My aunt (Fionnula Flanagan) played the mother in Caravan Of Courage. She knew I was a huge Star Wars fan and she brought me on set for the majority of filming of Caravan Of Courage. I was 5 or 6 at the time. At one point, Eric Walker lost his blaster on set and I found it for him. As a reward, I was allowed to sit on set as they filmed the giant spider scene. As a kid I didn't know I wasn't supposed to talk and when I saw the giant spider being lowered down, I looked up and blurted out, "uh oh!" The director yelled, "CUT" and I was given a stern talking to but I was still allowed to hang out on set. They were very kind and I have cherished those memories all my life. It may be a cheesy addition to the Star Wars universe but I still count it as cannon. It's highly possible that a family could get lost out in space and land on the forest moon of Endor by mistake. And as corny as it may seem on the surface, I would argue that the animated show, Star Wars Resistance is far more cheesy than either Ewok movie. Of course..... I could be a little bias. Lol. May The Force Be With You!
Did everyone overlook that the Ewoks eat humans? That was a plot point in Return Of The Jedi... Luke and Leia were going to be a feast in the honor of Threepio. Only by pretending to be their god, did Threepio convince them to not cook them. However, the Imperials... those stormtroopers were the victory feast. The only thing uncertain is what exactly Luke and Leia ate at the end of Jedi. Also, I choked laughing at "Mace Whitedude".
I doubt Luke and Leia they ate them, but they probably did just let the Ewoks eat the stormtroopers. That being said, it is known that after this, the ewoks where introduced more and more to the wider galaxy, probably abandoing those practises
We don't know that they did eat those storm troopers.... Could have just rounded up some helmets as trophies and percussion instruments. Their bonding with the rebels could well have caused them to re-think the eating of humans..............
Just like "Encounter at Farpoint", the first Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, I told myself it was awesome and that I liked it, but, I really didn't. Same with these. Even as a kid, it looked horribly cheap compared to the movies, and the story was all meh. This happens all the time now, where movies or shows blast action and nostalgia, but really aren't that good.@@fktygglbtchbtch1384
We had both movies on VHS recorded from TV and watched them to death, we watched the second one a lot more though for some reason, the opening is indeed quite brutal!
Keeping thesse movies cannon fills in at least one plothole in Jedi. The being how quickly the ewoks got those traps set up. It makes sense when you find out there are freaking giant monsters walking around the planet.
People have to remember that when these came on as Sunday night movies, Star Wars was basically over. As a huge Star Wars kid I loved that we were getting more.
The family getting killed in the beginning of that second movie was HORRIFYING to me as a child. I cried inconsolably and did NOT enjoy the rest of the movie in empathy for the surviving child. What a CRAZY choice to kill the family on-screen like that. This was in a time where A-Team and Knight Rider both were careful to never even have the bad guys die. It was a shock for sure.
Now I had the weird distinction of *not even being aware* that the first movie existed, and the recorded-from-TV version we had growing up only started at the final bit of the "family dying" sequence, so I experienced the story with the family being dead as the backstory essentially.
Yes, same here. Also, at the time I found the introduction of magic/ witchcraft alienating. What has that got to do with The Force? Of course, now we do have the Dathomyr witches... so I stand corrected. 😅 But yeah, I too was highly distressed and upset by the second movie's premise.
@@Roboto-chan_1402there is a deep dive of lore, not just in these two films but other past works as well. Different elements are connected throughout the series. Especially stories from the Old Republic, and after RotJ
@@orinanime Zack Snyder is man who has his own head so far in his own butt and hasn't made successful movie for 10 years but still keeps getting work in Hollywood.
It was because of this star wars “desert “ that i clung to the Droids and Ewoks cartoons as a kid. Even the second movie has it’s merits. May need to revisit them soon.
I have fond memories of these movies. It was impressive how these were tied into overall lore, a key thing being Battle for Endor was the first time a Nightsister was ever shown.
ROTJ was the first movie I ever saw in theaters as a 4-yr-old fan. I caught the Battle for Endor when it aired and my parents taped it. I also had the Ewok Village playset as the centerpiece of my early SW collection. Let me add, Dan is exactly right about cherishing the tiny kernels of SW we would occasionally get in the 80s and 90s…I must’ve read the Han Solo Adventures book a hundred times when I was a kid.
14:25 This is the most succinct description I've seen of what it was like being a Star Wars fan when these movies were released. Listen up, kids, with your Mandoverse and your infinite supply of Star Wars books/video games! This is how we LIVED.
I'm an 87-child so I can't say I totally get it since for me, Star Wars has been OG movies, reruns of these, and Shadows of the Empire and Dark Forces later on (and of course Old Republic)... but even so, the old-heads also had the comics! And the big, green rabbit-man with guns and... I honestly can't tell if that's awesome for you or terrible, but I think I can say that I understand what kind of dearth of Star Wars material would drive one to the Ewok-movies just to get their fix.
So true. It was a Star Wars fan desert after Jedi ended. I was too old to appreciate the Ewoks movies and felt it was kind of "meh." I think it was the Dark Forces series that kept things interesting to me until we got further into the 90's.
Battle for Endor was one of my favorite movies as a child. We had it recorded off of TV from my VCR. I watched it so many times the tape started to wear out
So a little Easter egg in the original version of Star Tours right as you’re about to board they show a video and one of the passengers is Tink from the second movie. And when they redid the ride, the woman who did the voiceover is now a passenger in the boarding video
You are correct Dan. Any Star Wars we could get our hands on was awesome. I watched both these movies at home and at school when the teacher wanted a break. I was 10 at the time as well and also made my own comics continuing the adventures of Sindel and Wicket. I still have them somewhere in the house.
The week the first one came out was the same week our family got our first VCR. I remember being super excited in the store because I knew I could tape the Ewok Adventure on Sunday because it would've aired after my bedtime.
