Classics Ewoks Movies: Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor

This was the cover of the VHS I had as a child (and still have now in fact). I was never completely sure who the man on the cover was, I'm guessing Cindel's father but he's barley in the film so I'm not sure why he has such a prominent place on the cover. Anybody know the story behind this?

 

My guess is that they probably didn't want to have old man Noa (Wilford Brimely) on the cover so they put that character, who to me looks like a combination of Jeremitt (the father) and Mace (the brother) there instead to make it look cooler and more attractive to younger viewers.

As for the movies, I've liked them since I first saw them on Canal+ back in 2001 (like TigerCraneFist) and I still have the VHS recording I made of that airing (which I a lot of years later transferred to DVD and which I also still have). I never got the official bare bones 2004 DVD but if they released the movies again and hopefully with behind the scenes material (as they should) I'd probably get it.

 

I like both of the Ewoks movies, and while I own the DVD, I'd like a Blu Ray loaded with extras as well. I love that VHS cover, I wish the DVD cover was half that cool.

 

So I am reading the Book ready player One and this happens.

They actually mention the Ewok movies and T.V show and in a hilarious fashion.

If you want a good read this book is a hoot.


Just wanted to share this.

 

Are you intending to watch the cartoon, too?

 

TigerCraneFist, I agree with your post (from last Fall) about the made-for-TV Ewok films from 1984/1985. As a kid, I saw Battle for Endor when it first aired on TV in Fall 1985, and truly enjoyed this. It was a great combination of drama, sci-fi, and fantasy. The various elements really worked well, and it remains one of my favorite '80's fantasy films - the fact that this is set in the SW universe is almost incidental. This film holds up extremely well, even 30 years later. The film starts off strong, and doesn't really let up until the end.

Conversely, I felt the Caravan of Courage was way too kiddie-fied, and moved way too slow for my tastes. The end scenes with the big spider & the Gorax were interesting, but overall the first part of the film is tough to get through.

It's great that both tele-films were released to DVD back in 2004. However, since that DVD is now long OOP, I wouldn't mind seeing both released on Blu-ray, with enhanced/remastered picture quality, sound, and color.

And, I know this has been mentioned before, but where are the Ewoks & Droids cartoons DVD's and/or Blu-ray sets?! It's been over 30 years since these shows first aired on TV, and we still haven't gotten decent home video releases of these sets? As has been said, at the least you would think Lflm./Disney would have cleaned these up & made them available for streaming. However, we don't even have that. Pathetic - especially considering how many far inferior TV series/cartoons are on DVD/Blu-ray....

 

I rewatched Caravan of Courage a few weeks ago after, well, years, and it is basically very much The Hobbit. Also I was kind of wondering since the Ewoks are clearly using magic objects, why didn't they use them against the Empire for the Battle of Endor (or maybe they blew their supply on that quest to save the human family). also they kinda speak basic (english) but maybe the human characters aren't speaking basic (english) which is why the Ewoks don't use it in ROTJ.

 

I believe that the official version is like this: Wicket picked up some of whatever language the Towani family spoke, but that language was not basic.

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For some reason, the Wookieepedia page for Cindel suggests it was:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cindel_Towani

During their stay with the Ewoks, Towani became friends with Deej's youngest son, Wicket, and even taught the young Ewok some words in Basic.

The "It wasn't Basic" reference here:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Basic_Standard

• The Towanis taught the Ewoks a mysterious and undocumented language,[source?] which did not help them understand Leia Organa, Han Solo or Luke Skywalker, all of whom spoke Basic. The relation of that language to Basic is not known.

is unsourced.

It may be a case of deduction:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Towani_family

The Towanis spoke a mysterious language, perhaps a dialect of Basic, which they taught to the Ewoks. However it was not enough for those creatures to understand proper Basic a year later, when they met PrincessLeia, Han Solo,Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, R2-D2and the rest of the rebels. The origins of that language, its relation to Basic, and why the Towanis differentiated themselves from the rest of the galaxy is unknown.

Alternatively, Wicket was pretending not to understand - in order to find out more from the unsuspecting Leia, because he didn't trust her yet.

 

That would make perfect sense.

On the other hand, he wasn't exactly the Sprachentalent of the gang, so maybe he never moved beyond those couple of words.

 

I wonder how 3PO was able to communicate with them in the Ewoks comics, which are set before the movies?

Perhaps Endor is not as isolated as all that? After all, a Dulok was seen on Coruscant in the CW cartoon series - it could be that Duloks maintain trading relations with occasional visitors to the Forest Moon - even travelling off it - and as a result, they've communicated Ewokese to the rest of the galaxy, where it has become one of 3PO's 6 million languages.

Mind you, even in events before ANH - the X-Wing series's Farlander Papers had an early Rebel pamphlet :

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/A_Call_to_Reason

in which Palpatine is described as "A Rodian in Ewok's clothing"

and Farlander joined the Rebellion and flew his first missions before ANH:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Keyan_Farlander

suggesting that Ewoks are already known to the galaxy at large, at this point.

