Movie Info
Movie Name: Star Wars: Ewoks—The Battle for Endor
Studio: Movie Studio
Genre(s): Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): Movie Release Date
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
So…I’m kind of having a crappy year.
Tragedy has struck Cindel Towani (Aubree Miller) again. Her brother Mace (Eric Walker), her father Jeremitt (Paul Gleason), and her mother Catrine have been killed by marauders who attack the Ewok village for the Towanis’ power cell to their spaceship. Wicket’s people have been captured, and Cindel and Wicket (Warwick Davis) are on the run. When Wicket and Cindel discover an old man named Noa Briqualon (Wilford Brimley) and his friend Teek (Niki Botelho), Noa reluctantly agrees to help Wicket free his people from Terak (Carel Struycken), Charal (Siân Phillips) and his people.
I really need some chapstick
Directed by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat, Star Wars: Ewoks—The Battle for Endor was a made-for-TV follow-up to Star Wars: Caravan of Courage—An Ewok Adventure from 1985. The movie had limited theatrical release overseas and aired on ABC on November 24, 1985 in the United States. The movie won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and was nominated for Outstanding Children’s Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Special.
The first Ewok Adventure was pretty light, but a solid kids’ program especially if you were a kid jonesing for Star Wars after the end of the Star Wars series. This entry took a dark turn and actually for some aspects, it worked.
Noa, before they died my parents taught me about Bad Touch…just sayin’
There is a lot of debate whether this movie and The Caravan of Courage are in the regular Star Wars canon. It is unclear whether the story would take place before or after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (most say before) and if The Ewoks, a cartoon which aired on Saturday mornings, came before or after this. Some of the characters presented in the story have gone on to appear in other Star Wars Universe stories.
This entry is pretty unbalanced. I actually like the dark stuff (though the death of Cindel’s parents and brother essentially negates efforts of the characters in The Caravan of Courage…much like Alien3 negated Aliens). The film feels a bit more like a Star Wars film than the first entry. The movie however does go light with goofy characters like Teek which feels out of place at points…also despite being an “Ewok” movie, it is pretty light on Ewoks besides Wicket.
Not horrifying what-so-ever…
This movie weirdly places Wilford Brimley as “action hero”. Though he plays a curmudgeon in the movie, he also does battle and swings from ziplines. The movie shows a slight acting improvement for Aubree Miller who is still just more cute than skilled. Warwick Davis plays Wicket great, and Siân Phillips plays a really generic witch character. It is also worth noting that Cindel’s father was recast with The Breakfast Club’s Paul Gleason for this film.
The movie looks better than the first one which in 1984 standards looked pretty good for made-for-TV. This looks more Star Wars like and it seems like there is a bigger budget. The villains are rather creepy and almost look like zombies…Teek is a little too Muppety for the movie, but kids will like him.
Catch you later in the sequel…right?
Star Wars: Ewoks—The Battle for Endor is pretty much for fans and younger kids. It is notably darker than the first one which might cause some problems for kids who were attached to the characters (and there are more deaths). I would love to see the Star Wars Expanded Universe tackle what happened to Cindel and Noa after the left Endor in a book or comic book mini-series sometime. The DVD is out of print, but with Disney’s taking over of Star Wars, maybe it will be back!
Related Links:
Star Wars: Caravan of Courage—An Ewok Adventure (1984)
Star Wars—Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars—Episode II: Attack of the Clone (2002)
Star Wars—Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
