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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Star Wars-Animated Adventures: Ewoks (1985)

Star Wars-Animated Adventures: Ewoks (1985)

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Released 5-Apr-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Menu Audio
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1985
Running Time 168:46 (Case: 170)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Version Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Raymond Jafelice
Dale Schott
Ken Stephenson
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Bob Carrau
Paul Dini
George Lucas
Michael Reaves
Linda Woolverton
Long John Baldry
Peter Blais
Melleny Brown
Jackie Burroughs
George Buza
Douglas Chamberlain
Paul Chato
Rick Cimino
Case ?
RPI $24.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.29:1
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement Yes
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    In the 1980s, George Lucas led his annoying Ewoks on an invasion of the small screen, with two Star Wars spin-off tele-movies, Caravan of Courage and The Battle For Endor, as well as the Star Wars-Animated Adventures: Ewoks. Like the Ewoks themselves, all these productions were designed for kids who aren't too discerning.

    As observed in my review of the Star Wars Extras Disc, I'm a Star Wars nut. But as I also pointed out in my review of the Star Wars spin-off tele-movies, I'm also one of the many, many people who were disappointed with Lucas' weak, teddy bear creation, the Ewoks, who debuted in Return of the Jedi. I understand that originally the forest moon of Endor was to be inhabited by Wookies, but some family-friendly marketing got in the way - the same marketing that brought us Jar Jar Binks no doubt, and these cute and furry critters were born.

    As with the Star Wars Droids animated adventures, these are shallow, boring and overly-long cartoons aimed solely at very young kids.

    This DVD contains two lengthy animated adventures featuring the Ewoks:

   The Haunted Village (83:25)

    Based on the characters created by George Lucas, this story is written by Paul Dini. A witch named Morag threatens to destroy the forest in which the Ewoks live in her greedy quest to claim a magical gem, the sunstar shadow stone. Wicket and friends set out with their magic soap, which makes them invisible, to save the day.

    Tales From Endor Woods (85:21)

    Based on the characters created by George Lucas, this story is written by Paul Dini and Bob Carrau. Divided into four chapters, an older Wicket remembers a collection of adventures from when he was a boy. As per usual, the village is threatened, and it's up to the Ewok kids to save the day.

    As with Star Wars Droids, the quality of the animation is very, very poor. The artwork is crude and again the clean-up work is awful with some mistakes and pencil lines clearly showing. The backgrounds are dull and done with little thought or effort. Just about any Saturday morning cartoon would put these to shame.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.

    The image is soft throughout and the colour is very dull and bland, often appearing washed-out.

    There are no problems with MPEG or film-to-video artefacts. A collection of speckled film artefacts appear throughout.

    English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are present, and they are accurate.

    This is a Dual Layer disc, with the layer change placed between the two stories.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio option, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine.

    The musical score is credited to Marco D'Ambrossio, and it features some Star Wars influenced tunes, with some light cartoon scoring.

    Surprisingly, the surround flags are set for both stories, although the surround presence and activity is not notable. There is obviously no LFE track.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are no extras.

Menu

    A very simple menu with audio.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    All available versions of this DVD are the same.

Summary

    Star Wars-Animated Adventures: Ewoks might (MIGHT) entertain very young Star Wars fans for a while, but they are far too long, and far too dull.

    The video quality is disappointing.

    The audio quality is acceptable for what it is.

    There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayGrundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-545
SpeakersSony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer

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