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Star Wars Saga - Without John Williams (WIP)

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I was thinking it would be fun to do a version of Star Wars Skywalker Saga movies without the traditional score by John Williams, but rather with a music soundtrack from bands of the general time the films were released (or prior).

I got this idea from the drama behind the film of 1984, where the studio replaced the orchestral score with music by the Eurythmics behind the Director’s and Producer’s backs.

We’d still use John Williams’ score to connect scenes where it doesn’t make sense to have a song, but the goal would be to make Star Wars more like Guardians of the Galaxy with an emphasis on popular songs.

I want to stick to music that could have been used when the film was released, but I understand this is a difficult task even without sticking to period. I want to get creative. I’m pretty sure I can get them all integrated into the film, with sound effects and dialogue intact.

Let me know if you have any music ideas, I’ll post samples of scenes as I work on it.

UPDATE:

Here are some of the scenes redone with songs rather than Williams’ score:

The Phantom Menace

Attack of the Clones

Revenge of the Sith

A New Hope

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

The Force Awakens

  • Finn & Poe’s escape set to “Make Me Feel” by Janelle Monáe.
    (Blocked in Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea)
    https://youtu.be/uq-xfzvvwxg

The Last Jedi

The Rise of Skywalker

  • Ben arriving to help Rey and the Civilian Fleet arriving to help the Resistance set to “Holding Out for a Hero”. I used three different versions of the song, Bonnie Tyler’s original as well as Jennifer Saunders’ and Frou Frou’s covers made for Shrek 2.
    https://youtu.be/ncR-el-c-_E
    offline

  • Rey on Tatooine set to “There She Goes” by The La’s.
    https://youtu.be/gC5CX7e1XuA

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  • Rage Against the Machine’s Killing In The Name for Order 66
  • Losing My Religion for when Luke is being a miserable old git
  • replace Jedi Rocks with Bowie’s Let’s Dance
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Brewzter said:

I’m very interested in how this turns out. The only things that I can think of right now are “I Need A Hero” for when Ben arrives to help Rey

I used three different versions of the song… it oddly works? 😂
https://youtu.be/ncR-el-c-_E

Brewzter said:

and “Celebration” at the end of ROTJ

This is odd and funny, definitely not Yub Nub!
https://youtu.be/QNfieiLoT4c

Wexter said:

  • Rage Against the Machine’s Killing In The Name for Order 66

My ripped copy of RotS is corrupt. 🙃 This will have to wait until I re-rip it.

Wexter said:

  • Losing My Religion for when Luke is being a miserable old git

This worked really well…
https://youtu.be/iOyrJ5EQL2A

Wexter said:

  • replace Jedi Rocks with Bowie’s Let’s Dance

It’s too hard to replace Hedi Rocks, as someone is singing onscreen. If I could separate her vocals, I’d have her sing over karaoke version of Let’s Dance.

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Ugh, challenging the copyright claims… This is the definition of Fair Use. “Celebration” stayed up, but the other two will need to be re-uploaded unless someone wants to DM me a better way to share. By Gdrive is full because of my sequel trilogy re-edits… 🙃

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This certainly sounds novel and the Celebration video is nicely done. I’d like to see the others - Vimeo, Streamable, Dailymotion work; or you could share the files through Mega or, if they’re small, something like Catbox.

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Looks like they’re all back up? Haha, challenging the claim worked!

On a separate note, i think what I’m gonna go for next is the Immigrant Song over the Battle of Hoth. I’m gonna try the original first, even though I prefer the Trent Reznor/Karen O version.

Any other ideas?

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These are actually brilliant 😄

Thanks for doing this, I would actually watch a full-length edit of this.

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Wexter said:

These are actually brilliant 😄

Thanks for doing this, I would actually watch a full-length edit of this.

Cheers! Hopefully we can get enough songs for a full edit, some might need to be swapped out and such. It would be cool to have a full edit though.

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Holding out for a Hero unironically improves that whole sequence. Almost helps me forget Ben Solo’s last words were “ow”.

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sade1212 said:

Holding out for a Hero unironically improves that whole sequence. Almost helps me forget Ben Solo’s last words were “ow”.

Haha! I don’t think I ever registered that that was his final words… 🤣😂🤣

This project is meant to be both humorous and earnest, haha.

I have another song replacement awaiting review on YouTube, might cut together another and update here with whichever is approved first. It’s been funny, the algorithm recognises every clip, but it seems random which get blocked (TRoS climax, TLJ Grumpy Luke, TFA Finn/Poe escape) and which don’t (RotJ ending and TLJ Canto Bight).

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All of these sound great and wouldn’t feel out of place in the actual scenes haha

Just being curious, what software/plug-in do you use for the audio isolation/muting the score?

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Knight of Kalee said:

Just being curious, what software/plug-in do you use for the audio isolation/muting the score?

Yeah, I was wondering that too. And could it also be possible to release a version of the movies with no music at all? That would be a very interesting experience.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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I mixed a few different sources and plug-ins I’ve gotten from work. It would be possible to release more without music, but I feel like Disney would chase that down if it got spread too far. Feels like unnecessary danger to sites like this.

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JakeRyan17 said:

I mixed a few different sources and plug-ins I’ve gotten from work. It would be possible to release more without music, but I feel like Disney would chase that down if it got spread too far. Feels like unnecessary danger to sites like this.

I mean, it’s not like any of the fan edits and preservations here have experienced legal trouble yet. As long as you keep it to this site and don’t put it on YouTube or something, you should be fine.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

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This project felt safe on YouTube, but obviously would not otherwise.

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Well this is a cool idea. Very unique. “Losing My Religion” (The Last Jedi) works really well.

I’m an old-school rap fan so I’d love to see some Wu-tang or 2Pac…but not sure where exactly. Also, when it comes to rap, obviously there tends to be lots of curses which I do not if you mind or not.

One option is using instrumentals…for example, perhaps the instrumental to 2Pac’s Pain could be added where appropriate. Maybe in the scene where Anakin is on Tatooine seeking out his missing mother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKDM-Zmebpo

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Darth Darthy said:

Well this is a cool idea. Very unique. “Losing My Religion” (The Last Jedi) works really well.

Thanks!

I’m an old-school rap fan so I’d love to see some Wu-tang or 2Pac…but not sure where exactly.

I can’t say I’m familiar enough with the music to know a good track to place in. If you think of a good track for a scene, or do a mock-up, I’ll drop it in!

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JakeRyan17 said:

Wow - you are fast, lol. I did an edit to my original post with a 2Pac instrumental suggestion.

Also, can’t go wrong with Beastie Boys. Imagine ‘Intergalatic’ or ‘Sabotage’ playing when young Obi-Wan & Anakin enter the bar in AOTC to find the shape shifting assassin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORYO0atB6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a64cJiGKr7c

If I think of something else I’ll let you know. I any case, looking forward to what you come up with.