Rogue One: A Star Wars Score

When Alexandre Desplat was originally announced as musical score composer for Rogue One, I was intrigued. Here was a very accomplished, Academy Award-winning composer — whose work to date could has been powerfully rhythmic, but pretty low-key — being asked to write in the tradition of one of the most iconic film scores of all time. Not an easy task. To me, hiring Desplat was a very positive sign that the filmmakers wanted to take these Star Wars anthology films in a very different direction from the saga. Alas, Desplat's place in the Star Wars canon was not be be. In September, it was announced at the last minute that Star Trek composer and J.J. Abrams favourite Michael Giacchino had replaced Desplat.

I felt bad for Desplat, but knew Giacchino is a safer choice for this type of film. Rogue One was touted as a war film, and Giacchino has spent more time writing for World War II-themed properties than almost any other living composer on the planet. Desplat ostensibly departed the project due to 'scheduling' conflicts, but given the talk of reshoots (and the evidence of many scenes in trailers not present in the final film) it wouldn't be surprising if the departure was also due to changes in the film's tone.

Michael Giacchino is a pioneer in multimedia music scoring. The first gig that brought him to wider attention was as composer to the score of the maligned Lost World Playstation game. The game sucked, but the music was great and was indeed the first video game to feature a recorded symphonic score. Giacchino's work on this game led to him scoring the first Medal of Honor game, a game produced by Steven Speilberg and his studio Dreamworks Interactive. Giacchino went on to score the game's sequels, MoH: Underground, Frontline (my personal favourite), Allied Assault (using the pre-existing scores from the other games) and — after a hiatus from the series — Airborne. He also scored the first Call of Duty game, bringing the composer back to World War II yet again. These scores are truly great works in any medium. Giacchino's scored a heap of films and television series since his Medal of Honor days, but it is these early scores Rogue One most closely resembles. The games' heroic themes for the Allies and bombastic goose-stepping marches for the Axis are transplanted into a galaxy far, far away, with a great effect.

The Star Wars series is a natural fit for Giacchino. In fact, he's seemed destined for this role for a long time, with his work on films such as Abrams' Star Trek franchise, Jurassic World and others positioning himself as a natural successor to Williams as the composer who can meld bombast with nuance. Abrams, naturally, opted for John Williams to score The Force Awakens so Giacchino — a long-time Abrams collaborator — was cast as a stormtrooper in the opening on Jakku instead.

Which brings us to Rogue One. Fans looking for a rehash of themes from the original trilogy will be disappointed. This score is almost wholly originally. The cover of the album may credit John Williams as the "Original Star Wars music" composer, but this is mainly a marketing exercise. Just as the film uses iconic characters sparingly, so too does Giacchino quote Williams' themes infrequently, but judiciously. Instead of dumping in the Imperial March every time a Star Destroyer appears on screen, Giacchino very smartly develops his own Imperial themes, derived from those of A New Hope, rather than the Imperial March of the Empire Strikes Back.

There was disquiet about Williams' use of the Imperial March in the prequels, owing to the fact that in the timeline of the films, neither the Empire or its theme had been established. Giacchino wisely quotes from it sparingly and instead chooses to develop the Death Star's four note motif (duuh duh-duh DUUUUUUH) and even employs Darth Vader's original motif (sometimes called the 'Imperial motif', but referred to a pre-ESB Williams as 'Darth Vader's Theme') of bassoons and muted trumpets which has not been heard since the original 1977 film.

All in all, this is a very good score that serves the film exceptionally well. The same people who threw the banal critique at The Force Awakens soundtrack as not having a 'hummable' tune will probably dislike this score. There probably isn't enough Williams for the casual viewer's liking, and interweb-based film score forums (yep, such things exist) will issue keyboard criticism after keyboard criticism, but this is a very good score. As Gordy Haab (Battlefront), Mark Griskey (The Force Unleashed), Joel McNeely (Shadows of the Empire) and other composers have shown, there can be exceptional Star Wars scores without the original maestro at the helm. Sooner or later John Williams won't be around to compose a Star Wars score; we were very lucky to get a seventh saga score from him. I can't think of anyone better than Michael Giacchino to inherit the Star Wars musical mantle.

