Episode 8: Star Wars - Part 2

In our second Star Wars episode, marking the fortieth anniversary of the film, we complete our exploration of the themes for this landmark film and score from 1977. We take on the franchise’s most defining melody: the Force Theme, and also throw in the Rebel Fanfare, Vader’s motif, and the Death Star, before ending on that eternal question: what links Star Wars and Metallica?

Podcast RSS

Episode notes:

2:15 – The Force Theme (or Ben Kenobi’s theme)
2:50 – Binary Sunset
7:25 – the Alternate Binary Sunset cue
12:30 – the Burning Homestead cue
14:50 – Rogue One: The Master Switch cue
17:10 – the first encounter with Ben Kenobi
18:55 – development with Kenobi, Tales of a Jedi Knight
22:45 – The Force Theme as anxious suspense
24:50 – Luke mourns Ben
26:30 – the martial Force Theme at the Battle of Yavin
28:30 – Use the Force, Luke
32:10 – The Force Theme in Superman?
34:40 – The Rebel fanfare motif
37:21 – The Blockade Runner and Imperial Attack, combining the Rebel and Imperial motifs
42:10 – Rebel fanfare as dramatic relief after the destruction of the Death Star
43:49 – Darth Vader’s motif
49:00 – development in Imperial Attack
55:00 – Ben’s recollections of Vader for solo clarinet
57:50 – Is Vader’s theme really Metallica in disguise?
1:01:11 – the Death Star motif
1:03:00 – Burning Homestead as a theme showcase

We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment