Tag Archives: made for TV

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) | Ken & Jim Wheat



The moon of Endor gets attacked by a vicious band of thuggish Sanyassan marauders, whose ancestors also crashlanded on Endor some time ago, and a powerful shape-shifting sorceress named Charal under the leadership of King Terak.  They attack the Ewok village, taking the crashed Towani ship’s power source after killing Cindel’s family, then take away all of the Ewoks except Wicket back to their dungeons as prisoners.

While roving the forest, Cindel and Wicket encounter a mysterious creature named Teek who leads them to the home of a grumpy hermit named Noa Briqualon, who we come to find has also crashlanded there. Noa wards them off, but his icy exterior melts to friendship, leading to Teek and Noa helping them on their quest to free the imprisoned Ewoks from the marauders’ castle. King Terak is confident that the powerful crystal that is an energy cell used by the Towani family star cruiser has magical powers. The power, Terak feels, will get them off of Endor and that Cindel must be some sorceress who can tap into those powers.


The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) | Steve Binder (with David Acomba)



The Star Wars Holiday Special is a two-hour made-for-TV musical variety show movie that aired on November 17. 1978 on CBS for its November sweeps period.). Variety shows were hot on TV in the 1970s and this effort would serve as a ratings bonanza, putting the hottest cultural phenomenon of the last year in front of as many eyeballs as they could on a Friday night when kids could stay up to watch TV. The Force was not with this one.

Chewbacca’s family living in a giant treehouse on Kashyyyk. The family trio includes Chewbacca’s wife Malla, his father Itchy, and his son, Lumpy. Chewbacca is returning to see his kin for a celebration of the holiday called Life Day. However, Chewie is delayed by an Imperial Cruiser in the vicinity performing a blockade that keeps the Millennium Falcon from its destination, and down on the Wookiee planet, Stormtroopers are invading homes and placing the locals under a strict curfew. All Chewie’s family can do is use their technology to entertain themselves with cartoons, acrobats, sultry women of fantasy, and Jefferson Starship while they wait.

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Diahann Carroll, and the voice of James Earl Jones all make an appearance.