 

I reason like this: C-3PO's memory was wiped once again after his experiences with Mungo Baobab and the gang, therefore his knowledge of Ewokese may have been removed due to a memory error of sorts. That is why he does not remember Endor, either.

Given that Endor is a sanctuary moon and some sort of a preserve, everything else makes sense. Preserve the culture and the environment, keep the contact to minimum, but definitely e.g. gather rokna fungus for rokna blue.

 

Re: Caravan of Courage & Battle for Endor, IIRC it's unclear whether these tele-films take place before ROTJ, or after. That being said, I remember reading an interview in Bantha Tracks (the '80's SW fan club newsletter) which mentioned that in COC, apparently there's a scene when a Baby Ewok is playing with a wooden toy?! of a Scout Walker (can't remember this scene, however). In any case, the implication here is that the Empire had been there prior to the events in COC & BFE. Not sure if this is actually the case, however.

As far as why the Ewoks didn't use magic against the Empire in ROTJ, the most obvious out-of-universe explanation is that when ROTJ was written, Lucas wasn't thinking that the Ewoks had magic powers. Or, if he was, he didn't want to show the Ewoks using magic against the Empire on the big screen because it would be too awkward & would require too much explanation (remember, this was 1983).

 

Iron_lord helped me a lot with a better and more correct timeline for my fic, so I'll let him have the mic. Everything took place before ROTJ, but Ewoks were aware of the Empire from shortly before or after Yavin.

The official timeline where everything happens within a year needs to update in order to span about 6-7 years, IMHO.

 

The main issue is Shadows of Endor - which shows a "first contact with stormtroopers" for Bright Tree Village some 8 months before ROTJ.

Choices of One shows the Death Star II in orbit 9 months after Yavin, and The Essential Guide to Warfare talks about the Second Death Star being in the initial stages of construction, at Endor, before the first was destroyed.

I would resolve this (assuming that Shadows of Endor's timeline has to be kept) by having the Death Star be on the far side of Endor - something going wrong (problems with the shield generator maybe) forcing them to relocate it to the side of Endor that Bright Tree Village is on.

As for First Contact with the Empire - that was probably earlier for most Ewoks. Bright Tree Village encountered Imperial Reconnaissance Droids:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_for_the_Sunstar

but I would guess this was before the Death Star construction actually began (the guy responsible had his own goals).

The animated TV series can probably begin 5 or more years before ROTJ.

 

Thanks.

And yes, this is how I see it myself, it's just that you knew the exact references. I will be linking to this post whenever necessary.

 

The Illustrated Star Wars Universe was the first source (via having its Imperial explorer complain about the equipment being material decommissioned after the Hoth invasion - and meeting Terak of the Marauders) to pin down The Battle For Endor as post-TESB.

 

Sometimes I have the feeling that the Ewok movies and cartoon, even if not stated, are still canon, at least in some form.
The Ultimate Star Wars book mentions Goraxes and Duloks, one of the Endor levels in battlefront has a Temptor, Teebo's entry in the new canon Character Encyclopedia describes him as a poet, who had many adventures growing up before becoming an apprentice of Logray, and more important,Wicket's entry says: "Young Wicket had an adventurous chldhood with his great friends - Teebo, Kneesaa, Paploo, and his brothers Weeche and Willy".

Sadly I've only watched the episodes that were released in the DVD, never the whole show, but I really am fond of the movies, and would like if they were put back into canon.
And I do hope they release the Holiday Special, all the classic characters are in it! Also I do believe Chewie's family have been mentioned in the new Canon a couple of times, Malla was even name-dropped.

 

The Ewok movies are part of my head-canon as well, I love the Forest Moon that is presented there, full of creatures and adventures.
But I would like them to be part of the Official Canon, mainly for two reasons:
- New works would be able to reference to the Ewok movies more often (it's world building, I mean, not the actual story of the movies), I loved those little things that I mentioned above, and would like to see more of them.
- Maybe, just maybe, that way they would have a better chance to get a blu-ray release.

 

I also have the 2004 DVD, but mine is the brazillian edition, so both movies are in a single-sided DVD (that's also the case for the Droids and Ewoks Cartoon releases), I'm glad for that because I also hate double-sided DVD's,
I always wanted to see that documentary... I've seen some written interviews from some of the actors that someone posted a link to somewhere here in the forum, but that's all... It would be cool to take a more detailed and visual a look behind the scenes.

A third movie would be great. Maybe we could see Cindel returning to Endor, I"ve seen some pictures of the actor that portrayed her, as an adult, dressed as Cindel in some convention, it was nice to see that she still cares about the role enough to do that.

 

*I mean actress, not actor!
really sorry for double posting, but for some reason I can't edit my previous post.