The Tuesday Bagel Bandit checks in recently with the definitive word on what happened to the two rumored endings. At first, we were skeptical of the alternate endings, but after many reports from fans all over the country, we ran the story.

Well, here's final confirmation that two endings did exist, and a little of the background on how they made it into the theaters. Consider this the last nail in the coffin:

Some people have claimed to see a different version of Darth Maul's death where he did not get sliced in half and come apart as he fell. The fact is there were two versions, and I've seen both.

The original is the one that made it into the final release where Maul gets cut in two. Fearing that the Motion Picture Association of America ratings board might not grant The Phantom Menace a PG rating, a second version with Maul simply falling was created as a back up.

Unfortunately, that second version did make it into a few pre-release screenings for critics and theater chain execs. The MPAA approved the original version for a PG rating and it was released that way. So it was always George's intention to have Darth Maul cut in half and to leave no ambiguity about whether Maul was alive or dead.

So now we have the final confirmation that both endings did exist, but that the movie was always intended to show the 'splitting in two' segment. Of course, the video release should have the correct ending, but having both endings on the 2006 DVD release sure would be a cool feature ...