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Which Star Wars trilogy has the best music?

Which trilogy has the best music?

  • Prequel Trilogy

    Votes: 161 36.9%

  • Original Trilogy

    Votes: 264 60.6%

  • Sequel Trilogy

    Votes: 10 2.3%
  • Total voters
    436
sphagnum

sphagnum

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,058

The Phantom Menace - Duel of the Fates


The Empire Strikes Back - The Imperial March


The Force Awakens - Rey's Theme

So it's finally over. Three trilogies, nine films, every single one of them having their music composed by the legendary John Williams. What I've embedded above are some of the more prominent or notable pieces from each trilogy, though there are plenty more to choose from. I would've picked stuff from each film, but the embed limit won't allow it!

Regardless of the quality of the movies themselves, what I'm curious about is which trilogy people think had the best music. The OT with its classic leitmotifs? The PT with its grandiose, epic scores? The ST, with its complexities and integration of past elements? Is there one trilogy that stands out above the others musically or is it on a movie-by-movie basis?

(For my part, I think the PT has the best).
 
KOfLegend

KOfLegend

Member
Jun 17, 2019
1,795
I'd say the prequel trilogy overall, but Rey's theme is probably my favorite SW track ever.
 
egg

egg

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,598
Prequels, easily. ROTS has the best OST out of all 9 movies imo.

Battle of the Heros
Birth if the Twins/ Padmes Destiny
Anakin's Betrayal
Immolation Scene

There's so much emotion in this OST.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,785
esb alone has a better soundtrack than all the other films combined.
 
Hayama Akito

Hayama Akito

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,326
Is this a joke?




Duel of the Fates it's okay the first 5 times. For me is a little too over the top and a meme... as mostly all Star Wars post original trilogy honestly but oh well.

I don't remember any tune from the sequel trilogy... I don't think it's bad, but John Williams tried something different (and I support that) and... well, that's it.

In fact I think The Mandalorian had a better soundtrack than the sequel trilogy.
 
UltraMagnus

UltraMagnus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,670
I mean really people also kinda just isolate the main Star Wars theme ... but that's an OT theme ... the prequels and sequels just reused it.

It terms of iconic themes it's not even close though. OT runs away with that, I like things like Battle of the Heroes, but not a chance that is matching up against no.3/4/5 of the OT theme's batting order.

Main Star Wars fanfare
Imperial March (ie: the Darth Vader theme)
Binary Sunset/Skywalker theme
Leia theme
Yoda theme

It's like a basketball team having five hall of famers as their starting rotation.

The other trilogies can't really match up against that once you go past their main themes.
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
The OT is obviously the gold standard for film scores.

OT > PT > Mandalorian > Clone Wars/Rebels > ST > Rogue One > Solo
 
Loreth_94

Loreth_94

Member
Oct 27, 2017
674
Canada
I voted prequels, but really it and the OT both have a ton of memorable music. Sequels pretty much just have Rey's theme.
 
HarryDemeanor

HarryDemeanor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,423
OT followed closely by the prequels. Outside of Rey's theme and the Resistance theme I can't really think of anything else from the ST that stood out.
 
DSP

DSP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,120
Prequels are really good. There is much more variety there compared with originals.

I don't remember anything from sequels and I don't really care to go and listen to them.
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,559
Score ranking:
ESB
ANH
TPM
ROTS
ROTJ
TROS
TFA
TLJ
AOTC

I have spoken.

The sequel scores are underrated but they don't have any hit single tracks like each of the prequels had. They're also generally buried in the mix, given less room to breathe, and featured in far fewer games, TV shows, etc. ESB and ANH are all-time classics and the rest are consistently great. Williams' work on the saga as a whole is unprecedented and without a doubt his greatest achievement.
 
Vitet

Vitet

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,573
Valencia, Spain
I have to add, as the man himself says... it's just a very big soundtrack that connects all films. Like he says when in the Kylo and Rey fight when their two themes merge with the Force theme.


We shall rejoice all of it.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
OT created the Star Wars main theme and the Imperial March, which are iconic. Even people who aren't into Star War know these two themes.
 
UltraMagnus

UltraMagnus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,670
TheXbox said:
Score ranking:
ESB
ANH
TPM
ROTS
ROTJ
TROS
TFA
TLJ
AOTC

I have spoken.

