Monroville said:

shanerjedi said:

Monroville said:

I say get rid of the tree traps and replace them with pits and the like. Trees can still be a factor - Scout Walker steps into a pit; as Scout Walker's leg sinks down halfway, ground starts to cave ala a sinkhole; as the rest sinks in, the trees on either side topple over on top of the SW, crushing and blowing it up.

I still say give the Ewoks something explosive to account for getting through the Stormtrooper armor - be it explosive arrow heads and bolas. Maybe even having a scene where one Ewok raises his hand and we see retractable claws pop out and THEN he jumps on top of the Stormtrooper, followed by other Ewoks. Blood wouldn't have to be shown, though some nice tearing and squishing sounds could be used ala AMERICAN WEREWOLF or something to get the idea across. Remember that Koalas are pretty damn cute too, but have sharp claws for climbing trees and can get pretty pissed off.

The idea is that these are primitive creatures fighting advanced tech. Sticks and stones versus hi-tech. That was the whole point Lucas went with them instead of the original Wookies.

Just because the Ewoks are supposed to be a primitive tribe doesn't mean they can't improvise or use their intelligence to work around the technology of the Empire. Also keep in mind that Lucas was originally set to direct APOCALYPSE NOW (until he got the go-ahead to do STAR WARS) and it is more or less his general ideas for AN working their way into STAR WARS - so the corollary can also be the Vietnamese versus the American army/ Mujahadeen versus the Russians/ Partisans versus the Nazis.

There also has to be a realistic means of the Ewoks being able to defeat the Empire - just having bows and arrows wouldn't be enough. There would have to be something that gives the Ewoks simply the ability to win.

Thing is, these tree-dwellers are effectively at a 'stone age' level of evolvement.

As they seem to be quite 'territorial' (and ready to eat anyone!), they may have had the odd scirmish with some Imperial Troops previously, when they first arrived to build their various permanent structures such as the 'shield bunker' and 'landing platform'.

If the Ewoks did tangle with them initially in the past, they would have probably been dealt with quite ruthlessly and easily, and have had to retreat away from these bases that the more advanced humanoid incomers have set up for themselves. The Ewoks certainly wouldn't have liked it, and would hold a grudge as some of their number may have been killed.

They can be aggressive, and in the meantime have cobbled together certain things like ground catapaults and other defenses as best they can to put up another fight again if need be, but mainly they have kept safely away from the Imperials. When Luke and co. got caught in one of their nets, they may have thought that they'd caught a few unlucky stragglers who were part of these ruthless interlopers, and were happy to cook them up....

Although basic, the Ewoks were probably quite prepared at this point with their various defense / survival tactics and weaponry to keep the Imperials at bay as best they could, by the time that C3PO ended up giving them the impetus to have another go at them....

EyeShotFirst - Lol, but I'm quite happy to accept a little bit of 'cuteness' when it comes to the young 'uns.