Return of the Ewok
Encyclopedia
Return of the Ewok is a 1982 American mockumentary
short, written, produced and directed by David Tomblin, first assistant director of Return of the Jedi, starring Warwick Davis
as himself in a fictionalized account of how he got the role of Wicket W. Warrick. The film, which was shot on Tomblin's own 16 mm camera, was created during production of Return of the Jedi, which he worked on as first assistant director, and was intended to use the movie as a promotional
film for Return of the Jedi, but post-production on the film was never completed.
universe. Real world locations include an airport, Elstree Studios
and the actors' dressing rooms, while the fictional locations include Dagobah
, the Death Star
II, Jabba's Palace, and Endor. Throughout the film, these two realities are intermixed to produce an alternate reality.
, and the Death Star to see Darth Vader
, and is chased by Boba Fett
.
The original 16 mm
print was said to be lost; according to Davis, his VHS copy is the only one in existence. However, a copy of the print, or even the original print, may actually reside in the Lucasfilm archives. Evidence of this was shown on the 2004 DVD
release of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. A clip from the film of Wicket being chased by Boba Fett on the Death Star was included as part of the Easter egg of bloopers from the trilogy
. It appeared in a widescreen
format in good quality, suggesting that it had been preserved.
In April 2005, approximately four minutes of the film was made available on the official Star Wars website for members of Hyperspace, the official fan club, to download and view after the film was shown at Celebration III. Davis said at the convention that he loaned his VHS tape to Lucasfilm, who made a digital copy of it, and since it was the best known copy, that it was the source for the Hyperspace clip. The copy online at StarWars.com shows minimal amount of cleanup, and the soundtrack has been altered in several places. Where the original film used Supertramp's "Take The Long Way Home," the online version substitutes incidental music to avoid copyright clearance issues. Dialogue has also been changed - in one example, Wicket's cry of "Crikey, it's Lord Vader!" near the end of the film has been excised.
Unlike its counterpart mockumentary, R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
, Return of the Ewok has not yet been officially released on DVD or any other format. Davis has reportedly stated that a future release is "possible."
The best known quality bootleg of the entire movie is a fan preservation project created in May 2005, a collaboration between Garrett Gilchrist of California and SKot Kirkwood [sic] of Texas. Their DVD version combines footage taken from the clip on StarWars.com, combined with a camcorder recording of the movie from one of its public showings, as well as clips culled from other sources, such as a brief excerpt shown on VH1
. Gilchrist digitally cleaned up portions of the video and audio, then combined and edited the footage from different sources together to reconstruct the film. At 25 minutes, this version is slightly longer than the original, with Gilchrist adding his own opening and ending credits.
The first UK screening of this movie was at Empire Day 3 in Watford, England in 1996. A later showing was at the National Space Centre
in Leicester for the Star Wars day convention on November 12 2005. It was presented by Warwick Davis and also included a question-and-answer session afterward.
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
short, written, produced and directed by David Tomblin, first assistant director of Return of the Jedi, starring Warwick Davis
Warwick Davis
Warwick Ashley Davis is an English actor. He is most notable for playing the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, as well as for his roles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Harry Potter movies. Davis currently stars in the sitcom Life's Too Short, written...
as himself in a fictionalized account of how he got the role of Wicket W. Warrick. The film, which was shot on Tomblin's own 16 mm camera, was created during production of Return of the Jedi, which he worked on as first assistant director, and was intended to use the movie as a promotional
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
film for Return of the Jedi, but post-production on the film was never completed.
Setting
The film is set in both the "real world" and the fictional locations of the Star WarsStar Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe. Real world locations include an airport, Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...
and the actors' dressing rooms, while the fictional locations include Dagobah
Dagobah
Dagobah is a fictional planet in the Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It also makes an appearance in a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith....
, the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
II, Jabba's Palace, and Endor. Throughout the film, these two realities are intermixed to produce an alternate reality.
Plot
Return of the Ewok focuses on the fictional account of Davis' decision to become an actor and act as Wicket in Return of the Jedi. It also follows his transformation into Wicket. As Warwick and as Wicket, he visits and interacts with many of the cast and crew of the movie and then characters of the movie. As Warwick, he goes to Elstree Studios where he interacts with the cast, both in and out of character. At one point, he even interacts with Luke Skywalker as he jumps out of a movie screen. As Wicket, he goes to Dagobah to see YodaYoda
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, appearing in the second and third original films, as well as all three prequel trilogy films. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where he is responsible for...
, and the Death Star to see Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
, and is chased by Boba Fett
Boba Fett
Boba Fett is a character in Star Wars. A bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader to find the Millennium Falcon, he is a minor villain in both Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
.
Cast
- Warwick DavisWarwick DavisWarwick Ashley Davis is an English actor. He is most notable for playing the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, as well as for his roles in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Harry Potter movies. Davis currently stars in the sitcom Life's Too Short, written...
