Lucas told us Han Solo was married to a Wookiee
December 27, 2015 4:22 PM Subscribe
This is pretty much what I imagined happened, with less mention of substance abuse. And now I will be picturing the extras in their costumes, sweating and passing out on the hot soundstage while Bea Arthur angrily demands to know why she has to do another take, all for such a terrible result.
I just really want a cleaned-up audio recording of Bea Arthur's "Good Night, but not Goodbye" song. It'd be a Life Day Miracle.
Is that a tear, friend?
posted by emjaybee at 4:45 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
I just really want a cleaned-up audio recording of Bea Arthur's "Good Night, but not Goodbye" song. It'd be a Life Day Miracle.
Is that a tear, friend?
posted by emjaybee at 4:45 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
*sells off comb supply*
posted by jonmc at 4:48 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 4:48 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Tried to watch this with Rifftrax on Xmas, made it about half way through. I had heard about it for years and imagined it as an actual live variety show, with dancing and skits and 70s cheese. I was unprepared for the reailty of the special. The best part was the music. I really wanted to enjoy it because I expected Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher having fun hamming it up with a live audience. But ugh, its just unwatchable.
posted by kittensofthenight at 4:49 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kittensofthenight at 4:49 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I actually have vague memories of watching this during its original broadcast. What's more, I remember LIKING it.
I was only seven, I hasten to add.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:53 PM on December 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
I was only seven, I hasten to add.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:53 PM on December 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
All the drugs on set and nobody could get a pot of coffee in Carrie Fisher?
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:57 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:57 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
I remember feeling very disappointed that this wasn't really related to the movie I loved, but being 12, I had no idea how misguided and misbegotten the whole enterprise really was.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:59 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:59 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just realized when watching this a few weeks ago that my dad's friend was the original director. I'd get the scoop but I don't know if they're still in touch or if he'd have any interest in reliving it. This piece throws him under the bus a little, but really he was probably the smartest person on it for getting out ASAP.
posted by yellowbinder at 5:03 PM on December 27, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by yellowbinder at 5:03 PM on December 27, 2015 [13 favorites]
I watched this live at age 10. I checked out when Jefferson Starship came on. I remember thinking, I just don't get it.
That meant I missed the cartoon that introduced Boba Fett, but none of my friends saw it, either.
Still, though, we were geeked up for Boba Fett, because Kenner released his action figure in a special mail-in giveaway, saying he was a new character that played a big role in TESB.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:17 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
That meant I missed the cartoon that introduced Boba Fett, but none of my friends saw it, either.
Still, though, we were geeked up for Boba Fett, because Kenner released his action figure in a special mail-in giveaway, saying he was a new character that played a big role in TESB.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:17 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I did see this when it originally aired, but failed to process the sheer horror of it. Though I saw the Boba Fett cartoon again a couple of years ago and was surprised by how much I remembered of it, so that sank in, at least.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:20 PM on December 27, 2015
posted by thomas j wise at 5:20 PM on December 27, 2015
[Boba Fett] was intended to make public appearances in the interim between films, initially popping up at the San Anselmo County Fair parade in September of 1978.Well, that is a hell of a thing. It is a measure of how much marketing has changed in four decades: "Yes, we are going to introduce the first new character from the sequel: he will be masked and marching next to an iconic villain and will be seen for the first time in a county fair parade."
I would have liked it very much if Joss Whedon had decided that Ultron's first appearance was not going to be in a 15-second teaser during the Super Bowl but instead waving to people from a booth at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:21 PM on December 27, 2015 [49 favorites]
Yep, watched it, but I seriously have no recollection of it.
Bruce Vilanch was one of the writers? That explains so much. Is there anything - anything - he's written that's worth watching? Donny & Marie, Hollywood Squares, the Oscars, and this.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:31 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Bruce Vilanch was one of the writers? That explains so much. Is there anything - anything - he's written that's worth watching? Donny & Marie, Hollywood Squares, the Oscars, and this.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:31 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Don't mock the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. Those people are tastemakers.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:31 PM on December 27, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:31 PM on December 27, 2015 [16 favorites]
Weirdly, I have a false memory of watching the Star Wars Holiday Special as a small child. But it aired a year before I was born.
