There’s a surprising amount of lore to keep track of in the Ewoks cartoon, especially considering I’m only on the second episode.
First are the Ewoks themselves, none of whose names I can remember yet except for Wicket’s, even though there are an awful lot of them whose names I am expected to remember. There’s Wicket’s dad and his two brothers. (Pretty sure Wicket had a mom and some sisters in Caravan of Courage, but I’m not sure if we’ve seen them yet.) There’s an old wizard Ewok, a busybody auntie, and some other named adults who I may or may not be confusing with Wicket’s father and brothers. There’s a girl Ewok who is Wicket’s best friend, and her dad who is also the chief. Wicket’s got a couple other male friends around his age, and one of them has a little sister who is a Wokling, which is a very young Ewok – although there’s some ritual where they get their hood, which makes them full members of the tribe, and the little sister got hers in the first episode so maybe she’s not a Wokling anymore. Still a little hazy on Ewok rituals of passage.
Every Ewok has a Soul Tree, which is very important for reasons I’m unclear on but I assume there’s a clue in the name. The Ewoks also protect sunberry trees, because if the Ewoks don’t eat sunberries regularly they get sick. Unclear if this is for nutritional, magical, or withdrawal reasons.
The wizard Ewok has a magic top that can see the future, or possibly just threats, or more likely whatever the writer of that episode needs him to see. This wizard Ewok also makes stuff, like the fire-resistant foam in the last episode or soap that makes you invisible in this one. (Seems like that soap would have been pretty useful in Return of the Jedi, but maybe they didn’t want to waste it on humans.)
Other residents of the forest include the Wisties, also called the firefolk. They’re friendly little flying glowing fairy/insect things ruled by a queen. They first appeared in Caravan of Courage where a whole swarm of them immolated themselves in a candle for no apparent reason. I forgot to mention it in that post, but it was really weird that none of the main characters were bothered by this. I thought it was setting something up for later where they’d fly back out of the candle and save the day, but no, I guess they all died. Although some must have survived because they’re in this cartoon.
Also in the forest are the Duloks, who look sort of like the Grinch’s primitive ancestors. They are enemies of the Ewoks, although their motivations are a little vague. Their first priority is getting rid of the flies that constantly surround them; second to that, they like to scare the Ewoks and take their stuff, but they don’t seem to want to actually harm them. There are several named Duloks I’m supposed to remember, but they all look even more alike than the Ewoks so that’s not happening. There’s the chief, the chief’s girlfriend, the shaman, and a couple of stooges, one with a big X on his chest and one with a big O, which only accentuates the Seussian similarities. Oh, and the Duloks call themselves the Ewoks’ cousins, so I guess they’re related somehow? Maybe the residents of Endor have a more sophisticated understanding of evolution than we’d expect.
The Ewoks’ main enemy is Morag, the Tulgah witch. I do not know what a Tulgah is, nor do I know what species Morag is. She looks a bit like a Dulok but from the way they interacted in the first episode I don’t think she is one. Maybe she’s another cousin. She hates the Ewoks and frequently tries to destroy them with overly complicated plans. Oh, and she has some mysterious past with the wizard Ewok. Or maybe the chief? She used his name but I don’t remember the names yet. Could have been Wicket’s dad. Could have been me, I don’t know. This is such a complicated kids’ cartoon I wouldn’t be half surprised.
Oh, we do get one bit of continuity explained in this episode. One of the Duloks refers to their home as Endor, meaning it is, in fact, the moon that’s named Endor, not the planet it orbits. That’s been bugging me so I’m glad they cleared that up.
I’m poking fun at the amount of material you’re expected to absorb to follow this Saturday morning children’s program, but honestly, child me would have eaten this up. I’d have been diagramming Ewok family trees on the back of my homework. In fact… let’s see… Wicket’s dad is Deej, his oldest brother is Weechee… or is Willy older?
Hold on, I gotta make a spreadsheet…
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