LOL, re: Teddy Bear Army.
Iirc the 2nd Death Star was orginally intended to have been constructed over the Wookie home planet, by Wookie slave labor. But for some reason Lucas decided to go with the Ewok home planet instead.
I’ve heard it was money related ... Either going with the Ewoks were cheaper and he was at his budget limit, or they presented a new sales channel for making additional marketing cash. Knowing Lucas it was probably the latter.
Had they gone instead with an army of enslaved Wookies rising up against their oppressors ...
Well, I’ll leave it at that.
Good point, that Teddy Bear Army scene did look cheap.
They front loaded all the special effects in the third movie (Return) and then ended the trilogy with the midgets in bear suits hitting the Storm troopers (who had blast guns) with sticks, pretty lame little kid stuff.
Man that ending with the Teddy bears singling and dancing and they are all smiling and OB(Alex Guinness) comes back as a ghost was a pretty painful ending.
I did love the SNL Satire of the first move, 'Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space' with Carrie Fisher in the Bikini, she was really hot in those days.