Battle for Endor picks up after the primary Ewok movie and fortunately requires little information of the primary one to get pleasure from it. All it’s essential to know is that little lady Cindel’s (Aubree Miller) household was stranded on Endor and so they befriended the Ewoks. Their village is attacked by the forces of Terak (Carel Struycken), an evil warlord who instructions a military of marauders. They kill anybody of their path, together with Cindel’s whole household. Yep, inside the first 10 minutes, a bit of lady watches her whole household get slaughtered with solely Wicket’s creepy furball face to consolation her. I’d be tousled too.
The Ewok tribe’s captured however Cindel and Wicket handle to flee, assembly the playful creature Teek (Niki Botelho) and his caretaker, the grumpy Noa (Brimley). Noa is initially reluctant to supply help, however can’t assist coming to take care of the now orphaned Cindel. When Cindel’s captured by Terak’s right-hand witch Charal (Sian Phillips), Noa and Wicket should save her and the opposite Ewoks.
Airing in 1985 on ABC, Battle for Endor is a stupendous instance of early post-Authentic Trilogy weirdness, an experiment in making an attempt a unique tone and magnificence for the franchise. Lately, doing a full on fantasy model Star Wars film, full with a witch utilizing a magic ring to show right into a raven, a medieval fort, and a fascinating white horse (not even an area horse!) can be unattainable. The Star Wars model has turn into too codified. We’ll by no means get one thing like this within the franchise ever once more and that makes this all of the extra particular.
On the one hand, that is very a lot a youngsters film. There are lengthy stretches with Cindel and Wicket touring throughout the land, together with an imaginative sequence the place Wicket makes a grasp glider. Cindel sings a bit of track to Noa. There’s guffawing and pie consuming. Noa features because the grumpy previous man who doesn’t need something to do with strangers or to make buddies earlier than his coronary heart melts at Cindel’s plight. It’s all proper out of a kids’s fantasy novel. The gang even sneaks previous some guards by pulling a Muppet Man!
However, this film goes a lot more durable than it must. Cindel watching her household die and the nightmares that plagued her are surprising and unsettling. Noa comes head to head with the skeleton of the one (in all probability human) good friend he had on Endor. Charal is pressured to stay the remainder of her life as a raven. Within the movie’s most stark and hanging little bit of “that is speculated to be a youngsters film,” Wicket makes Terak activate the magic ring just for it to incinerate the warlord right into a corpse.
Some may name this “tonal whiplash” or “inappropriate for youngsters,” nevertheless it actually works. It provides you the sensation of studying the unique variations of traditional fairytales the place characters would have horrific penalties for his or her actions so as to actually drive dwelling the teachings of the story. And are available on, if I noticed Terak get smoked like that as a child? I’d have cheered or delightfully screamed, “gross!”