I definitely saw something on TV with Star Wars characters being introduced in a similar way to the Holiday Special intro, but that could easily be something else.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:52 PM on December 27, 2015
I definitely saw something on TV with Star Wars characters being introduced in a similar way to the Holiday Special intro, but that could easily be something else.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:52 PM on December 27, 2015
The most recent episode of How Did This Get Made tackles the Star Wars Holiday Special. Enjoy.
posted by Fizz at 5:54 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 5:54 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
I wish there'd been a big new Maple Syrup Festival this holiday season.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:55 PM on December 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Wolfdog at 5:55 PM on December 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
In retrospect, why would anyone who'd seen the Holiday Special be surprised with the Prequels? (Attack of the Clones would've only been made better with some Harvey Korman)
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:03 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:03 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yeah, some things are so bad they're good, and then some things are just bad. The Star Wars Holiday Special is definitely the latter.
I only saw it decades later, after it had become sort of a cult thing. I'd hoped it would at least be laughably bad; unwatchable was more like it. The part with the wookies speaking un-subtitled Wookese, it was like some kind of absurd theatre class exercise.
What interests me the most is how everybody knew the Special was going to be a trainwreck, but there was apparently no way to hit the kill switch. Why was this so? I mean, plenty of movie productions have been halted because they just kinda fell apart. Why did they go through with such an obviously doomed project? Is it harder to abort a TV special than a movie?
posted by panama joe at 6:04 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I only saw it decades later, after it had become sort of a cult thing. I'd hoped it would at least be laughably bad; unwatchable was more like it. The part with the wookies speaking un-subtitled Wookese, it was like some kind of absurd theatre class exercise.
What interests me the most is how everybody knew the Special was going to be a trainwreck, but there was apparently no way to hit the kill switch. Why was this so? I mean, plenty of movie productions have been halted because they just kinda fell apart. Why did they go through with such an obviously doomed project? Is it harder to abort a TV special than a movie?
posted by panama joe at 6:04 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Why did they go through with such an obviously doomed project?
Two words, friend: George. Lucas.
At least I have this to thank for one of my most successful Cards Against Humanity plays.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:12 PM on December 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
Two words, friend: George. Lucas.
At least I have this to thank for one of my most successful Cards Against Humanity plays.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:12 PM on December 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
Bruce Vilanch was one of the writers? That explains so much. Is there anything - anything - he's written that's worth watching?
I have to admit that, when I saw his name in this, I thought, "Of course." But that might be a little unfair; Vilanch is pretty high-profile (thanks to his actually being on Hollywood Squares as well as writing for it, and his, ah, distinctive appearance), but people tend to remember the bad sketches and production numbers in the Oscars much more than the good ones, and the guy's got six Emmys. I think that I've said on the blue before that the SWHS was pretty run-of-the-mill for variety-show-type holiday specials, and that it tends to stick out more than its counterparts in the seventies because of the excessive degree to which SW fans take things seriously, which even a veteran Trekkie like me finds questionable. (I've long suspected that part of the horror that SW fans have for this is based in the fear that someone might consider it canon.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:13 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
I have to admit that, when I saw his name in this, I thought, "Of course." But that might be a little unfair; Vilanch is pretty high-profile (thanks to his actually being on Hollywood Squares as well as writing for it, and his, ah, distinctive appearance), but people tend to remember the bad sketches and production numbers in the Oscars much more than the good ones, and the guy's got six Emmys. I think that I've said on the blue before that the SWHS was pretty run-of-the-mill for variety-show-type holiday specials, and that it tends to stick out more than its counterparts in the seventies because of the excessive degree to which SW fans take things seriously, which even a veteran Trekkie like me finds questionable. (I've long suspected that part of the horror that SW fans have for this is based in the fear that someone might consider it canon.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:13 PM on December 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
I've long suspected that part of the horror that SW fans have for this is based in the fear that someone might consider it canon.
