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Attack of the Clones soundtrack

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I will be attempting an edit of Attack of the Clones in the not so distant future, one thing that I'd like to do is include more of the original sountrack into the edit, I've also read on John Williams website that there is a significant amount of music recorded for Clones that for some reason never made it onto the CD...and was totally abandoned in place of certain Phantom Menace tracks.

I'm curious just how much of an effect Ben Burtt had on deciding on what tracks to include or replace...Even though the screenplay was miserable, Clones was a complete disaster in the editing department. I have higher hopes now that Burtt has been replaced.
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wait, they got rid of sound designer Ben Burtt? I don't get it. His sound work is one of the few things that gives the PT that classic "Star Wars feel". I also kind of doubt he had much say in the editing or scoring of the film.

"For Star Wars to return to its roots it must be based more on emotion than explanation."  -- J.J. Abrams

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Ben Burt used to be a great sound designer. He is a terrible editor. Ever since the SE's, he has gotten lazy with the sound. Using recycled sounds, and the same sounds over and over. A great example of this is in Attack of the Clones. Zam Wessell's little blaster pistol has the same sound as the huge laser guns on the AT-AT's in ESB! What the hell is that all about? If he concentrated on what he used to do best and stop experimenting with things he obviously can't do, maybe we woud have a better PT!
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That explains a few things; while still very good ("Across the Stars"), AotC is the weakest of the 5 soundtracks. The over-use of TPM music has a lot to do with this, and any missing music by Williams would definitely help.

As for Ben Burtt, I've often joked all the battles have the same sound effects, and the special effects people just work around them and add matching visuals.
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Shhhh be careful what you type Commander, Lucas's minions scour these words looking for ideas! That sounds exactly like something George would do!

*Adopts bad fashion sense and stupid George Lucas accent:

"What we've done here on this 100th version of the film, is re-do all the battle sequences to fit Ben Burtt's sound effects. We thought this would add greater consistency to the entire saga if all the battles from TPM to ROTJ were the exact same length and had the exact same sounds. Its the way I always envisonged my movies to be. Now with even more advanced techonlogy than the 99th redo of the films I'm able to complete these films. Make sure you stay tuned next year, for the 101st edition of the films, where I digitally remove every actor from the OT with digital recreations." (nurse then wheels Lucas off to the old folks home).

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if he can replace the actors digitally and still convey the same feelings they expressed in the films whilst being real actors, i say "go for it!"
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."
Qui-Gon Jinn (R.I.P.)
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Perhaps we should remove George Lucas from the real world too, and replace him with a CGI version of him in 1976.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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I know alot of bridges have been burned for whatever reasons, It's my impression Lucas benefitted during making the OT from having surrounded himself with the Kurtz's (produced ANH and ESB) Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay for ESB and ROTJ) and even Paul Hirsch who edited both ESB and ANH.


Things are different nowdays, Lucas has hired people who simply are there to accomplish whatever Lucas dreams up, with as little opposition as possible...not only that, but CG has come far enough so that anything is possible, and I have the impression Lucas tries to hard to constantly be creating new standards for the industry.

I think George has an extremely creative imagination, but without technology or other creative minds to hold it in check..the results are telling.
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I have the Ultimate Edition soundtrack for Episode I and was hoping they'd release that for Episode II. There was some great stuff in there. The Clonetrooper theme is beautifully bombastic, and it only gets a snippet, and added in out-of-place at the end of the Bounty Hunter's Pursuit.

I just finished rearranging this soundtrack to make it more chronological, got the fanfare as the opening track, and moved that snippet of the Clonetrooper them earlier in the tracklisting as a standalone. It's short, but at least it tells the musical story in the right place.

I noticed there was a LOT of music in "The Arena" track that wasn't in the movie. I'd really love to see the cut that John Williams scored and see how it's different. I don't have any real complaints about the final result musically, but why screw with a Williams soundtrack in the first place?

