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Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's that time again. Time to kick off

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Speaker 1: the holidays in style with our traditional playing of our

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Speaker 1: episode on the Star Wars Holiday Special. If you've never

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Speaker 1: seen the actual special, I envy you, and I bet

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Speaker 1: the first time is the last time you watch it too.

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Speaker 1: We hear SYSK want to wish you a happy holiday season,

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Speaker 1: and we hope you enjoy the annual tradition of our

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Speaker 1: playing of the Star Wars Holiday Special episode.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with

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Speaker 1: Charles W. Chuckers Bryant and Jerry Jerome Roland.

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Speaker 3: Who's the Wookie mother?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Mala, that was the Wookie wife.

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Speaker 3: Oh and mother?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 1: Chewbacca's bomb is not with them any longer. She left,

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Speaker 1: she was not about to appear in that.

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Speaker 3: She went out the window. I'm excited about this.

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Speaker 1: I have to say we should say Happy Star Wars Day.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, today is December seventeenth.

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Speaker 3: I have my opening night tickets. Do you really sure? Wow?

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Speaker 3: You know you into it? Oh?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I will definitely go see it in the theater.

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Speaker 1: But well I won't be their opening night. Sure, I've

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Speaker 1: gotten really adept at like ignoring spoilers, people talking about

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Speaker 1: stuff all like, so I can I could conceivably see

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Speaker 1: this movie a month after it comes out and still

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Speaker 1: going fresh. Yeah I'm an ostrich.

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Speaker 3: Yeah you black yourself out. Yeah, you go dark I do.

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Speaker 1: I make myself go to sleep face, you go to

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Speaker 1: the dark side. I've been there a while now.

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Speaker 2: Well, Happy Star Wars Day, though, I'm sure that I

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Speaker 2: think this pairs nicely with Christmas Star Wars Day.

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Speaker 3: It's all come together.

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Speaker 1: Yes, we already missed Life Day though, so happy belated

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Speaker 1: Life Day.

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Speaker 3: Chi Are they celebrating it this year?

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Speaker 1: November seventeenth?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's every three years, our Caine. Yeah, man,

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Speaker 3: we job.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so it's every three years, started in nineteen seventy eight.

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Speaker 1: Let's do the math, shall we?

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Speaker 2: Quick math break? I believe that twenty fourteen was the

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Speaker 2: last Life Day. Man, we just missed it, and then

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Speaker 2: again in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So twenty seventeen will celebrate Life Day. We'll put

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Speaker 1: on our red robes, our ultra long straight ironed wigs. Sure,

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Speaker 1: and we'll celebrate Life Day the way it was meant to.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And if you have no idea what we're talking about.

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Speaker 2: We are talking about Life Day, which is a celebration

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Speaker 2: that Wookies in the Star Wars universe have every three years.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like their Christmas. Yeah, they celebronic the Kwanta tent.

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Speaker 2: Supposedly, it's sort of like Earth Day too. They celebrate

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Speaker 2: the diversity of their ecosystem and also remembrance of the dead,

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Speaker 2: and they also give the gifts.

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Speaker 1: They're like the Finns basically.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a very interesting part of the Star Wars cannon.

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Speaker 1: It is, and it's almost entirely made up, dashed off

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Speaker 1: you could possibly say, by George Lucas in the seventies. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it's the basis of what has become derided as

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Speaker 1: like one of the worst things that ever happened to

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Speaker 1: the Star Wars galaxy.

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Speaker 2: Well, not only that, one of the worst things ever

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Speaker 2: aired on television.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, with this galaxy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, at first that sounds like hyperbole, like, come on,

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Speaker 2: it's because it was Star Wars and we had high expectations.

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Speaker 3: But it's really that bad. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The people who say that haven't seen even a second

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Speaker 1: of it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, However, I watched it when I was a kid.

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Speaker 2: Then again this week. Yeah, and you.

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Speaker 3: Watched it twice this week.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I watched it last night and this morning.

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Speaker 3: There's something about it. It's mesmerizing, it really is.

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Speaker 2: It's one of those things that you start watching it

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Speaker 2: and you want to turn it off, but you want

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Speaker 2: to see just how absurd it can get.

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Speaker 1: Almost Yeah, and it starts absurd, it stays absurd in

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Speaker 1: the middle. Yeah, it's increasingly more absurd, it's a little

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Speaker 1: less absurd, finishes super absurd.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: It's just a train wreck in every single sense of

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Speaker 2: the word, top to bottom.

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Speaker 1: It's extraordinarily difficult to overstate how bad this is. And

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Speaker 1: some people, you know, in researching this, you read about it,

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Speaker 1: you read descriptions of these things, and it just can't

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Speaker 1: possibly be gotten across until you see it.

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Speaker 3: So luckily, as we will see, you.

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Speaker 1: Can go onto YouTube and watch it, and you may

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Speaker 1: even enjoy this episode more if you pause, go spend

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Speaker 1: two hours watching this thing, and then come back and

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Speaker 1: laugh along with us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a great Over the years, there have been

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Speaker 2: many segments of it on YouTube from badly dubbed VHS tapes.

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Speaker 2: There is one really pretty good version of it in full,

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Speaker 2: brought to you by w HIO Dayton, Ohio channel seven

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Speaker 2: oo Ohio. Because that flashes up on the screen periodically.

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Speaker 1: Man, it is high quality.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it looks good.

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Speaker 1: It has to basically be the copy that the actual

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Speaker 1: affiliate broadcast.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like that.

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Speaker 1: That quality compared to the other stuff floating around on YouTube,

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Speaker 1: clearly recorded on a nineteen seventy eight.

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Speaker 3: PCR, Yeah, which were really expensive.

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Speaker 1: Very expensive. I did some calculating on West Egg. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so the average VCR went for about one thousand dollars.

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Speaker 3: There were brand new.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing one thousand dollars in nineteen seventy eight money,

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Speaker 1: So they were about thirty eight hundred dollars in twenty

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Speaker 1: fourteen money.

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Speaker 3: Crazy.

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Speaker 1: Luckily there were some rich people out there recording this stuff,

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Speaker 1: and the wealthy have saved us all again, yes, yet again,

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Speaker 1: as they always do.

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Speaker 3: Yes. And we need to shout out some articles that

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Speaker 3: we use for this.

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Speaker 2: There's great a great article in Vanity Fair called the

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Speaker 2: Han Soul Comedy Our exclamation Point by Frank de Jacomo.

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Speaker 2: And then there's the Star Wars Holiday Special was the

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Speaker 2: worst thing on television ever by So when we kind

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Speaker 2: of know Alex Pasternak.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, from Motherboard, Yeah, which.

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Speaker 3: Is not wired. It's vice.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we wrote a little bit for Motherboard back then,

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Speaker 2: and we had a call with that.

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Speaker 1: We're like, we're like old motherboard vets.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, basically, wasn't there one more? There was another one?

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Speaker 1: And I don't know who wrote this one, chuck, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's the titles the Star Wars Holiday Special. George Lucas

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Speaker 1: wants to smash every copy of with a sledgehammer.

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Speaker 2: Which was a famous quote supposedly at a convention by Lucas.

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Speaker 1: Yes, which is not correct.

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Speaker 2: He didn't ever say that. No, Okay, that sounded like

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Speaker 2: something that people made up.

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Speaker 1: Yes, but if you go on the internet, you will

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Speaker 1: quickly believe that he did. Sure apparently didn't. So I'm

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Speaker 1: sure he felt that way though, clearly, you know, because

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Speaker 1: he did appear on Robot Chicken and I think two

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Speaker 1: thousand and five on the Therapist Couch talking about how

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Speaker 1: much he hated the Space Show. All right, so let's

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Speaker 1: set the background, shall we Shall we go back to

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, summer getting the old wayback machine.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's do it.

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Speaker 2: All right here we are, there's watersn Yeah, I'm just

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Speaker 2: the little six year old excited about Star Wars.

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Speaker 1: I am I've just turned one.

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Speaker 3: Yes, you don't know what's up yet.

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Speaker 1: I please forgive me if I urinate myself, no problem, Okay.

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Speaker 2: So what has happened is Star Wars has become a huge,

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Speaker 2: huge hit, seemingly.

