Classics Star Wars: Ewoks (1985-1986) discussion, rewatch, information & analysis thread

Yup, that's the name. And you described Duloks perfectly!

 

Well, I most certainly do not like the duloks now!

Rampage of the Phlogs
A good episode, to be sure, but since you guys were talking about the duloks up there, I have to say that they were my absolute least favorite part of the episode. Falling asleep to the lullaby (after sleeping already cost them earlier in the episode) really just painted them as hopeless. I want to like the duloks, but by god, the voice of the matronly one is driving me mad.

But! Like I said, it was a very good episode. Unlike the first episode (which took a little while to get started), this one got started with a bang, and didn't let up. The plot actually held together very well I thought, and was simple enough that it didn't become campy (the way the last episode did) while still being fun to watch. It also distributed the action much more clearly across the four main characters; for the first time, it was clear that this is really about Wicket, Teebo, Kneesa, and Latara. I wasn't a particularly huge fan of the phlog's design, but that's just me nitpicking.

Highlights of the episode? A Chukha-Trok cameo! Can't wait to see him in action. The moment where Malani overhears Wicket badmouthing her is genuinely touching, without making me hate Wicket. Well played, writers. Seeing the whole village lined up to fight the phlogs is really cool, and reminiscent of RotJ, which is always a plus for me.

Now, I will say that Ewok Poet has mentioned a few times that the female characters are portrayed very progressively in this show, and so far I haven't really seen that. The girls often fall into peril first, and while they aren't super incompetent or anything, they do seem a bit weak - at this point. There's especially that point where Kneesa and Latara fall from the cliff - although one of my favorite parts of the whole episode was Logray using the Force to make a tree break their fall. He's a cool character.

So! A bit of over-the-top parts with the duloks, but otherwise a very strong episode! I'm enjoying this immensely.

Overall Rating: 7/10

 

I tried giving Ewoks a go and all I have to say is

It's not Starwars

It's missing something I don't no what but it's missing it and I can't get over it

So I want watch it but I can say this if it was not with the Starwars brand it would be a good show.

 

Orman Tagge this is fun, we should do a podcast or something, or get somebody in their 50s and a small child and do a review from POV of each generation. This is the first time where our differences are more notable and, well, if it wasn't so, I would be a bit worried about both my perception and yours.

So...once again, not a real review per sé, rather a bunch of points discussed and, in the end, I go gaga over Latara and Teebo.

Duloks will ALWAYS be over the top. Even the one in Shadows of Endor is over the top.

Annoying Dulok matron? That would be Mellefresh/Melleny Melody as a teenager. Urgah is such a bizarre character, basically a Dulok Smurfette. Just wait until she gets even more bizarre in the fifth episode. The thing is, Mellefresh was probably a lot like the character herself back in the days, as this was the time when she was making headlines for her "princessmobile". Nobody else could have gotten the role of Urgah because she *was* Urgah.

Malani and Wicket moment? I felt sorry for the child. I think the writers juxtaposed the possibility of a relationship between two teens as a realistic thing (where neither of them rushes into it too much) against a child's obsession with a tween. And they played it well.

Regarding the girls not being classic action girls, hmmm. That is not the way I would see it, so I will have to defend them a bit.

In the previous episode, Kneesaa and Latara launched the diversion on Duloks, with the insects, basically going ahead of the actual group of warriors, and in this one the whole team participated in coming to a solution. Actually, the whole team but Wicket.

- Latara had the idea and she played the flute.

- Teebo used the Force on the humming peepers to get them to do what they needed.

- Kneesaa sung the song that distracted Duloks, so the humming peepers would do what they're supposed to.

Conclusion: In the way they're written, they're two females and a "trouser role". So, with Wicket being the only true male in that cast (Paploo and the older Warrick brothers are not there for a good reason); who saved the day?

-

Not falling down when a giant throws a large rock? Everybody would fall down. Wicket fell down without even having an opponent in the first minute of the show, in the next episode Gorneesh hurled him, does that make him any weaker?

