Ewoks (television series)

Ewoks is an animated series for television which recounts the escapades of the Ewoks residing in Bright Tree Village leading up to the Battle of Endor. The primary antagonists featured repeatedly are Morag, the Tulgah Witch, along with the Duloks, who are the Ewoks' rival species. Lucasfilm Ltd. commissioned Nelvana to produce Ewoks, and it was aired on ABC spanning from 1985 to 1986. The initial season was promoted simply as Ewoks and was part of the Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour, while the subsequent season was promoted as The All New Ewoks.

Development

George Lucas, the originator of Star Wars, harbored a longstanding fascination with animation and desired to present Star Wars narratives in an animated format. During the making of The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, David Acomba, the director, presented Lucas with a recent film created by Nelvana, an animation firm based in Canada. This demonstration persuaded Lucas to enlist Nelvana for the animated segment of the holiday special. Impressed by their output, Lucas once again engaged Nelvana in 1984 to develop two animated series he was conceptualizing: Droids and Ewoks. These subjects were selected for their appeal to younger audiences and because, given the uncertain future of the film franchise, they were the least likely characters to create conflicts with the stories of the feature films. Through these shows, Lucas (serving as executive producer) aimed to elevate the standards of Saturday morning animation, seeking superior animation and voice acting compared to typical animated series of that era.

The pre-production phase commenced in May 1984. During this period, Lucas engaged in discussions with the show's producers, directors, and writers, collaboratively brainstorming story concepts. Lucas outlined the foundational concepts for the series but refrained from involvement in daily operations. He envisioned the Ewoks' culture as rooted in themes universally found in Earth's mythology and religion, recommending that the crew delve into The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Uses of Enchantment. Paul Dini, a writer, later reflected on these meetings, stating, "In my first meeting with George, one of the things we kept coming back to was that the Ewoks would have a sense of community and continuity." While the main characters from the saga films were off-limits, the writers were granted almost complete creative license to expand the Ewoks beyond their portrayal in Return of the Jedi. The crew reimagined the Ewok characters for the animated format, imbuing each Ewok with a distinct personality and unique characteristics. The narratives frequently drew inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, Pogo and the Uncle Scrooge stories.

For visual inspiration, Lucasfilm arranged for the crew to visit Muir Woods National Monument, a location situated near Skywalker Ranch where the Endor scenes were filmed for Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Bob Carrau, a writer, recalled the experience: "What was really great for me about Ewoks, was that you could walk around in nature (like when you were camping or something) and you would come across a pine cone that looked really neat. What [sic] was great, because you could go back to the writing table and write a story about it!" Clive Smith estimated the cost to produce each hour-long pair of Droids and Ewoks episodes to be approximately $500,000 to $600,000, making them among the more costly animated series of that time. He later commented on the production: "Ewoks wasn't as problematic because you could get away with more animal characters. Droids had many recognizable humanoid characters which are much harder to do and make look right". Brian Lemay, a layout artist, offered a contrasting perspective: "The Droids show was much more challenging as it had far more locations and they required perspective drawing which I really enjoy (a lot more than drawing trees, that's for sure). […] The main difference was the lack of trees in Droids. […] I guess the other key difference was the lack of emotion in the characters in the Droids series. They always seemed to have the same emotion on their faces where as with the Ewoks they had lots of emotion, happy, sad, surprised, angry, the whole range." During production, the American animation team often engaged in games during downtime and frequently played practical jokes on one another. Wang Film Productions contributed some of the animation for this series.

For the second season, Lucasfilm shifted the majority of production activities to its own studios, thereby exercising greater direct control over the series' production compared to Nelvana. Production on season two began in late 1985. The newly appointed executive producers, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, proposed several modifications to the series. Most of the new episodes were shorter in length, and now focused on the core characters of Wicket, Tebbo, Kneesaa and Latara, with the other characters either playing lesser roles or written out entirely. Changes were made to better distinguish the Ewoks from one another and to make them more distinctive. Other changes included different voice actors, new music and a new opening which utilized CGI. Denny Delk (who voiced Wicket in the second season) commented on the actors' recording schedule: "We usually completed a story in about an hour and a half, unless there was something especially tricky. We'd do two or three stories in a day, and record every week or so." According to Jim Henshaw (who voiced Wicket in the first season), the cast had access to a list of Ewokese words and phrases that they would consult to invigorate their dialogue; "When there were long speeches of exposition, to get a story rolling or something, we'd stick in a few more choice phrases – and all of a sudden, we would sound like we really did come from another planet!"

