Stars Wars Episode II: The Clone-Bag Part One

Here are some reactions to Jon & Al Kaplan's recent article on the use of John Williams' music in Attack of the Clones. (Responses are from the Kaplans.)
 

From: Juan-Luis Sanchez <juan_luis_sanchez_miguel@yahoo.com>

I couldn't agree more with Jon & Al's article today about the appalling hack-job that was performed on Williams' score to AOTC.

As someone who worked on the film and is also a big film score fan, the one aspect that I was hoping would make the movie fresh for me (having seen the sequences many times over the course of the movie's development) was to see the movie with the music. Needless to say I was disappointed, although I did enjoy the movie a lot and I don't feel as vitriolic about it as the Kaplans.

I can confirm that the movie was not finished editing when the scoring occurred, and many major visual effects were missing. However, all the animatics were in place and the cut of the movie at that point was not significantly different from the final movie, so Williams would have had something to score to, if he had been asked to do so. If he did score anything for the Arena Jedi Battle and Clone War, that's something we will hopefully discover in time.

And let's start pestering Sony so that when they release the "Ultimate Edition" it'll be the way Williams intended it to be in the movie!
 

Just to clarify, we did not utterly hate the movie. Our article was directed at the use of music in the movie. In fact, had the music been treated well, we would have immensely enjoyed the movie despite its many shortcomings.
 
 
 
 
 

From: <gabryant@fuse.net>

It's with great regret that I read of what has apparently become of the newest Star Wars film. Prior to Episode I, I had great anticipation for the film, since it had been 16 years since the original trilogy, all of which I awaited with great anticipation (and was greatly rewarded).

Now, I have little feeling of anticipation, especially after the disappointment of Episode I, the poor reviewing ot AOTC in an advance review in The New York Times, and now, your review of the hatchet-job Williams' score received.

Maybe Lucas has too many yes-people whispering in his ear that he can do no wrong and that everything is wonderful in his films...or maybe he simply has become too enamored of his own publicity...or maybe the money generated by the licensing tie-ins and merchandising has gone to his head.

Ultimately, I'm just sad that one of the great series of films from my younger days has been replaced by some badly made "clone." Since Star Wars has changed forever the way that movies are made, what I really bemoan is that there will never be anything like the original again. Movies are too over-made and over-merchandized -- the magic is gone.

As far as George Lucas is concerned, let me say a few words about how he "can't go wrong with anything he does..."

Howard the Duck
Radioland Murders
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Need I say more?
 

We like Temple of Doom!
 
 
 
 
 

From: "Brent Andrew Bowles" <brentb310@adelphia.net>

If the sound mix was so bad, how can we trust that you heard what you thought you heard? And even if the score is heavily edited, who cares? Does it ruin the integrity of what John Williams composed? Not in the slightest. As far as the scores go, the album's the thing. Who fucking cares what goes on in the movie? This bickering is pointless...just more blather from grumpy little fanboys who can't have everything their way.
 
B
 

We had some funny insults to put here, but then we reread Brent's letter. It's so creepy that we'll let it speak for itself.
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: sporboyz <sporboyz@attbi.com>
 
More's the pity, because Williams' impressive contribution was my only incentive to see AOTC.

It was ours as well...
 
 

From: Paul George <paulgeorge@lightening-isp.com>

It is a few days before the release of Star Wars II and, like most fans, I am very excited. Naturally I bought the score the day it was released and have been very happy with it.
 
While I'll wait until I see it to render judgement on the sound mix, I also accept that your article on the subject is honest and sincere.
 
It is too bad that George Lucas has taken on such a poor attitude towards the scores to his movies. When the original Star Wars was released I was eight and it was the first time I became aware of the music in movies. I bought the soundtrack and listened to it more than my radio-friendly pop albums. I'm sure that I'm not alone in saying that this score opened my mind to classical music.
 
It makes me wonder how Lucas would have mixed the older scores into the soundtracks if he did them now. I can't imagine the asteroid chase in Empire without the music so loud that it knocks you out of your seat! One can only hope the DVD release of Clones improves the mix.
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: Bill Williams <bwilliams@etv.state.ms.us>

I happened to finish reading your review of Star Wars: Episode II's use of music. If what you say is correct and on-target with what was done with Phantom Menace, then it will be a certainty that there will be an expanded 2-CD release of the score in about a year and a half with all of the music as heard in the final film. Unfortunately, Sony Classical failed to jump on the bandwagon with that release and treat John Williams' music with the proper respect it was due, especially with the number of alternate cues that were available and easily downloadable on the Internet that were ripped from the video games and computer games.

History has a tendency to repeat itself, and if this is the case with Attack of the Clones, then we can expect to find ripped files of unreleased music cues on the Internet in a short matter of time for immediate download and CD-R burning. Furthermore, we can expect the same mistreatment with the so-called "complete" score from Sony in about a year and a half, with all of the atrocious edits and splices as heard in the final film. And those original and alternate cues will remain unreleased in an official capacity, unfortunately. Then again, it wasn't until 1993 that a lot of unreleased music from the original trilogy was released on CD in an official capacity in the four-CD boxed set, then in each of the 2-disc Special Edition reissues? Perhaps this is going to be the trend again in a number of years with the prequel trilogy.
 

From Stan Penny
 
Bravo to the Kaplan boys! Bravo to them for having the rocks to say what needs to be said about the state of film scoring. It is this brand of honest and blunt critique of film music that we need to see more of if the industry is going to improve at all. Bravo to FSM as well for posting this critique since now it's likely that John Williams will never speak to you again.
 
Please encourage your writers and reviewers to follow the Kaplans' example. FSM is in great danger of becoming a bland read since most articles come off as hero-worship and almost every review is a rave. We lovers of film music will continue to subscribe even without interviews from composers who "don't like you." The fact that certain composers won't talk to FSM reflects worse on them as professionals than it does on the quality of your magazine. If they can't be bothered to talk to the best of a very few publications that exclusively feature film music, then they should do us all a favor and leave the buisiness. I'm sure there are quite a few hungry young composers out there who will gladly take their place and be delighted that FSM is talking about them!

It's very hard to write negative things, Stan, because publicists or agents for one composer often represent many other composers as well. For instance, if we criticize a composer and his publicist gets upset, we may have trouble talking to other composers represented by that publicist! Basically, established film composers don't need FSM to help them get jobs, so they can treat us however they want to. FSM is a magazine for film score enthusiasts, not for directors and producers looking to hire a composer.

From: TRISTRAMJUDGE69@cs.com

I agree with the Kaplans, it certainly does matter! I have a suspicion that due to LSO booking and subsequent time constraints, the score was finished long before the movie which explains why the hash-editing. But why Williams couldn't do what Silvestri did with Mummy Returns and team up with his LA or Boston buddies to do some re-scoring I suppose we'll never know?!
 
 

From: TOBruno@aol.com

I feel that you guys don't like Lucas at all. If you are going to be biased why bothering making a review. You guys really sound like you loathe the guy.

The article wasn't a review of the film or the score. It was a discussion of the use of the music in the film. Whatever good things we may or may not think about George Lucas (and he's responsible for producing some of our favorite films) had absolutely nothing to do with the way music was used in Attack of the Clones. If you want to blame someone other than Lucas or Williams for what happened, that's fine. Maybe it's someone else's fault. We figured that Williams and Lucas would have the most say on this matter. That's why we blamed them.
 
 

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