Highlights: 
Krennic's Aspirations — The re-emergence of a very familiar character and some very familiar themes.
Hope — Once you've seen the film, the opening of this track will probably give you nighmares. It's instantly iconic and will be a track long remembered, to paraphrase a certain memorable villain.
The Imperial Suite — a concert version of Giacchino's new themes for the Empire, like an ur-Imperial March. A lot of similarities to some tracks from MoH: Airborne.

Other Albums You Should Listen to:
Medal of Honor: Frontline (Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube)
Medal of Honor: Airborne (Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube)
Battlefront OST, Gordy Haab (YouTube)
The Force Unleashed OST, Mark Griskey (YouTube)
Shadows of the Empire, Joel McNeely (Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube)

Politics and Intergalactic Relations, 3rd Edition

The Nazis on the Death Star First Order on Starkiller Base

>>Achtung! Here be spoilers<<

Viewers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will leave the theatre with many questions: what occurs immediately after the credits roll? Is Rey a Skywalker? Will there be redemption for Kylo Ren? What the shit is a Snoke and why is he a 20ft-high hologram? Why does C-3PO have more expression on his face than Carrie Fisher?

These are all valid questions, however I left the theatre most bewildered about the state of political affairs in J.J. Abrams’ new galaxy. When we last saw our heroes at the end of Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine was deposed with extreme prejudice, Darth Vader redeemed and the mighty Empire in disarray.

It was assumed, as had occurred in the now-jettisoned expanded universe, that the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic (to give the Alliance its formal name) did in fact become the New Republic. The opening crawl to The Force Awakens says as much. So far so good. The First Order, the new film’s surrogate Galactic Empire, can safely be assumed to be one of the many remnants of the Empire vying for control of the galaxy. Fine.

But why is the now General Leia leading a “Resistance”? Surely she should be leading a New Republic army against the First Order, rather than a rag-tag proxy Rebel Alliance with new X-Wings and helmets? This is confusing. If anyone could be classed as a resistance in this story, it’s the First Order resisting the New Republic.

The politics of the original trilogy (and even the maligned prequels) were pretty straightforward. It was the EVIL GALACTIC EMPIRE against the plucky Rebels; a tough Princess pursued by the “Empire’s sinister agents”. In the prequels, the political arc was the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, comprehensible if clumsily plotted by George Lucas (like how by the end of Revenge of the Sith, the Republic is suddenly the Empire, with TIE-sounding spaceships, Imperial uniforms and their very own Grand Moff Tarkin even though this vital character had not been glimpsed at all in the prequels – lazy plotting and lazier writing attempting to squeeze too much into too short a time....oh and they're building the Death Star...apparently that took 19 years to build. Union disputes, Lucas "jokes" in the DVD commentary. I say "jokes" because Lucas is clearly devoid of anything resembling a sense of humour...but I digress).

This is also the entire plot for Rogue One

But I have no idea where we find ourselves in The Force Awakens’ galaxy and what effect the actions of our protagonists and antagonists have on the intergalactic political status quo. Like when the Death Star III Starkiller Base destroys a planet that looks suspiciously like galactic capital Coruscant (but apparently isn’t), it’s very difficult to tell whether that’s the entire New Republic gone. Conversely when Luke Skywalker Poe Dameron flies down the Death Star Starkiller Base trench and destroys it by firing torpedoes into its One Fatal Weakness™, is that the end of the First Order? Presumably not, although it’s not as if the First Order appeared to have a heap of starships in orbit around Starkiller Base. The fact is that the scope of both the New Republic and First Order is almost completely unknown. Perhaps this is for the best, leaving writers of future installments (and the all-important tie-in books) maximum wriggle room, but it’s also frustrating given the foundation of the Star Wars saga as a “Good vs. Evil” story.

It’s difficult to believe that the destruction of the Coruscant-like planet, capital of the New Republic or not, would spell the end for that government. A space-faring administration would surely find it quite easy to ensure continuity of government by spreading out vital services like the Space Police Force, Space Army, Space Medicare and Space Centrelink over several star systems, but General Hux’s fevered Hitleresque speech, announcing the end of the "illegitimate" Republic, would indicate otherwise.

