Snowtroopers approach the Falcon. Ascending brass for the Falcon's gun at 1:42, and then we return to the energetic strings in the Falcon cockpit at 1:45. 

 

More Love theme at 1:49, covering the Falcon shooting the snowtroopers (some brass stings accompany the explosions) and blasting off. The statement climaxes around 2:20 as Luke watches the Falcon fly away.

 

Some final energetic strings at 2:20, accompanied by more of the Love theme as Luke gets into his X-Wing and takes off. This is an interesting scoring choice, as the scene has nothing to do with Leia or Han - but musically it does fit as the culmination of the cue and as a celebration of the heroes' collective escape. 

 

The love theme climaxes at 2:42, trailing off into some descending string ostinato as Luke flies away. Thus, the cue ends...

 

 

Just like the last few weeks, this cue had some picture changes in the film. As I said earlier I'm not completely certain what they were, however I had to make the following changes to get the sync marks to fit the music:

 

Trimmed the Chewbacca shot at 1:24. This shot isn't necessary for the continuity of the scene, and it's the exact length that the music goes out of sync by before the next Imperial March statement (which seems to be intended for the return to the snowtroopers)

 

Added 2 seconds of black at 2:00 (and a couple frames of black for the jump cut at the explosions slightly before that). My guess based on the music is that this was intended for more shots of snowtrooper explosions - there's no additional cockpit dialogue for this part in the script, and all of the VFX shots for the Falcon flying off are the exact frame count described in the storyboards. Additionally, the brass that occurs during the explosions we have footage of continues during the 2 second gap, and then goes away once we cut back to the Falcon cockpit, giving way to an ascending figure that seems intended for the cockpit shot of the Falcon speeding up. 

 

These edits led to the following music changes in the final cut:

 

0:00-2:06 = 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again 0:00-2:06

2:06-end = 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again 2:09-end

 

You'll notice that no music edit was made for that Chewbacca shot I mentioned, which means that the music from 1:24-2:06 plays out of sync in the final cut, including the Imperial March statement that seems to have been intended for the snowtroopers approaching the Falcon (which actually begins while Han and Leia are still talking).

 

 

Despite not having a recording log, we know that this cue was recorded on the first day of the recording sessions, December 27, 1979, thanks to the note on the orchestrated sheet. Unfortunately, due to not having the sketch I have no definitive confirmation what the take numbers of this cue are - however the largest gap between the take numbers I do have for 12/27 are between 0 and 11, which implies that this might have been in that range, potentially making it the first cue recorded for the score.

 

This cue has been officially released on four different albums:

1) In 1980 on RSO Records' OST album

2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set

3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set

4) In 2018 on Walt Disney Records' Remastered album (remastered OST rebuilt from scratch from the session masters)

 

More specifically, 4m2 The Rebels Escape Again can be heard:

From 2:47-end of track 4 "The Heroics of Luke and Han" on the 1980/2018 albums

From 0:00-end of disc 2 track 8 "The Rebels Escape Again" on the 1993 album

From 11:42-end of disc 1 track 5 "The Battle of Hoth (The Ion Cannon/Imperial Walkers/Beneath the AT-AT/Escape in the Millennium Falcon)" on the 1997 album.

 

The clean opening (and ending) is available thanks to the 1993 set. Every other set has the clean ending only. The 1980, 1997 and 2018 releases are all remixed, but thankfully the 1993 set has the film mix. 

 

Curiously enough, the 1980/2018 sets are not microedited, but the 1993 set is. The 1993 set is missing the same 3 seconds that are missing in the film, which would almost imply that the 1993 set used the film stem as a source for this cue. That is strange though, because the 1993 set also premieres the clean opening, and the film does not have a clean opening for this cue. My best guess is that the tapes they had for this cue in 1993 were damaged and they needed to repair the damaged sections with the film stem, which unfortunately seems to have included the part missing in the film.

 

Fortunately, despite the 1997 set being a remix - the part for those 3 seconds in particular sounds almost identical to the film mix, so I was able to cleanly splice it into the 1993 set, and it's barely audible. I also tried splicing in the 1980/2018 sets, but those sounded too different and the edit was obvious.

 

Additionally, all releases of this cue play at the wrong pitch/speed, although this can easily be corrected in an audio editor:

1980 set has to be sped up by 0.425 to match film

1993 set has to be slowed down by -0.500 to match film

1997 set has to be sped up by 0.105 to match film

2018 set has to be slowed down by -0.230 to match film

 

One last note to mention with the album releases: 

It seems that this cue was included on the OST as a last minute change. Originally as planned, the OST would've included 6m3 This is Not A Cave as the end of "The Heroics of Luke and Han" instead (which in turn means it would not have been included at the end of "Star Wars (Main Theme)", allowing more of 1m2 The Imperial Probe to fit on the album). As a result, this cue would not have been on the OST at all. We know this was the early plan because the vinyl liner notes include descriptions of the music in all the tracks, and the descriptions weren't updated when the OST lineup was changed:

 

Why was this change made? I'm not really sure. I'd love to know the answer though.

