"Across the Stars" vs. "Hook Theme"

A popular subject of debate in various Star Wars internet chatrooms is the degree of similarity between "Across the Stars", the love theme of Attack of the Clones...

... and the initial melody of the theme from Hook.

Both films being scored by John Williams, it is no surprise to find similarities. As I have pointed out in previous blogs, Williams often borrows heavily from other sources, and in this case he borrows from himself. To illustrate, here is a visual score examle.

Of the 16 notes used in "Across the Stars", all but three correspond with Hook. That's not to say that the two are identical - the register (soprano vs. alto), instrumentation (oboe vs. horns), tempo (slow vs. fast), and character (love theme vs. fantasy/adventure theme) are all completely different - but intervallically they are very similar indeed.