The Haunted Village is an animated movie that was initially made available on VHS in 1997, and later on DVD in 2004. This film is essentially a feature-length collection of Ewoks episodes, specifically "The Haunted Village," "The Cries of the Trees," "Rampage of the Phlogs," and "Sunstar vs. Shadowstone."
Back in 1997, the Ewoks animated series had eight of its episodes re-edited into a pair of longer movies. The episodes numbered 2 ("The Haunted Village"), 1 ("The Cries of the Trees"), 3 ("Rampage of the Phlogs"), and 9 ("Sunstar vs. Shadowstone") were combined to create The Haunted Village. Similarly, episodes 10, 5, 4, and 13 were used to form Tales from the Endor Woods. These compilation movies were subsequently distributed in several Region 4 countries, including Brazil (where the Brazilian version, featuring both Region 1 and 4 codes on the same disc, was released in 2005) and Australia. The Haunted Village weaves together four somewhat connected episodes into a single narrative, while Tales from the Endor Woods unites four seemingly unrelated stories through newly recorded narration. The original opening credits and theme song were omitted from these films, replaced by simpler credit sequences and new musical scores composed by Marco D'Ambrosio.
Lucasfilm, in collaboration with 20th Century Fox, initially launched the film on VHS in 1997. Fox developed a promotional advertisement for this newly edited film, alongside its Droids animated film counterpart, The Pirates and the Prince. This advertisement was included on the VHS release and was later hidden as an Easter egg on the DVD version of The Pirates and the Prince. The first shipments of the VHS tapes were delivered to numerous stores in a display container that prominently featured a Star Wars Animated Classics header. A number of stores also received a merchandising package that included shelf danglers, shelf talkers, countertop displays, mobiles, and buttons.
The Haunted Village was made available on Region 1 DVD on November 23, 2004, under the revised title Star Wars Animated Adventures: Ewoks. This DVD featured both The Haunted Village and Tales from the Endor Woods on a double-sided disc.
The arrangement of episodes in The Haunted Village results in several inconsistencies in the story. Chief Chirpa's story told around the campfire at the start of the film is taken from the ninth episode, "Sunstar vs. Shadowstone." However, the rest of the ninth episode is presented as the film's final segment. In his campfire tale, Chirpa mentions he is recounting events from the night before, but due to the intervening stories, several nights have actually passed between these two sequences. Furthermore, Malani obtains her hood in the first episode, "The Cries of the Trees." However, because this episode is shown second in the film, we see Malani wearing her hood before the scene where she actually receives it.
Separate from the re-ordering issue, there's a moment where Paploo is seen playing his horn, but no sound is produced.
- " Star News " — Star Wars Insider 32
- A Closer Look at the Ewoks & Droids DVDs on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- " Skywalking " — Star Wars Insider 78
- "Creatures of Endor" on StarWars.com (article) (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Ewoks: Haunted Village in the StarWars.com Cargo Bay (content now obsolete; backup link)