WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: The Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:03.720 Hey everyone, it's me Josh and it's that time of 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.840 year again. It's time for our annual Stuff You Should 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:13.000 Know selects release of How these Star Wars Christmas Special Worked. Um. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.520 I hope that by now this is a tried and 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:21.959 true American night world tradition, Uh, prior to Christmas, that 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.759 everyone will stop and bask in the glory of the 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.800 Star Wars Christmas Special. Technically our episode on the Star 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.840 Wars Christmas Special. I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.000 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:50.040 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.800 I'm Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuckers Bryant and Jerry 0:00:54.880 --> 0:01:02.200 Jerome Roland. Uh. Who's the Wookie mother? Yeah, Mala, that 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.600 was the Wookie wife. Oh and mother? Yeah sure. Chewbacca's 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.039 momb is not with them any longer. She left. She 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.120 was not about to appear in that she went out 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:16.479 the window. I'm excited about this. I have to say 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.880 we should say Happy Star Wars Day. Yeah. Today is 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.840 um December. Um, I have my opening night tickets? Do 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:32.520 you really sure? Wow? You know I you into it? Oh? Yeah, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:34.480 well I will definitely go see it in the theater, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.560 but um, why won't be the opening night? Sure, I've 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:42.280 gotten really adept at like ignoring spoilers, people talking about 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.600 stuff all like, so I can I could conceivably see 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.280 this movie a month after it comes out and still 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:54.080 going fresh. I'm an ostrich. Yeah you black yourself out, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.240 Yeah you go dark I do. I make myself go 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.000 to sleep face, you go to the dark side. I've 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.560 been there a while now. Uh well, Happy Star Wars 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.200 Day though, I'm sure that I think this pairs nicely 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.399 with Christmas Star Wars Day. It's all come together. Yes, Um, 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.239 we already missed Life Day though, so happy belated Life Day. 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.480 Are they celebrating it this year? Novemb Yeah, but it's 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:24.800 every three years. Mm hmm our cane man job. Okay, 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.240 so it's every three years started in nineteen seventy eight. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:33.240 Let's do the math, shall we? Mm hmmm, quick math break. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:37.680 I believe that two thousand fourteen was the last Life Day. 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.959 May we just missed and then again in twenty seventeen. Okay, 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.920 so seventeen we'll celebrate Life Day. We'll put on our 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:49.760 red robes, are ultralong, straight, ironed wigs, and we'll celebrate 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:51.959 Life Day the way it was meant to. Yes, and 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.200 if you have no idea what we're talking about, we 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:59.239 are talking about Life Day, which is a celebration, uh 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.760 that Wookie in the Star Wars universe have every three years. Yeah, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:08.919 it's like their Christmas. Yeah, their tent Supposedly, it's sort 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.040 of like Earth. They two. They celebrate the diversity of 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.120 their ecosystem and also remembrance of the dead, and they 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:18.320 also give gifts there like the Finns. Basically, Yeah, it's 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.480 a it's a very interesting part of the Star Wars canon. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.200 It is, and it's almost entirely made up, dashed off 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:30.720 you could possibly say, by um George Lucas in the seventies. Um. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:36.440 And it's the basis of what is become derided as 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.440 like one of the worst things that ever happened to 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.080 the Star Wars galaxy. Well, not only that, one of 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.720 the worst things ever aired on television. Yeah, this galaxy. Yeah, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.520 at first, that sounds like hyperbole, like, come on, it's 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.520 because it was Star Wars. We had high expectations. But 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.680 it's really that bad. Yeah. The people who say that 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.600 haven't seen even a second of it. Yeah. Yeah, However, 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.280 I watched it uh when I was a kid. Uh, 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.920 then again this week, and you watched it twice this week. Yeah, 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.600 I watched it last night and this morning. There's something 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.600 about it. It's mesmerizing, it really is. It's one of 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.200 those things that you start watching it and you want 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.640 to turn it off, but you want to see just 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.440 how absurd it can get. Almost Yeah, and it starts absurd, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.120 it stays absurd in the middle, it's increasingly more absurd, 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.160 it's a little less absurd, finishes super absurd. Yeah, it's 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.160 just a train wreck in every single sense of the word. