Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
Encyclopedia
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is a 1985 made-for-TV movie
set in the Star Wars
galaxy
. A sequel
to Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
, it focuses on Cindel Towani, the little girl from the first film, who, after being orphaned, joins the Ewoks in protecting their village and defeating the evil marauders who have taken control of the Endor moon
.
and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
. Nearly six months have passed since the events of the first film, and the Towani family's starcruiser is almost completely fixed, and Jeremitt is putting the final touches on the craft.
Cindel and Wicket have been walking in the forest together, picking flowers. Wicket has picked up some English (Basic, as it is called in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
) from Cindel and her family.
With the other Ewoks' help, the two escape from the carriage, pursued by a few marauders, eventually hiding in a cave in a nearby mountain. Wicket builds a hang glider for them to escape from the only other cave opening. A dragon-like creature in the cave is disturbed by their activities and attacks them, taking Cindel as it flies from the cave mouth. Wicket follows with the glider and saves her, though they both crash back to the forest below. They hide again in a hollow tree and awaken the next morning to meet Teek, a speedy creature also native to the forest moon.
Learning that they need food, Teek takes Wicket and Cindel to the home of Noa Briqualon, a human man who has also been stranded there. When he arrives home to find Wicket and Cindel in his house, uninvited (at least by him), he is angered and throws them out. Teek sneaks them some food, using his incredible speed, which Noa allows, since he really is not the "mean old man" he had appeared to be. When Wicket and Cindel try to start a fire for warmth, Noa invites them in. That night, Cindel has a dream that the marauders have come for her. She awakens with a start, and once again, Noa shows his fatherly nature in calming her.
At the marauders' castle, Charal tries to use her magic to draw "the power" from the energy cell, to no avail. She is ordered by Terak to find Cindel, for she must know how to use "the power." Noa returns home later in the day with a surprise - a new bed for Wicket and Cindel. They return the favor with a surprise of their own - enough of a type of flower to make a pie. He allows them to stay another night. When Noa leaves the next day, they follow him and discover he has a starship of his own, which he is repairing. It appears that he and his friend Salak crashed on the planet years before, and the crash destroyed their power drive crystal, and Salak went to find another, never to return. Now that Noa has the ship repaired as best he can, all he needs is a power drive crystal like the energy cell Telak captured from the Towanis.
That evening, Cindel tells Noa of her family and their adventures thus far on Endor. As Noa, Wicket, and Teek sleep the next morning, Cindel is awakened by the sound of a woman singing a song her mother used to sing to her. She follows the voice to find a beautiful woman. Wicket finds that she is gone and he and the others race to Cindel, but arrive too late.
The woman transforms into Charal, who takes Cindel prisoner and brings her before Terak, who orders her to activate "the power." When she cannot, she and Charal are both imprisoned with the Ewoks. While Noa, Wicket, and Teek make their way to the castle to free Cindel and the other Ewoks, Charal tells Cindel that it was Noa's friend Salak (now lying dead, as a skeleton, in the cellblock) who spoke of "the power" to be found in the energy cells. Terak killed him for not turning over that power. Outside, the trio of unlikely heroes sneak into the castle, making their way to the cellblock, where they free Cindel and the other Ewoks. A marauder sounds an alarm bell, and as the marauders head for the cellblock, Noa blasts a hole in the wall to escape through.
As they escape, Cindel mentions the fate of Salak, prompting Noa to take the energy cell with them. Terak frees Charal to help him find Noa's ship. The marauders trace them back to the ship, where Wicket leads the Ewoks in defense of the ship, and Noa tries the captured energy cell to get his ship up and running. The Ewoks put up a valiant effort, and are nearly beaten by the time Noa powers up the ship and uses the its laser cannons to fend off the marauders. When Cindel goes to save Wicket, she is captured by Terak, even as the other marauders retreat. Terak releases Cindel as he and Noa fight for the energy cell. Noa is nearly killed, but Wicket uses a rock sling to hit a ring Terak is wearing on a string around his neck - the ring that allowed Charal to change forms, which he had taken from her to keep her in raven form so she could track the group without betraying him. The ring proves to be his downfall, as its released power burns him to a crisp. Charal flies away forever trapped in raven form.
Shortly thereafter, goodbyes are said as Noa and Cindel leave the forest moon of Endor aboard Noa's starship.
Lucas’ involvement primarily was in the design and editing stages, according to Wheat.
The Ewok movies proved an opportunity for Industrial Light & Magic to hone a new technique in photographing matte paintings, called latent image matte painting. In this technique, during live action photography, a section of the camera's lens blocked off, remaining unexposed, and a painting would be crafted to occupy that space. The film would then be rewound, the blocked areas reversed, and the painting photographed. Since the painting now existed on the original film, there would be no generational quality loss.
The Ewok films introduced a variety of lifeforms to Endor. The giant Gorax had packs of deadly boar-wolves that prowled the forest floor. Hunting the skies of the moon is the leathery condor dragon. The Maurauders ride atop dim-witted blurrgs, dinosaur-like beasts of burden. The scout Noa has a little rodent-like companion named Teek who could run at blindingly fast speeds. The films also had more earthen animals - ferrets, llamas and horses. The film also features dialogue referring to Earth, being where Mace and Cindel are originally from.
While fans have speculated about this, one possible explanation was given by the official Star Wars website, which stated that the language Cindel spoke could actually have been a different language than Basic, and it was merely translated to English in the film, for the audience to understand. Thus, Wicket does not understand what Princess Leia is saying when those two meet. Also featured extensively in the films was Ewokese, the language developed by Ben Burtt for the Ewoks. A similar explanation to this was later given by Star Wars prequel trilogy producer, Rick McCallum
.
The use of what is seemingly Basic by the Ewoks was also seen in the Ewoks animated series.
However the new release of Return of the Jedi contains a scene at the end of the movie where the Ewok woodsman Chukha-Trok is present at the celebration in the Ewok village after the downfall of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the second Death Star. If Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure came before Return of the Jedi it is logical that Chukha-Trok should not have been in this scene since he was supposed to be dead.
composed the film's music, and 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 Ewok Adventure.
. Many times, the characters, locations, or other elements are elaborated on in greater detail.
The title is an allusion to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by C. S. Lewis
, and maybe influenced by its Inklings
' companion J. R. R. Tolkien
's The Lord of the Rings
and Jim Henson
's The Dark Crystal
.
TV special on November 24, 1985. It was later released on VHS
and Laserdisc
in 1990 through MGM Home Video
.
The film was released on DVD with its predecessor as a double feature collection entitled Star Wars: Ewok Adventures on November 23, 2004. The release was a single double-sided disc, with one film on each side.
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
set in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
galaxy
Star Wars Galaxy
Star Wars Galaxy may mean:* Star Wars Galaxies, a Star Wars themed MMORPG platform for Microsoft Windows* Star Wars galaxy, the fictional galaxy where the setting of the Star Wars saga occurs...
. A sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
For the series of road trips travelled by Hamish and Andy see:Caravan Of Courage The Ewok Adventure is a 1984 American made-for-TV film based in the Star Wars setting. It was released theatrically in Europe as Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, and is known by that title today...
, it focuses on Cindel Towani, the little girl from the first film, who, after being orphaned, joins the Ewoks in protecting their village and defeating the evil marauders who have taken control of the Endor moon
Forest moon of Endor
The second moon of Endor, also referred to as the forest moon of Endor, or sanctuary moon, is a moon in the Star Wars universe. It appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as the home to the Ewoks, and is the body over which the second Death Star is constructed...
.
Setting
The film is set sometime after the Ewoks animated series, and sometime between Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
. Nearly six months have passed since the events of the first film, and the Towani family's starcruiser is almost completely fixed, and Jeremitt is putting the final touches on the craft.
Cindel and Wicket have been walking in the forest together, picking flowers. Wicket has picked up some English (Basic, as it is called in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Star Wars Expanded Universe
The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...
) from Cindel and her family.