In fact, the only anti-feminist thing in this episode, to a certain extent, is the episode not passing the Bechdel test. 30 seconds on the screen and all they do is talk about boys. On the other hand, this is what made me a 'shipper when I was a kid. And I don't ship anybody else, so Latara and Teebo have got to be a couple made in heaven.

The above is another good thing that we don't see on TV much: each time a nerd is paired with an attractive girl, she does not have much of a personality and he strives to be über-masculine, a player or whatever they call it nowadays...and fails. In this case, she continues being rather rough underneath a delicate facade, he continues being rather delicate underneath a scruffy facade and it's awesome.

Once again, the idea of a world so backwards that it's almost impossible is actually fitting when you look at the explanations I gave earlier in the thread.

But if you can enjoy it as any other cartoon, just watch and enjoy. We are not married to any brand and we should not be.

 

Excellent way of putting it. Also might help to watch Droids first, which is more clearly connected to Star Wars, and then Ewoks.

To Save Deej
This episode was a mixed bag for me. Not as good as "The Cries of the Trees" or "Rampage of the Phlogs", but better than "The Haunted Village". I appreciated the variety in the plot, breaking from the "Morag uses third party to try to destroy Ewok village" formula. Unfortunately, it focused way too much on Wicket's two older brothers, neither of whom I particularly cared about. Widdle Warrick was especially annoying, and I had no reason to care about him - so when the episode focused exclusively on him trying to get the Lantern Bird feather, I couldn't have cared less.

The episode picked up from there though. The little creature Mring-Mring was intriguing, and quickly well characterized (risking himself against the Dandelion Warriiors for complete strangers!) and I liked the whole sequence where they're dodging the Dandelion Warrior's attacks. Nicely done. Weechee was also way less annoying than Widdle, so even though I found it weird focusing on a previously unexplored character, it wasn't as bad - and his escape from the Frosches was exciting enough.

On the side, I was glad that Widdle's ploy to verbally intimidate the Frosches didn't work, and the continued variety of Endor flora and fauna is a real treat.

I started to like where the episode went towards the conclusion, bringing in Teebo (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters, alongside Logray), but that was thrown away by the really painful deus ex machina ending. So...the episode ended on a sour note for me, unfortunately.

Overall Rating: 5/10

 

I like the part in brackets.

 

Huh?

The Travelling Jindas
Weird little episode, but not necessarily in a bad way. The beginning is one of those over-the-top silly moments (kinda like the invisibility soap) where the duloks decide to kidnap an Ewok babysitter. That was kinda dumb. But! I liked the Jindas, as an idea. It plays nicely with C-3PO entertaining the Ewoks in RotJ (always, always a plus to tie into the movies, no matter how remotely) and they were kind of funny, even on their own merits. Latara though...very annoying. She came across as self-centered and bratty in this episode.

The episode continued to be sort of weird to me, but entertaining nontheless (much like the Jindas!), reaching a peak of strangeness when the duloks landed in a hut with Barney. Luckily, it kind of came together as the other Ewoks began pursuing Latara.

I liked the whole ploy to rescue Latara - creative and well done - but Kneesa gets in hopeless trouble twice. C'mon. She falls through the bridge and gets stuck in the swamp! Ugh. I really want to see the progressive depiction of girls Ewok Poet has mentioned, but so far I haven't seen it. But! Logray's seed is very cool. Logray himself is cool. I want to see Logray with a lightsaber.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Ewok Poet I'm curious, what was it like seeing the Ewoks in RotJ, after being introduced to them in the show and not initially knowing the connection?

 

Thank you so much. As somebody who is inbetween you and Orman in terms of age (born in 1983), I was not sure how to explain this in a way that would provide the right examples without completely confusing everybody. This is precisely how one should view female characters - according to the time when something was created.