 

That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.

 

Next week we'll finally be moving on from Hoth, with 4m3 The Asteroid Field. See you then!

 

[Tallguy 5,603]

You are blowing my mind. I never noticed the bit of music missing on the 1993 set. And while I considered the liner notes to be confusing this is certainly not the only place where I felt that way.

 

This edit is nowhere near on the same scale as The Helicopter Sequence in Superman, but it's of a kind: The edit is made to sound like it was always there. And it's kind of the same type of edit. Getting rid of a small piece of "treading water until something happens" music. There's just a lot more in Superman.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

3 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Getting rid of a small piece of "treading water until something happens" music. There's just a lot more in Superman.

So you think Superman has more dull sections than ESB?

[Tallguy 5,603]

8 hours ago, Meredith McKay said:

So you think Superman has more dull sections than ESB?

 

Certainly not dull. I think that the Helicopter Rescue as scored has some fat in it that was obviously a symptom of the scene as presented to JW having fat in it. Trim the fat in the scene and you lose the fat in the score.

 

I'll have to re-read the analysis / re-watch the scene, but they ADDED an edit of Chewie and yet the music in the film is shorter? Ah, there were other bits that were cut. I see now.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

16 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Certainly not dull. I think that the Helicopter Rescue as scored has some fat in it that was obviously a symptom of the scene as presented to JW having fat in it. Trim the fat in the scene and you lose the fat in the score.

 

 

Sometimes The fat is the tasty part..

 

[Brando 2,459]

I LOVE the 3 spats of the Imperial March in this cue. They are very short but oh so very sweet.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

2 minutes ago, Brando said:

I LOVE the 3 spats of the Imperial March in this cue. They are very short but oh so very sweet.

Aside from Carbon Freeze and Asteroid Field, I probably think of these apearances the most in ESB.

[Tallguy 5,603]

3 minutes ago, Meredith McKay said:

Sometimes The fat is the tasty part..

 

 

I'm having prime rib tomorrow and I was thinking that as I wrote it. But I still prefer the film edit of Helicopter to the CD (i.e. what was fully written / recorded).

 

There are certainly bits of film edits (Luke's First Crash) that throw me a bit (and Gerhardt actually reproduced at least some of the edits in his recording).

 

I was just thinking why I didn't recognize these changes. 1) When I got the Anthology I hadn't heard the LP of Empire on a regular basis for many years. I know I still had the record and I probably had it on cassette. But I was mostly listening to CDs. Then when the 1997 version came out it's buried at the end of a 15 minute long track!

 

But also: There's a LOT going on in this cue. (And in all the other Hoth cues.) It's just too much! I will always remember the description from Film Score Monthly describing The Empire Strikes Back (I don't remember if this was after 1997): (paraphrased from memory) "It's like Thanksgiving dinner. It's really too much. But you're going to finish it."

 

This is Williams at the height of his powers.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

41 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

I'm having prime rib tomorrow and I was thinking that as I wrote it. But I still prefer the film edit of Helicopter to the CD (i.e. what was fully written / recorded).

 

 

But it of a melody though.

 

It's like if this conversation, you know?

 

And the Superman theme.

 

It's not trimming the fat, it's cutting the buildups/tension for the release. Resulting in a lot of the big moments just crashing into each other instead of easing into each of them naturally.

 

[ThePenitentMan1 1,292]

So in my fanedit, I leave Battle In The Snow as a standalone cue, and keep the cue combos for Drawing The Battle Lines->Leia's Instructions and Luke's First Crash->Rebels Escape Again.  I've gotten myself very used to hearing the former, even though we do have the clean opening for Leia's Instructions now, and the latter just has so much momentum at the end of Crash that is immediately picked up again in Escape that it feels wrong to not combine them.

 

But I'd been a little bit torn up about HOW to do that transition until the post for the last cue went up.

 

Edit 1 (Immediate Overlap):

 

 

Edit 2 (One beat in between, like the film):

 

 

You can hear Edit 2 in the film itself, but the sketch notes from the video for Luke's First Crash seem to indicate that Edit 1 was the intended overlap?

 

What do you guys think, in terms of how you'd listen to these for your own edits?  Do you prefer Edit 1, Edit 2, or presented separate?  I think ultimately, I prefer the uninterrupted energy of Edit 1.

[Holko 11,342]

I'd probably leave a gap of 4 beats between them now, that's how I play it in my head.

