Lack of Score in Transformers Ride

[HalfGlass]

I love the new ride. And maybe it's only the one in LA (though I tend to doubt it), but Steve Jablonsky's pulse pounding score, which is heard throughout the queue and outside of the ride building, is virtually non-existent in the ride.

Prior to Spidey's remastering (the music sucks now guys, let's be real), the original's music was GREAT! It totally brought me into the experience and I think it made it that much better of a ride.

Think of Spidey without any music until the very ending like Transformers. It would suck right? Something would be lacking.

I think they should add some music to the ride, and I understand that is easier said than done at this point, but come on, it would be SICK!

 

[Stagefrenzy]

I like the dead period on the roof with just the wind. It gives me a little breather from the non-stop action before the scene and allows you to share the confusion with EVAC

 

[lazyboy97o]

There is no non-diegetic music when you're running around a city and that is why it was excluded. Of course Bumblebee shows how this can be overcome using the existing logic of the universe.

 

[HalfGlass]

I understand that they were going for realism, but you're driving all around the city in Spiderman as well yet there is a score throughout. Most movies have a score for the sake of its audience.

 

[Enbee]

I don't think score would've added to the experience, and I am fan of Jablonsky's scores for these movies. When the music comes in at the end, it's perfect.

 

[Felipe]

Music adds a whole other dimmension to any experience, but I think here a score would be lost among all the sound effects. There's actually so many sound effects non-stop that I would consider it a sort of strange score on its own

 

[grandmath]

The trilogy has a score for every type of moment (action, epicness, patriotism...), I also think it's greatly lacking during the ride. Some parts of the score in TF3 give me goosebumps just listening to it, now combine that with the ride and it would just have been awesome. Now I do understand that some fights in the movies also lack any score and feature only sound effects from robots, vehicles, weapons, explosions... Maybe they wanted to mimic those battles.

 

[UniTard]

I was so wrapped up in the experience I never missed a soundtrack myself. It might add to the overall experience, but I think the ride is fine as is.

 

[Cwoolboy]

I don't think this ride needs a score. It's perfect as is, and I'm always so caught up in the battle that I never notice the lack of music.

 

[maxairmike]

I actually think music may hurt the ride. The only sections that I can think of where a soundtrack wouldn't just muddle up and add to the cacophony of sounds are the two "quiet" breaks in the action; early on when Evac says "nope, not this way" and then when you're moving across the top of a building before you run into Megatron again (where the cityscape painting is), and I think the relative silence helps to build anticipation of what is going to happen next. Using music during those sections could lose some of that anticipation because the music should generally lead you somewhere, but in those cases that "direction" would somewhat diminish the "surprise" of what happens next.

 

[Felipe]

I actually think music may hurt the ride. The only sections that I can think of where a soundtrack wouldn't just muddle up and add to the cacophony of sounds are the two "quiet" breaks in the action; early on when Evac says "nope, not this way" and then when you're moving across the top of a building before you run into Megatron again (where the cityscape painting is), and I think the relative silence helps to build anticipation of what is going to happen next. Using music during those sections could lose some of that anticipation because the music should generally lead you somewhere, but in those cases that "direction" would somewhat diminish the "surprise" of what happens next.

Agreed. Those moments of silence are very effective to add tension.

 

[grandmath]

I actually think music may hurt the ride. The only sections that I can think of where a soundtrack wouldn't just muddle up and add to the cacophony of sounds are the two "quiet" breaks in the action

Here are two examples of action pieces in the movies, with music. Personally I don't think it hurts...

TF2 (starting at 3:05)
[video=youtube;2nsLx95pvyE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nsLx95pvyE[/video]

TF3
[video=youtube;xVf6eDcdfFQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVf6eDcdfFQ[/video]

 

[maxairmike]

The biggest thing about those two clips that is important to note is that the soundtrack is the primary audio focus during those two scenes, the sound effects (except for character voices) are secondary and at a lower level, especially in the TF3 clip. I'd have to do a ride through specifically focusing on sounds and the interaction with the sets and screens, but my first thought is that not only are the two situations acoustically/aurally different, they're also very situationally different from a story point of view, which also affects how you use sound within that kind of setting. The ride score in Spiderman is used in a similar way to the score within the movie clips you selected, and the motion is what immerses you into the sets and story more than the sound effects. With the Transformers ride, my impression (again, just basing it off my casual rides to enjoy it, and not to go through and critique anything specific) is that the experience is much more inclusive in the way you're immersed into the story and action. The sound effects of the battle(s) around you are primary, and every bit as important as the motion of the vehicles.

Just my opinion, of course, and there's probably no truly "correct" view; but with the ride we've been given, I don't believe a score is needed or would add too much to the experience.

 

[Andy]

The sound effects in the movies are a huge piece of the experience at home let alone in a state of the art attraction. I'm pretty sure at the Hollywood premiere of the ride someone asked about this and the designers felt it would take away from the overall thrill. They felt the sound effects alone could carry the attraction no problem.

 

[TylerDurden]

I like the lack of score...it adds realism and puts you truly IN the experience. When there's music, there's less credibility to the idea that the ride action is truly going on around you.

Sure, Spider-Man succeeds in having a soundtrack, but its more cartoony...you're not supposed to buy into the fact that Spidey is actually fighting crime, you're entering a meta comic book world.

Transformers utilizes a more realistic approach, and wants to sell riders on the idea that you're actually in New York battling robots. Therefore, I personally think it succeeds without a soundtrack.

 

[IOAGuy]

I don't think score would've added to the experience, and I am fan of Jablonsky's scores for these movies. When the music comes in at the end, it's perfect.

THIS! The music coming at the end was awesome, I think it was the most perfect way of ending it. When it came on I got a rush, I wanted to jump up and cheer.