Ewoks(television series)
Ewoks
Production information
Format
Episode count
No. of seasons
Run time
Network(s)
First aired
Last aired
Attribution information
Creator(s)
Director(s)
Executive producer(s)
Chronological information
- "For two years, we had three series,Droids,Ewoks and the second season ofEwoks, that were really superior efforts as far as what's out there on television. Each one of the Ewoks episodes had the quality in artwork that went into it, and production values that you usually only see when you have a primetime special. And it was a very good effort from everybody. I'm sorry we won't be back, but we're looking ahead—onward and upward."
- ―Ewoks story editor Paul Dini in 1988[3]
Ewoks is an animated television series that follows the adventures of theEwoks ofBright Tree Village prior to theBattle of Endor.[4] The primary recurring villains areMorag the Tulgah Witch and the Ewoks' rival species theDuloks.[5] Produced byNelvana on behalf ofLucasfilm,Ewoks was broadcast onABC from 1985 to 1986. The first season was advertised as simplyEwoks, and was aired as part of theEwoks and Droids Adventure Hour, whereas the second season was advertised asThe All New Ewoks.
Development[]
- "I've always been interested in animation. And, again, it's a chance to experiment with ideas and new people andStar Wars characters. TheStar Wars world is much easier to deal with in animation. You can be much more flexible in development of ideas. I've put off doing it for years because I didn't have the time."
- ―George Lucas, inStarlog #100[6]
Star Wars creatorGeorge Lucas had long been interested in animation, and had wanted to tellStar Wars stories in an animated form.[3] During production ofThe Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, directorDavid Acomba showed Lucas a recent film made by Canada-based animation company Nelvana. This convinced Lucas to hire the company to produce the animated segment for that film. Lucas was pleased with their work, and in 1984, he again hired them to work on the two animated series he was developing,Droids andEwoks. These two subjects were chosen because they would appeal to young audiences and because, as the future of the film franchise was uncertain, they would be the least likely characters to conflict with the stories of the feature films.[7] With these two shows, Lucas (who served as executive producer) hoped to raise the standards for Saturday morning animation; he wanted the animation and voice acting to be better than the average animated series of the time.[8]
Pre-production began in May of 1984. During this time, Lucas met with the show's producers, directors and writers, who all collaborated on story ideas. Lucas laid out his basic ideas for the series, but wasn't involved with day-to-day matters.[8] He wanted the Ewoks' culture to be based on themes universal toEarth mythology and religion, and suggested the crew readThe Hero with a Thousand Faces andThe Uses of Enchantment.[3] WriterPaul Dini later reflected on these sessions: "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." Though the main characters from the saga films were off-limits, the writers were given almost complete creative freedom to develop the Ewoks beyondReturn of the Jedi.[9] The crew reimagined the Ewok characters for the animated format, giving each Ewok a unique, distinguishable personality and distinctive features.[10] The stories were often inspired byThe Lord of the Rings,Pogo and theUncle Scrooge stories.[7]
For visual reference, Lucasfilm had the crew travel toMuir Woods National Monument, a location nearSkywalker Ranch where the Endor scenes were filmed forStar Wars: Episode VIReturn of the Jedi.[10] WriterBob Carrau recalled the experience: "What was really great for me aboutEwoks, 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!"[11] Clive Smith estimated that each hour-long pair ofDroids andEwoks episodes cost approximately $500,000 to $600,000 to produce,[7] making them amongst the more expensive animated series for that time.[3] 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".[7] Layout artistBrian Lemay had a different take: "TheDroids 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 inDroids. […] I guess the other key difference was the lack of emotion in the characters in theDroids series. They always seemed to have the same emotion on their faces where as with theEwoks they had lots of emotion, happy, sad, surprised, angry, the whole range." During production, the American animation team would often play games during down time, and would regularly play practical jokes on each other.[12] Wang Film Productions contributed some of the animation for this series.
