Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue.
Before I start the post proper I want to mention that I now have a running index of all past and future Cue by Cue posts on my user page, feel free to check out missed entries here:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/User:Enderdrag64/Cuebycue
Today we're going to be listening to 2m4 The Probe Scanner.
This cue is 72 bars long and was orchestrated by Herbert Spencer.
Let's listen to the cue together:
At 0:00 the music begins just before the scene transition with a militaristic rhythm on cello. This is joined by some strings at 0:04, and some woodwinds at 0:10, as the heroes come in to discuss the sighting
The rhythm continues to repeat, gaining intensity at 0:17 when they first hear the signal.
At 0:25 we get our first hint at the Imperial March, as C-3PO suggests that it could be an Imperial code.
Then we get even more rhythm at 0:31 as the heroes hear the distress signal. Unfortunately this footage was cut so the video just has a black screen but this would have been the dialogue according to the script:
"This is Echo Station Three-Eight. Unidentified object is on our scope. It's just over the ridge, we should have visual contact in about .... What the? ... Oh no!"
This builds into atonal Imperial Probe music for the scene change at 0:43, sort of a continuation of how the probe was scored in 1m2 The Imperial Probe.
Another transition at 0:51, and the atonal music continues as Chewy and Han fight the probe. A big crash for the explosion at 1:05, and then even more atonal music, leading to the scene change at 1:17.
Back in Echo base, we get a few final repeats of the Imperial March rhythm, before jumping into the full theme proper for the wipe to Vader's fleet at 1:31. This is a powerful rendition of the Imperial March, intended to be the first introduction to the full theme, and is one of my favorite renditions of it in the score.
The theme repeats for the jump inside at 1:50, before climaxing at the "Admiral!" dialogue at 2:04.
At 2:07 we get another statement of the Imperial March, but much more quiet - on low woodwinds and brass as Piett and Ozzel discuss the Hoth findings.
The music slows as Vader approaches at 2:23, before the Imperial March rhythm returns at 2:27 as Vader arrives and suggests that the Rebels are on Hoth.
The music builds as Vader argues with Ozzel, and then the Imperial March proper returns at 2:48 as Vader walks off, and Piett and Ozzel share glances.
Some final drums mark the wipe back to the Rebel base at 2:56. Thus the cue ends...
As you can see from the above video, there were several picture edits made after this scene was scored. The starting portion in Echo Base appears to have had both removals and additions. In order for the sync marks to work I had to remove closeups of Rieekan and Han, and I also had to add in a blank space for the missing voiceover mentioned in the script, which appears to have been scored.
Additionally, the first shot of Vader's fleet in the final cut didn't exist yet when Williams scored it, as evidenced not only by the length of the music but also by the storyboard set I have for this sequence, which shows that this shot (VH0) was added on Feb 20, 1980, long after the recording sessions had already ended. Unfortunately I needed to add a short black screen here because there aren't enough frames of the surrounding shots to reconstruct the original transition.
Beyond the picture edits, the music in this scene was also altered quite heavily for the final cut. I'm not sure whether the music was changed because of the picture edits, or just because the filmmakers didn't like the cue, but in the final cut the following changes were made:
0:00-1:30 = silence
1:30-2:04 = Darth Vader's Theme 0:00-0:45 (there's about 10 seconds more music to account for the new VH0 shot)
2:04-end = 2m4 The Probe Scanner 2:04-end
Of course, Darth Vader's Theme is a concert suite that was never intended to be used in the film, and actually the version used in the final cut is a different take from the version released on every album - one of the only take differences I'm aware of in this score. It's possible that this happened because Williams might not have finished the album yet at the time the filmmakers tracked in the cue, but that's just a theory.
I personally think this replacement is super unfortunate, I believe the original cue works much better here than the concert suite
Since I don't have a recording log I'm unsure what day this cue was recorded, but based on the take numbers written in the sketch it was likely recorded in early January. I'm also unsure how many takes were recorded, but according to the sketch the performance edit uses takes 201 and 203.
This cue has been officially released on one album:
3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set
More specifically, 2m4 The Probe Scanner can be heard:
From 1:14-end of disc 1 track 4 "The Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor" on the 1997 album.
The 1997 album has both the clean opening and clean ending, and is fortunately not remixed. It is slightly brickwalled but is perfectly listenable.
The speed is also slightly off compared with the film, the 1997 set needs to be slowed down by -0.072 to match the film.
For the video above I used a speed corrected copy of 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 3m1 Drawing the Battle Lines. See you then!