Revenge Of The Sith Score Discussion **Official Thread**

Ayuh..I don't think we've ever gotten this much Force Theme at once. And while I was hoping to get more Imperial March in the soundtrack, this definitely makes up for it.

 

The Force Theme is my favorite theme of the entire saga. I actually just made a Force Theme CD today.

 

I have a more complete list of how the music appears, and it's not exact, but I've assembled what I could.

1.) Main Title and Revenge of the Sith
2.) Anakin Destroys the Federation Battleship (Tracked from TPM)
3.) Anakin's Dream (I'm not 100% spoiled, I assume it happens this early on)
4.) Grievous Talks to Palpatine (1st half) Again, not 100% spoiled, so I don't know the exact order, but they say it happens "very early on".
5.) Palpatine's Teachings
6.) Grievous and the Droids
7.) General Grievous
8.) Padme's Ruminations
9.) Enter Lord Vader
10.)Grievous Talks to Palpatine Part II (the quieter stuff)
11.) Anakin's Dark Deeds
12.) Anakin vs. Obi-Wan
13.) Duel of the Fates (TPM Concert version, give or take)
14.) Battle of the Heroes (Not exact, but majority of it appears in the battle after DOTF)
15.) The Immolation Scene
16.) Birth of the Twins and Padme's Destiny
17.) A New Hope and End Credits


There you go, I think that's a nice summary, until we have exact cue lengths to throw in here and there.

 

You'll want to flip Anakin's Dream with Grievous Talks to Sidious. They talk before Anakin has his dream.

 

Ah, OK.

EDIT: I also completely ommitted "Anakin's Betrayal" Woops. It should come right after "Enter Lord Vader".

 

So I walked into Circuit City today to pick up a copy of the score. There wasn't a single copy to be found. I was confused because first it seems like an item they'd carry and second I didn't think there were enough Star Wars fans in Staten Island, New York to clean Circuit City out. Next I went to Barnes and Noble which had one copy of it left. I brought it up to the cashier and asked if it was a really popular item. She said they've been selling incredibly fast. I told her I thought I was the only Star Wars geek who would want one. She said she must have sold a million of them in the past two weeks and that in fact she had tickets for opening night herself. I was like wow then...see you there.

Moral of the story:
1. The ROTS Score is popular
2. Many more people are Star Wars fans than I thought

And lastly as my girlfriend decided as we were leaving Barnes and Noble... people must like the bonus DVD - I don't remember having this problem when the AOTC score came out.

 

I bought the ROTS soundtrack and am loving it! The end credits recap of the "throne room" march is VERY COOL!

The DVD is VERY well made.

I would like some comments on the fact that they inserted a "ghostly" image of Hayden Christianson with Yoda and Alec Guiness into the shot at the end of ROTJ for the DVD video that is included in the ROTS soundtrack. It made me kinda sick. Hayden looked really uncomfortable. I hope that doesn't end up in some future DVD release.

The actor that played Anakin in ROTJ was just "erased" right out of the shot and replaced with Hayden Christianson. Yuk. Whats next? Dumping Alec for a haunted Ewan?

 

"I would like some comments on the fact that they inserted a "ghostly" image of Hayden Christianson with Yoda and Alec Guiness into the shot at the end of ROTJ for the DVD video that is included in the ROTS soundtrack. It made me kinda sick. Hayden looked really uncomfortable. I hope that doesn't end up in some future DVD release."

Are you being sarcastic, or were you just not paying attention when the Trilogy was released on DVD? All the OT footage on the 'Musical Journey' is from the DVD release. You should have also noticed that in the conversation between Vader and the Emperor from TESB, the Emperor that is your avatar was replaced by Ian McDiarmid.

 

I just listened to the ROTS score all the way through -- is it just me or does the end credits music seem like a cut-and-paste job?

I know that all the films' end credit music jumps around between different themes and all, but this one seems too disjointed.

The "Force theme" segment toward the middle is almost exactly like the version of the ANH Medal Ceremony music that appeared on the "Skywalker Symphony" CD Williams directed in the late 90s -- I have not had a chance to do an exact comparison yet. It also seems slower than the ANH medal ceremony music.

 

I have had the Skywalker Symphony for a long time, but I never took the time to listen to the Throne Room Arrangement. And here I thought the entire thing in the credits were new. No, the music is not cut and pasted, London Symphony did the music.

 

I love the Skywalker Symphony CD. The recording of the Forest Battle from that CD is far superior to all other recordings of that I've ever heard. Being a trombone player, I love how the trombone parts in that recording are so prominent and edgy. Also, the trombone parts in that recording of the Throne Room are a little louder, and the end credits crawl begins with trombones playing Luke's Theme, as in Episodes I-III, V and VI, rather than with French horns, as in the original track. It's a nice bit of retroactive musical continuity, plus it just sounds cool (again, from someone who has played the trombone for almost 10 years now).

