GeorgeP

I hadn't seen a thread about this in this forum yet, so I thought I'd ask: What are the chances that the full John Williams score to Star Wars III will ever see the light of day on CD?

There are at least ten minutes of wonderful underscore and alternate tracks in this film not available to the public. Could anyone help me with any news or insights as to how I might obtain this?

Or is George Lucas just withholding this for some future release as well? Thoughts?

Raffurar

It is VERY likely that this will see the light of day. While people are musing that it might happen next year with the releases of the saga in 3D to theaters, it's purely speculation. ONE day it will happen, just like we got the original trilogy's full scores on its 20th anniversary. While I'd love for it to be sooner than later, it's really anyone's guess. I figure they want to make sure it's enough removed from the Phantom Menace Ultimate Edition score, so that they can release full scores of all three prequel films. The Ultimate Edition was a mistake both in release schedule and in execution. Hopefully any new releases are in original score order like the Special Edition scores are, thus giving us music that didn't make the film, like any good full score should.

Giles

which reminds me - I have still have to buy the 'Empire Strikes Back' score... (my fave of the films).

digitalfreaknyc

Good luck. There's so much re-used material in Clones and Sith that I dunno what good it will do. The scores are about as butchered as they can get, unfortunately. If ANYONE was raped by Lucas at ANY point in time, it was Williams. I'd love to get just what was recorded as opposed to an isolated score.

Raffurar

Also, there's a lot of great discussion about full Star Wars scores and more on the John Williams fan boards . This includes an exhaustive thread determined to mine every last piece of unreleased score bits from the various Sith video games. It's an interesting read, and if you have some of the games and want to give enough effort, you can make your own edits (I'll just sit and wait for a full score release, myself). There's also great information about themes and motifs etc; if any of you are really into film scores, this is one of the top boards, particularly for John Williams fans.

GeorgeP

Thanks for the links, Raff! :tup:

I thought maybe I could record some edits from my stereo amp, if I unplugged the dialogue (center) channel speaker. I don't have any of the SW video games.

Rogue588

Amen, brother. I'm surprised he didn't use "Duel Of the Fates" during the love scenes in Clones. Ugh. Man, did he run that theme into the ground. It's a shame too, cuz "Sith" has a really good "action" theme that should've been utilized instead of "Fates"...

Giles

on a somewhat related note: if you're hooked up with HBO-HD, Sith is airing in HiDef on Saturday night (June 3) (I don't think it will be in it's OAR - 2.35:1).

PalmerJoss

I'm a huge film score fan and I have absolutely no interest in a complete score for Sith, mostly for the reasons mentioned above: the music was just butchered and wouldn't make for a very good listening experience, so I'll stick with the OST's.

digitalfreaknyc

Besides the fact that it's already been stated by official sources that there's no chance they're coming any time soon. Of course, George said the same thing about the OT...blah blah blah. This isn't about George not doing the right thing. I think it's in other people's hands.

Personally, I don't really give a shit about the latter 2 Star Wars movies. It'd be nice if they come and I'd buy them release day but I'm not dying for either one of them. As long as the OT has all (well 98%) of it's music released, I'm very happy. However, if they come out before the complete scores for the Indiana Jones trilogy, I'm going to be SEVERELY pissed.

GeorgeP

98 percent? Is some of the Endor music missing?

DGibFen

The "20th Anniversary Release" didn't include the original ROTJ song from Jabba's Palace. Instead, it was replaced with that horrid number from the special editions.

You still have to buy the "Star Wars Trilogy" 4-disc set to get everything, along with the 20th Anniversary Releases (of which the latter were recently remastered by Sony.)

Matt

And it also dropped the original "Ewok Celebration" (Yub Nub) track in favor of the New Age-y "Victory Celebration."

They should have included them, but all three of those 1997 releases were marketed more as "Special Edition" soundtracks rather than "20th Anniversary" soundtracks. And since those tracks weren't in the SEs anymore, they weren't on the discs, either.

digitalfreaknyc

Lapti Nek, the Ewok Celebration (2 different versions) and some other alternate cues were all missing. There was also a song from Jabba's Palace that remains unreleased (apparently the master is gone). Not sure about what else.

GeorgeP

I have the four-disc release, thankfully. The exclusion that really burned me up was the faster Imperial March end credits cue actually used in the "Empire Strikes Back" film. It isn't on the SE soundtracks, only the fourth of the four-disc set--and for some reason mixed with the end credits to "Return of the Jedi"!

I think I know which song from ROTJ you're talking about, digitalfreaknyc. Remember when we first see the sail barge on the dunes? We hear kind of an early club/late disco mix being played--then see it as Sy Snootles pounds it out on the keyboard.

I know that cue has never been released on ANY "Star Wars" album. Beyond that, I can't recall anything else left out.

Personally, I'd just be happy with the scores to SW II and III as they are heard in the movie. The tracks do definitely suffer from Lucas' editing diarrhea, particularly in "Attack of the Clones" which makes that move less of a priority.

But "Revenge of the Sith" has some great unreleased alternate cues to the Battle of Heroes, Anakin's Betrayal and themes which underscore the final half-hour of the film. (There is, in fact, a great :45 in which we can hear, in its full glory, the Heroes alternate being played by the London Symphony on the ROTS making-of documentary.)

Those cues literally give me chills every single time I watch the movie...a couple near the end even bring tears to my eyes. They deserve to be heard on their own.

BTW, I have the "Phantom Menace" Ultimate Edition soundtrack and enjoy both discs. It was a wonderful release at the right time, IMO. The only problem was that Ultimate Editions of Eps. II and III were assured, which never should have happened.

digitalfreaknyc

I have NEVER heard that. Link?

Jason

You're doing a better job keeping spoilers hidden than the original soundtrack CD did.

Rogue588

Ah. I remember that. Man, that shit pissed me off.

GeorgeP

Sorry, I can't find the link right now--it was quoted by the editor and senior writer of Film Score Monthly through "industry sources" back in their issues right after the TPM Ultimate Edition was released.

And yes, the spoiler on the original one-disc score album for TPM was a wet blanket on an already saggy, leaky diaper of a "Star Wars" prequel.

PalmerJoss

I could see the producers of the EP1 Ultimate Edition saying something like that back then. However, they couldn't have had any idea how the scores for the next 2 prequels would turn out. What happened is John Williams would write the scores for what was essentially an uncompleted movie and George Lucas would fill in any blanks with music tracked from other scenes or other movies from the series. I'm just glad that the scores from the original trilogy weren't written that way, that when Williams wrote the scores it was for basically a completed film, not something that was 50% or 60% completed.

There is some fantastic material in both scores, but as heard in the movies there is just far too much tracking from other scenes/movies that it would make listening to an album of it damn near impossible. I'd say close to 85% of what John Williams wrote for Eps 1 and 2 is right there on cd, so for me there's no need for an expanded score of either.

GeorgeP

I agree. But Episode III is a different animal. Much of the last half-hour (excluding the credits) is scored with alternate cues of themes from the same film--not music tracked in from other films.

That's why I want a full score album for ROTS.