Introduction

The Ewok Adventure is a 1984 American television film based in the Star Wars universe, which takes place on the moon of Endor between the events of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983). It features the Ewoks, who help two young human siblings as they try to locate their parents.

The film was given a limited international theatrical run, for which it was re-titled Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. It was followed by a sequel, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, in 1985.

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Outline

On the forest moon of Endor, the Towani family starcruiser lies wrecked. The Towani family (Catarine, Jeremitt, Mace and Cindel) are stranded. When Catarine and Jeremitt vanish (having been captured by the Gorax), the children are found by the Ewok Deej. After Mace tries to kill them, the Ewoks subdue him and take both children to the Ewoks’ home. There, Cindel and Wicket become friends. Shortly thereafter, the Ewoks kill a boar wolf only to find a life-monitor from one of the Towani parents with the creature.

They seek out the Ewok Logray who informs them that the parents have been taken by the monstrous Gorax, which resides in a deserted, dangerous area. A caravan of Ewoks is formed to help the children find their parents. They meet up with a wistie named Izrina and a boisterous Ewok named Chukha-Trok before finally reaching the lair of the Gorax. They engage the Gorax in battle, freeing Jeremitt and Catarine, but Chukha-Trok is killed. The Gorax is thought destroyed when it is knocked into a chasm, but it takes a final blow from Mace (using Chukha-Trok’s axe) to kill the creature, which tries to climb back up after them. Thus reunited, the Towanis decide to stay with the Ewoks until they can repair the starcruiser, and Izrina leaves to go back to her family.

Cast

• Warwick Davis as Wicket W. Warrick.
• Aubree Miller as Cindel Towani.
• Eric Walker as Mace Towani.
• Fionnula Flanagan as Catarine Towani.
• Guy Boyd as Jeremitt Towani.
• Daniel Frishman as Deej.
• Debbie Lee Carrington as Weechee.
• Tony Cox as Widdle.
• Kevin Thompson as Chukha-Trok.
• Margarita Fernández as Kaink.
• Pam Grizz as Shodu.
• Bobby Bell as Logray.
• Burl Ives as Narrator (voice).
• Darryl Henriques as Wicket (voice) (as Daryl Henriquez).
• Sydney Walker as Deej (voice).

Production

Inception

George Lucas had allowed the Star Wars universe to be produced for television in 1978 with the Star Wars Holiday Special, which proved to be an embarrassment. Lucas assumed greater control over a planned half-hour television project about Ewoks. He hired Thomas G. Smith to produce the film, after Smith had stepped down as the manager of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) following his work on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Lucas also hired Bob Carrau, the nanny of his children, to co-write the story with him.

When shopping the film around, Smith discovered that none of the TV networks at the time were interested in airing a half-hour special, but ABC showed interest in a two-hour movie of the week; the project was expanded to fill the request. The producers initially conceived of the project as a cross between “Hansel and Gretel” and Tarzan of the Apes. John Korty, who had directed the Lucas-produced Twice Upon a Time, was selected as director.

Crew

Working from a story written by George Lucas and a screenplay by Bob Carrau, director John Korty transformed the scenic northern California redwood forests into the forest moon of Endor. Joe Johnston, an art director at ILM for years and one of the key concept artists of the classic Star Wars trilogy, acted as production designer and second-unit director. Prior to the movie’s release, Johnston also wrote and illustrated a book about Ewoks, The Adventures of Teebo: A Tale of Magic and Suspense.

Visual Effects

Both Ewok films were some of the last intensive stop-motion animation work ILM produced, as by the early 1980s, the technique was being replaced by go motion, an advanced form of animation with motorised puppets that move while the camera shutter is open. However, go motion was too expensive for the budgets of the Ewok films, so stop motion was used to realise creatures such as the Gorax.

The Ewok movies proved an opportunity for ILM to use a technique innovated for 2001: A Space Odyssey called latent image matte painting. In this technique, during live-action photography, a section of the camera lens is blocked off and remains unexposed. The film is rewound, the blocked areas reversed, and a painting crafted to occupy the space is photographed.

Music

The musical score for Caravan of Courage was composed by Peter Bernstein. Selections from the score were released on LP by Varèse Sarabande in 1986. The release was known simply as Ewoks and also contained cues from Bernstein’s score to the sequel Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.

Trivia

• During the production of Caravan of Courage, the children in the cast had to balance their school work with acting in the film. During their time on the set, Lucasfilm decided that it might be an educational and rewarding experience for the older children, Eric Walker (Mace) and Warwick Davis (Wicket), to be given their own camera to use between takes.
  • Calling themselves W&W Productions, Eric and Warwick shot a documentary of the making of the film, which was released to Eric’s YouTube channel in 2014.
• In 1985, Random House released a children’s book adaptation of The Ewok Adventure by Amy Ehrlich, titled The Ewoks and the Lost Children, which includes stills from the film.
• The Ewok Adventure was one of four films to be juried-awarded Emmys for Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 37th Primetime Emmy Awards.
• The film was additionally nominated for Outstanding Children’s Program but lost in this category to an episode of American Playhouse.

Star Wars Series

• Overview of the Star Wars Franchise.
• Overview of Star Wars Films.
  • Prequel Trilogy Overview (1999-2005).
  • Original Trilogy Overview (1977-1983).
  • Sequel Trilogy Overview (2015-2019).
• Overview of Star Wars Parodies.
• Overview of Star Wars TV Series.
• Overview of Star Wars Documentary Series.

Production & Filming Details

• Narrator(s): Burl Ives.
• Director(s): John Korty.
• Producer(s): George Lucas, Thomas G. Smith, and Patricia Rose Duignan.
• Writer(s): Bob Carrau (screenplay) and George Lucas (story).
• Music: Peter Bernstein.
• Cinematography: John Korty.
• Editor(s): John Nutt.
• Production: Lucasfilm, Korty Films, and 20th Century Fox Television.
• Distributor(s): 20th Century and Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
• Release Date: 25 November 1984.
• Running time: 97 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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