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Speaker 3: Out of nowhere.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, establishing George Lucas as one of the brilliant young

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Speaker 2: minds in filmmaking, even though what in his first movie.

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Speaker 1: It was his first, huge, huge breakout hit. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: for sure, I don't even talk about a breakout hit.

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Speaker 1: Like no one had ever seen anything like it before.

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Speaker 3: No.

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Speaker 1: Two thousand and one had come out in the late sixties. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't kill still is inaccessible to all audis.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of a cerebral film. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: not an adventure movie. This war.

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Speaker 1: This is like basically swashbuckling on the screen. But you know,

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Speaker 1: in a galaxy far far away, Star Wars just changed

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Speaker 1: everything and it came on just like a hammer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and a new hope by the way, Yes, and

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Speaker 2: then then we're gonna get stuff wrong, nerds, So yes,

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Speaker 2: just go ahead and get your little fingers ready to email.

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Speaker 1: Us like if it wasn't driven home that I'm not

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Speaker 1: a nerd by the fact that I don't have opening

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Speaker 1: night tickets or any tickets yet, give me a break,

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Speaker 1: and by proxy Chuck too, Okay, thank you. So it's

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Speaker 1: it's hard to state how great Star Wars was in

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Speaker 1: everyone's mind.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right.

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Speaker 1: Bill Murray came out with that lounge singer Star Wars thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was everywhere and if you if you just listen

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Speaker 1: to the lyrics of it, it's really it's just Bill

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Speaker 1: Murray singing about how much Star Wars is awesome.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right. So by the following year, George Lucas was he

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Speaker 1: wanted to figure out a way to keep audiences just

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Speaker 1: engaged with the whole Star Wars franchise that he was

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Speaker 1: just starting to build. But he knew the Empire Strikes

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Speaker 1: Back was a couple more years out, sure, so he

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Speaker 1: I think he was approached by some TV executives who said,

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Speaker 1: have you considered doing some sort of TV special? They're

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Speaker 1: all the rage right now. We have a graphic that's

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Speaker 1: really awesome that we set aside just for TV specials

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Speaker 1: here at CBS. Why don't you let us let's get

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Speaker 1: together and do a Star Wars Special.

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Speaker 3: That's right.

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Speaker 2: Producers Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion. We're working over at CBS,

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Speaker 2: and they say, this is a great way to keep

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Speaker 2: the spirit alive while you're making your other movie.

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Speaker 3: Maybe move some more toys.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which George Lucas got a cut all the toys.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 2: So it was right before Thanksgiving, and he'said there to

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Speaker 2: be a lot of people watching TV pre holiday season,

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Speaker 2: or I guess in the holiday season.

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Speaker 1: Well, the weekend before Thanksgiving, it's like everybody's shopping, sitting

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Speaker 1: around family like, waiting to actually do stuff. That's right,

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Speaker 1: perfect time to broadcast something on TV.

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Speaker 2: So Lucas says, all right, let's do this. I don't

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Speaker 2: have a ton of time, but how about this. I'll

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Speaker 2: get I'll get a story together, and then you can

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Speaker 2: go hire a whiz bang team of veteran writers and

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Speaker 2: producers and directors.

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Speaker 1: Whatever genre you think is appropriate. And those are the

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Speaker 1: words that will haunt George Lucas to his grave.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So Lucas said, here's my idea.

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Speaker 2: I want it to be based on Wookies, and I

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Speaker 2: want it to take place on their home planet of

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Speaker 2: Kazuk or Wookie planet.

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Speaker 3: C is that what he's saying, Kazuk.

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Speaker 2: That's how it's pronounced in the episode the Holiday Special,

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Speaker 2: but it's also pronounced different ways.

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Speaker 1: Other times I would have pronounced it cash e, spell

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Speaker 1: it ka s h y y y k, yeah, which

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Speaker 1: I mean. I guess that sounds like Chewbuck is planet sure.

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Speaker 2: Also called G five six twenty three Wookie planet c

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Speaker 2: or Edeon is a mid rim planet.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: So the whole reason apparently that George Lucas was interested

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Speaker 1: in featuring the Wookies was it is what we in

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Speaker 1: show business call low hanging fruit. The reason why it

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Speaker 1: was low hanging fruit was because they had just established

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Speaker 1: the different scenes that would make the cut for Empire

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Speaker 1: Strikes Back.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and.

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Speaker 1: How did you pronounce it again, Kazuk. Kazuk had not

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Speaker 1: made the cut. Even prior to this, apparently for a

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Speaker 1: new hope, George Lucas had whipped up a forty page

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Speaker 1: that's known as the Wookie Bible. It's like a forty

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Speaker 1: page supplement that's all about Kazuk and Wookies and Chewbacca

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Speaker 1: and his family and everything about wookiedum. Right, So he's like,

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Speaker 1: I've got this thing already, you know, established I love Wookies.

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Speaker 1: They didn't make the cut. I'm a little sad about that.

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Speaker 1: They're not gonna kazuk is not going to show up

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Speaker 1: in Empire Strikes Back. Let's build the entire special around wookies.

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Speaker 1: It's basically the one demand me George Lucas has.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it.

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Speaker 1: I'll be totally hands off from this point on which

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Speaker 1: he kind of was.

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Speaker 3: He totally was.

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Speaker 1: It was actually this experience that apparently taught him to

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Speaker 1: be the very hands on person that he is famous

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Speaker 1: for being. It came out of this Christmas special.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, he was burned and he had an iron grip

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Speaker 2: after that on everything. So here's some of the folks

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Speaker 2: behind it. Bruce Valanche, famous TV writer. You probably had

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Speaker 2: seen him on Hollywood Squares.

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Speaker 1: Wasn't he suspected of being Thomas Pynchon for a while.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, or was Thomas Pinchon on Hollywood Squares?

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Speaker 3: I have no idea.

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Speaker 1: I may be confabulating some stuff confounding. Yeah, there's some

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Speaker 1: con of some sort going on.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So Valanche was hired as a writer. A guy named

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Speaker 2: Lenny Rips was hired as a writer who.

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Speaker 1: Has some great quotes in that Vanity Fair article he does.

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Speaker 2: His first quote was, we were really excited because this

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Speaker 2: is Star Wars.

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Speaker 3: How could it lose?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Famous last words?

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Speaker 2: Who else was hired? There was a husband and wife team,

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Speaker 2: the Welches. Yeah, who are the parents of folk singer

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Speaker 2: Gillian Welch, who I'm a big fan of and had

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Speaker 2: no idea that her parents. They were producers slash songwriters

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Speaker 2: of the day. They were big on the variety show scene,

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Speaker 2: which would turn out to be a really key cog

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Speaker 2: in this whole experience.

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Speaker 1: So I feel like, right about here, Jerry should insert

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Speaker 1: a needle coming off of a record sound effect. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: thanks Jerry. So Chuck, you just said singer songwriters.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what would that have to do with Star Wars? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Well, actually, in this Star Wars Holiday special, for those

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Speaker 1: of you who hadn't seen it, there are musical numbers.

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Speaker 1: They decided from the outset that there should be musical numbers.

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Speaker 1: And the reason that they decided that there should be

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Speaker 1: musical numbers is because the people who sold George Lucas

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Speaker 1: and at the time it was the Star Wars Corporation

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Speaker 1: was what it was called. Yeah, on The idea of

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Speaker 1: doing this TV special was that everyone would love.

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Speaker 3: A variety show. Yeah, it was the seventies.

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Speaker 1: Great idea, let's do a variety show. The problem was this,

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Speaker 1: Apparently George Lucas didn't watch enough TV. Yeah, and he

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Speaker 1: also overly trusted people who talk to him. Sure, because

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Speaker 1: by nineteen seventy eight, yes, variety shows had dominated television

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Speaker 1: for over ten years, but it had come to an end.

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Speaker 1: It was getting stale.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're talking to Carol Burnett show, one of my favorite.

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Speaker 1: Had just been canceled after eleven seasons. Ye, Big Red Flag.

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Speaker 3: Sonny and Chaer had just had its last season.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what else, like he was still going on.

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Speaker 1: Probably the KiHa still on Solid Gold had yet to

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Speaker 1: come on and take up the mantle.

