I know this is way beside the point but man… I just love the Ewoks. Completely unironically. I think they’re great.
It’s bizarre to me how even back in 1983-1984 (and of course, continuing all the way til now, really) people thought they were somehow a stain or a mark on Star Wars. They fit so perfectly. Guerrilla-warfare with teddy bears. That’s Star Wars as hell. The idea that they didn’t fit really doesn’t make any sense. I could see how you could make the argument, and to be honest I DID make some variations on that argument (to a lesser degree, at least) myself when I was younger and took Star Wars way too seriously as a teenager and young adult. But from here, now that I’m old and looking back from 2020? Of course they fit. They fit beautifully. I kind of wish they were used a little bit better, of course (that’s a general wish about everything Return of the Jedi, honestly, I wish it was just done a little bit better in a lot of ways) but they never felt “out of bounds” or anything.
Ditto. Not only do they make sense within the world of SW, but more importantly it works thematically as well. Youtuber E.C. Henry made a really good video summarizing the whole thing; A Defense of Ewoks