Star Wars – Episodes IV-VI Music Scores

This is Phil Lamar, and you are listening to

the GeekCast Radio Network. There is nothing

wrong with your podcast player. Do not attempt

to adjust the volume. Hello and welcome back

into our studio. You are now inside Studio 2009.

I'm of course, chief chair Mike. Joining me once

again, as always, Mr. David Draper. Hello, sir.

How are you? Hello. I'm pretty well. That's good.

That's good. Today, we head back to that galaxy

far, far away, and we continue the musical journey

as we discuss the Star Wars Empire Strikes Back

and Return of the Jedi, otherwise known as Episodes

4, 5, and 6, The Scores by Mr. John Williams.

Lots of music, folks. Wow. I forgot how good...

I mean, I knew, but literally, I was listening

to these and I'm like, holy crap, so good. I

mean, I never forgot. Like, this stuff was...

No, I mean, like, this stuff was just hugely...

I mean, when I was a kid, we had the discs, the

vinyl LPs. You know, the one that came with the

cool poster. that's now worth a ton of money

uh and i don't know if my copy you know because

because i i my original copy unfortunately died

because uh it was on my mickey mouse phonograph

my mickey mouse phonograph 1970s uh my dad stumbled

over it my dad had issues but like i don't know

if my i eventually got like new copies of each

of the soundtracks on on vinyl i had them up

on the wall and unfortunately because i i guess

i don't trust the uh uh frames I haven't basically

sealed in there with tape. So the question of

the poster came up for something we were talking

about before we started recording. For another

project we will be working on, someone talked

about that poster and I was like, oh yeah, I

wonder if my Star Wars soundtrack has that. I'm

like, I don't know, because it's hermetically

sealed. Yeah, it's hermetically sealed. It is,

but I actually, when I was a kid, I fell out

of a tree and broke my leg, and one of the things

that really, like I... Helped motivate me helped

keep me from getting really depressed was listening

to the Star Wars soundtrack all the time it was

a big part of my like these These soundtracks

in particular are like, you know, John Williams

in particular is a huge part of my childhood

my life So like yeah, I this was the one episode.

I was like, yeah, I don't have to prefer this

one I know this one's like the even the prequel

one, which I've listened to those side tracks

a lot I was like good. I probably should listen

to those I know this stuff like the back of my

hand. It always surprises me listening to the

score outside of the movie or the TV show or

the cartoon or the video game. Because when the

music is attached to the whole project, you have

the music, you have the actors or voice actors

or whatever. So you have them talking. You have

all of the sound effects. This is why I love

soundtrack scores. Because you don't have any

of that you just have the music and you know

we know like main title anybody that is anybody

that Whatever that has been paying attention

to Star Wars for the last 50 years almost 50

Or is it over 50? Anyway, 48, 49 years, whatever

it is. And it's pretty close to 50. Lucasfilm

had its 50th a couple years back, like one or

two years ago. Yeah, but I mean, from 77 and

now, it's from the original release year for

Star Wars to now, it's almost, it's close. It's

freaking close. So the thing is, everybody knows

that main title. Everybody knows. When we get

because we're gonna go we're gonna talk about

these in order folks and talk about a new hope

Empire and then return of the revenge return

whatever you want to call it But what I love

about these albums and when this initially These

remastered versions because I have the remastered

version on Spotify. I have 16 tracks here You

can tell me in a moment. What's on your your

big vinyl DVDs No, dude, I've got like Mean I

was digging through them. I've you know, I think

I said this I've got like, you know, I've got

the vinyls but those are literally art pieces

at this point like I've got you know, the original

DVD releases I think for all of them. I've got

the the special edition DVD releases for all

three. Yep I've got at least for Empire. I've

got like a special one that was done like the

music the music as it's played in concerts Right

and I've never found that for the other two Okay,

I'm not sure they exist but but you know, it

was just like I've got and then I've got like

all these like weird Because they always did

like, you know Compilation ones that like we're

of dubious legal quality not the Miko one. I've

got the Miko one, right? Like like the original

ones. I've got that on the wall and I've got

a DVD or I got a CD version I've got two versions

of that you know galactic funk and But I've also

got like, you know, the music of Star Wars on

close encounters. And you're like, okay, was

this a legitimate thing or was this illegally

produced? But I've got two different versions

of those. Yeah. So yeah, I like the music from

Star Wars. I like John Williams. No, absolutely.

I think he's got a future in music. Oh, stop.

He's talented. Well, you know, it's funny because

like, there was a... relatively recent, not documentary

per se, but a thing about the original Star Wars.

It had a lot of interviews with people. The funniest

part was they asked Harrison, they were asking

everybody, everyone was doing the whole, oh,

I thought it was going to be a flop, you know,

science fiction, nobody. And Ford was like, oh

no, I knew it was going to make money, because

he's Harrison Ford. But at one point they're

talking about everything was a risk, and even

the John Williams score was taking a risk. And

I'm like, This dude just won the Oscar for Jaws?

Yeah. I think you're overplaying the whole...

I mean, yeah, it was a big risk, but I think

the John Williams soundtrack was probably one

of the few guineas that that movie had going

for it. Yeah, I think the risk comes in the fact

of... Because back then, you didn't have what

you have now. And even today, there are plenty

of risks taken today, even with social media,

even with the internet and everything else. But...

Back then it was more of a quote -unquote risk

because You didn't know you weren't going to

know until the audiences came out of the theater

and who knows if people You know, obviously they

did hello because we're here almost 50 years

later, etc, etc, but there wasn't the What I

think you're a shinnable action between fan or

viewer and person who worked at like I don't

want to just say director but like Lucas or anybody

that worked on any of these three films specifically

the the original trilogy there wasn't that fan

producer connection because back then you had

to be trying to contact a Hollywood executive

in those days folks It's basically like writing

a letter to your senator or your congressman

or whatever kind of thing. Like it was really

difficult. Well, they actually believe we will

do in a future episode, we will actually talk

about that process because just we're going to

be discussing a book that kind of actually details

the process of trying to get in touch with these

people. One of the things I was going to say

is I think the risk part came from the nature.