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Speaker 3: That would never write a show.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it was a little bit. There was talking in

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Speaker 1: between the songs.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Remember the Mandrel Sisters show.

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Speaker 1: I never watched that one. Well it was with that

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Speaker 1: country chic thing that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a big deal in the it's kind

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Speaker 3: of happening again.

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Speaker 1: I think, Oh, because of that dude, the guy who

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Speaker 1: won all the CMA Awards. I don't know, he's like

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Speaker 1: he's he came along and he's like, actually country. His

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Speaker 1: dad's like a coal miner for real from Kentucky. I think,

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Speaker 1: I know you mean Chris so something. Yeah, yeah, he

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Speaker 1: is good. He's come along and been like, what are

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Speaker 1: you guys doing?

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a revival in like good country music. Again,

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Speaker 2: that's great, like in the tradition of Merle Haggard.

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Speaker 3: And share Cash.

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Speaker 1: And I guess that's probably where the country she came from,

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Speaker 1: because there was actually good country going on.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Johnny Cash out a variety show?

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Speaker 1: Did he really? Oh yeah, I knew they did, like

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Speaker 1: a Sunday singing thing like out in Virginia.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he had his own variety show. Was actually pretty good.

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Speaker 2: There's some like really great performances.

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Speaker 1: Do you know how many nerds are like get back

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Speaker 1: to the Star Wars?

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Speaker 3: I know, I'm so sorry.

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Speaker 2: All right, So the Variety Show is dying sort of,

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Speaker 2: and so they figure what a great time to take

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Speaker 2: the biggest movie property on the planet and wedget into

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Speaker 2: the variety show Millieu.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if wedge is the right word. I

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Speaker 1: think maybe nestle it in there and then start hitting

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Speaker 1: it with the blunt edge of an axe until it

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Speaker 1: mashes into that crevice. You know, that's right, because this

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Speaker 1: is the time when Fantasy Island had just started, Mork

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Speaker 1: and Mindy was about to change things, Charlie's Angels was

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Speaker 1: getting huge. It basically television as we knew it from

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty to whenever the real world came along. Just

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Speaker 1: escape as television is what they called. It was starting

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Speaker 1: and it was the hip new thing. So basically, if

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Speaker 1: they had turned Han Solo and Princess Leah and Luke

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Speaker 1: Skywalker into maybe you know, sexy detectives, it might have

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Speaker 1: gone over even better.

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Speaker 3: But they went the other way.

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Speaker 1: They decided to latch onto this extraordinarily stale genre of television,

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Speaker 1: and they hired the best in the business. Like there

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Speaker 1: was a quote from I think Lenny Rips who was saying,

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Speaker 1: like we had literally a dream team variety show, dream team,

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Speaker 1: and everybody was good, but there were probably no bad

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Speaker 1: welders on the Titanic, Heather.

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Speaker 3: That's a great quote. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The guy they hired to direct it initially was a

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Speaker 2: dude named David at Coomba, and he had made his

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Speaker 2: name for Welcome to the Fillmore East. It was a

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Speaker 2: concert documentary with Van Morrison Van Morrison and the Birds

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Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy one, and he actually was at usc

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Speaker 2: Film School at the same time as Lucas, even though

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Speaker 2: they didn't know each other, and he only ended up

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Speaker 2: directing about three segments of the thing before he quit.

365
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Speaker 2: Yet before he walked off, some say he was actually

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Speaker 2: let go, but we'll get to him in a minute

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Speaker 2: and who replaced him. Okay, as we get along down

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Speaker 2: this gross road.

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Speaker 1: Well let's take a little break because I'm overly excited.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Josh, all right, so we've established most of the

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Speaker 2: main players.

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Speaker 3: We'll get to a few more.

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Speaker 2: We should point out that Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford

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Speaker 2: and Carrie Fischer, Peter Mayhew.

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Speaker 1: They had no grounds to refuse to be on this basically, yeah,

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Speaker 1: pretty much.

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Speaker 2: They were not huge, huge stars, yet they could throw

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Speaker 2: their weight around and say this is terrible and I'm

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Speaker 2: not doing it.

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Speaker 1: They were big overnight because of Star Wars, for sure,

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Speaker 1: but they weren't to the adoring public.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 1: Back at the studio they could still be bossed around,

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Speaker 1: and this was the result of it. And you can

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Speaker 1: tell also just from watching the actual special, like Harrison

386
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Speaker 1: Ford is not happy to be there. At any point.

387
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Speaker 1: Oh no, Princess Leiah is clearly on drugs. Was she

388
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Speaker 1: on drugs at this point? If you watch it, she's

389
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Speaker 1: on drugs. Especially the ending scene, Mark Hamibell.

390
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Speaker 3: Looks like he's happy to be there.

391
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Speaker 1: Actually he was fine, but apparently he said no, I'm

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Speaker 1: not doing a musical number. Yeah, and if you watch

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Speaker 1: his part, wedging a musical number in there would have

394
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Speaker 1: been even more painful. Sure, but everybody who was part

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Speaker 1: of the actual Star Wars franchise that wasn't wearing like

396
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Speaker 1: a full body costume, yeah, was like, I really wish

397
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Speaker 1: I wasn't here. And you can.

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Speaker 3: Tell, oh yeah.

399
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Speaker 2: In fact, in the opening credit sequence, they're showing the picture,

400
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 2: you know, the faces of the people, and you see

401
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,919
Speaker 2: Harrison Ford as if he's flying the Millennium Falcon, and

402
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:40,920
Speaker 2: you can you can just hear the guy all screen

403
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,600
Speaker 2: going now look at the camera and just give a nod.

404
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,440
Speaker 3: Just look at the camera and give a nod.

405
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 2: And he finally you can tell he's pissed off, and

406
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,440
Speaker 2: he looks up at the camera and just sort of.

407
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,879
Speaker 1: Smirks yeah and points at the camera like okay, I'm

408
00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:53,679
Speaker 1: looking at the camera, and then goes back to what

409
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:55,920
Speaker 1: he's doing. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

410
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,360
Speaker 2: It felt bad for him so early on Valanche and others.

411
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Speaker 1: Did you feel bad for him? Though? Really? I mean, like,

412
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Speaker 1: come on, it's Harrison for it's Hans Solo. He has

413
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Speaker 1: to go do this for like five days.

414
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt terrible for him.

415
00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,520
Speaker 1: I think it's hilarious that they had to do this,

416
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:13,480
Speaker 1: especially now.

417
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Speaker 2: Well, early on a Valanche and others knew that they

418
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,480
Speaker 2: may be in trouble because they decided not to subtitle

419
00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,520
Speaker 2: any of the Wookie dialogue right, and they literally started

420
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Speaker 2: after a brief opening scene setting it up here. Here's

421
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,680
Speaker 2: the basic plot is, Han Solo is trying to get

422
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Speaker 2: Chewbacca back to Kazuk.

423
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,240
Speaker 3: In time for Life Day so he can celebrate with

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Speaker 3: his family.

425
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Speaker 1: That's the basis of the entire two hours I see, basis.

426
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Speaker 3: The entire two hours.

427
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,800
Speaker 2: They encounter a space battle and they're delayed, and the

428
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,439
Speaker 2: next two hours are kind of what's going on while

429
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:49,199
Speaker 2: the delay is happening back on.

430
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Speaker 3: Kazuok, back on Kazuk because you hear like, oh.

431
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Speaker 1: Okay, well, Han Solo and Chewbacca evading the Imperial Guard

432
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Speaker 1: and all that stuff. For two hours.

433
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Speaker 3: I would watch that, sure, I would too. Yeah, that's

434
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:01,160
Speaker 3: not what they show.

435
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 2: Killing time at the Wookie household, that is what they show.

436
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:06,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what they do.

437
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,600
Speaker 1: It's people hanging out waiting for Chewbacca, worrying about him. Yeah,

438
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,199
Speaker 1: and then killing time while they wait for him to

439
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:13,680
Speaker 1: come back.

440
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, literally, so and so hold on.

441
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,480
Speaker 2: So you say there's a setup, right, Yeah, that's the

442
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 2: initial setup.

443
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,399
Speaker 3: And then chuck. That's followed by this.

444
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:28,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's followed by literally ten minutes, ten solid minutes

445
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Speaker 2: of incomprehensible Wookie speak.

