What if John Williams wasn't able (and I won't elucidate) to do the music for the other two upcoming Star Wars films for some reason or another?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on:

1) Who YOU would like to score them;

and 2) who do you think Lucas would pick.

#2 first: I think Lucas would go with Joel McNeely for two reasons, he did the music for Radioland Murders and the music for Shadows of the Empire.

#1- I think David Arnold (a la Stargate; and NO techno) would fill Williams' shoes nicely. Lucas would give him enough time (not 2 or 3 months like his last few movies) to do a bang-up job. The first time I listened to the Stargate cd, I thought, "gosh, this is the closest anyone's done to Williams' Star Wars 'sound' that I've heard"

I'm not implying anything's gonna happen, but strange things do.

Starblade, I agree with you whole heartedly! David Arnold would be AWESOME.

Jeron

PS - Ahaun, Did you get my e-mail?

No...Joel McNeely wouldn't be right. I think either James Horner or, on a long shot, Michael Giacchino.

Granted, I would almost rather the final Star Wars films never be made, than made without Williams, but I think we have a legitmate and worthy sucessor in James Horner. (I emphasize "sucessor", and not "replacement".)

Others who could be great:
Bruce Broughton
David Arnold
Laurence Rosenthal
Lee Holdridge
Richard Band (that would be a LONGshot )

Richard Band ... dream on, chum! Your other suggestions ... let's say I don't trust Arnold, though I'd be happy to be surprised (I'd damn well BETTER be surprised if he got the job.)

Lucas has so little experience working with composers other than Williams that he'd almost be BOUND to pick McNeely, since he's tapped the fellow before. But perhaps this is an eventuality we need not worry about. (I HOPE not.)

Hell, maybe he'd go back to Lalo Schifrin, who did his THX-1138 all those decades before ...

Realizing that 'IF' this ever happens, whomever gets tapped for it would most likely get a long time to develop and write the scoring. Not just a few weeks like most composers get nowadays. I think Lucas understands the importance of the music to Star Wars and would provide oodles of time for its creation, and not just a temp-tracked afterthought.

I'm not so sure that Horner (and I like Horner) would be the right person for the job. Most of his scores are awesome (some not), but they just don't have the 'flavor' or 'thickness' (for lack of better terms) tha the Star Wars music has. Likewise, I'm not so sure that Goldsmith (BIG Goldsmith fan here) would be the right person, either.

As I said before, to my ear, David Arnold with Stargate has come the closest to the 'Star Wars sound'. With use of the already established themes, he could probably extrapolate new music very well.

Michael Giacchino

Holdridge isn't a bad idea, but I doubt they'd consider him. Christopher Young might be interesting, but I doubt he'd be considered either.

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Originally posted by Wedge:
Part of me wishes beyond all hope that they had gone with the ORIGINAL plan ... which was to have Williams himself compose music for Timothy Zahn's epic Thrawn Trilogy. I have DREAMS about that happening ...

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They intended to do that? Damn, why DIDN't they do it??? The Thrawn trilogy blew me away, and I've always been hoping that they'll make movies from it and have them scored by Williams.

As for my choices, I don't know. I guess McNeely could do a really good job. Arnold... don't know. He may be too overblown for Star Wars. Goldsmith? My 2nd-favourite composer, but I still wouldn't have him do Star Wars.

I think it could be interesting (interesting. I'm not really suggesting he should do it) to give the assignment to Patrick Doyle. I wonder what he would come up with. He has that operatic vein that Williams also used for SW, but a different style, of course.

Only hard core types like 'Ourselves' would notice it wasn't 'The Real Thing'!!

Does that mean that Williams' sound can't be duplicated? Not at ALL, it can EASILY be duplicated, just as Barry's, Goldsmith's, Horner's or Morricone's can, if anyone's listening close enough. What would be critical for anyone else inheriting the franchise would be to imitate, as precisely as possible, the EXACT SOUND that Williams brought to STAR WARS. It IS doable; the problem is finding a composer with sufficient skill, and lack of ego, who could do so.

I just couldn't imagine Star Wars without Williams.

BTW, I have the feeling if 'you know what were to occur' Lucas would just edit the music from the other films. What do you all think of that idea?

Yes, Meco Monardo, the king of cheezy music. Anyway, it would be better than Jim Horner, the king of the "Fóróró-rommmmm"...

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Originally posted by sabbey:
I would suggest not even thinking of John Williams *not* doing the next two films. Since I have learned that if you start to think of something such as this, that is usually when it happens.

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Don't worry. Remember? We already discussed this topic over at the "other board"...BEFORE Episode 1 came out.

Rocco: I've also been wondering quite often whether it's coincidence that so many major blockbusters feature Williams as the composer...

Poledouris?... Yeah, he'd be pretty good, too.

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

STAR WARS: EPISODE II - THE #@%&*! %$*;¿@!!

Music Composed and Conducted by Alan Menken

or

Music Composed and Conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith

or for some people:

Music Composed and Conducted by Leonard Rosenman

then there´s this one:

Music Composed and Conducted by Dennis McCarthy

even scarier:

Music by Brad Fiedel

Music by Eric Serra

and finally I couldn´t resist, I love the way this one sounds:

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

STAR WARS: EPISODE II - THE #@%&*! %$*;¿@!!

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by David Zippel
Original Score by Randy Newman

NP. The Asteroid Field(Williams/Boston Pops)

quote:

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Originally posted by Hector J. Guzman:
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
STAR WARS: EPISODE II - THE #@%&*! %$*;¿@!!
Music Composed and Conducted by Leonard Rosenman

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Hey, that would be interesting!