First a bit of background..........a long time ago, in a place far far away(1984 to be exact)...i had an uncle....I was in college & he was a colonel in the Air Force Inspector generals office in germany, endowed with a personality to insure a rapid career rise. He had serveral times called out the mp's on me. THat winter I plotted my revenge. He had a son 9 & daughter 7, which was a very important part of the plan, their unwitting acceptance of my gift would drive him crazy & there would be nothing he could do about it. It took 2 weeks of hunting, but i finally found it. On christmas day they opened it & were utterly transfixed. It was a table top pinball game, with lots of shiny packaging, blinking lights & most imporant of all, 3 speakers that blared out a endless & annoying stream of beeps, whistles, wails, & general nonsense. It took 8 d batteries & ran for hours. Uncle still hasn't forgiven me. (i also included a 16 pack of batteries in EACH of their stocking)
Fast forward to yesterday. I load in episode 4 & start skipping around. Imagine my surprise when i didn't find my uncles name on the credits. I figured he had finally gotten his revenge upon me. The soundtrack that was as much of a actor as anything on the screen had benn mutilated.
I have played in numerous orchestras, had bought the soundtrack album when it first came out(first record i ever bought with my own money). I worked 7 years runing sound boards for live shows/concerts/theater out of philadelphia, installed some of the first home theater systems from yamaha/adcom/snell and later THX. So the changes in the sound track were quite glaring. It's not just the additions that everyone is talking about. What i found so offense was the almost total subserviance of the soundtrack to the gag(aka special effects) reel that had now userped it. Anyone who has seen that laserdisc that thx put out for you to align your system ha watch the 10min or so walkthru of the importance of sound balance/foley that was on the "B" side of the disc. A scene from a indiana jones movie was taken & each layer of sound was explained & added on one at a time until finished. Anyone who thinks that the music is just so much wall paper, should rewatch this & the raw scenes with darth vader before the music is added.
What we have with this release is that old pinball game, very pretty,shiny, & full of lots of noise. THe kids love it and stare at us when we complain. In the back of my mind I can hear my uncle laughing