CT The Lapti Nek Controversey

Yes, it's old news that Lapti Nek from the original release of Return of the Jedi has been replaced by Jedi Rocks on subsequent re-releases of the film. But opinions aside, anyone think to question why?

The most common explanation I've heard is that Lucas wanted the movie to "take a break" and cut into a musical. That's fine and all, but wasn't Lapti Nek a musical sequence to begin with? What's to be gained with a newer musical sequence?

Well, according to the Star Wars databank, it's "less dated." But the problem we've run into today is that they both sound dated now; one like an 80s pop song, one like a 90s pop song. But the key difference here is that one was originally made for the film. Plus, I had faith that John Williams knew what he was doing when he made Lapti Nek; as the case with the Cantina Song, he took a style of music we were all familiar with, and made it sound otherwordly.

Finally, there's the excuse that the puppets were very limited and lacked range of movement. Actually, I can agree with this due to the difficulties they had with bringing Sy to life, but is that an excuse to change the music as well? The only major gripe I have with the new music is that it changed the tone of the scene as well. Lucas said it needed more atmosphere, but the scene is all for laughs, which feels really inconsistant.


But what's the worst part? Lapti Nek is gone for good. Apparently, it's lost. Now, that sounds incredibly clumsy for Lucasfilm to lost an important piece of music from one of their films (that's like saying they lost the Cantina song), but considering that we've never had a release of Lapti Nek, it looks to be true. The version that we all have on soundtracks is a re-recording made by musician Michelle Gruska, which was put out as a single for the real-life music charts (not involved with the actual film).

 

Well, luckiliy I still have my old VHS tape, at least until either the tape or the VCR dies.

 

I did not know that. Remastering the movie soundtrack Lapti Nek tonight.

 

why you ask? there is no reason why, just like the change; making Greedo shoot first in the Cantina scene

 

I found a well-made documentary with some points of interest:

At 3:27, the full song plays... except it's the English version (Work It Out).

Also, the beginning has the full Max Rebo keyboard Jam, which has also notably been excised from the soundtracks.

 

This is probably the only change I have a big problem with. Aside from it being a better song, it just evokes a better sense of atmosphere for the Palace. I also like that the music is somewhat "dated," it fits far better with the sound of the OT.

 

The same reason for the rest of it, Lucas likes to tinker with his movies too much. It's one of the more maddening things about him

 

I will always prefer Lapti Nek to Jedi Rocks. The song always seemed more appropriate for the Palace setting.

 

You mean making Greedo shoot, period. He never shot at all in the original. Having him shoot at all is silly, as who could possibly miss from that range?

 

Lapti Nek wasn't great, but Jedi Rocks is garbage.

It was one of those "squirm in your seat" moments that made the SE and the PT so endearing.

 

is Lapti Nek not on any of the CDs ?

 

I miss Lapti Nek. Like Cantina Band, it's got that big fat alien synth bass. Love that!! The Max Rebo instrumental piece is my favorite, though. Jedi Rocks is just a puzzling choice....a blues number with all natural instruments? I accept it but it's not the choice I would've made.

 

Have we done a side by side yet?

 

Re: Lapti Nek, I enjoyed that song & also didn't like that it was changed to the sub-par "Jedi Rocks" in the ROTJ SE & subsequent releases. First of all, not only is Jedi Rocks a terrible song, but the CGI effects in that scene are awful - this dates the movie more than the puppet scenes in the original '83 version. That whole new sequence really mars the whole Jabba Palace scene/vibe for me - prior to the SE, I felt the first half of ROTJ up to & including the Sail Barge sequence was pure perfection.

I also don't consider Lapti Nek an '80's pop song, any more than Jedi Rocks is a '90's pop song. IMHO, the music in these films is timeless.

Re: soundtracks with Lapti Nek, if you can find the original ROTJ soundtrack from the '80's, it's on there. It's also on an early '90's compilation boxed set with all of the OT music. However, I'm fairly certain all of these are out-of-print (OOP) at this point.

A different version of Lapti Nek was also on an '80's Meco album, which also had Meco's version of the Ewok celebration. I liked this version of LN, but others may feel differently. You can also find this on a 2000 compilation CD called Meco: The Complete Star Wars collection.

 

Oddly enough, the Meco version of Lapti Nek sounds more 80's than the movie version. Very synth heavy...still an interesting version, but the movie version does sound more distinctly alien.

 

The version that was actually in the movie was never released anywhere, the antholgy from 93 was the only cd that had any version. Also, the new song is worse than death.

 

Thanks for the Youtube Meco link. I really like that version of Lapti Nek - and, yes, it does sound more like an '80's pop song than the version that was in the film.