Plot
On the forest moon of Endor, the Towani family (Jeremitt, Catrine, Mace, and Cindel) prepare to leave. Repairs are nearing completion on their crashed star cruiser. As Jeremitt works on the ship, the Ewok village is attacked by a group of marauders (originally crash landed from Sanyassa) led by Terak and his witch-like sorceress Charal. Many Ewoks are killed, along with Catrine and Mace. Terak confronts Jeremitt at the ship wanting "the power", the power cell for the star cruiser. Terak takes the cell and kills Jeremitt. Cindel escapes while Ewoks are gathered up to be taken back to the marauder's castle. Cindel's escape is short-lived, though, as she is captured by Charal and placed in a prisoner carriage, where she is reunited with Wicket.With the other Ewoks' help, the two escape from the carriage, pursued by a few marauders, eventually hiding in a cave in a nearby mountain. Wicket builds a hang glider for them to escape from the only other cave opening. A dragon-like creature in the cave is disturbed by their activities and attacks them, taking Cindel as it flies from the cave mouth. Wicket follows with the glider and saves her, though they both crash back to the forest below. They hide again in a hollow tree and awaken the next morning to meet Teek, a speedy creature also native to the forest moon.
Learning that they need food, Teek takes Wicket and Cindel to the home of Noa Briqualon, a human man who has also been stranded there. When he arrives home to find Wicket and Cindel in his house, uninvited (at least by him), he is angered and throws them out. Teek sneaks them some food, using his incredible speed, which Noa allows, since he really is not the "mean old man" he had appeared to be. When Wicket and Cindel try to start a fire for warmth, Noa invites them in. That night, Cindel has a dream that the marauders have come for her. She awakens with a start, and once again, Noa shows his fatherly nature in calming her.
At the marauders' castle, Charal tries to use her magic to draw "the power" from the energy cell, to no avail. She is ordered by Terak to find Cindel, for she must know how to use "the power." Noa returns home later in the day with a surprise - a new bed for Wicket and Cindel. They return the favor with a surprise of their own - enough of a type of flower to make a pie. He allows them to stay another night. When Noa leaves the next day, they follow him and discover he has a starship of his own, which he is repairing. It appears that he and his friend Salak crashed on the planet years before, and the crash destroyed their power drive crystal, and Salak went to find another, never to return. Now that Noa has the ship repaired as best he can, all he needs is a power drive crystal like the energy cell Telak captured from the Towanis.
That evening, Cindel tells Noa of her family and their adventures thus far on Endor. As Noa, Wicket, and Teek sleep the next morning, Cindel is awakened by the sound of a woman singing a song her mother used to sing to her. She follows the voice to find a beautiful woman. Wicket finds that she is gone and he and the others race to Cindel, but arrive too late.
The woman transforms into Charal, who takes Cindel prisoner and brings her before Terak, who orders her to activate "the power." When she cannot, she and Charal are both imprisoned with the Ewoks. While Noa, Wicket, and Teek make their way to the castle to free Cindel and the other Ewoks, Charal tells Cindel that it was Noa's friend Salak (now lying dead, as a skeleton, in the cellblock) who spoke of "the power" to be found in the energy cells. Terak killed him for not turning over that power. Outside, the trio of unlikely heroes sneak into the castle, making their way to the cellblock, where they free Cindel and the other Ewoks. A marauder sounds an alarm bell, and as the marauders head for the cellblock, Noa blasts a hole in the wall to escape through.
As they escape, Cindel mentions the fate of Salak, prompting Noa to take the energy cell with them. Terak frees Charal to help him find Noa's ship. The marauders trace them back to the ship, where Wicket leads the Ewoks in defense of the ship, and Noa tries the captured energy cell to get his ship up and running. The Ewoks put up a valiant effort, and are nearly beaten by the time Noa powers up the ship and uses the its laser cannons to fend off the marauders. When Cindel goes to save Wicket, she is captured by Terak, even as the other marauders retreat. Terak releases Cindel as he and Noa fight for the energy cell. Noa is nearly killed, but Wicket uses a rock sling to hit a ring Terak is wearing on a string around his neck - the ring that allowed Charal to change forms, which he had taken from her to keep her in raven form so she could track the group without betraying him. The ring proves to be his downfall, as its released power burns him to a crisp. Charal flies away forever trapped in raven form.
