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Having seen the two episodes of Rebels, I think it's pretty easy to parse what Kevin Kiner meant about using John Williams' music. Unlike The Clone Wars, in which Kiner was basically creating original scores with references to Williams' thematic material, sections of the trilogy scores are being directly adapted for use in Rebels.
While this is nice for a nostalgic thrill, it can also be infuriating when you hear a cue start and then morph into another one. I hope that over the course of the series they stop relying on those old saws and let Kiner come up with more original music. While I wasn't thrilled with his score for the original feature, there were several episodes of The Clone Wars where his music was exceptional, and original.
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I obviously have some sort of line that I was unaware of. For example Superman II, III, and VI drive me nuts. (I’m told I’m not listening to IV well enough if I have this opinion, but there we go.) But I love the way that John Ottman used Williams’ themes and arrangements in Superman Returns. I wasn’t happy with Silvestri’s score being tracked into the opening of Captain America 2 (although it beats not using it at all) but I LOVED when Tyler used the theme in Thor 2.
While I have to acknowledge that Kiner took some pretty big chunks of the OT scores verbatim, he also did some cool things with just using the themes and motifs and he never just “hits the play button”. I would like to someday get recordings of his versions of even the parts that are the most straightforward adaptations of Williams.
He also does the thing where a non-thematic part of the score is used with the same rhythms but different notes (if that makes sense). Like I noticed he was using some parts of “Into the Trap” from Jedi without actually using “Into the Trap” from Jedi. He also did a nice adaptation of some of Han looking for Luke that was scored and not used in Empire.
Another example of adapting rather than just playing is where he dropped in the tiny little flute part that plays Leia’s theme at the very beginning of Star Wars. And that was it. It highlighted the moment perfectly.
It did bug me a bit in the latest episode that he used the droid theme from Jedi which is based on Jabba’s theme. Plus I like the ESB droid theme better.
Two episodes in and this is pushing all of my Star Wars buttons better than anything since 1983. And that includes the music.
I just realized this at lunch: It’s a Star Wars The Role Playing game session! You have characters who are a lot like the Star Wars heroes including the token Jedi who don’t quite make sense but hey you gotta have light sabers, right? They have adventures that cross the paths of many Star Wars characters and they’re never going to be allowed to affect the stories we saw in the movies.
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I had a right giggle in Ep 2 when i saw the pilot of the transport. That was a nice little nod.
That was wonderful! I cheered! And it was even Paul Reubens!
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Another thing, Yoda Chronicles is the only time I've ever seen anyone animate those damn lightsabers with reflective light! (Finally)
I'm pretty sure they did that in Clone Wars.
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Another thing, Yoda Chronicles is the only time I've ever seen anyone animate those damn lightsabers with reflective light! (Finally)
I'm pretty sure they did that in Clone Wars.
They did? Don't think I've ever seen that series other than a few minutes while channel surfing. Their certainly not doing it in Rebels. Always drove me nuts they didn't in the live action films.
Depends on the lighting. They might not do it as much since Rebels just won't have as many light sabers as Clone Wars. But they'll have to have at least one "dark room with light sabers" scene.
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Posted: |
Oct 9, 2014 - 10:39 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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As far as the series goes the animation was horrible. The hair and facial details are cheap. The Wookies looked like crap. Action scenes were not exciting. I do love the RM influences and it was cool seeing Tie Fighters again! But Disney spends 4.5 billion for this property then puts as little money as possible into producing the animation.
It's hugely expensive, but not as expensive as "Clone Wars" was. That's because Lucas used "Clone Wars" as a loss leader. That series was way too expensive by conventional wisdom, and as a series lost a ton of money, but Lucas used it to sell merchandise and further the brand. And given the billions his company was purchased for, it was a wise decision.
Other franchises investigated doing the same, but couldn't make the numbers work. (I'll be obnoxious and say that a major director whose films are iconic spent a year trying to emulate this model, but ultimately was convinced it didn't make financial sense. I can't tell you who that director is, because I was sworn to secrecy by my friend who works for him.)
It seems clear that Disney's model isn't the same as Lucas's. (And in fairness, they paid billions for this franchise, they want it to start making money for them.) The animation on "Rebels" lacks a lot of the nuance of "Clone Wars." While the wookiees looked surprisingly good in the more painterly style of "Clone Wars," they looked pretty terrible here. I'm sure the animators thought so, too, and they may have to scale back their ambitions a bit in that regard. That said, "Clone Wars" didn't look so hot at the beginning, and they may just have to get used to this new style.
As for the music, that too suffers from a bit too much cheap-sounding synth. Nothing wrong with synths, but they're emulating a big orchestra here, and they come up short. But Kiner is clearly doing this with care, and we'll see where he goes with it.
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It's hugely expensive, but not as expensive as "Clone Wars" was.
Thanks, Schiffy.
I've been watching all of my kids' other shows through the lens of "How does this stand up to Rebels?" And Rebels beats pretty much all of them. Including Dragon Riders of Berk.
Rebels (and Clone Wars) doesn't do hair. Which is why Wookies are a problem. And they don't do much (if any) fabric. (Now I'll be looking for capes.) But their character and facial animation are definitely top notch.
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So did anyone watch last nights episode? Kiner branched out from Star Wars and tackled Jaws. It was a hoot.
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So did anyone watch last nights episode? Kiner branched out from Star Wars and tackled Jaws. It was a hoot.
I enjoyed the Jaws homage, although I wish Kiner would just write his own stuff. It takes me out of the show every time, as I start thinking about what minor notes he's changed to do Rebels.
I also noticed the Main Title/Theme has changed completely.
The end titles are still the same. But the opening "crash" of the rebel fanfare over the logo goes up at the end instead of down. I wonder if that's significant?
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I enjoyed the Jaws homage, although I wish Kiner would just write his own stuff. It takes me out of the show every time, as I start thinking about what minor notes he's changed to do Rebels.
I agree. It starts to feel like I'm playing "Spot the Temp!" while I watch.
I know I'm a sad little man, because I enjoy that game. And I think he does it very well.
Sometimes it's pretty obvious. "Hey, it's a space battle. A little bit of Attack Position from Empire! Done!
But other times he'll wonderfully repurpose a theme or motif. I love how he utilizes the little motif that is heard when Ben is told R2 is looking for Obi-Wan. It's become a rather haunting motif for the Force and the Old Republic.
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