The Ewok Adventure: The Beginning

Rating: 5/10 (10 July 2012)

Hello, I am an original spectator of Star Wars theatrical début in Portugal, having 4 years old, raining heavily in December it was close to my birthday, it was Christmas. Neither I have seen anything that spectacular nor the world, or my father the one that lead me to this memorial day... In terms of space fantasy of course. I saw it at least 20 times at cinemas. I'm mentioning it because I had severe asthma attacks and had to leave the theatre at some point, by the excitement and emotional attachment. Well, ultimately my parents pushed me into it. They were feeling also as kids and they were establishing a bridge of communication with their son compensating the gap between us, perhaps the world was finally taking a break, a deep breath from previous political disasters which like a wave reached all corners of the world. I deeply felt the 70s and the beginning of 80s were the best times of my life. There was hope, I felt it.
No. This is not a parents guide, neither vanity, neither morality, it's just to simply state that I never got tired of seeing Star Wars despite all, not even by now, all the genuine three. And I have an eye for films, don't ask me specifically why or in what, but boy I can tell if a film is a hoax or not.
By now I don't have any problems confessing my fan crimes, transformed myself as a Star Wars atheist. They begun with "Empire Strikes Back", somehow with its special effects. Neither the tauntauns or the AT-AT walkers frame to frame animation caught my interest... something was changing, perhaps an excessive preoccupation to exceed everything, a megalomania quest... but Master Yoda did it, the psychological cave did and Freudian Vader did also. I forget my inner thoughts, the hope persisted and I sincerely cried when the Jedi returned, sacrificing himself for his son. I still do considering the ascension to Vader's redemption one of the best scenes in Star Wars universe. I was being taught to never lost hope for Darth Vader, my anti-hero, the revolted anger the one that suffered in silence, myself as a child. Somehow I always knew Vader wasn't bad but a victim and a pawn of circumstances, I was being Luke Skywalker in heart, excusing my family scars giving pause to guilt. Perhaps Star Wars compensated my lacking of a familiar functional structure. I saw "THX 1138" definitely acknowledging that Star Wars saga was encrypted with philosophy, mythology and psychology, it was juicy and complex, my inner attachment wasn't in vain. I was delirious. Lucas was indeed my mentor. When I was lost, Star Wars was my anchor, I think it was also Luca's.
The "Ewok Adventure" was released after "Return of the Jedi", making me suspecting at that time that something wasn't going right, something disturbing the force, something paradoxical. The same director created both the trilogy and this... nonsense. How could it be? I understood by then that a film was composed by many pieces, Lucas only directed Star Wars IV in Star Wars first trilogy. If there weren't many key factors as its perfect edition (Lucas's wife included) Star Wars would be a flop. Lucas didn't compose the music, neither illustrated his imagination, nor put to effort the realistic special effects, or voiced Darth Vader, created the laser sound effects, C3-P0's soul, R2D2's bips and independent personality, Chewbaka's corporal expression, Yoda's puppeteering, Vader's breeding, Han Solo's acting, Luke's commitment, Ben Kenobi's humongous acting posture... and so forth. After that "Return of the Jedi" was re-released in theatres. I thought good, perhaps Lucas is creating the first 3. I noticed the credits were slightly modified, I didn't understand why.
When I picked a look at some samples of the new remastered trilogy in 1997, I felt the same strange feeling when facing "The Ewok Adventure", something wasn't right again. Something wasn't definitely right when the originals were shadowed from the market. My stomach got funny just by thinking Lucas was erasing and changing history, just by wondering Lucas was acting as the emperor of his appropriated empire. I couldn't believe Lucas was spoiling his own work... or indeed it was exclusively the fruits of his only own work? There was a disturbance in my force when I started to understand there were many many people involved allowing Star Wars to be a success as I discovered the beautiful art of Ralph McQuarrie. I started my own quest in search of the hidden crucial elements. But I couldn't betray my master, not in a Sith way. I kept the hope... until I sceptically saw "The Phantom's Menace". Coincidentally cutting relations with my father at a contemporary time. Wished he was at this début as he was in the first time.
For 30 years I expected to see a complex intricate dark transformation of Darth Vader, to understand why there were so many parallels in this Father and Son Freudian story, reflected on my own family relation. Why one should follow the Jedi way expressed on the artist's work, the sequel of his philosophical pursuit of a better world, a better democracy, a recycled expression of Luca's principles? All of it has been betrayed for economical interests, antagonizing the code of the good ones, effectively extinguishing the Jedi order, showing that indeed Society has a Sith partnership and the empire hides in pseudo principles absorbing everything to itself. Perhaps he'll return as a Jedi, but I already lost my hope. Jedi fans as myself became orphans of a pseudo world antagonistic to a raw cruel reality. The Jedi order was betrayed and slaughtered by its innocence and naivety, Lucas abandoned his own therapy, his own parallels to the world he'd created, his idealism now transformed into cynicism, the tool of the survivors, the preachers.