446
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: So let's join it for a second, shall we. Yeah,

447
00:21:34,359 --> 00:22:23,000
Speaker 1: let's all enjoy it. And again, you said ten minutes,

448
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 1: and you're not exaggerating, you're not being hyperbolic. You can

449
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,159
Speaker 1: time it. That's it's ten minutes of wookie's talking to

450
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:30,680
Speaker 1: each other with no subtitles.

451
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,400
Speaker 2: Fortunately, I couldn't follow it at first, like I didn't

452
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 2: even know who it was. I thought it might have

453
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,359
Speaker 2: been Chewbacca's mom and dad. Oh yeah, that's and little brother.

454
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: Sure.

455
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 2: And I don't find out until later when Mark Camill

456
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:49,400
Speaker 2: shows up via skype call and says, he really explains

457
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 2: everything that had just happened, Like your Chewbacca's father Itchy,

458
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 2: your Chewbacca's son Lumpy Lumpy yeah, and your Chewbacca's wife.

459
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you.

460
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 1: So, before everybody starts like freaking out, we know that

461
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:08,679
Speaker 1: that's actually their nicknames. Their real names are. His father

462
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 1: is at Tichik cook, a Tichik cook.

463
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:14,160
Speaker 3: It's really hard to pronounce.

464
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,919
Speaker 1: Mulatto Buck is his wife, and his son is Lumpo

465
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:18,720
Speaker 1: or ump.

466
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,240
Speaker 3: But as named by Lucas. But yeah, but.

467
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: Lucas also named him Lumpy Itchy and Mala.

468
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 3: Yeah.

469
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: So they're all back there wringing their hands, trying to

470
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 1: figure out ways to pass the time until they get

471
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 1: word from Chewbacca that he's made it to uh what

472
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 1: is it? Ketchukzuk, Kazuk, ketchup, ketchup or cats up if

473
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: you're fancy. But Chewbacca is having trouble getting back to

474
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 1: Kochuk because there's Kazuk, because there's a blockade by the

475
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 1: Empire and they're looking for rebels, specifically Chewbacca. Who I

476
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 1: didn't realize this. He's the most famous Wookie of all.

477
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: Did you know that? Yeah? Of course I didn't know that.

478
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, he's only one that really appears in

479
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 2: the movies, all right, I mean.

480
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're seeing like, you know, these people's view of

481
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: your universe. What about back on Becauzook.

482
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, he might have just been a fly by night wookie, right, yeah,

483
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 2: but not the case very famous wookie.

484
00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he really loved to like soak in his fame.

485
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 3: All right, So he realizes there's a problem. Valanche.

486
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 2: He goes to Lucas and is like, I don't know, man,

487
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 2: this is your world, but it may not be the

488
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,680
Speaker 2: strongest thing to do to set this in wookie Land

489
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,480
Speaker 2: and have all this incomprehensible dialogue. And he says he

490
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 2: was met with a glacial stare.

491
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 1: Well, he put it a little differently than that.

492
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 3: Well, he said glacial stare. He did.

493
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,360
Speaker 1: The glacial stare that he got was for this quote.

494
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 1: He said, these people just talk and what sounds like

495
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 1: fat people having an orgasm. Yeah, he goes, if you want,

496
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 1: you can set up a tape recorder in my bedroom

497
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: and I'll do all of the follying it for it.

498
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 3: Yeah. He's a large guy, he is.

499
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 1: So that's what got the glacial stare. But Valanche later

500
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,959
Speaker 1: said that from this there was one development meeting that

501
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 1: Lucas attended and it was here's the Wookie Bible, tell

502
00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: me what you got, And Valanche said, he and the

503
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: other writers and producers and director were just kind of

504
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 1: throwing ideas, and George Lucas would either say like, no,

505
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 1: that doesn't work, give him a glacial stare, or say, yes,

506
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: that's exactly it. Yes, let's make this a variety show.

507
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 3: Yeah. And there was a little bit of background there.

508
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 2: The Canteena players in the band had appeared on other

509
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,440
Speaker 2: variety shows at that point, and I think it went

510
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 2: over fairly well, just as a short segment on like

511
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 2: the Richard Pryor Variety Show or Donnie Marie ye Man.

512
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 3: There were a lot of variety shows.

513
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 1: But that's what I'm saying. It was that was television.

514
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: That's what you did, Like the Bradys. The show had

515
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,639
Speaker 1: its course and then it became a variety It was

516
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,160
Speaker 1: just everybody loved variety shows.

517
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 3: Yeah.

518
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,919
Speaker 1: By this time, though, everybody was sick of variety shows, right,

519
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 1: and so it really was a terrible choice.

520
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,400
Speaker 2: In fact, they even hired a couple of writers from

521
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 2: Shields and Yarnell, which I hadn't heard of. Oh yeah,

522
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,640
Speaker 2: I watched it it was at least creepy, this mind

523
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 2: couple who had their own variety show, and they figured

524
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 2: these two will be great because they are used to

525
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:28,360
Speaker 2: working without words.

526
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: Right, and so there is a certain logic to the

527
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,240
Speaker 1: variety show. It's not just all over the place. It's

528
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,000
Speaker 1: just that variety shows were popular. Yeah, at the time,

529
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: somebody was like, well, wookies, you don't understand what they're saying.

530
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: So this is all going to be very physical. So

531
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,480
Speaker 1: these people who who did what is it Shields and

532
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 1: yard Nell. Yeah, that's a perfect choice. That makes complete sense.

533
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 1: You can see this whole this whole process of leading

534
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: up to the point where it was produced and shot

535
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 1: and everything. Yeah, a series of like, oh we have

536
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 1: this problem, well here's a fix.

537
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that leads soon problem. Well we'll fix it

538
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:01,400
Speaker 3: with this.

539
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: And no one's stepping back and being like, all we've

540
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 1: done is create a series of problems that are going

541
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: to come together and make one extraordinarily large problem that

542
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 1: will become legendary. No one did that, and so the

543
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 1: whole thing was was made.

544
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 3: That's right, and it eventually airs.

545
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: On November seventeenth, nineteen seventy eight, a Friday, at eight

546
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: pm Eastern time.

547
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 2: That's right, And according to Nielsen ratings, it attracted thirteen

548
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 2: million viewers lost the second hour.

549
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 1: Just in the US. It aired in six or seven

550
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 1: countries total.

551
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no one cares about that, I.

552
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:40,479
Speaker 1: Guess not because none of those are on the internet.

553
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 2: You know. It finished second to the Love Boat in

554
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 2: the second Ar'm sorry from eight to nine, and in

555
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 2: the next hour actually finished behind part two of a

556
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 2: mini series about Pearl Harbor starring Angie Dickinson. So yeah,

557
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 2: it didn't even win their respective hours.

558
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,359
Speaker 1: No, thirteen million, that's that's not bad. The thing is,

559
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: apparently if you look at the Neils and ratings graph

560
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: for the first hour.

561
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 3: Yeah we know about that graph. It's okay, yeah we do.

562
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 1: And then after a very important part, which we'll talk

563
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: about soon, it just drops off at the end of

564
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 1: the first hour, and that actually probably made the executives

565
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,080
Speaker 1: at CBS cringe for a number of reasons. Number one

566
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: is this special was originally supposed to just be an hour,

567
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,439
Speaker 1: but so many advertisers wanted to sign on, yeah, that

568
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 1: they extended it to two hours. And it shines through

569
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: you can totally tell that this thing was never supposed

570
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 1: to be I think an hour might have been stretching

571
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: it to tell you the truth. Oh yeah, it's thirty

572
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: minutes of content. Forty if you're generous, an hour and

573
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: then two hours. It becomes one of the worst things

574
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 1: that was ever put on television.

575
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 2: All right, well, let's take a break and then we'll

576
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 2: talk a little bit more about the actual even don't

577
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 2: want to call it content, but it is content in

578
00:28:57,800 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 2: the strictest definition.

579
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 3: Sure, right after this softy jawsh.

580
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,959
Speaker 1: Sh soft.

581
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 2: All right, so the show itself, we've given you the

582
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 2: main plot line, which again is that Chewy is trying

583
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 2: to get back to his home planet to celebrate life

584
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 2: Day with his family.