It (mostly) is.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:26 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
It (mostly) is.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:26 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Donny and Marie Star Wars episode, with Redd Foxx as Obi-Wan, Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and Paul Lynde from Bewitched as Grand Moff Tarkin.
I've never had anyone thank me for introducing them to any of this.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:29 PM on December 27, 2015 [21 favorites]
I've never had anyone thank me for introducing them to any of this.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:29 PM on December 27, 2015 [21 favorites]
Metafilter: Took my kid for the Cantina scene. All the characters from the bar were there. However, they forgot [to pump] oxygen into the masks. Characters were fainting left and right.
posted by Bob Regular at 6:32 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Bob Regular at 6:32 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
I've long suspected that part of the horror that SW fans have for this is based in the fear that someone might consider it canon.
It (mostly) is.
My biggest canon confusion while watching was that Boba Fett cartoon. Was that canon? The little wookiee watches it, so who made a cartoon of that adventure in universe? Did they take any liberties? It's all a huge mess, but at least Diahann Caroll was sparkly.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:33 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
It (mostly) is.
My biggest canon confusion while watching was that Boba Fett cartoon. Was that canon? The little wookiee watches it, so who made a cartoon of that adventure in universe? Did they take any liberties? It's all a huge mess, but at least Diahann Caroll was sparkly.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:33 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
At least I have this to thank for one of my most successful Cards Against Humanity plays.
Like many CAH Pick 2's, it's better if you swap the two white cards.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:36 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
Like many CAH Pick 2's, it's better if you swap the two white cards.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:36 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
The Donny and Marie Star Wars yt episode, with Redd Foxx as Obi-Wan, Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and Paul Lynde from Bewitched as Grand Moff Tarkin.
Whelp, I know what I'm watching tonight.
Use the Force, ya big dummy!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:42 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
Whelp, I know what I'm watching tonight.
Use the Force, ya big dummy!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:42 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
I try really hard not to be an elitist nerd about the stuff I'm obsessed with, but I cannot bring myself to watch this, nor can I find it in myself to participate in the Life Day events on SWTOR even though I really want the title you get for collecting snow covered parcels. It's still too apocryphal for me.
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:44 PM on December 27, 2015
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:44 PM on December 27, 2015
The style of animation was modeled after [French artist] Jean “Moebius” Geraud, at Lucas’s request.
I knew this deep down inside; it pushes exactly the same buttons that Moebius's work did, which for me means it has a tremendous appeal. Glad to hear it confirmed. It's always been one of my deepest pop cultural wishes for that there could have been a Star Wars animated series that looked like the clip from the Holiday Special. It could've been glorious.
As for the rest ... every time we tried watching it straight through in college, we tapped out before it got to the animation. We had to fast-forward to the animated part. It wasn't even mockable, it was more like, our brains completely rejected the idea that this thing should be the center of our attention. It's not like we had no reference whatsoever for variety shows, but the overall effect was almost like an avant-garde film that purposefully made you uncomfortable.
posted by graymouser at 7:02 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
I knew this deep down inside; it pushes exactly the same buttons that Moebius's work did, which for me means it has a tremendous appeal. Glad to hear it confirmed. It's always been one of my deepest pop cultural wishes for that there could have been a Star Wars animated series that looked like the clip from the Holiday Special. It could've been glorious.
As for the rest ... every time we tried watching it straight through in college, we tapped out before it got to the animation. We had to fast-forward to the animated part. It wasn't even mockable, it was more like, our brains completely rejected the idea that this thing should be the center of our attention. It's not like we had no reference whatsoever for variety shows, but the overall effect was almost like an avant-garde film that purposefully made you uncomfortable.
posted by graymouser at 7:02 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
In retrospect, why would anyone who'd seen the Holiday Special be surprised with the
You gotta remember - before there was YouTube, there was passing around tapes and finding things at cons. Even if you've seen it, you only half remember the details. You have the tape? Cool - find it.
posted by wotsac at 7:02 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
You gotta remember - before there was YouTube, there was passing around tapes and finding things at cons. Even if you've seen it, you only half remember the details. You have the tape? Cool - find it.
posted by wotsac at 7:02 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Huh. Ken and Mitzie Welch. Adoptive parents of the incomparable Gillian Welch. What a weird little factoid - - that she's connected to this thing.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:07 PM on December 27, 2015
posted by mudpuppie at 7:07 PM on December 27, 2015
Why did they go through with such an obviously doomed project?
