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Wookies vs Ewoks in ROTJ.

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I remember Lucas saying many times, that he had to alter the idea of Wookies to Ewoks for ROTJ, because of something to the effect that he had already established Wookies were technologically advanced....yet in ROTS, aside from flying in a dragonfly-like copter they basically exist like Ewoks, living in trees, swinging on vines, shooting a laser rife when they had to.

Budget wise i'm sure it would have cost him more money, but I hardly think that ROTJ would have lost money just by making Wookie suits vs Ewok suits...and is it any cheaper to hire dwarves over tall actors?

Is there something I'm missing from this?

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it made sense for him to say that in '83 but now its just more bullshit
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Well, in the holiday special, it is shown that they are good with computers, and the wookiee home is filled with technological devices, combined with a natural home.
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the point is lucas didnt include them in rotj but included them in rots, why exactly? they werent that advanced
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The point was that by showing Chewie as copilot of the falcon, Lucas had set wookies up as a technologically minded dudes and therefore it wouldn't make sense to have them running around shooting bows and arrows and shouting 'chichiwawa'. But I don't buy it. In the Star Wars universe, flying a spaceship is akin to driving a car, and I've seen some real dumbasses drive cars. After years in captivity, it's perfectly feasible that Chewie, living among humans and under the guidance of Han Solo, could have developed his technological knowhow - Just because they are primitive, it doesn't mean they are stupis and unable to learn. Even Wicket the Ewok figured out how to use a speer bike. Yes, the holiday special (which I have sadly never seen, btw) showed them in their home surrounded by computers, etc, but seeing as Lucas has basically eradicated that from Star Wars history, I think it would have been ok to show the Wookies as primitive in ROTJ (and would have made a better movie).

War does not make one great.

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He was going to use Wookies, but then they pointed out he needed more characters to sell toys, and they came up with Ewoks, so they could sell toys and lunchboxes and videos and stuff. They had the Ewoks there for the commercial factor only.

Now... wouldn't be great if one of the Jedis killed on Order 66 was killed while on the moon of Endor, and then an Ewok would approach the dead Jedi, and try to wake it up, and realizing it is dead it would bend over and sort of cry/pray over that dead body?
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Hmm...ewok action figure with cry/pray action. I like it. Can be purchased either individually or in a box set with a dead Jedi action figure with built in electronic voice box with 3 different phrases: 1. "Thank God that's over" 2. "mmurrgghh" 3. "I wish I had learned the disapear-and-become-one-with-the-force trick before that Clonetrooper shot me."

War does not make one great.

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Hmmm.... The wookie planet......The Ewoks to me are the only weak link of the OT. Now thanks to Jar Jar, I don't hate them nearly as much, but a wookie planet would have made ROTJ cooler. That is all, it just would have been less kiddy. I understand Lucas wanted the Ewoks to be like David vs. Golaith, but he made them just a bit too cutesy than they should have been. But as I said, the kiddy crap he put in TPM, the Ewoks in ROTJ don't seem all that bad now.

What if he digital enhanced Gungans to replace the ewoks? I think we would storm the gates of LucasRanch!
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So In other words, there is no explanation why Lucas changed the original idea...other than it was easier to have little people run around in cheaper costumes, rather than tall people in more expensive ones, and he thought it was more marketable, and profitable for kids buying the toys.

I have to believe back in 83' it would have been possible to show a computer in a tree house.
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Plus, he could have had Coruscant, Imperial City, Had Abadon, whatever he wanted to call it, in ROTJ if he wanted. BR did, why couldn't he?
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Exactly, Matte paintings, and sets worked for Bespin three years earlier in ESB. But I guess it was easier to dig out the old Death Star, create the Emperors throne room set there, have a star cruiser fly into it, show it destroying a ship, and show the Falcon flying into the core and blowing it up.
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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father
The point was that by showing Chewie as copilot of the falcon, Lucas had set wookies up as a technologically minded dudes and therefore it wouldn't make sense to have them running around shooting bows and arrows and shouting 'chichiwawa'. But I don't buy it. In the Star Wars universe, flying a spaceship is akin to driving a car, and I've seen some real dumbasses drive cars. After years in captivity, it's perfectly feasible that Chewie, living among humans and under the guidance of Han Solo, could have developed his technological knowhow - Just because they are primitive, it doesn't mean they are stupis and unable to learn. Even Wicket the Ewok figured out how to use a speer bike. Yes, the holiday special (which I have sadly never seen, btw) showed them in their home surrounded by computers, etc, but seeing as Lucas has basically eradicated that from Star Wars history, I think it would have been ok to show the Wookies as primitive in ROTJ (and would have made a better movie).


It's funny how he chose to take note of this point for continuity's sake, especially in contrast to the myriad other things he ignored when making the PT...

Not only that, but for the sake of continuity (which I really don't think would have been disrupted), he failed in his suspension of disbelief. A lot of people find it incredibly hard to believe that the Ewoks beat the stormtroopers and AT-STs the way they did.
MTFBWY. Always.

http://www.myspace.com/red_ajax
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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father

Yes, the holiday special (which I have sadly never seen, btw) showed them in their home surrounded by computers, etc, but seeing as Lucas has basically eradicated that from Star Wars history, I think it would have been ok to show the Wookies as primitive in ROTJ (and would have made a better movie).


Actually, Lucasfilm considers the holiday special official canon.
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Originally posted by: theredbaron
A lot of people find it incredibly hard to believe that the Ewoks beat the stormtroopers and AT-STs the way they did.


Specially with that scene in which two logs smash an AT-ST... How did they do that?! How did they get those logs up there so quick, and knew exactly when to released them?! And hpw did they manage to get the AT-ST at that exact point?!
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
...he needed more characters to sell toys...and lunchboxes and videos and stuff. They had the Ewoks there for the commercial factor only.

He's mentioned that himself in an interview a long time ago as well. Someone had the interview posted here a while back.

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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father

...the holiday special (which I have sadly never seen, btw)

Don't do it, man. I saw it when it first aired and I'm still trying to get the images out of my head.
Yes, it's that bad.
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