Movies - Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure

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	Movies - Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) is a made-for-TV film set in the Star Wars galaxy. The film focuses on the struggles of a brother and sister, stranded on the forest moon of Endor, in locating their parents, who have been kidnapped by a monster known as the Gorax. The film is set sometime between the fifth and sixth episodes of the Star Wars saga. It is the first of two spin-off films of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It is the second film produced, however, in a total of three Star Wars spin-off films.

Setting

The film is set sometime between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and approximately six months before the film's sequel Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
. As the film opens, the Towani family's starcruiser has crashed on the forest moon of Endor, and the Towani parents, Jeremitt and Catarine cannot locate their children, Mace and Cindel.

Plot summary

On the forest moon of Endor, the starcruiser of the Towani family lies wrecked. The Towani family (Catarine, Jeremitt, Mace, and Cindel) are stranded. When Catarine and Jeremitt vanish, the children are found by the Ewok Deej Warrick. After Mace tries to kill them, the Ewoks subdue him and take both children to the Ewoks’ home. There, Cindel and Wicket W. Warrick become friends. Shortly thereafter, the Ewoks kill a beast only to find a life-monitor from one of the Towani parents with the creature.

They seek out the Ewok Logray who informs them that the parents have been taken by the monstrous Gorax, who resides in a deserted, dangerous area. A caravan of Ewoks is formed to help the children find their parents. They meet up with a wistie named Izrina and a boisterous Ewok named Chukha before finally reaching the lair of the Gorax. They engage the Gorax in battle, freeing Jeremitt and Catarine, but Chukha is killed. The Gorax is thought destroyed when he is knocked into a chasm, but it takes a final blow from Mace (using Chukha’s axe) to kill the creature, who tries to climb back up after them. Thus reunited, the Towanis decide to stay with the Ewoks until they can repair the starcruiser, and Izrina leaves to go back to her family.

Cast

Production

Inspiration and creative control

The original impetus for Caravan of Courage was an idea George Lucas had for a "one-hour television special dealing with the ewoks." This "one hour" eventually was expanded into one and a half hours, however. Lucas had ventured into TV six years earlier, with The Star Wars Holiday Special
. The special, though economically successful for the most part, had proved to be a disaster and embarrassment to Lucas. So, in Caravan of Courage, Lucas assumed full control over the content and production of the film, to ensure a film of good quality. One such event during production which exemplifies this need for creative control was around the time when the film neared completion. The production crew had prepared a script and shot a TV advertisement for the upcoming release. The ad featured Mace, Cindel, and Wicket walking into a diner, which was set in the 50's, where they ordered milkshakes. Mace turns to the camera, and says something to the effect of "Don't forget to tune in to The Ewok Adventure, on November 25." When Lucas was shown the commercial for his personal approvement, he disliked the idea, and prevented the commercial from airing, as he didn't like the idea of having his characters appearing on earth in the 50's.

Crew

Working from a story written by George Lucas, and a screenplay by Bob Carrau, director John Korty transformed the scenic northern California redwood forests into the magical forest moon of Endor. Joe Johnston, an art director at Industrial Light & Magic for years and one of the key concept artists of the classic Star Wars trilogy, acted as production designer. Previous to this movie, Johnston had written and illustrated a book about Ewoks, The Adventures of Teebo: A Tale of Magic and Suspense. This gave him a background to the arboreal aliens that was crucial in designing new Ewoks and their surroundings.

Effects

Both Ewok films were some of the last intensive stop-motion animation work ILM produced. In the early 80s, the time-honored technique of hand-manipulating an articulated puppet one frame at a time was being replaced by go-motion animation. Go-motion was one step more advanced, and featured puppets with motorized articulation that moved while the camera shutter was open. This captured the all-important motion blur in the otherwise static puppet, eliminating the harsh staccato movement often associated with stop-motion.

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