Forgotten Star Wars Of The Past - The Ewok Movies

Before we go any further down this particular rabbit hole, let’s do a little bit of clarifying for anyone predisposed towards a bit of pedantry (any of us geeky types, basically). Given its nature as an all-conquering film, TV, book, toy and soon-to-be theme park franchise, nothing in the world of Star Wars is ever truly forgotten. There are some corners of that galaxy far, far away that are not brought out for an airing very often. This little sequence of mind ramblings will lift the lid and blow off the cobwebs on a few of those areas. Let’s start with some films that seemed to be on heavy rotation when I was a child but have swiftly been brushed aside.

The Ewok Movies - Caravan Of Courage / Battle For Endor

When it got to the end of term at my primary school, we would be ushered into the assembly hall in order to experience a treat - said treat being that we all got to sit down and watch a film (and, quite frankly, being sat down to watch a film is still a treat in my book*). We watched a few films but the ones that stick in my memory the most were sitting down to watch Caravan Of Courage and Battle For Endor. There’s a lot of backlash these days (and presumably at the time) against the Ewoks. “Oh, right, so the saviours of the Rebellion and ones who help crush the Empire were a small collection of teddy bears.” Let me straight to the point here - I was seven years old when Return Of The Jedi came out and I absolutely loved the Ewoks. 

Not just that, I loved Star Wars so in 1984 with no new Star Wars on the horizon given that the storyline was over**, the prospect of anything Star Wars related making it to the big screen was immensely exciting. Hence Caravan Of Courage (the UK title for the limited cinema release of The Ewok Adventure) was right in my wheelhouse.

At the time, I liked it. Is it any good, though? They set out to achieve what they’re aiming for which are kid-friendly adventure films in the Star Wars universe. The acting is somewhat on the creaky side and the production values are TV rather than feature film but high end TV for the 80s. They’re unlikely to satisfy anyone looking for a fresh Star Wars fix nowadays but, to a pre-teen Star Wars fan in the mid-80s, they were all we going to get. Film-wise anyway, that is. The 80s would also provide more Star Wars action in TV form for its legions of child fans….



* Have I mentioned that I quite like films? No? Funny, I thought it might have come up by now…

** From the point of view of 1984 me anyway - his head would explode if he could see how many films there are now.