It was the idea of a science fiction movie having

a classic lush orchestral soundtrack as opposed

to, you know, the theremin and electric beeps

and boops, you know, like a science fiction -y

soundtrack, you know what I mean? Like a bad

B movie, like... You know, as opposed to something

like Lawrence of Arabia, or, you know, I think

that was what they meant by it was a risk. Obviously,

it was paid off. Yeah, exactly. I believe he

got... I was just looking at his Oscar list,

and I believe that... Yeah, got another Oscar

for that one. Yep. But I mean, you know, Star

Wars and looking at Star Wars now for me, when

I noticed these was, I mean, I've always known

about them kind of thing, obviously. But like

for me, when I noticed the version of the soundtrack

that I've been listening to, it was 2018 when

all of the John Williams music showed up on Spotify.

And this was the cool. Cool slash weird thing

and I guess it kind of works with the stuff but

so I don't remember off top my head I think and

it's going back just to last episode because

I don't think I mentioned this but in these the

album art for these digital releases Phantom

Menace was silver, Attack of the Clones was gold,

Revenge of the Sith was purple. In this, it's

blue for A New Hope, red for Empire, and green

for Jedi. For the subtitle for A New Hope, Empire

Strikes Back Green. Anyway, the point is that

these album arts, and the fact that it said,

ooh, remastered, I was like, ooh, and most people

will say, oh, remastered, that means they went.

No, that just means that they made the sound

better. It could still sound like it sounds in

the movie, but it also can sound. Digital remastering

is not a bad thing. I know on several of the

Superman scores, I think it's Superman 2 maybe,

they had to do a bunch of finding stuff for that

because it was missing kind of thing. But Star

Wars, man, this... What I loved about listening

back to this over the last two and a half weeks

is that we all know Cantina Band. We all know

the main title. We kind of, most people will

know and you'll probably just scoff at me when

I say this. Most people will know the Princess

Leia theme, obviously, but like Mouse Robot and

Blasting Off, I didn't remember. I know where

that is. I know where that is in the movie and

whatever else. because that's just right before

the return home and all that but like I didn't

remember that part of the music because again

in when you're watching the movie you you've

got the speeders going and the blasters and the

lightsabers and the whatever so that's what I

love about taking the music out of the thing

it's in because I get to appreciate it more okay

Well, I mean You're not wrong. I don't know.

Yeah, and it evokes a thing of like like I can

click right now I can close my eyes and I can

hear inner city, which is track 8 Off the 16

tracks here. That's right before Cantina band

Like I can hear that the rescue of the princess

I can hear that music I remember that when Ben

dies because he sacrifices himself and then we

have the tie fighter attack and all like I hear

that music and it like literally I can just close

my eyes and see the scene in my head. And I haven't

watched Star. I haven't watched A New Hope since

we started this podcast. Yeah. Well, OK, yes.

But yeah, a couple of weeks we did. Unless you

didn't bother to watch it for the show. No, I

watched it. I watched it. It has been a couple

months. Yeah, I don't know like that's one of

those things like saying. Oh, it's been a couple

months as I've seen this movie But again, it's

like preparing it's like preparing for this like

I've been listening to these three scores Technically

six because the other episode we did previous

to this I've been listening to these six film

scores for the last two and a half three weeks.

Maybe a month And I've taken, what I did was,

I took a day each, in each of the weeks where

it's like, this is this day for this score, this

is this day for that, like one score a day. And

I would listen to it over and over and over again

until it was, until I basically have these notes

and these tunes burned into my head. Because

that's how I consume my soundtracks. I literally...

As you're going to hear this way later, folks,

in December, but as we're recording this, I literally

just came off of interviewing last night the

dynamic music partners, Melida Ramirez, Michael

McQuistion, and Christopher Carter. They do the

DC scores. They've done the Teen Titans score.

They do the Batman Beyond scores. They've done

Babylon 5. They've done a whole bunch of stuff.

They've done Young, not Young Justice. They did

Justice League. Um, and I was talking to them

about all this music stuff with batman beyond

because it's its 25th anniversary this year So

so yeah, but going from Two and a half weeks

of mixing in batman beyond and star wars to just

star wars Man, a new hope has such a great score.

It really does I agree and again The music of

like rescue the princess. We all know what rescue

the princess is. It's the it's the trash compactors.

It's the whole thing. Like, you know, and just

hearing that without them yelling in the trash

compactor is very, very cool. And Williams does

amazing things. Everyone will because most general

fans that aren't us that aren't David Draper

folks, David Draper, you know. lives, breathes,

eats, sleeps, Star Wars, which I'm not saying

that as a bad thing, I'm saying it as a fact.

