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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VI "Grevious Flees"
On the album, there is a cue called "Grevious and the Droids." Back when I was editing my Episode III score, I noticed that only half of this cue was used here. The other half was actually used during the chase through Utapau latter in the film. I wondered where it had been intended to go, so I lined it up and layered it over Episode III and found it fit perfectly.
The cue begins right after Obi-Wan and Anakin get captured by the ray shields, when R2 flys into the hall in in hot pursuit by two droidikas.
The cue continues on, showing the Invisible Hand in space, and then on through their conversation.
In the film, the music doesn't begin until after Anakin has freed Palpatine. It would play up until the Invisible Hand begins to break in half, right before General Grevious' escape pod ejects.
Here, I continue the music up until it's completion. Why most of this was tracked out is not really known. It's possible that Lucas simply felt there was too much music in the beginning of the film. Most Star Wars films don't have much music in the beginning, but the battle sequences at the end of the film usually have a lot, so John Williams naturally composed music for quite a bit of the opening sequence.
But again it's hard to say. I personally like all the music written for the whole opening sequence but it's hard to say except perhaps personal choice on Lucas' part to remove it and perhaps give it a feeling of being slightly longer than it is, with a heightened reality.
Here is where you can view "Grevious Escapes.".
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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VII "Probe Droid" Alternate and "Ice Planet Hoth" Complete
Perhaps one of the strangest changes I've seen to a film was this.
The opening to Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back begins with the usual "Star Wars" opening, about a 1:30 of music. Then, the next cue "Probe Droids" begins, but not when it's suppose to. Rather, it begins slightly late, and then is dialed out. Next, the alternate of Probe Droids" begins, removing some of the beginning. The rest of the cue plays, never quite being where it's meant to be against the film.
Then, as we see Luke from the sky, the remainder of the alternate plays up until we have a close up of luke. This then goes back to the original cue which plays until look is attacked and is being dragged away.
As he's being dragged away, another cue is tracked in as Han enters Echo Base, and the rest of the music is, for the most part, left out up until Leia confronts Han about leaving. This plays, but is slightly off from where it is intended to sync, which continues up even past R2 and 3PO come out from the hall. Most of the rest of the cue is not used in the film.
Here, I replace all the original music, synced correctly and completely in the film as originally intended by John Williams.
Why Irvin Kershner decided to do this I'm not quite sure. I know a lot of times if the music is meant to sync up directly with certain actions in the film, a lot of times the music will me moved slightly off the mark so as to change the intent and make it less blatant. But the amount of changes and tracking in and out of music here is daunting.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Lucas doesn't like Empire that much is because of it's slightly more jovial attitude towards the characters and the scenes. Not being taken that seriously seemed to have had an effect on the score by Williams and his score. Some of the cues seem to have a very different feel than those of the original film, and seem like a grave departure from the original score. Perhaps for this reason as well, and to remove that heightened sense of "somethings different," his score was mostly unused and replaced.
This is where you can view my edit of "Probe Doird" and Compelete "Ice Planet Hoth".
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STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume VIII "Droid Invasion" Complete and "Introduction of Jar Jar"
Perhaps one of the strangest moments in the score to Episode I is a small omission made as Qui-Gon runs through the forest with a myriad of other animals being persued by the Droid Transport Tanks. He runs into Jar Jar and then manages to fall out of the way of these tanks that both float and are apparently going so far they will run you down (lol right).
Anyways, the music meant for this sequence is unused in the film. A little later, As Jar Jar introduces himself and talks about Otta Gunga, the music meant to accompany this is unused. Instead, it comes in much latter when he jumps into the water but is tracked Incorrectly, causing a small portion as they step onto the landing to get into the main bubble to have to be removed.
In my video, I replace all the music and sync it correctly with the film.
Why then changes were made is hard to say. It may simply be because that small portion as Qui-Gon is being chased didn't fit well enough, and that the SFX by Ben Burt, which were very well tediously done, worked better alone. The omission of Jar Jar's theme may have been because they felt that the thematic material for Jar Jar wasn't necessary and detracted from the story, so they left it out until Jar Jar jumped into the water. The music here, having been synced differently caused them to have to remove a small repeating section near the end in order to fit the sequence correctly, so that removal is obvious.
