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Ranking the Star Wars Soundtracks — Page 4

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dahmage said:

imperialscum said:

I would say ANH is the best and most original. Then would be ESB and ROTJ. Then PT. And last TFA.

did you know that this is also the release order?

Of course he did. It’s but another way of him showing us his brilliance.

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He’s such a special cookie.

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ssj said:

  1. TESB
  2. SW tied with RotJ tied with TFA

^ This

I don’t ever listen to the PT scores.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Windows7Guy100 said:

Density said:

That does give me an idea - What if someone re-scored the OT to incorporate PT themes that didn’t exist at the time like […] Battle of the Heroes for the Obi-Wan/Vader duel, etc.? Too crazy?

Adywan actually did that in Revisited.

I’d rather re-score Vader’s creation and Padme’s funeral in ROTS with Ahsoka’s final theme from the season finale of rebels (the last theme heard, with drums), which kinda has a strong “turn of the tide” or “destiny’s cards revealed” vibe; and by that I’d free Qui Gonn’s funeral theme to be reused in the duel between ObiWan and Vader in ANH.

That sort of tragic music fits the re-encounter between former master and apprentice.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTFNwROFWaA (starting at 20). I totally see Vader waking up and the funeral in Naboo with that score. It even changes the feeling of the ending, from tragic to “what now?”, reminds me a lot of Nolan’s The Dark Knight ending.

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With the OT it’s difficult to decide. Even though Empire has the most consistent score from start to finish, my favorite cues are in Return and Star Wars. If I’d be forced to choose a singular theme to save (not surprising given some of the threads here) I’d certainly pick the entire “Battle Of Endor II” suite, more specifically the cues pertaining the duel and Vader’s redemption.

In regards to the EU scores:
RoTS - What a score. In my mind I picture a completely different movie.
TPM - The score really picks up steam during the third act. Shame it’s so choppily edited in the film.
TFA - Works great in the film, but as a standalone experience I find it dull.
AoTC - Only the main themes appeal to me.

Caligula’expanded OST, V2 Released
The Shining’s complete OST
Ghidorah, The Tree-Headed Monster (English dub synched to Toho cut)

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I’ve never seen a single person here refer to the PT or ST as EU except to mock it. Certainly neither Lucasfilm nor Disney consider it that way.

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I know you aren’t mocking, I’m explaining that you’re the first person I’ve ever seen call an official canon film EU.

To paraphrase 005,

[stares sadly into the distance]

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Because it is absolutely critical that we get this right…

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Legends

Star Wars Legends, formerly known as the Expanded Universe (abbreviated EU), encompasses every one of the officially licensed, fictional background stories of the Star Wars universe, outside of the original six Star Wars films produced by George Lucas and certain other material such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars, created before April 25, 2014.

(obviously if the PT movies are not EU, ST movies are not either)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_expanded_universe

The Star Wars expanded universe (SWEU) encompasses all authorized media and officially licensed Star Wars fictional material. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, toys, television films and other assorted media. Any media directly produced by Lucasfilm is considered official Star Wars canon: the Star Wars films, the Clone Wars TV series and the Rebels series.

If you want to call the PT and ST something silly like myEU, go ahead, but they aren’t EU.

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IsanRido said:

TV’s Frink said:

Because it is absolutely critical that we get this right…

It is? I thought the only thing that mattered in this particular thread was to rank the scores, which I did.

Unfortunately, any thread that contains an unresolved issue is deleted by Jay 48 hours after the last post on that particular issue. I don’t know why he deletes the entire thread, but some things are not for us to understand.

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LuckyGungan2001 said:

Continuing on with my ranking frenzy, I think it’s time to rank the Star Wars soundtracks. My opinion is very different from usual opinions, so I expect debate. Anyway my rankings:

  1. Revenge of the Sith - A+
  2. A New Hope - A+
  3. The Phantom Menace - A+
  4. The Empire Strikes Back - A
  5. Return of the Jedi - A
  6. Attack of the Clones - A-
  7. The Force Awakens - A-
  8. Rogue One - B

Yes, all the scores are absolutely terrific. Let the debates begin!

Updated my ranking to include score for Rogue One soundtrack.

Not enough people read the EU.

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DominicCobb said:

SW - A+
ESB - A+
ROTJ - A
TFA - A
TPM - A-
AOTC - B+
ROTS - B

Changing this a bit. At the moment, I’m feeling Rogue One fits in between TPM and the rest of the PT, which might be mostly because I’m bored of those.

But still, though those compositions are certainly better in many cases, the scores are essentially (I feel) incomplete. Especially AOTC. So I think I’m also going to bump ROTS above that too. It sort of annoys me in a way because it feels quite un-Star Warsy in places (with all the epic choirs and tracks like “Padme’s Ruminations”), though I do think for the most part it’s rather consistent and a lot of great moments don’t even make it onto the OST. AOTC on the other hand tends to be boring, and though it has an amazing theme that works throughout the score (unlike ROTS), the whole climax is basically unscored which is a huge minus.

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  1. Star Wars
  2. The Empire Strikes Back
  3. Revenge of the Sith
  4. The Phantom Menace
  5. Attack of the Clones
  6. Return of the Jedi
  7. Rogue One
  8. The Force Awakens

Am seriously fond of the prequel scores despite the quality of the movies themselves. They have a lot of memorable tracks from “Duel of the Fates,” “Across the Stars,” and “Anakin vs Obi Wan.”

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joefavs said:

I’m not sure what a better way to describe it would be. It’s just so relentlessly bombastic. The frequent cymbal crashes, the stuttering trumpet accents. It sacrifices the subtlety the other scores have in order to be as big as possible at all times.

Also, it’s by far the worst in terms of recycling previous material. Almost half the movie is a cut and paste job.

Also also, “Battle of the Heroes” is a sludgy, plodding bore, and it’s the only theme from Sith that I can even remember without looking up. Seriously, the way people talk about that being one of the best soundtracks, I sometimes think there must be a version with an alternate score floating around that everyone’s seen but me.

The same could be said for Duel of the Fates. You’re supposed to be hearing this, but all I can hear is this…

Seeking only the most natural looking colors for Star Wars '77

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The Aluminum Falcon said:

  1. Star Wars
  2. The Empire Strikes Back
  3. Revenge of the Sith
  4. The Phantom Menace
  5. Attack of the Clones
  6. Return of the Jedi
  7. Rogue One
  8. The Force Awakens

Am seriously fond of the prequel scores despite the quality of the movies themselves. They have a lot of memorable tracks from “Duel of the Fates,” “Across the Stars,” and “Anakin vs Obi Wan.”

AOTC’s soundtrack > ROTJ’s? WHAT? Other than “Across The Stars” and “Zam The Assassin” what songs can you remember from AOTC’s soundtrack? The music in the last act of ROTJ alone overtakes the entire AOTC soundtrack in my opinion.