The Episode II score: is it really so bad?

[Vaderbait1 1]

You have to appreciate how arrogant some people are and how rude they can be because they want to be the coolest kids on the block with stylish bashing.

AOTC was a good score, but not excellent.

[Ollie 1,059]

Or that they are long time Williams fans and can tell the difference between his great works and average or poor works.

Nobody is forcing these opinions down your throats. You can ignore them. By constantly arguing and replying you feed the fire and allow it to grow.

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

I've listened to "The Arena" at least 3 times a day for the past week. Hooked like crack.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Question: The Episode II score: is it really so bad?

Answer: No, it's not.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Am I the only sensible Dutchie left?

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Says the guy with the dressed up Laaf statue in his signature.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Like your avatar is any different!

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Sensible = disliking AotC?

[John Takis 206]

I think AOTC -- in its complete form, as we can piece it together from the film and album -- is an excellent score. Although I would rank it least among the Star Wars scores, I still enjoy it very much, and think it gets something of a bad rap.

[Trent B 337]

I too think it's the weakest of the Star Wars scores but as I said I still enjoy it a lot. I am glad I'm not a lone for now liking AOTC. I really hope one day we get a complete 2-CD set of the score in it's original intended form. Same goes for TPM and ROTS.

[tpigeon 3]

No, episode II is really not that bad. People, especially hardcore JW or SW fans, hold the quality of the films and scores to such an insanely high standard, that the instant something deviates from what they think it should be, they get upset and call it awful. I think there are just a lot of bitter JW fans in 2002 because many of them saw potential for four classic John Williams scores, and because Williams didn't exactly approach those films the way they had wanted, it was all of the sudden a bad year. I thought it was a terrific year for Williams. I do not understand why some of his scores from that year are so maligned.

Ted

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Not all the scores from that year, Ted.

CMIYC is very good.

MR doesn't work for me on CD, but in the film it's very good.

[King Mark 3,631]

CoS has the best album of 2002,although the score in the film is another story.

There's another unreleased cue in AotC that's very good,when Anakin and Padme arrive on Naboo and are walking up the stairs talking.

With the 3 missing fanfares and Yoda Strikes Back that we got from the BattleFront 2 ,the AotC album is already a much better listen.It adds color to the overall bleakness.Add to that Anakin's Confession and Shmi's Funeral and the album would become very good.

K.M.

[John Crichton 4]

AOTC is certainly the best arranged album of all three prequels. It has the best percentage of important cues, and is mostly chronological to boot. Much better presentation than either TPM (what a mess) or ROTS (what a disappointment, OST arrangement wise).

[King Mark 3,631]

While that is correct,it's still missing those cues I mentionned which are important.But percentage wise it's a better rounded album than the TPM and RotS OST's

K.M.

[Trent B 337]

There's another unreleased cue in AotC that's very good,when Anakin and Padme arrive on Naboo and are walking up the stairs talking.

With the 3 missing fanfares and Yoda Strikes Back that we got from the BattleFront 2 ,the AotC album is already a much better listen.It adds color to the overall bleakness.Add to that Anakin's Confession and Shmi's Funeral and the album would  become  very good.

K.M.

Ya there's a lot of underscoring from AOTC I would love to hear with out sfx and voice echo some day. I can't wait to hear "The Ambush On Coruscant" as well as the cues you mentioned and the full "Zam The Assasin and The Chase Through Coruscant" cue.

Edit: I agree with you John AOTC's album is the best one produced from the Prequels. TPM was definitely the worst and ROTS was a bit disappointing since the way how they edited quite a few of the cues and plus left off 2 cues that were supposed to go on there, "Revisiting Padmé" and "I Am The Senate"...

[King Mark 3,631]

Most of the "mystery theme" underscore is much less interesting than the dialogue score in RotS though.

K.M.

[Diego 21]

Looking back I find the TPM OST to be an interesting listen, of course it helps that between the UE and videogame music we can make a pretty good complete and cronological score, but some tracks of the OST work well I think. ROTS on the other hand is, in my opinion, one of the worst represented scores on CD from recent years. The edit at the end of Anakin's Dark Deeds is one of the most annoying edits there are (along with the edit in Mischief Managed in POA, another bad CD) and the inclusion of 1 and a half minute of MMMMM, at the beginning of track 6 is very strange.