[Tallguy 5,603]

1 hour ago, ThePenitentMan1 said:

So in my fanedit, I leave Battle In The Snow as a standalone cue, and keep the cue combos for Drawing The Battle Lines->Leia's Instructions and Luke's First Crash->Rebels Escape Again.  I've gotten myself very used to hearing the former, even though we do have the clean opening for Leia's Instructions now, and the latter just has so much momentum at the end of Crash that is immediately picked up again in Escape that it feels wrong to not combine them.

 

But I'd been a little bit torn up about HOW to do that transition until the post for the last cue went up.

 

Edit 1 (Immediate Overlap):

 

Edit 2 (One beat in between, like the film):

 

You can hear Edit 2 in the film itself, but the sketch notes from the video for Luke's First Crash seem to indicate that Edit 1 was the intended overlap?

 

What do you guys think, in terms of how you'd listen to these for your own edits?  Do you prefer Edit 1, Edit 2, or presented separate?  I think ultimately, I prefer the uninterrupted energy of Edit 1.

 

Hey, it's the "what cues should be combined" discussion! I LOVE this one! And seriously, I think I'm making progress on making my "rules" make consistent sense, at least to me.

 

Listening to both of those edits I'm struck by what separate ideas those are. To me it sounds like two separate tracks that have been edited together in two different ways. This is why I almost never listen to the Monster Cue that is on the 97 discs. (I say that, but I'm sure that for years I just played them straight through. Even I'm not that obsessive.)

 

In trying to figure out my own biases I thought "Well, you just think that because you heard them separately for 17 years." But then I thought "No. I heard them together in the film for that same period of time." And I never wanted them together. In order, perhaps, but not together.

 

I just realized what keeps them separate for me: It's the endings. The endings of Leia's Instructions, The Snow Battle, and Luke's First Crash all have a finality to them. Then the next cue starts in a different direction. To me: Separate tracks.

 

As a counter example: Standing By and Approaching the Target were separate in the Anthology and it always bugged my because the end of Stand By is clearly meant to continue someplace else. Even though the "idea" of Stand By is rather more separate, by itself the cue doesn't resolve. And in the case of Losing a Hand and Hyperspace not only does Losing a Hand not resolve, it ends with the first note of Hyperspace! (I will counter that while Ben's Instructions hints at Luke's Rescue as it fades away it does resolve and I do feel that these are still separate.)

 

Finally: I have never liked Star Wars' Main Title by itself. For one thing it's the only Main Title in the OT that doesn't go someplace else, into a larger piece. I have always found the Main Title (the Star Wars Overture as it were) on the LP a more satisfying listen. Then as part of my "Ultimate Star Wars Arrangement" (a less informed precursor to what @enderdrag64 is doing here) I combined Main Title and Imperial Attack into a single track (as it is in the film, although you can't hear it). Main Title (Star Wars) resolves directly into Imperial Attack (The War). Bliss! Now I have an even harder time hearing it separately!

 

9 hours ago, Meredith McKay said:

But it of a melody though.

 

It's like if this conversation, you know?

 

And the Superman theme.

 

It's not trimming the fat, it's cutting the buildups/tension for the release. Resulting in a lot of the big moments just crashing into each other instead of easing into each of them naturally.

 

 

I would counter that what is in the film is "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." What is on the CD is "It was the really very terrific best of what we call for the sake of argument times, it was the very bad no good worst of times."

 

(And really, my biggest complaint on the CD is the music that would be around 2:56 in the above video.)

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

2 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

 

I would counter that what is in the film is "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." What is on the CD is "It was the really very terrific best of what we call for the sake of argument times, it was the very bad no good worst of times."

 

(And really, my biggest complaint on the CD is the music that would be around 2:56 in the above video.)

Nah it's

 

T'was the best times, T'was the worst.

 

vs.

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times also.

 

[ThePenitentMan1 1,292]

3 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Hey, it's the "what cues should be combined" discussion! I LOVE this one! And seriously, I think I'm making progress on making my "rules" make consistent sense, at least to me.

 

Listening to both of those edits I'm struck by what separate ideas those are. To me it sounds like two separate tracks that have been edited together in two different ways. This is why I almost never listen to the Monster Cue that is on the 97 discs. (I say that, but I'm sure that for years I just played them straight through. Even I'm not that obsessive.)

 

In trying to figure out my own biases I thought "Well, you just think that because you heard them separately for 17 years." But then I thought "No. I heard them together in the film for that same period of time." And I never wanted them together. In order, perhaps, but not together.

 

I just realized what keeps them separate for me: It's the endings. The endings of Leia's Instructions, The Snow Battle, and Luke's First Crash all have a finality to them. Then the next cue starts in a different direction. To me: Separate tracks.

