Obscured by the familiar grandeur of John Williams's score for Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace was the sheer volume of the composer's prodigious musical efforts. Not only did Williams expand on the original Star Wars trilogy's musical language with a whole new range of modern classical inspirations, but his efforts also produced more than two hours of seamless symphonic foundation for the galactic epic, enough wall-to-wall music to power three less ambitious films. This impressively packaged double-disc set offers Williams's complete Episode 1 score for the first time. It's a worthy tribute to the scoring legend's mastery of tone, dynamics, and nuance--a virtual musical tone poem that imparts much of the film's dramaturgy. Divorced from the bombastic visual assault of state-of-the-art digital effects, one is struck by the composition's emotional resonance. It's the small, quiet moments that give the story its subtle, crucial humanity; it's hard to imagine a film conceit so outlandish functioning without it. The Ultimate Edition includes a bonus track of the stirring choral centerpiece, "Duel of the Fates," with an overlaid dialogue montage, as well as a photo-rich booklet that illustrates each of the film's key scenes and musical cues. --Jerry McCulley

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On the down side, there are a few things that make this only a four-star buy. Unlike its predecessors, this two-disc set is not made from the original master tapes. It is simply taken directly from the film, an isolated music track if you will. Although it is nice since it is in true chronological order, many of the tracks run into each other, and they are cut up to fit the film. For instance, in the end of the film the music changes as the viewpoint goes from the space battle to the ground battle. This carries directly to the soundtrack, so most of the end songs are cut up between numerous tracks without any fade ins or fade outs.

This aside, the sheer wealth of new music and fine packaging are reasons to buy this soundtrack. Notable in the new music is the song where Anakin leaves his mother (track 1 on disc 2). Also notable are some annoying and unecessary "extra" tracks (skip them).

Along with the two-cds it comes with a long booklet that has many pictures from the film (it does not have any music commentary like the previous ones unfourtunatly). Although it would have been nicer if this release was more like the previous expanded releases, the new music makes it worth the buy. To get the true experience, I would recommend buying both this and the original Phantom Menace soundtrack release though.

18 of 19 found the following review helpful:

One Of The Best Soundtracks You'll Ever See!Mar 19, 2003
By Raine
I own all the other Star Wars soundtracks, and this is one of my favorites! When I listen to a soundtrack I want to find the songs from the movie (that made me by the soundtrack in the first place) and listen to them, without other sounds in the way. This is just what I wanted! It has every track from the movie, exactly as it was played, in order!

The soundtrack starts out with the "Fox Fanfare" followed by the "Star Wars Main Title". You can also see Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fighting there way through the droid control ship during the next few tracks. The song "Queen Amidala Warns the Federation" is an intresting track, because the second part of it, can barely be heard in the film. It is one of many of the amazing background songs that comes to life on these cd's. Other's of this nature include "Inside the Bubble City", "Street Band of Mos Espa", "Street Singer" and "The Senate". The second cd starts when the characters are leaving Tatooine. And continues through Coruscant and back to Naboo for the finale. It include's every track from the epic end battle, including many tracks featuring "Duel of the Fates". Plus tracks such as the "Droid Invasion" theme, "Anakin's Theme" and the Star Wars main theme play through both cds. All of the music makes you feel like your in the movie. The music is on two cd's and offer you over two hours of music! It is a must have for Star Wars fans.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

So much better than the single CDAug 29, 2001
By Brian Gilbert
I saw the Phantom Menace and was somewhat underwhelmed. Sure, the first time through, the visuals were somewhat awesome, but - well, this isn't a rant about the movie, it's a rave about the soundtrack. Once again, John Williams manages to completely outshine all other composers, and Star Wars would be unwatchable if anyone else were handed the reigns to the usually fantastic series. The single CD version of this soundtrack was disappointing, however, as it almost completely left out the darker, Sith oriented tracks (with the exception of the fantastic "Duel of the Fates"). The single CD version also had some tracks from radically different parts of the movie mixed together into a single one. Though the mixes were seamless (I listened to that CD for 2 weeks before the movie was released and never knew until then), it bugged me that they would do something like that. Now, however, such wrongs have been righted. The entire movie plays through its music - the most powerful and recognizable part of the saga - uncensored, unabridged, and unremixed. Well, unremixed except for some well done extras thrown in at the end. Okay, final say? Bravo Mr. Williams! (And if you can ever see him in concert, do so. It was the evening of a lifetime!)

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Awesome, but what about the same treatment for AOTC?Jan 26, 2004
By malevolentmuse
If you have a soft spot in your heart for the music from the overly-maligned Episode I, this is the CD set you want. I've owned both CDs, but this terrific set blows the other out of the water. It makes me wish more record companies put out these kinds of sets.

That said, we've got the definitive soundtracks for Episodes I, IV, V and VI. So where's Episode II? Come on, Sony!

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

A promising item, but disappointing.Sep 15, 2008
By N. Amideo
A good, decent score by John Williams. Some of his recent work isn't quite as great as his older stuff; classics like Star Wars, Jaws, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. But, this is still a great soundtrack, nonetheless. The Duel of the Fates is worth it alone. What I like most is that every single piece of music from the film is here. I feel that I'm often annoyed with other soundtracks that omit random tracks for whatever reason. Not the case here. It's all there.

Buyer beware, however, as this product is flawed. It took me two purchases and a little research to discover that every unit of this product has a gliche where discs skip. So, know that it's not just your particular item or the CD player. I'm not really sure why they would put a defected product on store shelves, and for a high price. So, if you're not too picky about having the soundtrack in its entirety, you might be better off getting the original edition instead.

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