[Trent B 337]

Looking back I find the TPM OST to be an interesting listen, of course it helps that between the UE and videogame music we can make a pretty good complete and cronological score, but some tracks of the OST work well I think. ROTS on the other hand is, in my opinion, one of the worst represented scores on CD from recent years. The edit at the end of Anakin's Dark Deeds is one of the most annoying edits there are (along with the edit in Mischief Managed in POA, another bad CD) and the inclusion of 1 and a half minute of MMMMM, at the beginning of track 6 is very strange.

I agree with this some of this statement. By the way as far as the begining of track 6 from 0:00-1:37 or so on the ROTS OST is the cue "Palpatine's TV Set" which scores the source music for the opera house.

[tpigeon 3]

Well said. ROTS and POA on CD are not representative of their respective films. I know each has a lot of music, so it's hard to find the right 70 minutes for the album, but they are both terrible. As far as preserved cues go, I think AOTC is the most comprehensive of all of the prequel soundtracks, despite that it is missing some key cues.

Ted, who gets really fired up over unnecessary edits and music selection on JW's albums

[King Mark 3,631]

 

Ted, who gets really fired up over unnecessary edits and music selection on JW's albums

Don't get me started.If they did a OST right,there would be no need for a complete score release MOST of the time.For PoA,they could have fit ALL the important cues on 1 c.d.And It used to be that either a cue was released or not,but now the REALLY annoying trend is "crippled " cues,not of some unimportant passage you'd never notice,but usually an edit smack in the highlight or climactic part of the cue:Anakin's Betrayal,Anakin's Dark Deeds,A New Hope and End Credits.Mischief Managed,Finale from PoA(Rescuing Sirius shoud be in the middle of it).Personally I think it's done maliciously by one of the current editors working on JW's albums,a bit like I suspect Ben Burtt sneaks into the mixing room at night and resets his sound mix AFTER Lucas approved another one,just to piss off fans like us,to make us want a complete score even more.

K.M.

[Diego 21]

I do know it's from the movie, it's just silly to put that on the CD, I mean couldn't that minute and a half be used to put "good bye old friend" for example? But noooo, someone thought more than 90 seconds of HMMMMM... is more interesting than one of the best statements of the force theme.

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

Most of the "mystery theme"  underscore is  much less interesting than the dialogue score in RotS though.

K.M.

I really dig the mystery theme. It's very ESBish, kind of like it belongs on "Departure of Boba Fett" on ESB original

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Most of the "mystery theme"  underscore is  much less interesting than the dialogue score in RotS though.

K.M.

I really dig the mystery theme. It's very ESBish, kind of like it belongs on "Departure of Boba Fett" on ESB original

I hope that was Williams idea Kamino->Jango->Boba

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

I hope that was Williams idea Kamino->Jango->Boba

Damn! I never thought of that, that's brilliant!

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

it may not be true anyways...

You could add Bespin and Tipoca city are both platform cities. With round landing pads and white in the inside...

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

You could add Bespin and Tipoca city are both platform cities. With round landing pads and white in the inside...

Well, I think it's not a coincedence that Tipoca City and Cloud city are so similar as they tie together a sort of "birth/death" between Boba Fett and Han Solo (of course you could argue that Han started a rebirth in Cloud City). The more I think about it, the more easily I can picture George telling JW, "it's really important that these two locations have similar music."

[futuremartymcfly 0]

 The more I think about it, the more easily I can picture George telling JW, "it's really important that these two locations have similar music."

wouldn't that make the music more like Lando's Palace?

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

If jango was Lando's father...

[Ollie 1,059]

I really don't think there is any musical connection.

Grasping, grasping.....

[Genius_Gone_Insane 5]

 The more I think about it, the more easily I can picture George telling JW, "it's really important that these two locations have similar music."

wouldn't that make the music more like Lando's Palace?

One would think. But I think Tipoca City, being a secret place without the bustle of Cloud City, kind of voids that possibility there. These are all very interesting points though.

I really like the Kamino music. I know it's pretty simple, but a lot of it is really a throwback to ESB. Pretty sweet IMHO.