Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site edison.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!edison!dca From: dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Re: "cute" Ewoks Message-ID: <533@edison.UUCP> Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 09:45:48 EDT Article-I.D.: edison.533 Posted: Mon Aug 12 09:45:48 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 16:22:46 EDT References: <3158@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> Organization: General Electric Company, Charlottesville, VA Lines: 64 > There has been much speculation about the ability of little Ewoks to > produce the kind of attack depicted in the film. I would agree with those > who suggest that this is a hunting society, so some of the item seen would > have been built; another idea presented by someone here was that the Storm- > troopers had been a problem for the Ewoks for some time, and the Ewoks had > already been fighting back. > Still, I think Ewoks, as presented would have a greater capability than > they have been credited with. I think there has been an erroneous tendency > to look at a little Ewok and dismiss any possibility of heavy work quickly. > I submit, however, that four to six Ewoks could chop down a tree in an hour, > and fifty Ewoks, using a primitive form of block and tackle, could raise the > stripped log. Others could use ordinary levers to move logs into a pile > restrained by a keystone-type lever. > The Ewoks would seem to be early-to-middle Paleolithic. They have > learned fire, sophisticated weapons-making, and have a tribal structure in > what does not appear to be a nomadic society. Moreover, they have had some > exposure to the modern technology of the Empire. None of the activity > attributed to them would be beyond a humanoid culture at the same stage of > development. It is anthrocentristic to deny small, furry people the same > capabilities. The Ewoks are, in many ways, what Piper's Fuzzies would have > become had a non-interference directive kept them uncontaminated by man. (Place rasberry here) Rubbish!, spare me a load of rationalization. I don't really give a rip wether their stage of development could make them serious competitors or not. They were chosen by a human to emphasize characteristics we consider "cute". This does not in my mind aid the plot, it keeps us from taking them seriously just like cartoonization keeps people from taking bears seriously (which are certainly serious creatures) and gets some of them hurt. The point is that this was vastly detrimental to the plot which would have been much better if he had used characters we could have taken seriously rather than ones we tend to associate with defenseless or harmless creatures. > Two specifics: > > >. . .otherwise skywalker an co. wouldn't have put up with them tying them > >up et al. > > This isn't realistic belief. If I'm busy shooting down Ewoks in front > of me with my blaster while Ewoks to me left, right, and behind are filling > me full of arrows and spears, I'm going to be as dead as any Ewoks I shoot. Perhaps. but I think that if the ewoks had not learned by now to scatter when they caught blaster fire there would be no ewoks. They showed themselves a primitive god worshipping race. In keeping with this I would expect they would have been a little less blase about large people who fling fire from from their fingertips, I know one of our primitive societies would. With stubby arms combined with their small size it would be difficult to put any force behind one of those sticks and the bows if my fuzzy memory serves me were a joke. Seriously, one good Uzi would have taken the whole lot out Which brings up another question. Where is the futuristic hand held machine gun? > > >Yes, I like fuzzies but only when treated as fuzzies not as a serious > >character which is to give storm troopers any competition. > > This suggest a reference to Piper's Fuzzy novels. If Mr. Albrecht read > them and got the idea that Fuzzies weren't serious characters or were capable > of little beyond "yeeking" and "smokko", then he missed a very great deal. Oh, there's no question the fuzzies where intelligent this, after all, was the point of the whole series. But as to being a physical threat I think not. Creatures that size learn the same response to a larger predator that I have with large unfriendly animals when I'm only armed with a sharp stick (I don't know about you but I run). David Albrecht General Electric