Shortly thereafter, goodbyes are said as Noa and Cindel leave the forest moon of Endor aboard Noa's starship.
Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Wilford Brimley Wilford Brimley Allen Wilford Brimley is an American actor. He has appeared in such films as The China Syndrome, Cocoon, The Thing and The Firm. He had a recurring role on the 1970s television series The Waltons... |
Noa |
| Warwick Davis Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis is an English actor. He is most notable for playing the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, as well as for his roles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Harry Potter movies. Davis currently stars in the sitcom Life's Too Short, written... |
Wicket |
| Aubree Miller Aubree Miller Aubree Miller is an American actress. Aubree Miller has starred in the films Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor , where she portrayed the young Cindel Towani.She currently works and resides in Chico, California.Briefly dated film maker Patrick McMahill in the... |
Cindel |
| Siân Phillips Siân Phillips Jane Elizabeth Ailwên "Siân" Phillips, CBE, is a Welsh actress.-Early life:Phillips was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, the daughter of Sally , a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker-turned-policeman... |
Charal |
| Carel Struycken Carel Struycken Carel Struycken is a Dutch film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for playing Mr. Homn on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Lurch in the films The Addams Family and Addams Family Values... |
Terak |
| Niki Botelho | Teek |
| Paul Gleason Paul Gleason Paul Xavier Gleason was an American film and television actor, known for his roles on TV series such as All My Children and films such as The Breakfast Club, Trading Places and Die Hard.-Early life:... |
Jeremitt |
| Eric Walker | Mace |
| Marianne Horine | Young Witch |
| Daniel Frishman | Deej |
| Tony Cox | Willy |
| Pam Grizz | Shodu |
| Roger Johnson | Lieutenant |
| Michael Pritchard | Card Player #1 |
| Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven... Jr. |
Card Player #2 |
| Matthew Roloff Matthew Roloff Matthew James Roloff is an actor, author, farmer and businessman, best known for participating with his family in the reality television program Little People, Big World seen on TLC. The show featured the Roloffs' daily life... |
Ewok with Crutches |
Creation and crew
The film, shot in summer 1985 in Marin County, California, was directed by Jim and Ken Wheat, executive produced by Lucas, and written by the Wheat brothers, based on a story written by Lucas. Co-director Ken Wheat explained the production and inspiration of the film in an interview with EON Magazine:Lucas’ involvement primarily was in the design and editing stages, according to Wheat.
Effects
Both Ewok films were some of the last intensive stop-motion animation work Industrial Light & Magic produced, as in the early 80s, the technique was being replaced by go-motion animation, a more advanced form with motorized articulated puppets that moved while the camera shutter was open, capturing motion blur in the otherwise static puppet, eliminating the harsh staccato movement often associated with stop-motion. However, the budgets of the Ewok films were such that go-motion was simply too expensive for the projects, so stop-motion was used to realize creatures such as the condor dragon, the blurrgs, and the boar-wolves.The Ewok movies proved an opportunity for Industrial Light & Magic to hone a new technique in photographing matte paintings, called latent image matte painting. In this technique, during live action photography, a section of the camera's lens blocked off, remaining unexposed, and a painting would be crafted to occupy that space. The film would then be rewound, the blocked areas reversed, and the painting photographed. Since the painting now existed on the original film, there would be no generational quality loss.
Selected plot elements
While the original Star Wars trilogy only had the Force, magic and mysticism were quite prevalent in the Ewok films. Witches, wizards, giants and fairies filled the forests of Endor - Logray uses a magical spinning lantern to divine the location of the missing Towani parents; an enchanted lake momentarily traps Mace behind an unbreakable barrier; the Ewok priestess Kaink carries a magical staff capable of mesmerizing animals. In Ewoks: Battle for Endor, the evil witch Charal dons a magical ring that allows her to change shape into a raven.The Ewok films introduced a variety of lifeforms to Endor. The giant Gorax had packs of deadly boar-wolves that prowled the forest floor. Hunting the skies of the moon is the leathery condor dragon. The Maurauders ride atop dim-witted blurrgs, dinosaur-like beasts of burden. The scout Noa has a little rodent-like companion named Teek who could run at blindingly fast speeds. The films also had more earthen animals - ferrets, llamas and horses. The film also features dialogue referring to Earth, being where Mace and Cindel are originally from.
