The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries

"And you thought the Star Wars Holiday Special was Lucasfilm's dirtiest secret."

- Abel G. Peña

"The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries", also known as "Ewoks on Ice," was an ice show based on the animated television series Star Wars: Ewoks. Directed by Robert Turk and written by Anne Snyder for the 1986 Ice Capades tour "Bravo America: Bold-Bright-Beautiful," the Ewok-based adventure bridged the show's intermission. "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" was billed for ages "3 to 93," and it featured song and dance numbers performed by professional ice skaters dressed in costumes representing various characters from the Ewoks cartoon, including Wicket, Princess Kneesaa, and some trouble-making Duloks.

Plot summary
On the moon of Endor in the year 3.5 ABY, the Ewok residents of Bright Tree Village keep busy, singing and dancing around bonfires each night. One night, the tribe's storyteller and shaman, Logray, tells a story about life beyond the forest moon. However, the Ewoks' warring cousins, the Duloks, set out to cause trouble and ruin the fun. An adventure ensues, and Ewoks including Logray, Chief Chirpa, Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, Latara, Paploo, and Wicket Wystri Warrick are pitted against the Dulok King Gorneesh and his tribe, as well as the Dulok tribe's shaman, Umwak. In the excitement, the two tribes discover sunberry trees possessing magical sunberries.

Development
"A Tale For Kids, 3 To 93!"

- "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" playbill

"The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" was licensed by Lucasfilm Ltd. for the ice show "Bravo America: Bold-Bright-Beautiful," the 1986 tour of Ice Capades, which was performed in ice skating rinks across the United States. The Ice Capades production was directed and produced by Robert Turk, and the two-part Ewoks segment was written by Anne Snyder for the show's intermission. "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" was inspired by the animated television series Star Wars: Ewoks, which first aired in 1985. The playbill for the ice show marketed it as "A Tale For Kids, 3 To 93!" and the program also included a poem featured in the show. The song and dance routines in "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" were performed by professional ice skaters, who wore six-foot costumes resembling characters from Star Wars: Ewoks.

"The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" had a number of merchandise, including a series of pennants, buttons, and a fiber optic flashlight. The show was further promoted by televised commercials, and one such commercial aired on November 1, 1986, during "The Season Scepter," the thirteenth episode in the second season of Star Wars: Ewoks.

Continuity
"The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" is a tie-in to the television show Star Wars: Ewoks, which is set in the year 3.5 ABY, between Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. The production is part of the Star Wars Legends continuity, and is not part of the official Star Wars canon.

Reception
In the years since its release, "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" has been called Lucasfilm's "dirtiest secret," being compared to The Star Wars Holiday Special, a 1978 television movie which Lucasfilm has not released on any medium, due to its poor ratings. In Star Wars Insider 83, the article "20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe" by Abel G. Peña and Enrique Guerrero ranked "The Ewoks and the Magic Sunberries" as the second-goofiest moment in Star Wars, with the third being the Holiday Special and the first being "Planet of Kadril," a comic strip featuring Luke Skywalker and Han Solo wearing drag-like clothing while saving the planet Kadril from the Pacifog, a weapon which brought out the worst traits of individuals.