This is where you can view this edit of "Droid Invasion" and "Introduction of Jar Jar.".
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Although not Part of the Symphonic Forces Series, I felt now would be a good time to talk about a set of three videos I did replacing the original score as written by John Williams for Battle for Naboo re-edited as it had been intended and seen by John Williams.
The last videos to be edited using Window Movie Maker, these edits can be a bit rough at times and were quite hard to make. I tried at first using Audio with them, and remixing the music into the film, but there were so many edits, and so much going on, that it quickly became impossible to sustain good sounding audio with the new music mixed in over the old for all the videos, so I opted to simply have video and music.
Star Wars: Battle For Naboo Re-Edit Part I
In this first video, we see the final moments of Sidious telling Nute to "Wipe them [the Gungans] out. All of them."
The first bit of music heard is the alternate to the "Gungan March." As mentioned earlier, the percussion can be isolated and used separately. For this reason, several alternates surfaced of this. Firstly you have this original version, then you have the percussive alternate, then you have the version on the 2 Disc Phantom Menace Set, then you have the film version which differs only slightly from the 2 disc set version so it's not entirely worth mentioning.
After this, begins the cue "The Battle Begins," which most will recognize as the music used as the Droid Army Comes to life and begins to march towards the Gungans. The dramatic difference, and yet amazing ability for the cue to be used in both cases is astounding and speaks to John Williams creative ability.
The second half of "The Battle Begins" is used in the film, as Padme and the group enter the courtyard in Naboo, however the scenes is slightly extended in the film and some of the music is looped, causing most of it to be incorrectly synced.
The next cue, "The Battle for Naboo I" begins earlier than it is used in the film, this caused a lot of the edits in the film because of the incorrect syncing. Again, like mentioned before, sometimes editors will move scores to be slightly off their mark so as not to heighten certain moments as much. Some of the scene as Nute speaks is extended in the film, which wouldn't work for the score so it was looped. Originally, Darth Maul even had a line here.
The shot then cuts back to the Gungan Battle. Notice that in the film, they seemingly enter into the Hangar Bay almost instantaneously. In the film, it seems to give the illusion that the Hangar Bay is on the other side of those doors, but anyone with a keen eye looking down from an aerial shot of Naboo would realize that the hangar Bay couldn't begin there. This created some continuity issues, but the original edit fixes them.
Back in the Gungan Battle, the music here lays completely unused in the film and unheard to most people as it's not available on the album.
From here we jump to the Hangar with "Battle for Naboo II." A lot of this sequence I had to cut, which stands to reason why they use different music in the film: so they could extend it. I wasn't quite sure how this music was meant to go as they got into their ships but when you get to the moment where the ship gets hit by the laser blast and falls to the ground below, I knew that I'd gotten it at least mostly right.
The music then jumps around and shows us on the bridge of the droid control ship, as the attendant is being told to activate the droids. The music here is quite different than what's heard in the film obviously as we just talked about that. Most won't recognize this music either as it's not released.
One of the many things I ended up having to do was reincorporate many unused shots including one here as the starfighters come up from the bottom of the screen towards the Droid Control ship. This music then segues into "Hangar Battle," as the ships begin dog fighting in space.
Another shot is of the starfighter being hit by enemy fire and falling down away from the camera. (notice the cymbol crash as it gets hit).
The film cuts back to the hangar as the group walked towards the door which opens, revealing Darth Maul. Here is where most people might get confused. In the film, we're use to hearing the choir begin singing Duel of the Fates. In the original, however, we arn't sure if they were suppose to. There isn't much space for them to, and from the score we've discovered, it doesn't appear that they did.
Star Wars: Battle for Naboo Re-Edit Part II
This second video begins with "The Duel Begins." You'll notice as the sequence begins, there is no music. Some argue that there must have been music for this but if there is, I have yet to find it.
