Star Wars: Ewoks

I had heard about the "Ewoks" animated series, but actually never had the opportunity to get to sit down to watch it. Not before now in 2021, and with my love for "Star Wars", of course I sat down to watch the two seasons of "Ewoks" as the chance presented itself.

Well, "Ewoks" was first and foremost a children's cartoon series, no doubt about it. And the only association that it had to the "Star Wars" movies were the fact that the characters in the show were ewoks - as seen in "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi", and a single episode in season 2 that showed a Star Destroyer and some Stormtroopers. Aside from these minor things, then "Ewoks" was just another random Saturday morning children's cartoon show, much akin to the likes of the "Gummi Bears" animated series. Yeah, I kid you not.

Throughout the two seasons we are presented to an abundance of strange creatures that apparently live on Endor, but never were seen in the "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" movie, for some reason. And the ewoks in the series were speaking English.

Sure, "Ewoks" was a cute enough series, and one that is very suited for a young audience, no doubt about it. But if you sit down to watch "Ewoks" with the "Star Wars" mindset and hopes of getting something reminiscent to the ewoks in "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi", then you are in for a rude awakening. Especially since there was no "Star Wars" feeling here.

I found the series to be watchable, but there was just too much goofiness and silly shenanigans going on to take it serious, and most of the characters were just so spaced out that it went way beyond what you'd find in "Star Wars". So yeah, "Ewoks" is a children's show, no doubt about it.

I am rating "Ewoks" a four out of ten stars. I managed to sit through all episodes of the two seasons, as this was with the ewok characters after all. But this is hardly something I would return to watch a second time.

Ewoks is perhaps one of the best Star Wars spin-offs.

Rather than focusing on interplanetary politics or Jedi superpowers, Ewoks is a great adventure series set around the relatively primative furry creatures we first met in Return of the Jedi.

Each episode tends to tell the tale of a completely new problem for the Ewoks to overcome. There are recurring antagonists, of course, but the nature of the show is possibly best described by comparing it to other, similar cartoons. Immediate comparisons that spring to mind are Thundercats, Gummi Bears and Masters of the Universe.

Magic, adventure with a sprinkling of swashbuckling, bizarre creatures, and thoughtful, kind and wholesome heroes is what you'll find in an episode of Ewoks.

Good stuff.

It's honestly hard to defend this series, even from a nostalgic point of view. The first season, while far from good, at least tried to deliver small adventures on Endor's forest moon with a touch of charm. It didn't shine in terms of animation or writing, but it had some rhythm and introduced characters like Wicket, Kneesaa or Teebo in a friendly way. The real issue is the second season, which throws everything remotely decent out the window. The designs get worse, the settings feel overly simplified, and the tone becomes even more childish-borderline preschool level. It's hard to believe something so clumsy is officially part of the Star Wars universe.

Still, as weak as it is, there's some merit to its place in Star Wars' expanded history. For many, this was their first encounter with the saga as kids, which explains the affection some fans still hold. But watching it today, especially compared to any modern Star Wars content, Ewoks feels outdated, repetitive, and directionless. Only worth watching out of pure curiosity or galactic completism.

This and "Droids" are both good cartoons for kids. I enjoyed them growing up & while I am glad they released something of them on DVD, I am a little disappointed that Lucasfilm did not just release a box set of the complete series. I think trying to make them into "features" by editing 4 episodes together is a big mistake. It's a lot harder to pop 1 in for 30 minutes. Personally I miss that the original goofy opening is not available (even as a special feature) on the DVD.

However it is still nice to finally have something of them available to show the kids. The best thing about these cartoons is that they are targeted for the younger kids, and every episode centers around some character trait like responsibility, making new friends, etc. They concentrate on what character development would be for a 5 to 10 year old, and they keep violent confrontations to a minimum, even when the Ewoks are challenged by the witch or the Duloks.

While I remember the second season of Ewoks being far less enjoyable than the first, it is still 1000 times better than the drivel served up by the likes of today's after school mainstays: Pokemon & yu-gi-oh. It seems every kid show these days is trying to sell junky cards or is targeted for older teens. There are very few real kid shows (like this one) available.

I WISH Lucasfilm would release a real box set of this series while my kids are still young enough to enjoy them.

It's hard to rate something when you're clearly not the target audience but as someone who's on a mission to "complete Star Wars", I left this series to last.

As an adult, it's utterly painful. As a kid it may be entertaining enough I guess.

For those wondering, it adds absolutely nothing to the "The Star Wars story" but I don't believe that it was ever intended to. At least in Droids there were some (although not many) references to Star Wars. In Ewoks, there's absolutely none. None of the creatures, music, environment, music, nothing. At least the films had a little bit of Star Wars in them.