For the second season, Lucasfilm moved a majority of the production to their own studios, and thus exherted more direct control over producing the series than Nelvana. Production started on season two in late 1985. The new executive producers, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, suggested making a few changes 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.[3]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."[13] According toJim Henshaw (who voiced Wicket in the first season), the cast had access to a list ofEwokese 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!"[14]
As the episodes were being worked on, rough cuts were screened for Lucas.[8] The first season's musical score was created byPatricia Cullen,David Greene andDavid Shaw, with anopening song byTaj Mahal and Inshira Mahal.[15] The second season's music was composed byPatrick Gleeson,[16] and had adifferent opening song in which the Ewoks sing about friendship.[7] 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.[7][3] 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";[17] ABC rejected an episode Dini had written called "The Starman" because it was "too Star Warsy".[7] At one point, Lucasfilm considered making an animatedEwoks special in the vein ofThe Great Heep, but opted instead to makeEwoks: The Battle for Endor.[3]
Release and reception[]
Promotional image for the series
Ewoks debuted on September 7, 1985, and ran againstMuppet Babies andThe Smurfs. Despite frequent schedule changes and generally low ratings, the series was renewed for a second season in late 1985. However, ratings did not improve and the series was canceled 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.[3]
In the mid 1990s, beginning in 1994, theUS Sci-Fi Channel ran episodes of the series, along with those of its counterpart,Droids, on its "Cartoon Quest" and "Animation Station" blocks of programming.[10][18][19]
Continuity[]
The Ewoks in the series speak mostlyBasic, mixed with occasional words or phrases ofEwokese. Although this break from continuity is clearly for the convenience of anEarth-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 DoctorRaygar andImperialdroids without a translator.
The novelFate of the Jedi: Outcast also contains a reference to the show:Ben Skywalker takes a deep breath ofDorin'shelium-richatmosphere and sings, his voice "as high and ridiculous as that of an animated Ewok in a children's broadcast."[20]
The developers ofStar Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided watched the entirety of theEwoks series to prepare for creating Endor in the game.[21]
Adaptations and tie-in media[]
In 1984,Joe Johnston wrote and illustratedThe 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 andCaravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. In 1985,Kenner produced a toy line based on the series, including action figures, ship models, and other items. Also that year,Star Comics, an imprint ofMarvel Comics, published a bimonthlyEwoks comic, which was based on the animated series. The comic ran for two years, ending withissue #14. Like the TV series, this was aimed towards a younger audience. It was produced along with theDroids comic, which was based on theDroids animated series. Star Comics'Ewoks (1985) 10 was a crossover withDroids (1986) 4. AnLP record and acassette were released of the French theme song byDorothée.[22]
After the series finished production, Nelvana sent the majority of pre-production materials to Lucasfilm, who later partnered with the former company Royal Animated Art to sell these materials to private owners. Some were bought by a California business,[10] and some were later given out as part of theHyperspace fan club.[23] In 2010,StarWars.com celebrated the 25th anniversary of bothDroids andEwoks by featuring a series of articles about the collectibles available from each series.[24] The2013 one-shot comicStar Wars: Ewoks—Shadows of Endor was designed to tie together all the various aspects of Ewok lore.[25]
Home video[]
The series received its first home video release in 1990 when J2 Communications releasedThe Star Wars Trilogy Animated Collection. The collection consisted of three VHS tapes; one tape contained one episode, while the other two tapes contained two episodes each—with one of those repeating the episode from the single-episode tape. Each tape began with aStar 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.[10][18]
On June 26, 2002,prequel trilogy producerRick McCallum responded to a question about a complete DVD release on StarWars.com's now-defunct "Ask the Jedi Council" feature, in which he said "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."[26] He also expressed this privately toPaul Ens.[27] According toPablo Hidalgo, a full series release was considered as an alternative to theAnimated 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.'"[28] At2005'sCelebration III, McCallum and Lucasfilm's Vice President of marketingJim Ward dodged questions about a complete DVD release of the series.[29] At theCelebration VI "StarWars.com and Beyond" panel, it was mentioned that bothDroids andEwoks may be streamed on StarWars.com in the future.[30]
OnMarch 16,2021, it was announced onDisney's fan club website D23.com that the both seasons would be available onDisney+ starting April 2.[31] It arrived on that date as part of the newStar Wars Vintage Collection.[32]
Media[]
Seasons[]
| Season | Episodes | First airdate | Last airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 13 | September 7, 1985 | November 30, 1985 |
| Two | 22 | September 13, 1986 | December 13, 1986 |
Credits[]
| Cast | Uncredited cast | Crew | Uncredited crew | Special thanks |
Cast
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
External links[]
Ewoks (TV series) onWikipedia- Ewoks at theInternet Movie Database
- Droids and Ewoks: A Home Video History onRebelscum.com(backup link)
- Fox Home Entertainment'sEwoks site onwww.foxhome.com(original page now obsolete)
- Star Wars Saturday mornings: Droids and Ewoks 30 years later onwww.syfy.com (backup link archived onOctober 1,2020)
- Ewoks onDisney+(backup link)
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [edit] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Related categories:
- Star Wars: Ewoks
- Related Categories:
- Star Wars: Ewoks