Most people will know the main themes, most people

will know the main title, or Imperial March,

or this. I think with the first movie, you say

that, but I think if they hear it, they'll be

like, oh, that's the music when the Trash Compactor

was, because it's all very distinctive. Yes,

like even within its own movie. Mm -hmm, you

know because music can sometimes be very samey

You can repeat themes a lot where I mean, I you

know, if you you know, we talked about the Cantina

band But like, you know, like I said the the

trash compactor. It's got that You know if you

play Leia's theme if you play like the the throne

room theme before the entitled the dawn You know,

like I think people will in this particular case

people will recognize that a lot more than they

would necessarily music from some other movie,

or even necessarily music from other Star Wars

movies. I think it's just very, you know, Williams

had a way of making the music very iconic to

fit the scene, like a glove. Yeah, and this glove

is nice to be listening to because it has the

big, anthemic things, but it also has those moments

of subtlety. And a lot of times, in media these

days, subtlety is out the window and in the trash

compactor because people don't know how to be

subtle anymore. People don't have the attention

span for it. No, not at all. They'd rather be

a blunt object than a surgical strike. What is

your favorite track off of A New Hope? I think

probably the throne room, the middle term, I

think. theme from from the end yeah i like it

a lot i mean you know the cantina band i've always

loved and then the main theme is the main theme

and then the uh the last battle is a good one

too i mean they're all great like you know the

latest theme is good but yeah i i think the throne

room that because it's got that stirring kind

of you know i i would argue every star wars nerd

like true deep to the core star wars nerd kind

of imagines that being the music they play at

their wedding So I'm I don't know maybe I'm wrong

but I It's got a cool, you know processional

thing to it I'm just reminded of when I got married

all those years ago at this point. Oh boy So

Side story folks that has nothing to do with

Star Wars, but it has to do with music You probably

remember Steve, but Steve Megatron the guy that

started you. Okay, okay Steve and I... Steve

and I... Steve is basically what Jason is to

you, for me. Like, best friend, 16 years, yada

yada yada for us and everything else. I'm so

sorry. Wow! Alright then. He got what he deserved.

Damn, Dave's got jokes today, folks. Alright,

so when I got married... The only thing to do

was to fly him from Michigan to Chicago to be

my best man. Like what the hell else am I going

to like, I'm not picking anybody else. So we

flew him to Chicago for Michigan at the time.

And my buddy, Michael, our other buddy, Michael

Wilson, who does, uh, does the transformer stuff

with me. We're currently finally getting back

to and finishing off the Phineas and Ferb podcast.

We started back in 2016. So we're doing that.

So the three of us were at. At my wedding and

the one thing that I wanted to do was there was

a It's in the justice society episode of i think

it's in legends of tomorrow It's I forget what

it's called, but it's by blake neely, but it's

this big entrance theme similar to Main titles

similar to imperial march, but it was this big

thing. So yeah using music for various things.

Absolutely And for me, with favorite tracks on

this, I always appreciated the death scene and

the TIE fighter attack, but I don't think I appreciated

it enough until I heard the song until I heard

the track out of the movie. Like, obviously Ben's

death. You know, it's Ben's death and, you know,

the clothes, you know, it just evaporates and

the clothes just fall and all that. And I'm not

trying to make light of it, but I'm just saying,

like, Hearing it outside of the actual action

of it and then man that I love the TIE fighter

attack music I It's good stuff. It's good stuff

What I'm surprised here is like yes, we have

the last battle which is obviously the trench

and You know the photon torpedoes and everything

else. I'm surprised we don't have an x -wing

theme Not surprised I mean the x -wing is I mean

I Hesitate to say this is because of course then

I completely make a hypocrite of myself when

talking about the Falcon But the x -wing is the

machine it's a thing So is the TIE fighter but

the TIE fighter has imposing music The Death

Star has imposing music It's like a planet. It's

like a movable space station. I don't know. I

just, I don't know. I don't know. I think those

sequences have music. Yeah, but that's what I

was like. I'm not saying it like I'm not saying

the X -wing. It's like, okay. What's the line?

When they go, when they, when they're in the

final battle and they've all... The Chatter Red

5? No. This is a podcast, we're supposed to be

chattering. Anyway, no, it's when they're like,

prepare to make your final run. Prepare to make

your final run. And you have all of the X -Wings

coming in, and like that tune, and I'm sure it's

in the last battle. But I'm saying like... Well,

there's a great piece of music in that battle

when Red Leader has failed. and he's pulling

up and Vader's not letting go and he's like you

know get set to make you run and he gets clipped

and he goes down and there's this moment of just

the pure music the somber like oh crap now it's

up to us kind of like and and like you know i

i i don't know why like an x -wing would have

like his its sequence has a theme so i don't

like i i don't like I'm not really sure why the

X -Wing itself would have a theme. Well, that's

what I'm saying. Like, it doesn't... Not the

specific... Plus it shares it with the Y -Wing.

Like, why doesn't Y -Wing everything? That suddenly

becomes theme inflation. Suddenly everybody's

got to have a theme. Theme inflation. Oh my god,

dude. Theme creep. I can't believe we're doing

theme legislation on this podcast, folks. Holy

crap. The politics of Star Wars music. How come

the Tantan don't got no theme? Actually, I think

it does. Kind of does. Yeah, the Tantan doesn't

need a theme. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Because it just,

you know. Excellent privilege. Are we really

gonna go with New Republic Empire privilege?

Oh my god. Okay. I'm sorry. I even brought it

out. Hey, the New Republic, man. They had their

top SNL alumni running that place. Hard to believe

it fell. Fortunately, it's not that hard to believe

that it fell. Yeah, it's called sarcasm. Yes,

yes, I know. He used sarcasm. It was vicious.

All right, anything else on Star Wars The New

Hope? No, I it's just I Mean, it's great. It's

iconic. It's it's it's an amazing thing. I mean

it even sounds good as disco as As an owner of

the Miko galactic funk. It's kind of enjoyable

to listen to as disco That's how good it is very

yeah, absolutely All right, Empire Strikes Back.

And yet, ironically, it's not my favorite of

the three. Empire Strikes Back is my favorite

of the three. Oh, that doesn't surprise me. Well,

like in every way, Empire is the superior product

of the Star Wars. At this point, 900 -ish, 900

film, whatever. Yeah, the music is lusher. We

get a proper love theme, which is fantastic.

We get... And we get the Hoth battle theme, which

is really cool. And we get my favorite piece

of Star Wars music, which is the asteroid theme.

Lays in my head every time I go shopping or to

a convention or anywhere where there's a lot

of people and you've got to dodge them. That's

right. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't

touch me. Don't touch me. That's right. That's

right, absolutely Yeah, no Empire is I mean It's

freaking Empire and We have so we start with

the main theme again now is the main theme different

in this because it's they they sounded different

between I mean, I think up to the point where

they cut, not cut, but up to the point that the

words drift by, I think they're basically the

same. And they probably sound different because

they were recorded on different days and maybe

the tempos. But I mean, like, I don't remember

them being noticeably, you know, like, musically

different until you cut to the start of stereo

dispensing probe droids. And then it's probe

droid dispensing music. It's not chase music.