585
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: Right, that's it, and again we almost barely see Chewy. Yeah,

586
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: the rest is his family on because book waiting for

587
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: him to come back for a life day.

588
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 3: Yeah.

589
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 2: So some of the various things they did there were

590
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 2: guest stars. There was Harvey Corman from the Carol Burnett Show. Okay,

591
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 2: one of my all time favorites.

592
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 1: Him or Carol Burnett Show both.

593
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 3: He's great.

594
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, he actually if you watch what he's doing, you're like,

595
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: this is comedy genius for sure.

596
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 2: Apparently he too was like the only one on set

597
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 2: that was bringing levity. He was joking around and kind

598
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 2: of kept spirits up. Good for him, that's what I say.

599
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,760
Speaker 2: And he had three different parts.

600
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, he played well I don't even know the names.

601
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 2: Actually we could look him up, but he played a

602
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 2: he played a Julia child like cook. There's an actual

603
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 2: cooking segment, a long one, a very long cooking segment

604
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 2: where Chewbacca's wife makes banthas stew.

605
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 1: To kill some time, to kill some time on her

606
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: planet and in our living room.

607
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Harvey Corman is in drag is a four

608
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 2: armed Julia childlike TV.

609
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,480
Speaker 1: Chef right, and I think it's Gormanda. It's her name, Gormonda.

610
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 3: That makes total sense.

611
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, he also plays There's this one weird bit where

612
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 2: Chewbacca's son tries to figure out a way to trick

613
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: the stormtroopers that the Empire had come and kind of

614
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 2: because the blockade raided the house another proper, So he

615
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 2: tries to trick them by I think, rigging a calm

616
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 2: link to speak in a different voice. So he has

617
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 2: to watch the instruction manual.

618
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 1: He watches an instruction video.

619
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 3: Which was Harvey Kytel as a robot.

620
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: Oh, it would have been wonderful of Big Harvey Kyel

621
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 1: Oh what did say Harvey Harvey korm Man Harvey kait

622
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: tell murders someone in the middle of the instruction.

623
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 3: Rade Harvey Korman.

624
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 2: And then the final role he had was as a

625
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,959
Speaker 2: bar patron in the cantina that drinks. He has a

626
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 2: hole in the top of his head like a volcano

627
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 2: where he pours his drinks in.

628
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:39,680
Speaker 3: That's how he drinks.

629
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: And he he loves b Arthur.

630
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 3: Did we mention b Arthur was in it?

631
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: B Arthur is not only in it, Chuck. She sings

632
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: a song.

633
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 3: She does.

634
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 2: She is the unpronounced to everyone. She manages or maybe owns.

635
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 3: The owner.

636
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, the what's the mas What Ma's deaf? Cantina?

637
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,880
Speaker 3: No, most deaf is a rapper? Oh yeah, than give

638
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:00,960
Speaker 3: me moss Eisley.

639
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that cantina. She's the owner. Be Arthur is

640
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: the owner be Arthur of the Golden Girls, but in

641
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,720
Speaker 1: this case be Arthur of Maud, because, as one of

642
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:11,680
Speaker 1: the people who wrote one of the articles we based

643
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 1: this on points out, she's just basically playing Maud as

644
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: the owner of the cantina.

645
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:21,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, and her song comes because they basically say there's

646
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 2: a lockdown, so you gotta call last call at your bar.

647
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,520
Speaker 2: So she calls last call by singing a song to everyone.

648
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: Right, and again, we can't possibly have the script lead

649
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,959
Speaker 1: anywhere else but Chewbacca's house while his family waits for it.

650
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,240
Speaker 1: So all this takes place as part of a public

651
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 1: service announcement basically broadcast by the Empire about how immoral

652
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: life on Tattooin is. So let's go see what's going

653
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 1: on in the mos Eisley Cantina as it's being shut

654
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 1: down for curfew.

655
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, this is incomprehensible, but it goes on.

656
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 3: So they're in. There's also Art Carney. Yes, he's the honeymooner,

657
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 3: so probably the star of the whole thing.

658
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 1: Really, he has the most lines, I would say, the

659
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 1: most comprehensible line.

660
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 3: Right. Yeah.

661
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 2: So he plays a trader, a human trader that is

662
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 2: recently been with Han Solo and Chewy and actually gets

663
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 2: to Kazook and says they're on the way.

664
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 3: It's all good. Yeah, a trade or not trade tour. Yeah,

665
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 3: traders and trades humans for you know, money.

666
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: No, he sells goods, yeah, a trader, he doesn't trade humans.

667
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's in the human trade.

668
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: He No, he isn't really. Yeah, he trades humans like

669
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:42,040
Speaker 1: he sells humans.

670
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 2: I looked it up in the Star Wars Encyclopedia said

671
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 2: that he was in the human trade.

672
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 1: Huh. So in this Christmas special, Yeah, apparently they sanitized

673
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: his background because he's basically just selling like gadgets and

674
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: novelties and stuff like that to the Wookies and the

675
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 1: Empire who were keep hying the area.

676
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 3: Yes, he comes bearing gifts.

677
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, because he's a friend of Chewback's family.

678
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he comes Barren gifts. One of the gifts

679
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 2: he gives is a sort of like a little digital

680
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 2: insert to a Oh, I guess you would call it

681
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 2: a virtual reality hair dryer hair dryer, like a beauty

682
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,360
Speaker 2: shop hair dryer. He gives it to Grandpa Itchy. Grandpa

683
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 2: Itchy sits under this hair dryer, pops in this digital cassette,

684
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,360
Speaker 2: and it can only be described as softcore porn.

685
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 1: Apparently, the writers who were interviewed for this said that

686
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 1: was totally the intent. They were trying to get what

687
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 1: amounted to soft core porn that would pass the sensors.

688
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: That's right, So it's all you can't even say it's innuendo.

689
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 1: It's too obvious an overt for innuendo. Instead, it's just

690
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:59,360
Speaker 1: it's just it's just gross. It's really gross. Diane Carroll,

691
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:05,360
Speaker 1: yes she is a Vegas staple, shows up and starts

692
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:12,320
Speaker 1: basically tantalizing Grandpa Itchy again. This is Chewbacca's elderly father

693
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 1: who now engages in some sort of well he's he's

694
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 1: watching virtual reality pornography now, and this is a pretty

695
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 1: lengthy segment in and of itself.

696
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,839
Speaker 2: Well yeah, and she literally says to him, like, now

697
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 2: I can see you're really excited.

698
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty rough to watch.

699
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, so then you've got another musical.

700
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:36,800
Speaker 1: Number because also again he shudders, Yeah, it's really strange.

701
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 3: All right.

702
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:40,839
Speaker 2: So there's also a I know, it seems like we're

703
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 2: jumping around, but it's it's so mind blowing.

704
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,360
Speaker 1: Not like this is pretty much like blow for blow.

705
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 2: Actually I forgot earlier on in the In the special,

706
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 2: there's one of my favorite sequences is when Grandpa Itchy

707
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 2: goes over to Lumpy and basically sets up remember the

708
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,719
Speaker 2: the hologram chess Boar that they played in A New Hope. Yeah,

709
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 2: basically kind of sets that up and says, here, just

710
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 2: play this. He pushes the button, which is clearly a

711
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:14,359
Speaker 2: nineteen seventies cassette recorder, and another like it's like a

712
00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:21,520
Speaker 2: circ desole acid trip gymnast routine happens in front of

713
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 2: the kid's eyes. And again this all just it's not

714
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 2: like it shows a snippet. They show the entire segments,

715
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,360
Speaker 2: like five, six, ten minutes long. Sure of all of

716
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 2: these things.

717
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 1: So you would think, Okay, they've gone to this hologram

718
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: well a couple of times, why not go to it again?

719
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:37,759
Speaker 3: Well they do.

720
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 1: They do to kill more time while the Imperial Guard

721
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 1: is ransacking their house. Art Carney apparently, I guess it's

722
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: trying to get one of the Imperial Guard, the leader,

723
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:51,439
Speaker 1: I think, or one of the leaders.

724
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,279
Speaker 3: Who looks like somebody from space Balls, by the way,

725
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 3: very much so.