Same! You could put just about anything in kids tv in the 80's and it was fine. I still remember being confused a few years later as to why there was only magic in that one movie. 😂
...It might've been my first as well? My dad told me they turned someone into a candybar in _Empire_ and I was fucking *horrified* so it was a little while before I remember finally watching them
That 1st Ewok movie aired the day that my family was driving from NJ to my grandparents in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I was so stressed out about missing it as my dad was known to drive deep into the night before stopping. I made such a stink about it that my parents promised me that we would be at a motel before 8 pm. I think we got to the room about 8:05pm as I burst in, turned on the TV and found the channel. At most I missed the first 5-6 minutes but I was devastated. Looking back I feel for what a thankless job being a parent can be. Here my parents made special travel arrangements so their youngest could watch a TV show, navigated all the chaos of driving 3 kids half way across the country and accomplishing this within 5 minutes of the scheduled time and I got mad at them 😂 Hey, I was 6.
If Lucasfilm came to me and said I could make any Star Wars idea I wanted, in my top 5 possibles would be a third Ewok film to bring these movies back into canon. Admittedly it would be as big a hit as the Willow TV series, but I'd still be tempted.
Return of the Jedi was my favorite Star Wars growing up, because it was the only Star Wars movie I had ever seen. I loved the amount of creatures the movie had. So the Ewoks were one of my favorite parts of the movie.
Those movies weren't that bad, I liked the Ewoks cartoon, and Sindel is a neat character that should still be canon. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of everybody dying in the first scene of the second movie though... it's kinda heartbreaking.
Caravan of Courage got a limited cinema release in the UK. A friend of mine's dad ran a local theatre and he gave me some lobby cards for the movie, on card rather than photo paper, and I still have them.
The Blurrgs (the bipedal fish-faced reptile mount) were originally from 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒓. Decades later, they also appeared in the debut of 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏. The Blurrgs at least have been canonized/encanoned from these intergalactic mini-epics.
Yep I was excited to see the blurrgs in the mandalorian it took me second when first saw them as I thought they looked familiar then it hit me they were in battle for Endor, as a kid that was born in 1981 the Ewoks were my first introduction to Star Wars since I was to young to see them in the theater, people also forget you couldn’t own the first two films until 1984 and Jedi didn’t come until 1986 so it wasn’t until a year after battle for Endor that you could even own the original trilogy
The thing with the Ewoks beating the Stormtrooper is, while the Empire had superior weapons, the Ewoks had a knowledge of the forest, jungle battle tactics and their backs against the wall, and the Empire were arrogant, so the Ewoks outsmarted them by their tactics, and the Imperials on Endor underestimated them.
I remember back when The Phantom Menace, my crazy obsessed Star Wars friend was so excited. So to neg him, I asked him what he thought of Episode. 7 and 8? He looked at me weirdly, and I said “You know, Caravan of Courage and the Battle For Endor.” Never have I seen him so pissed off before.
@@UltimateGamerCC IKR? There's nothing in these Ewok movies that breaks canon and no need to de-canonize them. They're at the same level if not better than most of the Star Wars content Disney has been putting out.
@@ShinSeikiEvan I can't agree with that seeing all good material that has been put out for canon like Rebels. Rogue One, Mandolorian and Andor. Not to mention people like you seem to just sequel trilogy because it's cool. Remember hate leads to anger and anger leads to suffering.
In my area these movies were shown on TV in mono but had a stereo soundtrack you had to tune into on your FM radio. I think they called it "simulcast' and was necessary before VHF stations started sending stereo audio. Tuned into it with my K-Mart purchased Panasonic boom box and was blown away by the sound.
Born 1982 and finding Star Wars in the late 80s to early 90s, yes it was a dark time for a kid watching the movies over n over but no toys to play with. And when you found a beaten up action toy, it was like finding gold. I had one friend who was also a star wars fan in that time and we debated star wars as much as we could. Yes every star wars bit was a special treat and I remember when star wars slowly came back in form of Dark Horse Comics and Micro Machines.
I was 5 when Jedi came out… so I was all in on Ewoks. I loved ROTJ, loved the cartoon and comic series and remember really liking these 2 movies. However, the movies have not aged as well as I’d hoped. I think the first one is still pretty fun, but Battle for Endor is a bummer. I didn’t remember it well so I was surprised when the whole family bought it… and it doesn’t get much better from there. But, that movie dud introduce the Blurrgs.
I remember two things about the first movie. One, it was simulcast on a local FM radio station, so you could watch it with *stereo sound*. 😮 And two, the kids telling their story to the Ewoks, and hearing Wicket repeat "Star cruiser, crash!" Which is literally the only thing I remember about the movie's plot. I'm pretty sure I never saw the second one.
That’s why they would simulcast on fm !? I would always listen when we were on trips and thought it was the coolest thing ever that I could “listen to tv”
My parents taped this when it originally aired and I watched the hell out of that VHS tape. Loved the movie so much - Loved Wicket! My Grandma purchased the "Ewok / Wicket" costume pattern at the store and hand-made me a Wicket Costume. Wore it for Halloween until I outgrew it. God bless Grandma!
I was sick and off school. Caravan of Courage was just out and was rented for me. I loved it! I loved the Ewoks and even got a Baby Ewoks plushie for a birthday. Caravan of Courage made me so happy… Battle for Endor didn’t! It was excitedly rented when it came out and it just upset me so much. They killed Syndal’s family in the first 10 mins. I was traumatised!
It got me, too. I cried and cried for Syndal and couldn't enjoy any of the rest of the movie because I just kept thinking about the family and how Syndal is without them now. What a wild choice to make to have them get killed right there on screen.