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.520 Talk to bottom. It's extraordinarily difficult to overstate how bad 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.560 this is. And some people you know, in researching this, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.360 you read about it, you read descriptions of these things, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.240 and it just can't possibly be gotten across until you 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.840 see it. So luckily, as we will see, you can 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.760 go onto YouTube and watch it, and you may even 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.320 enjoy this episode more if you pause, go spend two 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.120 hours watching this thing, and then come back and laugh 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.640 along with us. Yeah, there's a great Over the years, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.440 there have been many segments of it on YouTube from 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:07.680 badly dub VHS tapes, but there's one really pretty good 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.960 version of it in full UM brought to you by 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.120 w h I O Dayton, Ohio, Channel seven. Because that 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:21.160 flashes up on the screen periodically. Man, it is high quality, 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.240 it looks good, and it has to basically be the 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:28.359 copy that the actual UM affiliate broadcast. It's like that, 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.440 that quality compared to the other stuff floating around on YouTube, 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:36.040 clearly recorded on a pc R, which we're really expensive, 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.800 very expensive. I did some calculating on west Egg, okay UM, 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.599 so the average VCR went for about a thousand dollars. 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:46.039 There were brand new it's amazing thousand dollars in nine money, 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.400 so they're about thirty eight hundred dollars in two thousand 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.560 fourteen money. Luckily, there were some rich people out there 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.799 recording this stuff, and the wealthy have saved us all 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:00.280 again yet again, as they always do. UH need to 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.760 shout out some articles that we use for this. There's 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.760 great a great article in Vanity Fair called the Han 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:11.240 Solo Comedy Our exclamation Point by Frank D. Jacomo. And 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.039 then there's the Star Wars Holiday Special was the worst 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.120 thing on television ever by someone we kind of know, 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.239 Alex Pasternak. Uh from Motherboard, yeah, which is uh not wired, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:26.000 it's uh vice. We wrote a little bit for Motherboard 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:27.880 back then and we had a call with that, like 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.039 we're like old motherboard vets. Yeah, basically when there one more, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.640 there was another one and I don't know who wrote 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.720 this one chuck. Uh, yeah, it's the titles the Star 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.839 Wars Holiday Special. George Lucas wants to smash every copy 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.840 of with a sledgehammer, which was a famous quote, uh 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.560 supposedly at a convention by Lucas, Yes, which is not correct. 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.240 He didn't ever say that. No, okay, that that sounded 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.719 like something that people made up. Yes, but if you 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:57.600 go on the internet you will quickly believe that he did. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.039 Apparently didn't. So I'm sure he felt that way though, clearly, 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.520 because he did appear on Robot Chicken and I think 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.160 two thousand five on the Therapist Couch talking about how 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.080 much he hated the Space Show. Alright, so let's set 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:14.040 the background, shall we shall we go back to summer 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.160 getting the old way back machine. All right, let's do 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:25.600 it all right, here we are there's Waterson. Yeah, I'm 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.280 just a little six year old excited about Star Wars. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.960 I am I've just turned one. Yes, you don't know 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.400 what's up yet. I please forgive me if I urinate myself, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.280 no problem, Okay. Uh So what has happened is Star 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:43.480 Wars has become a huge, huge hit, seemingly out of nowhere, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.560 establishing George Lucas is one of the brilliant young minds 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.240 and filmmaking. Even though it was in his first movie, 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.240 it was his first huge, huge breakout hit. Oh yeah, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.640 for sure, talk I mean talk about a breakout hit 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.120 like no one had ever seen anything like it before 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.320 two thousand one had come out in the late sixties. 