- himself - Roy Kinnear - the Talent Agent
- Robert Watts - the Producer
- Harrison FordHarrison FordHarrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
- himself - Mark HamillMark HamillMark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
- himself - Carrie FisherCarrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
- herself - Anthony DanielsAnthony DanielsAnthony Daniels is an English actor. He is best known for his role as the droid C-3PO in the Star Wars series of films made between 1977 and 2005.-Early life:...
- C-3PO - David ProwseDavid ProwseDavid Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
- himself and Darth Vader - Jeremy BullochJeremy BullochJeremy Bulloch is an English actor. He is best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, though he did not voice the character...
- Boba Fett - Frank OzFrank OzFrank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
- performing Yoda - Tim Rose - performing Salacious Crumb
- Peter MayhewPeter MayhewPeter Mayhew is an English actor known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. His peak height was tall.-Career:...
Chewbacca - David Tomblin - the Choreographer, and the voice of Darth Vader and Boba Fett
- Sue Davis - Warwick's mom
- Ashley Davis - Warwick's Dad
- Kim Davis - a little girl
- Chelsea Football Club - themselves
Official
For many years, the only confirmed copy of Return of the Ewok lay in Warwick Davis' own home entertainment center. This copy has been said by Davis to have been frequently shown to only close family, friends, and colleagues. Despite viewings of the film by those close to him, he had never shown the film publicly, and many fans had never even heard of it until 1996, when Davis mentioned it in an interview for the Star Wars Insider magazine. Davis publicly screened the film at the first Star Wars Celebration in 1999, and was also screened at Celebration II in 2002, and at Celebration III in 2005.The original 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
print was said to be lost; according to Davis, his VHS copy is the only one in existence. However, a copy of the print, or even the original print, may actually reside in the Lucasfilm archives. Evidence of this was shown on the 2004 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. A clip from the film of Wicket being chased by Boba Fett on the Death Star was included as part of the Easter egg of bloopers from the trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
. It appeared in a widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
format in good quality, suggesting that it had been preserved.
In April 2005, approximately four minutes of the film was made available on the official Star Wars website for members of Hyperspace, the official fan club, to download and view after the film was shown at Celebration III. Davis said at the convention that he loaned his VHS tape to Lucasfilm, who made a digital copy of it, and since it was the best known copy, that it was the source for the Hyperspace clip. The copy online at StarWars.com shows minimal amount of cleanup, and the soundtrack has been altered in several places. Where the original film used Supertramp's "Take The Long Way Home," the online version substitutes incidental music to avoid copyright clearance issues. Dialogue has also been changed - in one example, Wicket's cry of "Crikey, it's Lord Vader!" near the end of the film has been excised.
Unlike its counterpart mockumentary, R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
R2-D2: Beneath the Dome
R2-D2: Beneath the Dome is a 2001 American mockumentary short, directed by Don Bies and Spencer Susser, starring Kenny Baker as R2-D2 in a fictionalized life story of the robot from the Star Wars film series...
, Return of the Ewok has not yet been officially released on DVD or any other format. Davis has reportedly stated that a future release is "possible."
Bootlegs
In 2004, a recording of the entire film was put on eBay by someone who attended a screening, but the auction was pulled because the copy was reportedly given to the seller under strict agreement that it was not to be copied or sold. At least two people are alleged to have filmed it at Celebration II, but their copies have yet to surface. Although the film was also screened in the Pop Culture room at 2005's Celebration III, no illicit recordings have yet surfaced.The best known quality bootleg of the entire movie is a fan preservation project created in May 2005, a collaboration between Garrett Gilchrist of California and SKot Kirkwood [sic] of Texas. Their DVD version combines footage taken from the clip on StarWars.com, combined with a camcorder recording of the movie from one of its public showings, as well as clips culled from other sources, such as a brief excerpt shown on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. Gilchrist digitally cleaned up portions of the video and audio, then combined and edited the footage from different sources together to reconstruct the film. At 25 minutes, this version is slightly longer than the original, with Gilchrist adding his own opening and ending credits.
The first UK screening of this movie was at Empire Day 3 in Watford, England in 1996. A later showing was at the National Space Centre
National Space Centre
The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdom's leading visitor attractions that is devoted to space science and astronomy. It is located in the city of Leicester, England, next to the River Soar on the A6.-History:...
in Leicester for the Star Wars day convention on November 12 2005. It was presented by Warwick Davis and also included a question-and-answer session afterward.
Awards
- In 2005, the film won the Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm sponsored Official Star Wars Fan Film AwardsThe Official Star Wars Fan Film AwardsThe Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards is an annual contest put forth by Lucasfilm and AtomFilms to showcase and acknowledge the growing genre of fan films made by, for, and about fans of the Star Wars saga. The inaugural contest in 2002 was the first time Lucasfilm had officially sanctioned the...
.