They likely pre-sold the advertising and had to air something.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:41 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
They likely pre-sold the advertising and had to air something.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:41 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Found the animated segment! It does look rather like Moebius (I'm not sure about the huge eyes on Luke and Leia, though), but the music reminds me of Rocket Robin Hood.
posted by maudlin at 7:44 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by maudlin at 7:44 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]
Let the record show that Greg Nog is an evil genius.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:00 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:00 PM on December 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
The animated segment is actually a neat bit, though C3P0's reptilian sideways-eyelid-blinks took a little getting used to.
posted by emjaybee at 8:39 PM on December 27, 2015
posted by emjaybee at 8:39 PM on December 27, 2015
It really needed to be faster and more intense.
posted by George Lucas at 8:40 PM on December 27, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by George Lucas at 8:40 PM on December 27, 2015 [20 favorites]
I definitely saw something on TV with Star Wars characters being introduced in a similar way to the Holiday Special intro, but that could easily be something else.
Possibly The Ewok Adventure?
(trailer, full movie)
posted by Shmuel510 at 8:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Possibly The Ewok Adventure?
(trailer, full movie)
posted by Shmuel510 at 8:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
We watched a good chunk of the Rifftrax version the other night--I remember that I watched it when it came on and there was something about Stormtroopers tearing up Chewbacca's house. But my young brain had evidently blocked out all the Art Carney and Harvey Korman bits. Or how hopped up on goofballs most of the human cast looked--except for Harrison Ford, who clearly does NOT want to be there but is playing along.
The Ewok Adventure is way more vivid in my memory, but that could be the smooth Burl Ives narration.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:56 PM on December 27, 2015
The Ewok Adventure is way more vivid in my memory, but that could be the smooth Burl Ives narration.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:56 PM on December 27, 2015
Pat Proft is a gag writer, probably most famous for his work with the Zuckers and Abrahams. I saw him give a speech once in Minbeapolis. He started by saying "Let's start this lecture with a few slides," and then slid back and forth on the stage on his knees.
I wrote about it for City Pages, and mentioned that I had actually heard hissing in response to this joke. The venue panicked and complained, tried to get me fired, claiming I had been drunk at the show. I posted a follow-up comment saying that with the sort of material Proft specializes in, a hiss is like an Academy Award.
Just for context about one of the first writers of the special.
posted by maxsparber at 9:11 PM on December 27, 2015 [11 favorites]
I wrote about it for City Pages, and mentioned that I had actually heard hissing in response to this joke. The venue panicked and complained, tried to get me fired, claiming I had been drunk at the show. I posted a follow-up comment saying that with the sort of material Proft specializes in, a hiss is like an Academy Award.
Just for context about one of the first writers of the special.
posted by maxsparber at 9:11 PM on December 27, 2015 [11 favorites]
Any thread about the Star Wars Holiday Special needs to reference the clip of Conan asking Harrison Ford about it a few years back.
(Best quality video I could dredge up, sorry.)
posted by jeremias at 9:18 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
(Best quality video I could dredge up, sorry.)
posted by jeremias at 9:18 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
Neat to finally see the cartoon. My first animation job was on the Saturday morning series Droids, that Nelvana did in the mid 80s. I did Moebius-style background cleanups linnnnnnnnne..dot...dot...dot..linnnnnnnnne..dot...linnnnne.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:46 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:46 PM on December 27, 2015 [7 favorites]
If it weren't for the Holiday Special, we'd never have gotten this delightful story: The Sith Who Brought Life Day. ("An Imperial officer loses a bet and has to get Darth Vader a present for Life Day.")
posted by asperity at 9:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by asperity at 9:52 PM on December 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
I tried to watch this during my "watching really bad movies on purpose" period - it was one of the least watchable things I've watched, for real. Some people will tell you it's not that bad but I disagree and I'm not a Star Wars fan.
