This famous danish orchestra chooses Yup Nub
This is probably the first time I’ve seen Ewok Celebration played live. Very cool.
And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.
For a sec I thought that John Williams was in full Ewok get-up
This famous danish orchestra chooses Yup Nub
I love this. Suddenly, I want to see a Lion King-style Broadway musical, but with Ewoks.
Some make the argument that people like Yub Nub because of the nostalgia, but that’s not the case for me. As a kid I saw the special editions first and I prefer Yub Nub. Granted, I didn’t like it the first time I heard it. It felt cheesy and out of place. It did grow on me the more times I watched the unaltered Return of the Jedi. I guess I’m just used to it now.
The reason I prefer it over Victory Celebration is for a few reasons. Victory Celebration sounds too melancholy. I prefer having a happier song to end things. I also really dislike the addition of the late 90’s CGI planets in the special edition. The crowds of people in them make the planets look really fake. It looks far too dated now and feels completely out of place in a movie from the early 80’s. It’s part of why the special editions don’t work, the changes do not feel consistent with the rest of the movies. I also am not a fan of changing Anakin’s ghost to Hayden Christensen. Nothing against Christensen, but it feels weird seeing him in the original trilogy and his facial expression is creepy.
Then again, I could see someone making the argument that Victory Celebration fits better with the prequels, but it doesn’t fit the original movies in my opinion.
All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph!
I do feel something like a nostalgic reaction when I hear Yub Nub, but I have to admit that Victory Celebration is better. It’s celebratory, but somewhat bittersweet, befitting the victory over the Empire while contemplating the tragedy of Vader (which was probably more poignant when his backstory was less defined). But I still hate the Special Edition CGI montage of planets celebrating.
I’ve always been fond of Yub Nub/ Ewok Celebration. Perhaps a bit childish as the grand finale, but I think just chucking the entire thing out to be replaced was throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The melody is beautiful and I think could’ve easily transitioned into a more mature-sounding arrangement a bit earlier before the credits to get the best of both worlds (happy Ewok partying plus poignant hard-won victory).
While we’re on the subject, here’s one of my favorite renditions: https://youtu.be/FnkD9Wz3fTg?si=_URR7ixhb3igN7kR
Jedi Rocks being better but Yub Nub getting cut was always hilariously tone deaf. Like now is the time for a ‘mature’ change, really?
In my opinion Jedi Rocks is not better than Lapti Nek, and Victory Celebration is not as good as Yub Yub.
That’s just a fact.
I’ll give it some love, but I won’t have the goddamn common courtesy to give it a reach-around.
Gods for some, miniature libertarian socialist flags for others.
Yub Nub is John Williams’ attack on historical materialism and an appeal to the working class to rise up against the bourgeoisie.
And this is why I would love for a cut someday that makes it clear Yub Nub is the diegetic music heard on Endor that night, even if it’s just when the Ewok is drumming on stormtroopers’ domes, with Victory Celebration played over it. Oh, and keep Sebastian Shaw, and excise the Naboo/Coruscant/Bespin stuff. Can beggars be choosers?
Try.
Every time I watch ROTJ I miss Yub Nub. It’s that simple, childlike joy after so much adversity that reflects what freedom really means to ordinary folk better than does grand celebrations across the galaxy. I know a lot of people have a problem with Yub Nub, and with the ewoks in general. All too childish perhaps. I was a child when I first saw it and sometimes I like to feel like I’m a child again.
I don’t miss it because I haven’t watched that panpipe version in many years.
Every time I watch ROTJ I miss Yub Nub…
I don’t. Because every single time I watch ROTJ, as soon as the Ewok horns sound, I stop my DVD and watch the original film ending on YouTube.
Prefer Yub Nub but mostly I cannot stomach watching the Hayden Christensen force ghost appear, rather than Anakin Skywalker.
The original song is much better, no question. Much more fun in my opinion.