 

As a counter example: Standing By and Approaching the Target were separate in the Anthology and it always bugged my because the end of Stand By is clearly meant to continue someplace else. Even though the "idea" of Stand By is rather more separate, by itself the cue doesn't resolve. And in the case of Losing a Hand and Hyperspace not only does Losing a Hand not resolve, it ends with the first note of Hyperspace! (I will counter that while Ben's Instructions hints at Luke's Rescue as it fades away it does resolve and I do feel that these are still separate.)

 

Finally: I have never liked Star Wars' Main Title by itself. For one thing it's the only Main Title in the OT that doesn't go someplace else, into a larger piece. I have always found the Main Title (the Star Wars Overture as it were) on the LP a more satisfying listen. Then as part of my "Ultimate Star Wars Arrangement" (a less informed precursor to what @enderdrag64 is doing here) I combined Main Title and Imperial Attack into a single track (as it is in the film, although you can't hear it). Main Title (Star Wars) resolves directly into Imperial Attack (The War). Bliss! Now I have an even harder time hearing it separately!

 

Very in-depth write-up!

 

For me (and this is purely from a "listening experience" perspective and not a "preservation" perspective), I think I've always found the space between Leia's Instructions->Snow Battle and Snow Battle->Luke's First Crash on the '97 SE alright, but the space between Luke's First Crash->Rebels Escape Again never sat right with me, like both halves were a single musical idea that awkwardly pauses for a moment before picking the momentum right back up.

 

I'm realizing now that it was that swirling string ostinato, that plays in a high register at the end of Luke's First Crash, and then continues in a lower register at the start of Rebels Escape Again.  For my own listening I really prefer that string line not being interrupted by the cue break.

 

Regardless, taking the "under 5 minute tracks when possible, under 10 when it isn't" guideline that Mike has placed on himself, I think the final Expansion for ESB will present the Battle of Hoth cues very much like the Anthology did; Battle Lines/Leia's Instructions combined, the other three separate.

[enderdrag64 1,417]

That would be a real missed opportunity if we get another ESB expansion and it doesn't premiere the clean transitions for Drawing the Battle Lines/Leia's Instructions

[stravinsky 227]

Hopefully the remastered last word on the 9 Star Wars Soundtracks will be released for the 50th Anniversary in 2 years time. My dream would be to have every single cue separated. It would just be a different listening experience. 

[enderdrag64 1,417]

#2.15 ESB (1980) - 4m3 The Asteroid Field (Wook link)

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue. 

 

Today we're going to be listening to 4m3 The Asteroid Field.

 

This cue is 164 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer. 

 

Here's the tops of the sketch and orchestrated score:

Now let's listen to the cue together:

At 0:00 we get some quick descending woodwinds for Luke's X-Wing flying off.

 

Then at 0:04, a sudden Imperial March statement for the Falcon fleeing a star destroyer. This fades away to some woodwind trills at 0:14, as we re-focus on Chewbacca inside the Falcon cockpit.

 

Some ascending, determined strings at 0:20 for the reverse shot where we can see two more Star Destroyers in the distance. 

 

These build into some aggressive brass at 0:27, which in turn leads into more Imperial March at 0:33 for the Falcon diving away from the Imperial ships. 

 

Some quieter rhythm at 0:37 inside the Star Destroyer bridge, and then the March statement continues at 0:43, leading into some final ascending brass at 0:48. 

 

We return inside the Falcon at 0:51, and more ascending strings and brass build up to nothing at 1:02 as the Falcon fails to enter hyperspace.

 

The strings (and woodwinds) return at 1:04, building into a climax at 1:12 as Han gets up.

 

Fast brass at 1:13 for the Falcon being chased by TIE fighters, which accompanies some interesting and strange sounding string figures at 1:18 as Han tries to fix the ship. 

 

Some quick ascending strings at 1:34 leads to a loud brass sting at 1:36 for the gag of the toolbox falling on Han's head. Another more aggressive string figure at 1:41 for an even stronger jolt. 

 

More ascending strings for Han running to the cockpit at 1:46, and then some ascending brass as he takes a seat at 1:53. 

 

A crash for the POV shot of asteroids at 1:59 is followed by some strange, almost atonal woodwinds/brass music as the Falcon weaves around various asteroids.

 

Then at 2:18 we finally get a big statement of the Asteroid Field set piece theme, as Han successfully gets two of the TIE fighters to crash into asteroids. 

 

The almost atonal woodwinds music returns briefly at 2:41, before we get a strings intro at 2:58, leading back into another big statement of the Asteroid Field theme at 3:06, which climaxes with the explosion of the last two TIE fighters at 3:14. 

 

A statement of the Han/Leia love theme at 3:25 for Han landing the Falcon, which leads into some ominous brass and woodwinds at 3:42 as they descend into the cave.