And then, once done with this, you can read Shadows of Endor, where the author portrays the girls according to today's standards. They feel like nothing has changed, because it's just taking this decade's point of view, yet keeping the basics same. Latara gets wounded by a blaster at the end of that comic and she immediately gets up and fires back, before Teebo can even manage to get to her because, ironically, a giant beast they fight on top of Stormtroopers pushes him away. Similarly, this does not make him any less, I don't know, male; the same way Latara's behaviour and Kneesaa's falling through the bridge and getting stuck in the mud don't make them any less progressive.

In the 1980s, with all those restrictions and a different mindset, they could not have done that; so they resolted to her running away from home and being generally snarky.

 

anakinfansince1983 thank you for stopping by! Addressing both you and Ewok Poet , I think I see what you're saying. It's probably accurate that I, having grown up in an era of Buffys and Daenarys's and Leslie Knopes, am judging Kneesaa and Latara on a skewed scale. I'm not necessarily willing to completely renege on what I said about them earlier: it does feel like it's often the girls who fall into peril first, in ways that remind me of the end of the first Body Snatchers film where the girl "simply can't go on", but I also see how they very much have forceful personalities, strong characterizations, and so on. Now, ironically, the next episode I saw had the best depiction of Kneesaa and Latara so far, in my opinion.

The Tree of Light
A really, really strong episode, and largely because Kneesaa and Latara seemed to come into their own. I started off nervously, as Widdle's previous appearance was really insufferable, but he stayed in the background and didn't rub on my nerves nearly as much this time. I appreciated Kneesaa trying to go, and appreciated even more that not only did she and Latara follow the boys, but so did Wicket! It didn't lump them as separate purely because of their gender, but also gave them a real chance to shine. More on that later.

The episode's structure reminded me a lot of "Caravan of Courage", and I mean that in a good way. The little band of Ewoks setting off on a mystical quest just works. It's almost D&Desque. I like it. Furthermore, the Duloks, while still ridiculous, posed a credible threat in this episode. It was a much better balance of goofy and threatening than had been struck previously. Also, the fact that the Night Spirit had been mentioned in the previous episode lent a certain sense of continuity that had been largely lacking.

I really loved the finale of this episode. Starting off with the floating trees...that was really cool. Campy? In the best sense of the word. And then Kneesaa saves the day! I mean, sure, Wicket gets the real glory, but he couldn't have done it without her, and she's super competent. I really appreciated that. And then in the end, having Kneesaa, Latara, and Wicket all set aside was a relief (I was sort of worried only Kneesaa and Latara would be scolded), and then giving them all the feather-medals was a nice touch.

The first episode where I truly saw Kneesaa and Latara as strong female characters. Not that they'd been weak, necessarily, before, but this was an entirely different level. The best episode so far. Hope to see the Tree of Light and Night Spirit expanded upon. And I miss Morag!

Overall Rating: 8/10

 

And I now have a huge smile on my face. Unlike most people from your age group who are into fantasy and sci-fi, you took our argument in a mature, cool manner and gave it a thought. Now, if only more folks were like that.

I agree about that episode being the best depiction of the girls and I have only one thing to add about that: that Weechee and Paploo (whose arguments in that episode are just so hilariously over the top that...I can't even...LOL) reacted the same away about Kneesaa and Latara like they did to Wicket.

My friend and I determined that Kneesaa should have been the one to throw the dust even back then, especially given her future role as a chieftess; but I guess it had to be Wicket for the sole sake of it being Wicket. This happens in most of the episodes, as if it was a requirement.

Morag will appear only once more as Sunstar vs. Shadowstone was meant to be the fourth episode and not ninth. So, since some things in the next two episodes, particularly two ritual scenes kind of *need* Sunstar vs. Shadowstone to be more credible; I'm recommending you to watch it first. It's my absolute favourite, btw and the number of comments and views on YouTube is a good sign that it stood the test of time.

 

Sunstar vs. Shadowstone next? Will do! I'll be back soon. And I suppose it would've been nice to see Kneesaa throw the dust, but I don't hold it against them.