posted by atoxyl at 12:15 AM on December 28, 2015
posted by atoxyl at 12:15 AM on December 28, 2015
I enjoyed it, in one of the standard internet versions, as a really shag-carpeted take on the Star Wars universe and Kashyyyk. I also read that Star Wars novel with the three-eyed prince and Vader's glove and the dark side priests, although I didn't seek it out and it was only okay, so YMMV.
posted by Gnatcho at 1:29 AM on December 28, 2015
posted by Gnatcho at 1:29 AM on December 28, 2015
asperity: “I just really want a cleaned-up audio recording of Bea Arthur's "Good Night, but not Goodbye" song. It'd be a Life Day Miracle.”It is a Life Day miracle….
Courtesy of “The Star Wars Holiday Special (HD) "The WHIO 1st Generation 2013 VHS"” which is the best recording of the thing I've ever seen.
posted by ob1quixote at 1:59 AM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
If disney had any sense, they'd get Hannibal Buress/Amy Schumer/The guys from workaholics/Abby and Illana/basically everyone who was in this and more and make a new version of this that's all fake-70s and sarcastic as hell.
Get Ford/Fisher/Hamill in it again as a cameo.
With how hard comedy shows are destroying it right now, it seems like an obvious and easy cash grab.
I'm cracking the fuck up to myself imagining Eric Andre harassing people in a stormtrooper uniform. If only...
posted by emptythought at 2:02 AM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
Get Ford/Fisher/Hamill in it again as a cameo.
With how hard comedy shows are destroying it right now, it seems like an obvious and easy cash grab.
I'm cracking the fuck up to myself imagining Eric Andre harassing people in a stormtrooper uniform. If only...
posted by emptythought at 2:02 AM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
After the special, we stayed in touch and we were developing a project with Lucasfilm and the Bee Gees. Nothing ever came of it.
*sobs*
posted by mediareport at 4:03 AM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
*sobs*
posted by mediareport at 4:03 AM on December 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
I saw it as a kid and was bored and baffled, but then I saw it again a few years ago and found it slow and weird and awkward but kind of charming in a very 70s way. Star Wars + Harvey Korman + Bea Arthur is hard for me to hate. I actually really, really like Arthur's cabaret number and I wish that sequence had become a series. A tragi-comic sci-fi sitcom with Bea Arthur as a grouchy bartender in a Weimar-esque cantina full of aliens, with everybody living under the thumb of the space Nazis and Bea breaking up bar fights, fending off the advances of Harvey Korman and stopping once an episode to croak out some big, bittersweet, Weill-esque musical number. I'd watch it!
I've always wondered about Hamill's rather extreme makeup in this. Was that to cover up his accident scars? Because they went way overboard, it stops just short of drag. Hamill's painted up like a Kewpie doll, Fisher seems dazed and Ford acts like a man who has been shanghaied into spending his Saturday afternoon playing pretend with his boss' kids. (It was glimpse of the acting style he would reprise in The Force Awakens.) The entire special is just wall to wall WTF.
Still better than the prequels, though.
I was surprised to learn the ratings were bad. I mean, this was before everybody knew what they were getting! A brand new Star Wars special should have had huge ratings. Why didn't it? Were people that reluctant to turn away from The Love Boat?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:27 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
I've always wondered about Hamill's rather extreme makeup in this. Was that to cover up his accident scars? Because they went way overboard, it stops just short of drag. Hamill's painted up like a Kewpie doll, Fisher seems dazed and Ford acts like a man who has been shanghaied into spending his Saturday afternoon playing pretend with his boss' kids. (It was glimpse of the acting style he would reprise in The Force Awakens.) The entire special is just wall to wall WTF.
Still better than the prequels, though.
I was surprised to learn the ratings were bad. I mean, this was before everybody knew what they were getting! A brand new Star Wars special should have had huge ratings. Why didn't it? Were people that reluctant to turn away from The Love Boat?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:27 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
If I recall correctly, yes, the Holiday Special was filmed shortly after Mark Hamill's accident, so that explains his face. And never mind "dazed"; Carrie Fisher was so coked up her eyes don't even point in the same direction.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:29 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:29 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
After the special, we stayed in touch and we were developing a project with Lucasfilm and the Bee Gees. Nothing ever came of it.
