A guilty pleasure I can highly recommend to any nerdy Star Wars college-age fans is the hidden Star Wars films known as the “Ewok Films.” 

The Ewok movies were made in the mid-80s when the future of Star Wars was very uncertain. There were no plans for the current Skywalker saga and no expanded universe but George Lucas wanted to keep telling stories in the Star Wars mythos. He decided to tell Star Wars stories to families on television, and what’s more kid friendly than space teddy bears? 

Two TV movies were made, “The Ewok Adventure” in 1984 and “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” in 1985. 

The first movie focuses on a human family that crash lands on Endor and the parents get captured by a space forest giant. 

Yes, this is a very D&D-like Star Wars fan fiction. The children meet the Ewoks and form a fellowship to go save their parents from the giant riding horseback on little ponies. They fight dragons, space wolves and use magic wands.   

In the second film, the Ewoks go to war with space pirates like something out Metroid with the help of a dark side witch. This came out years before the Clone Wars or even the Legends Books of the 90’s… Star Wars loves retcons. 

There is some very bad acting, but it makes up for it with trippy ‘80s space magic and special effects that made Star Wars so great. 

If you are tired of Disney Star Wars and its whiny characters like Rey and Fin, give these films a shot.