Star Wars. RoTJ uber-geek question.

Cafe Society
1

PLD or SPOOFE? Anyone?

When I was in high school, I worked at the theater where the world premier for JEDI was held (it was a big $1000.00(?) per head charity event at the Continental Theater in Denver at about 7:00 pm. The movie opened everywhere else in the world at Midnight that night).

We apparently got our print earlier than other theaters, (Lucas sent a crew out to help redo the sound system etc, 'cause Lucas wanted everything perfect). (I even got to see a little of the movie before the charity event: the curtains around the screen had to be adusted, so I volunteered to help and in the process I got to see the fight on the sail barge!

Anyway, in that print of Jedi, I swear that there was a very, very very minor difference from every other print I’ve ever seen.

At the VERY end of the movie, at the very last second of the Ewok “Yub Yub” song (“Lum-te-loop-te-LAAAAAA”), JUST as it rolled into the opening of the “bum badum-badum-badum…bum-BUM-BABABA-BUUUUM-bum” Star Wars theme, in that split second as one song flowed into the next, you could hear the Emperor doing an evil (“heh-heh-heh”) chuckle under the music. Remember, at that second on the screen, you’re looking at the ghostly Jedi, so it would make sense to imply that the Emperor is now an evil Force-Ghost too, and in those days, Lucas was still talking about doing 9 movies, not 6.

I saw the ending of that movie (I had to clean the theater and open doors and such, so I had to be in the theater and ready to clean before the credits rolled) easily more than 1000 times. I swear I heard the Emperor’s laugh every time. It. Was. There.

I can’t convince anyone else though. It’s clearly NOT in the video-taped version or the laser-disk version and when they had the “all three movies in one day” thing (10 year anniversary?) it wasn’t in that print either. I have this horrible “Twilight Zone” feeling about it too: no one else remembers/has heard it or even heard OF it.

Can anyone else confirm this? Has anyone else even heard of it?

Fenris

2

Queue the Patsy Cline Music:

CCrazyyyyyyyy …

3

I’ve got at least three different versions of RotJ (Definitive collection LD, Special Edition LD, original version boxed set with thte hologram on the cover [each “New Hope” has something different which you might not notice unless you’re a geek like me]) and I have yet to hear the Emperor in any of them.

4

No Emperor that I’ve ever heard. Saw em in the theaters, have most of the sets(except for the Definitive LD), and it’s not on any of em. Sure you’re not thinking of Flash Gordon? :slight_smile:

5

Like I said: I know it’s not on the laserdisk version, or either of the two video-tape versions and wasn’t in the theatrical rerelease. I know I heard it on that print. (The fact that I haven’t heard it on any other print/release combined with the fact that I saw that closing bit several thousand times, I hope, lends some credibilty to what I’m saying).

What I’m trying to find out is if anyone had seen that particular copy of the film (at the Continental Theater in Denver) or had heard that Lucas made a last-second change to the film?

Fenris

6

Hey, I’m only a geek when it comes to the fiction. All the real-world trivia (like “Who was the crewman in charge of making sure Mark Hamill’s reconstructive surgery scars weren’t visible?”) are too boring for my tastes.

But, personally, I’d put the whole “Emperor Laughing” thing as being due to your own insanity, Fenny m’boy.

7

I’m fairly certain that was Lucas at the end. You see, he was already thinking about his “great” idea for The Phantom Menace and they recorded him laughing his way to the bank.

8

I saw the exhibitor screening of RotJ on May 1, 1983. I enjoyed it a whole bunch. There was no evil laugh at the end. Perhaps you’re confusing it with the end of Flash Gordon? :smiley:

9

No no no. The Emperor clearly said “up the butt, Bob.” I HEARD it!

It’s not nice to mock people, Erroneous.