Since you can’t even change the color of a lightsaber without sparking canonical debates that rival European religious wars, it’s remarkable how willing Lucasfilm was to toss around ideas to see what would prove entertaining (and profitable) in the wake of the trilogy’s unexpected success original. While the Star Wars Holiday Special is the most infamous product of this period, a forgotten TV movie released less than a year later Return of the Jedi made it clear that no one really knew what the future of Star Wars was, or even if it had one.

You may be surprised to learn that a TV movie called Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure exists, although you won’t be surprised to learn that a TV movie called Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure it’s pretty ugly. With Warwick Davis, Burl Ives and a lot of people, what makes it fascinating to return on the 40th anniversary of its debut is that it’s so far removed from modern Star Wars that it feels like he comes from a different franchise.

We open on the famous forest moon of Endor, where a husband and wife are searching for their children but instead find an axe-wielding giant. We then cut to Deej the Ewok, who, after a try at hang gliding, discovers young Mace and even younger Cindel, the survivors of what is essentially a space minivan crash. The moppets convince the local Ewok village to help them save their parents, and together they set off towards the forbidden Gorax fortress. Lots of shenanigans ensue.

Caravan of Courage is paced like a leaky bottle of molasses and relies far too heavily on child actors to ever rise above mediocrity, but a few details stand out amid the Ewok hijinks. First of all, this is a Star Wars movie with no mention of Rebels, Imperials, Jedi or Sith, and it’s fascinating to see even a simple story from a time before the saga Skywalker who devours the franchise. Of course, Lucasfilm was probably just looking for a way to increase the money spent on The Jedi Ewok costumes, but it still hints at a franchise that pursued one-off adventures across the galaxy rather than endless Luke and Palpatine drama.

Second, although it is undeniable that Caravan looks a little cheap, there’s an old-fashioned charm to its mix of matte paintings, puppets and stop-motion monsters. Sure, the Ewoks live with chickens, rabbits, ferrets, llamas, and other creatures that no one has bothered to give a coat of Star Wars paint, but their little huts always feel more to be lived in than most of the soulless CGI sets created. for shows like Ahsoka.

But what is most intriguing is that Caravan has embraced the fantasy side of Star Wars to create what is essentially a fairy tale with sci-fi trappings. An Ewok mystic uses magic to locate Mace’s captured parents, a crystal transforms into a lizard as part of a “magic test,” and Mace nearly drowns in a river that supernaturally traps him beneath its surface, between other examples of free-flowing magic. Add in Goraxes, monsters, fairies and a few giant spiders, and if you didn’t already know what an Ewok was, Caravan of Courage I would have the impression of being a Dark Crystal scam.

Fans and sources then rewrote all of these keys as exotic alien creatures and examples of the Force working in mysterious ways, and Caravan is no longer canonical anyway. But all of this hints at an alternate universe where Star Wars embraced its own weirdness, where the Cave of Evil In The Empire Strikes Back was not bad because of complicated nonsense about the Force but because sometimes, when you have an entire galaxy to explore, a cave can just be evil. Modern Star Wars, so tangled in its own history, could use more of this laissez-faire nonsense.

Unlike the Holiday special, who has been erased from polite society, Disney is content to let curious fans watch Caravan and its follow-up, Ewoks: The Battle for Endoron Disney+ under the “Star Wars Vintage” label. George Lucas, feeling understandably burned by the Holiday special debacle, I even wrote the stories. And while no one can deny that Lucas is happy to make a quick buck, his efforts imply that at least a little love was put into these strange little creations. You can definitely see the original vision of Star Wars in Caravan — namely, something that 8-year-olds find fun.

And so, as stupid as Caravan of Courage that is, you can always imagine an ’80s kid desperate for more Star Wars using a VHS tape for it. Mace, from his haircut to his orange jumpsuit, is meant to evoke a young Luke Skywalker whose shoes young fans can see themselves filling, and it’s hard not to be at least a little amused when he takes on a “boar -wolf” à la Harryhausen. or encounters a gruff Ewok lumberjack who, by Ewok standards, is a real thug.

Does that make it must-watch today? Not really. But no matter how much some fans may complain that the sanctity of Star Wars has been forever ruined by the most recently released series when you read this, remember that the franchise has always thrown ideas at the wall to see what sticks. Once upon a time, these ideas involved Ewoks using magic against a troublesome giant.

Caravan of Courage is broadcast on Disney+.