In the early 90s there was a backlash against Return of the Jedi and especially the Ewoks, but I remember that they were really popular in the 80s especially their toys
The first backlash I ever heard about the Ewoks was when Clerks came out in 1994. I was 7 when Jedi came out and I had no particular feelings about the Ewoks. I watched the Ewoks movies because like every kid, I was starved for anything Star Wars post Jedi.
Same friends thought I lied after being unable to find the movie at blockbuster... I swore I saw it on TV one time. Wasn't until a year or so later when we went to a random rental store and I found it and was able to prove myself right to friends who probably didn't care anymore haha.
I love these films. Probably because I grew up watching them taped from TV (w/ commercials) and they actually were the first “Star Wars” films I ever saw. There’s something magical in The Ewok Adventure; Burl Ives’ gentle narration, the death of Chukha-Trok is very sad, the Gorax is terrifying, etc. In Battle For Endor, Wilford Brimley’s grumpy-turned-heroic nature still warms my heart. Love em and defend em.
Truly said: they were the only new Star Wars movies on offer at the time. Watched both, but Battle for Endor etched itself into my mind with the power of trauma 😂
One thing that is inextricable from my memory of these films, particularly the second one, is that my sister (who was 3 when it came out) was terrified by it--particularly the bad guy in it--and the way we got her to cooperate when we had to babysit for her was to threaten to put in "the Ewok movie" on our VHS player, which always worked and she would be obedient immediately...until she wasn't, and we had to make the same threat again. ;)
My parents had Battle for Endor recorded from TV and I watched the shit out of it. I didn't even know there was a movie before it and so I was sad that the little girl's family all got killed, but I didn't have a connection to them like if I had watched the first movie first. It was just part of the story that her family died like in Bambi or something. Still pretty interesting way to start a movie by showing a girl's parents and brother battling for their lives and then get slaughtered. Especially because you didn't typically see any kids ever killed in movies. Loved the darkness of it.
This was also one of my favorite movies as a child. I watched it so many times. At one point my mom told me that I couldn't watch it anymore because it was driving her crazy
In the most recent "From a Certain Point of View ROTJ" book, the chapter that highlights Wickets story has a slight hint to his previous adventures that took place during these TV shows, slight nod well placed 👍
14:45 As a closing commentary on the '80s, wow that reality check really hit me hard. lol On the other hand, movies and TV shows back then really were more of a shared cultural experience than they are now, and it did give me a deeper appreciation for movies to watch them over and over again on the old VCR. You could literally go to school the next day and discuss a particular show with friends or even teachers because chances are everybody saw the same show you did. In high school, my English teacher even discussed the final episode of M*A*S*H even though it had been YEARS since it aired because it was very correctly assumed that everybody in the country saw that. Nowadays there's such a glut of entertainment that the only way to share your thoughts and enjoyment on any particular movie or TV show is to go online to find that niche audience. Yes, that also includes Game of Thrones because not everybody watched that either.
One thing I liked was these movies may not be canon, but when they were making Star Wars Galaxies the MMO, several aspects of these movies were integrated into the Endor of that game. The moon ended up being quite dangerous, you needed to be significantly skilled and have good gear to adventure there (the game used a level-less progression system at first). I remember getting Marauder Armor was a fun status symbol, some gear not many people had so you could stand out from the norm.
The Ewoks animated series was the first Star Wars related thing I ever watched as a child, and I absolutely loved it. But I knew the show was supposed to take place in the same universe as those movies with robots, X-Wings and Stormtroopers, cause I've seen the toys on the shelves, so I kept waiting for them to show up in the series at some point - which sadly they never did. (*insert crying Ewokface here*)
I actually recorded it on our then brand spank'n new piece of technology, the VCR when it came out in 84. The quality is horrible, but i loved it. Watched it on Disney+, but without the 80s commercials, it just isn't the same. Go figure.
Being a Jedi for 40 years now I´ve got to confess I´ve never seen any of the Ewok movies. And though I got all the Endor related toys back in 1983 (and still have them) I´ve never been interested that much in a specific story revolving mainly around the Ewoks. But now that I´ve just watched your above episode, I just can´t help but ignite my Neopixel lightsaber to go start the Wayback machine and give the Endor movies a second chance. ;)
I was 9 when a New Hope came out. I watched everything Star Wars back then, including the Christmas special. I was not old enough to know what grandpa was doing with his VR rig. I was still into it enough that I watched both Ewok movies, though I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped to.
I can not express how altered I was when I sat down to watch Battle for Endor and watched everyone from the first movie be slaughtered. It was more traumatic than Owen and Beru Lars' off-screen demise.
The first movie was a big event for my family. We all sat down and watched it with popcorn. It would be safe to say that we all had a somewhat tepid response to it, but we’d recorded it on VHS and I watched it many times. The sequel was surprising. I’d call it among the more shocking of things I’d watched as a kid. Killing the Mace and the parents early in the first act was bold.
As a kid who was raised on Star Wars, I relished any and all related material. So, I loved these movies. Plus, with Jedi ending the Trilogy, I enjoyed that these told a separate story.
The Ewok Adventure is the first thing I ever taped off TV and I watched the crap out of it. The second one traumatized me. Why would they straight up murder everything from the first one. The 80s were hard core.
14:08 Eh, the Ewok movies were only barely maybe canon even in the 90s. One EU novel mentioned one of the characters, but otherwise they were totally ignored - like most 80s side content. And most fans thought they were too tonally at odds with the rest of the series to fit in, with the witches and magic, not to mention the question of where they even fit in the timeline. The funny thing is, if anything, they're more lore-friendly today than they were at the time. The introduction of the Night Sisters and the idea that "magic" is just another way of using the Force made the magic in the Ewok movies a lot more palatable.
I remember the movies and saw them when they were on TV. But thanks to the toy commercial you showed I now remember that preschool line of toys... And I don't let Disney tell me what's canon or not...lol
When I was little I the 80s, we had Battle for Endor taped off TV on a Beta Max cassette. It was years before I even knew a previous Ewok Adventure movie existed.
