With the passing of Peter Mayhew on April 30th, I am feeling a little nostalgic for the Star Wars movies and so have been listening to the soundtrack from the original trilogy. It always amazes me how a good soundtrack can really enhance a movie and the atmosphere of a world that's been built up from ground 0. Star Wars has some pretty iconic music in general.

What are your feelings on the music from the Star Wars movies -- either the original trilogy or the other ones that have been released so far -- and what are your thoughts on the over-all placement and execution of the soundtrack? Does it help you remain immersed in the world they created? If you could, would you have made different choices?

I am curious to hear people's thoughts on the subject.

The music for Star Wars was/is essential to the success of the movies! It sets the moods and signals scene changes. It announces the villains and the heroes. And it has embedded itself into the brains of fans so completely! When I sit down to watch any Star Wars movie, old or new, I get a rush when the theme starts playing!

Movie soundtracks is a special breed of music. The music has to match the movie. With the right music the viewer instantly can recall a movie scene decades later. If you hear "Dah Dum, dah dum, dah dum" you can visualize the shark fin sticking out of the water. When you hear the music you visualize Clint Eastwood staring down the bad guy. The same with Star Wars. The music score elevated the movie to the next level. Every space adventure that followed had to have the full orchestra score and majestic theme. How much more memorable can you be than to be emulated by all that follow?

And the Indiana Jones movie theme music is great too.It gets you excited.

Without the music, the films wouldn't be worth watching once. With them, they hold up to many viewings. But...just like the visuals, sometimes the music was a little too cute. I'm thinking about the cantina scene with the muppets playing retro music on futuristic instruments. Lucas never said the movies were for adults, however...so cute can be forgiven and even embraced.

This goes back to the silent movie days when they had a piano player in the theater who played along with the movie.



Just like the Ewoks. We all cheered when the little teddy bears took down the Empire now didn't we!

John Williams is a master at writing music for movies.

Mario, I'm sure there were some who scoffed at the idea...but I wasn't one of them. Granted, I missed the first generation of viewers and had seen it on video before I ever saw it on the big screen, so my cheers were a little more muted. Fight on, you cute little furry warriors for Justice!

I agree with that whole hardheartedly. I feel like the music was a big player in why the original trilogy was so successful.

That's a really great point! Have you ever seen the making of the score for Zootopia? If not, I'd suggest looking in to it. It's really amazing all the work that went in to crafting the perfect soundtrack, even just for the background music you don't always realize is there. I'd love to go back and watch Star Wars and see if there was any background music I hadn't picked up on that enhanced the scene.

I feel like a good Theme Song can set up a franchise for success or absolute failure. Even if the series itself is not very good a really good, catchy theme song can make it spread via word-of-mouth like wild fire.

They will always have a special place in my heart. I was too young to see it in theaters myself, but as a small screen viewer I was definitely caught up in the magic of that particular moment, haha.