Star Wars Day comes early this year! Long before Disney bought Lucasfilm, or George Lucas himself started making animated projects, Star Wars branched out to TV in a variety of ways and now some of that Legends content comes to Disney+ (at least in the US) starting April 2! The list is a fun and surprising chunk of content: the two Ewok TV movies, Caravan of Courage and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor; the two seasons of the animated Ewoks show; the two Volumes of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars from 2003-2005; and most surprisingly of all, “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee,” better known as the animated segment of the original Holiday Special (!) introducing Boba Fett. Head below for some thoughts on the releases and yes…there might be some reviews on Mynock Manor come April!
I saw both of the Ewok films shortly after being introduced to the Original Trilogy at 5 years old, but I can’t recall much about them, though whenever I see screenshots or snippets shared on social media it seems vaguely familiar. Otherwise, getting to watch them next month will be like watching them again for the very first time, and I’m excited to see them, regardless of quality and time; my wife had the VHS tapes as a kid so hopefully they’ll live up to her memories too since she saw them more than me! In Caravan of Courage, the Gorax are the primary villains, large creatures who also live on the forest moon of Endor, and they are now canon thanks to several appearances, including a Forces of Destiny short. The sequel, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is supposed to be a bit darker than the original film.
I’ve never seen the Ewoks animated show so I’ll be interested to see them for the first time! If this is coming to Disney+, I’m wondering if Droids, the Artoo and Threepio adventures which premiered alongside Ewoks, will make its way to the service soon too. If not, we’ll have the A Droid Story to look forward to, which seems to star Artoo and Threepio teaching a new droid what it takes to be a hero.
Clone Wars by Genndy Tartakovsky shouldn’t need much introduction, but in case you’ve never seen these phenomenal cartoons, just know Tartakovsky brought his Samurai Jack sensibilities to Star Wars and it made one stunning episode after another. While Lucas’ The Clone Wars would focus on the more heady, moral implications of the war, though not always successful, much of Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars tackled them sparingly, though sometimes more successfully. If you haven’t seen these, don’t miss out, as it brought us such memorable visuals as the rain-soaked Anakin and Asajj battle on Yavin IV, Mace Windu decimating a planet’s worth of droids with just the Force and his fists, a truly spooky introduction to General Grevious, or the morphing monstrosity of Durge, among many other spectacular sights and sounds. I have the two Volumes on DVD but I’m excited to be able to watch these on the go, whenever I’d like!
Last but not least, the Holiday Special is coming to Disney+!! Well, okay, not really, but one small piece of it, which is surprising considering Lucasfilm and all those involved never speak of it, though moods seem to be changing with “Life Day” mentioned frequently in canon and Din Djarin having Boba’s weapon from the animated short in The Mandalorian. Speaking of the short, “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee,” which I did not realize was the title, is coming to Disney+!? With the weapon appearing in the show that helped launch Disney+, and The Book of Boba Fett hitting later this year (and The Bad Batch in May), I guess it makes some type of sense to bring it to the service. The short’s about the only thing I recall from watching the entire Holiday Special a few years back (while drunk), and it’s about the only thing worth remembering (barely), but now’s everyone’s chance to see it without wading through…whatever the rest of the Holiday Special was.
A last and minor thought: I’ll be curious to see how they’ll label this content, but I guess Legends is right there so maybe it’ll be as simple as that.
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.