Yeah, Battle for Endor was literally the only Star Wars I had on VHS… fitting cause those two were like weird bottle episodes of the original saga… even having no frame of reference for what happened in Caravan of Courage was a kinda perfect encapsulation of what type of story Star Wars is meant to be.
This is my wife’s favorite movie to fall asleep to. We watched it when it came out on Disney plus because I have vague memories of seeing it as a child and she fell in love with it. So funny
As a 13-year old kid I love the Ewoks and ate up the first movie with both hands (never saw the second movie.) To this day I sometimes mutter "Starcruiser crash" if anyone uses the words "crash" or "Starcruiser" to me in conversation. But now, 40 years later, I probably wouldn't last ten minutes trying to watch that movie.
For years I thought these movies were just some fever dream from childhood. 20 years ago people would look at you weird if you asked if there were more than 6 Star Wars movies, especially if you said they were all about the ewoks. Somehow I stumbled on the dvd release and it all came flooding back.
As a person born in the mid-eighties, Ewoks cartoon and the movies were my introduction to Star Wars. Still remember being surprised to see Ewoks in Star Wars.
The Ewok movies were the thing that first got me into Star Wars when I was young. I still have the VHS tape of both of them we recorded (complete with the commercials) from when they aired on American TV at Christmas in 1988 or whenever it was. Are they great? No. But you have to remember that they were low budget spinoffs made specifically for younger kids. And they'll always have a place in my heart :)
at 12:23 it's amazing to see a clipping from a local paper with the session and cinema, Warringah Mall in Sydney, I saw Ewoks and the Marauders of Endor at with my Grandma, brother and sister. For so many years that title for the film went missing as everyone else knew it as The Battle of Endor. Marauders of Endor is such a great name and as a kid it sparked so much imagination. It's amazing you found a clipping from a local paper from down under and used it.
I remember watching the ewok adventure and recording it. How i WISHED Luke would show up. I NEVER SAW the sequel. I didn't even know it was a thing! I'm gonna stream it this weekend!!
My aunt (Fionnula Flanagan) played the mother in Caravan Of Courage. She knew I was a huge Star Wars fan and she brought me on set for the majority of filming of Caravan Of Courage. I was 5 or 6 at the time. At one point, Eric Walker lost his blaster on set and I found it for him. As a reward, I was allowed to sit on set as they filmed the giant spider scene. As a kid I didn't know I wasn't supposed to talk and when I saw the giant spider being lowered down, I looked up and blurted out, "uh oh!" The director yelled, "CUT" and I was given a stern talking to but I was still allowed to hang out on set. They were very kind and I have cherished those memories all my life. It may be a cheesy addition to the Star Wars universe but I still count it as cannon. It's highly possible that a family could get lost out in space and land on the forest moon of Endor by mistake. And as corny as it may seem on the surface, I would argue that the animated show, Star Wars Resistance is far more cheesy than either Ewok movie. Of course..... I could be a little bias. Lol. May The Force Be With You!
Your aunt was cool in the film _Kill the Irishman._
Fionnula Flanagan is your aunt, class! And awesome story :)
I agree! The Ewoks movies are better than MOST of what’s being put out recently. A wonderful story about you and your mother on set. She was lovely.
That's heartwarming. 🥲 Thank you for sharing this.
More cannon than Disney Star Wars will ever be
Did everyone overlook that the Ewoks eat humans? That was a plot point in Return Of The Jedi... Luke and Leia were going to be a feast in the honor of Threepio. Only by pretending to be their god, did Threepio convince them to not cook them. However, the Imperials... those stormtroopers were the victory feast. The only thing uncertain is what exactly Luke and Leia ate at the end of Jedi.
Also, I choked laughing at "Mace Whitedude".
So much for them just being little kids' movies, aye!
I doubt Luke and Leia they ate them, but they probably did just let the Ewoks eat the stormtroopers. That being said, it is known that after this, the ewoks where introduced more and more to the wider galaxy, probably abandoing those practises
We don't know that they did eat those storm troopers.... Could have just rounded up some helmets as trophies and percussion instruments. Their bonding with the rebels could well have caused them to re-think the eating of humans..............
As a kid who lived breathed dreamt Star Wars, that first Ewoks movie was fantastic. I wore out a VHS tape watching it again and again.
can't stress this enough lol. Love the first movie and its characters.
Just like "Encounter at Farpoint", the first Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, I told myself it was awesome and that I liked it, but, I really didn't. Same with these. Even as a kid, it looked horribly cheap compared to the movies, and the story was all meh. This happens all the time now, where movies or shows blast action and nostalgia, but really aren't that good.@@fktygglbtchbtch1384
Same, I liked the second as well. Though that opening was brutal.
Same, only I recorded it off TV onto a beta cassette.
We had both movies on VHS recorded from TV and watched them to death, we watched the second one a lot more though for some reason, the opening is indeed quite brutal!
Keeping thesse movies cannon fills in at least one plothole in Jedi. The being how quickly the ewoks got those traps set up. It makes sense when you find out there are freaking giant monsters walking around the planet.
The Gorax and Princess Kneesa were actually recannonized in the Forces of Destiny shorts.
@@ColinKatz Favreau and Filoni brought back the Blurrgs into animated and live action on Clone Wars and in The Mandalorian.
People have to remember that when these came on as Sunday night movies, Star Wars was basically over. As a huge Star Wars kid I loved that we were getting more.
The family getting killed in the beginning of that second movie was HORRIFYING to me as a child. I cried inconsolably and did NOT enjoy the rest of the movie in empathy for the surviving child. What a CRAZY choice to kill the family on-screen like that. This was in a time where A-Team and Knight Rider both were careful to never even have the bad guys die. It was a shock for sure.
Lucas always had a problem with wildly varying the tone of his films based on how he was feeling at the time.