*sobs*
Count your blessings.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:36 AM on December 28, 2015
*sobs*
Count your blessings.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:36 AM on December 28, 2015
Pat and I had written for mimes Shields and Yarnell, which is why we were brought on.
This explains so much.
posted by Splunge at 8:50 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
This explains so much.
posted by Splunge at 8:50 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I watched this for the first time last night, coincidentally. I was on the "this is dull, but not so bad" train right up until Art Carney strapped Attichitcuk into the orgasmatron
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:13 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:13 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
slow and weird and awkward but kind of charming in a very 70s way
And that is the thing: during the Variety Show Scare of the 70s, stuff like this was on all the time. It just seems so WTF because it has survived into a soberer age.
Nowadays the prospect of Bea Arthur singing a maudlin ballad to cantina aliens, Diahann Carroll purring and cooing in some holographic softcore, and Art Carney evading stormtroopers seems like a coke-powered nightmare. In 1978, we knew that as 'Thursday'.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:25 AM on December 28, 2015 [15 favorites]
And that is the thing: during the Variety Show Scare of the 70s, stuff like this was on all the time. It just seems so WTF because it has survived into a soberer age.
Nowadays the prospect of Bea Arthur singing a maudlin ballad to cantina aliens, Diahann Carroll purring and cooing in some holographic softcore, and Art Carney evading stormtroopers seems like a coke-powered nightmare. In 1978, we knew that as 'Thursday'.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:25 AM on December 28, 2015 [15 favorites]
A Conversation with Steve Binder, Director of the Star Wars Holiday Special
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:30 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:30 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mark Hamill's comment on Reddit "I thought it was a mistake from the beginning. It was just unlike anything else in the Star Wars universe." seems a bit like a retcon. At the time the Holiday Special was made (summer of 1978), there was only the one movie from the year before. What other Star Wars apocrypha was there? How much of it was that sincere heroic thing that we now know and love?
That Donny & Marie musical revue RobotVoodooPower shared is a counterfactual. That came out in September 1977, or just a few months after the first film. And it is amazing. Seriously if you want to watch some Star Wars camp but well made and entertaining and mercifully short unlike the Holiday Special thing, watch it. I'll even take Paul Lynde over Bea Arthur to fill in my queer bingo card.
The Donny and Marie thing is pure kitsch. Perfectly consistent for Donny & Marie, but not at all for Star Wars. But it must have been at least a little officially tolerated, they're using original movie props and costumes. I guess not being written by Lucasfilm it's not canon? Still, it hardly sets a high bar of seriousness for "anything else in the Star Wars universe".
posted by Nelson at 10:03 AM on December 28, 2015
That Donny & Marie musical revue RobotVoodooPower shared is a counterfactual. That came out in September 1977, or just a few months after the first film. And it is amazing. Seriously if you want to watch some Star Wars camp but well made and entertaining and mercifully short unlike the Holiday Special thing, watch it. I'll even take Paul Lynde over Bea Arthur to fill in my queer bingo card.
The Donny and Marie thing is pure kitsch. Perfectly consistent for Donny & Marie, but not at all for Star Wars. But it must have been at least a little officially tolerated, they're using original movie props and costumes. I guess not being written by Lucasfilm it's not canon? Still, it hardly sets a high bar of seriousness for "anything else in the Star Wars universe".
posted by Nelson at 10:03 AM on December 28, 2015
There was also the Muppet Show episode with Chewbacca dancing and a Pigs in Space/Star Wars parody with Miss Piggy in hair buns. And Mark Hamill trying to be not-Luke, which in retrospect is rather poignant.
posted by emjaybee at 10:33 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 10:33 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Star Wars appearance on the Muppet Show is great, Hamill as wannabe vaudevillian performer is the best.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:50 AM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:50 AM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Hamill wasn't even the scheduled guest. He was a last-minute replacement for Angus McGonagle, the Gershwin-gargling argyle gargoyle.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:56 AM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:56 AM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
The Donny and Marie thing is pure kitsch.
