When Disney+ announced in March that the Ewoks cartoon was being added to their selection of Star Wars programmes from April 2nd (2021) onwards it was quite a surprise as I thought they were kind of embarrassed by such content.

Even before that news emerged I was planning to finish what I started last year, and complete the Ewoks cartoon challenge by watching all of season two in one day. This time I had the comfort of being able to watch all of them from the comfort of our living room sofa as I realised after the last challenge that I actually had a DVD containing every single episode of the this mid-80s TV series.

LucasFilm and ABC reduced the ‘Ewok and Droid Hour‘ to just a 30 minute show in year two, and it was perhaps surprising that the Ewoks won the battle to have the show all to themselves whilst the slightly better ‘Droids‘ was binned off! Only four episodes of season two ran for 22 minutes whilst the rest were reduced to 11 minutes per episode. This format change was most welcome for me as it would mean even less focus and concentration would be needed. However, it would also mean less time to find something worthy of remark, sarcasm or with the most tenuous of links to proper Star Wars material!

On paper, under five hours of content really doesn’t seem too much at all but having endured season one I can tell you that it really is quite taxing and really difficult to focus on each episode. It’s basically a write off of a day!! It should be noted that I do have short breaks between episodes sometimes as this was more about just watching as many as possible on the same day.

Warning: Contains spoilers! 

S02E01 – The Crystal Cloak

09:00 – A new theme song (‘Friends Together, Friends Forever‘) for this season, and it’s certainly more Ewoky than the last one.

09:01 – You can’t beat a classic dream sequence to open a new season. All of season 1 and the Ewoks being able to speak English sadly wasn’t just a dream! Here, it’s just Wicket dreaming of being a warrior. His hood has changed from orange to green between seasons too! Hopefully that’s not as exciting as things get this season!

09:03 – Whoever wears the crystal cloak can turn anything it touches into crystal.

09:07 – “We’re done for. We’re doomed” says an Ewok. Hearing the word doomed is probably as close as we’ll get to actual Star Wars references!

09:09 – The monster threatens that the Ewoks will pay for something or another as it shakes it’s fist at the skies. An evil cackling laugh follows in true antagonist fashion! Love it!

09:10 – Wicket is told he was brilliant to which he very modestly replies “I was, wasn’t I?”

S02E02 – The Wish Plant

09:11  – Hearing Kneesaa’s name always makes me think of Jar Jar Binks saying “Meesa”!

09:16 – Kneesaa’s special wish plant has changed hands so many times already that I can’t keep up with it all!

09:20 – The tears of Kneesaa help the plant grow again. All it needed was a bit of love and affection. Even our dog is watching as this emotional scene takes place. It doesn’t last too long and he’s soon had enough! Meesa quite liked this episode as Jar Jar might say!

S02E03 – Home Is Where The Shrieks Are

09:23 – Wicket’s had enough of living with his mum so moves out, and Teebo follows suit.

09:27 – One of them is already contemplating going back after finding out about the night creatures in their treehouse. Things really do move fast when you’ve only got 11 minutes to play with!

09:28 – All the heads on screen reminds me of the of the opening titles from season one. I feel nostalgic for the old theme tune by blues artist Taj Majal which I do miss a bit!

09:31 – Larry?? There’s a character called Larry! Other than Luke and Ben, very few of the Star Wars characters have earth-like names. Larry isn’t even a human which makes it even more of a surprise!

S02E04 – Princess Latara

09:34 – Work, work, work is all I do exclaims Latara. I know the feeling as this Ewok challenge feels like homework!

09:38 – My first yawn and it was bigger than expected!

09:41 – It sounds like Wicket is screaming for Dengar to save Latara from her long-tongued capturers. I don’t think he’s calling out for help from the Corelian bounty hunter who first appeared in ‘The Empire Strikes Back‘ (1980) though!!

09:42 – Wicket bowls her Queen crown at the Gorphs in fairly comical fashion!

S02E05 – The Raich (22 mins)

09:46 – We’ve had a magical cloak, now a magic cap!

09:53 – I do sometimes wonder why the Ewoks ride hang-gliders as some kind of disaster usually ensues. Luckily, there’s usually another Ewok in a glider nearby though who is ready to step in and save the day!

09:55 – A two-headed gonster. “Want the monster, call the gonster” is their advertising slogan it seems. It’s a nice little ditty.

09:58 – “This’ll be easy” boasts the ever-confident Wicket. But was it easy? Of course not!

10:01 – Teebo uses his monster costume to rescue Wicket and co. Wow, what a stroke of luck that he just happened to have that on him!

10:04 – The monster becomes a tree once the cup and magic dust was put on it’s head. Another Ewok festival follows.

S02E06 – The Totem Master

10:12 – A stranger offers Wicket a totem pole. He accepts. This isn’t going to go wrong at all is it?!

10:19 – The totem pole turned out to be some creatures who the evil master can freeze and unfreeze using his magic ring, and they steal stuff from various villages. Thankfully a mirror saves the day and Wicket (and the viewers!) learns his lesson about taking things from strangers.

