STAR WARS ROTS Soundtrack Screw-up?

[Chris Gore]

My buddy from Canada, filmmaker Randy Atamaniuk just sent me this note and I thought I'd share it with you--

RANDY:
I just purchased my copy of STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH CD soundtrack today, and I’m either crazy or Sony and/or Lucasfilm has screwed up. First thing I did was pop my disc into my computer and had in playing in Windows Media Player. Now with Media Player or even iTunes for that matter, track listings appear. I started browsing through the tracks, and noticed that what was listed on my player didn’t match up to what was printed on the back of the sleeve. See the following…

ON THE BACK OF THE CD SLEEVE
1. Star Wars and Revenge of the Sith
2. Anakin’s Dream
3. Battle of the Heroes
4. Anakin’s Betrayal
5. General Grievous
6. Palpatine’s Teachings
7. Grievous and the Droids
8. Padme’s Ruminations
9. Anakin vs. Obi-Wan
10. Anakin’s Dark Deeds
11. Enter Lord Vader
12. The Immolation Scene
13. Grievous speaks to Lord Sidious
14. The Birth of the Twins and Padme’s Destiny
15. A New Hope and End Credits

WHAT WAS LISTED IN THE MEDIA PLAYER
1. Star Wars and Revenge of the Sith
2. Anakin’s Betrayal
3. Battle of the Heroes
4. Anakin’s Dream
5. The Reunion of Anakin and Padme
6. Welcome, Lord Vader
7. Padme’s Ruminations
8. Grievous Travels to Palpatine
9. I Am the Senate
10. General Grievous
11. Palpatine’s Dark Teachings
12. Anakin vs. Obi-Wan
13. Anakin’s Dark Deeds
14. The Immolation Scene
15. The Birth of the Twins and Padme’s Destiny

Although the time length to each track does match up correctly, I’m not to sure with what’s going on here. Did George and John Williams change the track names at the last minute after each sleeve was printed, or is this a screw-up?
Frustrated Fan
Randal Atamaniuk

[Seedy Edgewick]

I work in printing, so I have a bit of experience with these kinds of snafus. I can advance my own opinion/theory based on real-world experience.

The track titles listed in Media Player/iTunes come from the ID3 tags embedded in the tracks themselves. The titles on the CD cover were typeset by some poor working shlub who probably had way too little time to do things right and wasn't given the information he needed in the first place. (Guess what my job is.) The people who encoded the ID3 tags and the pitiable typesetter probably got two different sets of copy from two different sources who weren't communicating with each other properly. Each person entered their information correctly as it was given to them.

If there was a screwup, it was at Skywalker Ranch.

Now, if you're like me, you're wondering, "Why?" Why would a giant corporation like Lucasfilm, Ltd., not take the time and effort (as minimal as it is) to get the same track listing to everyone who needs it? My answer, again borne of personal experience, is apathy and laziness. Someone needed to get home to watch the latest episode of "Survivor" and didn't proofread the copy they sent to the contractor who was in charge of entering the information. This nameless asshole at the Ranch couldn't be bothered to spend 60 seconds reading the track listing and confirming it was correct. Everyone else down the line assumed the copy they received was correct; why wouldn't they? This is George Fucking Lucas, after all.

The end result is a fucked-up product, reproduced (probably) millions of times, and unleashed on an unsuspecting public with an "oh well" shrug. These days, it's not about quality, the end product, or even the consumer who plunks down his hard-earned cash to buy the damn thing. It's about doing as little work as possible while still justifying one's paycheck.

No, this isn't a sore spot for me at all.