RForgiven

SS4DarthPayne said:

Been a kid that was raised on the 1997 SE’s (the horror!), I was quite shocked when I realized that my favorite song from all of Star Wars (bar none), Victory Celebration, was in fact a 1997 addition. I think this is a huge part of the reason why I never understood all of the dislike for Return of the Jedi, because ending the trilogy with that song is one of the most powerful closures I have ever seen. This is compounded by the fact that, however blasphemous it may be on these boards, I don’t really like Yub Nub, and I find that it packs about 20% of the emotional punch that Victory Celebration does. But I digress. I have several questions about the song itself, and the ensuing soundtracks. I think it would be easiest just to list them out:

1. The above is correct, right? Victory Celebration was not in the original? (Just want to double check).

2. Victory Celebration has never been released as a stand-alone song, correct? It is only part of the 8 minute, 34 second Victory Celebration/End Title track on both the 1997 and 2004 soundtrack releases, correct? For example seen here: LINK I believe it is about the first 2:24 or so.

3. Now, probably my most burning question, is that version available on the soundtracks the version that is used in the movie itself? Because in the soundtrack version, the first vocals sound way off to me. I fully admit my soundtrack hearing is not the most finely tuned (probably from being raised only ever using TV speakers for movies), but the vocals sound almost… childish? In the sense that it seems like kids are singing it? In the Youtube video I linked to, this would be from about 0:54-1:15.

3a) That portion I just referenced, is it actually used in the 1997 version, and I am blatantly missing it, or is it actually not used in the movie itself?

3b) To cut to the chase, what exactly is used in the 1997 Return of the Jedi? Is it only parts of the Victory Celebration track? Is it a different version? Is it exactly the version available on the soundtrack CDs?  To my, again untrained, ears, it sounds like the movie version has a longer percussion buildup – about 28 seconds in the TB version of the movie, while in the version I linked to, there are only about 17 seconds before the… flute? other woodwind? (sorry I’m not musically inclined) comes in.

3b2) Is there anything used in the movie that is not in the soundtrack version?

4. How easy / feasible would it be to simply replace Yub Nub in the GOUT with Victory Celebration? The more I think about it the harder it seems like it will be 😦

In short, I’m just trying to learn about this track, since as I stated above, it is my favorite of the trilogy. Thanks to anyone who can help!

Now this is like 14 years too late and I’m not sure if you found what you were looking for or got all your questions answered but.
I’ve gone through all of the different endings that has Victory Celebration (1997 and up) and you’re correct, the children singing “jajaja” that is on the OST is nowhere to be heard on the 1997 movie ending, instead all you hear is the flute.
And I found that pretty interesting because none of the OST versions of the song is with only flute there. So I think they added the child vocals in the OST to fill a gap where as in the movie there are ambient sounds and the sounds of people talking and ewoks doing their thing so they removed the child vocals from there it seems. That’s just my take on it, and I never actually noticed that until I found this post today. Even if I’m 14 years late, I still hope my reply gives you some answers that you were looking for!

This is the closest you’ll get the OST to be like the movie one. Check it out
https://youtu.be/fdSfc7_yLf0?si=RuJESzr0mEHdbsYp

-1994 kid, grew up with the DvD Special Edition releases.