Yeah, and so the, I don't know if this release,

this 17, well, it's supposed to be. Seeing these

tracks listed the way they are It doesn't look

like they're in order of the events of the like

going from the main theme to Yoda's theme Yeah,

mine aren't. Um, yeah mine mine goes from the

Imperial mine goes from the Imperial March to

Yoda's Okay The main theme is the number six.

Oh my god Wow, that's pretty crazy. Yeah, that's

crazy. I don't think I've listened to the proper

Empire theme or soundtrack for a while there.

So, yeah, I didn't realize that they were all

wonky. Yeah. I remember getting this album and

by 1980, we had moved and I was just trying to

like, well, no, we hadn't moved. I was here in

Springfield, but we hadn't moved here yet. And

I was trying to find a record player to listen

to it. It's like I had it but but I couldn't

listen to it during the crazy Yeah, so when when

eventually disney does do another version of

these I do wish that empire and jedi The tracks

were in the order of the scenes of the movie

That would make the most sense to me. Anyway,

but battle in the snow. I absolutely love it

I love that the the hyperspace theme that is

so cool. I always love hearing the effect or

the musical effect when they do hyperspace stuff

in any sci -fi spaceship stuff, the Imperial

March and the main theme are obvious. I mean,

the Imperial, everybody knows the Imperial March.

It's great. Like there's no, there's no denying

the greatness of the Imperial March. City in

the clouds. That might be my favorite off this

because Again, you have this fast acting ship

in the Millennium Falcon coming into the Cloud

City and you don't really get a chance. There

isn't like a breadth of where it's just the music

in the movie itself. So hearing that outside

of it, I just love that so much. Yeah, I would

say the asteroid theme is absolutely my favorite

piece of Star Wars music I also I love Yoda's

theme and I love Han and the princess. I love

the love theme I love how it it comes back as

like a action kind of thing when they're trying

to save him from Yeah, my car by from car. Yeah,

well from Boba Fett Oh, yeah the city and they

run into r2d2 and then you know Then the music

gets a little hopeful because they ran into r2d2

and r2d2 gets to do cool stuff and then it just

sort of like crashes because they get there too

late and slave one takes away and um gets away

yeah i just like i said in the last one like

like williams you you can listen to these things

and it tells a story you know like you said you

you remember the the the things from the film

as you listen to them and it it it weaves up

it weaves a picture yeah a tapestry yes a very

nice tapestry It's very well known, folks. I'm

not the biggest fan of the Boba Fett character,

because I don't think he has any character in

these movies. He's just there to serve a purpose,

and that's it. But that theme, the departure

of Boba Fett, that is about as iconic as you

can get. It's top tier, just along with Imperial

March in my eyes. And again, Battle in the Snow,

it's one of those top tier things. Well, again,

because the music is almost like, like you were

saying earlier with the hyperspace, it's like

the music, it would be weird to watch an ADAT

walk without that music. It's almost like part

of ADAT's sound. You know, it's got the clunk,

but it's also got that dun dun dun from the music.

And it's just, it's... It is like I keep saying

iconic but it is baked into our image of what

an ad at is that music is part of I mean I'm

now going back on myself making fun of you for

the x -wing theme. I mean the ad at has Music

baked into its function its sound its existence

Because it I think it needed that and it deserved

that because again, these are giant walking I'm

gonna say elephants, but they're not really elephant

-looking. They're Famba. Okay. Well that retroactively

they retroactively said Oh, that's where the

Empire got the idea was from the big Famba from

from the Gungans. Oh Interesting, I don't think

I've heard they said that somewhere. I don't

I don't know if it's canon or not Who knows what's

canon or not, but it was it was mentioned somewhere

But yeah, and then we have the dual magic tree,

Lando's Palace in the finale. I think what I

like about and what I like about the scene overall

for Asteroid Field is up until they finally realize

that it's not really like where they end up going

to hide. It's not really a cave. Well, that's

like that's after that that music is over yeah

music see this is why I wish they were in order

and what's funny is is I found this on YouTube

is Nico also did a Disco asteroid field version.

Oh cool. Yeah, so it's weird. It's like like

very jazzy They always added like sound effects

of like you hear Chewbacca Well, it's funny because

there's a, and I think I know Steve and I have

talked about this over on KCAST radio before

on the flagship show when they came out. And

I think you probably know about them anyway,

even if I didn't tell you. Galactic Empire. It's

a Star Wars metal band. No, I don't know about

them. Really? Oh, I'm going to have to send you

some. However, it is. Weirdly, like, that might

be an interesting Venn diagram for me and somebody

I know. It is. Do you like metal? I like Star

Wars. Uh -huh, yep. Because you ain't heard...

Like, Wayne's World, we're not worthy, we're

not worthy, Imperial March is forever one of

the best tracks that's ever existed. but you

ain't heard the Imperial March unless you've

heard it metal because, oh my, same thing with

Cantina Band. Oh my, I'm going to send you a

whole bunch of stuff later. But yeah, Empire

Strikes Back. I love this. I love that they did

the remastered version. I'm hoping in the future

when we get to whatever anniversary we get to

for all of these films that we actually get the

track list order in order of how it was in the

movie. Because I think that's better than just

starting with the main theme, going to Yoda's

theme, going to the training of the Jedi Knight.

Well, I mean, I'm sure they had the reason for

doing it in that way. I'm sure so. Yeah, I'm

sure too. Because it sounds like your copies

are very similar to my copies in terms of like,

except for the order per se. But they just say

they hit the highlights on the old soundtracks.