The first movie was all about saving that family, so the second movie made that be for nothing.
Now I had the weird distinction of *not even being aware* that the first movie existed, and the recorded-from-TV version we had growing up only started at the final bit of the "family dying" sequence, so I experienced the story with the family being dead as the backstory essentially.
Yes, same here. Also, at the time I found the introduction of magic/ witchcraft alienating. What has that got to do with The Force? Of course, now we do have the Dathomyr witches... so I stand corrected. 😅
But yeah, I too was highly distressed and upset by the second movie's premise.
@@Roboto-chan_1402there is a deep dive of lore, not just in these two films but other past works as well.
Different elements are connected throughout the series. Especially stories from the Old Republic, and after RotJ
I laughed my ass off when you got to "They just hand out Star Wars to anyone who asks for it."
They'll hand it out to anyone except Zack Snyder
@@orinanimeand THANK UNICRON for that!!!!
@@orinanime Zack Snyder is man who has his own head so far in his own butt and hasn't made successful movie for 10 years but still keeps getting work in Hollywood.
@@megatronjenkins2473AMEN
Fans: "Can we have the theatrical cuts of the Original Trilogy again?"
Disney/Lucas: "Sorry, no."
Sindel actually showed up in one of the Black Fleet Crisis novels as a journalist, so she seemed to have done OK after getting off Endor.
😮whoa. I wish her later stories were visited. Would love to see them as a mini series. We know she is a fighter, but also a smart cookie.
And now YOU
will d**
I'm sorry for that Mortal Kombat Annihilation reference 😢
YES! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who remembers this!
@@SkuffDPepperidge Farm remembers!
WHAAAAAAT!!!!!!
Which book, i love that trilogy but skim through the trash filler with lando & that ship there investigating
To be fair, Jedi predated home alone by nearly 7 years... so Kevin Mcalister used Ewok Tactics 😉
Got ‘em!
Nice.
Especially since Star Wars happened "a long time ago"...
"Keep the change ya filthy animal...and a happy new year!!!" Classic Han Solo line :)
Yub Nub!
It was because of this star wars “desert “ that i clung to the Droids and Ewoks cartoons as a kid. Even the second movie has it’s merits. May need to revisit them soon.
I have fond memories of these movies. It was impressive how these were tied into overall lore, a key thing being Battle for Endor was the first time a Nightsister was ever shown.
The Ewoks TV movies were the 80's kids version of The Mandalorian to me, less epic in scale from the films and more grounded, earnest, but still fun.
Eh, a little bit
Some forget, it's about the fun
ROTJ was the first movie I ever saw in theaters as a 4-yr-old fan. I caught the Battle for Endor when it aired and my parents taped it. I also had the Ewok Village playset as the centerpiece of my early SW collection. Let me add, Dan is exactly right about cherishing the tiny kernels of SW we would occasionally get in the 80s and 90s…I must’ve read the Han Solo Adventures book a hundred times when I was a kid.
I drove my parents crazy renting these movies for like 3 months straight in the late 80s.
We kept renting them and kept being shocked that we were repeatedly dissapointed. My inability to learn from mistakes as a kid was alarming.
@@JazGalaxy It truly is alarming. I remember loving the first one but not the second, yet couldn't help but want to watch them both back to back.
14:25 This is the most succinct description I've seen of what it was like being a Star Wars fan when these movies were released. Listen up, kids, with your Mandoverse and your infinite supply of Star Wars books/video games! This is how we LIVED.
I'm an 87-child so I can't say I totally get it since for me, Star Wars has been OG movies, reruns of these, and Shadows of the Empire and Dark Forces later on (and of course Old Republic)... but even so, the old-heads also had the comics! And the big, green rabbit-man with guns and... I honestly can't tell if that's awesome for you or terrible, but I think I can say that I understand what kind of dearth of Star Wars material would drive one to the Ewok-movies just to get their fix.
So true. It was a Star Wars fan desert after Jedi ended. I was too old to appreciate the Ewoks movies and felt it was kind of "meh." I think it was the Dark Forces series that kept things interesting to me until we got further into the 90's.
We also had to play videogames via cassette tapes which took damn near 30minutes to load!
100% the truth.
Battle for Endor was one of my favorite movies as a child. We had it recorded off of TV from my VCR. I watched it so many times the tape started to wear out
So a little Easter egg in the original version of Star Tours right as you’re about to board they show a video and one of the passengers is Tink from the second movie. And when they redid the ride, the woman who did the voiceover is now a passenger in the boarding video
Battle for Endor is legit one of my favorite pieces of Star Wars media. I would watch it every chance I got as a kid growing up.
💯💯💯. Same here. It’s a childhood classic and I still love it as an adult
So happy I'm not the only one who calls them adorable murder bears. Loved these films as a kid.
An Ewok would rather eat you than befriend you. So kinda like cats, which for some reason people think are cute because of their small size too.
Imagine if a Ewok used a pitchfork to burst your fart? 😳
I'm glad I have that duo of movies on DVD. They'll always be canon to me.
You are correct Dan. Any Star Wars we could get our hands on was awesome. I watched both these movies at home and at school when the teacher wanted a break. I was 10 at the time as well and also made my own comics continuing the adventures of Sindel and Wicket. I still have them somewhere in the house.
I was too young to see the OT in theaters, but I remember when the Ewok movies came out on TV, it was a big deal.
Jedi was my first movie on the big screen, I was four. Rancor scared me so much I hid under my mom's coat, lol!
The week the first one came out was the same week our family got our first VCR. I remember being super excited in the store because I knew I could tape the Ewok Adventure on Sunday because it would've aired after my bedtime.
I just love that Mace is prominently featured on the poster art for Battle for Endor yet is killed within the first 5 minutes of the movie.
