In our second Star Wars episode, marking the fortieth anniversary of the film, we complete our exploration of the themes for this landmark film and score from 1977. We take on the franchise’s most defining melody: the Force Theme, and also throw in the Rebel Fanfare, Vader’s motif, and the Death Star, before ending on that eternal question: what links Star Wars and Metallica?

Episode notes:

2:15 – The Force Theme (or Ben Kenobi’s theme)

2:50 – Binary Sunset

7:25 – the Alternate Binary Sunset cue

12:30 – the Burning Homestead cue

14:50 – Rogue One: The Master Switch cue

17:10 – the first encounter with Ben Kenobi

18:55 – development with Kenobi, Tales of a Jedi Knight

22:45 – The Force Theme as anxious suspense

24:50 – Luke mourns Ben

26:30 – the martial Force Theme at the Battle of Yavin

28:30 – Use the Force, Luke

32:10 – The Force Theme in Superman?

34:40 – The Rebel fanfare motif

37:21 – The Blockade Runner and Imperial Attack, combining the Rebel and Imperial motifs

42:10 – Rebel fanfare as dramatic relief after the destruction of the Death Star

43:49 – Darth Vader’s motif

49:00 – development in Imperial Attack

55:00 – Ben’s recollections of Vader for solo clarinet

57:50 – Is Vader’s theme really Metallica in disguise?

1:01:11 – the Death Star motif

1:03:00 – Burning Homestead as a theme showcase

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