As "The Duel Begins," listen for the two horn notes as the Jedi open their lightsabers. Also notice the exchange between the flute and the horns with the Duel of the Fates motif as the camera angles change, jumping between Maul and Obi-Wan. Agian, I had to incorporate some unused footage, but because of the limitations of the program I had, I was unable to incorporate it properly.
This then cuts to the group being held up by the Droidikas. The cue "Anakin Takes Off" begins. This predominately how it is in the film except for some minor switching around of shots.
Listen for the little moments that match up such as when the fighter gets hit by the laser blast and the flutes fly up. Then the timpani accent the beats as Anakin activates the fighter, it begins to ascend, and as the shots change (this is how it is in the film).
In the film, some of the shots are extended, such as Padme and the group running down the hall, and as such, the music is looped in the film. I shortened them to replace the music as it had been intended.
The transition to "Duel of the Fates" is a bit of a mystery. No Duel of the Fates recording has surfaced that seems to match this short battle so it is believed that a fully orchestrated version of Duel of the Fates found, just like the album version but with extra percussion and notation, was to be edited over this fighting as seen here.
Notice the extra cymbal crashes and flourishes. This is exactly like how it is in the film, except a different Recording.
This then cuts to the Gungan Battle. The question becomes "What were the droids doing all this time?" It's hard to say. The pacing of the three battles was so much, that it becomes hard to get any editing done in such a manner that is shows what needs to be shown, but also does what needs to be done without stretching too much of the battles.
In making these edits, I noticed that almost ALL of Jar Jar's lines and stunts were completely removed. It would seem that a great deal of the Gungan Battle was not in the original edit and for that reason, plus the pacing, it's possible th Lucas went back and completely re-edited this sequence. He speaks on the DVD about how difficult editing the three sequences together was, that there were several versions and that he exploited Jar Jar and his "bumbler"-ness to tell more of the story of the Gungan's so it would seem this part to be true as well.
The next cue is "Battle for Naboo III." It took me a while to figure out how this cue was meant, but once I re-inserted an unused bit from the battle between the Jedi and Maul, I realized exactly how it was at least meant to start off. I love how the instruments really bring out the motions of Maul's lightsaber. The spinning action, as it hits the Obi-Wan's saber. And even as Maul jumps up to the second level it works really well. I'm sure there was probably more to that shot, but no more has been released so I couldn't do anything but cut to the next shot.
The script, unfortunately, was of little to no help in these chances as the script available was pretty close to whats seen in the film and not what the previous edits had been.
The battle then jumps to the hallway battle between the droids and Amidala and her group. In the script, though, it described this as not being split up as seen in the film. Padme says to Panaka "We don't have time for this, Captain." He then says "I have an idea," and looked to the window and explodes it open. In the film, the scene is split in two and put inbetween more of the space battle. Here I edited it together and it worked wonderfully.
The film then cuts to Anakin in space getting close to the battle, then back to the gungan battle. I shorten most of that cut though.
Then we're back in space as the squadron spins into the deflector shield. In the film, this music does accompany this but again, is slightly pushed off the mark. If you watch in my edit, the first boom of the timpani hits as one of the fights explodes, then you see the others shoot their bombs, hitting dome and the dish and exploding with further "booms" from the timpani. Also that matched up because of this, when Anakin's controls are released, the orchestra flares with the change in color on the controls.
Also, as one of the enemy fights explodes as it hits a pylon, the cymbals crash as well.
Then as we're back in the hall way, Padme turns to Panaka who blows the window while the orchestra flares. The music in the film here is synced a bit differently as I said, but this seems to be the way the music was intended.
Star Wars: Battle for Naboo Part III
In this final video, we begin with "The Great Battle." Seen being recorded on the DVD, this cue is not used in the film. Instead, an edit of Duel of the Fates takes its place.
This cue plays until the three become trapped by the force fields. Then the cue "The Invisible Wall" begins.
