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Inverse
Inverse
Entertainment
Ryan Britt

40 Years Ago, The Darkest Star Wars Movie Isn't The One You Expect

Ewoks Star Wars Kobal Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm/Kobal/Shutterstock

When Luke Skywalker’s parental figures, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, were slain by Imperial Stormtroopers, it happened offscreen. But in the 1985 Star Wars TV movie Ewoks: Battle for Endor, presumably aimed at children, young Cindel (Aubree Miller) watches as her parents and brother are murdered in front of her. She’s maybe 8 years old, tops. And the reason why her entire family is slaughtered? Because this bizarre Star Wars movie didn’t want a cute little girl to have a human family, but instead, she had to get adopted by the Ewoks.

Forty years ago, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor debuted on TV and delivered a super dark, extremely strange Star Wars movie that bears rewatching today, if only so you can believe that all those summaries aren’t totally made up.

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