It's not Mace, it's Jeremitt (the father). Same applies, though :D
The first Star Wars anything that I saw as a kid was Battle for Endor. Imagine that being your first exposure to the whole story!
Same! You could put just about anything in kids tv in the 80's and it was fine. I still remember being confused a few years later as to why there was only magic in that one movie. 😂
Same here, I'm thinking this for my 4 year old now that this has reminded me and I dont think she would sit through any of the others yet.
...It might've been my first as well? My dad told me they turned someone into a candybar in _Empire_ and I was fucking *horrified* so it was a little while before I remember finally watching them
That 1st Ewok movie aired the day that my family was driving from NJ to my grandparents in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I was so stressed out about missing it as my dad was known to drive deep into the night before stopping. I made such a stink about it that my parents promised me that we would be at a motel before 8 pm. I think we got to the room about 8:05pm as I burst in, turned on the TV and found the channel. At most I missed the first 5-6 minutes but I was devastated. Looking back I feel for what a thankless job being a parent can be. Here my parents made special travel arrangements so their youngest could watch a TV show, navigated all the chaos of driving 3 kids half way across the country and accomplishing this within 5 minutes of the scheduled time and I got mad at them 😂 Hey, I was 6.
Every time I think Ive seen all this channel could cover, something new pops up. I love this feeling and love where the channel has gone.
If Lucasfilm came to me and said I could make any Star Wars idea I wanted, in my top 5 possibles would be a third Ewok film to bring these movies back into canon. Admittedly it would be as big a hit as the Willow TV series, but I'd still be tempted.
Return of the Jedi was my favorite Star Wars growing up, because it was the only Star Wars movie I had ever seen.
I loved the amount of creatures the movie had. So the Ewoks were one of my favorite parts of the movie.
Those movies weren't that bad, I liked the Ewoks cartoon, and Sindel is a neat character that should still be canon. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of everybody dying in the first scene of the second movie though... it's kinda heartbreaking.
You also forgot to mention that the Blergh in the Mandalorian actually originated from Battle for Endor.
Blurgg
Caravan of Courage got a limited cinema release in the UK. A friend of mine's dad ran a local theatre and he gave me some lobby cards for the movie, on card rather than photo paper, and I still have them.
Canon or not, i liked the Ewok movies, especially the Battle For Endor.
The Blurrgs (the bipedal fish-faced reptile mount) were originally from 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒓. Decades later, they also appeared in the debut of 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏. The Blurrgs at least have been canonized/encanoned from these intergalactic mini-epics.
Yep I was excited to see the blurrgs in the mandalorian it took me second when first saw them as I thought they looked familiar then it hit me they were in battle for Endor, as a kid that was born in 1981 the Ewoks were my first introduction to Star Wars since I was to young to see them in the theater, people also forget you couldn’t own the first two films until 1984 and Jedi didn’t come until 1986 so it wasn’t until a year after battle for Endor that you could even own the original trilogy
They were first seen again in Clone Wars and Rebels on the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth
I've been watching and humming Tom Cardy's "Perception Check" for a month. I loved seeing it pop up in this video.
The thing with the Ewoks beating the Stormtrooper is, while the Empire had superior weapons, the Ewoks had a knowledge of the forest, jungle battle tactics and their backs against the wall, and the Empire were arrogant, so the Ewoks outsmarted them by their tactics, and the Imperials on Endor underestimated them.
I remember back when The Phantom Menace, my crazy obsessed Star Wars friend was so excited. So to neg him, I asked him what he thought of Episode. 7 and 8?
He looked at me weirdly, and I said “You know, Caravan of Courage and the Battle For Endor.”
Never have I seen him so pissed off before.
lol still a better ep 7 and 8 than the JJ Abrams trilogy.
@@UltimateGamerCC IKR? There's nothing in these Ewok movies that breaks canon and no need to de-canonize them. They're at the same level if not better than most of the Star Wars content Disney has been putting out.
@@UltimateGamerCC Maybe in your opinion but not all us share that opinion.
@@ShinSeikiEvan I can't agree with that seeing all good material that has been put out for canon like Rebels. Rogue One, Mandolorian and Andor. Not to mention people like you seem to just sequel trilogy because it's cool. Remember hate leads to anger and anger leads to suffering.
In my area these movies were shown on TV in mono but had a stereo soundtrack you had to tune into on your FM radio. I think they called it "simulcast' and was necessary before VHF stations started sending stereo audio. Tuned into it with my K-Mart purchased Panasonic boom box and was blown away by the sound.
Is it just me, or do these two Ewok movies feel like the dry run for what became Willow?
No, 'Cuz like Willow The Second Ewoks movie is actually good.
Born 1982 and finding Star Wars in the late 80s to early 90s, yes it was a dark time for a kid watching the movies over n over but no toys to play with. And when you found a beaten up action toy, it was like finding gold. I had one friend who was also a star wars fan in that time and we debated star wars as much as we could. Yes every star wars bit was a special treat and I remember when star wars slowly came back in form of Dark Horse Comics and Micro Machines.
I was 5 when Jedi came out… so I was all in on Ewoks. I loved ROTJ, loved the cartoon and comic series and remember really liking these 2 movies.
However, the movies have not aged as well as I’d hoped. I think the first one is still pretty fun, but Battle for Endor is a bummer. I didn’t remember it well so I was surprised when the whole family bought it… and it doesn’t get much better from there.
But, that movie dud introduce the Blurrgs.
I liked the Ewoks for sure. I kind of remember the movies. The nods in Battlefront brought it back to mind. I’ve seen them on D+. I enjoyed them.
I remember two things about the first movie. One, it was simulcast on a local FM radio station, so you could watch it with *stereo sound*. 😮
And two, the kids telling their story to the Ewoks, and hearing Wicket repeat "Star cruiser, crash!" Which is literally the only thing I remember about the movie's plot.
I'm pretty sure I never saw the second one.
