One of the greatest things about early ’80s cinema was the synth scores so many films had. Movies like The Terminator, and of course anything John Carpenter did, spring to mind. And with shows like Stranger Things, the synth beats have made a comeback in recent years. Now, thanks to Geekologie, we’ve learned of a tribute to those great synth scores of yesteryear, animated by Gareth Wood and composed by Gemini Sunset. This tribute mashes up influences from Return of the Jedi, TRON, Blade Runner and more ’80s gems into one very cool video, titled “Sunrise on Endor.”
This video distills the visual and musical aesthetic from the early ’80s into its pure, magical essence. And it has a ton of Easter eggs for the eagle-eyed fan–so many that Wood compiled all of them into another video, which you can see below.
They don’t make any mention of the ’80s music video TV series Night Flight or the old HBO movies intro, but I believe so much of what we think of as the whole ’80s futuristic aesthetic actually comes from those sources even though they never get the credit.
“Sunrise on Endor” is actually a follow up to a previous video Wood made last year, “Twin Ion Sunset.” That edit pairs ’80s synth sounds with John Williams’ Star Wars themes. The most amusing thing about both of these videos is that George Lucas rejected having electronic sounds for Star Wars, preferring an “organic soundtrack.” Nevertheless, it’s cool to imagine what a synthy Star Wars galaxy might have sounded like.
Images: Gareth Wood
