Ewoks (TV series)

Star Wars: Ewoks (September 7, 1985 - January 10, 1987) was an American/Canadian animated television series featuring the Ewok characters introduced in the sixth Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi.

The series was produced by Nelvana on behalf of Lucasfilm and broadcast on ABC, both by itself and later, as part of The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour. The first season was advertised as simply Ewoks, but the second season was advertised as The All New Ewoks. The series lasted 35 episodes, divided into two seasons.

Setting
The series is set, beginning in the year 1.5 BBY, on the forest moon of Endor, mainly in an Ewok village. On the final episode, however, some scenes were set briefly in a Star Destroyer in space.

Plot
The series focuses on the adventures of Wicket W. Warrick and his friends on the forest moon of Endor five and a half years (1.5 BBY or 1.5 BSW4) before the Battle of Endor, and thus, before Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The primary recurring villains are Morag the Tulgah Witch who had a personal grudge against the tribe's shaman, Master Logray, and the Duloks, a rival species that is related to the Ewoks.

Locations

 * The forest moon of Endor
 * Outer Space
 * Aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer

Characters

 * Asha
 * Baga
 * Chief Chirpa
 * Duloks
 * Gonster
 * King Gorneesh
 * Gorphs
 * Gracca
 * Gupin
 * Jindas
 * Princess Kneesaa
 * Larry
 * Latara
 * Leaf Queen
 * Logray
 * Malani
 * Morag
 * Paploo
 * Raich
 * Dr. Raegar
 * Rakazzaks
 * Queen Slugga
 * Teebo
 * The Totem Master
 * Deej Warrick
 * Erpham Warrick
 * Shodu Warrick
 * Wicket Warrick
 * Yuzzum Warriors

Notable series details

 * For viewer ease, the dialogue is in Basic, rather than Ewokese, which was the native language of the Ewoks.


 * The first season of the show aimed for a more sophisticated style, but in the second, the writing style was geared toward a much younger audience, with less sophisticated characters.


 * In the series' final episode, the Imperials had discovered Endor, and several of the Ewoks stowed away on a Star Destroyer, but were returned to Endor safely after an evil Imperial attempted to steal the magical Ewok Sunstar stone and even dared to attack the Emperor with it. This event suggests that this led to The Empire choosing Endor to build the Second Death Star around.


 * The series is a followup to the two Ewok films: Caravan of Courage (1984) and The Battle for Endor (1985), which were themselves spin-offs of Return of the Jedi.

Comic book series
In 1986, Star Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics published a bi-monthly Ewoks comic, which was based on the animated series. The comic ran for two years, ending with issue #14. Like the TV series, this was aimed towards a younger audience. It was produced along with the Droids comic, which was based on the Droids animated series. Issue #10 of Marvel Ewoks was a cross-over with Star Wars Droids 4: Lost in Time.

Season I

 * 1. The Cries of the Trees - (September 7, 1985)
 * 2. The Haunted Village - (September 14, 1985)
 * 3. Rampage of the Phlogs - (September 21, 1985)
 * 4. To Save Deej - (September 28, 1985)
 * 5. The Travelling Jindas - (October 5, 1985)
 * 6. The Tree of Light - (October 12, 1985)
 * 7. The Curse of the Jindas - (October 19, 1985)
 * 8. The Land of the Gupins - (October 26, 1985)
 * 9. Sunstar vs. Shadowstone - (November 2, 1985)
 * 10. Wicket's Wagon - (November 9, 1985)
 * 11. The Three Lessons - (November 16, 1985)
 * 12. Blue Harvest - (November 23, 1985)
 * 13. Asha - (November 30, 1985)

Season II

 * 14. The Crystal Cloak - (September 13, 1986)
 * 15. The Wish Plant - (September 13, 1986)
 * 16. Home Is Where The Shrieks Are - (September 20, 1986)
 * 17. Princess Latara - (September 20, 1986)
 * 18. The Raich - (September 27, 1986)
 * 19. The Totem Master - (October 4, 1986)
 * 20. A Gift for Shodu - (October 4, 1986)
 * 21. Night of the Stranger - (October 11, 1986)
 * 22. Gone With The Mimphs - (October 18, 1986)
 * 23. The First Apprentice - (October 18, 1986)
 * 24. Hard Sell - (October 25, 1986)
 * 25. A Warrior and A Lurdo - (October 25, 1986)
 * 26. The Season Scepter - (November 1, 1986)
 * 27. Prow Beaten - (November 8, 1986)
 * 28. Baga's Rival - (November 8, 1986)
 * 29. Horville's Hut of Horrors - (November 15, 1986)
 * 30. The Tragic Flute - (November 22, 1986)
 * 31. Just My Luck - (November 22, 1986)
 * 32. Bringing Up Norky - (November 22, 1986)
 * 33. Party Ewok - (December 13, 1986)
 * 34. Melani the Warrior - (December 13, 1986)
 * 35. Battle for the Sunstar - (December 6, 1986)

DVD release

 * Ewoks was released on November 23, 2004 as an edited compilation DVD with the title: Star Wars: Animated Adventures: Droids. The DVD contained eight episodes in total of the series, edited together as two full length movies.
 * Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
 * Language: English
 * Release Date: November 23, 2004
 * The entire original series has yet to be released, either on DVD or VHS. Some of the original episodes were released in the eighties and nineties, however, on VHS. Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and DVD producer Rick McCallum, along with Lucasfilm head of fan relations, Steve Sansweet, have reportedly stated that a future release of the series in its entirety on DVD is possible.