Star Wars – Return Of The Jedi

Perhaps the most lovable inhabitants of George Lucas amazing universe are the Ewoks, a primitive tribe of creatures that inhabit the Forest Moon of Endor. They dominated the final scenes of The Return of the Jedi and appeared again in The Ewok Adventure; The Caravan of Courage (1984). Star Wars creator Lucas was looking for a technologically inferior species to bring down the mighty empire and, after dismissing the initial idea of Wookies fulfilling that job, he invented the teddy bear like Ewoks.

The job of constructing the Ewoks fell to legendary make up and special effects man Stuart Freeborn and his talented wife Kay. Also part of the team was Nick Dudman who has since gone on to carve out his own incredible career in the creature effects industry. As was common with many of Stuart’s creations, he invented special machines and devices to build the Ewoks. Perhaps the most sophisticated of which was a heated vacuum press that allowed the production of different coloured plastic Ewok eyes in a multitude of sizes. Stuart was an incredible talent and his workshops were a testament to an engineering genius the like of which the movie industry is unlikely to see again.

The Ewok baby in the Propstore collection was originally one of Stuart’s own mementos and is now prominently displayed in our offices. A huge variety of different coloured furs and pelts were obtained by the team and the individual characters quickly came to life. This creature was painstakingly flocked by Sue Dudman, it took many hours of intricate work to achieve the required look. The fully grown Ewoks were played by small actors but this juvenile, who stands 20 inches tall is an elaborate glove puppet. It was used in the Ewok village when our heroes are rescued and also in the final celebration sequences.