For me, the destruction of this Republic planet (referred to as the Hosnian System) doesn't carry much weight in the film. Sure, it's apparently an important place, but it's difficult for viewers to relate to what is going on. When Tarkin ordered Alderaan destroyed in Star Wars, it carried emotional weight – it was Leia's home planet and the home of peaceful people who did not deserve a planetary genocide. Viewers know nothing of Hosnian Prime, except that it had something to do with the Republic and was probably its capital. The middling responses from our lead characters to this event don't add much weight to it at all.

My bet is there’s more to this universe than meets the eye. Abrams and fellow screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt are steeped in the Star Wars universe. They know what makes it tick and what makes sense in its internal logic. There are no doubt deeper reasons to why the Republic may or may not exist any more. Perhaps they demilitarised after the end of the Galactic Civil War, leaving Leia one of the few former Rebels who recognises the necessary evil of an army. Perhaps like a reluctant superpower, the New Republic provided only basic support to the Resistance, as more earthly superpowers often do in the real world when they don't want to get their hands dirty.

The more committed Star Wars fans among you will no doubt be able to point out that some of these questions are answered in the novelisation/graphic novel/young adult novel/trading card series/colouring book/inflatable beach ball. A preliminary interweb search does indeed indicate much is explained in Alan Dean Foster’s novelisation of the film and in an assortment of tie-in books (like DK’s Visual Dictionary), but it still leaves the vast bulk of casual viewers in the dark who won’t purchase let alone read the 1001 tie-in books, games and cereal boxes.

Regardless of the finer details of this universe, I think it’s kinda refreshing to watch a Hollywood blockbuster where not much is explained at all. Although it doesn’t come close to replicating the disorienting unfamiliarity audiences must have felt thrown headfirst into this world in 1977, it's nice that the action and quieter moments aren't subsumed with blatant exposition beyond what is needed for the plot.

I look forward to finding out more about this new Star Wars universe as more of the story becomes available. I guess that’s one of the reasons I love Star Wars so much: it’s not just three good films, but a rich tapestry of media including some of the best novels and video games in the genre. Although all that is now gone down the memory hole, we can look forward to experiencing a whole new Star Wars universe and great stories it will bring.

Star Wars Episode VII: Return of the Movie Title

Star Wars: The Force Awakens banner image based on the theatrical poster – the first time photography has been used for a main theatrical release poster of a Star Wars film, and the first time I can recall a banner configuration being widely distributed because internet.

If you were on the internet today, you may have noticed the release of the (probably) final trailer for the latest instalment of the Star Wars saga. This coincided with the worldwide release of pre-release cinema tickets that caused many a ticket sales server across the globe to crash (I'm looking at you, IMAX Melbourne!!). Although advanced bookings are nothing new for popular films, this is the first instance I can recall it occurring on a global scale. No mean feat.

The trailer was impressive, most impressive. Lifetime Star Wars fans like me no doubt got a little emotional with the whole thing. The thought and precision that goes into trailer creation to elicit responses in an almost Pavlovian manner is actually quite terrifying. But what intrigues me the most is how the episodic titling of the prequel Star Wars films has been eschewed in favour of an actual film name. Except for occasional mentions in the press and among fans, almost nobody associated with the new film has referred to it as "Episode VII". It is The Force Awakens. This is a very good thing.

The godawful prequel trilogy with their godawful subtitles (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) were almost always referred to by their episodic titles, probably in part because their official names were better suited to a 1950s B movie or Scooby Doo episode than a multi-billion dollar blockbuster. This generic naming essentially robbed the prequels of their individual identities (as if they didn't have enough creative handicaps to overcome), unlike the three original films which are almost never referred to by their retroactive episodic titles. 

The Empire Strikes Back, for instance, is an incredibly powerful title that remains a pop culture staple and demonstrates that sequels don't need need to be named [original film] 2. Likewise with Return of the Jedi. The Force Awakens' creators and marketers clearly recognise this and are trying to establish an individual identity for the new film and its sequels, avoiding association with the prequels in name if not in narrative. 

I'm pretty giddy with excitement for these new films. After the disgrace that was the prequel trilogy, I assumed we'd never get to see another new Star Wars release on the big screen. Happily, I was wrong.  Although, I must temper my excitement with the memory that even The Phantom Menace's trailers were awesome. Again, I doff my hat to the trailer people for making even that unintelligible piece of cinematic shit seem exciting. It is with a certain degree of joy I note The Force Awakens' theatrical poster neglects even a passing mention to George Lucas in its credits. This is a very good thing.