726
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,719
Speaker 1: And the writer of the Vanity Fair article, by the way,

727
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:02,320
Speaker 1: said this is so incomp rahensible. The specialist George Lucas

728
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,399
Speaker 1: didn't even have the schwartz with him at the time.

729
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:11,839
Speaker 1: So anyway, our Carney's distracting this Imperial leader while they're

730
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:16,359
Speaker 1: ransacking the Wookies house Chewbacca's house with a hologram in

731
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,880
Speaker 1: this hologram instead of being an acrobat or Diane Carroll

732
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 1: or any kind of porn or anything like that, is

733
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: Jefferson Starship and they decide that they're going to play

734
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: Light the Sky on Fire, which apparently is about UFOs.

735
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 1: It's a little music video basically, it's a Yeah, it's

736
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: the predecessor to like video kill the radio story you

737
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:43,960
Speaker 1: can tell. And again it is the whole lengthy song. Yeah,

738
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,960
Speaker 1: the whole thing. So every time that somebody's like, we

739
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: need to escape mentally from what's going on here in

740
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,239
Speaker 1: our house, let's go into the video world, it's not

741
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:58,280
Speaker 1: just and they don't cut back and forth. It's okay,

742
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: here's five minutes of Jefferson Starship performing this song.

743
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, and even the Jefferson Starship guys were like, yeah,

744
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,919
Speaker 2: it's sort of a weird trip, like we didn't get it.

745
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 3: But we did it right.

746
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: They gave us some money, yeah, and some cocaine. Well,

747
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:18,439
Speaker 1: so we said, yeah, chuck. I think though, there yet

748
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: another segment like this is actually widely regarded as the

749
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: high point of the whole thing. Oh sure, so there

750
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 1: is a cartoon actually.

751
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:28,880
Speaker 3: Yeah that Lump Blumpy watches.

752
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lumpy's like the Imperial Guard is still ransacking my house.

753
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,000
Speaker 1: I think I'll entertain myself by watching a cartoon on

754
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:37,799
Speaker 1: my little.

755
00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:39,120
Speaker 3: I don't know what.

756
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 1: I guess it was an iPad and he watches this

757
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 1: cartoon and it's it's actually remarkable for a number of reasons.

758
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 1: It's the best part of the whole special.

759
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, generally agreed upon as such, right, not just us.

760
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,440
Speaker 1: And it introduces Boba Fett. It's the first time Boba

761
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,800
Speaker 1: Fet ever makes an appearance in the Star Wars universe.

762
00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually not a bad And you can't find

763
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,839
Speaker 2: it in the the one version I told you to watch.

764
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 2: They removed it for copyright, but they didn't watch a

765
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 2: separate version.

766
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: Right, you can find it on its own.

767
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's it's very much reminiscent of like the

768
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 2: cartoon style of the day, like a he Man or

769
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:12,799
Speaker 2: something for.

770
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,720
Speaker 1: Sure, even even but it's even a little more artsy

771
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: than that.

772
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, But it does have a plot that you can

773
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 2: follow that makes sense as a Star Wars thing, and

774
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 2: it introduces Boba fet like you said, and it's actually

775
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:26,479
Speaker 2: not bad.

776
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:28,800
Speaker 1: It's like Luke and R two and C three po.

777
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 3: Yeah.

778
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:31,600
Speaker 1: Then they're like they crash on a planet or something.

779
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Han and U where you're in it. And

780
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,160
Speaker 2: it's the first time we see in Darth Vader. It's

781
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 2: first time we see Boba Fett and that he is

782
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,440
Speaker 2: that he is just doing whatever he can do for money,

783
00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:44,880
Speaker 2: Like Luke trusts him at first. See three Bo's like,

784
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:46,600
Speaker 2: you're sure you should trust him this quick? Yeah, And

785
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,800
Speaker 2: he's like, oh, three po, you in your non trusting ways.

786
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 2: And then it turns out he's selling them out to

787
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 2: the dark side.

788
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 1: So it's it's basically Boba Fett is an allegory for

789
00:39:55,800 --> 00:40:01,399
Speaker 1: George Lucas himself. So the the cartoon comes and goes,

790
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 1: and that was the thing that came at about the

791
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 1: end of the first hour mark and after that everybody

792
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:09,760
Speaker 1: just turned off their television sets.

793
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:11,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't remember.

794
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,279
Speaker 1: Did you watch this when it came on?

795
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:13,600
Speaker 3: Yeah?

796
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,400
Speaker 2: I remember watching it, but I don't remember much about it,

797
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,359
Speaker 2: like if I made it through it all. I mean

798
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:20,399
Speaker 2: it was I was seven and it was on till ten,

799
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,800
Speaker 2: so I probably didn't make it through it all. Yeah,

800
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 2: Plus you're probably disturbed. Who knows, I just remember that.

801
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:28,800
Speaker 2: I'll have to ask my brother. He might have a memory.

802
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 1: Of this, Oh Betty does. I'm sure he met everybody

803
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: afterward or something like that. You know, it has a picture.

804
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 2: Well, he was ten at that point, so cynicism had,

805
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:37,880
Speaker 2: you know, become a thing in his.

806
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:39,719
Speaker 1: Life probably all right by then?

807
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 3: Sure didn't that when centism kicks in too mea.

808
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 1: Jenkinsie Scott holding out to fourteen fifteen.

809
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe so so Chuck.

810
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 1: The whole thing finally does in. And actually there's a guy.

811
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,080
Speaker 1: His name is Nathan Raven, he writes over at the

812
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:55,480
Speaker 1: av Club. He had a great quote. He basically said

813
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,040
Speaker 1: that one of the great redeeming values of this this

814
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:00,839
Speaker 1: special is that it does eventually end.

815
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what the first part of the quote is,

816
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,400
Speaker 2: I'm not convinced the special wasn't ultimately written and directed

817
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 2: by a sentient bag of cocaine.

818
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,359
Speaker 1: And like, go read his review of the Star Wars

819
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,440
Speaker 1: Holiday Special, because he goes on to describe exactly what

820
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,040
Speaker 1: that must have been, like the development meeting where the

821
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: bag of cocaine is pacing back and forth talking about

822
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:21,800
Speaker 1: what should happen.

823
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 3: That's what it feels like. But it doesn't, and it ends.

824
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: Even more. It takes this bizarre two hours and wraps

825
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:31,879
Speaker 1: it up in just a nice bizarre bow.

826
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:32,600
Speaker 3: Yeah.

827
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:35,600
Speaker 2: So what happens is eventually Han Solo should we say

828
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 2: spoiler alert, Eventually Han Solo and Chewy make it to

829
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 2: the planet. They park on the far side of the

830
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,359
Speaker 2: planet because they know the Imperial forces.

831
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: Are there and the exercise will do Chewy good.

832
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:50,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they have to hike over there. They eventually

833
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:53,919
Speaker 2: make it back home. They find a storm the Stormtroopers

834
00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 2: at their house, their tree hut. Yeah, which way the

835
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,400
Speaker 2: paintings that set this up, I don't think we mentioned

836
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:05,279
Speaker 2: I don't even call him Matte paintings. It looks like

837
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 2: someone painted something on the wall and they just like

838
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 2: put a camera in front.

839
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:09,560
Speaker 1: Of it pretty much.

840
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:09,919
Speaker 3: Yeah.

841
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,839
Speaker 2: So they get back and Chewbacca Han Solo hides around

842
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,200
Speaker 2: the corner. Chewbacca steps in front of his son to

843
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:22,359
Speaker 2: protect him. Sure, Han Solo jumps out, and the stormtrooper

844
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 2: trips over a pile of logs and falls over.

845
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,280
Speaker 1: The balcony and dies in a holiday special.

846
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 2: So they wouldn't even not only could he not shoot

847
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 2: first with Gredo, but they couldn't even have him like

848
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 2: wrestle the stormtrooper and throw him off.

849
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,040
Speaker 3: He trips over a log, right, and Han Solo has

850
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 3: his hands thrown up like, wasn't me It might all

851
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:44,800
Speaker 3: have been a banana peel, you know.

852
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:52,160
Speaker 1: But again, this is basically produced by vaudevillians starring vaudevillians.

853
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: Why not have the one death take place from basically

854
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,280
Speaker 1: what amounts to somebody slipping on a banana peel exactly.

