The Star Wars Holiday Special

[Trekker4747]

The SW:Holiday Special aired 35 years ago last night. Today is the anniversary of the Jonestown mass suicide. Coincidence?

Anyway, it's a day late but tonight I will watch it in recognition of the anniversary but the Rifftrax version of it. The un-riffed version is just too painful to bare.

Rifftrax has a purchasabled/downloadable VOD of their riff on the SWHS. (I've no idea how they got the rights to do this. The earlier version of the riff was an MP3 to played along with a bootleg of the show.)

If you've never seen this, please do (there's still places to see it on-line) and remember how terrible things can be in the name of... Actually I've no idea what they were going for with this thing. Clearly drugs were a very, very big problem in the 1970s and there was no internet yet so people were desperate for entertainment. Even if it meant 20 minutes of watching people in Wookie costumes growl at each other.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Boba Fett cartoon, The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, is simply amazing, and is certainly the highlight.

Ignore the fact that R2 is flexible.

Besides introducing Boba Fett himself, the cartoon anticipates Admiral Ackbar (no, that's probably not Ackbar, but he looks like a Mon Calamari), anticipates the hatch going topside on the Millennium Falcon first used in The Empire Strikes Back to rescue Luke under Cloud City, and anticipates the base in the asteroid field seen in Revenge of the Sith, where Padmé gives birth.

 

[Christopher]

If you've never seen this, please do (there's still places to see it on-line) and remember how terrible things can be in the name of... Actually I've no idea what they were going for with this thing.

They were going for the type of variety show that was common on TV at the time, combining comedy skits and musical numbers and celebrity guests. It was pretty much a stock formula for specials, so someone just applied that formula to Star Wars very half-heartedly.

 

[wildstar]

Oh my god, 35 years?
I remember watching this. Realizing that it was pretty bad, even in the eyes of an 8 year old who absolutely loved Star Wars. I remember my mother saying that it was the stupidest thing she had ever seen. I was of course offended, only because it was my beloved Star Wars, but privately agreed.
Variety specials were huge at the time, even the Brady Bunch had one. And Star Wars was bigger than huge, it's hard to describe unless you witnessed it, but it was bigger than any so called blockbuster now.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I have yet to see the special.

I do own Caravan of Courage though

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I've found that some Star Wars fans take the special too seriously--like it was meant to be the next episode following the original film. I caught this when it aired, and enjoyed seeing the main cast again (remember, this was two years before The Empire Strikes Back--which at the time, was commonly referred to as "Star Wars II").

Similar to cash-in nonsense such as The Brady Bunch Hour, or Legends of the Super-Heroes (Adam West, Burt Ward and Frank Gorshin reprising their roles from the 1966-68 Batman series), they were not "in-universe," so it was not the end of the world for the franchise, continuity, or anything else.

 

[RandyS]

I have yet to see the special.

I do own Caravan of Courage though

You should watch it at least once. I'm a proud owner of a bootleg DVD.

I, on the other hand, have never seen Caravan of Courage. Or any of the Ewok movies for that matter.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I know I watched it 35 years ago but I don't remember anything from it at all. Everything i know about it comes from reading about it. I must've blocked it from my mind.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I watched it last night... Ugh what were they thinking?! I get that variety shows were a thing at the time back then but, sheesh, how did anyone think that this would be entertaining? I mean, I'll give them the Bea Arthur bit that was kind of... good? Entertaining? Sort of? I mean it's hard for Bea Arthur to not be good but the 10,000 Harvey Korman skits? Was the narcoleptic robot supposed to be funny? The cooking show bit? Ugh. And the circus act thing... Yeesh.

What a cluster-fuck this thing is.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Well, I watched it last night... Ugh what were they thinking?! I get that variety shows were a thing at the time back then but, sheesh, how did anyone think that this would be entertaining? I mean, I'll give them the Bea Arthur bit that was kind of... good? Entertaining? Sort of? I mean it's hard for Bea Arthur to not be good but the 10,000 Harvey Korman skits? Was the narcoleptic robot supposed to be funny? The cooking show bit? Ugh. And the circus act thing... Yeesh.

What a cluster-fuck this thing is.

If you can make it through the Star Wars prequels, you can find something to enjoy in The Holiday Special.

 

[Christopher]

Oh wow, I think I remember that DC-10 crash. It was big news. I don't think I'd ever heard of a DC-10 before, but for a while you couldn't get away from hearing about them. Was there some sort of recall, or at least an investigation into their safety?

 

[Harvey]

In 10-15 years Ford's more likely to be retired, if he's still alive (the man is 71, after all). I doubt he'll ever go to television at this point. Why would he?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Wasn't that the crash where they winched a woman out of the river and her husband and baby died in the crash? I remember looking this up years later to see how she was and apparently her whole life ground to a halt and was shit forever after that which was very depressing.

And yeah DC-10's were talked about all the time, that's funny to remember too.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I saw the Nostalgia Critic review of the special... What... was that video Chewie's father was watching? Was that porn?!

 

[Owain Taggart]

I wouldn't doubt if Disney were to revive the "tradition" by having yearly specials, but I'm not even sure they have the guts to do that given the legendary reception this one had.

 

[Trekker4747]

I saw the Nostalgia Critic review of the special... What... was that video Chewie's father was watching? Was that porn?!

It was just a Diannah Carroll "music video"/diva ballad. But the way Art Carney acts when he gives it to him and Itchy's undulating jaw makes it comes across as very "porny." But, at the end of the day, it's just a music video.

 

[Set Harth]

Clearly drugs were a very, very big problem in the 1970s

Things are so much different now.

 

[Trekker4747]

Clearly drugs were a very, very big problem in the 1970s

Things are so much different now.

At least it's not bleeding over, terribly, into our prime-time entertainment.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Today Chewbacca's family would have their own reality show....

 

[J.T.B.]

My main memory of the Holiday Special that year was: It was something to do with Star Wars, and it was on TV in my home! In the pre-home video days, that was a major event. I probably knew it wasn't very good, but I would have watched animated dog turds if they spliced in some Star Wars footage.

Oh wow, I think I remember that DC-10 crash. It was big news. I don't think I'd ever heard of a DC-10 before, but for a while you couldn't get away from hearing about them. Was there some sort of recall, or at least an investigation into their safety?

It was kind of a media-fueled thing. All DC-10s were grounded after that for a few weeks, but even after they figured out what the cause had been and fixed it and certification was restored, the plane had gotten a reputation. Boy, it's nice to go so long between major air crashes nowadays.

Wasn't that the crash where they winched a woman out of the river and her husband and baby died in the crash? I remember looking this up years later to see how she was and apparently her whole life ground to a halt and was shit forever after that which was very depressing.

That sounds like the Air Florida crash in DC, 1982.