That's the question boys and girls. Why can't composers and directors get over the fact that St. Johnny Williams composed the score for the first film in the series and, when a new composer comes to the series, allow him to write his own themes and NOT utilize Williams'. So many opportunities have been wasted for composers to try their hand at composing an original theme for Superman simply because Williams scored the first one. There's really no point for it because, in the end, it's just a composer utilizing another artist's work, but it's not the original artist at work no matter how much people may want. Case in point: this score has been front page news at jwfan.com for ages now. Newsflash! It wasn't composed by him.

I'm just tired of his themes being perpetually reused for Superman, as if it's humanly impossible to exceed them so no one should even try. It's pretty stupid.

Okay here are two reasons to continue to use the John Williams themes. First off there some of best movie music themes ever written, I mean just pop the original score into the CD player, close your eyes and you’re taken on a journey from far off space, to rural America, to the artic ocean and the Fortress of Solitude, and to the streets of Metropolis. It still remains one of the most brilliant scores ever written and continues to set the standard for Superhero movie scores to this day.

The second reason to use the John Williams themes is we have never had a true heir to the original Superman: The Movie Score, Superman II, & III simply reuse the themes of the original adding nothing new to them, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace only had two new minor character themes written for it (they were written by John Williams). So for Superman Returns John Ottman had finally given us a true heir to original Superman Score, which not only reutilize the Williams themes, but expands upon them and adds new themes, which expand the story, and make the first act more complete.

I must admit I find your criticism of reusing the original themes unfounded, not to mention unfair. It sort of like saying you can’t use Star Wars the original Star Wars themes for any of its squeals because they are tied to the original film and therefore it becomes repetitive and wasted opportunity. Of course if one had written the Star Wars squeal scores without using the themes from the original score then those scores with have been disjointed and it would have truly been a wasted opportunity.

> That's the question boys and girls. Why can't composers and directors get
> over the fact that St. Johnny Williams composed the score for the first
> film in the series and, when a new composer comes to the series, allow him
> to write his own themes and NOT utilize Williams'. So many opportunities
> have been wasted for composers to try their hand at composing an original
> theme for Superman simply because Williams scored the first one. There's
> really no point for it because, in the end, it's just a composer utilizing
> another artist's work, but it's not the original artist at work no matter
> how much people may want. Case in point: this score has been front page
> news at jwfan.com for ages now. Newsflash! It wasn't composed by him.

> I'm just tired of his themes being perpetually reused for Superman, as if
> it's humanly impossible to exceed them so no one should even try. It's
> pretty stupid.

> That's the question boys and girls. Why can't composers and directors get
> over the fact that St. Johnny Williams composed the score for the first
> film in the series and, when a new composer comes to the series, allow him
> to write his own themes and NOT utilize Williams'. So many opportunities
> have been wasted for composers to try their hand at composing an original
> theme for Superman simply because Williams scored the first one. There's
> really no point for it because, in the end, it's just a composer utilizing
> another artist's work, but it's not the original artist at work no matter
> how much people may want. Case in point: this score has been front page
> news at jwfan.com for ages now. Newsflash! It wasn't composed by him.

Okay, the headline was there to get attention
Seriously, though, you're a little off.
Yes, JW composed the score for the first film, and Ottman is a new composer. But Newsflash! Superman Returns is a sequel to the original.
Please don't give yourself to the illusion that John Ottman just recycled Williams because he DID write own material and the score around Williams' tributes is also original.

But ask yourself: what happens when a composer doesn't reuse Williams' themes? Then they usually come up with something that mimick Williams (Superboy, Lois & Clark). Why? Because every composer with a sane mind knows that what John Williams brings down to paper is usually perfect for his films, and same *theme* or not, the sound and tone of Williams usually remains when he leaves a series. For a reason.
And John Ottman is no exception. On the contrary, he uses Williams because he's a huge fan and knows it's the right thing to do.

> I'm just tired of his themes being perpetually reused for Superman, as if
> it's humanly impossible to exceed them so no one should even try. It's
> pretty stupid.

Unfortunately, it's not stupid, but true. Today's composer simply don't have the skills to come close. Call me arrogant, but every new score this year proves this point.

this movie would have suffered musically to a big extent if williams' themes werent included, first off it would not have felt like a blockbuster superman movie and secondly, for a film like this the original williams themes must be present and i believe that it is literally impossible to create a superman theme than can top the original.

THE WILLIAMS THEME IS SO AWESOME AND CLASSIC IT SO FIT WITH THIS MOVIE HAD THEY NOT USED IT IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A TRUE SUPERMAN MOVIE

The answer is obvious : because music triggers memories. So when a theme is unforgettable, it is bound to be associated to a character or a story. Reusing it allows to create a sense of continuity and coherence. When you change a well established theme, it generally means that the main character or the mood of the franchise will be changed.

Indeed John Williams created some great themes (Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws) who fit characters or situations so well, it seems impossible to imagine the franchises he began without them.
It's not an exclusive John Williams thing. The James Bond Theme is used since dr No by all composers who worked for the franchise (except Michel Legrand in Never Say Never Again for copyright reasons), and the Godfather themes were used in the third picture after Nino Rota death, amongst others...

There is also cases were the use of themes in popular franchises were less consistent. The theme created by Goldsmith for Alien was re-used in the second movie but not for Alien 3 and 4. Of course, the "Alien" theme was never as popular as "Superman" or "Jaws" (even if it's a really great soundtrack).

Batman is another thing : the Danny Elfman theme would seemed out of place in the Joel Shumacher flicks - the Goldenthal theme was nevertheless as close as you could get without being a rip off -, and Batman Begins tried a reboot the franchise so one of the old themes would have been inappropriate to serve this purpose.

In Superman returns, working with the the John Williams themes was the right call. The movie is not a reboot. It pays his debts to the Donner/Reeve movies, and since it is a work about adoption and renewal, not using the superman theme would have been the wrong artistic choice.

(Message edited on Sunday, August 20, 2006, at 9:49 p.m.)

> There is also cases were the use of themes in popular franchises were less
> consistent. The theme created by Goldsmith for Alien was re-used in the
> second movie but not for Alien 3 and 4.

Actually, Goldsmith's "Ripley's Theme" was used in Alien Resurrection.