Season 1 title card - from "E" clockwise: Chief Chirpa, Princess Kneesaa, Wicket, Logray, Malani, Teebo and Latara
"We're the E-E-E-E-E-E-Ewoks,
One big happy happy family!"
— the first season theme song
A Star Wars Legends animated series from Nelvana for ABC featuring the furry teddy-bear-like upright aliens inhabiting the forest moon of Endor, from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Ewoks lasted for two seasons and was more popular in Europe than in North America. The show was centered around Wicket W. Warrick, the Ewok who befriended princess Leia Organa when she fell off the speeder in Return of the Jedi, his family and his closest friends: the future chieftainess Princess Kneesaa, his slightly older best friend and medicine man Logray's apprentice, Teebo and the princess's flute-playing best friend, Latara.
The first season of the show featured rich and detailed animation combined with well-crafted storylines, while the second season featured many changes to make the show appealing to younger audiences; some characters were reduced to background cameos, some others exaggerated.
The plot would usually involve a scheme to destroy the Ewok village coming from one of the antagonist characters or a trip to another location, involving different species found on the forest moon.
The show was paired with another Star Wars-based show, Droids, in its first season, then aired solo as The All-New Ewoks for its second season.
The full series premiered on Disney+ on April 2nd, 2021, under the Star Wars Vintage label.
This show provides examples of:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: All of the youngsters and some adults wear only hoods or hats. Some of the species they encounter are fully-clothed.
- Averted twice - in the first season episode "The Travelling Jindas" where the characters wear shirts and pants and in the second season episode "Party Ewok" when Latara gives Kneesaa a dress and a pair of shoes in order for her to look like a more interesting party host.
- Also, throughout the second season, the girls wear nightdresses to bed, despite not wearing clothes during the day.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: A lot of the characters were not as fluffy and cute in Return of the Jedi.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Logray, in the written material now relegated to Legends, was a nasty manipulator of his tribe until he was finally expelled by Chief Chirpa and replaced by Paploo. In this series, he is a wise and heroic shaman who even sympathized with Princess Kneessa when she protested exclusion from the Ceremony of Life quest.
- Adults Are Useless: Happens a lot, throughout the series, as young Ewoks always save the day.
- Alliterative Family: Played straight with the Warrick children - they're Weechee, Widdle/Willy, Wicket and Winda Warrick. Averted with their parents, Deej and Shodu.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The French theme song previously used for the made-for-TV films has nothing to do with the original themes, but it was released as a single, charted and got an award. link
- And Call Him "George": The Dulok shaman tries to invoke this trope in "Blue Harvest" when he unknowingly gives a Phlog woman a love potion (originally intending to give her the hate potion instead), hoping she will accidentally crush the Ewoks to death with her affection.
- Art Evolution: Despite using the same production team as season one. Season two's animation style received a significant change from the first's, with slightly altered character models and some lower quality animation in comparison.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Zarrak, the Ewok featured in "The First Apprentice," was Logray's first apprentice before he turned to the dark side.
- Babysitting Episode: Two of them. In the first season's "The Travelling Jindas," Latara joins the nomadic tribe/species giving performances all around Endor because she's frustrated with babysitting her toddler siblings, solely to be kidnapped by Duloks in order to babysit their children. In the second season's "Bringing Up Norky," the gang is taking care of an obnoxiously manipulative young critter while his parents are away.
- Big "NO!": Dr. Raygar's reaction as he's dragged to the Emperor's shuttle, knowing Emperor Palpatine with his infamous sadistic and vindictive streak, is going to punish him personally.
- Bindle Stick: In "Home Is Where the Shrieks Are," Wicket and Teebo carry these when they run away from home.
- Bottomless Pits: The Realm of Spirits from "The First Apprentice" and Valley of Floating Trees from "The Tree of Light."
- Cardiovascular Love: In the second season, hearts tend to float around Teebo when he's in Latara's presence.
- Cerebus Retcon: In their debut, "The Traveling Jindas," the titular alien performers are described as happy-go-lucky wandering performers with No Sense of Direction. In their second appearance, "Curse of the Jindas," it's revealed that the Jindas are actually compelled by the curse of an angry Force-user to roam ceaselessly, for fear of mystical punishment if they stay in one place overlong, and the happiness is just them trying to make the best of a life they are forced into.
- Character Exaggeration: For the second season of the show, some notable characters from the first season were reduced to a non-speaking role, almost all the voices were re-cast and the characters' personalities and appearance changed. The only one who remained more or less the same was princess Kneesaa.
- First season Wicket often had low self-esteem, was sincere and childlike. In the second season, he's overly confident and hot-blooded.
- First season Latara was a dreamer who preferred art to everyday chores. In the second season she's selfish, materialistic and expects others to serve her.