Alleged continuity issues
Disputes in Star Wars fandom have arisen over the fact that the official Star Wars continuity places the two Ewok Films before Return of the Jedi. Since Wicket is shown to understand what is observed as English-Basic in Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, his inability to speak or even understand Basic to Princess Leia when he runs into her in Return of the Jedi is seen as problematic. According to the official timeline, he would have understood her, despite the fact that he does not appear to.While fans have speculated about this, one possible explanation was given by the official Star Wars website, which stated that the language Cindel spoke could actually have been a different language than Basic, and it was merely translated to English in the film, for the audience to understand. Thus, Wicket does not understand what Princess Leia is saying when those two meet. Also featured extensively in the films was Ewokese, the language developed by Ben Burtt for the Ewoks. A similar explanation to this was later given by Star Wars prequel trilogy producer, Rick McCallum
Rick McCallum
Richard "Rick" McCallum is a German-born American film producer mostly known for his work on the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as well as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition and prequel trilogy...
.
The use of what is seemingly Basic by the Ewoks was also seen in the Ewoks animated series.
However the new release of Return of the Jedi contains a scene at the end of the movie where the Ewok woodsman Chukha-Trok is present at the celebration in the Ewok village after the downfall of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the second Death Star. If Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure came before Return of the Jedi it is logical that Chukha-Trok should not have been in this scene since he was supposed to be dead.
Alternative versions
- In a home video release, the following two scenes were deleted: when being chased by Terak's men, Wicket races for Noa's house but Noa tells him the only chance they have got is the star cruiser. Then a scene that happened shortly after where the men went inside and burned down Noa's house.
- When Cindel has a nightmare about bad guys coming into Noa's house, a scene was cut from the television broadcast, in which Cindel rushes to Noa's bed to wake him up, but instead finds Terak in the bed and wakes up. The television version just shows Cindel waking up after the men break in.
- Cindel's lines: "Do something, Wicket! Use your sling! You hit the ring!" have been altered to "Do something, Wicket! Do something!" for the DVD release.
- In the original TV broadcast of the film, the end credits rolled over the final scene, but all home-video releases of the film have the end credits rolling after the final scene, and the credits roll over a traditional black background.
Soundtrack
Peter BernsteinPeter Bernstein (composer)
Peter Bernstein is an American film score composer, and is the son of Academy Award-winning composer Elmer Bernstein, with whom he has frequently collaborated....
composed the film's music, and selections from the score were released on LP by Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
in 1986. The release was known simply as Ewoks, and also contained cues from Bernstein's score to The Ewok Adventure.
Sequels
According to an interview with Warwick Davis, a second sequel to the original film, known only as "Ewoks III", was in at least the planning stages around the late eighties, but the project has been shown to have never come through. The plot of the film, if one was ever developed, was never published.Later Expanded Universe appearances
Since the release of The Battle for Endor in 1985, several elements from the film have gone on to appear in other works from the Star Wars Expanded UniverseStar Wars Expanded Universe
The Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...
. Many times, the characters, locations, or other elements are elaborated on in greater detail.
- Star Wars: EwoksStar Wars: EwoksStar Wars: Ewoks is an American/Canadian animated television series featuring the Ewok characters introduced in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
(1985-1987) was an ABC animated series featuring the Ewoks that ran for two seasons. A follow-up to the two films, it incorporated several elements introduced in the two Ewok films, such as the appearance of Queen Izarina of the fairies.
- Tyrant's Test (1996) - According to the official continuity of the Star Wars Expanded UniverseStar Wars Expanded UniverseThe Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses all of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas. The expanded universe includes books, comic books, video games, spin-off films like Star Wars: The Clone Wars,...
