A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Sequart Organization
Published: 2015-11-05T05:00:00+00:00

A concept sketch for RF-D4, as pictured in the Droids episode “The Great Heep.”

The Great Heep, scripted by Ben Burtt and directed by Nelvana co-founder Clive A. Smith, explores the effects of the Empire exploiting the resources of a peaceful planet named Biitu, by installing a “moisture eater tower” over a fuel ore mine, which creates a drought throughout the thriving farm colony. The installation is guarded by a gigantic droid named Heep (voiced by Long John Baldry) who consumes astromech droids, which are kept in a droid “harem” and are served to him by a droid waiter, to recharge the behemoth. The mining is performed by slave droids, and the dryness prevents all of the slaves and the overseer droid alike from rusting. Despite being entertaining and presenting a lot of colorful characters (particularly the cyborg Imperial Admiral Screed), the special was the second lowest-rated of the summer[152], possibly due to a lack of publicity and the fact that it aired during a random week in the regular timeslot for Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour reruns.

Despite the low ratings, the producers did what they could to continue on, and pre-production began on a second season of Ewoks at the end of 1985. Retitled The All-New Ewoks, the series aired from 13 September[153] to 13 December 1986, at 10:30 a.m., with a brand-new title sequence and opening theme, as well as a slight format change: out of the season’s 13 new episodes, nine consisted of two shorter, 15-minute stories separated by a commercial break. As with the first season, the bulk of the new episodes were written by either Bob Carrau or Paul Dini (who also served as story editor), while the rest were scripted by Michael Reaves (“The Raich” and “Hard Sell”), Linda Woolverton (“Gone with the Mimphs” and “Baga’s Rival”), associate producer Michael Dubil (“A Warrior and a Lurdo” and “Just My Luck”), Earl Kress (“Bringing Up Norky,” co-written by Carrau), and Stephen Langford (“Malani the Warrior,” the episode produced and aired last). All of them were directed by Dale Schott, the unit director on the first season, while original director Raymond Jafelice was now the storyboard director.

Note that on top of writing episodes for a multitude of animated series, including scripting the Droids episode “Tail of the Roon Comets,” Michael Reaves would later write or co-write several Star Wars novels and short stories, including The Phantom Menace prequel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, the Clone Wars-era MedStar duology (with Steve Perry), and the Coruscant Nights trilogy and its follow-up, The Last Jedi (with Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff).

In addition to the double-episode format, several other changes were made for the show’s second season: new executive producers Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, of Mr. T and Alvin & The Chipmunks fame, were bought in and were tasked to “improve” the series; and the show also received a new voice cast, a new title sequence (including a computer-generated zoom through the Endor system, prescient of what would later come from Lucasfilm Animation), a new theme song, and modified character designs.

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