Not everything in the past was better. When it comes to science fiction franchises from the 1970s and 1980s, we often have a tendency to romanticize the so-called purity of the way things used to be. Surely, in 1985, just two years after Return of the Jedi was in theaters, the overall vibe of the Star Wars franchise would be refreshingly cool and creatively rich, right? Wrong. On September 7, 1985, Lucasfilm debuted a cash-grab animated TV series called Ewoks, a non-canonical part of the Star Wars mythos that should be regarded as a very bad dream. The thing is, unlike the embarrassment of the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, the horror of the Ewoks lasted for a year and a half, spanning two seasons.
But what was Ewoks? Why was Ewoks? And is there anything redeeming about this strange, hazy part of the Star Wars universe?