As the episodes were being worked on, rough cuts were screened for Lucas. The first season's musical score was created by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David Shaw, with an opening song by Taj Mahal and Inshira Mahal. The second season's music was composed by Patrick Gleeson, and had a different opening song in which the Ewoks sing about friendship. The series was under strict broadcast standards, and there were limitations—set by ABC's Standards and Practices Board—as to what could be shown or dealt with in the episodes. Dini commented on this in a 2004 interview: "...we were dealing with a regime at the network that just wanted safe children's programming. Every time we wanted to stretch it a little bit, they would kick up a fuss over it"; ABC rejected an episode Dini had written called "The Starman" because it was "too Star Warsy". At one point, Lucasfilm considered making an animated Ewoks special in the vein of The Great Heep, but opted instead to make Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Release

Promotional image for the series

Ewoks was initially broadcast on September 7, 1985, competing with Muppet Babies and The Smurfs. Despite experiencing frequent scheduling alterations and generally achieving low viewership figures, the series was granted a renewal for a second season in late 1985. Nevertheless, viewership numbers failed to improve, leading to the series' cancellation in 1986. Writer/producer Paul Dini speculated that, had the series been renewed for a third season, it would have featured more stories about Malani, Asha and the woklings.

During the mid-1990s, commencing in 1994, the US Sci-Fi Channel broadcast episodes of the series, alongside episodes of its counterpart, Droids, on its "Cartoon Quest" and "Animation Station" programming blocks.

Merchandising

In 1984, Joe Johnston authored and illustrated The Adventures of Teebo: A Tale of Magic and Suspense, an Ewok storybook that introduced many of the elements that would later appear in the series. Also that year, Random House began publishing a series of children's books with the subtitle "An Ewok Adventure," which were meant to tie into both the series and Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. In 1985, Kenner released a toy line inspired by the series, which included action figures, ship models, and various other items. In that same year, Star Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, launched a bimonthly Ewoks comic book, which was based upon the animated series. The comic series spanned two years, concluding with issue #14. Similar to the TV series, the comic was aimed at a younger demographic. It was produced along with the Droids comic, which was based on the Droids animated series. Star Comics' Ewoks (1985) 10 was a crossover with Droids (1986) 4. An LP record and a cassette were released of the French theme song by Dorothée.

Following the series' conclusion, Nelvana forwarded the majority of pre-production materials to Lucasfilm, who subsequently collaborated with Royal Animated Art, a former company, to sell these materials to private collectors. Some items were acquired by a California-based business, while others were later distributed as part of the Hyperspace fan club. In 2010, StarWars.com commemorated the 25th anniversary of both Droids and Ewoks by showcasing a series of articles about the collectibles available from each series. The 2013 one-shot comic Star Wars: Ewoks—Shadows of Endor was designed to tie together all the various aspects of Ewok lore.

Home video

The series was first made available on home video in 1990 through J2 Communications' release of The Star Wars Trilogy Animated Collection. This collection comprised three VHS tapes, with one tape containing a single episode and the remaining two tapes each featuring two episodes—one of which repeated the episode from the single-episode tape. Each tape commenced with a Star Wars Animated Classics trailer promoting the "Special Double Length Edition" volumes. However, for the single volume tapes, the white box covers were shown, but differing content was advertised. CBS/Fox Video also released the complete series on Region 2 VHS in the UK.

On June 26, 2002, Rick McCallum, the producer of the prequel trilogy, addressed a question regarding a comprehensive DVD release on StarWars.com's now-defunct "Ask the Jedi Council" feature, stating, "I hope so. Definitely. At some point after we're finished with Episode III, we'd really like to make all of that material available to our fans on DVD. Unfortunately, we won't be even thinking of making any firm plans until we're finished with this trilogy." He also expressed this privately to Paul Ens. According to Pablo Hidalgo, a full series release was considered as an alternative to the Animated Adventures DVDs: "I don't know what numbers are run in the mysterious background that decides to say 'You know what? That doesn't look like a product that we can move.'" At 2005's Celebration III, McCallum and Lucasfilm's Vice President of marketing Jim Ward evaded questions regarding a complete DVD release of the series. During the Celebration VI "StarWars.com and Beyond" panel, it was mentioned that both Droids and Ewoks may be streamed on StarWars.com in the future.

On March 16, 2021, it was announced on Disney's fan club website D23.com that the both seasons would be available on Disney+ starting April 2. It arrived on that date as part of the new Star Wars Vintage Collection.

Continuity

In the series, the Ewoks primarily communicate in Basic, interspersed with occasional words or phrases from Ewokese. While this deviation from established continuity is evidently for the convenience of an Earth-based audience, no official in-universe explanation has been provided. It does not appear that Ewok dialogue is translated from Ewokese for viewers, as the episode "Battle for the Sunstar" shows Ewoks communicating with Doctor Raygar and Imperial droids without a translator.

The novel Fate of the Jedi: Outcast also contains a reference to the show: Ben Skywalker takes a deep breath of Dorin's helium-rich atmosphere and sings, his voice "as high and ridiculous as that of an animated Ewok in a children's broadcast."

The developers of Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided watched the entirety of the Ewoks series to prepare for creating Endor in the game.

Seasons

Credits

Sources

Notes and references

External links

Appearances