Phantom Menace "Droid Invasion" and "NBC Sunday Night Football" theme

I can't be the only one who notices this! John Williams also did the NBC Sunday night football theme and it ALWAYS, since I first heard it, reminds me of the March of the Droids on Naboo from Phantom Menace. It kinda sounds like a scrap of the same music Williams had lying around. Which is kinda cool, whenever NBC Football theme kicks in I kinda expect Battle Droids to show up:

The "Droid Invasion" piece (which kicks in earnest at 1:30 in which is the bit I'm talking aboot but it even has the drum roll intro)



And Williams' NBC Sunday Night Football theme:



C'mon, somebody tell me I'm not the only Star Wars geek who thought this every time they hear it.

 

Nah, you're not the only one.

Williams will definitely rework similar musical ideas from time to time. This is absolutely one of them.

 

I never noticed this, but I certainly do now.

 

Skip to 1:42 of this vid. The same theme is in the speeder chase in AOTC.

 

Oh, yeah, I remember hearing that and thinking that Obi-Wan was going to show up and yell "Pull up, Anakin!" at Harry!

I know, once you hear the connection between the two every time the NFL Sunday Night theme kicks in (which happens a hellova lot) all I'm seeing is Battle Droids.

 

The resemblance is uncanny. It appears that John Williams was prescient.

 

And at the end of ROTS isn't part of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack in that?

 

I don't recall "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Is that a new film?

 

Philosopher's Stone then. Just prefer SS.

 

Observation that blew my mind; The Droid Invasion theme is essentially a hybrid between JW's Sunday Night Football Theme and the Nazi motif from Last Crusade (0:50)

 

hahhaha, yeah, it's kind of a more uptempo version of the Nazi motif from Last Crusade! Another piece of the puzzle!

 

No joke - I sometimes whistle Sunday night football to myself but until now I didn't realize it wasn't Star Wars music. >_<

A couple of my own pan-williamsian observations include more connections to Harry Potter music. In revenge of the sith in particular, the cue associated with General Grievous (when he enters the IH bridge, his ship lands on utapau etc) is basically a menacing variant of the Hogwarts theme. Also the music for the birth of the twins resembles the scene where Harry is put on the Dursley's doorstep, including the use of a celeste, that innocent/heavenly/babyish xylophony thing.