I give Ewoks a hard time, mostly because I compare it to Droids, which I’m growing to adore. But I have to give credit to “The Land of the Gupins,” the eighth episode of Ewoks, for highlighting its strongest attribute – reminding you that the moon of Endor is filled with all sorts of bizarre and wonderful creatures, most of which want to murder you.
Seriously, the character design of Ewoks is glorious, and in that regard, this episode shines. There are multiple new species crucial to the plot, but also several throw-aways, seen for just a moment in an establishing shot. Each creature is fully realized and no two are alike. The designers must have had so much fun working on this cartoon, and it shows. My favorite are probably the reaps, snake/spider hybrids who capture our heroes in their web. The design is scary, but not too scary for a Saturday morning cartoon. A lot of thought must have went into these monsters that appear in this one scene of this one episode, and then never again.
Unfortunately, this episode also highlights Ewoks weakest attribute, which is its insistence on cramming as much complicated lore as possible into every episode. The Ewoks get a break this time; instead we learn of the political and mythological histories of the Gupins. The Gupins are a race of shape-changers; we’ve met only one of them before, Mring-Mring, in episode 4, “To Save Deej.” He helped Wicket save his dad’s life, and at that point the only explanation we got for this bizarre little man was, “It’s a long story.” Well, four episodes later we finally hear the story and oh, brother, Wicket wasn’t kidding.
I won’t untangle all of the continuity for you – the first seven minutes of this twenty-three minute episode are almost entirely devoted to Gupin exposition. We get all of Mring-Mring’s personal back story, how the Gupin ruling system works, the latest political crisis, their relationship with a neighboring species, a ritual ceremony, the magic box that renews their shapeshifting powers and how its key was stolen… it’s a lot. And just when you think it’s all done and we’re ready to get on with the actual story, they toss an ancient prophecy into the mix.
I write fantasy novels, as you probably know if you’re on this blog. (If not, click that Books link at the top, would you?) A common debate among fantasy authors is about worldbuilding – how much is too much? Some writers create entire books’ worth of details on their worlds, none of it meant to be published, much of it never referenced except in passing, cryptic mentions. Other writers create only as much of the world as they need, and nothing more, leaving themselves room to grow and develop their story without tying themselves to a history they never intend to visit.
I tend to favor the latter, but plenty of authors I admire prefer the former. When done well, extensive worldbuilding can immerse readers in the story and ground it in a sense of reality. When done poorly, it can make the reader wonder why they should care about these details, even confuse them as to what’s important enough to remember and what’s never going to be referred to again. The worst worldbuilding comes when the author ventures too far up their own ass, never to return.
I wouldn’t say Ewoks is quite there… but it’s within smelling distance.
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