It's kitsch now. At the time, this was among the height of entertainment. At the time, Donny and Marie were more akin to Taylor Swift than anything else.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:12 AM on December 28, 2015
It's kitsch now. At the time, this was among the height of entertainment. At the time, Donny and Marie were more akin to Taylor Swift than anything else.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:12 AM on December 28, 2015
Don't mock the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival. Those people are tastemakers.
I know this is a derail but seriously I feel I must say something! I was surprised the first time (and last time) I went to the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival how little actual maple syrup content was on display. Pancake breakfast? A tour of a sugar bush? Please. My maple syrup festival would feature maple syrup vendors from around the world and only vendors with maple syrup or maple products, all food would have to have some maple syrup content, maple syrup taste tests where we could sample maple syrup made from all over Canada and the US, maple syrup wrestling, maple sugar sculptures, maple themed carnival rides... Blocking off the downtown of your small town and selling pancakes does not make you a maple syrup festival.
Oh yeah, the Holiday Special is terrible but I do like that animated short.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:35 AM on December 28, 2015
I know this is a derail but seriously I feel I must say something! I was surprised the first time (and last time) I went to the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival how little actual maple syrup content was on display. Pancake breakfast? A tour of a sugar bush? Please. My maple syrup festival would feature maple syrup vendors from around the world and only vendors with maple syrup or maple products, all food would have to have some maple syrup content, maple syrup taste tests where we could sample maple syrup made from all over Canada and the US, maple syrup wrestling, maple sugar sculptures, maple themed carnival rides... Blocking off the downtown of your small town and selling pancakes does not make you a maple syrup festival.
Oh yeah, the Holiday Special is terrible but I do like that animated short.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:35 AM on December 28, 2015
The Muppets appearance is from January 1980, a year+ after the Holiday Special and just a few months before the Empire Strikes Back release. In retrospect it's interesting how deliberately Lucasfilm cultivated the cult of Star Wars, filling the time between summer of 1977 and summer of 1980 with other Star Wars stuff to keep people interested (and buying) until the second movie. Followed by the re-release of the first film in 1981, the first time Lucas tampered with The Text.
posted by Nelson at 11:42 AM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 11:42 AM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Huh. Ken and Mitzie Welch. Adoptive parents of the incomparable Gillian Welch. What a weird little factoid - - that she's connected to this thing.
Indeed. I did not know Ken and Mitzie's names so I scanned their decades-long list of credits on IMDB. I am sure they are very good at what they do/did (Mitzie died about eighteen months back), but they operated in a world which is not one I have ever visited. Mostly they were musical talent, but also are occasionally credited as screenwriters as well. When I see this, their work:
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:41 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Indeed. I did not know Ken and Mitzie's names so I scanned their decades-long list of credits on IMDB. I am sure they are very good at what they do/did (Mitzie died about eighteen months back), but they operated in a world which is not one I have ever visited. Mostly they were musical talent, but also are occasionally credited as screenwriters as well. When I see this, their work:
Barbara Mandrell's Christmas: A Family Reunion (1986)I can only think, "Hunh. A holiday special that sounds even less appealing than the Star Wars one."
TV Movie | 60 min | Family, Musical | 1986 (USA)
Barbara Mandrell, her sisters Irlene and Louise Mandrell, and their families join together for a program of Christmas music with a country flair.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:41 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
(The Mandrell Sisters were amazing performers. They could all sing and play multiple instruments, and they had this puppet backing group / comedy relief that in retrospect sounds like a completely insane idea.)
Also whatever happened to Shields and Yarnell? Do I even want to know?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:10 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also whatever happened to Shields and Yarnell? Do I even want to know?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:10 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Mandrell Sisters were amazing performers.
