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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

The Music of the Clone Wars

Discussion in 'Star Wars TV- Completed Shows' started by Darth_Zandalor, Dec 30, 2009.

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  1. Darth_Zandalor

    Darth_Zandalor Jedi Master star 4

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    Aug 2, 2009
    Watching the Clone Wars is fun and all, but am I the only one here who hates the music? It simply is not good. Even "A Galaxy Divided", which some people hold as the series strongest theme, is weak in comparison to John Williams score.

    It gets even worse when the music tries to emulate his themes as well. The remix of the speeder chase from AOTC used in The Hidden Enemy is beyond grating to my ears.

    The use of the Imperial March was rather poor in Brain Invaders IMO. Sure, its great hearing it, but all the music was was repeating those three damn notes over and over and over... and over again!

    So I ask you this: What are your opinions on the music of the Clone Wars?
     
  2. GGrievous

    GGrievous Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Nov 6, 2005
    TCW needs a good John Williams score.
     
  3. CuppaJoe

    CuppaJoe Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Aug 24, 2002
    It's not as bad as it was in Season One.
     
  4. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    Everyone hates the music. This has to be the third thread I've seen complaining about it.

    So I'm going to be honest and say I actually like it. It's different. Yes, they need to use more of Williams' old soundtacks, but they don't need to go overboard. The games do that and it just gets boring after a while.
     
  5. fistofan1

    fistofan1 Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 8, 2009
    I love the music, but sometimes it gets too far away from the original music of Star Wars. I'm alright with adding a little bit of new sound into the mix, like the electric guitars in the movie, but having scenes where the music is completely techno like in Downfall of a Droid and Duel of the Droids is terrible. I was so excited to finally see an IG assassin droid fight, but the completely non-Star Wars music ruined it for me, especially since it was showing a classic droid. So my opinion is:

    Staying true to original music of SW: Good
    Adding a *LITTLE* bit of new sound: Good
    Using music that does NOT fit SW: BAD!!!!
     
  6. koonfan

    koonfan Jedi Knight star 4

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    Oct 15, 2008
    Some music doesn't fit...and I daresay compared to JOHN WILLIAMS, it's not exceptional.
    But to be fair...comparing it to John Williams is like comparing a high school athlete to Usain Bolt. :p

    The music has generally gotten better, or at least more fitting as we went along. I personally really like certain scores like the battle of Chirstophsis, their uses of bagpipes, and the skirmish in Cad Bane's cruiser in Cargo of Doom.
     
  7. ObiWanJedi93

    ObiWanJedi93 Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Aug 29, 2008
    They wanna do something a little different with it instead of just overusing Williams' score. If I'm not mistaken, TCW was nominated for its score on "Weapons Factory". Don't remember the award, but I know it was nominated.
     
  8. Chewgumma

    Chewgumma Chosen One star 7

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    Apr 14, 2009
    I can tell you this, there are no bagpipes in TCW.:p

    You can scratch me as someone who does not like the score. It feels too cheap compared to what I'm used to as a Star Wars fan. Yes I am aware that TCW is on a TV budget however with the quality most TV programmes put out these days I happen to think TCW has a lot of room for improvement.

    For instance there was an over reliance of pan pipes in the first series. I happen to think it's an awfull instrument except as a backing piece. And the thumping techno beats that are sometimes thrown in completely confuse me. How on Earth does that say 'Star Wars'? :confused:
     
  9. AhsokaMiro

    AhsokaMiro Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2008
    That approach was abandoned pretty quickly... the only "techno" score was in the R2 duology, which was the first of the episodes produced, although it didn't air first. Pretty sure it hasn't cropped up since.

    The "ethnic music" stuff, which, yeah, had a few too many flutes, was interesting, and sometimes worked better than other times. Bulgarian chorus for Rodia? Not too bad. And it was kind of cool to hear it again during the brief return to the planet in "Children of the Force".

    More Williams themes. But not too many more. I don't want to hear the films scores just reused and stitched together.
     
  10. Chewgumma

    Chewgumma Chosen One star 7

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    Apr 14, 2009
    It was meant as an overview really but it wasn't only in the R2 duology, we had an awkward guitar riff all over the Battle of Teth in the movie. This paticular moment even had my little brother going 'What the fudge?' It just really doesn't gel with the Star Wars setting IMO.

    It is worth noting that there have been moments of the score I quite liked in season 2, for instance the opening battle on Felucia had a brilliant battle theme. And Battle of Christophsis is cool. But I still feel Kevin Kiner can improve the score a lot.

    It also doesn't help that LucasFilm advertise the show using some of John Williams' best work, it really sets a precedent and quite a few scenes in the show come across better in the trailers than they do in the episodes themselves.
     
  11. Darth_Zandalor

    Darth_Zandalor Jedi Master star 4

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    Aug 2, 2009
    I find the wailing chants to be rather annoying. The whole middle eastern vibe just doesn't sing star wars in my mind.

    The only episode I enjoyed the music on was weapons factory, and that was only because it somehow reminded me of Indiana Jones.
     
  12. LawJedi

    LawJedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 11, 2009
    Anyone who has ever rewatched a TV series on DVD can back me up on how noticeable the reuse of music cues throughout a series can be. Some of my favorite TV-on-DVDS (Dexter, Gilmore Girls, Buffy, Angel, BSG) are really notorious for reusing the same cues over and over. If I ever hear the Buffy fight scene cue again, I might pull my hair out.

