The Acolyte: Episode 1 - Review and Music Breakdown
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Breaking down the music in Star Wars: The Acolyte, Episode 1, "Lost/Found" by composer Michael Abels.
Full Acolyte Playlist: • The Acolyte
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It's only the beginning but I'm already in love with the direction the music is taking. Very good balance between Abels's style and JW's classic sound (I could also hear some Bernard Herrmann in there too, in a few spots). Incredibly excited for the rest of the show!
Always love your videos, and great catch on the Coruscant arrival "motif" by the way!
Ooh. I wasn’t getting the Bernard Hermann so far. But I’ll try to keep my ear open for it in comparison to Abels’s music. Thanks!
I agree, it was a promising start to the series. Hopefully Abels had the freedom to go all out on the score. We will wait and see.
It does suck the show is getting review bombed by troll losers.
Eventually those reviews will balance with the strong success of the show. People know when something is good. And I bet these creators knew that they had to create something nearly flawless in order to be as successful as an others making the same show.
I’m not sure how much freedom Abels had but I can definitely hear his normal sound in here as well. But also a very tasteful blending of John Williams.
I'm really excited to see where they go with this show, not to mention the lore behind the twins and the force during the Old Republic
I’m always kinda bad at distinguishing themes when the shows just start, thanks for getting me to recognize them as always! 💪
It’s been especially hard with this one so far. I hope I’m right. 😂
the theme for Osha reminds me of the first few notes of Anakin's Betrayal
Really? I think the Perfect 5th to start with throws it off too much for me. And the descending resolutions aren’t accented on the down beats with the dissonance. I’ll have to think on this one some more.
Thanks for the insightful analysis! I don't comprehend music analysis, I just know that I like the spooky feel and the way it gives a classic OT/PT feeling.
I think that Mae's master lighting their red light saber might be a couple things:
1) In universe, it may be a reminder to Mae about the point of killing without a weapon. I've seen an explanation that an acolyte must earn their light saber by killing a Jedi unarmed - using their own light saber to kill them. Then, the light saber's kyber crystal is "bled" or something to turn it red. So, it's a reminder to Mae what the reward is for accomplishing this task.
2) Out of universe, it may be to remind us of Darth Vader and Kylo Ren, perhaps as a clue that this is not actually the Sith Master, but rather the Sith Apprentice. This is basically my theory alone ... I haven't heard anyone else talk about this speculation. But to me, it seems an obvious possibility, and one which is so obvious that the writers might have counted on it. They may be puzzled at the nigh universal fan assumption that this mysterous helmeted figure is the Sith Master.
I mean, we've seen a lot of other dark side characters wearing face concealing helms, but never have they been the head honcho.
Anyway, the action in the show seems to support the idea that Mae must earn her light saber by killing a Jedi with their own light saber. Mae visibly reaches for Indara'a light saber (and later Sol's), but after killing Indara with a knife she simply leaves Indara's light saber on the floor. So clearly she wanted the light saber at the start of the fight, but not after. Obviously something changed, and the description of how an acolyte must earn their light saber fits everything well.
Thanks. This is a perfect explanation. And I’m sure we’ll see this further explored as the series continues. It probably was partly just to show the crimson lightsaber. But also a chance for the Sith Lord to remind Mae what it takes. I’d love to see a Kiner crystal bled in live action!
I wasn't familiar with Abels previously, but his work here is a big highlight for me so far, and I appreciate getting these breakdowns. 🙂Good point about the piece at 8:44. Usually I think of a drone as being lower than what's played over it, so it's interesting to have the opposite in this case.
Thanks! I’m glad I could offer my take on everything.
The initial lightsaber reveal is cool, it gives me vibes of good force domination over evil. What scene/music from the original trilogy would best match that moment of the ignition of the saber to striking down the knives and holding it up in the striking position?
I don't know ep4 has a music/scene, maybe Luke making the shot on the exhaust hatch? Ep5 I can't think of one, maybe Yoda pulling the xwing out of the water? Ep6 there are probably several, with Luke beating Jabba, Luke beating Vader.
I was thinking something quicker and more abrupt like some short excerpt in ANH when they blow up the Tie fighters in the millennium falcon maybe. You don’t want to make it too grand of a moment or it takes away from later moments.
