Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a seemingly ambitious endeavor, as it was the first big budget live-action Star Wars film that didn’t focus on any of the members of the Skywalker family. However, the 1984 made-for-TV movie Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure previously earned the distinction of being the first “Star Wars Story,” with one YouTube user recontextualizing that film by mimicking Lucasfilm’s editing techniques.
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Over on YouTube, Dave Lee Down Under shared, “In this, I have reimagined and renamed the movie as ‘Caravan of Courage: A Star Wars Story,’ to tie in with the current slate of Star Wars Story movies including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
The film takes place between the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, depicting a family who became stranded on the Forest Moon of Endor. The family’s two siblings are separated from their parents, with the Ewoks stepping in to help the family reunite and leave the moon.
In recent years, Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Company have been very protective over the brand, though the early days of the saga saw a number of projects developed, despite none of them living up to the quality of the original trilogy of films.
One of the more notorious endeavors that George Lucas signed off on was The Star Wars Holiday Special, which debuted in 1978 and served as a variety show that depicted the original film’s cast attempting to reunite in honor of “Life Day.” The special only aired once and now only exists in heavily-circulated bootleg copies against Lucasfilm’s wishes that the project would be eradicated from all existence.
After the disappointment of the Holiday Special, Lucas had more direct involvement in Caravan of Courage, having written the story that was ultimately turned into a screenplay by Bob Carrau. Lucas also crafted the story that was developed into the film’s made-for-TV sequel, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, which debuted the following year.
Earlier this year, Solo became a financial and critical disappointment, as it failed to live up to both critical and fan expectations. In the wake of the film’s lackluster performance, reports surfaced that Lucasfilm would shift all of its theatrical focus to Star Wars: Episode IX before announcing any future spinoffs.
The studio previously announced a trilogy of films from Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson and a series of films from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, though it’s unclear when those films would land in theaters.
What do you think of this updated edit of the made-for-TV movie? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
