Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue.
Today we're going to be listening to 8m3 Rev. The Rescue.
This cue is 69 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer.
This cue is an interesting case where I don't have scans of the completed revision, but only of the original and the separate revised portion with instructions on how to integrate them. Also, because they pre-date the final version and the addition of last week's cue, they aren't yet rebalanced so they're still labelled as 8m2.
Here's the tops of the first page of the conductor's scores of both:
As you can see, the revised page is labelled "New Introduction to The Rescue" and only includes the changed bars. The only difference between the original and revised versions is the complete replacement of bars 1-3, and the addition of 3 new bars (labelled 3A-3C) before bar 4. Bars 4-end are unchanged.
Other than being 3 bars longer, the revision adds some extra plucked viola and harp between the timpani hit and the start of the rest of the cue. My best guess for the reason behind this change is that the Ben sneaking around shot that it scores was not originally here when Williams first scored the sequence, but it was added in editing while Williams was still writing the score, and he had time to write a quick revision to incorporate it.
With all that out of the way, it's time to listen to the revised cue together:
At 0:00 the cue begins with some bassoons for the end of Vader's conversation with Tarkin, followed immediately by a Timpani crash as Vader turns around.
Then at 0:04 we get some plucked viola for Ben sneaking around a hallway (these are the additional bars for the new shot as I explained above).
At 0:08 we get a brass hit for the camera pan to Chewbacca yelling the troops have arrived, and another at 0:12 for the pan to Han yelling the same thing.
Then at 0:14 the orchestra starts building up after the explosion to a short statement of the Imperial theme at 0:16 for the stormtroopers in the hole. More ascending strings at 0:19, and then some loud brass at 0:22 for Chewie and Han retreating.
At 0:29 the strings quiet down and start up a rhythm, which leads to the Rebel Fanfare on the woodwinds at 0:33. Another statement on the brass at 0:40, and then the woodwinds again at 0:44.
Then a short interlude at 0:49, with slower woodwinds and brass for C-3PO's dialogue, which increase in volume as he realizes stormtroopers are at the door.
At 1:02, the return of the faster paced action music, as the gunfight is still ongoing. The brass provides rhythm as the woodwinds slowly ascend, and the strings swirl around. This all builds up to them syncing at 1:24 for Leia taking charge, which in turn builds to more Imperial Theme at 1:31 as Leia slides down the chute.
Some more swirling strings at 1:38 as Han yells at Chewie to go down. The orchestra syncs again at 1:41 , and we get some climactic sounding brass as the stormtroopers become hidden by smoke. Finally this ends with a crash as Han falls into the water at 2:04. Thus, the cue ends...
This cue was recorded on March 8, 1977, the second day of the recording sessions. It was the first cue recorded that day. Four takes were recorded, numbered 24-27. According to the 1997 take log, the performance edit used takes 26 and 27.
This cue has been officially released on four different albums:
1) In 1977 on 20th Century Records' OST album
2) In 1993 on Arista Records' 4-CD Anthology box set
3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set
4) In 2018 on Walt Disney Records' Remastered album (remastered OST rebuilt from scratch from the session masters)
More specifically, 8m3 Rev. The Rescue can be heard:
From 0:00-2:06 of track 7 "Rescue of the Princess" on the 1977/2018 albums
From 0:00-2:06 of disc 1 track 11 "Rescue of the Princess" on the 1993 album
From 0:00-2:12 of disc 2 track 6 "Shootout in the Cell Bay/Dianoga" on the 1997 album.
All sets have the clean opening, however only the 1997 set has a clean ending. The 1977 set is of course a remix and should be avoided. As far as I can tell all sets use the same takes. The 1997 set is brickwalled. For the video above I used the 2018 set for everything except for the ending, which came from the 1997 set.
That's all I have for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.
Next week we'll be listening to the only completely unused cue in the entire score, 8m4 Rev. The Water Snake. See you then!