Maybe MagnoliaFan can restore some of this music in "The Clone War 2.0." You listening MF?
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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where can i get that from i really liek the SW music in the PT.
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I hated the fact that music from Phantom Menace was re-used in Clones. When did they ever do that in the OT except a couple rare occasions (most of which were the SE crap).
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Originally posted by: Darth Justin
(most of which were the SE crap).
ok sinc`e jimbo is gone i am going to attempt to keep fighting his good fight. that right there was un-called for you should needlessly bash the SE like taht all the time. that is where visitors like those from MF.com get the impression that this is a fasist forum. bash teh SE all you want in a SE thread not in a thread talking about the music.

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Uhh...have you read the other posts in this topic? The SE has been mentioned, as well as a couple of anti-Lucas comments. So why am I the one to get crap I ask?

And I don't actually consider crap to be bashing the SE. I use the word for everything. Trust me, if I wanted to bash the SE, I would. And I think it is on the topic of the film music to bash the SE since the music was edited so badly.

But back on topic...

Tim Lehrbach, are you going to try to make a complete soundtrack or as much as you can? Only because there's plenty of music exclusive to the film that can only be recorded with dialogue and stuff happening in the background.
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Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV
SONY CLASSICAL CANCELLED THE AOTC UE SOUNDTRACK RIGHT BEFORE ITS RELEASE. RUMOR IS GL WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.


Wonder if GL is planning to reuse the whole thing for Ep III. Psycho_Dayv do you have any links to info on this? When did this happen?
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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No, that's a bullshit rumor.

Williams never scored the actual clone battle. No music was written for it. Both Lucas and Williams decided before scoring even started that they were going to have Williams' producer re-edit already existing music for that battle.

An Ultimate Edition of AOTC was scrapped SOLELY by Sony because the Ultimate Edition of the TPM soundtrack didn't sell well.
The Best Show You've Never Heard
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Can you back that up with facts? Not that I don't believe you, but I'd like to read it for myself. Everything I've read so far basically says that a lot of the music Williams recorded was rejected by Lucas, and the reason the music is all over the shop is because the film was still being edited late in the day, which required a lot of shifting around. I don't hate the Clones soundtrack, as the love theme is particularly nice, but it's possibly the weakest of the scores overall because of all the music that been re-used and re-edited. The single disc soundtrack album can't compete with the two-disc sets for the other films either.
"Whatever! I digitally put Jabba the Hutt back into the original Star Wars movie! I'll do what I want!"
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No, I'm just talking out my ass

C'mon, man. Although it IS cool you asked, because too many people take too much shit for granted just because they read it on a messageboard. BUT--no one ever seems to ask the people crapping on Lucas for proof that their rumors have any merit

Check www.jwfan.net. They've got some very detailed stuff. The scenario you're describing is the scoring of The Phantom Menace, which had it's 6th reel scored twice due to Lucas' re-editing, and then the chop job came when Lucas decided, last minute, to re-edit the 6th reel ONE last time. Couldn't get Williams in to re-score one last time, so the music took the hit. That was pretty much all Lucas' fault, and word is his 3rd edit of that reel didn't even really improve on the 2nd, which left the lightsaber fight and Space battle alone, mostly, and tended to crosscut more between the Naboo battle and the Princess storming the castle.

For AOTC, they knew post production was going to go down to the wire again, (Lucas had just recently created and inserted the droid sequence late in Post) so they talked beforehand, and decided they'd just leave most of the clone battle blank, and Williams' producer would cut music together from TPM and AOTC. So Williams didn't even write any music for that sequence. So the blame for the choppy music editing on that one goes to Williams' producer, who really didn't do a good job transitioning between cues at all. There was no music "rejected" by Lucas, he doesn't do that. He has, of course, chopped up cues and cut some short, going back to Empire Strikes Back, and including "The Droid Foundary" (which is one of Williams best cues, in my opinion) in AOTC, but I dont' think there's ever been an example of Lucas going "That cue sucks balls, go write another one."

the stories were pretty well known amongst the score fans, but JWfan.net did a really good job of consolidating and compiling it all on their site.

The Best Show You've Never Heard
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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
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Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV
SONY CLASSICAL CANCELLED THE AOTC UE SOUNDTRACK RIGHT BEFORE ITS RELEASE. RUMOR IS GL WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.


Wonder if GL is planning to reuse the whole thing for Ep III. Psycho_Dayv do you have any links to info on this? When did this happen?



JOHNWILLIAMSFAN.COM IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN.


