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Azkaban: Prelude to Star Wars III Destroyer of Star Wars II?


J.R.Wood

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Being in England and having already legally seen Prisoner of Azkaban quite a few things struck me about the film's score in comparison to Williams latetst Star Wars effort.

Like AOTC, Azkaban has few definite themes save those for Buckbeak and between Harrry and Lupin. However, in comparison (and please correct me if you disagree) Azkaban was WAY better executed than AOTC.

The horrific tracking aside, AOTC had few rousing tunes where there was potential for some. When in doubt the "Mystery" theme or "Love" theme were inserted.... and don't even get me started with the use of the Trade Federation march over the first glimpse of the Clones in the film itself. Does no one remeber the original Imperial theme from New Hope?!?

Azkaban I hope will open the door for SWIII. Quidditch, Third Year from the soundtrack has all the elements of a good piece of battle music for EIII and Buckbeaks' flight has all the grandure I would expect from a Star Wars score.

Williams' score for Azkaban sees him at his best. If only the same had been so for AOTC. For me that is his worst score and was made even worse by the way it was spliced into the film like an after thought.

Is it perhaps possible that a complete AOTC score has not been released because in George Lucas's incessant tinkering with the Star Wars films he has decided to get Williams to rescore some of it? Let's hope!

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Yeah, sorry J.R. That avatar is the property of "king mark". I'm afraid no serious discussion can continue until we take care of this minor issue.

Neil

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Is it perhaps possible that a complete AOTC score has not been released because in George Lucas's incessant tinkering with the Star Wars films he has decided to get Williams to rescore some of it? Let's hope!

No, it's because it's very rare for a complete score re-release to occur so shortly after the OST CD has been released (remember, the TPM UE was made only to stop people making money from the TPM bootlegs that were out there already.

Since no mentionably bootleg of AOTC excists, there is no pressing reason for Sony Classical to release an UE.

Didn't you know this already King Mark?

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Yeah, sorry J.R.  That avatar is the property of "king mark".  I'm afraid no serious discussion can continue until we take care of this minor issue.

Neil

I wondered how he changed from the Kingdom of Kanadia to England so quickly. Guess I ought to start reading names....

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JR: Your post implies that others have illegally seen POA. No cams or any other copies of POA have yet been achieved. During both the screenings I went to, theater personnel used night goggles and some other device that emitted blue light to sweep for recording devices the entire show.

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They didn't do that here. But I think it's the first time I've seen a copyright reminder being shown before the actual movie.

Marian - who was surprised.

:music: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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Ohh great, now we have to wait for pirates from China or the Ukraine. :roll:

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Back to the issue... I'm not really sure why there are so many people who were let down by the AOTC score as a whole. I remember the poll from a few months ago about what JW's best score from 2002 was, and I was almost laughed at by a few people due to my response of AOTC. Yes, I know it was butchered in the movie, but the music that's presented on the soundtrack, I think is phenomenal. I didn't feel that Jango's Escape was an all that great action piece, but The Driod Factory and Arena cues sure were. I also liked the action music at the beginning of Track 9 (don't remember the title). Yes, I know we've come to expect more action music from a Star Wars soundtrack, but because of those infamous circumstances, the film didn't really allow for much more than what's presented on the album. As for the rest of it, I think the love theme is terrific, despite it's similarities to Hook. But I think if we were to analyze Williams' music so closely, we'd find a lot of similarities to other themes of his. No one seems to attack Hedwig's theme or the Schindler's List theme, not only for having the same basic melody, but for owing a lot to the Home Alone theme. But I guess that's expected since it's more trendy to like Harry Potter around here than Star Wars, which means that anything Star Wars will be bashed and anything Potter hailed. Perhaps there is a little bit too much underscore on the AOTC soundtrack, as there are some excellent cues from the film that deserved to be on the CD, but on the whole the album delivers a great listening experience as far as I'm concerned. I think Williams found the right balance with new material and thematic references.

Ted

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I just don't think Across the Stars is Williams most inspired composition,and that has nothing to do with if it sounds like Hook or not.If it sounded like Hook or better,then I'd like it more.

AS for Ep3,Yes,I WANT this to be Williams Ultimate Mother Of All Scores,so if PoA is an indication of what's comming,then all the better.

Amd in a recent interview,Williams says he thinks every day about "how much time he has left",I think that means we'll be hearing high quality stuff in the next few years.

K.M.

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Not to worry people, a pirate copy of Azkaban has just been released. :music: To spite their efforts, it arrived at around the time most movie rips do.

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Yes, I found, cropped, and gave KM that avatar!

I also made one of KM's real face in a sith cloak, but he wanted a good shot of the Vader face mask. :music:

It came down between that one, the one from Bespin's carbon freeze room (with the orange glow that I love so much), and the opening scenes of ROTJ. We picked that one (from SW) because it showed up best after being reduced.

-Chris, Who loves making avatars....

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Not to worry people, a pirate copy of Azkaban has just been released. :music: To spite their efforts, it arrived at around the time most movie rips do.

"You're an idiot, Starscream."

tftm_dvd0128.jpg

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Does no one remeber the original Imperial theme from New Hope?!?

I believe Williams has hinted that it will resurface in Episode III.

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Quote:

Does no one remeber the original Imperial theme from New Hope?!?

I believe Williams has hinted that it will resurface in Episode III.

Whoa! He did? AWESOME!!! Where did he say that? ;)

-Chris, Happy to see Williams trying to weave his themes and motifs better...

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He never said that directly.There was an interview that the interviewer said "will there be returning themes from ANH,like the imperial motif and others" and Williams said there may be.

K.M.

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Perhaps he listened to it and changed his mind thinking it far inferior to the imperial march. ;)

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