Since its inception in 1977, the Star Wars franchise has always been a source of family-friendly fun. That being said, the series has never been afraid to tackle darker subject matter too. The Empire Strikes Back is a sweeping tragedy, as is the entirety of the Prequel Trilogy. Then there's Rogue One, not to mention more than a few episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels that dabble in serious stories. However, easily one of the darkest -- and most utterly bizarre -- Star Wars stories is the 1985 made-for-television movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
The film premiered on ABC on Nov. 24, 1985. It serves as a direct sequel to The Ewok Adventure: Caravan of Courage (later retitled Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure), which premiered one year prior on Nov. 25, 1984. This is of note, as while Caravan of Courage features some dark content on its own, The Battle for Endor takes things to a whole new level of twisted.
With the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983, audiences the world over were introduced to the Ewoks. The cute little furballs were fairly divisive among Star Wars fans, with some merely writing them off as a ploy to appeal to young viewers and sell more toys. Regardless, there's no denying the Ewoks did strike a chord with younger fans. In turn, more Ewok-centric stories aimed at that age group were almost inevitable.
This brings us to Caravan of Courage, which premiered on ABC a year and a half after Return of the Jedi's theatrical release. The film follows the Towani siblings, Cindel (Aubree Miller) and Mace (Eric Walker), who are separated from their parents -- Jeremitt (Guy Boyd) and Catarine (Fionnula Flanagan) -- after the family is stranded on the forest moon of Endor. With a little help from the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick (Warwick Davis), Cindel and Mace manage to survive Endor's dangers and are happily reunited with their parents. It's a fairly standard, if slow-paced, family adventure.
ABC kept the kid-friendly Ewok fun rolling with the Saturday morning cartoon Ewoks, which premiered on Sept. 7, 1985. Less than three months later, Caravan of Courage's story continued with The Battle for Endor. It likely came as a surprise to a lot of viewers when they found out the film included a parental advisory screen explaining that the film could be distressing to younger viewers. Even with that warning, audiences may not have been prepared to see three of the Towani family's four members be murdered in the opening scene.
The Battle for Endor begins roughly six months after the events of Caravan of Courage. By this point, the Towani family are still stuck on Endor, though they now live in harmony with the Ewoks. Jeremitt (now played by Paul Gleason) is just finishing repairs on their ship when the village is attacked by Sanyassan marauders led by the warlord Terak (Carel Struycken) and his second-in-command, a Dathomirian Nightsister named Charal (Siân Phillips) -- who possesses a ring that allows her to turn into a raven.
The marauders burn the Ewok village to the ground and take most of its inhabitants captive. A mere six minutes into the film, both Mace and Catarine -- the latter of whom was already mortally wounded -- meet a fiery demise when the hut they take up shelter in is blown up. Jeremitt survives a little longer, but is gunned down by the 10-minute mark, leaving Cindel as the sole survivor. She and Wicket are subsequently captured, though quickly manage to escape. This opening sequence is by far the darkest moment in the film, and its effects are felt throughout, with Cindel showing clear signs of post-traumatic stress later on.
After a brief adventure -- during which Cindel is briefly captured by a condor dragon -- the two find themselves at the home of a hermit named Noa (Wilford Brimley). He initially wants nothing to do with Cindel and Wicket. He verbally berates them and forbids his companion, Teek (Niki Botelho), from giving them any food. This is not exactly an ideal situation after watching your entire family get murdered.
Eventually, Noa does warm up to the pair and offers to let them stay with him. Noa reveals he is stranded on Endor as well, having crashed on the moon with his exploring partner Salak about 30 years prior. Salak ventured out to find a replacement part for their ship, only to be captured and killed by Terak. As it turns out, the warlord, his Nightsister associate and their marauders also crashed on Endor about a century prior, with their antiquated reliance on magic and limited understanding of technology making it impossible to leave.
After Cindel is tricked and captured by Charal once again, the film culminates in a climactic raid on Terak's castle. After Noa, Wicket and Teek rescue Cindel, the ragtag team manages to defeat their adversaries and gets the part they need for a working ship. Noa and Cindel then bid Wicket and Teek farewell before finally leaving Endor behind.
All and all, it seems safe to say The Battle for Endor isn't what people typically expect from Star Wars. This comes down to the fact that not only is it weirdly dark, but it's also just plain weird. Between the magic, the dragon and the castle raid, the film largely eschews the franchise's sci-fi roots and takes a dark fantasy approach. In fact, ABC's Ewok duology as a whole is honestly more reminiscent of something like Willow than it is of Return of the Jedi. And that's not even taking into account the continuity problems it created when it was still considered canon, namely Wicket being able to speak Basic pre-Episode VI.
At the end of the day, though, that's what makes Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor so interesting. They're subpar Star Wars movies, but their low production values, unusual approach to the mythos and jarringly dark content (in The Battle for Endor's case) make them weirdly fascinating in their own way -- not unlike the Holiday Special. And with the Ewok movies coming to Disney+ soon, a whole new generation of fans will be able to experience these peculiar pieces of Star Wars' history.