Abels seems very good at doing that John Williams Star Wars sound we love :) I immediately said "hey that's the coruscant arrival music from The Phantom Menace" while watching the show. hopefully there's not too much temp-tracking. I love the overall tone. I wish the end credits real hammered in a specific theme right away to help it solidify in our brains like with other Star Wars shows like Kenobi. I think the main theme that (plays over the Acolyte logo) sounds a bit too close to Kylo's theme but it's still good.
It definitely as a theme is similar to Kylo’s. But Abels is setting it so different that it ends up working.
So far, I don’t mind the temp-tracking moments. But they have to mean something. The Coruscant one was perfect. The Kamino one in episode 2 is more questionable. But if it foreshadows something, then it’s awesome. Part of it is just seeing where they go with this show.
what is this concept temp-tracking? I read the definition but I don't really understand how it's used in the first episode.
@@trauma50disaster1
INFO: Late in the filmmaking process the director eventually sits down with the composer for a "spotting session" (where they watch the nearly finished show/movie and talk about what the music should be like). Long before that happens tho, the filmmakers take pre-existing music and just put in the pre existing music into the scenes temporarily. this temporary track (temp-track) helps them understand the feel they're going for in the scene.
So when the director finally has a chance to show a nearly finished project to the composer for their spotting session, the director, who often knows very little about music theory, doesn't have to struggle to express the style and tone and energy of music they're imagining, because they've already selected pre existing music - the temp track - and now the director just says "i want it to sound sort of like this" and presses play.
PROS: Good directors and composers who trust each other use temp track as just an inspiration, a starting point, and then allow the music to have it's own identity. Like how "battle of the heroes" was almost certainly inspired by "Duel of the Fates", George Lucas likely used Duel of the Fates as a temp track for those scenes in Revenge of the Sith. John Williams then wrote new music that was still original and new sounding but had the vibe and energy of Duel of the Fates like Lucas wanted.
CONS: however when the director/composer pairing isn't as solid or experienced, there is often a tendency to rely too much on the temp score, saying "just copy the temp track - try to sound as close to this as possible without getting us into copyright trouble". Some somposers dislike temp tracks saying it limits their creativity "I'm an artist, not a sound-alike imitator". Some films have gotten into copyright trouble over temp tracking (see "300" vs "Titus" as well as "Gladiator" vs Holst's "Mars").
Over the last decade Lucasfilm seems to use existing Star Wars music as temp tracks for the newer Star Wars projects. Rian Johnson didn't even have a spotting session with John Williams, he just said "do your thing". On paper it sounds like a good thing - a director trusting the composer completely and not micro managing him - but spotting helps connect the director's vision with the composer and without it all the composer can rely on is the temp score, and some have criticized the score for The Last Jedi for sticking so closely to previous arrangement and having fewer new renditions than John Williams usually does. And that is probably because all John Williams had was a temp score, nothing else to go off of.
For the Acolyte, the Coruscant arrival strings were referenced in a scene and some fans are like "what does this mean? where's the connection we're meant to understand from this?" while others like me are all "it's just a composer following a temp score, the temp score had the coruscant music and the composer copied it a little too obviously, no deep meaning here." Without confirmation of what the temp score was, it's up to interpretation.
Also Mae's theme seems to be very similar to Kylo's theme, perhaps Kylo's theme was in the temp track.
@@RedCaio thank you for that thorough answer! I’ve recently begun a bit of learning about music and found this channel. I know nothing of music accept what sounds good to me.
It’s probably blasphemy but I actually only like the the music from the first 6 episodes, and an occasional track of the newer stuff.
I identify so closely with the music of those movies and the feelings created based on the visuals that it only feels right to me that all of the shows should actually use those tracks, with occasional new music. I do like to explore and find new sw music but often it doesn’t live up to what my mind wants to hear. Sorry I’m crazy.
I really like the Acolyte but I want the original music dubbed over to match the feelings I’m experiencing. So I’ve been spending a few hours a day matching up original music clips to corespond with the action on screen.
I’ve been doing this for weeks and just finished the first 7 min of the first episode, when the lightsaber battle ends. It takes me awhile to find the scene I want, then I have to find the location in the soundtrack, then match the seconds up to each other.
