The Cries of the Trees " The Cries of the Trees " is the first episode of the of " " . Written by Paul Dini and directed by Raymond Jafelice , the episode originally aired on ABC on September 7 , 1985 , and served as the to the series . Plot summary . It is a time of drought . Wicket W . Warrick and his friends are in the Happy Grove searching for aura blossom s to use in the upcoming Festival of Hoods . They come across Queen Izrina and a group of Firefolk . Suddenly , a band of rakazzak beasts and Yuzzums attacks . The Ewoks escape , but the Yuzzums capture the Wistie queen . The Yuzzums bring Izrina to Morag , the Tulgah witch . Back in Bright Tree Village , the young Ewoks do their chores , including bathing Baga the bordok . Paploo approaches them and suggests that they play drop the sack instead . Back in Morag ' s lair , Umwak the Dulok shaman , begs Morag for a bug bite cure for the Duloks . She treats him to the spectacle of casting a spell on Izrina to turn the queen into an evil creature who causes anything she touches to catch fire . She releases the queen to infect the other Firefolk with the curse and to burn down the Ewoks ' Soul Tree s . She then gives the shaman his bug bite cure but tells him that he now owes her a favor . Meanwhile , Paploo , Wicket , and Teebo play the forbidden game of drop the sack in the Happy Grove . They accidentally drop a sack of mud on the matronly Bozzie and then lie about what they were doing . When the game and the deception is discovered , the young Ewoks are sentenced to cleaning duty on the forest floor . As they work , Izrina flies by and sets the area ablaze . As the boys desperately attempt to put out the fire , Chief Chirpa and some other elders arrive on the scene and complete the task . They refuse to believe the boys ' claims that they had nothing to do with the fire that mysteriously seemed to begin on its own . The trio is sentenced to a three - day detention at an outpost hut , watched over by Wicket ' s older brothers . That night , the three young Ewoks share the same dream : The Soul Trees are burning and crying out to them for help . The Ewoks rush outside to discover that the forest is , in fact , ablaze . When they alert their warders , the cursed Izrina attacks , only to doused by water from Wicket , ending her curse . She tells them about Morag ' s hand in her cursing and she and all the Ewoks race for the village . They interrupt the Festival of Hoods to inform the elders , but no one believes the prisoners who arrive first . However , while Wicket ' s brothers and Izrina explain the situation to Logray , the youngest Ewoks , including Malani , sense the distress of the trees . Chirpa is convinced and mobilizes the community to fight the fire , but Morag interferes by damming the river to cut off their water supply . The shaman and Wicket retrieve Logray ' s magic foam , which proves to be useful against the blaze and the cursed Wisties . However , Morag interferes again and damages the catapults necessary to launch the bags against the fire . To fight the fire , Wicket volunteers to fly his Ewok hang glider above the trees to airdrop more bags of foam . The Wisties offer to lead the airborne Ewoks through the flames ' dangerous convection currents safely . Wicket , Kneesaa , and other Ewoks then take to the skies and douse the flames from above . As a result of Wicket and his friends ' actions , the Soul Trees are saved . Futhermore , it begins to rain , which means the drought is over and the possibility of the Ewoks ' enemies restarting the forest fire is neutralized . Bozzie is especially grateful for Wicket saving her soul tree and the two reconcile .