HowTo: Put Wookies into Return of the Jedi.

Okay, this is something people have fantasised about for about twenty years or so but I think it's becoming an increasing possibility. Though it would require the shooting of whole new scenes, this is possible. How you ask?

Consider the millions of Star Wars fans busy creating fan films right now. Consider all the work and devotion fan editors across the world put into making the prequels tolerable and toying with the trilogy. Imagine all that talent, passion and devotion instead directed toward the single mission of putting Wookies into Jedi. Here's how it could be done.

First of all, funding. Before a project like this could get off the ground you'd need considerable funding, not so much for actors but for costuming the Wookies in a believable way. You'd want something to the quality of those Wookies that appear in Revenge of the Sith. You certainly wouldn't want an army of packaged-Halloween-costume Chewbaccas running around. Therefore the majority of the budget would have to go towards costuming the Wookies.

Now, understand that this wouldn't be the first big-budget Star Wars fan project. After all, fan film "Star Wars: Revelations" had a budget of $20,000 dollars which the creators managed to gather themselves. You're not only looking at something that is possible, but something that even has precedence. Consider also how many more fans would be willing to donate and volunteer for this project and the whole notion becomes much more reasonable.

Speaking of volunteers, whole new scenes could be easily created with the assistance of the 501st Legion and their rebel equivalent. Costuming Stormtroopers and Rebels wouldn't be a problem, probably wouldn't even cost a penny. Locations would naturally be any forest that's available but preferably one of the Redwood National and State Parks. The only difficulty here would be gaining permission to shoot, but this is, again, possible.

For all other scenes and sequences blue-screen work could be used. Ewoks would have to be removed using rotoscoping from such sequences as when they're fleeing a walker that is opening fire upon them, and replaced by wookies on blue-screen. Also necessary would be the alteration of the "dinner" Ewok sequence. A whole new Wookie-like set would probably have to be built and the sequence shot as normal, with Han and Luke digitally placed into the scene or represented by look-alikes and stand-ins for all non-close-up shots. The story would probably have to be altered somewhat. I haven't listened to them in quite a while, but perhaps some talk by 3P0 could be taken from the radio drama to fill in the gaps and perhaps subtitles could be used for the wookie growls to explain the situation.

Essentially, I would snatch the plot from "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" in which the wookies have been enslaved (to assist in mining materials needed for the Death Star II) and sold-out by a corrupt chieftain in return for his own freedom. A subplot concerning an exile of Chewbacca could be worked into it (giving him some much needed back story) and his return is what sparks the sell-out wookies to capture them and attempt to cook 'em, not 3P0. The wookies are not prepared to assist the rebels and let them on their way, fearing the Empire would punish them. However, Luke insists that he is a Jedi and that their victory is thus at hand, they do not believe him until he demonstrates his power by using the force to extinguish the torches of the camp with a mysterious breeze, sets a gentle rumble through the air and levitates the corrupt chieftain on his thrown. The wookies then recognise his power and set him and his companions free. In a newly created scene Chewbacca makes an appeal to the chieftain to use his warriors to assist the rebels in the approaching conflict. An all out wookie uprising essentially takes place, and the planet of Kashyyk is freed.

To deal with anyone using the name "Endor" simply replace it with "forest moon", a term which most use. For example Ackbar: "You can see here the forest moon of Endor", "You can see here the forest moon".

Anyway, there's the idea. I don't know that this will ever happen, or if Lucas would be too happy about it but it's possible. With so much talent floating around, I'm almost surprised nobody has done this already.

In the mean time enjoy some images of Wookies and dream of what could be:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:WookieeWarriors.jpg

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Wookieeacting.jpg

I'm not sure that Ewok-hate exists on the level necessary to motivate that kind of mass effort.

Also, how could you create the necessary scenes and dialogue to forward the radically different plot.

Fun idea and all, but frankly, I like Ewoks. ;-P

i can see why u'd say that. the ewoks were a little preschool for most people. but trading them in for wookies, it just wouldn't work. anyways, kashyke is the wookie homeworld.

I have to disagree, rcb, I feel wookies would fit right in. Perhaps a subtitled Admiral Ackbar or newly voiced Ackbar could be used to explain that the planet the Death Star II is orbiting is in fact Kashyyk and not Endor.

The enslavement of the wookies can be explained visually, if as the imperial cruiser in which Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie are riding arrives it flies over a clearing in the woods in which wookie slaves are toiling in a quarry, surrounded by stormtroopers. Chewbacca looks out on them on growls mournfully.

Everything else can be explained via subtitles (Chewbacca, on principal, would not be subtitled) and using the occasional grab from the radio series to fill in gaps of dialogue from 3P0 and Luke. A simple *growl* subtitled as something along the lines of "You should not have come back, exile" or something to that effect could be used to explain Chewbacca's relationship with this particular group of wookies. Luke pleads with the wookies claiming he is a Jedi and that if they do not free him he will use his powers (snippets taken from the radio series could be used here) and 3P0 protests, ultimately does as he is told and says this to the wookies. They don't believe him ("the Jedi are extinct, we cannot hope for help from them now"), but Luke's display convinces them and in a short subtitled conversation between Chewie and the chieftain he explains that with the Jedi there is now hope to free themselves from the imperials.


