Although it is now non-canon, many Star Wars fans will always have a soft spot for Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure. The film tells the story of the human Towani family, who crash-landed on the Forest Moon of Endor. The Towani parents were kidnapped and held captive by a gigantic creature known as the Gorax, which kept them as pets in its mountainous cave lair. Meanwhile, the children, Cindel and Mace, joined forces with the noble Ewoks to rescue their captive parents.
Directed by John Korty, with Bob Carrau providing the screenplay from an original story by George Lucas (who also produced through Lucasfilm), Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure was initially broadcast on ABC in the US on November 25, 1984, and it also played theatrically in several overseas territories, including Australia, Japan, and France. The film proved to be so successful that it was followed by a sequel called Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, which was released in 1985.
Resembling a mix between a mythological troll and a giant ape, the vicious Gorax was undoubtedly one of the most memorable creatures ever to have appeared in the Star Wars franchise. Younger viewers would no doubt have been frightened by the Gorax whenever it appeared onscreen in Caravan of Courage, especially when the snarling monster furiously attempts to kill the Ewoks and the Towani children when they entered its lair in order to rescue the captured parents.
Since Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects for the film, the bipedal, vaguely humanoid Gorax looked incredibly effective for its time, being depicted to great effect through stop motion model work. The Ewok films were famously some of the last major productions where ILM used extensive stop motion, with the Boar-Wolves in the film also being animated using the technique. Jon Berg also played the Gorax in a suit for several shots where stop motion could not be used, and the way the suit footage was strategically integrated with the stop motion shots meant that the Gorax looked highly convincing for the time. Therefore, it certainly is not hard to imagine that young viewers who were expecting a cute and cuddly adventure would no doubt have been petrified by the Gorax when they watched Caravan of Courage.
Is the Gorax canon in Star Wars?
In the Legends continuity, which the two Ewok films fall into, the Gorax species is classed as semi-sentient, meaning that while it does not possess human-level intelligence, it still possesses enough awareness to be able to use basic tools and craft very simple clothing. And although the Ewok films are now non-canon, most of the creatures they introduced, including the Gorax, have been reintroduced into Disney’s canon Star Wars timeline, with the Gorax species being featured in the canon reference book, Ultimate Star Wars, in addition to appearing in an episode of the animated Star Wars Forces of Destiny series titled "Traps and Tribulations," and Marvel’s Ewoks comic miniseries. Hopefully fans will see more stories featuring the Gorax in the near future.
The particular Gorax which was featured as the antagonist in Caravan of Courage appeared to be around eight meters in height, and Wookieepedia states that some members of the species could reach heights of up to thirty meters in the Legends continuity. Since they were capable of reaching such immense sizes, the Gorax is clearly one of the largest lifeforms to be found on the Forest Moon of Endor, although there is some debate as to whether they are native to the moon or were introduced. Either way, you certainly cannot blame the Ewoks for wanting to avoid the Gorax at all costs. And since meat was a key part of the Gorax’s diet, Ewoks would no doubt make a tasty snack for the hulking brutes whenever the two species happened to cross paths.
The Star Wars films which form the Skywalker Saga feature plenty of giant creatures, including the Sando Aqua Monster in The Phantom Menace, the giant space slug known as the Exogorth in The Empire Strikes Back, and the Rancor and the Sarlacc in Return of the Jedi. While the Gorax is not as iconic or recognizable as these creatures from the mainline films, it is still a significant and unique monster from the Star Wars franchise which deserves to be ranked as one of its most terrifying beasts. The Gorax has been an important part of Star Wars lore since it was originally introduced all the way back in 1984, and longtime fans will never forget being terrified by the hulking monstrosity when it appeared onscreen in Caravan of Courage, and in all the subsequent stories in which members of the gigantic species appeared.