BTW, BIZZLE, WE DON'T MIND THE FOUL LANGUAGE ON HERE, BUT KEEP IN THE OFF TOPIC THREAD. THE GENERAL SW DISCUSSION AND THEATRICAL CUTS VS. SPECIAL EDITION CATEGORIES ARE FOR ALL AGES. THEREFORE, IT IS FROWNED UPON WHEN FOUL LANGUAGE IS POSTED IN THESE THREADS. WELCOME TO THE BOARDS.

"I'VE GROWN TIRED OF ASKING, SO THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME..."
The Mangler Bros. Psycho Dayv Armchaireviews Notes on Suicide

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Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV



BTW, BIZZLE, WE DON'T MIND THE FOUL LANGUAGE ON HERE, BUT KEEP IN THE OFF TOPIC THREAD. THE GENERAL SW DISCUSSION AND THEATRICAL CUTS VS. SPECIAL EDITION CATEGORIES ARE FOR ALL AGES. THEREFORE, IT IS FROWNED UPON WHEN FOUL LANGUAGE IS POSTED IN THESE THREADS. WELCOME TO THE BOARDS.



What about constant CAPS? I'm just kidding.

I think we should start a petition for the release of the entire score of AOTC. I would like to hear the whole thing. I own all the scores for the original trilogy and never thought of owning any of the PT scores until reading this thread.

Also, does anyone think that the battlefield genosis scenes would have been better suited if they were more 'Imperial March' heavy? I mean, I know the editor was patching together sound cues from TPM and AOTC, but if you are going to cut and paste why not use all 5 films as source material?
The Jedi are all but extinct.......
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...Are you serious, "Psycho Dayv?"

I'm not nearly the first person to curse, but I do know I'm the first to get warned for it, which might have something to do with the fact I'm not constantly making snide jokes about how Lucas is a moron.. and do you really think any KIDS are visiting this site? Kids meaning 13 and under? Because last I checked, this place was pretty much a gaggle of 20-30 year olds, promoting the illegal bootlegging of Star Wars movies. Not that I mind, really, but last i checked, cussing wasn't illegal. Stealing was. So the morality line to tread is pretty thin, aint it? If you're going to let people read about and get into the world of copyright theft, saying "ass" and "Shit" probably isn't that bad.

I am with Hardcore Legend, though. there were plenty of unused cues from the OT that could have been edited together, and even some unused stuff from Episode II itself. The real problem I have with that flick was Williams' producer. he simply did a poor job editing the cues together. There's no reason for the music to have sounded THAT bad. I get the idea he did it in an afternoon. That's just how it feels to me.

did you visit JWfan.net? Great site.
The Best Show You've Never Heard
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WTF?!!!! Can we go back to first post for one teeny moment? Burtt has been CANNED as the editor?! No Shit! Please someone tell me this is true, as I haven't seen anything about it anywhere else. He is perhaps the WEAKEST link in the PT, bar none, not even George. Look at ANH; absolute drivel as shot, but good, creative, and snappy editing turned it into something beautiful. Look at American Grafitti; another Lucas film made in the mix. There is one of the areas Lucas shines; the guy is an editor at heart, and a good one. Who is cutting the film if not Burtt?
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Well, he wasn't actually canned. He apparently didn't want to do it this time out. He still headed up the pre-viz teams, however, so he DOES have a hand in how the movie is cut in that respect, but it wasn't that he got fired, he apparently declined to handle the editing this time out, instead choosing to concentrate of pre-viz and sound effects editing.

I do agree that a lot of the prequel's problems have to do with his editing..although he's not editing in a vacuum, either. Lucas is right behind him as well, even if Lucas doesn't get an "edited by" credit.

BUT: The Imax edit of Attack of the Clones GREATLY improved that movie, and that was ALL Burtt. He did that edit by himself. So he does have some talent. But I'm not sad to see he stepped away from the duties on this movie. I think him handling pre-viz, as well as the sound department ON TOP of editing the films, meant one of those three had to suffer. looks like it was the editing.

Roger Barton, who edited Pearl Harbor and Gone in 60 Seconds, is editing the film. Say what you will about Pearl Harbor--but I always thought the editing was good. Actually made a Michael Bay movie look semi-restrained.

The Best Show You've Never Heard