855
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,000
Speaker 1: It's a perfect way to end it. So that's that

856
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: guy basically represents the end of the Imperial threat for

857
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:09,919
Speaker 1: the rest of Life Day. And we then see Life

858
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,960
Speaker 1: Day being celebrated, which is celebrated by lots of wookies

859
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,520
Speaker 1: assembling in what looks like a giant Olin Mills portrait,

860
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: and all of them are wearing red robes. And I

861
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: know I'm up talking, and it's because my mind is

862
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,120
Speaker 1: still having trouble like wrapping around us. And then Princess

863
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:36,240
Speaker 1: Leah comes out with C three po is Mark Hamill.

864
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,280
Speaker 3: There the whole gang zerophone, okay, the whole.

865
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:41,279
Speaker 1: Gang, And then they all gather around to hear a

866
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:46,280
Speaker 1: great quote from Princess Leah which we will read verbatim.

867
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:50,400
Speaker 2: This holiday is yours, but we all share with you

868
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 2: the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom

869
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:56,240
Speaker 2: and to harmony and to peace. No matter how different

870
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,000
Speaker 2: we appear, we're all the same in our struggle against

871
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,400
Speaker 2: the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this

872
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 2: day will always be a day of joy in which

873
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 2: we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage, and more

874
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,480
Speaker 2: than anything else, our love for one another. This is

875
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,760
Speaker 2: the promise of the Tree of Life Q song.

876
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: Right, And we should also point out the tree of

877
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 1: Life has never been mentioned up to this point.

878
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:19,920
Speaker 3: I had no idea with this. It takes a sudden

879
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:20,719
Speaker 3: appearance at the end.

880
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 1: And when you said Q song, by Q song, you

881
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 1: mean Princess Leiah starts singing.

882
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:26,960
Speaker 3: Yeah.

883
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,279
Speaker 2: And apparently that was one of the big contingencies on

884
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:33,240
Speaker 2: Carrie Fisher being involved. Yeah, she's going through a phase

885
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 2: where she's like kind of like singing.

886
00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:36,960
Speaker 1: Bruce Valanche calls it her Joni Mitchell period.

887
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:40,319
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she somehow convinced them to let her sing

888
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,200
Speaker 3: as Princess Leah and she does.

889
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 1: And again I've said that she looks like she's on drugs.

890
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 1: This is the point where she really does look like

891
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 1: she's on drugs.

892
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:49,279
Speaker 3: And it's not just me.

893
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:54,720
Speaker 1: Other writers who've written reviews of this. It's really obvious

894
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:59,160
Speaker 1: that she possibly smoked a decent amount of pot before

895
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: she shot this shot this scene, but she sings, Okay,

896
00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: it's fine. It's just the fact that Princess Leia is singing.

897
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 1: And actually, Bruce Falanche had a really great quote too.

898
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:14,840
Speaker 1: He says that she very much wanted to show this

899
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 1: side of her talent, and there was general dismay because

900
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: this was not what we wanted Princess Leia to be doing. Yeah,

901
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 1: she did it anyway. So the whole thing ends with

902
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,399
Speaker 1: her singing this song about life day oh yeah, which

903
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 1: is set loosely to the John Williams Star Wars theme.

904
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 3: Yeah.

905
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:36,239
Speaker 2: So along the way, the director, original director quit, A

906
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,920
Speaker 2: new director, Steve Binder, was hired to finish the job

907
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,440
Speaker 2: and bring it in, and he did over the original

908
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 2: one million dollar budget.

909
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,400
Speaker 3: Of course, always he did bring it in.

910
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 2: And at this point George Lucas said he was he

911
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 2: was working on Empire Strikes Back.

912
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,680
Speaker 3: He didn't know what was going on. He wasn't around

913
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:56,160
Speaker 3: for the shoot.

914
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:58,320
Speaker 1: No, it wasn't until it aired. I think that he

915
00:45:58,440 --> 00:45:59,080
Speaker 1: actually saw it.

916
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 2: Yes, it was a travesty obviously, if you haven't noticed

917
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:03,839
Speaker 2: that by now.

918
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 3: Critics hated it. Star Wars fans really hated it. Everybody,

919
00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 3: the people who were in it hated it. Lucas hated it.

920
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 1: Even Harvey Korman secretly hated it.

921
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:17,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, even Harvey Keitel hated it. Actually he loved it.

922
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 2: But Lucas has been asked over the years about it

923
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,279
Speaker 2: a lot, and he doesn't talk about it much. But

924
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 2: in two thousand and five, and I don't buy this

925
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:28,520
Speaker 2: for a second, he says it was an interview He

926
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,920
Speaker 2: said especial from nineteen seventy eight. I really didn't have

927
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,359
Speaker 2: much to do with us. You know that part is true.

928
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:36,600
Speaker 2: I can't remember what network it was even on, but

929
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:39,560
Speaker 2: it was a thing that they did. That's a lie.

930
00:46:39,719 --> 00:46:42,840
Speaker 2: There's no way he doesn't know that was CBS. We

931
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:44,800
Speaker 2: kind of just let them do it. I believe that

932
00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 2: it was done by I can't even remember who the

933
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 2: group was, but there were variety TV guys.

934
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:51,359
Speaker 3: I'm sure he remembers a few of them.

935
00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 2: We let them use the characters and stuff, and that

936
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 2: probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but you learn

937
00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 2: from those experiences. I think they even use some of

938
00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:02,319
Speaker 2: the foot from the movie.

939
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:04,400
Speaker 1: At the end, it looks like some of the space

940
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:06,959
Speaker 1: like a highlight reel, yeah the Gang.

941
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:10,279
Speaker 2: Well, and during the it looked like some of the

942
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,120
Speaker 2: they had some insert shots of like Imperial cruisers and

943
00:47:14,239 --> 00:47:15,360
Speaker 2: tie fighters and stuff that.

944
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, like from remember when Chewbacca like leans back and

945
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 1: puts his hands behind it. Yeah, yeah, that's in there.

946
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,120
Speaker 1: It's like a just a highlight reel from the movie.

947
00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:26,359
Speaker 1: Saying like I feel like this, go see the movie.

948
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 3: Well, and also that means it doesn't match the look

949
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 3: of the rest of it at all. Yeah, that's true.

950
00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:33,920
Speaker 3: It's just sort of inserted. They tried, They definitely tried.

951
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,960
Speaker 1: And George Lucas is totally full of it, because in

952
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven he told star Log magazine that the

953
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 1: Christmas Special would be out on video cassette very soon. Yes,

954
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 1: And in two thousand and seven, two years after that quote,

955
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: you just read where he's like, I.

956
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:49,120
Speaker 3: Don't even know what you're talking about.

957
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 1: Basically, he apparently considered releasing the Christmas Special as a

958
00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:58,240
Speaker 1: bonus on the DVDs of the first three.

959
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 2: Right, it did not, didn't, And apparently Carrie Fisher told

960
00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 2: Lucas that, if you want me to do DVD extras commentary, Yeah, commentary.

961
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 3: Then I want a clean original copy of the Holiday Special.

962
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 2: Yes, so why go ahead so I can play at

963
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:16,480
Speaker 2: parties when I want people to leave.

964
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:18,799
Speaker 3: It's pretty great.

965
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,480
Speaker 1: It is so and there is one of those clean

966
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: copies is floating around out there, so you can watch

967
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:28,160
Speaker 1: this in it in its entirety. Some of it, like

968
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:31,279
Speaker 1: the cartoon, was removed due to copyright infringement and that

969
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,200
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, but as as the case with the

970
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:35,719
Speaker 1: rest of the Internet, you can just go find it

971
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:40,000
Speaker 1: elsewhere and piece it together. There's also the original ads

972
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:44,719
Speaker 1: that aired in Baltimore. Yeah, that are just fascinating.

973
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:44,960
Speaker 2: Yeah.

974
00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:47,520
Speaker 1: Those are always fun gm ads where one of the

975
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:49,360
Speaker 1: guys who's in quality control is.

976
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 3: He says, did you watch it? I don't think I

977
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,600
Speaker 3: saw that one. He goes, we really care about these

978
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 3: cars and.