They didn't do the whole... You know every little

every little tiny niggling musical cue But again,

they could have put like yes the Like with what

what is listed on Wikipedia for this is same

thing as that's on Spotify with the remastered

edition from 2018 We've already gone through

the whole list, but like you could have started

Main theme like it is obviously and then you

could have put the battle in the snow After that

because the Hoth battle is first, right? Yes,

obviously like well, yeah, the main titles are

first. Well, no, I'm saying like when we open

the movie after the crawl They're on Hoth, right?

The Hoth scene is the first scene in them. Yeah,

so You notice like it could be that they really

liked, you know, it is a very iconic theme You

know steam is is yeah, and it also was interesting

because I sort of like I remember sort of I feel

like this almost reinforces your argument from

the last podcast, where I was like, well, they

didn't have special standalone pieces of music

in the original soundtracks. And Yoda's theme

might kind of be that. It might be like, here's

Yoda's theme. Because what Williams would do

is he would give the characters a theme, and

the theme itself would be a piece of music by

itself, and then he would work that theme into

the music of the movie. Does that make sense?

Yoda would have a theme, and then there would

be a scene with Yoda that would incorporate his

theme. The Imperial March would have a march,

and then scenes with Darth Vader or the Empire,

because it was technically Darth Vader's theme,

would feature the Imperial March. Does that make

sense? Having Yoda's theme by itself kind of

feels like going against what I said in the last,

although I think this is the only one where they

do that. It could just be a sequence with Yoda.

I don't know, I have to listen to it again. Yeah.

But yeah, no, absolutely. Empire Strikes Back

movie is amazing. The score is amazing. And yeah,

everybody should be listening to it because it

is very, very fun. All right. Getting to the

revenge, the return. Why do you keep saying revenge?

Stop it. Because it's funny. I wonder what the

music would have been if it was revenge. It would

have been the same. It was the same movie. You

think? It was the same movie. Was it Kurtz? I

can't remember who shot down revenge, which was

a good call. Return of the Jedi works better

thematically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously. You

were like, Empire is fun. Empire is a dark, moody

romance. Return of the Jedi is the fun one. Where

is it? I think it's called The Return of the

Jedi. That's the one at the sail barge, which

is great fun. It starts out like Family Guy did

a relatively funny riff on that where it's like

dun, dun, and it keeps cutting to each character

dun, dun, dun. And it's just building and building.

And it's like, da, da, da, da. And you know,

Family Guy had like 20 characters that they cut

to. Whereas the movie, it's just like three of

them. It's like, Lou, and Archer's getting into

position, and Leia's there, and everybody's getting

ready for it. And then boom, da, da, da, da,

da, da, da, da. And it was just, it's so cool.

It's so fun. I one of the reasons why I want

new versions of these is because I want as much

of this music as I can possibly get and I'm sorry

11 tracks for return of the Jedi just seems Like

it is missing a lot of stuff. I'm not sure it

has Darth Vader's actual death moment. Mmm I

think so on YouTube and it is a separate little

track when he where he passes away a lot of that

like the the music for the final battle. Yeah,

very truncated. Which is good stuff. I mean,

I'm not disappointed with what's here. No, no,

no. I just yeah, I just want more. You're a greedy

boy and we want more. I understand that. Look,

if they have them, if they have the music, why

not do the like we had the ultimate edition of

of the prequel stuff like we had the ultimate

edition of of. Phantom Menace and Attack of the

Clones. We got an ultimate edition of Jaws 2!

I'm just saying, yeah, they can do the ultimate

editions of everything. And for me, coming from

someone who worked with a soundtrack company

for reviewing stuff for them for years for La

La Land Records, almost every release I ever

reviewed for La La Land Records on GeekHassRadio

.com It was a complete as complete like you take

Titan a or you could take any of the mission

impossible stuff that they've done you can take

any of the DC animated universe stuff that they've

done it's as complete as it can be and For being

the fun movie it gets the short end of the stick

Well, I mean it was also the third film Yeah,

but I believe the special edition version of

the soundtrack is a little more complete Because

also like that I think this is the one that changed

the most soundtrack wise with the special edition

Yeah, it changed the end theme and of course

it swapped out like the Nick for Jedi Rocks I

Take it you're not thrilled. Yeah, I'm not a

big fan of Jedi Rocks Joe Yowza Yeah, yeah go

I do like the Change of the egg, even though

I do like the change of the end theme, which

is you know in the original version It's the

Ewok scene, you know, and then this one it's

more musical because they also cut to all the

different locations I I do like the end theme

a little better in the special edition version.

Yeah Yeah, I wish that Again, like I'm looking

at the special edition listing and I'm like Why

don't we have this as the Like there's so much

music here more than what's on the remastered

version of the 11 track like See, I think you're

just I think what you're seeing is the same It

must be the remastered versions of the official

releases because it's this it's my what I have.

Yes Yes, it is because there are like like like

what jobs to like like yeah I haven't told this

story because it makes me look stupid, but I'll

tell it. When I found out that Jaws 2 was done

by John Williams, I didn't know that and I was

like, must own. So I went out and I bought what

I thought was the Jaws 2 soundtrack on eBay and

it turned out it was a soundtrack to Jaws that

was a 2 CD. Because I wasn't paying attention,

I searched for Jaws 2 and I got that by mistake,

but I already had the Jaws soundtrack. The version

I have I think was the re -release in the early

2000s which has like we're talking about every

piece of music Yeah, and I have the original

soundtrack which just has like basically the

the main it's the main bullet points of the music

Yeah, but I'm saying like if you're gonna get

that with they did that with jaws to why they

they did it with all the jaw soundtracks But

that's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, you're absolutely

right. This is for all three of these. They are

the original soundtracks remastered. So the 16

tracks for New Hope, the 17 for Empire and the

11 for Jedi. I think they're all underwhelmingly

empty as far as like I get it. You're remastering

the original releases. But if you're going to

remaster them, expand them as well and put them

in other original releases. Yeah, that's true

Like I'm sure like I know that because because

the the stuff you had for the prequels Was definitely

like not what they had on the discs. No, it wasn't

it was yeah, it was they expanded editions but

again, the whole point I'm trying to make here

is the the track sequent like Okay, take Jedi.

