Episode 8: Star Wars - Part 2

Art of the Score

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? 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.