The sequel scores are underrated but they don't have any hit single tracks like each of the prequels had. They're also generally buried in the mix, given less room to breathe, and featured in far fewer games, TV shows, etc. ESB and ANH are all-time classics and the rest are consistently great. Williams' work on the saga as a whole is unprecedented and without a doubt his greatest achievement.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I probably would place AOTC a little higher but otherwise that's pretty close to my thoughts.

Across the Stars is probably the 2nd best theme in the prequels, it's a pity it basically got washed away by the horrific romance it was tied to.
 
Dubbedinenglish

Dubbedinenglish

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,326
Definitely the OT, but the PT isn't far behind. Across the stars, Battle of Heroes, Trade Federation theme, Duel of the Fates..... all certified bangers.

ST has Rey's theme, and maybe an honorable mention to Jedi Steppes. Otherwise it leans too heavily on the OT and medleys.


If we throw in other stuff Ludwig Goransson has an insanely strong OST tracks with The Mandalorian. "A Thousand Tears" from Ep 8 stands up with the ST all together.

OT> PT> Mando> ST
 
Doggg

Doggg

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Nov 17, 2017
14,461
You could choose quite a few tracks to represent the original trilogy. From the other two trilogies, there's like only one track that stands out from the rest.
 
Hella

Hella

Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,405
The OT soundtrack is timeless. The PT also has a lot of nice tracks, and the way it caps off lightsaber duels with moving themes is particularly great.

The ST... eh. None of it did anything for me, though I'll say I haven't seen the final movie yet.
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,559
UltraMagnus said:
I probably would place AOTC a little higher but otherwise that's pretty close to my thoughts.

Across the Stars is probably the 2nd best theme in the prequels, it's a pity it basically got washed away by the horrific romance it was tied to.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
AOTC suffers because the edit of the final act is such a hackjob. All of the music from the arena fight to the last few minutes of the film is tracked from TPM.

If we ever get a complete score I might change my ranking, but for now all we have is the album release and the music in the film. It's still a beautiful score, but probably the weakest selection in the saga.
 
Vitet

Vitet

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,573
Valencia, Spain
Azuran said:
Now this is just wrong.

Williams phoned it for the ST. Not a single memorable track at all. Rey's theme is mediocre at best.
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A theme with a little motif constructing most of it, with good orchestration, changing paces, little snippets that rememores us of past themes without just copying them, a good closed form... all of it with the description JW gives of his inspirations for it on Rey... I think we just have different definitions of mediocre.
 
Zen

Zen

The Wise Ones
Member
Nov 1, 2017
9,658
OT. Various films throughout the saga have had great scores but the OT is the most consistent.
 
UltraMagnus

UltraMagnus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,670
TheXbox said:
AOTC suffers because the edit of the final act is such a hackjob. All of the music from the arena fight to the last few minutes of the film is tracked from TPM.

If we ever get a complete score I might change my ranking, but for now all we have is the album release and the music in the film. It's still a beautiful score, but probably the weakest selection in the saga.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I had actually forgotten that, yeah you're right, that movie was such a mess on so many levels.

The best analogy I've heard for Williams work on the prequels was something like John Williams was like that basketball player that was busting his ass to get a 40 point triple double while his team was getting blown out, lol.

Dude was doing everything he could to prop those films up.
 

poofynamanama2

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,600
Reys theme is the only new piece that stands out for the ST

I also can't really remember much from the PT, need to relisten. Everyone says Duel of Fatws is amazing but it's always sounded super generic to me

OT has some of the best music in a movie, ever. Not even close.
 
Gravemind IV

Gravemind IV

Member
Nov 26, 2017
1,950
OT and PT are on even ground, maybe a slight edge to the OT for being first but the PT has some absolute bangers. I can barely remember any track from the ST barring Rey and Kylo's themes and I don't really like march of the resistance.
 
OP
OP
sphagnum

sphagnum

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,058
Doggg said:
You could choose quite a few tracks to represent the original trilogy. From the other two trilogies, there's like only one track that stands out from the rest.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Really, with the PT? Duel of the Fates, Anakin's Theme, The Droid Invasion, Qui-Gon's Noble End, Across the Stars, General Grievous' Theme, Battle of the Heroes, Padme's Ruminations, Anakin's Dark Deeds...

They're all immediately distinct and wonderful to me.
 
Anth0ny

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
47,018
lol

OT and it's not close.

Among the greatest and most iconic film scores ever composed.
 
Doctoglethorpe

Doctoglethorpe

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,214
It's the OT but this myth that the ST doesn't have a lot of great music is so annoying. Meanwhile what does the PT really have beyond DoF?
 
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