 

This transitions smoothly into some final strings and woodwinds as we return to Luke at 3:53 for his arrival at Dagobah. Thus, the cue ends...

 

 

Just like several of the cues we've looked at so far, the film appears to have undergone multiple visual changes after the scene was scored, most of which led to music edits in the film. The picture edits made for the final cut were as follows:

• The Star Destroyer shot at 0:12 was shortened by 2 seconds. Interestingly the storyboard I have for this shot says that it should've been 37 frames longer, but the music sync implies that it would've been more like 54 frames longer. I went with the latter in my edit above. It's possible that either ILM made a longer shot than originally planned, or more likely that the scored cut added a reused shot to the end of this sequence to extend it by 17 frames. 
• The shot of Han getting up at 1:13 was extended by 1 second
• A 2 second shot was deleted at 1:16. Again this shot is not in the storyboards and the previous shot is the correct length, so this was most likely a reused shot, perhaps of the Falcon from behind. 
• A short shot of Chewie roaring was added at 2:58, potentially replacing the start of the next effects shot (though the storyboards show the same frame count as the final shot, but the music doesn't sync without a gap here)

As a result of all these picture changes, the following music edits were made:

 

0:00-0:27 = 4m3 The Asteroid Field 0:00-0:27

0:27-0:28 = 4m3 The Asteroid Field 0:28-0:29

0:28-2:52 = 4m3 The Asteroid Field 0:30-2:54

2:52-4:07 = 4m3 The Asteroid Field 2:56-4:07

 

The cue fades out about 7 seconds early in the final cut. As you can see, not all of the music edits are at the same points as the picture edits, and so several parts of the cue actually play out of sync in the final cut. Thankfully the sketch provides the intended sync points.

 

 

Despite not having a recording log, we know that this cue had to have been recorded on either the first or second day of the recording sessions, December 27 or December 28, 1979. We know this thanks to the take numbers on the sketch, and the cue with take numbers immediately before it was recorded on the 27th, and the cue with take numbers immediately after was recorded on the 28th. This makes it one of the first cues recorded for this score. I'm unsure how many takes were recorded, but according to the sketch the performance edit uses takes 28 and 29.

 

 

This cue has been officially released on four different albums:

1) In 1980 on RSO Records' OST album

2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set

3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set

4) In 2018 on Walt Disney Records' Remastered album (remastered OST rebuilt from scratch from the session masters)

 

More specifically, 4m3 The Asteroid Field can be heard:

From 0:00-end of track 10 "The Asteroid Field" on the 1980/2018 albums

From 0:00-end of disc 2 track 9 "The Asteroid Field" on the 1993 album

From 0:00-end of disc 1 track 6 "The Asteroid Field" on the 1997 album.

 

Every release has a clean opening and ending. The 1980, 1997 and 2018 sets are all remixes, but fortunately the 1993 set has the film mix. All sets contain the complete cue without edits, however the 1997 release is brickwalled.

 

Additionally, all releases of this cue play at the wrong pitch/speed, although this can easily be corrected in an audio editor:

1980 set has to be must be sped up by 0.525 to match film

1993 set has to be sped up by 0.456 to match film

1997 set has to be sped up by 0.325 to match film

2018 set has to be slowed down by -0.430 to match film

 

For the video above I used a speed corrected copy of the 1993 set.

 

 

One last thing to note with this cue is that John Williams wrote an expanded concert suite based on it, released under the same name "The Asteroid Field". This was intended as the third movement of his Empire Strikes Back suite, and has been recorded several times by various conductors. Here's the Charles Gerhardt recording: 

0:00-0:09 and 4:00-end are both unique extensions written solely for the suite, and the rest is material adapted from various parts of the film cue, reordered and repeated in various ways. 

 

I personally think it's a much worse listen than the original cue, it's far too repetitive and doesn't have nearly as much buildup or as satisfying of a payoff. Additionally, several of the "edits" made to the sheet music are pretty obvious and don't sound particularly great, say for example the transition at 2:25. I don't see why the original cue wouldn't work better in a concert setting.

 

Here's a rough breakdown of all the "edits"/adaptations:

0:00-0:09 = unique concert intro

0:09-0:13 = adapted from 1:59 to 2:03 of film cue

0:13-0:20 = adapted from 2:45-2:52 of film cue

0:20-0:38 = adapted from 1:13-1:31 of film cue

0:38-2:25 = adapted from 1:19-3:06 of film cue

2:25-2:38 = adapted from 1:19-1:32 of film cue

2:38-2:53 = adapted from 1:19-1:34 of film cue

2:53-3:03 = adapted from 1:49-1:59 of film cue

3:03-3:28 = adapted from 2:04-2:29 of film cue

3:28-3:47 = adapted from 3:06-3:19 of film cue

3:47-3:57 = adapted from 2:42-2:52 of film cue

3:57-4:00 = adapted from 2:57-2:58 of film cue

4:00-end = unique concert ending

 

 

That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.