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.560 But it wasn't it's still it still isn't accessible to 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.760 all audiences. You know, it's kind of cerebral film. Yeah, 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.360 it's not an adventure movie. This was this is like 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.360 basically swashbuckling on the screen, but you know, in a 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.720 galaxy far far away. Star Wars just changed everything and 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.400 it came on just like a hammer um and a 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.720 new hope. By the way, Yes, and then then we're 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.480 gonna get stuff wrong, nerds, So yes, just go ahead 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.920 and get your little fingers ready to email us, like 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.920 if it wasn't driven home that I'm not a nerd. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.320 By the fact that I don't have opening night tickets 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.280 or any tickets yet, give me a break, and by 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:41.439 proxy chuck to okay, thank you. So um, it's it's 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:46.319 hard to stay how great Star Wars was in everyone's mind, right. 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.559 Bill Murray came out with that lounge singer Star Wars thing. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.960 It was everywhere and if you if you just listen 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.719 to the lyrics of it, it's really it's just Bill 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.839 Murray singing about how much Star Wars is awesome. Right. 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:03.400 So by the fall allowing year, um, George Lucas was 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.720 he wanted to figure out a way to keep audiences 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:09.960 just engaged with the whole Star Wars franchise that he 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.600 was just starting to build. But he knew the Empire 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.800 Strikes Back was a couple more years out, so um 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.840 he I think he was approached by some TV executives 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:24.120 who said, have you considered doing some sort of TV special? 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.840 They're all the rage right now. We have a we 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.880 have a graphic that's really awesome that we set aside 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:33.800 just for TV specials here at CBS. Why don't you 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.480 let us let's get together and do a Star Wars special. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.880 That's right. Producers Gary Smith and Dwight him on, Uh, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.439 we're working over at CBS, and they said, this is 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.040 a great way to keep the spirit alive while you're 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.520 making your other movie. Maybe move some more toys. Yeah, 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:55.240 which George Lucas got to. So it was right before Thanksgiving, 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:56.600 and he said, there'll be a lot of people watching 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.960 TV um pre holiday season or I guess in the 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.040 holiday season. Well, the weekend before Thanksgiving, it's like everybody's shopping, 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:07.600 sitting around family like waiting to actually do stuff. That's right, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.560 perfect time to broadcast something on TV. So Lucas says, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.120 all right, let's do this. I don't have a ton 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.679 of time, but how about this. I'll get I'll get 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.400 a story together and then you can go hire a 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.400 whiz bang team of veteran writers and producers and directors 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.720 whatever genre you think is appropriate. And those are the 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.679 words that will haunt you, George Lucas to his grave. Yeah. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.560 So Lucas said, here's my idea. I wanted to be 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.360 based um on Wookiees, and I wanted to take place 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.800 on their home planet of Kizuok or wookie planet. See 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.439 is that how you say kazuk. That's how it's pronounced 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.720 in the episode the Holiday Special. But it's also pronounced 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.720 different ways. Other times, I would have pronounced that cashy 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:57.400 E got spell it k a s h y y 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.280 y k, which I mean, I guess that's sounds like 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.000 Chewbuck's planet sure also called G five Wookie planet see 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.520 or Eaton is a mid rim planet. Right. So the 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.920 whole reason apparently that George Lucas was interested in featuring 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.160 the Wookies was it is what we in show business 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.560 call low hanging fruit. The reason why it was low 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.040 hanging fruit was because they had just established the different 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.600 scenes that would make the cut for Empire Strikes Back 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.640 and uh, what how did you pronounce it? Again? Kazook 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.880 Kazook had not made the cut. Uh. Even prior to this, 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.560 apparently for a new hope, George Lucas had whipped up 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.160 a forty page what's known as the Wookie Bible. It's 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:43.760 like a forty page supplement that's all about Kazook and 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:49.280 Wookies and Chewbacca and his family and everything about Wookie Doom. Right, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.920 So he's like, I've got this thing already, you know, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.680 established I love Wookies. Um, they didn't make the cut. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.120 I'm a little sad about that. They're not gonna kazuok 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.400 is not going to show up in an Empire strike back. 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.000 Let's let's build the entire special around wookies. It's basically 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.040 the one demand me, George Lucas hash That's it. I'll 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.400 be totally hands off from this point on which he 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.880 kind of was. He totally wasn't. It was actually this 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.480 experience that apparently taught him to be the very hands 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:19.680 on a person that he is famous for being. It 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.840 came out of this Christmas special. Absolutely he was burned, 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.200 and um, you had an iron grip after that on everything. 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.319 So here's some some of the folks behind it. Bruce Valanche, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.079 famous TV writer. You probably seen him on Hollywood Squares. 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.080 Wasn't he suspected of being Thomas pinch On for a while? 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.800 So I don't know, or was Thomas pinch On on 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:45.560 Hollywood Squares? I have no idea. I maybe confabulating some 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.160 stuff confounding. Yeah, there's some kind of some sort going on. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.360 It sounds like it. So Valanche was hired as a writer. 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.480 A guy named Lenny Rips was hired as a writer 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.160 who has some great quotes in that Vanity Fair article 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.560 he does. His first quote was, we were really excited 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.880 because this is Star Wars. How could it lose famous? 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.720 Last words? Who else was hired? There was a husband 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.720 and wife team, the welch Is, who are the parents 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:19.360 of of folk singer Gillian Welch. I'm a big fan 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.000 of and I had no idea that her parents they 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:26.280 were producers slash songwriters of the day. They were big 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.240 on the variety show scene, which would turn out to 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.400 be a really key cog in this whole experience. So 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.520 I feel like, right about here, Jerry should insert a 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:40.000 needle coming off of our records on effect. Okay, thanks Jerry, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:44.760 So Chuck, you just said singer songwriters. Yeah, what would 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.960 that have to do with Star Wars. Yeah? Well, actually, 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.400 in this Star Wars Holiday special, for those of you 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.360 hadn't seen it, there are musical numbers. They decided from 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.720 the outset that there should be musical numbers. And the 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.560 reason that they decided that there should be musical numbers 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.640 is because the people who sold George Lucas and at 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.520 the time it was started, the Star Wars Corporation was 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.600 what it was called um On. The idea of doing 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.160 this TV special was that everyone would love a variety 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.440 show the seventies. Great idea, let's do a variety show. 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.800 The problem was this, Apparently George Lucas didn't watch enough 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.040 TV and he also overly trusted people who talked to 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:28.480 him because by yes, variety shows had dominated television for 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.880 over ten years, but it had come to an end. 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.680 It was getting stale. Yeah, we're talking to Carol Burnett show. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.680 One of my favorite had just been canceled after eleven seasons. 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.520 Sonny and Chair had just had its last season. Um, 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.920 I mean what else like he Hall was he? I 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.840 was still going on probably think still on solid golden 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.520 yet to come on and take up the mantel that 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.040 that would a variety show. Oh, it was a little 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.280 bit and there was talking in between the songs. Remember 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.040 the Mandrell's Sister's show. I never watched that one. Well 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.680 that's with that country chic thing that happened. Yeah, it 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.000 was a big deal in the it's kind of happening again. 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.480 I think, Oh because of that dude, the guy who 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.040 won all the c m A Awards. I don't know, 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.960 he's like he's he came along, he's like actually country. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.840 His dad's like a coal miner for real from Kentucky. 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.400 I think I know he means Chris was something. Yeah, 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.120 he's he's come along and been like, what are you 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.560 guys doing? Well, there's a revival in like good country 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.120 music again, that's great, like in the tradition of Merle 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.120 Haggard and and I guess that's probably where the country 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.200 she came from because there was actually good country going on. Yeah, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.360 Johnny cash out a variety show, did he really? Yeah? 