The next shot, we jump to "Gungan Retreat." Again, much of the Gungan battle is underplayed in the film. Perhaps seen as unimportant and merely a decoy in the original, it really left a lot of the story about the Gungans out. As stated in the Pod Racing video, the film version of this utilizes the tracked cue "Pod Racing," but without the tatooine percussion. It allows for the extending of the sequence past this short insert.
The next scene takes us to where we left off from Padme and her group. Notice the statue in the background? It looks to have been added latter as in the next shot, taken from a bit latter in the film (but according to the released script would have been the next) it is no longer present. This is perhaps to give the illusion of them having traveled further by simply removing the statue and saying "they're in a different hall now."
This next cue is "Anakin's Crash Landing," After Padme and her group are captured, it jumps to Anakin being grazed in his ship and crash landing in the hangar of the Droid Control Ship.
The next cue "Qui-Gon's Death (Original)," is the album take on the cue "Qui-Gon's Death." The film version has many different things layered in to try to spruce up what John Williams had. As you'll notice, only the strings and the choir whispers are present as Maul and Qui-Gon battle, but in the film, tracked winds and other slight percussion is tracked in, filling in more of the sound which would have been slightly empty.
This is a more modern practice. The didn't use to be able to do this until recently when we started recording instrument sections, percussion and wind and such, all at once, but miked separately so they could be removed or isolated in a mix. Past that most of this music is how it is in the film.
As Padme is brought to the throne room, there is a small glitch, but when she gets her guns and manages to get the throne room to herself and the group, in the film, the music is looped to show her shooting more droids, but in the original edit it wasn't meant that way.
That is, as best as I can tell, how the original edit was meant. After recreating the original score from the video games, albums, dvd and such, and finding an incomplete cue list, we managed to figure out and deduce that this is what the original intent behind the Battle for Naboo was by John Williams, which required me to re-edit the film itself, otherwise I wouldn't have.
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And finally, my most recent edit that I just uploaded will by my final entry for now. If anyone has any other they think I should add, let me know. I have a few ideas floating around in my head from the OT and such that I'd like to try. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
STAR WARS Symphonic Forces Volume IX "Through the Flames" and the alternates to "Leia's News" and "Funeral Pyre for a Jedi"
In the film, after the death of Darth Vader, we cut to seeing Wedge and the Millennium Falcon getting to the Death Stars Main Reactor. In the film, the music for this moment is replaced with a much more foreboding, dark, and more solemn sounding piece tracked from Empire Strikes Back as Leia decides to turn around to get Luke from the Bottom of Cloud City. This is more somber than the fanfare originally intended for the scene.
Here I replace those first few moments.
Latter, we see Leia talking to Han, and revealing that she is Luke's sister. This version seems to highlight "He's my brother"much more than the film alternate because it moves more in this section rather than hanging onto the "re" note. Rather than stating simply Han and Leia's theme, it goes into a rendition of the Ewok theme as Wikit interrupts: the first welcomed interruption by someone.
We next see Luke burning what is left of Darth Vader. The film version is most similar, and is almost simply a lift of the film version of "Binary Sunset." Here, in this alternate, we hear a much grander version of the same theme, with completely different orchestrations and a melodically slightly longer version leading into the Ewok celebration.
The want for the changes are pretty much as stated. The transition from Anakin's death needed more time perhaps. Then the use of the Ewok theme was truly unnecessary and the Han and Leia theme worked fine in this moment. Then as Luke burned the body of his father, It's possible that Lucas wanted something with the melody of Binary Sunset. Williams original intent for Binary Sunset being different, he possibly felt that this might need an alternate and so decided to write two renditions using the same melody, but orchestrated differently.
Here is were you can view "Through the Flames" and Alternaes of "Leia's News" and "Funeral Pyre for a Jedi."
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Well, I hope you all enjoyed my break down. If you have any questions let me know. If there are any scenes you think I should do, I'd be welcome to hearing from you.
I thought you all might be interested in these changes and why they were made and be able to compare them for yourself and see which you feel you like more, in the end, giving us all more insight into the films we love.
Anyways, hope you all liked them, and there are more to come!