 

Next week we'll be listening to Luke's arrival on Dagobah with 5m1 Crash Landing. See you then!

 

[ThePenitentMan1 1,292]

One of the indisputable best cues in the whole score trilogy saga!

 

So, I have this cue in its intended film placement on my home playlist, but when I tried that back when I first made my work playlist, I noticed this cue wasn't boosting my energy, like it didn't have the impact it really was supposed to have, and it wasn't long before I realized that was because I'd just listened the also-incredible 14-minute Battle of Hoth cues immediately prior to that and spent all of my energy on those cues.

 

So from that point on, I moved this cue a little farther back in the work playlist (first to just after Crash Landing, but more recently to between Yoda's Entrance and Han Solo and the Princess, which is as far back as I can put it while still making sense from the perspective of the film's narrative), to give myself a chance to catch my breath between Rebels Escape Again and Asteroid Field.

 

5 hours ago, enderdrag64 said:

One last thing to note with this cue is that John Williams wrote an expanded concert suite based on it, released under the same name "The Asteroid Field". This was intended as the third movement of his Empire Strikes Back suite, and has been recorded several times by various conductors. Here's the Charles Gerhardt recording: 

0:00-0:09 and 4:00-end are both unique extensions written solely for the suite, and the rest is material adapted from various parts of the film cue, reordered and repeated in various ways. 

 

I personally think it's a much worse listen than the original cue, it's far too repetitive and doesn't have nearly as much buildup or as satisfying of a payoff. Additionally, several of the "edits" made to the sheet music are pretty obvious and don't sound particularly great, say for example the transition at 2:25. I don't see why the original cue wouldn't work better in a concert setting.

 

I do like how the second statement of the setpiece theme begins with the first part of the first statement, though.  I grew up with the Kojian album, and was surprised when I listened to the actual film cue and the second statement didn't have that.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

19 minutes ago, ThePenitentMan1 said:

One of the indisputable best cues in the whole score trilogy saga!

 

So, I have this cue in its intended film placement on my home playlist, but when I tried that back when I first made my work playlist, I noticed this cue wasn't boosting my energy, like it didn't have the impact it really was supposed to have, and it wasn't long before I realized that was because I'd just listened the also-incredible 14-minute Battle of Hoth cues immediately prior to that and spent all of my energy on those cues.

 

So from that point on, I moved this cue a little farther back in the work playlist (first to just after Crash Landing, but more recently to between Yoda's Entrance and Han Solo and the Princess, which is as far back as I can put it while still making sense from the perspective of the film's narrative), to give myself a chance to catch my breath between Rebels Escape Again and Asteroid Field.

 

 

I do like how the second statement of the setpiece theme begins with the first part of the first statement, though.  I grew up with the Kojian album, and was surprised when I listened to the actual film cue and the second statement didn't have that.

I actually made a Entracte for ESB that used a combo of the film version and the Concert Version:

 

@enderdrag64

[Tallguy 5,603]

What can I say about this cue? It's as close to perfect as it gets. And who doesn't love Lost in Space?

 

@enderdrag64 great write up, as always!

 

As I've said elsewhere, I have no time for the concert arrangement. It takes almost everything that is special and strips it out, presumably on the premise that there are too many other themes and too much repetition that is only there for narrative reasons. (Clearly I have  a laser like focus on the psychology of John Williams. )

 

The amazing thing about the Empire score (and the original LPs)? This is a standout track. But it is not head and shoulders above everything else. It might be first among equals. Wow, this score is a meal!

[ThePenitentMan1 1,292]

44 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

What can I say about this cue? It's as close to perfect as it gets. And who doesn't love Lost in Space?

 

Hmm...  are you talking about how 2:41 of the original cue sounds like the opening to the Season 1/2 Main Title?  Or perhaps something else I'm not remembering at the moment?

[Tallguy 5,603]

8 minutes ago, ThePenitentMan1 said:

 

Hmm...  are you talking about how 2:41 of the original cue sounds like the opening to the Season 1/2 Main Title?  Or perhaps something else I'm not remembering at the moment?

 

I'm not a Lost in Space completest but one of them sounds like a bit in TIE Fighter Attack and the other sounds like part of The Asteroid Field. I mean they're both kind of Williams isms. 😀 It's certainly not a cut and paste.

[BachSkywalker 106]

I agree--this cue is perfection, but frankly, that could be said about this entire score. But still, "The Asteroid Field" is a standout among the best. And such great playing by the LSO--whew. 

[enderdrag64 1,417]

#2.16 ESB (1980) - 5m1 Crash Landing (Wook link)

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue. Happy May 4th!