That’s why they would simulcast on fm !? I would always listen when we were on trips and thought it was the coolest thing ever that I could “listen to tv”
My parents taped this when it originally aired and I watched the hell out of that VHS tape. Loved the movie so much - Loved Wicket! My Grandma purchased the "Ewok / Wicket" costume pattern at the store and hand-made me a Wicket Costume. Wore it for Halloween until I outgrew it. God bless Grandma!
I said it right when Ashoka came out; They had magic in Ewoks and they brought magic back... It seems more and more Canon now.
I was sick and off school. Caravan of Courage was just out and was rented for me. I loved it! I loved the Ewoks and even got a Baby Ewoks plushie for a birthday. Caravan of Courage made me so happy… Battle for Endor didn’t! It was excitedly rented when it came out and it just upset me so much. They killed Syndal’s family in the first 10 mins. I was traumatised!
It got me, too. I cried and cried for Syndal and couldn't enjoy any of the rest of the movie because I just kept thinking about the family and how Syndal is without them now. What a wild choice to make to have them get killed right there on screen.
In the early 90s there was a backlash against Return of the Jedi and especially the Ewoks, but I remember that they were really popular in the 80s especially their toys
The first backlash I ever heard about the Ewoks was when Clerks came out in 1994. I was 7 when Jedi came out and I had no particular feelings about the Ewoks. I watched the Ewoks movies because like every kid, I was starved for anything Star Wars post Jedi.
I appreciate the Berenstain Bears joke. I saw one of these movies randomly as a child, and it lived as a crazed fever dream in my memory for years.
Same friends thought I lied after being unable to find the movie at blockbuster... I swore I saw it on TV one time. Wasn't until a year or so later when we went to a random rental store and I found it and was able to prove myself right to friends who probably didn't care anymore haha.
good video. the berenstain joke was on point
I love these films. Probably because I grew up watching them taped from TV (w/ commercials) and they actually were the first “Star Wars” films I ever saw. There’s something magical in The Ewok Adventure; Burl Ives’ gentle narration, the death of Chukha-Trok is very sad, the Gorax is terrifying, etc. In Battle For Endor, Wilford Brimley’s grumpy-turned-heroic nature still warms my heart. Love em and defend em.
Just watched these with my kids and they loved them. They are better than anything Disney has done with the IP
The live-action Ewoks was aired on ABS CBN in 1991 in the Philippines until they aired the cartoon series replacing The Real Ghostbusters
Truly said: they were the only new Star Wars movies on offer at the time. Watched both, but Battle for Endor etched itself into my mind with the power of trauma 😂
One thing that is inextricable from my memory of these films, particularly the second one, is that my sister (who was 3 when it came out) was terrified by it--particularly the bad guy in it--and the way we got her to cooperate when we had to babysit for her was to threaten to put in "the Ewok movie" on our VHS player, which always worked and she would be obedient immediately...until she wasn't, and we had to make the same threat again. ;)
My parents had Battle for Endor recorded from TV and I watched the shit out of it. I didn't even know there was a movie before it and so I was sad that the little girl's family all got killed, but I didn't have a connection to them like if I had watched the first movie first. It was just part of the story that her family died like in Bambi or something. Still pretty interesting way to start a movie by showing a girl's parents and brother battling for their lives and then get slaughtered. Especially because you didn't typically see any kids ever killed in movies. Loved the darkness of it.
This was also one of my favorite movies as a child. I watched it so many times. At one point my mom told me that I couldn't watch it anymore because it was driving her crazy
I had the Ewok village set! It was awesome! Note: the tree village set, not the hut.
In the most recent "From a Certain Point of View ROTJ" book, the chapter that highlights Wickets story has a slight hint to his previous adventures that took place during these TV shows, slight nod well placed 👍
14:45 As a closing commentary on the '80s, wow that reality check really hit me hard. lol On the other hand, movies and TV shows back then really were more of a shared cultural experience than they are now, and it did give me a deeper appreciation for movies to watch them over and over again on the old VCR. You could literally go to school the next day and discuss a particular show with friends or even teachers because chances are everybody saw the same show you did. In high school, my English teacher even discussed the final episode of M*A*S*H even though it had been YEARS since it aired because it was very correctly assumed that everybody in the country saw that. Nowadays there's such a glut of entertainment that the only way to share your thoughts and enjoyment on any particular movie or TV show is to go online to find that niche audience. Yes, that also includes Game of Thrones because not everybody watched that either.
As a kid, the second movie devastated me when the parents died. 😢
One thing I liked was these movies may not be canon, but when they were making Star Wars Galaxies the MMO, several aspects of these movies were integrated into the Endor of that game. The moon ended up being quite dangerous, you needed to be significantly skilled and have good gear to adventure there (the game used a level-less progression system at first). I remember getting Marauder Armor was a fun status symbol, some gear not many people had so you could stand out from the norm.
The Ewoks animated series was the first Star Wars related thing I ever watched as a child, and I absolutely loved it. But I knew the show was supposed to take place in the same universe as those movies with robots, X-Wings and Stormtroopers, cause I've seen the toys on the shelves, so I kept waiting for them to show up in the series at some point - which sadly they never did. (*insert crying Ewokface here*)
I actually recorded it on our then brand spank'n new piece of technology, the VCR when it came out in 84. The quality is horrible, but i loved it. Watched it on Disney+, but without the 80s commercials, it just isn't the same. Go figure.
"Wilford Brimley Fatigue" is the greatest thing I've heard all week!
Being a Jedi for 40 years now I´ve got to confess I´ve never seen any of the Ewok movies. And though I got all the Endor related toys back in 1983 (and still have them) I´ve never been interested that much in a specific story revolving mainly around the Ewoks.
