SHOOTING EWOKS - Rare Star Wars Footage (1982)

Drive along Highway 99 on the North West coast of California and 9 miles east of Crescent City, you’ll find Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. In April 1982, this was where Lucasfilm created The Forest Moon of Endor and shot the Ewok scenes for Star Wars Episode 5: The Return of the Jedi.
The Ewoks, however, began their journey months earlier at Elstree Studios in the UK. This was where Stuart Freeborn and his talented, creative team in the makeup department, designed, developed and refined the look of many Star Wars creatures including the Ewoks.
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Original footage:
Star Wars Classic Creatures Return Of The Jedi (1983)
• Star Wars Classic Crea...
When Star Wars Ruled The World
• Video
Lonely Redwoods | Super 8mm Film shot on Yashica Sound 50XL
• Lonely Redwoods | Supe...
#StarWars​​​ #ReturnoftheJedi​​ #BehindTheScenes​​​
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© Lucasfilm Ltd. No copyright infringment is intended.

[@lloydshanahan154]

So here's the story behind the Ewok's creation from what I have researched. When George Lucas originally wrote Star Wars he planned to have the climax revolve around a battle between a primitive society vs the Empire's forces. Because he wanted to re-enforce that the Empire's reliance on high technology led to their downfall because thanks to said high technology, they no longer had the human spirit. But when he actually made Star Wars he had to remove this battle in favor of just a space battle due to the low budget. Since the primitives in his original draft were wookies, he wanted to have Han's co-pilot be a wookie since felt there was a chance Star Wars could fail and the rest of his story may never be green lit. Star Wars is a mega hit and the rest is history. When George wrote the first story treatment for Return of the Jedi in 1980 and decided it would be the final chapter of a trilogy, he wanted to bring his original battle back. But he decided to replace the wookies with new creatures because he wanted the climax to be a primitive society vs an advanced army and Chewie was established as tech-savy. (and the Holiday special established wookies as tech-savy even more). So he decided to make the new creatures be small and less intimidating, Since he wanted to recapture what he did with Yoda in Empire Strikes Back but do the whole "size matters not" lesson in a way so that Luke's freinds can learn the Leason this time while at the same time establishing how far Luke came as a character by that point. He saw both the Ewoks and Yoda as a "little rabbit on the side of the road that no one takes seriously, yet helps the hero saves the day". When the Ewoks were being designed he originally wanted Ralph Mcquary to design them, but he was suffering artist's block at the time and all he could do was draw their heads. So he had Joe Johnston design them instead. Joe was resistant to designing them as cute at first but Lucas told him "Dare to be Cute". So he went with it and made the final Ewok designs we know today. The concept grew on Joe so quick that he went on to work on the Ewok TV movies in the mid-80s and even wrote a couple of the Ewok kids books.

[@ladytauriel4186]

I have been there many times I love it there ! Ewoks are cool ! Good Journey 🍀

[@70sSciFiBoy]

Wow! You're really lucky to have gone there Lady Tauriel, I'm very impressed 😊

[@ladytauriel4186]

@@70sSciFiBoy that park is magical! If you ever can, visit it.

[@emperorpawpateen.9992]

I want those costumes

[@DESLUG_EDITS]

Sooo fluffy!

[@vmvengsub3812]

Wicket - 12-13yo Warwick Davis 2:08

[@lloydshanahan154]

people accuse the Ewoks for being made for toys, yet they praise Boba Fett. A character that was designed for marketing purposes. Bobba shows up in a parade, then a cartoon, then becomes an action figure, then finally shows up in a movie where he barely does anything. People hate them because a battle between rocks and spears against blasters and amor is un-realistic, yet they wish wookies were part of the climax instead. So Wookies makes Rocks and Spears Aye-okay.

[@philipreber3314]

If they had been wookies they had been far bigger and stronger, with chewie beeing used to technologie they propably would have possesed blasters aswell and yes the battle is no fair one bow, spear and stones against blasters, speeders and walkers but as you can see in almost every frame it is all about numbers. Ewoks do work and that they are just so frikkin cute :))))). There will always be people that complain and it has become far more true over the years, especially with sw 8 it has become a trend. Although sw 8/9 are trash indeed.