Ewoks
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Jon Favreau isn’t just diving into the dense mythology of the ‘Star Wars’ universe with ‘The Mandalorian’, he’s submerging himself in some of the deepest trenches, including the portions that most fans malign.  As we saw in the trailer for the series, the title mercenary carries the same weapon that Boba Fett had in the animated short presented in the obscure ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’, that was only aired once.  (That hasn’t kept it from being seen by every fan that wanted to.)  Now comes word that he has also included Easter Eggs for the two made-for-TV movies, ‘Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure’ and ‘Ewoks: The Battle for Endor’.

Speaking to MTV News, Favreau stated:

“For ‘The Battle for Endor’, we got you too.  We were inspired by that one. We got blurrgs, you know what blurrgs are? The blurrgs are these big, bi-pedal, huge piranha-like pack-animals that were stop-motion in ‘Caravan of Courage’ and I think ‘Battle for Endor’. And they only appeared there and they were the most awkward-looking creatures and we decided, ‘That’s gotta be in our show.’ So we have an Ugnaught riding a blurrg, you will see that. You will see that on ‘The Mandalorian’, that’s an exclusive.”

It appears that blurrgs were also depicted on ‘Clone Wars’.

‘The Ewok Adventure’ first aired on US television in 1984, following the release of ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 1983.  Despite that, it was set in between the events of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Jedi’.  The story followed the Ewoks as they helped human siblings, Cindel (Aubree Miller) and Mace (Eric Walker) Towani find their parents.  It was renamed ‘Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure’ when it was released in theaters in certain countries.

 

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That movie was followed in 1984 with ‘Ewoks: The Battle for Endor’ in which the Towanis, except for Cindel, are slaughtered!  In the sequel, Wickett and Cindel are taken under the care of Wilford Brimley as Noa Briqualon, who appears cantankerous at first, but later turns out to be grandfatherly and kind (as all Wilford Brimley characters do).  In the end, Noa and Cindel leave Endor, explaining why there was no sign of them in ‘Jedi’.

Despite all the murder, it seems as though these movies were made for kids.  George Lucas wrote both stories and served as executive producer.  Both movies were nominated for Emmy Awards, but generally speaking, ‘Star Wars’ fans hated them and neither is considered canon nowadays.

If Favreau keeps digging, Season 2 of ‘The Mandalorian’ might contain references to the ‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids’ cartoons!

‘The Mandalorian’ will be available when Disney+ launches on November 12.