By Pete Vilmur
For those old enough to remember, this week marks the 25th anniversary of the first televised Ewok movie -- yes, the first -- there were two -- called Caravan of Courage. Airing in the US on the evening of November 25, 1984 (and subsequently screened theatrically in select theaters abroad at Christmas), it was followed in 1985 by Battle for Endor, which continued the adventures of Cindel Towani, the young girl marooned on Endor in the first Ewok Adventure (the original title before Caravan of Courage was added).
Admittedly, the Ewok Adventure movies aren't remembered for much these days, apart from a couple mentionable footnotes -- Caravan of Courage introduced the saga's first Mace, Mace Towani, older brother to Cindel -- and Battle for Endor starred Wilford Brimley, the only bespectacled Star Wars character filmed in live action to date (Ok, Saul Dann from the "Star Wars Holiday Special" donned specs in a couple shots, which I seemed to block from memory -- can you blame me?). Since there was little merchandising associated with the Ewok movies, and the DVD release of the movies a few years back was accompanied by muted fanfare, these movies are easily overshadowed by the rest of the Star Wars experience.
While I'd love to serve up a bunch of collectibles content celebrating Caravan's 25th anniversary, a la the week's worth of "Star Wars Holiday Special" content we posted last year, there's truthfully just not enough product out there to pad out two or three compelling articles. So instead I've opted to condense the few Caravan of Courage and Battle For Endor goodies I could scrounge into the abbreviated feature now before you.
Not to be disappointed -- there's some good stuff here. We've got a bunch of the original international posters from Europe, New Zealand, Japan, and elsewhere, as well as some insidery type stuff like crew t-shirts and premiere screening tickets. We even located a couple of the original radio spot recordings from Caravan of Courage, likely not aired publicly since November, 1984.
So take a few minutes and enjoy the legacy of The Ewok Adventures, which remind us of the years immediately following Return of the Jedi when any Star Wars movie was welcomed, even ones that didn't feature Jedi Knights, lightsabers, and Sith Lords.
Caravan of Courage Posters
Caravan of Courage spawned two one-sheet posters printed in the US to be used abroad, and members of the Official Star Wars Fan Club at the time were also offered the pair (incidentally, StarWarsShop located a batch of these stored in the Lucasfilm archives, and currently have them very reasonably priced -- Style A and Style B!). The poster at upper left was illustrated by Kazu Sano, and the one on the right by Drew Struzan. At top is a lobby card from Mexico, below left is the British quad poster incorporating both the Sano and Struzan illustrations, and a photo montage was composed for one of the Japanese posters at lower right.
(Thanks to Steve Sansweet for the quad and Japanese poster images, and Alonso Vilches for the lobby card image)