There's 11 tracks fine main title story continues.

Okay Into the trap. Yep. That's exactly what

we do Luke and Leia. No, that's um, that's the

final battle Is it I thought that was the no

return the Jedi is the one where where they the

sail barge fight Right, right, right. I'm pretty

sure into the trap is done. Yeah, I think I'm

pretty sure that's when the the the fleet arrives

at the Death Star That's that's okay see I was

thinking like Java's palace the beginning of

no I was thinking Luke showing up we get Luke

and Leia we get parade of the uox a hand returning

at the court of Java Yeah, when we were kids,

I remember we always made jokes about someone

put that tuba out of its misery That's right.

It was basically I don't know if it's a tuba

It might be a French horn, but it's just some

piece of brass. That's like just miserably like

whining Unfortunately, that's what brass instruments

do. They whine all the time. Okay, but when you

have a Jedi itself, an extended period of time.

Yes, yes. Of the 11 tracks that are here, I think

for me, it's gotta be Forrest Battle and the

Return of the Jedi. I agree. I also like Into

the Trap. Yeah, I do too. I like it, but when

I was listening to this, again, one of the cool...

We've been talking about this for months, folks.

Hello, it's called 12 months of Star Wars for

a reason. Star Wars has almost... No, they have.

They've done everything. They've done land, air,

and sea, and they've done almost everything on

each of those three things. And the thing that

we had not seen to my knowledge at the time,

this is before the prequels came out, the other

two movies, like New Hope is Desert, Empire is

Cloud City. Every movie had three locations.

Right, no, I understand that. No, what I'm saying

is like Star Wars had Desert, Jungle, and then

like Techno Death Star. Yep. And then Empire

had Hoth, had Snow, Swamp, and Gas Giant. And

the Jedi was again, sand again and forest and

again, Techno City. Right. Right. But my point

is, is that between the sand of New Hope, between

the cloud city and empire and the forest battle

in Jedi, we had never seen speeder bikes. Cause

that's what happens in the forest battle. They

use the speeder bikes. I don't think. I'm not

talking about speeders. I think they appear in

the comics, and I think swoops specifically appear

in the radio drama. Probably. But within the

films, and when I say speeder bikes, folks, I

mean speeder bikes. I know you mean speeder bikes,

but I mean swoops are basically the same thing.

Right, right, but I want people to make sure

that they're not... thinking that I'm also thinking

of like Luke's speeder. I'm not that's not a

speeder bike. That's a speeder. There's a difference.

That's a land speeder. Yeah, that's a land speeder.

That's a desert crawler as opposed to the snow

speeder, which had to be adapted for the cold.

That's right. Everything has to be adapted to

the cold, except me, because I run hot like a

furnace and I thrive in the cold. Anyway, I always

I always I prefer that they call them air speeders

these days because, you know, they weren't adapted

for the freaking cold. They're not very snowy

if they're not adapted for the cold. Stupid T

-47s. They were right to abandon them. T -47s.

T -47 Air Spader, that's what they were. Yep,

yep, yep. And the sad thing is, the first thing

that popped into my head was TK421. But Jedi,

again, like he already said, and I don't... I

don't back down from this. Yes, you're damn right.

I'm greedy I want more like I would love to get

some sort of anniversary really like new anniversary

release of all of this music all of the six films

plus whatever they're gonna do for the There

are nine of them now. I mean there are yeah,

there are 11 of them now 11. Yeah. Yeah, although

like Solo and in you know solo and Rogue One

weren't weren't Williams Rogue One I know was

one Carlo like I'm gonna get it wrong Not one

color Esposito. It's it's the other guy Well,

they both have kind of the same name and it confused

me he's a guy who did he works with JJ Abrams

a lot Oh, I know you're talking about He did

the new Star Trek ones and the which the first

one is really good and then the second one is

not that good This is basically the first one.

Diego Luna? No, not Diego Luna. No, not him.

Anyway, we'll be here all day trying to figure

that out, folks. Sorry. What I love on Spotify,

though, is when you're playing any of the stars,

it doesn't matter. It happens on the Ahsoka theme.

It happens when I play Galactic Empire, the metal

band. The bar the I don't want us the Michael

J. Connell. Oh, yes, Michael G. Connell. Yeah,

I love that guy Yeah, yeah, yeah love that guy

The progress bar is a lightsaber as the music

On Spotify, it's just some little hilarious little

thing of it. Just makes me laugh But no folks

check out the the original remastered versions

of the original scores. Yes, unfortunately there

There isn't everything here, but there's enough

like when I was listening I was like, okay. Yes,

I want more but what is here? I'm absolutely

loving listening to this. Yes, I Mean it's just

like the way that William again Composers look

at the material and then they come up with these

amazing themes, any of them, doesn't matter who

it is, if it's Williams or Giacchino or anybody.

And it's their job to make music that like fits

the desert or fits the forest or fits a character

or fits a ship or like how the, I forget what

his name is off the top of my head, but the dude

that created the lightsaber sound, how that sound

came. Say that again without me interrupting

you I believe been Burt Okay, that sounds right.

I'm I'm pretty I saw it recently on an Instagram

real these people are amazing and these these

soundtracks Even though I wish there were more

What we have is amazing and I love listening

to them and I love having that feeling of Enjoying

the movie and this is gonna sound so stupid but

enjoying the movie without having to watch the

movie all the time like literally I Listen to

forest battle. I hear every scene during that

music montage Alright folks, I think we're gonna

go to a quick ad break unless you've got anything

else you would like to say No, I believe I'm

good All right, before we do that, before I forget,

what would you rate each of these zero to five?

Boy, I, you know, I'm gonna give them all fives.