979
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 1: That's no jibe man on a gm ad and he's like,

980
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 1: it's serious to be hip. Yeah, it's pretty good stuff.

981
00:49:04,200 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 3: Here's my final thought on it. I love it.

982
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,200
Speaker 2: It does not taint my Star Wars experience or my

983
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:13,359
Speaker 2: love for the franchise, and I'm glad it is out

984
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 2: there because it's a fun little stain that shouldn't be

985
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 2: taken too seriously. I think it adds to it actually,

986
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:27,320
Speaker 2: because it's campy and awful, and I don't know somehow

987
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:28,880
Speaker 2: that enriches the rest of it.

988
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:30,960
Speaker 3: I'm with you. You like it?

989
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,680
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I watched it twice. I wouldn't

990
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 1: watched it a second I wouldn't have made it through

991
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:38,279
Speaker 1: the first time. Let me take that back, as I'm

992
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:39,960
Speaker 1: a pro. Yeah, so I would have made it through

993
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 1: the first time. I wouldn't have watched it a second

994
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,960
Speaker 1: time if I wasn't. There wasn't something about it, and

995
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:45,560
Speaker 1: I figured out. I think the thing that I like

996
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 1: the most about it is Lumpy, Chewbacca's son Yeah, played

997
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 1: by an actress named Patty Maloney, who frankly is hands

998
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:57,440
Speaker 1: down the best actor in the entire thing. She like

999
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:00,720
Speaker 1: her response is and everything's just awesome.

1000
00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 3: I think my favorite parts are, well, there's a great

1001
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:05,400
Speaker 3: Wilhelm scream.

1002
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:08,759
Speaker 1: Yes, the trooper trips over the laws, Jerry would not

1003
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:09,400
Speaker 1: have noticed it.

1004
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:13,920
Speaker 2: And then there's a part where all the Wookie dialogue

1005
00:50:13,960 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 2: you can't understand, but there's clearly one part where where

1006
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 2: Itchy and Lumpy are having exchange where Lumpy you can

1007
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:22,320
Speaker 2: make it out goes.

1008
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:26,000
Speaker 3: I love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's covered up.

1009
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:28,560
Speaker 2: But someone was like, we have to have at least

1010
00:50:28,719 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 2: one exchange where you sort of know what they're saying.

1011
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,960
Speaker 1: Sure, or they were like, I think she has said

1012
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:34,840
Speaker 1: I love you. Should we have them redo it? And

1013
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:38,279
Speaker 1: the director's like, no, I want to go and Chuck.

1014
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:40,200
Speaker 1: There's one other thing that I figured out from watching this.

1015
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:43,680
Speaker 1: What's that it's not readily apparent the whole thing is

1016
00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:47,040
Speaker 1: made all the more odd, and that there's situation after

1017
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:51,800
Speaker 1: situation after situation where we, as normal audiences, were trained

1018
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,799
Speaker 1: to expect the laugh track, but there's not a laugh track,

1019
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:58,640
Speaker 1: and there's been a laugh track. It might have been

1020
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:03,279
Speaker 1: less bizarre. Yeah, but the fact that it's missing just

1021
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:07,719
Speaker 1: makes your agitates the mind. So it's this whole additional element.

1022
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:08,239
Speaker 3: That it is weird.

1023
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 2: I never thought about it, that there's just weird moments

1024
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:11,200
Speaker 2: of silence all throughout it.

1025
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:13,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, like when Art Carney's doing his thing.

1026
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:14,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm telling jokes.

1027
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:18,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I agree with you, Chuck. Don't take things

1028
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 1: too seriously. I think that's the great lesson in this.

1029
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:22,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then the lesson of life day it is

1030
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,479
Speaker 2: and in two thousand and seven Riff Tracks a great

1031
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:29,840
Speaker 2: mystery science Theater. Three thousand guys Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett,

1032
00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:34,359
Speaker 2: and Kevin Murphy provided audio commentary for the full version

1033
00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:37,400
Speaker 2: of the special. So try and go grab that if

1034
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:38,839
Speaker 2: you can as well. Oh you can, it's on their

1035
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:40,880
Speaker 2: site because it's great. I think it's like eight bucks and.

1036
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:42,000
Speaker 3: Those guys are awesome.

1037
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:47,440
Speaker 1: And yeah, at least I think Corbett listens to us. So, hey, Corbett,

1038
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:53,400
Speaker 1: you got anything else? No, No, I think we did this.

1039
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 1: There's some good stuff. Go read the Vanity Fair article

1040
00:51:57,160 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 1: han Solo Comedy Hour. There's a book called House Star

1041
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: Wars Conquered the Universe that has a very interesting chapter

1042
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 1: about this.

1043
00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:03,960
Speaker 3: That's where we found it.

1044
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:06,560
Speaker 1: Asserted that George Lucas never said that he would smash

1045
00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:09,839
Speaker 1: this thing with a sledgehammer, right, And there's also an

1046
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:13,560
Speaker 1: entire website dedicated to it. Star Wars Holiday Special dot com. Yeah,

1047
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:16,239
Speaker 1: and if you want to know more about the Star

1048
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,680
Speaker 1: Wars Holiday Special, we have a ton of hard Star Wars.

1049
00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:21,080
Speaker 3: Stuff on how stuff works by the way.

1050
00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:23,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have cool, sort of fun articles about the

1051
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:25,920
Speaker 2: Death Star and Lightsabers.

1052
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:29,120
Speaker 1: Videos with Holly Fry from Stuff You missed in history class.

1053
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:30,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, who she knows her stuff. She does.

1054
00:52:32,040 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 1: So you can just type Star Wars in the search

1055
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:35,799
Speaker 1: bar at HowStuffWorks dot com and it will bring up

1056
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 1: some cool stuff for you. Since I said search bar,

1057
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:39,439
Speaker 1: it's time for listener mail.

1058
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:45,000
Speaker 2: Hey guys, just finished listening to the Voyage Manuscript podcast.

1059
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:48,200
Speaker 2: Found it's super interesting, especially the theories on its definition

1060
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:51,160
Speaker 2: or origin. No Josh mentioned Chuck siy but being drug

1061
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 2: induced is somewhat surprising or even unlikely given the language

1062
00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:57,400
Speaker 2: and the manuscript follows linguistic laws.

1063
00:52:57,800 --> 00:52:59,719
Speaker 3: Only founded in the past one hundred years. But if

1064
00:52:59,719 --> 00:53:01,640
Speaker 3: you think about it, it's a tough.

1065
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:05,840
Speaker 2: It's tough to stray away from familiar structures, especially for

1066
00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:08,000
Speaker 2: something like language. I think back to when I was

1067
00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 2: younger and friends invented their own languages, or even in

1068
00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:14,040
Speaker 2: writing a song or poetry. Creativity can sometimes be limited

1069
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:14,960
Speaker 2: by what we know.

1070
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:17,920
Speaker 3: So just thought i'd contribute that to the conversation.

1071
00:53:18,239 --> 00:53:18,479
Speaker 1: Nice.

1072
00:53:18,560 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 3: Thanks big, thanks for all you guys do.

1073
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:22,800
Speaker 2: I found the podcast after moving to San Diego in

1074
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,160
Speaker 2: the last few years for some noise around my apartment,

1075
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 2: so basically we were blocking out noise. We do that,

1076
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 2: which I love and then as a way to get

1077
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 2: through traffic on my commute home from work. You guys

1078
00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:38,080
Speaker 2: are far more interesting and enjoyable than television and YouTube videos.

1079
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 3: I'm sure I've listened to hundreds, and we'll continue to

1080
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,360
Speaker 3: listen to hundreds more. Keep on Keeping on. That is

1081
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:44,920
Speaker 3: from Amy Jay Moffett.

1082
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, Amy in San Diego. Does that mean

1083
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:50,320
Speaker 1: like place of the whales in German or something like that?

1084
00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:53,719
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah.

1085
00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:55,840
Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with this, you

1086
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:57,839
Speaker 1: can send us an email. The Stuff podcast at house

1087
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:00,399
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com has always joined us at our home

1088
00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:02,319
Speaker 1: on the web, Stuff Youshould Know dot Com.

1089
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:08,120
Speaker 3: Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

1090
00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:12,400
Speaker 3: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

1091
00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:14,320
Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.