I am glad to be hearing that Duel of the Fates is a lot more prominent than the CD would lead us to believe. It also seems to be more prominent than it was in AotC. Since DotF is one of my favorite Star Wars themes, this makes me happy. I'm wondering: Has anyone heard of Anakin's Theme being featured a bit more in the movie itself? I think it would be very appropriate to have it play and die off one last time as Anakin makes his final turn to the Dark Side, sequeing almost perfectly into an arrangement of the Imperial March.

 

Just a note on how you wouldn't expect some people to be star wars fans...


I was in a local CD store today and they were giving figurines away with every soundtrack purchase. The girls - seemingly normal girls - behind the counter were comparing the figures and saying which was coolest. They eventually decided on 'talking' artoo, but also thought Yoda was cool.


The things you wouldn't guess, hey?

 

Heh. So does anyone know WHY they track music? I read on JWfan.net that Williams did not score music for the Arena battle in AOTC, and didn't score any music for a few sequences in ROTS. Why not? If he's scoring anyways, what is a few extra minutes? Especially since there was time after editing was finished to plug some stuff in. Heck, even editing and tracking from a brand new score like they did in TPM would be better than just recycling old music. I'm kinda dispapointed in that, but I hear it's not as noticeable in ROTS.

But again, does anyone know WHY they just sit there and say "hey, this scene doesn't need any new music"?

 

Vaderbait, you make it sound like writing music is as simple as writing a paragraph; it's not. It's a complicated process, from coming up with new melodies and rhythmic nuances to harmonizing one way for one scene and another very different way for another scene. In all likelihood, Williams ran out of time for scenes in question, so previously composed and recorded music was used. I actually liked some of the tracked music in the Arena scene, since it was a version of the Duel of the Fates theme, which I love. Although it is annoying to not have new music in every scene, it's not all bad, and ultimately is better than simply having silence because the composer did not have time.

 

Saw the film this afternoon at a press screening.

The music is sublime. It fits very very well

 

Heh. So does anyone know WHY they track music? I read on JWfan.net that Williams did not score music for the Arena battle in AOTC, and didn't score any music for a few sequences in ROTS. Why not? If he's scoring anyways, what is a few extra minutes? Especially since there was time after editing was finished to plug some stuff in. Heck, even editing and tracking from a brand new score like they did in TPM would be better than just recycling old music. I'm kinda dispapointed in that, but I hear it's not as noticeable in ROTS.

The recording sessions took place over two weeks in February. Williams had to have everything ready by then, because the LSO is very busy, and additional recording sessions in March or April could not have been scheduled. So, if there was something he hadn't scored by February, too bad. Tracking was the only option. Besides, he had to go straight to writing War of the Worlds after the recording sessions.

 

Halibut, can you give us a more detailed rundown of exactly how much tracked music appears in the film, the exact cues that are used etc, etc.

Is it true for instance, that the largely un-used music from the arena monsters sequence in AOTC, is tracked into the battle on Kashyyyk ?

How about the supposed concert suite version of DotF that plays during Yoda vs Sidious ? How well does this segue into the surrounding music ? Is it at all jarring ?

Thanks in advance

 

The short answer is "no"

Seeing the film for the first time, I was more interested in taking in the whole experience rather than listening for specific tracks and cues LOL

All I know for now is that the music went very well with the film, unlike in AOTC (IMO)

 

LOL

You disappoint me Personally, I will be sitting there with a notepad next week, taking detailed notes on the score

To hell with the overall experience

Just kidding of course It's good to know that the music is more seamlessly integrated this time. Next week cannot get here quick enough !

 

http://www.jwfan.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=7383

This is a thorough analysis of the score in the film by elvisjones2005 (scroll down a couple posts).

 

I'm sneaking in a voice recorder to hear the score.

Eh, not really, but it would be cool to find a real cue listing.

As for the tracking, I was under the impressino, I think I read it at JWFan.net in a review, that Lucas actually told him to specifically not score music for certain scenes because "This scene doesn't need new music."

That does not sound like running out of time to me, though that sounds most plausible.

 

Yeah, I think that is the case with the Yoda/Sidious duel. The other examples of tracking are probably

A) Williams ran out of time.
B) The special effects were incomplete, and he could not score the scenes.
C) Music was tracked in over original music for no reason.

 

If anyone has Holst's "The Planets" (especially the LSO version), listen to the track "Pluto". Then listen to the beginning of "Birth of the Twins". There's a nice resemblence there-very eerie music.

 

There's no "Pluto" in The Planets.

I hear a bit of resemblance to "Birth of the Twins" in "Neptune."