In the end it may be too time consuming but heck if I’m not enjoying myself!
@trauma50disaster1 before the director and producer get the final music from the composer, they’ll insert other temporary (temp) music into the film so that they can get a general idea of how the pacing and mood will feel. This will be music that was written earlier in time for something else but that fits the mood well enough to get the general vibe across. Often, the composer is given those tracks as a guide for what the director wants. Sometimes, the composer stays very true to the sound. Other time, the director gets too stuck with the temp track music and decides to keep it or something close to it.
If you check out my A New Hope playlist, you’ll see some direct relations to the temp music being used by Lucas before Williams wrote the actual music.
Probably going to need several listenings to "get" Abel's musical storytelling-style (it took me a good sweet time to transit from Williams' to Kiner's), but the fight scenes were... well, adroitly underscored.
A lot of TWIN theories/tropes thrown around right now (everything from Force dyad to JustOneTwin with dissocative personality disorder) but I didn't pick up any clues from their respective themes. Yet.
I miss the "choral vibes" music from the meditation lesson in the trailer, though, since it did a great job of conferring stillness, piety, devotion, Something Greater... - I hade hoped it would come to flourish here, creating that contrast between the gritty world out there, the violence, the (I believe) rather shady/unethical past dealings of the four on Mae's hit list, the council playing politics etc, i e the reality - and the high ideals of what the Jedi yearn to be (but probably often fail at...)
Did that make sense? (Because that was a lot of what made me interested after seeing/hearing the trailer.)
Totally makes sense and maybe it will come into play more as the greater good and greater evil element are explored as the initial crime investigation wraps up. I’ve learned though not to rely too heavily ok what trailers showcase since they often aren’t even done by the same composer.
For Abels, he’s spent much of his career scoring thrillers and so you get more subdued tracks that sit underneath with less focus on themes. Check out the movies Get Out, Nope, and Us.
I swear the theme that plays when Andara dies reminds me so much of a classical piece but I have no idea what it is. I first thought it was from the Peer Gynt suite, then I thought the Enigma Variations. They were close but not quite it. Maybe they just sound similar enough to where I thought it was them.
Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?
I had a similar thought, especially in regards to the third phrase. But if it is something, I’m struggling to place it as well.
After a few more listenings: at 1:00 the horn theme - damn if that isn't Kylo Ren's theme with an extra note (no 4) added and slightly different pacing.
Once you've heard it...
And, as I said elsewhere, I think this is totally unintentional and probably a side effect of binging on Williams-music in preparation. Some fragments are bound to stick.
I’ve heard it too. I actually more associate it though with the Imperial or general villain theme from Jedi: Survivor.
@@starwarsmusicanalysis But the theme that we just heard in E5 "what extraordinary beings we are" is definitely Kylo Ren's isn't it? Do you think the similarities (even if less similar than I first imagined though) are intentional? I'd love your take on this!
@user-qu9rj3nl1s haha. I had the same thought there. I really have no idea what Abels is doing with that. I don’t really get into it in my breakdown for tomorrow except making a slight eluding to it. But I think it’s a mistake that he’s unaware of somehow. I just can’t see how they would tie this to Kylo Ren or that that’s the direction they would want to take this. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong though.
I don't want to skip ahead, but is it just me or is there a hint of the Kamino theme in episode 2 at around 16:04 when Osha inspects the empty poison bottle?
😏 (Out tomorrow, but yes) I couldn’t find the exact moment it’s from, but I found it similar to when Kenobi lands on Kamino.
@@starwarsmusicanalysisyes, that's what I meant. The theme was also in the last episode of The Bad Batch season 1. I wonder if that's a coincidence, or if we get to see Kamino.
@MathiasLauber I was actually thinking that by the end of the series, we’d be seeing how this becomes the beginnings of the Sith grand plan. (I’m very curious if we’ll see the Sith Lord Master at the end and who it could be if so)
@@starwarsmusicanalysis Oh, that would make sense. I belive it could be Plagueis or Tenebrous. But we'll see
@MathiasLauber 🤞🏻
Did anyone else feel that the harmonies and orchestration during the fight scene sounded a lot like the Matrix soundtrack? It wouldn't be a coincidence if it does.