- First season Teebo could hypnotize, summon other creatures and was careful and subtle. In the second season, he trips and falls on almost every occasion, is obsessed with Latara and can't do anything right, the latter which is lampshaded A LOT.
- Chekhov's Gift: Wicket gives a rock on a necklace to Kneesaa in "The Curse of the Jindas." Everybody laughs at it, but the rock is actually Stone Wizard's long-lost tooth which will free the Jindas from their curse.
- Childhood Friend Romance: It's the Word of God that this happened to Wicket and Kneesaa long after the series' ending, after Return of the Jedi, even.
- Comic-Book Adaptation:
- The series was accompanied by a comic book from Star Comics that lasted 14 issues and chronologically took place before the events of the cartoon, a couple of Spanish two-page comics of somewhat dubious origin and one licensed UK annual, as well as some young reader books. All of that was produced between 1985 and 1988 and these comics (as well as books) are considered to be a prequel to the animated series.
- A graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics titled Shadows of Endor published in 2013 is set in the time after the animated series, but before Star Wars: Ewok Adventures and Return of the Jedi. A scene from the latter, where Wicket is poking Leia with his spear, appears at the very end of the comic.
- Continuity Nod: "Battle for the Sunstar," the very last episode (though not initially aired last), where Dr. Raygar tries to steal the Sunstar and overthrow Emperor Palpatine implies that the events of the series took place sometime between A New Hope and Star Wars: Ewok Adventures.
- Curse Cut Short: In "Bringing Up Norky"Teebo: He sure is a pain in the—
Latara: Mud puddle! - Easily Forgiven: At the end of "Curse of the Jindas," nobody calls the Rock Wizard out on how he unfairly cursed the Jindas and drove them to wander Endor for something that wasn't really his fault, just because he declares that now that he has his tooth back, he'll let them return to their former homeland.
- Ego Maniac Hunter: The Duloks, as part of their "evil Ewoks" schtick, are known to hunt animals far in excess of their needs just to take trophies for status. The Ewoks loathe them for this, as they believe in hunting only for what they need.
- End of an Age: The above episode implies that the Empire is set to use Endor as a base in the near future (for building the second Death Star) and that the world as the denizens know it will inevitably change.
- False Reassurance: At the end of "Battle for the Sunstar," Admiral Kazz promises Dr. Raygar he won't do anything to him after Raygar is arrested for attempting to assassinate the Emperor. Because the Emperor wants to punish him personally.
- Family-Friendly Firearms: As in Droids, "Battle for the Sunstar" features the Imperials using blasters that definitely don't look like guns.
- Family Honor: The first season episode "Wicket's Wagon" is centered around this, as the Warrick brothers find an abandoned battle wagon in the forest. Having learnt that it's built by his grand-grandfather, Wicket decides to rebuild it and later, when the Duloks steal it, get it back.
- Find the Cure!: The plot of first season episode "To Save Deej" and "Rainbow Bridge", the very first in the series of comics, revolve over a character's life being in danger and finding ingredients for an antidote.
- Foot Bath Treatment: In "Hard Sell," Mooth is using this method to treat his cold.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Wicket, Kneesaa, Teebo and Latara - two males and two females, most of the time.
- The Ghost: The Emperor shows up in "Battle for the Sunstar," but we only ever see his shuttle.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: In "The Tree of Light," Umwak the Dulok shaman claims that his goggles will help him and his cousin out of the Arbo Maze. As expected, they don't do anything.
- Gulliver Tie-Down: The Mimphs do this to Wicket in "Gone with the Mimphs."
- Heroes Gone Fishing: "To Save Deej" starts out with the Warrick males and Princess Kneesaa fishing.
- Humanoid Aliens: In classic Star Wars tradition, Endor is populated with many different races of alien beings that all have a fundamentally humanoid appearance. Even the Ewoks themselves, despite looking like humanoid teddy bears with a dash of chipmunk, are actually said to be a kind of alien primate in external sources.
- Idiosyncratic Wipes: They appear throughout the series.
- Interspecies Romance: In "Blue Harvest," Duloks steal Logray's love potion which in turn causes Hoona, a female Phlog, to court Umwak and then Wicket. In "Princess Latara," Latara is assumed to be a real princess, kidnapped and almost forced to marry the sluggish Prince Bork.
- Invisible Parents: Malani and Teebo's mother and father (who were previously introduced in a young reader book and the father was identified as being one of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi) are never seen throughout the series.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Occurs in the episode "Party Ewok".Kneesa: You're nothing but a dirty, no-good common thief!
Pug Leader: Who are you calling "common"? - Just a Kid: Wicket and his friends are constantly told this, despite saving the entire village in every other episode. Granted, they doomed it first in some cases but still.
- Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films: In "Horville's Hut of Horrors", Wicket and his friends take their younger siblings to the titular Hut of Horrors, instead of to the Wokling-friendly Tumble Bunnies Show as instructed by their respective parents, leaving the Woklings deeply traumatized and the older Ewok children desperate to avoid being found out. That night, Wicket has a nightmare in which his mother tells him that, for scaring his little sister, he will "never set foot out of this hut again". Waking, he confesses and, as punishment, is made to miss the forthcoming warriors' overnight in order to give the Woklings their own private Tumble Bunnies Show, with him as the ringmaster.
- Killed Offscreen: Kneesaa and Asha's mother, Ra-Lee, who was slain by a monstrous alien ape-thing called a Hanadak.
- Language of Magic: A lot of Logray's spells contain this, as well as the one he performs with Teebo in order the tie the rocks chasing the Jindas in "The Curse of the Jindas."
- Last-Second Word Swap: In the second season episode "Bringing Up Norky," Teebo says "He sure is a pain in the...", but Latara finishes his sentence with "Mud puddle!".
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Arguably, Kneesaa and Latara. In the first season, this is visible appearance-wise as well; in the second season, it's more about character. While Kneesaa is shown to barely have an ego, thinking before she does anything and wanting the best for everybody, Latara is selfish, easily distracted by anything that evokes her greed and constantly craving attention.
- Lighter and Softer: Second season, compared to first; and the whole series compared to Ewoks' appearance in Return of the Jedi.
- Mistaken for Special Guest: In "Party Ewok," the Ewoks mistake a delinquent gang leader for the visiting prince they were expecting.
- Mythology Gag: One of the Season 1 episodes is entitled "Blue Harvest", a reference to the fake movie title Return of the Jedi used to avoid up-charged location costs and fans spying on the production.
- No Infantile Amnesia: In the episode "Asha", Kneesa is able to remember the death of her mother and the disappearance of her older sister even though the incident occurred when she was just a wokling.
- Only One Name: Aside from the Warricks, no other characters' last names are known.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: In the first season episode "The Land of the Gupins," Gupins need to open the Juniper Chest for their renewal celebration, in order for their shapeshifting powers to be renewed for another season. Despite their king being convinced he can do this, only Mring-Mring is capable of it, even after the key has been broken.
- Pardon My Klingon: The word k'vark is quite an obvious four-letter-word replacement.
- Parental Abandonment: Kneesaa's mother and Paploo's father are both dead.
- Planetary Romance: Much like the live-action Ewok Adventures films that it was spun off from, the Ewoks cartoon is less sci-fi and more just straight fantasy that happens to take place on an alien world. "Battle for the Sunstar" is an exception, but that's only because it was a unique Out-of-Genre Experience.
- Planimal: The Raich from the episode named after it and the stranglethorn plant from "The Three Lessons" appear to be these.
- Plant Mooks: The Fftssfft from the episode "To Save Deej". Known as "dandelion warriors", they are a semi-sapient botanical species characterized by sharp yellow quills.
- Plot Device: Assembled again, the Sunstar makes numerous appearances, usually involving a random villain trying to steal it.
- Poirot Speak: Unlike in their other appearances, the Ewoks speak fluent English ("Galactic Basic" in Star Wars parlance) peppered with occasional Ewokese words like "yub nub" and "lurdo." The obvious explanation is that this is a form of Translation Convention, but when the Imperials show up in "Battle for the Sunstar," they apparently speak the same language as the Ewoks, so... who knows.
- Robosexual: PD-28, the friendly pilot droid from "Battle for the Sunstar" blushes when kissed by both Kneesaa and Latara.
- Rock Monster: The Rock Wizard, a towering humanoid Force-user made of living stone, and whose Force powers have a particular form of manipulating earth and stone. Unusually, he subverts the typical "earth elemental" attitude; instead of being patient, thoughtful, stoic and slow to action, he's hot-tempered, impulsive, and very emotional. He used to be the friend and patron of the Jindas, but when one of his teeth came out as he was stuffing himself on a Jinda-made desert, he flew into a rage from the pain this caused and accused the Jindas of poisoning him, driving them to wander Endor forever by the power of his curse. When the Ewoks interfer with this, he shows up in person to oppose them — which is when he learns they'd obtained his missing tooth from a band of traders that had visited earlier. Sticking it back in his mouth ends his pain, and he immediately calls off his curse before inviting the Jindas to come back to their old homes around his castle.
- Saturday-Morning Cartoon: It was the first Star Wars series to fit this model.