Oh, I have no doubt. But the collision of any family -- however talented -- with a stage-managed reunion doing a musical salute to the most heavily commercialized holiday "with a $MUSICAL_GENRE flair" just gives me the shrivels. I find it impossible not to envision the videotaped first few minutes where various sisters arrive at the door of the tasteful set of the ranch house, fake snow on their shoulders and pointedly not melting in their 1986 hair, for embraces and cheesy dialogue before spontaneously starting to sing The Little Drummer Boy or something while a steel guitar player coalesces into existence in the pantry.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:36 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh, I have no doubt. But the collision of any family -- however talented -- with a stage-managed reunion doing a musical salute to the most heavily commercialized holiday "with a $MUSICAL_GENRE flair" just gives me the shrivels. I find it impossible not to envision the videotaped first few minutes where various sisters arrive at the door of the tasteful set of the ranch house, fake snow on their shoulders and pointedly not melting in their 1986 hair, for embraces and cheesy dialogue before spontaneously starting to sing The Little Drummer Boy or something while a steel guitar player coalesces into existence in the pantry.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:36 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Ricochet biscuit, are you sure you haven't seen the Mandrell special?
posted by reedcourtneyj at 1:44 PM on December 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by reedcourtneyj at 1:44 PM on December 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
Yarnell died about five years back. I believe Shields is still the Director of Clowning at Barnam and Bailey.
posted by maxsparber at 1:52 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 1:52 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
RobotVoodooPower: “The Donny and Marie Star Wars episode, with Redd Foxx as Obi-Wan, Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo, and Paul Lynde from Bewitched as Grand Moff Tarkin.I would have never guessed it was a Donny and Marie thing, but this must be the reason I always giggle to myself about the Imperial medals looking like a child's strip of watercolor paints.
I've never had anyone thank me for introducing them to any of this.”
posted by ob1quixote at 2:13 PM on December 28, 2015
Ricochet biscuit, are you sure you haven't seen the Mandrell special?
Don't think so, but I was alive and watching TV in 1986. This allows me to extrapolate from the title with a fair degree of confidence. Any North American Gen X type, upon reading a sentence like Mac Davis Presents A Musical Salute to July 4th (with Special Guests John Denver and Tony Orlando & Dawn), can pretty much tell you what would happen in that hour or ninety minutes of television.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:28 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Don't think so, but I was alive and watching TV in 1986. This allows me to extrapolate from the title with a fair degree of confidence. Any North American Gen X type, upon reading a sentence like Mac Davis Presents A Musical Salute to July 4th (with Special Guests John Denver and Tony Orlando & Dawn), can pretty much tell you what would happen in that hour or ninety minutes of television.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:28 PM on December 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Variety Show Scare of the 70s
Er, we're currently right in the middle of the Great Reality Show Scare of the 1990s-2000s-2010s with no end in sight.
Can anyone tell me how to escape this nightmare?
Because honestly, reality show hogwash makes 1970s variety shows seem like High Art in comparison . . .
posted by flug at 3:00 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Er, we're currently right in the middle of the Great Reality Show Scare of the 1990s-2000s-2010s with no end in sight.
Can anyone tell me how to escape this nightmare?
Because honestly, reality show hogwash makes 1970s variety shows seem like High Art in comparison . . .
posted by flug at 3:00 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
I find it impossible not to envision the videotaped first few minutes where various sisters arrive at the door of the tasteful set of the ranch house, fake snow on their shoulders and pointedly not melting in their 1986 hair, for embraces and cheesy dialogue before spontaneously starting to sing The Little Drummer Boy or something
Whelp, here you go: 1 2
I haven't managed to locate the fake snow or steel guitar player yet, but that's only a couple of short snippets--I'm sure they're in there somewhere . . .
posted by flug at 3:07 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Whelp, here you go: 1 2
I haven't managed to locate the fake snow or steel guitar player yet, but that's only a couple of short snippets--I'm sure they're in there somewhere . . .
posted by flug at 3:07 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
“Flashback: See Dolly Parton and Sisters' Hairspray-Heavy Holiday Song,” Stephen L. Betts, Rolling Stone, 24 December 2015
1990 'Home for Christmas' special features Parton and her five sisters singing 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'posted by ob1quixote at 1:09 AM on December 29, 2015
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posted by asperity at 4:40 PM on December 27, 2015 [5 favorites]