I mean, you know, if like, okay, as pieces of

music or as the actual releases, because I mean,

there's been a lot of complaining about their

incompleteness. As the pieces of music, all fives.

As the releases... Yeah, you can argue 4 .5 because

because they left out a bunch of stuff. Yeah

music absolutely all fives Yeah, I'm right there

with you because again music is supposed to evoke

a feeling it's supposed to open your eyes to

something or make you think about something or

whatever any kind of music not just this music

specifically, but it's supposed to make you feel

something and When you hear Imperial March, the

first thing you're gonna come out of... Oh, shit.

Like, literally, you know? When you hear the

main theme, or when you hear Cantina bans a party,

like, it just is, and it's cool as hell, and

I love having them here. Please, Disney, give

us more in the future. Alright, folks, I think

now... We're going to go on ad break and we're

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All right, folks, we're back here inside Studio

2009, only on the GeekCast Radio Network. Holy

crap. Love the music. Any final thoughts from

you before I run through the closing, sir? No,

I mean, it's just, um... Oh, it's weird that

the... It's it's it's been such a you know the

phrase soundtrack of my life is very trite But

it's also kind of true like the stuff has been

with me Since I was seven years or six or seven

years old like I don't remember when the soundtracks

officially hit Right, but I mean like Williams's

music has been with me my whole life I remember

one time during one of the Oscars when I still

watching the Oscars and they were you know They

were there. You know, they were cutting to people

like walking on, you know on the red carpet or

whatever. And I was making like jokes about,

you know, like I think Annie Rooney was still

alive. Not Annie Rooney, Mickey Rooney was still

alive. And I made a joke about, oh, he looks

like the Uggnott. And then I made a joke about

this guy. I made a joke about this guy. And then

they cut to John Williams. I was like, God. Yep.

The guy has amazing talent. I, you know, I feel

a little bad because like apparently once or

twice he got a little testy with Lucas because

particularly with the prequels, because Lucas

was, you know, constantly editing and screwing

around with them. which makes it difficult to

have to re -score everything. Which is why, if

you listen to the Phantom Menace, which I didn't

get to talk about, it's very choppy. The soundtrack

is kind of choppy in the film because it's chopping

the film around. But yeah, as pieces of music,

they're just gorgeous. We even talk about the

love theme from Return of the Jedi, which is

a little understated, but I still think it's

solid. I think the reason why it's understated

is because they don't have time for that now.

Like, I love you, I know, let's go. Like, we

have to evacuate. Yeah, now that I'm thinking

about it, the love theme, because it's at the

end, that's right. Well, it comes up when they're

in a village. Luke tells Leia the truth, and

it plays there to a degree. Yeah, and that's

the scene I started thinking about just now because

I was like, oh right. Where in the theater, oh

my god, like I saw the special editions in the

theater. God bless her, God bless her soul, but

man, she looked just... They're always allegations,

they're just allegations. Ravaged by time is

what I was gonna say. Out of cocaine before that

scene, because she looks bad. Like she looks

wiped out. Like if you project it onto a giant

movie screen, it does not look good. So here's

the thing and I said I just had to use this opportunity

to take one last cheap shot at the beloved actress

Carrie Fisher David Draper Star Wars monster

of the year. I know I've done it before like

I was very critical the first time I ever reviewed

Force Awakens and a podcast I was I was very

harsh Not about like about her voice. She had

her voice. Yeah Yeah. Listening to it again,

like it wasn't as bad as I remember it being,

but like, I remember being very harsh about her

voice that she'd, she'd spoke a lot. Yeah. I,

I'm the type of guy that I like women with long

hair, but man, she looks much better with the

buns. That long hair scene at the end was a little

rough. Yeah. But yes, folks, John Williams, he

is a maestro. He is a master of music. He will

always be a master of music. I'm pretty sure

he retired at this point. I don't know. I mean,

he did. I think they said that Indie -Fi was

his last soundtrack. Yeah, probably. Because

like, I don't know. I don't know what else he's

going to do. Well, no, but I was going to say

I don't I don't know if Spielberg's ever done

a film without him. I know I looked that up once,

but I've forgotten it since then. I don't think

he has. It's just gonna be weird like a Spielberg

film without John Williams. Yeah, it will be.

Uh, I mean, again, take with grain of salt, Wikipedia,

years active, 1952 to present. Holy crap, he's

been doing music for that long. Oh, I mean...

No, no, no, I'm not... No, I'm just gonna go

on, like, I mean, you just have to, like, write.

If you're talented, it should... Mean I don't

want to dismiss what he does because the man's

a genius and I and I have There are certain areas

of creativity that I have tremendous respect

for and one of them is music Because I'm not

good at it and I can't I can't sing I can't carry

a tune I don't understand how to write it. I

don't understand the language of it So when someone

does that and does it well, like someone does

it at all. I have respect for them. Someone does

it like Next level when I said God at the Oscars

I was only being slightly facetious like yeah,

so yeah like that that and then being able to

draw stuff I have respect for people who can

do that and so I like but at the same time You

know, it's not like digging a ditch. It's not

like a very physical activity I mean, it's one

of those things like if you're healthy and you

still love it You could do it probably right

up to the end even acting like yeah, you know

You get a little old new little pokey and it

becomes hard to do like I mean I honestly don't

know what conducting really... I think most people

have a very... Generic. ...facetious idea of

just standing in the way of the wand. And I'm

sure it's more than that. I know in my heart

it's got to be more than that. But at the same

time, you just write the thing and people play

it. I don't know. In theory, that's a thing he

could keep doing forever. Until... I'm not big

on celebrity passings. I don't get very misty

-eyed, but I think probably because a lot of

times by the time they pass, they've been out

of the eye. They're not doing anything. It's

a very selfish attitude where I'm like, well,

they're not going to do anything else. Their

career is pretty much over anyway because they're

too old to do anything else. So we're not losing

anything by them going. I always say, I'm sure

it's very tragic for the family, for the people

who love them. You know, I don't know these people.

