Eyepainter said:
This thread is starting to go a little silent, so how about we start talking about the big huge elephant in the room. The ewoks! I have no idea what I would do to fix those guys up beyond taking out some of their goofier moments in the climax (something like all the ewoks trying to pull the rope on the walker, for example). I would love to see what others would do to try and fix those critters!
Today is Easter, and this day always remind me of the Ewoks because my parents gave me both of the Ewok movies as a Easter present when I was little. I didn’t even know they existed at the time, so it was a surprising and bizarre experience to discover there were more “Star Wars” movies. So I felt like today would be a good day to talk a little bit more about the Ewoks.
I know common change made is to trim some of their goofier moments in the climax, like Eyepainter mentioned. I think a few existing edits take the approach of having Ewoks act more as a distraction, and we don’t really see the Ewoks winning against the Empire. I haven’t seen this done in a fully-realized edit yet, but it would be interesting to use some of the shots of Ewoks using blasters from the Battle for Endor movie. I don’t think you could use all of the available shots, unless you flipped and reused some of the stormtrooper firing shots. I know this has already been mentioned in the thread.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this, but I do feel that when you go from ANH to ESB, it feels like the Saga ages up with the audience. I feel like ROTJ should’ve continued that, and in some ways it does, but the way the Ewoks are generally presented goes against that, and feels obviously aimed for children. Reading Rinzler’s book, you could tell a lot of the production staff felt ambivalent about them, even though they did the best they could to fully-realize them to the best of their ability. One exception being McQuarrie, who left the project and seemed to lose motivation when George’s feedback kept pushing them towards basically being teddy bears.
I think a key to make them both cute and “cool” is to lean more into the idea that they eat people, and let that slowly dawn on our heroes in a clearer way. Yes, it does seem like they’re about to cook them when they bring them to their village, but we’re given no indication that they’ve actually ate people before. One idea I had was to give Han and the rest a few more hints that they’re in serious trouble. One example, when Han is tied up and looking around the village, we could cut to the shot of an Ewok using stormtrooper helmets as drums from the finale. We also could edit a shot or two of some Ewoks at the village having blood-stained fur around their mouths. Kind of an assumption but I think it would just take some masking and tracking to recolor some of the fur around their mouths red. Once Han starts piecing everything together, then he could say, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Then 3PO basically confirms this when he tells them they’re to be the main course in a feast.
Instead of Luke saving them by tricking the Ewoks into thinking 3PO has magic, I’d like to see Leia be the one that rescues them. So you would still build up to the Ewoks almost setting the logs on fire, then Leia comes out, and she tells 3PO to tell the Ewoks that they are her friends, and then the Ewoks let them go. I know it is not uncommon to cut the Leia and Wickett scene (and instead leave her fate ambiguous until we see her at the village), I think it would be nice to give Leia more to do in the film and use her political/leadership skills to establish a friendship with the Ewoks. So to me, I think it would be helpful to show Leia’s encounter with Wickett, and see how she builds trust between her and the Ewok. Then, Leia having enough clout with the Ewoks to get them to spare her friends makes more sense. I think it still could work without that scene, though, if someone didn’t want to include it.
Just a few other random ideas. At the Ewok village, it could add a little bit to their creepy factor if we gave some of the Ewoks that eyeshine you sometimes see in animals at night. I think you can find some tutorials online about how to recreate what is basically the replicant eye effect. During the battle itself, whenever the Ewoks physically attack stormtroopers, we could alter the sound effects a little bit to make the Ewoks sound more violent. Perhaps some Ewok sounds can be pulled from Battlefront 2. I kind of imagine the sound of a vicious little dog trying to tear a chew toy apart. And maybe have the stormtroopers scream instead of just silently getting beat up. The Ewoks might look like mogwai, but they can act like gremlins. I like the idea of leaning into that. And I think it actually makes their cuteness work better, because the audience automatically makes expectations about them based on their appearance, but once they (and the audience) see their other side, we’re like “Oh shit.” And I generally think it makes them a little more nuanced, interesting, and fun.
Idk if this would be a plus or minus, but I think Hal or someone else suggested adding a 3PO line from the radio drama where he refers to Ewoks by name. That may not be necessary though.
Sort of related to the Ewoks, but I also think the ending of the film would be stronger without Yub Nub or Victory Celebration. Maybe the Luke and Leia track. Anyway, that’s down to each individuals preference probably.
