What I Currently Listening

1. X-Files: I Want To Believe Soundtrack - A lot more reserved than Fight the Future, and the remix at the end is surprisingly good.

2. The Dark Knight Soundtrack: I'm kind of on the fence with this one. The soundtrack is a better representative of the music in the film, when compared to the first one, but I don't even know if all the music on the soundtrack is in the movie. Unfortunately, some tracks, like the last one, seem to work better in the movie than by itself.

3. Metroid Prime II Echoes: Kenji Yamamoto, frequent composer to the Metroid Series, wrote all the music to the sequel to the first Prime game. While his Dark Overworld themes are little underwhelming, he clearly has a knack for atmospheric music. Plus hearing the cool remixes of some of his old themes from Super Metroid makes it a worthwhile find.

4. Airwolf Themes: Now on iTunes, the long out of print soundtrack featuring music from the cult show is available for a new generation of fans. It's cool to be able to hear the main theme in its entirety.

CD Review: The Clone Wars Soundtrack

The Clone Wars is the latest entry into the Star Wars franchise, a pilot movie for the upcoming television series. Kevin Kiner got tapped to score the movie (and presumedly the tv series.) Is he a John Williams wannabe? No. Kiner wasn't afraid to write music totally different than what's usually expected in a Star Wars film. And that's why many people are very disappointed with this soundtrack.

Let's first look at Kiner's strengths. Kiner's very talented at writing energetic pieces; the action pieces are clearly the highlight of the score, and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra just sounds lively and robust. But listening to "Battle of Christophsis," it sounds like Kiner pulls more from Silvestri or Goldsmith rather than Williams. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if Kiner made an effort at avoiding to sound like Williams. Afterall, it is refreshing to hear his ethnic music for the Teth planet.

Unfortunately, his weakness lies in thematic material. Again, he could just be avoiding Williams' themes, but even his own themes are sparsely used. His main theme (heard at the beginning of "General loathsom/Ahsoka") is hinted at from time to time, but never full blown. Kiner's use of Williams' main Star Wars theme is limited to 15 seconds in the main title and a 45 second end credits. I want to like his version of the theme, but it feels too clunky and half hearted.

The Force theme and the imperial March seemed to be hinted at in "The Shield," while "General loathsom/Ahsoka" has a snippet of the Force theme before changing into a new theme. "Fight to the End" contains the only full statement of Williams' Force Theme as well another hint of the Imperial March. And that's pretty much all the John Williams music present in the score. (I should mention that the beginning of "Admiral Yularen" resembles the Cloud City theme from ESB, but i don't know if this was intentional.)

Overall, the music is well done and excellently performed, but stronger use of themes would make this album sound more than a collection of diverse clips. C+

Recommended tracks:
03. The Battle of Christophsis
08. Anakin Vs Dooku
10. Destroying the Shield
11. B'omarr Monastery
13. The Shield
16. Obi-Wan's Negotiation
26. Courtyard Fight
31. Fight to the End

Legacy Collection Wave 2

Continuing my rant on Star Wars figures is a review of General Obi-Wan and Padme from Wave 2.

The two figures are wearing outfits from the first animated Clone Wars series, but are sculpted to resembled the actors from the live-action movies. Hasbro has already made a few figures like this, such as Anakin with ritual tattoos.

My feelings for the Obi-Wan figure are very hard to pin down. First of all, I'm a big fan of Obi-Wan clad in clone trooper armor, and can't wait for the 1/6 scale version later in the year. There's already been much talk about his face, but it doesn't really bother me. Overall, his sculpt holds up, but something seems off with the figure. Maybe the fact that his robes are half plastic and half cloth (and the cloth's pretty flimsy at that.) He has plenty of articulation and accessories: clone helmet, Episode III lightsaber, and lance. B



Padme, on the other hand, is down right perfect. Her cloth cape blends in with her plastic hood. She doesn't suffer from anorexic arms or legs like many other female figures. Her costume is a little plain, but the sculpted fringes on her arms and legs are nicely done. She has almost every kind of articulation you could ask for. Sadly, her only accessory is her pistol which fits perfectly in her holster. A-