I don't you know, I didn't know James Earl Jones

I heard he was a really nice guy and every story

has been very positive about him But and I'm

sure it's very sad for people who love him and

know him well But I wasn't like I literally had

someone call and send a text and say are you

okay? I'm like fine John Williams will hit a

little harder than most because he could keep

he could keep writing Movie themes until the

day he goes as far as I know So like that losing

him will be a loss a true loss. Yeah That came

out wrong. No, but you're right First I checked

Carrie Fisher now. I'm attacking literally everybody

with John Williams. No, stop stop stop. You're

fine But it's one of those things where you're

absolutely correct it's going to be a huge loss

for the music world for the world at large and

You know, I mean, like, and for me, looking like

literally looking at the man's filmography again,

he did lie in space. Yeah, I know. It's amazing.

It's mind blowing. Right. But you know where

else that as a young kid in the 80s that I remember,

he was the head conductor of the Boston fucking

Pops. We are like. But hello me, you know, growing

up and, you know, being born and grown up in

Massachusetts, like I literally remember listening

to the Boston Pops all the time. And it only

took me 40 something years to realize that most

of that old man, that old man waiting to stick

around was Mr. Star Wars. But I mean, like, yeah,

like. between Indiana and Star Wars and Jaws

and... Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park and you know

what else, which I need to contact my buddies

over at La La Land Records to see if I can get

these. Home Alone and Home Alone 2. The first

two Harry Potter films? Yeah. He did the Harry

Potter theme. The Owl's theme is John Williams.

Yep. Like the iconic music from that from that

series is John Williams like yeah, he's like

He's fucking John Williams period mic drop. Yeah,

man is a genius Please don't don't drop me. I

don't like being dropped. Microphone. Yeah, I

know what you meant. I know you don't have that.

I always make that joke. But like and I have

to go back and rewatch this movie. I remember

this movie. But like he did the music to the

Julia Roberts movie Stepmom in 1998. Like. OK,

he did Close Encounters. He did. He I mean, like

I said, he did everything Spielberg, so. There's

a great one. Did you ever see Catch Me If You

Can? Yes, I just scrolled to it. It's this great

jazzy 60s kind of thing. It's very cool. Yeah,

and we are, I'm assuming, like Catch Me If You

Can. I enjoyed that movie, yes. Okay, good. Yeah,

we'll do that at some point. It's my favorite

line of any movie, which is, they're making fun

of Tom Hanks for not being funny. He goes, knock,

knock. And I'm like, who's there? Fuck you. The

last thing that he worked on was, yeah, Dial

of Destiny. Yeah, because they made a big deal

out of it. That's his last one. Yeah. I mean,

there is something here listed, the Sugarland

Express original motion picture soundtrack from

74. That was Spielberg's first. It wasn't really?

Yes. Interesting. Did you know that? Oh. There

must be a remastered one. Well, no, what I didn't

know was that it's, I'll go to their website

in a minute, Sugarland Express original motion

picture soundtrack, 1974, released 2024 by La

La Land Records. So I did not know that it was

La La Land that was doing that. I'm sure that's

because it's John Williams and Steve Spielberg.

Well, yes. I mean, yeah. Well, as opposed to

like, because I mean, That's a thing that I know,

but I only know it because of Steven Spielberg.

What I'm saying is, it's not a movie that most

people remember or care about very much. No,

you're right. The first movie was the TV movie,

Duel, about a killer truck. Not Williams, Spielberg.

Right. It's got 24 tracks from Sugarland Express.

You can buy it today for $22 .98. It's one disc,

composed and conducted by John Williams. And

yeah, you're absolutely right. That's not a movie

that I even wrote. I remember the name of the

movie. That's all I remember, unfortunately.

All right, folks. I think that's gonna do it

for us. Coming up next, you will hear Dave and

I in the beginning of the sequel trilogy as we

attend The Force Awakening. So we're doing this.

We're splitting those up. No, we already did

them. Oh, OK. We recorded them. No, no. My mistake

was we were recording all three soundtracks,

but we've already recorded the movie. Yeah, no,

these are the movies. Yeah, this is not set.

No, this is the movie. So we're going. So order

of release. We in December this year, folks,

we're going Christmas crazy. Episode 101 will

be Deadpool and Wolverine with a bunch of my

friends. And then you already heard Dave and

I do the prequel scores and then we're doing

the original trilogy scores here. And then episode

104, 105, and 106, we're doing A New Hope, Empire

Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Not really.

It's Force Awakens, Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker.

And then after that, we've got two very special

episodes with Star Wars and more movie memories

and all that good stuff with Mr. Craig Miller.

So we've got that special thing coming up. And

then the holiday special with the Lego holiday

special. And then, and then I feel like the lady

from Dude, Where's My Car? And then? No, and

then. To the scores of the sequel trilogy. After

that, it'll be just one more thing. All right,

folks, that's going to do it for this episode.

Thank you for joining us here inside Studio 2009.

If you'd like to get in contact with us, leave

feedback for the show. There's always ways to

do so. Visit the website, geecastradio .com,

where you can listen to and comment on all of

our content. A reminder to everyone that we are

not on YouTube music. We are on Spotify, Apple

podcasts. Any audio podcast client you can think

of were there except Google doesn't have audio

podcasts anymore because Google podcast is no

longer a thing but a reminder to folks we are

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if you're on an Android device, you can have

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you can have us on Apple Podcasts or the iTunes

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at GECast Radio Network at It's Studio 2009 for

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Go to Facebook .com slash GECast Radio Network.

As well as searching out Studio 2009 podcast

over there as well. Next time, as I mentioned,

Dave and I will be talking about in the 12 months

of Star Wars, we start the sequel trilogy with

episode seven, The Force Awakens. For now, I

am TF2 and Mike with... David Raper. You'll hear

us back in the studio soon.