 

Today we're going to be listening to 5m1 Crash Landing.

 

This cue is 85 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer.

 

Unfortunately, this is the other cue from this score for which I do not have a scan of the sketch, so I can only show you what the orchestrated score looks like:

 

Once again, as a result of not having the sketch, there won't be any sync marks written in the video when we listen to the cue.

 

Unfortunately this cue doesn't match the picture in the final film - several shots appear to be longer than they were in the scored cut. I've attempted to reconstruct the scored cut based on the audible sync marks in the music, but it's possible that I didn't get them 100% perfect.

 

With that out of the way, let's listen to the cue together:

 

At 0:00 the cue begins with some dark and mysterious brass and woodwinds for the wide shot of the Dagobah swamp.

 

Some lighter woodwinds at 0:10 for the cockpit opening, and then a soft brass rendition of Luke's theme at 0:16. 

 

More ominous woodwinds at 0:25 as Luke starts to leave the X-Wing, followed by some softer for woodwinds for his dialogue at 0:34. 

 

Suddenly, a loud string/brass figure at 0:41 as the X-Wing shakes and R2 falls into the water. 

 

The relative silence of R2's disappearance is marked by the quietest of sustained strings, with a few staccato celeste notes sprinkled in, building anticipation for the ultimate resurgence of the droid theme for the appearance of his periscope at 0:58.

 

The droid theme starts out playful, gaining some sweeping string elements around 1:13, before turning darker and more ominous at 1:18 for the appearance of the sea creature.

 

This builds into some loud swirling strings at 1:31 as R2 is pulled underwater by the creature. Some more relative silence at 1:37, followed by a hint of the droid motif at 1:41. 

 

Suddenly, more swirling strings at 1:47 as R2 is launched out of the water. A more fast-paced, almost action-y statement of the droid theme plays on brass as Luke runs to find R2. 

 

Some soft strings at 2:03, followed by an endearing and almost melancholy rendition of the droid theme at 2:13 for their final conversation of the scene. 

 

A sudden Imperial March statement at 2:39 for the scene transition, as we return to the Imperial fleet. 

 

A hint of some atonal woodwinds at 2:57 for the lowering of Vader's helmet, followed by another Imperial March statement as his chair turns to face Piett. 

 

Some short woodwinds for their conversation, and then a final descending brass line at 3:18, climaxing with the dolly zoom and Vader's pod closing. Thus, the cue ends...

 

 

As mentioned earlier this cue had a few picture edits in the film. Due to not having the sketch, I'm not completely certain what the changes were, but I made the following changes to get the music to sync:

• I removed the 2 second shot of Luke jumping in the water at 1:17
• I trimmed the first 2 seconds of the shot of Luke climbing out of the water at 1:24
• I trimmed the last second of Luke stepping at 1:47

These edits led to the following music changes in the final cut:

 

0:00-1:19 = 5m1 Crash Landing 0:00-1:19

1:19-1:21 = 5m1 Crash Landing 1:18-1:19

1:21-1:30 = 5m1 Crash Landing 1:18-1:27

1:30-1:51 = 5m1 Crash Landing 1:26-1:47

1:51-1:53 = silence

1:53-end =  5m1 Crash Landing 1:47-end

 

It's also worth noting that this cue got partially used in a scene it was not intended for. Many entries ago when we talked about 1m2 Insert Bar 80 I mentioned that that insert went unused in the final cut, in favor of some tracked bars from this cue, 5m1 Crash Landing. More specifically, the final cut uses 3:18-end of this cue for the transition of Han entering Echo Base right after Luke gets attacked by the Wampa. 

 

 

Unfortunately, due to not having any take numbers from the sketch, this is one of the only cues from this score for which we have zero indication of when it was recorded.

 

 

This cue has been officially released on two different albums:

2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set

3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set

 

More specifically, 5m1 Crash Landing can be heard:

From 0:00-end of disc 4 track 9 "Crash Landing" on the 1993 album

From 0:00-3:32 of disc 1 track 7 "Arrival on Dagobah" on the 1997 album.

 

Both sets have a clean opening but only the 1993 set has the clean ending. Neither album is remixed, but the 1993 set is slightly more brickwalled than the 1997 set. 

 

Additionally, both releases of this cue play at the wrong pitch/speed, although this can easily be corrected in an audio editor:

1993 set has to be sped up by 0.750 to match film

1997 set has to be sped up by 0.750 to match film

 

For my edit I used a speed corrected copy of the 1997 set (for the slightly better dynamic range), spliced with the 1993 set for the ending only.

 

 

That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.

 

Next week we'll be listening to 5m2 Yoda Appears. See you then!

 

[ThePenitentMan1 1,292]

The bit with R2 chugging along underwater always felt like a bit like Steamboat Willie to me.