Now I'm rambling with ideas, but I'm basically trying to reiterate the point I've already made. It's possible.

No need to re-shoot b/c you already got these scenes...in ROTS.

:)

TheoOdo said:

I have to disagree, rcb, I feel wookies would fit right in. Perhaps a subtitled Admiral Ackbar or newly voiced Ackbar could be used to explain that the planet the Death Star II is orbiting is in fact Kashyyk and not Endor.

The enslavement of the wookies can be explained visually, if as the imperial cruiser in which Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie are riding arrives it flies over a clearing in the woods in which wookie slaves are toiling in a quarry, surrounded by stormtroopers. Chewbacca looks out on them on growls mournfully.

Everything else can be explained via subtitles (Chewbacca, on principal, would not be subtitled) and using the occasional grab from the radio series to fill in gaps of dialogue from 3P0 and Luke. A simple *growl* subtitled as something along the lines of "You should not have come back, exile" or something to that effect could be used to explain Chewbacca's relationship with this particular group of wookies. Luke pleads with the wookies claiming he is a Jedi and that if they do not free him he will use his powers (snippets taken from the radio series could be used here) and 3P0 protests, ultimately does as he is told and says this to the wookies. They don't believe him ("the Jedi are extinct, we cannot hope for help from them now"), but Luke's display convinces them and in a short subtitled conversation between Chewie and the chieftain he explains that with the Jedi there is now hope to free themselves from the imperials.


Now I'm rambling with ideas, but I'm basically trying to reiterate the point I've already made. It's possible.

 well, i can see how that could work. but it would go against the ROTJ novel. it describes ewoks. and after growing up seeing ewoks in the movie, it might look a little off. i guess you personally could redo those clips only with wookies and we can see what it looks like.

lordjedi said:

TheoOdo said:

Speaking of volunteers, whole new scenes could be easily created with the assistance of the 501st Legion and their rebel equivalent. Costuming Stormtroopers and Rebels wouldn't be a problem, probably wouldn't even cost a penny. Locations would naturally be any forest that's available but preferably one of the Redwood National and State Parks. The only difficulty here would be gaining permission to shoot, but this is, again, possible.

Good luck getting the 501st or Rebel Legion involved. If it even smells like it's going to make Lucas mad, they won't even discuss it. You'd have much better luck getting a bunch of random costumers together. You'd basically be asking them to reshoot entire portions of Jedi so you can make a fan edit that has Wookiees instead of Ewoks. They don't usually look to kindly on things like that.

If anybody from the 501st or RL did participate, they'd be risking any kind of reputation they've built up with those organizations and LFL. If something went bad, they'd either be excluded from future events for some time to come or they'd be kicked out entirely.

They may be a bunch of elitists (personal opinion), but they have very good standing with LFL and they aren't going to do anything to jeopardize that.

 

My, you make them out like a bunch of Lucas-gushing toadies. Are they really? It dampens my scheme anyway.

I suppose I could write a fanfilm that just so happens to include all the extra footage I'd need to edit Jedi, make it and then edit it into Jedi and simply go "oops, ain't that a coincidence?" to all the unknowing involved...but that'd make me feel like such a dishonest scoundrel. :(

Replacing Ewoks with Wookiees you need to have the actors eyes matching the eyes of the Wookiees... I don't think it would worth spending so much time doing this.

This is just ridiculous and way over line.

C3PX said:

I guess for monolingual people, the idea of two different individuals carrying on a conversation, each in their own native tongue, doesn't seem so odd. But for those of us who know two or more languages, the idea is so awkward, words fail to explain it. Imagine seeing an American and a Mexican having a long indepth conversation with one another, the American speaking in plain and fluent English, and the Mexican speaking in plain and fluent Spanish, but yet they seem to be communicating with each other just fine. ???? As far as I know, this only ever happens in the first Star Wars movie and even more so in fanedits of the other ones.

I have always felt that the scene with Han and Greedo talking was a bit ridiculous, and later the same stupid, bizzare, retarded idea was used again in the Han Jabba conversation. Utterly ridiculous. If Han knows Huttese, why the hell would he just not speak in Huttese, or if Greedo know Engish, why not speak it. Speaking multiple languages myself, it is really hard to speak in one language, then suddenly switch to the other. I cannot even imagine having such a conversation as Han has with Greedo. 

This issue was thankfully fixed in Return of the Jedi, where we have Leia speaking to Jabba in Huttese, or with Threepio translating. Fanedits brought the dumb idea back by having Jar Jar speaking in his language, while everyone else spoke to him in English. Makes even less sense, how would so many people know Jar Jar's dumb obscure language? When two aliens are having a conversation in a single language, this subtitle idea works just fine. The idea of having Ackbar explain things in subtitles while everyone else listens and understand him just fine, to me, is creating an even bigger problem than we already had.

