Late Night Star Wars Prequel Music Thoughts...

[Saxman717 21]

Hey everyone!

Haven't posted here in a long, long time, but upon hearing a certain Williams cue on my Ipod tonight, I had the strong urge to post about it and see what you all think.

So, the clip that inpspired me to post on here was "Qui Gon and Darth Maul Meet" on the Ultimate Edition of Star Wars Episode I. I've read many posts on here that go both ways about the prequel soundtracks --- some support them as just as good as the scores for the original trilogy and some say they lack the originality and true beauty of the originals.

This clip from Episode I, which accompanies the brief fight as Qui-Gon and co. are about to leave Tatooine, is a perfect example of what Williams still has in him. It's a brief segment of music, but it is one of my personal favorites from the prequel soundtracks because it so truly reminds me of the style that Williams used to write with back when he composed the Original Trilogy soundtracks. Almost every track of the original trilogy had such innovation....blending of themes, use of creative accompaniment over a variation on a catchy theme, and even the subtle statement of the main star wars theme to give it that Star Wars-feel. For the prequels though, this true care for every measure of the score seems to have disappeared to an extent, with the kind of genius displayed in this scene only appearing at certain points in the score. In between those points are large blocks of score that are more modern in style, much more accompaniment-oriented and far from the wonderful leit-motif style that Williams *always* used for his big movies back in the 70s and 80s, especially for the Star Wars movies. People have said that it's impossible for Williams to compose like that again, and that the composer has moved on to another level of genius --- a more modern, more mature style. That is fine, and I like it to an extent, but for the Star Wars movies, the use of his old leit-motif style for the majority of the scores would have really been wonderful, and just from this one clip of music, we can see that it still is in him. What if he were not burdened with such rigid schedules and multiple assignments as he is these days? What if he had the same amount of time now to write a Star Wars score as he did for the originals? Do you still think he would have produced exactly what he did for these first two prequels (especially consider Episode 2....), or do you think he would have produced a score more faithful to his original style (say, 80-90%), as opposed to only 30-40% tops that really matches that style as it is?

This post may seem kind of scattered.....it's late and I'm trying to quickly piece it all together. It's important though......I just have this strong feeling that Williams was forced to cut a lot of corners for these prequel soundtracks (especially the 2nd), and it's strongly disappointing me. I really feel Williams is accepting too many projects at this late time in his life. Quality comes before quantity, and he really should use his high demand to pick and choose projects carefully, and make sure he has the proper amount of time to produce masterpieces everytime (which he is capable of). It's just frustrating knowing that Williams has it in him to produce a full score like the Original Trilogy (as he showed in that Tatooine fight scene music), but just isn't being given (or isn't demanding) the time to creata truly polished work for this special saga --- a work free (for the most part) of "filler" music (like the "mystery" theme or Jango's Escape from Episode II).

Late night thoughts........anyone understand where I'm coming from?

PS Ricard, I think the last time I posted on here was when I kept getting a link to the LOTR music clip removed, and got banned after trying twice --- I think I got POed about it and stopped posting after that. I'd forgotten about it after a week, so my lack of posts doesn't ahve anything to do w/ that --- just haven't had any time to contribute til now --- no hard feelings man, you were just doing your job

[Mr. Breathmask 480]

In my humble opinion, TPM is still Williams at the top of his game. I think we haven't even heard the full genius of this yet; not until a full score as John wrote it is released.

As for episode 2, I think Williams was both dealing with a cramped schedule and a movie that wasn't as interesting as, say, Star Wars or ESB. There are long stretches in the film where not much is going on and without having a proper culmination to build toward (the unscored battle of Geonosis) Williams seemed to be forced to make the best out of what he had to work with.

As for the time thing, did Williams really have less time for TPM than for any of the original scores?

- Marc, somewhat confused reading freshly posted late night thoughts at 8:15 in the morning.

[King Mark 2,924]

I love TPM.Lost of brassy parts like the old Star Wars scores,plus lot of strings too for the underscore,more an extension of his serious 90's scores.

K.M.

[Mooz0r 23]

In my opinion, John Williams has only got better , obviouslly his writing style has changed... Films have changed too. If he were to write a score such as Star Wars, for a film for the present day, it simply would not work! Try and imagine some of the old JW stuff with a more modern film, it just wouldn't work. So, he needs to change his style to keep up with modern films I think.

[stewdog1 50]

Yes, Jack, exactly. The fast cut style of movies nowadays, especially action films, do not lend themselves to extended time for the themes to fully grow like they should or did back in the day. That is why I think Duel of the Fates is written the way it is. The first nine notes can be played very fast w/out losing too much of its effect. Vader's theme cannot.