- Science Fantasy: Just like its progenitor universe, Ewoks blends science fiction and fantasy tropes together. Indeed, because Endor is an isolated world inhabited by Stone Age cultures, it's possible to see the series as a fantasy setting that doesn't feature humans or the iconic fantasy races if you're not familiar with its wider universe. It's not until you see the episode where the Empire first arrives on Endor, exposing the fantastical world to a wider universe of starships and robots.
- Secret Test of Character: In "The Tragic Flute," Latara desires a golden flute after having seen that King Elbo from the underwater awarded Kneesaa with two golden anklets. Her friends, rushing to save her are captured and King Elbo sends her to a room full of precious items asking her to bring back what's most valuable. Eventually, she comes across her old flute, realises that this was a test of her morals and her friends are set free.
- Set Bonus: The Sunstar Shadowstone from "Sunstar vs. Shadowstone," referred to as simply 'Sunstar' in later episodes, is more powerful once the evil Shadowstone part from Morag's staff and the good Sunstar part hidden in master Logray's hut are combined. The evil part is significant only one more time, in the season two episode "Night of the Stranger."
- Shaking the Rump: "A Warrior and a Lurdo" has Wicket taunt the Blog by shaking his behind at it.
- Shapeshifting: The main characteristics of the Gupins from the season one episodes "To Save Deej" and "Land of Gupins." Morag is capable of this, too, as seen in "Sunstar vs. Shadowstone."
- Spinoff Babies: The characters are in their preteens/early teens (Wicket being about 12 and the others slightly older), in contrast to those of them appearing in Return of the Jedi being young adults.
- Stupid Evil: In most of the first season episodes and some of the second season ones, the Duloks plot to destroy the Ewok village, inhabit it, steal something from the Ewoks or have a more dangerous species attack them and humiliate them. This often backfires before it even causes danger.
- Surfer Dude: The Sun King in "The Season Scepter" talks like a stereotypical Californian surfer.
- Swamps Are Evil: Since the Duloks are basically the evil cousins of the Ewoks, naturally, they inhabit the dismal and wretched swamps of Endor rather than living amongst the trees. The Duloks hate having to live in the swamps, where the bugs drive them mad, and want to drive the Ewoks away from the forests so they can have them for themselves.
- Swiss-Army Tears: In the second season episode, "The Wish Plant," Kneesaa revives the plant by crying on it.
- Sword and Sorcerer: Wicket and Teebo in the first season, often depending on each other's skills. Played for laughs in the second season, especially in the Exactly What It Says on the Tin episode "A Warrior and a Lurdo."
- Three Shorts: For Season 2, the stories were shortened to 11 minutes, and paired together. With 24 produced as a result. "Battle For the Sunstar" Being the only one to return to the full-length story format of the first season.
- Terrible Trio
- Morag, King Gorneesh and Umwak or
- King Gorneesh, Umwak and Urgah
- The Power of Friendship: The second season is focused on this, even the theme song hints it.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Throughout the first season, Latara seems to be talking only about Teebo when alone with Kneesaa (who teases her for it), calling him "honeydrop" and claiming that she "does not have it that bad". In the second season, when their characters are exaggerated; Teebo is doing everything for Latara's attention, while she's playing hard to get. Finally, she kisses him in "The Tragic Flute" and while the series ends with no further romantic interaction implied, they're indeed together in the Shadows of Endor comic. link
- Unusual Euphemism: Characters often say "k'vark" in place where humans would use a four-letter word.
- Wandering Jew: The Traveling Jindas, who are cursed by the angry Rock Wizard to forever roam Endor; if they linger in one place too long, then boulders propelled by the Rock Wizard's curse will attack the Jindas' campsite, hurling themselves wildly too and fro until the Jindas flee. At the end of "Curse of the Jindas," though, the curse is broken once the Rock Wizard gets his tooth back.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Those who have only seen the show will be left wondering why the Sunstar and Shadowstone don't play any role in the Battle of Endor. Or for that matter, in the Ewok Adventures films.note An explanation wouldn't be given until 2013's Shadows of Endor graphic novel, where it was used to destroy a beast called the Griagh, which in turn destroyed the stone itself.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Said at least twice in "The Raich." After Wicket removes a magic cap from a tree, a giant monster called the Raich is set loose. Wicket and his friends rush back to their village to get advice from Master Logray, but the moment Chief Chirpa says "No Ewok would be foolish enough to set him free again" and that the Ewok would branded a disgrace, they decided to keep quiet. After learning a two-headed Gonster created the magic cap that imprisoned the Raich, the young Ewoks head off to ask them to make another. When the Gonster hears that the Raich was released, they asks "Now who would be stupid enough to let him loose?" Teebo, Latara, and Kneesaa all stare at Wicket, who confesses.
- Wizard Duel
- Morag vs. Logray in "Sunstar vs. Shadowstone"
- Zarrak vs. Logray and Teebo in "The First Apprentice"
