03 The Planet of the Apes - Part III: Dawn & War for the Planet of the Apes

Michael Giacchino! Part III of our PLANET OF THE APES series!

Spurred by this year’s release of WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, we kick off Kinotes in a big way with an epic three-episode series on THE PLANET OF THE APES. Part I will tackle the original PLANET OF THE APES, Part II: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Part III: DAWN & WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES.

In this episode, Part III, we'll explore Michael Giacchino’s scores from DAWN and WAR. We’ll discuss what Giacchino brings to the series as well as the major musical themes and influences.

SPOILERS for the major plot points of DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES! — and by extension, RISE. Actually let’s throw the ’68 film in there too.

Show Notes:

00:00 - Intro & Recap of Episodes 1 & 2
03:00 - Dawn & War / Intro to Michael Giacchino as Composer / Rogue One & Lost
06:03 - Piano / Leitmotif: Main Theme for Dawn
11:34 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Main Theme
23:05 - Goldsmith Influence / Emil Richards
25:46 - The Choir: Ligeti’s Requiem / Duel of the Fates / O Fortuna / Classical Requiems
29:13 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Burdened Leader Theme / Dawn Ending / Empire Strikes Back
37:50 - Intro to War / 20th Century Fox Fanfare / Influences
40:21 - The Choir / Leitmotif: Main Theme For War
43:00 - Echoplex Reference / Leitmotif: The Colonel’s Motif / Leon & Morricone
45:40 - Leitmotif: Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme / Morricone: Death Rides a Horse / La Moglie Più Bella
48:30 - Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme: vs. Super Mario Bros 2 / vs. Porgy and Bess
49:46 - Caesar’s Anti-Hero Theme: John Barry & Goldfinger
52:48 - Leitmotif: Nova’s Theme / Return of Main Theme For Dawn
56:05 - Morricone: Ecstasy of the Bold vs. The Ecstasy of Gold
58:08 - Reference to Jerry Goldsmith’s Link Score
59:30 - Ape Escape / Dies Irae Sidebar / Danny Elfman
1:05:52 - Caesar’s Arc / Reprise of Nova’s Theme
1:06:50 - The Biblical Epic / Rozsa & Ben-Hur
1:08:30 - The End of Caesar’s Trilogy / Comparison to 1968 Apes
1:13:30 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / War “End Credits” Suite

You can find a playlist of all the music used in this episode on our Spotify page - kinotespodcast.

Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at [email protected]. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle).

Sources:

“Music for Apes” featurette on the WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Blu-ray. You can buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.com

“Simian Symphony: How Apes Music Evolved from Man” by Scorekeeper, from Birth.Movies.Death Magazine's Planet of the Apes Issue. You can buy the magazine at www.mondotees.com

The Soundcast & Cinematic Sound Radio podcast episodes on WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, which connected me to Morricone’s La Moglie Piu Bella score. You can subscribe to both these podcasts on iTunes.

Rebel Force Radio - Star Wars Oxygen: The Music of John Williams gave me much insight on the music of Star Wars. You can subscribe to Rebel for Radio on iTunes.

Shake The Box’s video on comparing the Mario music to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: https://youtu.be/Q-AUFoBSgn0

Special Thanks to Julie Popelka.