CT Obi-Wan Krayt Dragon Call

The original.

 

The original version is perfect. Not a thing wrong with it. The 2004 version was underwhelming, a bit off, but not enough to be derided. Still inferior, though.

The 2011 version is laughably bad. Sounds like a parody done by Jack Black. What on earth would possess someone to include that in a final cut of a film?

 

You're right. Even in interviews where Lucas said he disliked certain things, I never heard him complain about the sound design. They, like the music, were 100%.

 

Probably because he didn't have a problem with the sound design. Which is why he changed, like, one sound effect out of literally hundreds.

 

The original call wasn't very scary which, I suppose is the point of the whole call to scare the sandpeople away

 

I really like the 2011 one, gives a great other-worldly feel.

The 2004 one was good also, though less exotic-sounding.

Not a huge fan of the 1977 one, it sounds like some kid having fun by trying to see what kind of noises he or she can make.

 

There's a simple reason the call was replaced. This was relayed by sound designer Matt Wood a few years ago.

Lucas was running out of time on ANH, and the production team was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work ahead of them. Even Ben Burtt was running behind schedule and Lucas had to turn to Fox's in house sound department to farm out certain work. What Fox had at their disposal was the massive library of sound effects from various Hollywood studios... Fox had some general guidelines and grabbed what they thought was an appropriate call for a dragon from the Hanna/Barbara collection. Lucas was never happy with it, but he was simply stuck. So years later he has an opportunity to revisit the sound.

Also I suspect there's a rights issue in there somewhere and Lucasfilm probably had to dole out a royalty check every time there was a new rerelease of the film on home video. Remove the sound and remove the royalty payment. Personally I prefer the 2004 version because I'm way too familiar with the Hanna/Barbara source and it bugged me for years, but I do understand the desire to make the sound a little more human-like.

 

I liked the fact that the 2004 version sounded like Boga from RotS when I first heard it. I thought maybe the two creatures were related some way. Now I'm wondering if Lucas just changed the whole idea of the sound being a krayt dragon call.

Remember in the old EU novel Tatooine Ghost how the sand people had a legend of a murdering ghost after Anakin slaughtered that village in AotC? What if Obi-Wan heard of the legend and frightened the sand people away by pretending to be the ghost? That would make the 2011 version more understandable.

 

Some of the descriptions of the 2011 one have cracked me up

- A drunk NASCAR fan
- Baffled about what the Tuskens are running from
- Guy on a spring break party
- Scooby Doo
- Matthew Wood hooting
- Whatever the heck 2011 was
- Weird beyond reason
- Sounds like an old woman stepped on her grandson's Legos while barefoot

Thank you JC, you never dissapoint

 

Interesting comparisons. Tbh, I actually don't like all parts of any of the three:

First one: I don't like the first part of this one (it seems too much like a "siren"/alarm sound rather than a creature noise), but I like the latter part of it.

Second one: Ok overall, but still seems more like what I imagine as a sound produced from a bird-like creature rather than something that looks like a Krayt dragon.

Third one: The worst of the three, with (to my ear) three distinct parts, none of which are good (the middle part sounds like it's been cut in from some completely different part of the movie, and the end part of this one sounds like a version of the infamous "Wilhelm scream").

Also, this is unrelated to the sound of the dragon call, but what actually bugs me the most (and this is present in all three versions), is the way for a split-second there, Obi-wan seems to be half-stumbling as he approaches the sand people

Edit: and after scanning the rest of the thread, I see I am not the first to mention what appears to be a "drunk" Obi-wan...

 

Should put in the Wilhelm scream in there. Kidding.

 

Of course there was. It sounds like an animal not a man pretending to mimic an animal call.

No it sounds like GASP a man imitating an animal.

 

Or in other words he mimicked it too well...

 

Jedi voice changer maybe?

He hid it in his belt!

 

I am one of the few I guess who actually likes the 2011 blu ray version. IMO it sounds much more like a human trying to mimick a creature's noise, which if I'm correct is what Obi-Wan was trying to do at that moment. I've always felt the other sounds were a bit odd coming out of him, for that reason.

Ultimately, it's a moment in time, which doesn't really have any major bearing at all on the events of ANH, so if GL saw fit to change it, then so be it...

 

The original sounds fine, although I prefer the 2004 version by quite a bit. It has an eerie, ghostly quality to it that is legitimately unsettling. The most effective version, imo.

That said, I almost think the 2011 version is my favourite. It's ridiculous and it doesn't fit the mood at all, but it makes me laugh every single time.

 

I'm just waiting for it to become a straight-up Tarzan yell in future releases.

 

I barely remember Obi-Wan using the call in the film, to be honest. But which version was the best . . . I do not recall. It was just a minor moment in the film that I do not regard as particularly memorable.

 

The orignal is what we always knew.

The 2004 sounds to much like the lizard Obi-Wan rides in Revenge of the Sith.

2011 is my favorite. It's weird. It's spooky and other worldly. And it starts as a strange high pitch scream and ends with a deep low pitch whoosh. It gives the feeling the Sandpeople are feeling this resonate in their bones as much as hearing it. It seems clear Obi-Wan isn't making that sound vocally. It's produced by the Force.

 

The 2011 one is clearly the worst.

I prefer the original, but also like the weirdness of the 2004 version.

 

I think it's pretty clear he's producing it vocally but its power and resonance is being amplified in some way by his Force-aided Jedi constitution. The earlier versions are weird precisely because it doesn't sound like anything human vocal cords could ever produce.

I actually like the way that it starts out all overpowering and otherworldly but then trails off at the end into a kind of unhinged human shriek. It communicates that this guy really is some sort of powerful wizard but, at the same time, a bit of an eccentric old man just like Owen describes him.

And for the record, this is how that moment is described in the script:

Artoo forces himself into the shadows of a small alcove in the rocks as the vicious sandpeople walk past carrying the inert Luke Starkiller, who is dropped in a heap before the speeder. The raiders ransack the speeder, throwing parts and supplies in all directions. Suddenly they stop. Then everything is quiet for a few moments. A great howling moan is heard echoing throughout the canyon which sends the sandpeople fleeing in terror.

"A great howling moan." That's a pretty spot-on description of the 2011 version.

 

Original. Why? Cuz I'm old. Get off my sand.

 

The last one sounds as if the leader of a choir has been forced to sing the opening chord to “Duel of the Fates” by being given a really savage wedgie.

 

That's why you don't wear underwear in space!

 

is the D+ version different from the blu rays? It sounded different to me but the blu ray version always kinda sounds weird cuz the original is burned in my brain.