Tai Freligh chats with Michael Hirsh and Clive Smith, producers of The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, Droids and Ewoks, ahead of their Star Wars Celebration panel in Japan…
Prepare to meet the men behind the legend—Boba Fett—who premiered in an animated short in 1978’s The Star Wars Holiday Special. We’re taking a deep dive with animation legends Michael Hirsh and Clive Smith, the creators behind The Story of the Faithful Wookiee and much more!
Before their April panel discussion for Japan’s Star Wars Celebration, we’ll uncover the secrets behind their iconic work with George Lucas, their animation empire, and their collaborations with some pretty famous celebrities and entertainment industry insiders. Get ready for a blast of nostalgia in this exclusive interview from Flickering Myth’s Tai Freligh…
Looking back, what is one aspect of ‘The Story of the Faithful Wookiee’ that you are particularly proud of, and why?
Michael Hirsh: I love the design look that we set for the short. We were inspired by the French artist Möbius and fortunately George Lucas was a fan of his graphic artwork so we were all on the same page.
Clive Smith: Definitely the overall look and design of the piece. Frank Nissen and I had always admired the work of Jean Giraud (Moebius) so we immediately thought to reference his approach for Star Wars which also took some cues from the Italian Westerns in their dramatic staging.
What was the most unexpected challenge you faced while producing ‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids’, and how did you overcome it?
MH: The most unexpected challenge for me that we faced while producing Ewoks and Droids was the amount of interference we received from the ABC Network’s standards and practices division. After all this was Star Wars we were adapting to Saturday Morning. Standards and Practice made us design all weapons so they looked like household products like vacuum cleaners, remote controls, anything but a weapon. So their input made our work more difficult.
CS: I’m not sure it was unexpected, but the pressure was on to reflect the quality of the Star Wars universe in a totally different media. To find ways to capture the high-tech world with relatively low-tech tools.
How did your prior experiences in animation shape your approach to working on these early Star Wars projects?
MH: We were early in our animation studios effort. The only fully animated project we had ever produced was a Christmas special A Cosmic Christmas, which was the show that caught George Lucas’ attention. Because the Star Wars cartoons came so early in Nelvana’s evolution we were fluid in designing the shows and not locked into a traditional Saturday Morning look. We were free to be innovative. And we delivered three times as many animation cells per half hour as compared to our LA competitors of the time. We wanted to deliver the kind of animation quality that George Lucas and his fans would appreciate.
CS: We started the studio with the intention of developing high quality animation. We built the studio partially with graduates from the Sheridan animation college, all of whom trained for, and were anxious to hone their skills with full, ‘Disney-style’, animation. The care and enthusiasm naturally carried through, and was particularly evident in the excitement of working with the team at Lucasfilm.
With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently in the production or promotion of these Star Wars cartoons?
MH: With hindsight, I’m not sure we would have done anything differently in the production of these Star Wars cartoons. We are proud of all of our work on Star Wars and stand by it. We weren’t involved in the promotion.
CS: With the tools we had at our disposal in 1978, I’m proud of what we accomplished. It’s hard not to compare how the shows would have worked with some digital tools, but I don’t think I would have done anything differently under the circumstances.
Michael, in your memoir ‘Animation Nation,’ you discuss working with many iconic personalities. How did your experience working with George Lucas compare to those collaborations?
MH: Working with George was more personally rewarding than any other iconic personality that I worked with in my long career. George took an interest in Nelvana and what we were building and provide me and the company with mentorship as we embarked on our first feature film Rock & Rule. George is a generous and insightful artist and we gained so much working with him. We also gained by working with outstanding talent at Lucasfilm like Ben Burt and Joe Johnston who shared their know how with our talented teams.
Clive, can you talk about some of the collaborations you’ve been involved in, including in partnership with Michael?
CS: Over the years we’ve worked with several celebs, all exciting in different ways. I worked with Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton on Family Dog and Tim Burton on the animated Beetlejuice. Musically I worked very closely with John Sebastian on several Nelvana shows. Catherine O’Hara, Sid Caesar, Mr.T to name a few. George Lucas of course is probably the most significant. He was very approachable and extremely perceptive. Very hands-on and down-to-earth and really worked creatively with our team. We had a good time!
Michael Hirsh and Clive Smith are the Co-Founders of Nelvana Entertainment. The Story of the Faithful Wookiee was produced by Michael Hirsh and directed by Clive Smith. Both Hirsh and Smith are the producers of the TV series Ewoks and Droids.
Hirsh and Smith will be hosting a one-hour panel discussion at the Star Wars Celebration Conference in Tokyo, Japan, on April 19th to discuss their experiences working with George Lucas to introduce Boba Fett, the creation of The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, its reception after it aired, and how it became a beloved cult classic, among other topics. Michael can be found on Instagram.
Tai Freligh writes about entertainment and pop culture for Flickering Myth from sunny Huntington Beach, California…just a hop and a skip from Los Angeles. He can be found on Threads, Blue Sky, TikTok and his website.
IMAGES: Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd., L.L.C.