S02E07 – A Gift For Shodu

10:30 – A lost temple! Now you’re talking my language!

10:35 – Echoes of Indiana Jones regarding the setting, and even some of the action.

10:36 – The stolen jewels, one of which was given to Wicket’s mum, turn out to be dragons eggs.

S02E08 – Night Of The Stranger (22 mins)

10:39 – The Sunstar is referenced. That name rings a bell from season one but I can’t remember for the life of me what it is…assuming I even knew in the first place!

10:43 – I can already feel my eyes getting tired!

10:49 – I really am none the wiser to what’s going on! This is a double episode too and for this show 22 ewok minutes is a long, long time! That clock in the corner of my screen doesn’t help as I can always see how long has gone and perhaps more importantly how much time remains for each episode!

10:54 – This evil stranger sounds as if it’s been modelled on Darth Vader’s voice…or is that just me who thinks that?!

S02E09 – Gone With The Mimphs

11:01 – “Dengar Ewoks!” That word again! Along with ichiwawa, it’s an overly used Ewokese phrase! It’s good to see that their language hasn’t completely died out now they speak English!!

11:06 – “Do you think Wicket is de__?”

11:07 – The Ewoks find Wicket’s slingshot and again think that he might be dead but they can never quite manage to say the D-word in its entirety! Probably one of the many words the production team thought not suitable for this toned down season.

11:09 – Wicket is tied up like Han Solo in carbonite from the original film trilogy.

S02E10 – The First Apprentice

11:15 – Zarraki, Logray’s first apprentice appears and is still bitter that he wasn’t taught what he wanted to learn. Shades of ‘The Karate Kid Part 3‘ (1989).

11:17 – Zarraki’s impatience turned him evil explains Logray. I know the feeling as I too am impatient and am already looking at the clock wondering how long is left of this episode!

11:19 – A master versus apprentice showdown of sorts but it’s not as epic as in any of the movies, that’s for sure!

11:21 – “What’s going on?” says one Ewok. Hmmm, I’m not too sure but I do know it all came to a conclusion rather hastily. The 11 minutes duration must’ve been up!

S02E11 – Hard Sell

11:37 – Classic tip-toeing sequence of four Ewoks in a line but there’s always a stick just asking to be stepped on which inevitably wakes a sleeping monster nearby.

11:40 – Wicket really is a bit of an idiot at times!

11:42 – Larry is back! His sob story appeals to Wicket’s sensitivities. I take back what I said about Wicket two minutes ago!

S02E12 – A Warrior And A Lurdo

11:48 – “A true warrior teaches what he knows to others” is what Wicket overhears and immediately jumps into action to try and achieve his dream which is an ongoing story throughout the whole season.

11:52 – Wicket teaches Teebo to lasso but unfortunately hers accidentally latches on to the tail of a giant chicken thing who flies away!

11:56 – Wicket amusingly shakes his ass to entice a monster to break a dam protecting something or another.

S02E13 – The Season Scepter (22 mins)

12:04 – All this snow can only mean it’s the remote ice-world planet of Hoth. Nope, it’s just Endor after a spell of some sort was put on the planet.

12:06 – The Leaf Queen from episode two returns.

12:07 – “How do you expect anyone to get there? A flying leaf?!!” It’s a funny line and a second later one magically appears!

12:09 – “Why don’t you cool the magic for a while Teebo” says Wicket. The magic is never ending in this series but not in the literal sense!

12:18 – Ewoks in disguise again. Neesaa is frozen in ice moments later by the scepter thing.

12:21 – Great slapstick fun as Teebo has control of the scepter.

S02E14 – Prow Beaten

12:30 – It appears the fishing festival is the biggest festival of the year. These Ewoks sure do like to party!

12:34 – The same joke repeats itself four times as one-by-one the Ewoks (diving for a missing carving from a canoe belonging to King Gorneesh) think they have found it!

12:36 – There’s no end to these furballs’ disguises. This time they are lilipads.

12:39 – “I’ll get you Ewoks, just wait I’ll get you” says the sea-monster shaking his fist. This seems quite familiar for this show already. Then again, such endings happened almost every episode on cartoons I watched back in the 80s!

S02E15 – Baga’s Rival 

12:41 – Ah Baga is the name of the Ewoks’ horse-like pet as revealed by the title. I had been wondering who he was!

12:48 – The Sunstar again! Nope, I still don’t really know what it is! It must be important though!

12:51 – Another memento for Wicket to put on his ever-growing belt of honour. Meanwhile, Baga proves to be loyal to his owner just like a dog! It’s a sweet moment at the end. Is that a slight tear in my eye?!

S02E16 – Horville’s Hut Of Horrors

13:00 – Carnival time. Yet another festival!

13:04 – “Welcome to the hut of horrors!” One of the Ewoks enquires where the haunting music keeps coming from to which a creature with musical horns appears! It’s actually quite a funny scene as us viewers naturally assume it’s the soundtrack rather than happening in that situation.

