Ewoks

Ewoks are an extraterrestrial race featured in the Star Wars film franchise. They were introduced in the 1983 movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Two live-action television movies were produced by Lucasfilm focusing on Ewoks. The first was The Ewok Adventure, which first aired on November 25th, 1984. This was followed by Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, which aired on November 24th, 1985. Ewoks were also the central characters of their own Ewoks animated television series which ran for two seasons from 1985 to 1987. Comic book publishing house Marvel Comics produced an Ewoks comic book series under their Star Comics imprint. The series ran for fourteen issues between May, 1985 to July, 1987. Each issue contained multiple stories. Kenner Toys created several Ewok action figures as part of their Return of the Jedi series as well as the Ewok Village playset and several accessories. Merchandise was also produced for the Ewoks animated series, all of which are considered quite valuable to collectors.

Description
Ewoks are a sentient race of fur-covered, bipedal creatures indiginous to the forest moon of Endor. A curious bear-like race, standing approximately 1-meter tall, they are furtive, quick-thinking omnivores who live in huts built into the branches of large trees. Technologically, the Ewoks are rather primitive, though they are quick to adapt and are known to be mechanically inclined. They are a hunter-gatherer species and use rudimentary weapons such as spears and slings to capture prey. They have been known to create more advanced weaponry such as catapults, hang-gliders and basic siege weapons. Ewoks are a spiritually religious people who worship various deities and spirits that live within the trees. Each tribe is presided over by a chief and a shaman.

The Battle of Endor
Sometime prior to 4 ABY, the Galactic Empire established an outpost on the forest moon, which also housed a shield generator bunker, which was required to power the massive force field for the orbiting battle station, Death Star II. The Ewoks were largely ignored by the Empire, who did not feel as if they presented a viable threat to them.

A contingent of Rebel Alliance forces, which included notable heroes such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa came to Endor on a mission to deactivate the shield generator, thus enabling the Alliance fleet to stage an attack against the Death Star. Princess Leia was the first among the group to make contact with the Ewoks and met a young Ewok named Wicket. Wicket quickly took a liking to Princess Leia and helped her to fight off an Imperial biker scout. Afterward, he brought her back to Bright Tree Village.

The other members of the landing party were not as fortunate as Princess Leia however. Chewbacca the Wookiee inadvertently set off a snare trap and Luke, Han, the droids C-3PO, R2-D2 and he were caught up in a large net. Artoo cut them down, but they quickly discovered that they were surrounded by spear-waving Ewoks. When the Ewoks saw the glimmering golden sheen of C-3PO however, they believed that he was a godlike being and immediately dropped to their knees and began chanting. The Ewoks brought the group back to their village where Han and Luke were going to be offered up as a sacrifice to their new god. With some help from the Force, Luke and Threepio convinced the Ewoks to let them go. Threepio was able to interpret the Ewok language and explained their situation to them. After an evening of story-telling, the Ewoks openly accepted the members of the Rebel Alliance, officially making them part of the tribe. Bright Tree Village's leader, Chief Chirpa, committed himself towards helping the Rebel Alliance fight off the Empire.

Emperor Palpatine already knew about the Rebel's mission to take out the shield generator and preempted their efforts by assigning an entire legion of his best troops to intercept them. The Ewoks assisted the Rebels against the Empire's Imperial Stormtroopers and proved to be valiant fighters. Remarkably, they were able to emerge victorious against the armor-clad soldiers using little more than stone-level technology. The Rebels and their new friends scored a resounding victory over their adversaries with very few Ewok casualties. With the shield generator down, the Rebel fleet were able to successfully stage an attack against the Death Star and destroy it. Afterward, a large celebration was held in Bright Tree Village.

Notes & Trivia

 * Originally, George Lucas intended on using wookiees in Return of the Jedi instead of Ewoks, but as the story concept progressed, he decided to "cut the wookiees in half" and made them Ewoks instead. The name Ewok is a half-anagram for wookiee. The name itself was actually inspired by the Miwok Native American tribe.


 * The Ewok language, which C-3PO refers to as a primitive dialect is called Ewokese.


 * Ewok young are called Woklings.


 * A version of Ewoks were presented in the 2010 animated spoof Family Guy: It's a Trap!. In the episode, Ewoks are actually presented as talking bears. In one scene, several Imperial Stormtroopers get into a pillow fight using Ewoks. In another scene, one Ewok turns to cannibalism after his fellow Ewok is downed by laser fire.


 * A representation of Bright Tree Village was built as part of the Star Tours motion-simulator ride attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.