So here we go, George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy ends here, with a final chapter that everyone hoped would be the epic finale to a brilliant sci-fi saga. I guess ESB built up a lot of hype for this film by being…well, an excellent film. And Return of the Jedi just didn’t live up to that hype, or so everyone says. Like all Star Wars films, I found something to enjoy (yes, I do mean all the Star Wars films), and in Return of the Jedi it was the few big action scenes: the Sarlacc Pit fight, the Speeder chase and the climactic battle of Endor on land and in space. Unfortunately, Return of the Jedi also introduced some of the more annoying parts of Star Wars: I think everyone can agree that the Ewoks were a cute little idea, but after a while they became quite irritating, and the ending of the film was altogether too happy-clappy for my taste. The darker tone that ESB established was a welcome addition to the story, but Return of the Jedi just couldn’t maintain it, sadly. However, some of my gripes are a result of the special edition releases of the film courtesy of Lucas, who edited certain scenes with, shall we say, less than pleasing results.
Happily, John Williams’ music remained pretty much on point through the course of this trilogy, although fans will also claim that of the 7 film scores by him that exist, this one is the worst, or rather, the least excellent. To be fair, when listening to the album a lot of the tracks start similarly and go on for a long time, even the supposedly exciting action sequences (at least 8 tracks run over the 8 minute mark, which makes for a bit of an ordeal after a while). This soundtrack has the longest run time, compared to the previous two films, just FYI. In addition, the fact that Return of the Jedi is set in relatively few locations does mean that we spend a long time with music to suit those locations (such as Tatooine and Endor), and so the listener may get a little bored after half an hour of nothing new. Perhaps there is less of the new and interesting stuff that Williams brought into the previous two films and more of rehashing established themes, but can you blame him for continuing the feel and sound of the previous films? It’s precisely what a composer for a trilogy of films should be doing.
It’s not as if Williams was completely relying on past material – like all Williams scores, there are a few concert arrangements of the main new themes, and to be honest, they hold up just as well as the many other themes he had already created. My favourite concert arrangement is the new theme for Luke and Leia as siblings, in the track titled ‘Luke and Leia’. It’s another of Williams’ lush, slightly romantic ideas, but more hesitant, and interestingly starts off with a unresolved chord that resolves itself, mirroring Luke and Leia resolving their situation and dealing with their new relationship as family. After some woodwind and harp introduction, the main 5 note melody starts on a french horn and moves to various woodwind instruments, with string accompaniment, and then opens up to the full string section, changing key near the end. I really like it, it’s a new thematic idea and chord progression, instead of the well-worn major rises in the ‘main theme’ and ‘force theme’, or the ‘love theme’ progression for Han and Leia. We hear Luke and Leia’s theme in ‘Brother and Sister’ and ‘Leia’s News’, where in the latter track it plays alongside Han and Leia’s theme, with great success.
The other concert arrangements are for the Ewoks, the quirky, furry little warriors of Endor. ‘The Forest Battle’, which presents the best of the music for the final battle of Endor representing the Ewoks and their heroic attack on the Imperial forces, is right at the end of the album. It’s certainly exciting. Contrastingly ‘Parade of the Ewoks’ presents the lighter, cuter side of the quirky, furry little warriors with plucked strings, staccato horns and a high woodwind melody that transfers to a full orchestral arrangement. There’s a sense of something inherently good and child-like about these little guys in their music, and it does make you smile.
As I mentioned before, a lot of the album goes on for a while, and the listener can sort of zone out for a lot of it, but there are gems of compositional brilliance to be found in this album. The theme for Emperor Palpatine is malevolent and insidious, a simple 6 note bass choral motif that sends shivers down the spine. First heard in ‘The Emperor’s Arrival’, it gets a fantastic arrangement in ‘Emperor’s Throne Room’, accompanied by swirling tremolo strings – so influential was this track that for years I considered it the embodiment of “pure evil”. The addition of the impressive build-up featuring the Imperial March makes it a clear highlight of the album, and one of the darkest moments of the entire trilogy. The Emperor’s theme also features in ‘Land of the Ewoks’, ‘The Lightsaber’ and all three parts of ‘The Battle of Endor’.