, the character of Cindel Towani went on to appear in Tyrant's Test, the third book of Michael P. Kube-McDowellMichael P. Kube-McDowellMichael Paul Kube-McDowell is a science fiction novelist. He has also dabbled in music, written for television, been a stringer for a daily newspaper, and published short fiction, reviews, assorted nonfiction and erotica. He was honored for teaching excellence by the 1985 White House Commission on...
's Star Wars book series, The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy. In the novel, set over ten years after The Battle for Endor, Cindel is shown to have grown to become a reporter on CoruscantCoruscantCoruscant is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. It first appeared onscreen in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, but was first mentioned in Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire...
. During the Yevethan crisis, Cindel received the so-called Plat Mallar tapes from Admiral Drayson, and leaked the story of the only survivor of the Yevethan attack of Polneye. The report was meant to garner sympathy among the people of the New RepublicNew Republic (Star Wars)The New Republic is a government in the fictional Star Wars universe.When the Rebel Alliance re-established the Old Galactic Republic after the downfall of the Galactic Empire, it became known as the New Republic, just as the original Galactic Republic had become known as the Old Republic by that...
and the Senate and it worked. The Expanded Universe timeline states Cindel decided to join the New Republic and go into journalismJournalismJournalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
after witnessing the Battle of Endor. - The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (1997) by Kevin J. AndersonKevin J. AndersonKevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
explains the origins of Charal in relation to The Courtship of Princess Leia, in that it reveals that the Nightsisters were a group of rogue Jedi, who learned to twist the Force to produce magical results. Since this particular use of the Force contradicted the beliefs of the Jedi order, the Nightsisters were banished from the order, and sent to their own planet. It is revealed that Charal, the witch who kidnaps Cindel in The Battle for Endor, is one of these Nightsisters, and was once a Jedi. - HoloNet issue #49 (2002) was an issue of the in-universe news report. In the "regional" section of this issue, the article "Moddell Starship Search Abandoned", explains that the search has been called off for the rescue of Salek Weet and Noa Briqualon, which had been funded by Salek's father, Jimke Weet. The search was said to have been called off due to the fact that Jimke had to file bankruptcy due to his expenses in the search.
- Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (2003) is a MMORPGMMORPGMassively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
. In the game, when exploring the forest moon of EndorForest moon of EndorThe second moon of Endor, also referred to as the forest moon of Endor, or sanctuary moon, is a moon in the Star Wars universe. It appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as the home to the Ewoks, and is the body over which the second Death Star is constructed...
, the player can run across the base of the Sanyassan Marauders, who were originally seen in The Battle for Endor. The player may also encounter the Nightsisters, of whom Charal was a member. - Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds (2004) was a sourcebookSourcebookThe term sourcebook is used to describe many different kinds of books such as collections of core articles , bibliographies, biographies, printed archival sources, directories and so on...
for the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. In it, Terak's son Zakul takes over rule of his Marauders after Terak's death. The book gives Terak's bio and stats. It explains his death, and the rise of his son, Zakul.
Adaptations
In 1986, Random House published a children's book adaptation of The Battle for Endor called The Ring, the Witch, and the Crystal: An Ewok Adventure. The book was written by Cathy East Dubowski, and utilized the film's story and images from the film.The title is an allusion to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. Although it was written and published first, it is second in the series'...
by C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, and maybe influenced by its Inklings
Inklings
The Inklings was an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford, England, for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who praised the value of narrative in fiction, and encouraged the writing of fantasy...
' companion J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
's The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal is a 1982 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Although marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking. The primary concept artist was the...
.
Release
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor initially premiered as an ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
TV special on November 24, 1985. It was later released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in 1990 through MGM Home Video
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
.
The film was released on DVD with its predecessor as a double feature collection entitled Star Wars: Ewok Adventures on November 23, 2004. The release was a single double-sided disc, with one film on each side.
Features
- Presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio
- Available Subtitles: English
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)