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This second made-for-television movie came out in 1985, one year after the first Ewok TV movie. Both movies were inspired by children’s love for the cute and cuddly (human-eating) Ewoks featured in 1983’s “The Return of the Jedi”. Well, kids love to eat junk food so we should forgive them their tastes in film and television heroes. Still, as made-for-television movies go both “The Ewok Adventure” and “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” brought something new to the schedule for fans of science fiction and fantasy who were otherwise being regaled with “Battle Beyond the Stars” and similar dreck that failed in the theaters and failed on television.
The only real deficiency with “The Battle for Endor” is that George Lucas appears to have had almost nothing to do with the writing (beyond composing the story upon which the teleplay was based). The writers were Ken and Jim Wheat, who are probably best known for “Pitch Black”, “The Chronicles of Riddick”, and “Riddick” although they now have extensive writing credits. Perhaps because of his conflicts with Hollywood unions George Lucas had a tendency to pluck new screenwriters and directors out of oblivion and put them in charge of his projects, but the Wheats already had some experience under their belts when they took on this project.
That said, there are some problems with the film even though most people feel it has superior visual quality to the first movie. For one thing, Cindel’s family is killed at the beginning of the story. For another, Wicket now speaks English, having learned it from Cindel. Fans who favor including this film in the Star Wars canon argue that Wicket’s knowledge of English places this story after the great Battle of Endor shown in “The Return of the Jedi” (now referred to as “Episode VI” by many people and online sources). The canonical argument does not just hinge on Wicket’s ability to speak “galactic standard” (English). There are other factors, such as Lucas’ relative lack of involvement in the project and the fact that these characters never appear in any other movies (although Episode VI ends the official story).
One of the big bright spots of the movie is Wilford Brimley, who plays the ship-wrecked old curmudgeon Noa. He gradually warms to Cindel as they deal with Endor’s indigenous politics and takes her off the moon at the end. Brimley fits into the Lucas “elder mentor” stereotype very neatly, so even though he didn’t get along with them Brimley’s casting was a great choice by the Wheats.
One connection between this movie and later productions is the character of Charal, a witch played by Sian Phillips. Charal has been identified as a Nightsister, a member of a group of Sith witches featured in the third season of the animated Clone Wars trilogy, which does have canonical status.
Joe Johnson served as production designer on this project, as with the first Ewok movie. He also stepped in to direct Wilford Brimley’s scenes after the actor’s conflicts with the Wheats.
This movie was shown in theaters in Germany.
Trailer for “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor”
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