doubleKO said:
Wookies tearing peoples arms out of their sockets, some pacing changes, dealing with what you can from Bingowings' post about things that don't make sense - it might have been a worthier successor to Empire. I thought it was oh-so-clever of George when I was young. Wookie -> Ewo(o)k. "Instead of making them tall with long fur, I made them short with short fur". Genius :(
The technology was not there in 82' to create a wookie "army" .
At least not of any significant size(say compared to the digital armies as seen in Lord Of The Rings or the Phantom menace)
The costs of kitting up at least 20 extras with the same kind of costume that Mayhew wore would have been quite expensive(I assume).
I think it was more economical(both financially and in terms of time consumption) to create 30-40( I am guessing here--it may have been less) ewok costumes.
And from a story telling point of view, given the wookies superior physical strength as well as their technological prowess(established in the 1st 2 films); they would have been perceived by the audience as being too strong for the stormtroopers.
The Ewoks for all their faults, were the underdogs.
And people tend to forget that back in 83' the emotional impact for the audience (I should know--I was one of them)of seeing the storm troopers really getting their asses kicked(for the 1st time in 3 films) was exciting.
It was the same with Luke forcing Vader("Never!!") back in the saber duel.
For 2 films vader had beaten the shit out of both Ben and Luke.
To see him being subdued in the 3rd film was(at the time of it's release) was where the audience got to effectively have emotional payback(John William's music accentuated this moment superbly).
That sensation cannot be replicated when viewing the film in 2011 for the 100th time!
(Unless you have never seen it before and you are seeing it for the 1st time)