I was thinking more like a Kungfu movie. But we also hear some similar vibes in Ahsoka.
Admittedly, I haven’t seen a Matrix movie in over a decade.
@@starwarsmusicanalysis I do recommend listening to the soundtrack again
@EddieChamo I’ve been meaning to go through all the movies before watching the new one.
The iconic fighting from the Matrix is so deeply ingrained in some of us, we probably hear the Matrix soundtrack in our head anytime we see Trinity fighting, haha. I'm not sure how I feel about casting her is a similar fighting role, I guess I like it as at least an homage. I usually don't like to be pulled out of the moment by being remined about her other work, I'd rather have an interesting new person give a fresh performance. But dang if it's not fun to see her swing those arms and fight again!
@trauma50disaster1 I haven’t seen the new Matrix yet so it was a 20 year separation for me at least. Carrie was a great casting for her ability to be stone cold in that scene though.
this show is not star wars its a snooze fest literally no one asked for this show. its trying to retcon everything that came before it it in a bad way garbage show.
I don’t see it as a snooze fest. I see it as taking its time to build an entire new narrative since we don’t have anything that came before this now in canon unless you’ve been reading the books. What do you feel it’s retconning that’s canon and not legends?
@@starwarsmusicanalysis we have so much there's the old republic era that could have done so well. darth malgus darth reven. could have shown. we dont need to see matrix fights. the third episode is going to kill star wars becuase there trying to make it where the force is a female entity when its not its a cosmic energy that binds everything together. the dialog is also bad fight me with all your strength is cringe. don't need to say that in the beginning of a fight. could have shown us the old jedi order and the holy order of nights. they could have given us valcorian. I don't get how people like this show. or how about the fact that there trying to make the jedi look week and pathetic. also fire in space dont see the logic there. yes there were explosions in space such as when luke skywlaker destroyed the death star but it dissipated. because there's no oxygen in space. Also the weird flirting in episode 2 im all flexible on the outside like. also the pacing of the show is so incredibly slow its the same scene but they do three different cuts. if the jedi think that osha is a dangerous killer why didn't they have guards watching her. how the hell did she not have a single scratch on her when the ship came down. its just all around a bad show.
@@phantomloard0138 you're literally making up things to be upset about. at no point have they even so much as hinted at the Force being a female entity. Also there's plenty of Star Wars shows that feature a bunch of the fan service that you crave. No need to hate on this one just for telling a new story.
@@RedCaio I'm laterally not there going to explain that in episode three tonight. by having a lesbian witch tribe explain it and that's how the twin sister are born. this is all being said about the third episode but hey don't say I didn't warn you. just watch the third episode.
I think the “fight me with all of your strength” line is supposed to be cringe. Mae strikes me as a misguided youth that is fantasizing about epic fights that revolve around her own glory.
They could still tell these other stories. But this is the one that the creator was passionate about creating. Just because it isn’t something else, doesn’t mean it can’t be good.
The Jedi don’t strike me as weak in this show. They fight competently. They’re just too big of an order and are bogged down by bureaucracy like any large entity eventually is.
The fire in space confused me but I’m pretty some sort of hose had broken. Still not sure how that works but it didn’t affect anything so it was easy to overlook.
I can’t recall the “flirting” that you’re referring to. Probably one of those things you have to be looking for in order to notice or be derailed by.
People in Star Wars constantly crash in ships and are unscathed. It’s a flaw of Star Wars but it’s at least a consistent flaw. Haha. Ultimately, your complaints seem like small things that shouldn’t be ruining a show for someone and you most likely decided you wouldn’t like this show even before it began. But I respect your opinion and I hope that the show gets better for you.
Why would you analyze a gay rom com like Star Wars like anyone cares 🤣🤣
None of what you said makes any sense
@@starwarsmusicanalysisI'm honestly amazed at the analysis of the music. I love it. I've always really focused on music and sound effects when it comes to shows/movies. Not to mention the fact that there aren't that many channels that cover the more modern Star Wars music.
Yeah. That’s why I started it. There are so many great takes out there already but most people don’t know how to talk about the music which is obviously such an important aspect in Star Wars.
Tell me you haven’t watched the show without telling me you haven’t watched the show.
😂