I did end up getting this project done (or at least done for now).
I used many of the same techniques that Tasjo used for the WHIO version of the Holiday Special.
My Panasonic AG-1980 S-VHS video deck seems to be on the fritz, so I used a lesser VCR and regular coaxial video cable rather than S-video.
I tried to use the VirtualDub program to capture, but I never could get the audio and video to sync. I ended up using a program called AmarecTV to capture from the vcr using a Hauppauge USB Live 2 video capture card and it worked like a charm and provided a nice lossless .avi capture using the Huffyuv codec. I was able to capture both movies and stored them to dual-layer DVD9. My skills at creating them are not up to Tasjos, so I did have a background photo (title page), but no fancy menus. I inserted chapter stops which matched those of the commercially released Ewok Adventures DVD with these two telemovies. I did not make chapter selections available from the menu, though that would be a nice addition at some point.
I ended up with decent captures, given the source material. My Ewok Adventure movie (AKA “The Caravan of Courage”) is missing 3 or 4 commercial breaks and the end credits. It starts with the ABC Saturday Night Movie “stars” intro. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is complete with all commercials, missing only the end credits. It has the ABC Sunday Night Movie intro and it aired in place of MacGyver that night.
The picture (and sound) from the commercially available DVD are much superior to my captures, without a doubt. However, it’s still fun to pop in my disc and revisit them just as they aired on my local tv channel in 1984 and 1985. We hoped to do that as my son and I watched everything Star Wars leading up to The Force Awakens and our mission was accomplished in that regard.
If I’m ever able to obtain another VHS copy which aired, I’d like to splice in the missing commercials and the end credits. At that point, I’d probably tinker with the menus to add chapter selections as well, but I was able to make the capture and it was a good learning experience with some tips from members of this community.