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.200 I knew they did, like a Sunday singing thing like 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.400 out in Virginia. Yeah, he had his own variety show. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:49.920 Was actually pretty good. There's some like really great performances. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.080 Do you know how many nerds are like, get back 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.880 to Star Wars? I know, I'm so sorry. All right, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.000 So the Variety Show is is dying sort of, and 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.560 so they figured what a great time to take the 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.960 biggest movie property on the planet and wedge it into 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:08.120 the variety show milieu. I don't know if wedge is 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.120 the right word. I think maybe uh, nestle it in 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.400 there and then start hitting it with the blunt edge 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:18.640 of an axe until it mashes into that crevice, you know, 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.160 because this is the time when fantasy Island had just started. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.960 Um Mork and Mindy was about to change things. Charlie's 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.400 Angels was getting huge. It basically television as we knew 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:35.640 it from two whenever the real world came along. Just 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.400 escape as television is what they called it was was 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.720 starting and it was the hip new thing. So basically, 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.480 if they had turned Han Solo and Princess Leiah and 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:48.040 Luke Skywalker into maybe you know, sexy detectives, it might 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.720 have gone over even better. But they went the other way. 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:55.960 They decided to latch onto this extraordinarily stale um genre 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.080 of television and they hired the best in the business, 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.400 like they was there was. There was a quote from 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.800 I think Lenny RiPPs who was saying, like we had 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.600 literally a dream team, a variety show dream team, and 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.040 everybody was good. But there were probably no bad welders 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.000 on the Titanic. He there. That's a great quote. Yeah. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:16.960 The guy they hired to direct it initially was a 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.119 dude named David A. Coomba, and he had made his 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.879 name for Welcome to the Fillmore East. It was a 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.919 concert documentary with Van Morrison Van Morrison and the Birds 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.280 in ninety one, and he actually was at usc Film 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.639 School at the same time as Lucas, even though they 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.119 didn't know each other. And um, he only ended up 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.480 directing about three segments of the thing before he quit. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.760 Yet before he walked off, some say he was actually 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.440 let go, but we'll get to him in a minute 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.320 and who replaced him. As as we get along down 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.600 this uh gross road, well let's let's take a little 0:17:50.600 --> 0:18:14.680 break because I'm I'm overly excited. Okay, alright, so we've 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.159 established most of the main players. Well, we'll get to 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.680 a few more. We should point out that um, Mark 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:25.600 hamill And and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.600 they had no grounds to refuse to be on this basically, yeah, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.600 pretty much. They were not huge, huge stars, yet they 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.600 could throw their weight around and say this is terrible 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.639 and I'm not doing it. They were, They were big 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.359 overnight because of Star Wars, for sure, but they weren't 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.960 to the adoring public back at the studio. They could 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.480 still be bossed around. And this is the result of it. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.480 And you can tell also, um, just from watching the 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.480 actual special, like Harrison Ford is not happy to be 0:18:55.560 --> 0:19:00.240 there at any point. Um. Princess Leiah is clear really 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:03.600 on drugs? Uh? Was she on drugs at this point? 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.840 She If you watch it, she's she's on drugs. Especially 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.600 the ending scene. Mark Campbell, it looks like he's happy 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.080 to be there. Actually he was fine, but apparently he 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.400 said no, I'm I'm not doing a musical number. And 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.320 if you watch his part, wedging a musical number in 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.920 there would have been even more painful. Um. But they 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.800 everybody who was part of the actual Star Wars franchise 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.199 that wasn't wearing like a full body costume was like, 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.280 I really wish I wasn't here, And you can tell, 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.000 oh yeah. In fact, in the opening uh credit sequence, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.639 they're showing the picture that you know, the faces of 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.720 the people, and you see Harrison Ford as if he's 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.000 flying the Millennium Falcon, and you can you can just 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.360 hear the guy off screen going now look at the 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:50.560 camera and just give a nod. Just look at the 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.719 camera and give a nod. And he finally you can 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:54.600 tell he's piste off and he looks up at the 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.960 camera and just sort of smirks yeah and points at 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:58.919 the camera like okay, I'm looking at the camera, and 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.000 then goes back to what he's doing. