The absence of a Max Rebo series?Dude, we are literally getting an Obi Wan TV series. What's to complain about
News Obi-Wan Kenobi series premiering on May 27
- Thread starter Mach5
- Start date
John Williams composed the show's opening theme.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/variet...kenobi-theme-star-wars-series-1235185228/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/variet...kenobi-theme-star-wars-series-1235185228/amp/
I didn't see that coming, but that's awesome. The soundtracks to The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett have been great, but I'm glad we're getting a bit of variety for TV Star Wars and they definitely went to the right person.
I was honestly sure he was done with Star Wars after the ST, though this does make sense when you consider it basically what he did for 'Solo' as Han never had his own leitmotif on the OT. Similarly neither did Obi-Wan*, so it's nice they he gets to fill in another blank, so to speak.
* He kinda-sorta almost did, but that piece of music was substituted into the 'Binary Sunset' scene to replace the original composition that just didn't work, tonally for what they were going for. As a result it sort of became Luke's Theme, and a theme for the force in general.
Personally I think it would be neat if they (Kiner, Göransson, etc.) go back to that piece and make it Luke's personal theme rather than leaning on the Force theme so much . . . which I guess the latter kind of did for 'The Mandalorian' as you can hear the Dies Irae component, but while the tone is surprisingly close, the other phrases aren't quite the same. (For those of you at a loss as to what I'm talking about, I'd recommend you check out David Collins's podcast "The Soundtrack Show", specifically; his episodes on Star Wars, his primer on the Lucas/Williams partnership, and his whole episode dedicated to "Dies Irae")
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I also listen to the Soundtrack show, I'll just add that Luke has an official a theme as well, but it's the main Star Wars theme, so he lost his once it was applied to the openings of the Prequels.
Here's the original Binary Sunset music:
Yeah technically, but even before the prequels I think it's safe to say that (for obvious reasons) the main theme had already become more associated with the franchise as a whole, than Luke specifically. For example, they were using it in video games from the X-Wing/Tie Fighter series, to the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series and everything in-between ,regardless of whether wither Luke or the force was even peripherally involved.
Regardless, switching out the 'binary sunset' theme certainly made what Luke's various leitmotifs seem less personal to him, and more to do with generalised, overarching concepts.
ETA: It's also probably worth remembering that Williams thought of Ben's Theme/The Force in it's various guises as the embodiment of the old Republic, and the Jedi as they were. So here when Ben is reminiscing, it's a lament for things lost, and here it's a rebirth of that ancient glory. (In my head canon, that's a diegetic piece that is the anthem of the Old Republic, back in the Pre-Sith days when Jedi were at the height of their prestige.) So it's all very muddled in terms of who and what it represents based on context.
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Collins also had a precursor to the Soundtrack Show as a series-with-a-series on the podcast Rebel Force Radio, "Star Wars Oxygen," where he went over the scores of the first seven movies and part of Rogue One in exhaustive detail, with multiple hour-long episodes for each film. The archives are, unfortunately, paywalled, and the miniseries stopped suddenly partway through discussing R1, probably because the main hosts of the podcast network show their whole asses with a bunch of toxic fandom drama and they lost pretty much all their official connections and respectability. Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm even mentioning this, since the episodes are unavailable now, making this is just a bit of trivia.
I suppose if you really love Star Wars music (or David W. Collins), you could subscribe to their Patreon for a month, download all the old Oxygen episodes, unsubscribe, and listen at your leisure, assuming you (meaning I) can rationalize giving ten bucks to a bunch of ostracized jerks that probably won't end up being split with the person whose insight and expertise you're actually trying to get.
Yeah I'm aware, and I did listen to those episodes way back when; though this is the first I heard of any drama . . . not that I kept close track of that side of things.
Personally I'm content to wait until Dave circles back around to Rogue One in a few years (decades!?), time permitting. Mostly because the other guy in that podcast got on my nerves.
Pivoting slightly off topic- David W. Collins has been very spotty on his release of The Soundtrack Show. Is it actually continuing?
And Star Wars Oxygen was great insight into the scores. Too bad the not-Collins host seemed more interested in regurgitating everything David had literally just said.
And Star Wars Oxygen was great insight into the scores. Too bad the not-Collins host seemed more interested in regurgitating everything David had literally just said.
TSS has gotten more and more intermittent as time goes on (the most recent episode came out nine months after the one before it, and was still on the same subject. That was the longest gap between episodes, but not by much). Personally, as someone with a giant podcast backlog, I don't mind. Actually, I'd appreciate it if more of my shows shifted to an irregular schedule where every episode is a surprising treat, so I had time to catch up.
The show's social media is updated even less regularly than the show itself, but there hasn't been any kind of announcement that it's concluded.
The show's social media is updated even less regularly than the show itself, but there hasn't been any kind of announcement that it's concluded.
I was really surprised to hear about John Williams doing the Obi-Wan theme, I didn't think we'd ever see him do a theme for one of the TV shows.
I'd never heard that music before, it's good, but I think what we got in the final movie worked better in the scene.
He was taught to be the Empire, from his teacher, the Senate.
From what I gather it's not a lack of interest on his part so much as a lack of time. Some of it may be plague related, but he's also apparently been very busy these last few years working as a Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer on 'The Bad Batch', 'Visions', 'Book of Boba Fett', as well as various side projects for Disney+ like the Vehicle Flythroughs, Biomes & Galaxy of Sound. All that is just what's already been released, we don't really know what he's working on NOW, though presumably it's at least some of the upcoming Disney+ shows (animated or otherwise) and whatever else they haven't even announced yet. There's been rumours floating around for a few years of another animated project in the works at LF besides Bad Batch & Visions. Most assumed it was the Ahsoka show (since that was long rumoured too) but when it turned out the be live action it did leave a bit of a question mark.
Suffice to say that since Dave went back to LF, he's been VERY occupied. I mean just look at his IMDB page. He's had almost as many credits in the last two or three years than the prior 20!
I'm sure if he'd decided to retire the podcast, he'd have said as much. For now I think it's more a case of "he'll get to it, when he gets to it."
Yeah, a lot of themes ended up doing double duty, but it's not arbitrary; Williams would just as often go with the most emotionally resonant theme rather then the literal "it's about this character so here's their leitmotif" approach.
One example would be this scene. You can hear the Force Theme kick in right as he decides to surrender and become one with the force, but then over Luke's reaction to all this, we don't get Luke's theme, or the Force Theme, or even the villainous Vader/Death Star theme, we get a very up-tempo and dramatic version of Leia's theme. Partly because as an already rather romantic piece, it lends itself better to this kind of tragic rendition, but also because in that scene her voice is what cuts through Luke's grief and gets him moving, and it's still her mission.
Also worth noting that Leia's first appearance is heralded not by her theme, but again by the Force Theme, followed by a few incomplete phrases of her theme. Not because "force things are happening" so much as because it's about the message for Obi-Wan, and this theme is as much about him and the Jedi as the force itself.
When Lucas talks about Star Wars being a silent movie, this kind of this is really what he means. The music and images are what's telling driving the story, over and above any dialogue. You could literally watch this movie with just the score and still follow the plot and understand everything that matters.
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Um, Nicole Kidman, obviously.
