Episode 3 Soundtrack

[Mountain Man]

The soundtrack for Revenge of the Sith was officially released today. Most notable thing about this release is that the soundtrack comes with a 70-minute music video DVD at no additional cost. The DVD features footage and dialogue from all six films edited to selections from John Williams' score giving a plot synoposis of the entire saga.

I was a bit surprised that Lucas would include something like this before the release of Episode 3, but interestingly, the film footage doesn't make a lot of sense unless you're familiar with the films in the first place. For instance, the one selection featuring footage from Episode 3 is basically an extended trailer with much of the footage coming from the existing promotions but extended slightly here and there to fill out the longer length of the music video. Without context, they're just a bunch of images, so there's really not much fear of being spoiled.

[Farlander]

Well, the Episode III novel has been out for a while, so it's not like what happens is a secret. And I doubt the amount of footage on the DVD is enough to make anyone feel satisfied without seeing the movie. So I think it's a good idea.

[Dukefan]

I'm not buying it till I see the movie. I've been avoiding even the slightest spoilers (yes, even the various teasers and commercials), and the track titles are bound to have even slight spoilers.

Out of curiosity, I did download Battle of the Heroes (get off my back about illegally--I'm absolutely going to buy the CD, I was just anxious to hear Williams' grand finale), and wasn't too impressed with it, but after a few more listens, I think it's going to grow on me. It'd odd, though: The melody is incredibly syncopated, which is not something Williams is known for at all. It just doesn't really have the power of Duel of the Fates, but hey, that's a pretty tough act to beat. I read recently that when Lucas heard DotF for the first time, he was so excited, he said Williams had written the end to Episode III before Lucas had even written the story.

Hey, what are the odds that Lucas has sliced and diced up the editing of the final battle, thereby cutting up Williams' fine music as well and not letting Battle of the Heroes shine through, just like he did for Episode I? Maybe he even threw Duel of the Fates in there for good measure. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinyted.gif http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinyted.gif http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinyted.gif

[Mountain Man]

The track titles aren't spoilerish unless you know absolutely nothing about Star Wars. And from the little I've heard of the score (haven't had a chance to give it a proper listen), it is excellent.

[HenryJonesJr]

...and again, Williams has outdone himself. I am pretty amazed by this score. The last track is a breathtaking musical journey through almost 30 years of Star Wars. I love it!

[Marty]

heres the cover for the sake of it

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000850IS6.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Mountain Man]

HenryJonesJr said:
...and again, Williams has outdone himself. I am pretty amazed by this score.


It is quite exceptional. I love how Williams has been able to weave musical elements from the original films into this new score. Musically, it's a perfect transition from the prequels to the originals.

[Dukefan]

Also, [i]please tell me that the End Credits suite is something more than just a stitched-together track of Main Theme, Battle of the Heroes, and whatever other concert arrangement Ep. III has. The original trilogy End Credits were all original compositions that combined the main themes of the film in a great concert suite that flowed wonderfully and all ended with a grand orchestral restatement of the main theme, and a fantastic brass finish. TPM, by contrast, just had poorly-edited fades from Main Theme into Duel of the Fates, then Anakin's Theme--a horrible, horrible Credits Suite. (It would have been no different then listening to tracks 2 and 3 of the CD consecutively.) AotC, thankfully, ended with a slightly-modified version of Across the Stars, but that's still basically all it was. I want an End Credits suite that goes out with a bang! (See the Empire Strikes Back credits for the best example.)

[Mountain Man]

I still think A New Hope's credit suite is the absolute best.

I'll let somebody else critique Episode 3's since I've only listened to it twice uncritically (it's a whopping 13 minutes long!).

[Dukefan]

Is it just me, or did Battle of the Heroes suddenly become a thousand times better after seeing the movie? When I first heard it (before I saw the film), it just didn't seem to have the fast-paced intensity and bombastic tones of Duel of the Fates. BotH is more subdued, introspective, and brooding, and I didn't really see how it would fit into what is arguably the most important battle of the entire Star Wars saga. But it's absolutely perfect in the film. I think it's because the Anakin/Obi-Wan battle just has so much pathos--that is, emotional intensity--that it's way more than just fancy swordfighting moves (like the Darth Maul battles were), and BotH perfectly brings out the incredible dramatic importance of the battle, and what it means to both characters. By being more brooding and low-key, it just reinforces the enormous gravity of the battle. Duel of the Fates would not have worked with that; it would have made the battle seem too much about speed and agility, when there was so much more driving the force of the battle.

That said, Duel of the Fates makes an apperance in the Yoda/Palpatine battle. (It climaxes just as Yoda falls from the floating thingy.) Doesn't work, in my opinion. What's even weirder is that music from Empire Strikes Back shows up! During the first part of the Yoda/Palpatine battle, the music is almost note-for-note taken from the first part of the Luke/Vader battle in TESB. Weird.

And Williams' choices for the Credits suite don't make sense to me. Anyone (like me) who knows all the credits suites backwards and forwards knew that for ROTS, it would basically have to be a medley of themes from the whole saga. (Anything else would seem incomplete.) But he picked (if I remember correctly) Leia's theme, Battle of the Heroes, and the Thone Room End Title. Why? How can you have Leia's Theme in the end credits without having Luke's Theme? And how come "Luke and Leia" made no appearance at all in the whole score, that I heard? And I would have expected at least some version of the Imperial March.

The way I see it, the themes most critical to the events of ROTS, and which form the bridge between the prequels and the original trilogy, are the Imperial March (Vader's theme) or Anakin's theme (which has the Imperial March incorporated into it), and Luke's theme (a.k.a the Force theme) and Leia's theme. I don't understand why Williams chose to put only one of those in the credits suite.

[FullMetalJacket]

I love Battle of the Heroes. I feel like a lot more "happens" in it than in Duel of the Fates, which is a lot of flashiness and not much substance.