But now that I´ve just watched your above episode, I just can´t help but ignite my Neopixel lightsaber to go start the Wayback machine and give the Endor movies a second chance. ;)
I was 9 when a New Hope came out. I watched everything Star Wars back then, including the Christmas special. I was not old enough to know what grandpa was doing with his VR rig. I was still into it enough that I watched both Ewok movies, though I didn't enjoy them as much as I'd hoped to.
These were huge events for an 11-year-old. I remember radio stations in NYC simulcasting the sound. Taped it and watched over and over again.
To become a true Star Wars fan you must start with these!
"Courage, loyalty and love are the strongest forces in the universe....
...until the writers off your whole family in the sequel."
I LOVED the battle of Endor when I was a kid! I grew up near the redwoods, and as a kid I imagined that I was on the forest moon of Endor.
The Gorax scared the absolute piss out of me as a kid.
Outside of America these were released in the cinema, and as a kid I saw them both
I can not express how altered I was when I sat down to watch Battle for Endor and watched everyone from the first movie be slaughtered. It was more traumatic than Owen and Beru Lars' off-screen demise.
The first movie was a big event for my family. We all sat down and watched it with popcorn. It would be safe to say that we all had a somewhat tepid response to it, but we’d recorded it on VHS and I watched it many times. The sequel was surprising. I’d call it among the more shocking of things I’d watched as a kid. Killing the Mace and the parents early in the first act was bold.
As a kid who was raised on Star Wars, I relished any and all related material. So, I loved these movies. Plus, with Jedi ending the Trilogy, I enjoyed that these told a separate story.
The Ewok Adventure is the first thing I ever taped off TV and I watched the crap out of it. The second one traumatized me. Why would they straight up murder everything from the first one. The 80s were hard core.
14:08 Eh, the Ewok movies were only barely maybe canon even in the 90s. One EU novel mentioned one of the characters, but otherwise they were totally ignored - like most 80s side content. And most fans thought they were too tonally at odds with the rest of the series to fit in, with the witches and magic, not to mention the question of where they even fit in the timeline.
The funny thing is, if anything, they're more lore-friendly today than they were at the time. The introduction of the Night Sisters and the idea that "magic" is just another way of using the Force made the magic in the Ewok movies a lot more palatable.
Not canon but set between Empire and Jedi films.
I saw Ewoks again recently on Disney+ and its actually more fun to watch now than when I was a kid.
I remember the movies and saw them when they were on TV. But thanks to the toy commercial you showed I now remember that preschool line of toys...
And I don't let Disney tell me what's canon or not...lol
When I was little I the 80s, we had Battle for Endor taped off TV on a Beta Max cassette. It was years before I even knew a previous Ewok Adventure movie existed.
I miss George and his crazy, beautiful epics.
I missed Jason Vorhees in the last video, but glad to see he has returned in the classic spliced clip for Boba Fett.
"lol no" as an answer in the thumbnail is sending me, never change man, never change
I had both of them on VHS loved them as a kid.
I still like to believe that was an honest-to-god F-bomb that Wilford Brimley dropped in the 2nd Ewoks movie.
Yeah, Battle for Endor was literally the only Star Wars I had on VHS… fitting cause those two were like weird bottle episodes of the original saga… even having no frame of reference for what happened in Caravan of Courage was a kinda perfect encapsulation of what type of story Star Wars is meant to be.
Battle For Endor is a classic.
I saw on DVD back in the 2000s and it was great.
This is my wife’s favorite movie to fall asleep to. We watched it when it came out on Disney plus because I have vague memories of seeing it as a child and she fell in love with it. So funny
A+ video!
LOVE IT! So glad you picked this subject for the video, what a blessing!
You got me with this one, made me chuckle a few times. I cherished my little morsel of Star Wars back in the day.
As a 13-year old kid I love the Ewoks and ate up the first movie with both hands (never saw the second movie.) To this day I sometimes mutter "Starcruiser crash" if anyone uses the words "crash" or "Starcruiser" to me in conversation. But now, 40 years later, I probably wouldn't last ten minutes trying to watch that movie.
Just a little bit of Star Wars to hold on to this guy is a genius. You know exactly what was going on forty years ago. amazing
For years I thought these movies were just some fever dream from childhood. 20 years ago people would look at you weird if you asked if there were more than 6 Star Wars movies, especially if you said they were all about the ewoks. Somehow I stumbled on the dvd release and it all came flooding back.
As a person born in the mid-eighties, Ewoks cartoon and the movies were my introduction to Star Wars.
Still remember being surprised to see Ewoks in Star Wars.
The Ewok movies were the thing that first got me into Star Wars when I was young. I still have the VHS tape of both of them we recorded (complete with the commercials) from when they aired on American TV at Christmas in 1988 or whenever it was.
Are they great? No. But you have to remember that they were low budget spinoffs made specifically for younger kids. And they'll always have a place in my heart :)
I am shocked that there was no mention of the change to have Ewoks talk in English in the sequel.
IT MAKES EVERYTHING SO MUCH WEIRDER.
I remember waiting so excitedly for the first movie to come on TV.
at 12:23 it's amazing to see a clipping from a local paper with the session and cinema, Warringah Mall in Sydney, I saw Ewoks and the Marauders of Endor at with my Grandma, brother and sister. For so many years that title for the film went missing as everyone else knew it as The Battle of Endor. Marauders of Endor is such a great name and as a kid it sparked so much imagination. It's amazing you found a clipping from a local paper from down under and used it.
I distinctly remember watching both Ewok movies when they first aired! I was such a Star Wars kid!
To this day, I will never forgot getting lost inside the theatre when I went to see The Return of the Jedi.
I remember watching the ewok adventure and recording it. How i WISHED Luke would show up.
I NEVER SAW the sequel. I didn't even know it was a thing! I'm gonna stream it this weekend!!
I only watched Battle for Endor on VHS. I remember the girl showing her glowing bracelet which showed she was only the only left alive.