With the release of the "Special Editions" of the original Star Wars (tm) trilogy in 1997, fans now had two different sets of movies to endlessly debate and pick over. Discussions continue to even this day over the merits of the additions George Lucas made to the original three films.

One little talked about change came at the end of the third movie, Return of the Jedi. In his commentary on the Phantom Menance DVD, George Lucas mentions he plans on ending all the Star Wars films with a musical flourish that leads into the familar Star Wars theme. In the original version of Jedi, the final musical piece involves the Ewoks singing a victory song. In the Special Edition of Jedi, Lucas had the Ewok song replaced with a new song that is obviously not sung by the Ewoks.

In the following sections, I will provide an analysis of both sets of music, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses within the film. For your listening pleasure, I have also included links to MP3 versions of each song. I encourage you to listen to the songs and come up with your own thoughts.

First up, the Ewok song!