With Paul Lynde as Admiral Motti

May 5, 2016 4:18 AM

A very Donny and Marie Star Wars
posted by Mchelly (18 comments total)

Ah! Revenge of the Fifth!
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:36 AM on May 5, 2016

Thurl Ravenscroft was the voice of Darth Vader in this sketch. If he sounds familiar, it's the voice of Tony the Tiger. He set the standard for the cereal-loving feline's voice until his death in 2005. Clearly, Vader needed some sugary goodness to defeat the Osmonds.

As for Redd Foxx as Obi-Wan....well, it would have made the prequels FAR more interesting.
posted by Roentgen at 4:41 AM on May 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

But Thurl Ravenscroft has done another career-defining performance, "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch", and you have to admit, the Grinch on his best day could've out-nastied ol' Vader without the aid of any force powers.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:11 AM on May 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:44 AM on May 5, 2016

"Cocaine is a hell of a drug."
"It's the Osmonds."
"Milk is a hell of a drug."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:07 AM on May 5, 2016 [7 favorites]

Donny Osmond's not a bad man, just ambitious.
posted by TedW at 6:40 AM on May 5, 2016

I don't know why I watched so much Donny & Marie as a kid. I think I just really liked watching television.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:39 AM on May 5, 2016

Donny is also composed of mostly water. Liquid water. Made from scratch.
posted by mubba at 8:48 AM on May 5, 2016

It was the 70s. There was literally nothing else on.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:48 AM on May 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

It is kind of prescient having a brother and sister playing Luke and Leia. I wonder if Lucas got the idea here.

Discerning viewers will note the beginning of Anthony Daniels' remarkable stretch of voicing C-3PO in every appearance of the character ever. The Donny and Marie sketch was the first time outside of the original movie, and he is still doing it up to this year with Star Wars - Detours.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:23 AM on May 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

Okay, a cursory investigation indicates this aired Sept 1977. Looks like the competition was The New Adventures of Wonder Woman on CBS and The Sanford Arms and Chico and the Man on ABC.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:24 AM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

September 1977. I watched it. I was there. You don't know what it was like, man.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:45 AM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, I was four, so it was probably not something I was super interested in, no.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:58 AM on May 5, 2016

Don't discount the fact that we had to get up off the couch and walk all the way to the TV to change the channels (sometimes involving pliers). "Good enough" was generally better than the alternative.
posted by Mchelly at 11:14 AM on May 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Anthony Daniels does play C-3PO in basically everything, but Star Wars: Detours is deader than a Bothan.
posted by designbot at 1:50 PM on May 5, 2016

I assume Kris Kristofferson was drunk and/or high when he agreed to do this.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:01 PM on May 5, 2016

Star Wars: Detours is deader than a Bothan.

Just a single Bothan?
Not more than one?

Now, if you don't mind, I think the Osmond show is giving me acid flashbacks.
posted by Mezentian at 4:40 AM on May 6, 2016

alongside previously obscure creations like bounty hunters Bossk and Dengar.
Obscure?
OBSCURE?
In what universe?

(I'd forgotten about Detours. Weird, it's never leaked or been released).
posted by Mezentian at 4:42 AM on May 6, 2016