You know what you can't screw up, though.
December 25, 2014 11:13 AM   Subscribe

Red Letter Media drunkenly reviews the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special as part of their Best of the Worst series.

There's also a new episode of Mr. Plinkett The Animated Series but who wants to watch that crap.
posted by clarknova (34 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I want to watch this. I started watching this. I literally cannot watch this. Not today. Maybe in a week or a month, but not today.

Thanks for posting! I needed to know about this. I just can't. Not today.
posted by hippybear at 11:19 AM on December 25, 2014


I saw parts of it during JHarris' xmas livestream. The animated sequence with Boba Fett, while pretty crude, is better composed, edited, and whatnot than the rest of the special. Kind of Mobius-esque art design. I'm also convinced the sequence with Diahann Carroll is the inspiration for The Entertainment from Infinite Jest.
posted by hellojed at 11:25 AM on December 25, 2014 [3 favorites]


A few years ago, some friends of mine sold me on watching the Star Wars holiday special. They billed at some sort of apocalyptically bad effrontery to Star Wars, holiday specials, and human dignity. I watched it with them and...I dunno, it's just kind of forgettably mediocre. Maybe this is one of those things where its badness scales with your emotional attachment to the Star Wars franchise or something.
posted by Noms_Tiem at 11:26 AM on December 25, 2014


Happy Life Day everyone!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 11:30 AM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm curently watching their Star Wars Episode III review for the nth time so yeah I'm gonna watch this.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:36 AM on December 25, 2014


They don't know how to pronounce "GIF". Thumbs down.
posted by anarch at 11:42 AM on December 25, 2014


Maybe this is one of those things where its badness scales with your emotional attachment to the Star Wars franchise or something.

I dunno, I honestly don't like Star Wars much but I found the holiday special really, really bad. I mean, dude, Starship make a guest appearance to play "We Built This City," and you're meant to enjoy it.

Some of that is funny bad - Happy Life Day everyone - but some is actually hard to sit through.
posted by atoxyl at 11:44 AM on December 25, 2014


I think I saw the holiday special when it originally aired. Watch it for the Boba Fett cartoon, stay for stoned, braless Princess Leia.
posted by Catblack at 11:52 AM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Mike is on fire in this one.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:59 AM on December 25, 2014


More like "lit".
posted by clarknova at 12:09 PM on December 25, 2014


Mike is on fire in this one.

Much like all those people who tragi—

Never mind.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:17 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


Needs more Plinkett.
posted by NedKoppel at 12:57 PM on December 25, 2014


To truly appreciate the holiday special, you have to be in the right mindset:

It's 1978. You are 12 years old. Last year, you saw Star Wars, one of the best movies you've ever seen. And you know that Star Wars 2 is coming out in another 18 months. One December evening, you see in the TV guide that there is a Star Wars holiday special coming soon! And it's going to be on regular TV! With all the stars of the movie!

Filled with excitement, you sit down to return to that world...
posted by Hatashran at 2:06 PM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


That's the same week you discover Santa isn't real for sure and God probably doesn't love you, either.
posted by clarknova at 2:28 PM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Mike's story about the horror convention is really good.
posted by codacorolla at 2:49 PM on December 25, 2014


Let's have a Christmas where we don't mention the star wars Xmas special. That would be special.
posted by clvrmnky at 4:16 PM on December 25, 2014 [4 favorites]


You may be pleasantly surprised by the video in the FPP.
posted by codacorolla at 4:34 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


Wait, what? I skimmed through this real quick and didn't see the Star Wars Holidays Special anywhere. I caught a clip of Ishtar, Jurassic Park, and a few other movies, but not the show in question.
posted by crapmatic at 4:50 PM on December 25, 2014


The first rule of Star Wars Holiday Special...
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:53 PM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Filled with excitement, you sit down to return to that world...

And from Return of the Jedi on, you returned to the world of Star Wars Holiday Special level of sci-fi/drama. I've said it before. This special was the blueprint for what Star Wars would become.
posted by juiceCake at 6:38 PM on December 25, 2014


"When do they get to the fireworks factory? -cries-"

I'm not sure if they planned to not talk about the thing they were reviewing, or if it just happened organically, but i really enjoyed that. These Plinkett guys are tops in my book.

One of my favorite (short) videos from them is their Summer 2014 Movie Roundup. I just love the way Jay deadpans "..and Planes 2." Gets me every time.
posted by ELF Radio at 6:42 PM on December 25, 2014


(FOR REAL)
posted by Sys Rq at 8:48 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


Needs some Josh... If only because Josh used to be my roommate.
posted by drezdn at 9:21 PM on December 25, 2014


If that ham-handed scifi secularism "Life Day" had aired in this century, conservatives would be up in arms over the Star War on Christmas.
posted by clarknova at 10:00 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


They don't know how to pronounce "GIF". Thumbs down.

No, they pronounce it correctly, with a hard "G." They're talking about the file format, not the peanut butter, which is actually spelled with a "J."
posted by univac at 11:19 PM on December 25, 2014 [17 favorites]


It should really have been the last in a long line of Science Fiction Holiday Specials after the Logan's Run Holiday Special, the Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Holiday Special, the Silent Running Holiday Special, the 2001: A Space Odyssey Holiday Special all the way back to the Forbidden Planet Holiday Special. But it wasn't. But we can imagine.
posted by Grangousier at 2:14 AM on December 26, 2014 [5 favorites]


Having to listen to the endless yowling of all those damn wookiees is in itself enough to take it way, way below 'mediocre'!
posted by Anything at 4:05 AM on December 26, 2014


It should really have been the last in a long line of Science Fiction Holiday Specials after the Logan's Run Holiday Special, the Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Holiday Special, the Silent Running Holiday Special, the 2001: A Space Odyssey Holiday Special ...

"My God; it's full of tinsel!"
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:30 AM on December 26, 2014


And from the Soviet Union, the Solaris Holiday Special and the Stalker Holiday Special.
posted by Grangousier at 7:34 AM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


I think I'd give my pinky toe to Nihilists for the chance to hear Harrison Ford say

"Happy Life Day you son of a bitch."

before putting a .45 ACP into Hermann Goering.
posted by clarknova at 7:42 AM on December 26, 2014


Needs some Josh... If only because Josh used to be my roommate.

In your experience, did Josh ever attempt a maniacal laugh in a social situation that just sort of fell flat and lead to a moment of awkward silence?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:09 AM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]


They actually talk about the special! It's a Christmas miracle!
posted by codacorolla at 8:47 AM on December 26, 2014 [3 favorites]


Although I enjoyed this immensely, it wasn't everything I hoped it would be.
I can't put my finger on it, but RLM isn't as funny or insightful as it once was.
Daring critiques seem to be behind them. It feels like an era is over.
Someone or something has watered down the brand.

Mike has allowed new contributors to take the edge off the wit of the core group.
Obviously a viral phenomenon can't survive institutionalization.
Barely an episode passes that makes me laugh the way the Plinkett reviews did.
Yet, if at least one thing changed, they'd recapture thier cultural relevance.
posted by clarknova at 5:47 AM on December 27, 2014


Man, RLM is really getting desperate for Lucas-related material to spread hate on, aren't they? Their "epic dissection" of Red Tails must still be in production.
posted by mgrichmond at 10:48 PM on December 27, 2014


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