There is also a new theme for the Rebel Alliance as it gathers and prepares for war, heard in ‘Alliance Assembly’. It seems to start out somewhat tragic, but moves into a noble and restrained march, perfectly summarizing the Rebel plight and quest for a peaceful galaxy by any means. Some of my other favourite music comes from the quieter parts of the ‘Battle of Endor’ tracks, where the focus switches from the actual battle to the confrontation between Luke and Vader, while the Emperor watches, manipulating Luke. The music gets truly emotional at parts, and you can genuinely feel the anger and pain of Luke as he desperately fights his father whilst attempting to resist Palpatine’s temptations.
In addition, whenever an established theme is given a new variation or just replayed in a fantastic way it makes me grin like a stupid clown. Examples would be when we hear the Imperial March in ‘Approaching the Death Star’ or ‘The Emperor Arrives’, or at 2:47 in ‘The Battle of Endor III’ where it gets a subtle, quiet, reflective treatment on high strings and woodwind with harp (apparently this particular arrangement was orchestrated by Thomas Newman, and it helped him get his big break in film scoring, so thank you Williams, for helping to get that equally awesome composer into the spotlight!).
Yoda’s wonderful theme from ESB gets a final replaying in ‘The Death of Yoda’, with a palpable sense of closure. Luke’s theme (the ‘main title’) also gets some good audio time, notably in ‘Sail Barge Assault’, and the ‘Force theme’ has a fantastic few appearances wherever good seems to come out on top, such as in the ‘Battle of Endor’ tracks and ‘Obi-Wan’s Revelation’, but it gets it’s best arrangement in ‘Light of the Force’, perhaps the best arrangement in the entire trilogy apart from the iconic ‘Binary Sunset’ sequence. ‘Light of the Force’ shows just how malleable this fantastic film theme truly is, with nobility and grandeur, heroic self-sacrifice, reflective tragedy and wistful reflection all packed into 2 minutes of orchestral perfection.
Of course, there is a reason why this album is considered the least excellent. A lot of the music for the Tatooine setting of the film does go on for ages without much interesting development, and while it fits the setting of the story, that doesn’t mean it’s good listening. ‘Jabba’s Baroque Recital’, if nothing else, shows William’s willingness to try areas of music he perhaps hasn’t ventured into before, but maybe he should stick to what he’s truly excellent at. The less said about the pop/rock dirge ‘Jedi Rocks’, and the truly awful scene it accompanied added in by Lucas in the 1997 special edition, the better. Furthermore, the track ‘Victory Celebration’ represents all I didn’t like about the “happy-clappy” finale of the film, and as such I have grown to resent it. It doesn’t even seamlessly transition into the end titles, which every other ending track of all the Star Wars albums has managed to do. As for ‘Ewok Feast/Part of the Tribe’ – I’m a percussionist, and I appreciate it when percussion is given it’s moment in the sun, but even I know that 4 minutes of tribal percussion without melody or accompaniment grates on the ears. It’s something we could do without.
However, the conclusion I must reach at the end of this review is that Return of the Jedi had a generally underrated score that everyone passes off as forgettable and nothing compared to the other 6 scores, but really shouldn’t. ‘Luke and Leia’, ‘Emperor’s Throne Room’ and ‘Light of the Force’ are some of the best tracks from the entire original trilogy, fact, and much of the rest of the score is still excellently composed and orchestrated, with much to be enjoyed if you know where to find it.
God bless.
Purchase the album from iTunes here
Here is a YouTube playlist to the album highlights.
Highlights:
- The Emperor Arrives/The Death of Yoda/Obi-Wan’s Revelation
- Alliance Assembly
- Parade of the Ewoks
- Luke and Leia
- Emperor’s Throne Room
- The Battle of Endor I
- The Battle of Endor II
- The Battle of Endor III
- Leia’s News/Light of the Force
- The Forest Battle (Concert Suite)
Scores of Scores 