    That being the case, I really don't buy the argument that the John Williams scores would get too old.
     
  13. WookieeWarrior9

    WookieeWarrior9 Jedi Youngling star 3

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    Jun 5, 2007
    I've gone back on forth on the music (not whether it's good or bad, but whether it's bad or okay). It just sounds like a bad Star Wars video game, with a lot of keyboard/ synthesizer tunes. For any other kid show, this is fine, but this is Star Wars. I guess they auditioned this guy, but I can't imagine what they losers must have sounded like. It's like Kiner will just toss in chants thinking they'll sound more epic. It's even more frustrating now that I really feel like the show has found its stride.

    I really hope they get someone who gets it for the live action show- like Bear McCreary of BSG. The first two seasons of that show had a lot of drumbeats and that sort of thing, but as the show went on into 3 and 4, he leaned more and more to a John Williams type of epic orchestra sound. And he even gave the main characters their own theme/cues, a lot like what John Williams does.
     
  14. ArrogantJedi

    ArrogantJedi Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 2008
    I think there has been some excellent music. Off the top of my head:-

    Season 1 Episode 7: The music that kicks in as Ahsoka rushes in to duel Grievous and continues beyond that when Grievous jumps in and takes down multiple clones
    Season 2 Episode 2: The music that kicks in as Cad Bane faces Anakin while Ahsoka is trapped in the air lock and he tells Anakin to open the holocron.
    Season 2 Episode 9: The music that kicks in as Grievous starts to face off against Eeth Koth


    Lots more, but these are the ones that I recall at this point. I also liked how Season 2 Episode 8 made use of the Imperal march theme as Anakin choked Poggle and some classic Star Wars music in Season 2 Episode 9 as well. Would definately like to hear more classic star wars snippets from time to time.
     
  15. H-BOMB

    H-BOMB Jedi Master star 3

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    Feb 21, 2009
    Yeah, I noticed that one too. That was a pretty cool tune!
     
  16. koonfan

    koonfan Jedi Knight star 4

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    Oct 15, 2008
    Yeah, I absolutely loved the music when Grievous battled Eeth Koth! It's in my top three scores in TCW, off the top of my head...
    1. The Battle of Christophsis
    2. An action theme that uses a lot of trumpets, giving it a rapid fanfare feel, prominently used in Cargo of Doom when fighting Cad Bane, and Grievous Intrigue when Anakin and Adi face off against Commando Droids
    3. The aforementioned Grievous versus Koth theme, which I personally felt resembled the Anakin versus Ventress score in Genndy's old micro-series. Good move! :D
     
  17. Gamer_4_life

    Gamer_4_life Jedi Youngling star 1

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    Nov 16, 2009
    Music of Clone wars is amazing.....
     
  18. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

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    Jul 7, 2009
    Agreed. Another great music is when Orn Free Ta is going to the speeder with 3D. It starts when he says to Palpatine: "Why do I have to go to the jail for this?"
     
  19. AnaKanned_Food

    AnaKanned_Food Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Feb 20, 2003
    Agreed with the people who say they need to use more Williams themes, but I do think Kevin Kiner has done some decent work. I'll like heavy use of percussion in episodes.

    Interestingly, when I first watched the season 2 opener and heard how some of the themese Kevin Kiner developed for the Clone Wars movie were being used, I started to think Kiner was really coming into his own. I really liked the Norse-like battle music that accompanied the clones in that opener (it's also used in season 1 and the movie).

    Then I did imdb research on Kiner and realized that he may have developed those themes, but his involvement with the actual series is sporatic at best. Truth be told, some unknown Japanese/Korean compose has been taking those themese and developing them further.
     
  20. adamclark83

    adamclark83 Jedi Master star 3

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    Feb 1, 2009
    I've got the soundtrack for The Clone Wars movie and I love listening to it. But I have noticed that the a bit of music that's played when the AT-TE's are climbing the cliff aren't on it.
     
  21. Boba_Fat83

    Boba_Fat83 Jedi Master star 2

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    Feb 22, 2004
    I think the music is not quite as good as in the films but is still very good.
     
  22. StampidHD280pro

    StampidHD280pro Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jul 28, 2005
    The music seems cheaper and newer, which is honestly what Clone Wars is to Star Wars. But I gladly enjoy it for what it is. We HAVE been thrown a few bones when it comes to Williams themes, but personally I wanna hear more Grievous's theme. Its so underused!
     
  23. Hoggsquattle

    Hoggsquattle Jedi Master star 5

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    Feb 7, 2009

    Variety is the spice of life.

    I love John Williams' music as much as the next fan, but I'm glad they went with a new composer and style.

    As I understand it, the Live Action Series will have several composers. Even better.

     
  24. adamclark83

    adamclark83 Jedi Master star 3

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    Feb 1, 2009
    Could a CD with the episodic music be released? I don't mean samples, but complete? ie every note heard from beginning to end on CD?
     
  25. Hoggsquattle

    Hoggsquattle Jedi Master star 5

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    Feb 7, 2009
    This has been done with the movies, so I'm fairly certain that will happen at some point.

    "When" is another matter.[face_thinking]
     
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