Episode 15: The Force Awakens - Part 1

In Episode 15, we return to the galaxy far, far away and take a look at how the musical landscape of Star Wars changed in the almost 40 years between A New Hope and The Force Awakens. In the first of a two-part episode we look at Rey’s Theme, Kylo Ren’s motifs, and The March (or is that the fugue?) of the Resistance. Recorded last year in eager anticipation of The Last Jedi, we’re finally getting this episode to you just in time for its release on Blu-Rey (see what we did there?), so sit back and enjoy our return to perhaps John Williams’ greatest musical franchise.

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Episode notes:

0:00 – A disclaimer (and possibly an apology!)
5:15 – Dan is writing a book about Star Wars
7:51 – The weight of expectation for The Force Awakens
10:00 – The legacy film
16:30 – The return of little-known composer John Williams
17:35 – Rey’s theme
22:40 – Rey’s riff
26:32 – Rey eats her lunch, on solo flute
30:41 – Rey’s abduction
33:11 – Rey’s impassioned bridge
36:15 – Comparison to other John Williams work: Potter and The Terminal
44:35 – Williams bringing Rey and The Force together in the end credits
46:40 – Rey’s theme – the dance remix
49:10 – Musically, Rey is a Jawa
50:33 – Kylo Ren’s theme
55:50 – The Kylo Ren B motif – the call of the dark side
1:00:00 – Ren and the Imperial March
1:01:45 – The March of the Resistance
1:04:51 – The March or the Fugue?
1:10:00 – Poe’s theme
1:16:39 – Finn’s rhythmic motif
1:19:00 – The mixed-meter Falcon theme
1:28:10 – John Williams as the bloodline of Star Wars
1:29:34 - …and more to come in Part Two!

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