Readers, I am about to tell you something about my life that may make you think differently about this blogger: as a child I was unaware of Star Wars. I have never watched a single major Star Wars movie or cartoon, read any EU books, or was even aware that something called Star Wars existed. I saw R2D2 and C3PO on the Muppet show with Mark Hamill, but did not understand their importance. I don’t remember if friends tried to talk to me about the franchise, but if they did I imagine I had little to say and wandered off.
After revealing this, I will admit another fact that makes this even more confusing: As a kid I was addicted to watching the Ewok movies on the Disney channel. Since I had never heard of Star Wars, I never realized that these movies were part of a bigger universe, or that they might have looked much better with a blockbuster budget. To me, these were movies about weird teddy bears helping little kids out. At least, I hope that’s what I thought they were, because watching these as an adult, I’m still not entirely sure about the plotlines.
On the show How I Met Your Mother, the character Barney Stintson explained in one of his presentations, “the Ewoks have a huge backstory that the movie really didn’t get into.” That’s where these movies attempted to fit in. Unfortunately, watching as an adult, I can clearly see how they do not.
The Ewok movies, Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor, were released in 1984-85 and are prequels to Return of the Jedi, about 3 years after the Battle of Yavin. Other than the Ewoks, there are no direct references to anything in the main three movies, which makes the reason for these stories even more confusing.
When a family crashes on the second moon of Endor, two children, Mace and his young sister Cindel, are left stranded after their parents are captured by the Gorax (imagine the weirdest stop-motion monster of the 80s and it’s something like that). Struggling to survive, the children are then captured by the Ewoks, who grow attached to them. Learning to understand the English language, a group of Ewoks (not unlike the Fellowship of the Ring) band together with Mace and Cindel to seek out and save their parents. This adventure includes puzzles and morals the group must understand to survive themselves. The adventure is made even more interesting by having Burl Ives narrate it, something which took me back to watching Rudolph.
The adventure isn’t over after the parents are saved though. The following movie opens with the planet under attack again, this time by Mauraders from Sanyassa, led by Terak and his witch companion Charal. Immediately the parents and Mace are forced into battle, never to be seen again the entire film. They may or may not survive, but all Cindel and Wicket need is to run for safety from Charal, who insists she has the power within her to control a piece of machinery from a ship like a lightsaber (it isn’t one). Cindel and Wicket go on the lamb to escape the bad guys, finding themselves in the house of a weird old man (Wilford Brimley) and his even stranger speedster gremlin friend. It’s not too difficult for them to explain to the old man what is happening as, unlike the first movie (and Return of the Jedi, which follows this chronologically), all the Ewoks speak perfect English. After being cranky for too often, he agrees to let the two stay as long as they help with chores. Of course, this inevitably leads to Wilford Brimley helping the Ewoks defeat Terak and Charal, as all adventures like this go.
In Barney Stintson’s presentation, he comes to the conclusion that there is a thing known as the “Ewok line.” He explained that “Ewoks split Star Wars fandom into 2 camps: those born before and those born after May 25, 1973- the Ewok line. Anyone born on [the left] side of the line was at least 10 years old when Jedi came out and thus too old for something… so cute. [For] anyone born on [the right] side” the Ewoks remind this group of teddy bears and they like these characters more. I was born after the Ewok line, but while I do not fit into the demographic the character initially intended it for, I originally did like these characters. After watching these movies, however, I must rethink my opinions.
Both films can be found on YouTube, as well as perfect commentaries by Permanently Geek. If you decide to go back and watch these movies again, I recommend playing the commentary with it.