The 2 Ewok Films - 'Caravan Of Courage' (aka 'The Ewok Adventure'), & 'Battle For Endor' — Page 5

Definitely wouldn’t mind checking these out. Despite the fact that I never actually watched them, these films occupy a strange and unique place in my Star Wars nostalgia. Back in the early 90s, when Star Wars was little more than a vague yet looming cultural landmark on the periphery of my awareness, I remember always seeing the Ewok films on the shelves of video rental stores along with the main films. For a long time I assumed that they, and the Ewok species in general, were a much more important part of the Star Wars saga than they actually were.

Of course, once the TPM hype train came along, I finally dove headfirst into Star Wars and learned that the Ewoks were just some unnamed alien side characters added to the third movie to sell toys and that the Ewok movies were just some weird spinoffs. But I’ve always been a bit curious about what the heck those movies were all about.

I noticed your discussion about the real 35mm film.
There is a collector in the Netherlands who has a real original 35mm theater copy of the Caravan of Courage film. This is not a white elephant, I held the reels in my hands.
He informed me that he is selling a part of his collection because of his age, this film is also up for sale.
Not posted on Ebay or any other auction (yet).
I suppose it should end up in the community.

I suppose so as this copy was shown in Dutch theaters. It has original container labels.

I’m just now learning Charal from “The Battle for Endor” was a Nightsister from Dathomir.

Used to watch these two quite often back in the day on VHS. Then had the flipper DVD, DVD10 I believe, with each movie on one side. Recently was able to come across the D+ versions and it’s nice 1080p even though the compression was “weird”. Would have been better if it were 4K, but what can you do with “LEGENDS” material in live-action? Honestly wish these two movies were on 4K+BD and all needs to be done is have a LEGENDS banner.

Apologies if this has previously been discussed but wondered if there was any truth in the following from Eric Walker and if so is the footage available…

http://www.lucasfan.com/ewdr/ericwalker.html

‘There were a few scenes that were cut from The Ewok Adventure. The international version of the film is said to be ten minutes longer than the American version. One scene that was cut out was the Man-eating Flower Scene. Because it was cut out, the biggest mistake in the movie was made. Remember my hand being eaten by the tree monster was my right one and then it was my left hand that was hurt later in the ewok hut. During the Flower scene the flower bites my left hand and begins pulling me underground and we see the core of the moon of Endor. It was decided that the effects would take to long. The scene was then re-written by George to be the tree scene and done during the re-shoot he directed. George also directed the scene where I throw the rock away. His daughter Amanda was on set and every time I threw the rock down and called it a stupid rock, she would ask me why it was stupid while we were filming.
The ending of the movie was completely cut and switched around. The ending scene where we are all eating around the table came first. Then Mace noticed Izrina outside. Mace then went outside and said good-bye to her thanking her for all her help. As she flew away, Mace turns around and it begins to snow. Wicket and Cindel then come outside and we all dance around in the snow.’

Would love to see the diner scene mentioned in the interview, though that sounds quite the rarity!

These silly Ewok movies capture an aesthetic aspect of classic Star Wars which has all but disappeared since the Original Trilogy - which is the classic visuals/animatronics of a Jim Henson inspired production. This really doesn’t exist anymore since CGI replaced puppets. Not that Jim Henson style puppetry and animatronics always looked good - they sometimes looked really fake or stupid. But when it was done right, it often resulted in some really amazing, memorable visuals, now infused with nostalgia.