The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.
“Star Wars: Ewoks” Episode 1.1 “The Cries of the Trees” Based on characters created by George Lucas; Directed by Raymond Lafelice; Written by Paul Dini; Starring Jackie Burroughs, George Buza, Alyson Court, and Jim Henshaw. Run time: 23 minutes; Originally aired September 7, 1985.
“Star Wars: Ewoks” ran for two seasons between 1985 and 1986 and told the story of the Ewoks and other species living on the forest moon of Endor in the years leading up to the events of “The Return of the Jedi.”
The first episode, “The Cries of the Trees” introduces us to the Warrick family of the Ewok tribe as well as the villain and evil witch Morag who holds a personal grudge against the Ewoks. Living in a global forest, the Ewoks have developed a strong bond with the trees that sustain them. Morag captures Izrina, Queen of the wisties, or fire-folk, and using dark magic converts her to her dark cause. Izrina loses her glowing orb in favor of flames and, along with her converted companions, lights the forest aflame.
Meanwhile Wicket Warrick, the series’ central character along with other young Ewoks have been mischief making all day at the expense of the adults. So when the forest fire begins they are blamed in a very Ewok who cried wolf kind of way. The adults quickly put out the flames and return home.
During the night Wicket shares a nightmare with his siblings and awake in unison to the sound of the trees calling for help. They alert the adults and the tribe uses catapults and gliders to drop water bombs on the flames and the fire-folk restoring the forest to its former peaceful state.
The younglings learn the value of telling the truth and the adults learn the value of trusting the words of children. Morag learns that the Ewok tribe aint nothing to mess with.
The series is reminiscent of other cartoons from the same era in tone and style with the added bonus of featuring Star Wars characters. Sadly, (or happily depending on your perspective) this cartoon flew under my radar as a child seeing as I was 2 months old at its debut so now, almost thirty years later I’m eating Cocoa Pebbles and watching “Star Wars” cartoons for the first time. First time for the cartoon, not first time for Cocoa Pebbles, I’ve eaten Cocoa Pebbles a lot… like, a lot! It also shows a different side of writer Paul Dini who is best known for scribing a boat load of “Batman” animated content. While his most famous work features a dark knight who punches justice into the faces of villains, this is more about cuddly bears with hoods just trying to be peaceful and maintain balance with their environment, almost no face punching at all.
As the series progresses it leaves the surface of the forest moon and include an Imperial droid called PD-28 as well as an Imperial Star Destroyer. It’s like “Gummi Bears” but with the Force, and that my friends, is a recipe for excellence.