On the planet Endor, Cindel (Aubree Miller) and Wicket the Ewok (Warwick Davis) are forced to go on the run after a gang of marauders lead by Terak (Carel Struycken) capture the Ewoks and kill Cindel's family in pursuit of their starcrusier's power cell he believes we give him power. The two head off into the woods and meet a grumpy hermit named Noa (Wilford Brimley) who after a while reluctantly takes the two of them in, unaware that Terak seeks Cindel.
Following the strong success of Caravan of Courage, Lucas and company would seek to make another Ewok movie the following year with 1985's Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Lucas hired screenwriters/directors Ken and Jim Wheats after they had voiced their disappointment on Caravan of Courage, and while initially intended to focus on the entire family from the first one, Lucas had recently seen Heidi with his daughter and sought to make a similar story orphaning Cindel in the opening act and putting her in the care of an old man in the woods. In hindsight, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor has been seen as an improvement on Caravan of Courage, but while that may be true it's still not to any level that rises it above the bland mediocrity one tends to associate with either of these telefilms.
I do have to give credit for the sheer audacity with this movie in regards to killing off the entire family including Cindel's older brother Mace (albeit off camera) which actually warranted a viewer disclaimer back on its original broadcast. Unlike the original film I can't find viewing figures for Battle of Endor so I can't be certain what effect this darker tone had on its reception audience wise. The movie tries to add more vocal aspects to the story this time around with Wicket having acquired a rudimentary understanding of English (or whatever the Star Wars equivalent is) and more vocal protagonists such as Terak and Charal. The biggest addition is Wilford Brimley playing Noa and while it's a very clumsily written role on a stock character type it is elevated by having a reliable character actor like Brimley doing it. While the original film played itself as a fairy tale down to Burl Ives providing narration similar to a bedtime story, Battle for Endor tries to harken to more rough children's adventure stories like Swiss Family Robinson and Heidi and given that was the objective it does it about as well as it could've. Like the first movie there's a lot of meandering scenes that feel extremely padded but not to the same level of Caravan of Courage where the plot didn't actually start until about 45 minutes in, here the plot starts but then takes a break for a half hour until moving on again. The antagonists aren't interesting with Terak and the marauders basically being one note brutes intent on pillaging and plundering, and Charal while more interesting by default is just "there". I will say the effects and action sequences do show some improvement and expansion from the last film so props to Joe Johnston and Phil Tippett on that.
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is just more of the same, it's an inconsequential side story that's barely attached to the Star Wars universe even taking out the dubious continuity flubs of Wicket being able to speak here but not in Return of the Jedi. It's not that inventive, it's not that engaging, and it's pretty boring except for maybe when you see something weird on Endor. For franchise completionists only, anyone else: have a pillow and blanket on standby.
Following the strong success of Caravan of Courage, Lucas and company would seek to make another Ewok movie the following year with 1985's Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Lucas hired screenwriters/directors Ken and Jim Wheats after they had voiced their disappointment on Caravan of Courage, and while initially intended to focus on the entire family from the first one, Lucas had recently seen Heidi with his daughter and sought to make a similar story orphaning Cindel in the opening act and putting her in the care of an old man in the woods. In hindsight, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor has been seen as an improvement on Caravan of Courage, but while that may be true it's still not to any level that rises it above the bland mediocrity one tends to associate with either of these telefilms.
I do have to give credit for the sheer audacity with this movie in regards to killing off the entire family including Cindel's older brother Mace (albeit off camera) which actually warranted a viewer disclaimer back on its original broadcast. Unlike the original film I can't find viewing figures for Battle of Endor so I can't be certain what effect this darker tone had on its reception audience wise. The movie tries to add more vocal aspects to the story this time around with Wicket having acquired a rudimentary understanding of English (or whatever the Star Wars equivalent is) and more vocal protagonists such as Terak and Charal. The biggest addition is Wilford Brimley playing Noa and while it's a very clumsily written role on a stock character type it is elevated by having a reliable character actor like Brimley doing it. While the original film played itself as a fairy tale down to Burl Ives providing narration similar to a bedtime story, Battle for Endor tries to harken to more rough children's adventure stories like Swiss Family Robinson and Heidi and given that was the objective it does it about as well as it could've. Like the first movie there's a lot of meandering scenes that feel extremely padded but not to the same level of Caravan of Courage where the plot didn't actually start until about 45 minutes in, here the plot starts but then takes a break for a half hour until moving on again. The antagonists aren't interesting with Terak and the marauders basically being one note brutes intent on pillaging and plundering, and Charal while more interesting by default is just "there". I will say the effects and action sequences do show some improvement and expansion from the last film so props to Joe Johnston and Phil Tippett on that.
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is just more of the same, it's an inconsequential side story that's barely attached to the Star Wars universe even taking out the dubious continuity flubs of Wicket being able to speak here but not in Return of the Jedi. It's not that inventive, it's not that engaging, and it's pretty boring except for maybe when you see something weird on Endor. For franchise completionists only, anyone else: have a pillow and blanket on standby.