WOOKIE ROCK

The original ‘70s “Star Wars” mania inspired several notable musical spin-offs--who can forget the Meco electronic disco hits based on John Williams’ movie score and Bill Murray’s lugubrious, absurd lounge-singer version of the theme?

Now the 1997 revival of George Lucas’ space trilogy has several musical satellites seeking orbit. English electronic-pop group Sneaker Pimps is in London now working on a song based on “Star Wars” music for a U.K. release coinciding with the current launch of the film reissues in England and Europe.

And Santa Barbara’s Nerf Herder--which took its name from a line in “The Empire Strikes Back”--may do a version of the song that was added to the re-release of “Return of the Jedi” as part of the extended cantina scene. Nerf Herder, which recently took a private tour of Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch complex north of San Francisco, has also been in talks about doing a song for an interactive game based on the films.

Two other projects are in the proposal stage: A series of dance remixes using original “Star Wars” recordings from RCA is waiting an OK from Williams (who has rejected past remix proposals), and Virgin is discussing a tribute album with original material by acts “influenced” by the films.