There are a lot of people who understand a foreign language better than they can speak said foreign language. For example, my brother's ex-girlfriend (Diana) was born in the Philipines, but was adopted by a couple in the U.S. when she was young. Her biological father was an American serviceman. Diana can understand Tagalog but doesn't speak it very well. Her real mother can understand English (due to being with the Diana's American father), but doesn't speak it very well. So when Diana and her mother talk, Diana speaks English, and her mother speaks Tagalog, and they both understand each other (though occasionally they have to clarify something in the other's preferred speaking language). 

It is easier to get to the point of understanding a language (if you are around it enough) than it is to speak it well enough that someone else can easily understand you. When I call or visit the Chinese restaurant in town, they always understand what I'm saying, but it is very difficult to understand what they are saying in their terribly broken English. I'm sure they would rather reply to me in Chinese if they thought I could understand it.

C3PX said:

I guess for monolingual people, the idea of two different individuals carrying on a conversation, each in their own native tongue, doesn't seem so odd. But for those of us who know two or more languages, the idea is so awkward, words fail to explain it. Imagine seeing an American and a Mexican having a long indepth conversation with one another, the American speaking in plain and fluent English, and the Mexican speaking in plain and fluent Spanish, but yet they seem to be communicating with each other just fine. ???? As far as I know, this only ever happens in the first Star Wars movie and even more so in fanedits of the other ones.

I have always felt that the scene with Han and Greedo talking was a bit ridiculous, and later the same stupid, bizzare, retarded idea was used again in the Han Jabba conversation. Utterly ridiculous. If Han knows Huttese, why the hell would he just not speak in Huttese, or if Greedo know Engish, why not speak it. Speaking multiple languages myself, it is really hard to speak in one language, then suddenly switch to the other. I cannot even imagine having such a conversation as Han has with Greedo.

This issue was thankfully fixed in Return of the Jedi, where we have Leia speaking to Jabba in Huttese, or with Threepio translating. Fanedits brought the dumb idea back by having Jar Jar speaking in his language, while everyone else spoke to him in English. Makes even less sense, how would so many people know Jar Jar's dumb obscure language? When two aliens are having a conversation in a single language, this subtitle idea works just fine. The idea of having Ackbar explain things in subtitles while everyone else listens and understand him just fine, to me, is creating an even bigger problem than we already had.

Well I'm actually not monolingual but anyway, I've never had a problem with characters speaking different languages to one another. Like MaximRecoil said, it does happen in the real world.

Also, considering that this is a science fantasy, it's always possible that human larynges simply cannot pronounce properly many of these aliens words. What sounds to us like simple chirping from Poggle the Lesser is actually a very relevant feature of his means of communication, it's impossible for a human to imitate but it is possible for them to understand it. Consider, also, the croaking voice of Boushh. I can't picture Jabba altering his own booming voice to imitate Boushh's "accent" successfully. So it's simply easier for all involved to speak their own languages to one another, and wherever that is not possible protocol droids are called in.

At least, that's how I've always thought of it.

That said, while I don't mind Ewoks too terribly, the Wookie idea is really cool. But I think it would be close to impossible to get it to match up with the original footage in any kind of a reasonable way. Convincing Wookies would also be quite a challenge. Also, how would you get shots of Chewie growling mournfully? Or of Chewis having a conversation with his former tribes men?

I have always thought of the Wookies as more of an advanced race than animal skins and spears. Probably I picked this up from the EU books were they are said to be fantastic mechanics and pilots. Even in the Holiday Special they are not depicted as primitive, despite the fact that they live in trees.

A convincing imitation costume of Chewbacca would have to be made. Cosplayers and hobbyists do as much every year, a dedicated team of fans would surely be able to do the same. As for the sound bite, Chewbacca's voice was originally made from sound bites taken from walruses, bears, tigers, camels and even badgers. We could search for some sounds from those animals that sound like a "mournful growl" and then use the imitation mask of Chewbacca to show him growling sadly from the cock-pit of the imperial shuttle. If no new sounds can be found, Chewbacca's growling from Empire Strikes Back could be recycled like much of his growls already are.

As for the conversation between Chewie and his fellow tribes-folk, the imitation Chewbacca costume would come into play again here. As seven foot men like Peter Mayhew are hard to come by, stilts could be fitted into the costume to give the stand-in Chewie some needed height. If that's not possible, it's likely that the scenes involving Chewie and the tribal leader would not feature any human characters and as such the audience would have no means of comparison from which to discern that Chewbacca is not quite the same height. And if this doesn't work, then the hypothetical fan-crew could simply resort to close-ups of Chewie and the chief.

As for technological advancement, yes, the Wookies would still be fairly advanced. But, deprived of weapons, technology and resources by their slave-driving imperial masters, I think the "big-guy vs. little-guy" theme would still be retained (even if the wookies are technically taller than the imperials).