 

Yay!

Also, I expanded the comment you just quoted.

I guess I can upload files I promised to you while you're watching.

 

Well, I can certainly see why that was your favorite!

Sunstar vs. Shadowstone
Absolutely awesome episode. From start to finish, it gave me exactly what I wanted from the show. We get Logray's background, which is wonderful in its fairy tale style and in how it ties him to Morag, and Teebo doing something with that weird sixth sense he seems to have and becoming Logray's apprentice! An awesome touch, and something I'm really, really hoping gets expanded upon throughout the show. And Teebo showing off and playing into Morag's hands is very believable and a good way for things to develop.

When Logray decides to take on Morag alone... Very cool moment. I was reminded very strongly of that awesome part of RotS when Yoda marches up to Sidious - it even has a parallel to Yoda crushing the Imperial Guard, where Logray nonchalantly immobilizes Morag's henchmen. The finale is unabashed awesomeness, with just the right mix of Kneesaa being smarmy to Morag, even in the face of death, Logray being an absolute badass, Teebo helping out his master without stealing the spotlight, and Morag being genuinely scary. And she actually dies! I really did not see that coming. The icing on the cake is Logray's reference to the Force when describing Morag's demise. A perfect end to a near-perfect episode.

I do have one serious complaint. As a Star Wars fan first and foremost, seeing Logray levitate objects is completely inexcusable. That makes Luke convincing the Ewoks that C-3PO is a god via levitation so much more of a stretch. So, one point docked for that. Otherwise, by far the best episode so far.

Overall Rating: 9/10

 

In the comics, the Ewoks actually have met Threepio before, when 3PO and R2 were shot forward in time via a rift.

3PO's "some sort of god" may be a very crude approximation of what the Ewoks actually think he is.

With Lorry's immediate "set them loose" reaction being in response to the realisation that another Force-user is present in the group.

 

I don't mind strange and unusual events in Star Wars settings. It's not the only example of time travel in the EU, after all.

 

I agree that time travel and stuff like that doesn't really belong in Star Wars. Sith Magic is about as far as I'm willing to push it - the Nightsister stuff from TCW, for example, was not enjoyable for me.

TigerCraneFist I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to comparing impressions of episodes Sunstar vs. Shadowstone is a real treat; look forward to it.

I was hoping to discuss that episode with Ewok Poet, since it's his favorite, but it seems like he's still busy. I'm gonna go ahead and post about the next episode, while it's still fresh.

The Curse of the Jindas
Well, I didn't love this episode, and it's hard to pinpoint why, exactly. The dialogue just felt very stiff and awkward to me; I felt like I was watching a rough cut. It was weird how the titular curse only really came into play in the second half, resolving the conflict from the first part in a very rushed way, and then not really building up to much. While the Logray/Morag rivalry was built up gradually, the Stone Wizard was very, very weird and just came out of nowhere. And it was all distinctly un-Star Warsy, in the worst ways. I dunno, this was probably my least favorite episode so far. The pacing was just wrong; pacing of the dialogue, of the events, and of the action. And I didn't really feel like there were any good character moments (with the exception of Teebo leaping after Logray and imitating him - I liked that) in a show that's biggest strength lies with its characters.

Not all bad though! I liked the merchant alien guy's design (minus the visor), and it wasn't bad having an explanation for why the jindas are the way they are. It was good to have some characterization given to jindas besides the spokesman, and I liked the continuity from the previous jinda episode (Kneesaa playing her flute to attract help).

Still, not a great episode. My least favorite so far.

Overall Rating: 3/10

 

"Her" favourite. I am not male.

And sorry, furniture arrives today, old calendar Easter is tomorrow, been running around...I have half-done responses to both you and TigerCraneFist.

And you reviewed my little niece's fav episode...will have to ask her to defend it.

 

My mistake! I apologize, I should get in the habit of using gender neutral pronouns on here.

 

Or you can always look at the persons profile because most of the time people have there Gender on there.