13:10 – Wicket learns his lesson after a nightmare. Five shows down and five more to go he says at the end when he’s dressed as a bunny. Six more episodes for me to go and counting!! Time for an energy boost. A double dose is needed for the final furlong so I put the Ewok shot glass of green Monster in the Red Bull glass for a kind of jägerbomb. This idea was completely nicked from this YouTube video!

  

S02E17 – The Tragic Flute

13:15 – It’s a nice sunny day outside in the real world but here I am inside with the curtains closed watching this fairly weird kids cartoon! The caffeine hit hasn’t kicked in yet!

13:20 – The Ewoks are in a bubble about to go into an underwater world. It’s no Otoh Gunga from ‘The Phantom Menace‘ (1999) but was it the inspiration?!

13:25 – Surrounded by a wealth of jewels, Latara realises her flute was the most precious thing as it was given by her friends. “I guess we’ve all learned something today” remarks someone as another episode with a moral draws to a close.

S02E18 – Just My Luck

13:32 – Wicket resigns himself to being a stable boy sweeping all day after his warrior test went wrong. His friends try to cheer him up.

13:35 – Wicket saves Kneesaa which help regains his mojo…and his cockiness!

S02E19 – Bringing Up Norky

13:43 – Great reverse psychology from the Ewoks to trick spoiled brat Norky who comes to visit them.

13:44 – “Wicket, do you think we’ll ever find Norky?” Less than a minute later and they do find him!

13:48 – A sarlacc pit of sorts?? I guess I really am clinging on to any slight connection to the movies as there is very little here to suggest this is Star Wars in any way beyond the title of the show!

S02E20 – Party Ewok

13:57 – A fitting title given all these festivals and celebrations on Endor!

14:00 – “I guess there’s gonna be lots of babes and music there” says one of the Hells Angels-like bikers! Now I certainly wasn’t to hear the word babes in this cartoon!

S02E21 – Malani The Warrior

14:15 – “Let the Ewok Warrior games begin” is the speech! I like the sound of this. Some kind of Olympics for Ewoks?? The mind boggles!

14:16 – Wicket is teased for having a crush on some warrior whose name escapes me! Honestly, there is more sexual tension in this show at times than in many of the films!

14:19 – Elephant-like creatures are now the ones trying to get hold of that blooming Sunstar!

S02E22 – Battle For The Sunstar (22 mins)

14:30 – They say good things come to all those that wait. Please let be that true as this is the one I’ve been waiting for! It was actually aired originally as the 20th story in the season and was then shown again as the season finale. It is last on my DVD so probably right that I leave it till the end. Straight in and we see the Empire, a spaceship, a droid and stormtroopers! YES! A typical Star Wars film-like start too with the spaceship flying over a planet. More Star Wars-like content in that opening minute than in the whole of the season. Season one too!!

 

14:33 – “Now we really are doomed” is said in response to a call for magic not muscle. I’m usually quite happy to just hear the word doomed (copyright of C3P0!) but after what’s happened already this episode it’s not quite as exciting now!

14:35 – It seems the evil Dr. Raegar wants the Sunstar! Another mention of that but I can’t remember what the darn thing is!

14:40 – The Emperor is on his way now but will we actually see him?! We also learn that the whole galaxy will feel the Sunstar’s power soon!

14:51 – He’s here! The Emperor’s spaceship lands and he is about to punish the Dr. in person. However, the stormtroopers escort him on to the plane and he is reprimanded off screen! Given what has gone on (or not as is maybe more likely) in the previous 21 episodes, this one really is quite dark and really doesn’t seem to fit in with the ethic of the show’s producers.

14:52 – If you help others then they’ll help you is the final message as season two draws to a close. This possible first contact between the Empire and the Ewoks was maybe the reason that Endor was then used by the Imperials in ‘Return of the Jedi’ (1983).

One or two episodes of Ewoks here and there is maybe not so bad but watching them over the course of a day is a rather brutal experience! Apart from the final episode there really is very little to distinguish this series from something like the Care Bears!

I started in the morning whereas the two esteemed hosts of the Blast Points Podcast began their challenge in the evening and so late night tiredness and the desire to hit the sack maybe effected them more than it did me.

 

Both seasons one and two of ‘Ewoks‘ are now available to many more people ever since they got added to Disney+ under the Star Wars Vintage banner. Surely there’s someone out there who can easily trump my efforts and do both seasons in one day. It’s only about ten hours but really is more difficult than you might think!

Click here to read ‘The Ewoks Cartoon Challenge – Binge Watching The 1985 Star Wars Cartoon For As Long As Possible!’

Click here to read ‘Binge Watching The 1985 Star Wars Cartoon Series ‘Droids’!’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Alternative Star Wars Movies & TV Shows’

Click here to read ‘Celebrating Women’s History Month With The A-Z Of Star Wars Female Characters’