There was a version of Lapti Nek on the 1983 ROTJ LP & CD soundtrack. See the below link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_VI:_Return_of_the_Jedi_(soundtrack)

 

While I don't have the LP, all versions on CD are of the re-recording (I assume the same is on the LP as well). Again, while the soundtrack leads us to believe it's the film version, it's far from it; different instrumental and very different vocals. The original had the raspy vocals of Annie Arbogast (who was not a singer, but rather a member of the sound department).

 

Thanks for the clarification. I think I had the ROTJ LP back in the day, but it's long gone.

In any case, I'd like to see a re-release of the 1983 ROTJ soundtrack, with the correct film version of Lapti Nek & the original Ewok Celebration song - however, I know that's not going to happen (that being said, it would have been nice if something like this had come out for ROTJ's 30th anniversary).

Interesting that the 1997 SE ANH & ESB soundtracks are fairly close to the original versions, with added tracks of course. Conversely, the ROTJ SE soundtrack is the most heavily modified with Jedi Rocks & the different celebration song.

 

Jedi Rocks is just insane but I kind of like how unabashedly insane it is just for kicks but definitely the OG one fit better. As for the celebration song, I really prefer the SE ending because whenever I hear the original ROTJ ending song it sounds like the Ewoks are singing "Celebrate the love" which kinda drives me nuts.

 

Can anyone post the Huttese and English lyrics?

 

Ab queck zenick fesi|
|Zong jup col im in na hiz jal, ooh|
|Wow!|
|Wa toc peg qui dos gee pif, aah|
|Joc jarraz bas deg zorze zot|
|Jer wih tuster mo vey|
|Qui neb be og ezen on|
|Wok lapti nek seb not van|
|Goc jarraz bas deg zorze zot|

|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff|
|Lapti nek, kiv ba ha top wep jex pi va bep|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jeppi quaff|
|Wow!|

|Ab queck zenick fesi|
|Jem wih tuster mo vey|
|Qui neb be og ezen on|
|Wok lapti nek seb not van|
|Wah toc peg qui doz gee pif ezact|
|Goc jarraz bas deg zorze zot|

|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qoff|
|Lapti nek, kiv ba ha top wep jex pi va bep|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff|
|Wow!|

|Deg zorze zot|
|Jem with tuster mo vey|
|Qui neb be og ezen on|
|Wok lapti nek seb not van|
|Goc jarraz bas deg zorze zot|

|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qoff|
|Lapti nek, kiv ba ha top wep jex pi va bep|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff|

|Deg zorze zot|
|Wow!|

|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qoff|
|Lapti nek, kiv ba ha top wep jex pi va bep|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff|
|Wow!|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qoff|
|Lapti nek, kiv ba ha top wep jex pi va bep|
|Lapti nek, rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff|
|Wow!|
TranslationEdit

The lyrics translate into Galactic Basic Standard as follows:
|Feel my body growing|
|My bones have started glowing, ooh|
|Wow!|
|The time has come for showing|
|That I'll shape you up and work you out|
|My body feels excitin'|
|My soul is synthesizin'|
|My whole frame is jumpin'|
|I'm workin' out and havin' fun|

|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Work it out, you've got to feel the heat|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Wow!|

|Feel my body growing|
|My body feels excitin'|
|My soul is synthesizin'|
|My whole frame is jumpin'|
|The time has come for showing|
|I'll shape you up and work you out|

|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Work it out, you've got to feel the heat|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Wow!|

|Work you out|
|My body feels excitin'|
|My soul is synthesizin'|
|My whole frame is jumpin'|

|I'll shape you up and work you out|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Work it out, you've got to feel the heat|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|

|Work you out|
|Wow!|

|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Work it out, you've got to feel the heat|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Wow!|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Work it out, you've got to feel the heat|
|Work it out, you've got to move your soul|
|Wow!|

 

Thank you, Kilroy!

 

This is one of those changes that was probably made just so they could say something was different and get more people out to see it. I thought the original song and puppets were sleazier and the Jedi Roxx Las Vegas review is so busy that it blunts the creepiness of Jabba's interaction with Oola a little bit.

 

I will say about the Jedi Rocks one the "Chulie wang chulie wang" build up bit by the little brown dude is actually kinda catchy. Isn't that guy a CGI model of what was a wall-mounted puppet originally in ROTJ?

Anyway, I think another reason this was tossed into the SE was that Lucas wanted to play around with all-digital characters. He did that with Jabba in the ANH SE but obviously wasn't satisfied since Jabba got a redo for the DVD release. I guess he was either happy with the ROTJ SE digital characters or simply didn't care enough. "Realism" in the characters for the crazy singing Jabba swing jazz band in that scene isn't exactly of paramount important. It is kind of important that Jabba looks "real" when talking to Han in ANH by contrast, though.