A pissed-off Father Geek here with a report from Ms. DuPont that just re-enforces my negative opinions of King George and his "The Fans will just have to take whatever I want to give them and like it" point of view. I for one am fed up with his "Let them eat cake" take advantage of the fans marketing ploys that have spread thoughout his pious, self-serving faux empire. Well, I could go on forever about this, but instead here's Alexandra with his latest injustice...
ALEXANDRA DuPONT GETS A BEE IN HER BONNET (AND, WITH ANY LUCK, IN YOURS, TOO) over the so-called 'STAR WARS EPISODE I ULTIMATE EDITION'
Hello, all. Alexandra DuPont here with some, ahem, "Rumblings from the Boudoir."
I suppose I should disclaim this brief article/link in advance: What I'm about to write will boil the blood of obsessive collectors of "Star Wars" music and related aural paraphernalia, but it will seem like the proverbial "tempest in a teapot" to pretty much everyone else.
Seriously. I jest not. I'm about to escort you into a world where obsessive, deeply intelligent film-music collectors haggle and fuss over 20 seconds of deleted cues and the merits of "alternate takes."
Still reading?
Okay, then:
*****
Brigands! Buffoons! Reprobates! Poo-tongued purveyors of untruth!
Oh, sorry: I was just thinking aloud about how one might describe Sony Classical's soundtrack division right about now.
Allow me to explain. Remember when Sony Classical released the single-disc version of the "Star Wars: Episode I" soundtrack last year? You know -- the disc in which the bold "Star Wars" passages fans had hoped for were edited together (or should I say chained together, albatross-like) with bland underscore? The disc in which multiple passages were duplicated needlessly (e.g., the music for the arrival at Coruscant), leaving "Qui-Gon's Theme," solid action cues and other choice snippets to languish in a source-tape storage cabinet?
Well, according to certain John Williams fans who are infinitely more obsessed than you or I could ever hope to be, matters just got worse.
This Tuesday, Nov. 14 is the American street date for Sony Classical's "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace: The Ultimate Edition." (Honestly - how many colons can one title contain?) It's a two-disc, expanded version of the "Phantom Menace" score, and it was promoted by Sony Classical with the following PR blurbs:
(1) "... fans will finally be able to own every note of music that John Williams composed for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" -- Star Wars Official Web site press release
(2) "... complete, uninterrupted recording of the score, which is heard in its correct dramatic sequence on 'The Ultimate Edition'" -- Sony Classical press release
(3) "Every note of the original music that John Williams composed" -- Sony Classical Web site
Well, paint me blue and dip me in buttermilk. Given the gorgeous, two-disc "Special Edition" soundtrack CDs for the original trilogy that were released in 1997, Williams obsessives had every reason to rejoice. After all, like many of you, I've heard a "bootlegged," considerably expanded "promo" edition of the "Episode I" score (via the magic of video-game sound files converted to mp3s converted to AIFFs written to CD, or something like that) -- and thanks to it I knew that some wonderful themes and leitmotifs had been completely ignored by whoever determined the wretched mix on Sony's single-CD "official" release. I'd also read an interview John Williams gave in the French magazine Starfix, in which he expressed, in his mellifluous way, his "disapprobation" with how Lucas has chopped up his score for the film's final reel.
So one was filled with hope: On Sony's "Ultimate Edition," we'd finally get to hear all the music the way Williams originally scored it, right? No chopped up cues, lots of emergent and rousing new melodies, and a few alternate takes -- right?
Well, um, actually, no.
At this point, I need to refer you to better-informed scribes than myself. Those scribes are John Takis, Jim Ware, and Ricard Befan (founder of the lovely, obsessive fan site John Williams Central) -- plus a fellow who, as he put it, "you might as well just call Taalcon. It's what anyone who'd know me online would recognize me as anyway." One or more of these blokes got a hold of an advance copy of the "Ultimate Edition," and here's what they have to say about it at their Web site, "Star Wars: The Ultimate Lie," which I'll link you to in just a moment:
**** EXCERPT BEGINS HERE ****
....George Lucas was editing the final reels of [Episode I] up until days before the film's release. Necessarily, he removed much of what Mr. Williams composed because the timing was off, and there was no time for Mr. Williams to re-score the film. Instead, Lucas was forced to track music from the concert version of "Duel of the Fates." Measures of finished score were broken, spliced, tracked, looped, repeated and tweaked so that the music would change with the shape of the action on the screen.... Much of the music Williams composed was edited down, moved, or otherwise distorted beyond its original vision. It is THAT distortion that this new soundtrack release represents, NOT "every note composed" in "correct dramatic sequence."
Neither Mr. Williams or Mr. Lucas were pleased that the music had to be distorted for the final film. The fans knew it. Sony Classical's "Ultimate Edition" would have seemed the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to do justice to John Williams' composition. The misleading promotions appeared to support this interpretation.
Now that promotional copies of the actual CDs have found their way out, the truth is revealed. The producers of this record apparently cared nothing about doing justice to the composer. The music is shuffled and tracked from location to location, measures are senselessly looped and repeated, cross-fades destroy any semblance of continuity. Large portions of the score on this disc make no musical sense. The arrangement may have been necessary for the film, but on a soundtrack album it is LAUGHABLE....
**** END EXCERPT ****
And so there you have it, gentle readers: The so-called "Ultimate Edition" plays like an isolated score track on the "Episode I" DVD, horrid warts and all. To be sure, lots of marvelous new music has found its way to these CDs, and to be sure, I'll be purchasing a copy, but still: You have been warned. Is the negligence not appalling? Indeed it is.
Now, I'll bet that Takis, Ware, Befan and "Taalcon" would be the first to admit that they're utterly obsessed, and perhaps in need of some aromatherapy and a nice mud bath thanks to Sony Classical, the legendary Williams' score for a "Star Wars" film has been mangled not once, but twice.
So now I'd like to implore those of you who are sufficiently angry to help out Takis, Ware, Befan and "Taalcon." Here's how.
The four fellows just launched a Web site to petition Sony Classical about their botching of the "Ultimate Edition." The site can be found at the following link: http://www.thefullscore.net/
At this "Ultimate Lie" site, these dedicated lads make the case that Sony Classical engaged in false advertising, and they make that case in the most obsessive, detailed, and convincing manner possible. To bolster their point, they have mp3s. They have screen grabs of deceptive ad copy. They obsessively list each and every bit of missing or mangled music, cue by glorious cue. And then they provide you with a detailed form letter that you can mail or e-mail, addresses to send everything to, and even an online petition to sign. Do please pay them a visit.
Here are the crucial site links I mention:
"The Ultimate Lie" petition site
Now if you'll excuse me, I need a cigarette. I didn't even LIKE most of "Episode I," and I'm upset....
Warmest,
Alexandra DuPont