[Tallguy 5,603]

Arrgh. That bit at 0:43 followed by the little pling plings? That will always take me back to the end of Rebel Assault II! There aren't too many cues that I associate more with video games than with the films, but that's one of them! (X-Wing Alliance snatched up Luke and Leia and part of the unused bits of Luke's Rescue.)

 

I LOVE the Droid Theme. It's so intrinsically perfect for Artoo and Threepio. (Is it used much for Threepio? Or just Artoo or Artoo WITH Threepio.) I'm sorry it's unique to this film.

 

I often wonder if I know almost every note from these bits because they hit me at the right age* or if Williams really was better at writing these kinds of "treading water" or "noodling around" kind of tracks back then. I say "better" but if he put less detail into these cues would it matter? As I get older I think that JW has a bunch of scores in this era that are actually overwritten strictly from the point of view of the job of a film composer. I assume it was satisfying to him, to the performers, and to US. But to the general audience of the film? (Often including us if it's a scene that is played under sound effects and dialog like The Rebels Escape Again?) Then yeah, it's better than is needed or noticeable.

 

Or maybe it's like SFX detail. The detail you can't see contributes to the detail that you can. Or so we think.

 

Heh. That last shot of the Falcon: The Christmas that I got the first widescreen VHS tapes of the Trilogy we spent Christmas morning watching the Star Wars movies. During this scene I went to the kitchen to get breakfast. My brother ("Krull means Uncle Bill has too much money") called me back in: "Come back! You have to see this!" to see the WHOLE FALCON in the cave. This movie is GORGEOUS.

 

* "The Right Age" would have been either hearing the Story LP with sound FX and Narration, a little older when the film was on VHS, or much older when the 1993 Anthology was released.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

14 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

 

 the Droid Theme. Is it used much for Threepio? Or just Artoo or Artoo WITH Threepio?

 

 

 

Once that I can remember:

 

"Oh no, I've been shot!"

 

a possible allusion to it:

 

"That sounds like R2 unit in there, I wonder if... Hello!"

 

[Smaug The Iron 640]

14 minutes ago, Meredith McKay said:

 

Once that I can remember:

 

"Oh no, I've been shot!"

 

a possible allusion to it:

 

"That sounds like R2 unit in there, I wonder if... Hello!"

 

Also when he complaints that Chewbacca has put on his head wrong.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

2 minutes ago, Smaug The Iron said:

Also when he complaints that Chewbacca has put on his head wrong.

Yup.

 

Putting Threepio Together, and Trouble in Prison.

 

[Tallguy 5,603]

Oh good. I was afraid this would be another "Is the Love Theme actually Han Solo's Theme?"  

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

4 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Oh good. I was afraid this would be another "Is the Love Theme actually Han Solo's Theme?"  

It's Artoo's theme, Threepio's just living in it...

[Tallguy 5,603]

1 minute ago, Meredith McKay said:

It's Artoo's theme, Threepio's just living in it...

 

In all seriousness that was my initial impression. But there are enough uses of it totally separate from Artoo that I'm going to say it's definitely a shared theme. Or JW wrote it for Artoo and just wound up using it for Threepio because he needed Robot Music.

[BachSkywalker 106]

What I find interesting is that Anthony Daniels in his book laments that Threepio never got a proper theme ala Princess Leia. I remember reading that and thinking, wait a minute, there's a proper droid theme in ESB! He does have to share it with Artoo, and it never really got used much past ESB, but still...

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

3 minutes ago, BachSkywalker said:

What I find interesting is that Anthony Daniels in his book laments that Threepio never got a proper theme ala Princess Leia. I remember reading that and thinking, wait a minute, there's a proper droid theme in ESB! He does have to share it with Artoo, and it never really got used much past ESB, but still...

Let's not forget the Horn Motif from ANH!

[tranders65 96]

49 minutes ago, Meredith McKay said:

Let's not forget the Horn Motif from ANH!

What's even more bewildering is why he didn't use the ESB motif for that one scene at the beginning of ROJ when the droids are approaching Jabba's palace.  It's like a kinda-sorta similar noodling theme but...not the Empire one, lol.  Would have been nice to hear it again in Jedi, even if just in that one scene.

[Meredith McKay 7,842]

9 minutes ago, tranders65 said:

It's like a kinda-sorta similar noodling theme but...not the Empire one, lol.  Would have been nice to hear it again in Jedi, even if just in that one scene.

That piece is pretty much a variation of the Jabba B Melody IMHO.

 

Though there is that bit in Heroic Ewok

[Tallguy 5,603]

Yeah, in the film I always thought that he wrote a NEW droid theme that sound a lot like the OLD droid theme. It wasn't until I got the 1997 set that I realized that it was Jabba's theme!