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.639 I felt bad for him so early on Valanche and 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.480 others did you did you feel bad for him? Though? Really? 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:12.200 I mean, like, come on, it's Harrison Ford's Hans Solo. 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.200 He has to go do this for like five days. Yeah, 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.919 I felt terrible for him. I think it's hilarious that 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.000 they had to do this, especially now. Well, early on, 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.159 Valanche and others knew that they may be in trouble 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:27.800 because they decided not to subtitle any of the Wookie dialogue, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.160 and they literally started after a brief opening scene setting 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.119 it up here. Here's the basic plot is, Han Solo 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.280 is trying to get Chewbacca back to Kazook in time 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.800 for Life Day so we can celebrate with his family. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.840 That's the basis of the entire two the basis the 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.040 entire two hours. They encounter a space battle and they're delayed, 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.040 and the next two hours are kind of what's going 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.880 on while the delay is happening back on kaz Back 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:58.880 on Kazook, because you hear, like, okay, well, Han Solo 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.399 and Chewbacca eating the Imperial Guard and all that stuff 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.399 for two hours. I would watch that. I would too. 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.160 That's not what they show killing time at the Wookie household. 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.920 That is what they show. That's what they do. It's 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.800 people hanging out waiting for Chewbacca, worrying about him, and 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.720 then killing time while they wait for him to come back. Literally, 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.160 so um and so hold on. So you say there's 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.520 a setup, right, Yeah, that's the initial setup and then chuck. 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:33.000 That's followed by this. Yeah, it's followed by literally ten minutes, 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:38.720 ten solid minutes of incomprehensible Wookie speak. So let's let's 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:41.239 join it for a second, shall we. Let's all enjoy it. 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:30.200 And again, you said ten minutes, and you're not exaggerating, 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.240 you're not being hyperbolic. You can time it. That's it's 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:37.879 ten minutes of Wookie's talking to each other with no subtitles. Fortunately, 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:40.640 I couldn't follow it at first, Like I didn't even 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.359 know who it was. I thought it was might have 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:48.280 been Chewbacca's mom and dada. That's a little brother. And 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:50.600 I don't find out until later when Mark Campbell shows 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:55.840 up via skype call and says, he really explains everything 0:22:55.880 --> 0:23:02.520 that had just happened, Like you're Chewbacca's father, your Chewbacca's son. Uh, Lumpy, 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:07.480 Lumpy and you're Chewbacca's wife. Oh, Malaya, thank you. So 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.960 before everybody starts like freaking out, we know that that's 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:15.159 actually their nicknames. Their real names are. His father is 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:19.520 a Ti chick cook, a Ti chick cook, it's really 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.480 hard to pronounce. Mulatto Buck is his wife, and his 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:27.480 son is Lumpo or rump but as named by Lucas. 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.480 But yeah, but Lucas also named him Lumpy Itchy and 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:35.720 Mala so um. They're all back there wringing their hands, 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.840 trying to figure out ways to pass the time until 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:41.439 they get word from Chewbacca that he's made it to 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:47.080 uh what is it ketchuck, kazook kazook um, just like ketchup, 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:52.680 ketchup or cats up if you're fancy um. But Chewbacca 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:57.120 is having trouble getting back to Katchuk because there's kazook, 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:01.840 because there's a block had by the Empire and they're 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:04.879 looking for rebels, specifically Chewbacca. Who I didn't realize this. 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.000 He's the most famous Wookie of all did you know that? Yeah, 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:10.440 of course I didn't know that. Well, I mean he's 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:13.280 the only one that really appears in the movies. I mean, 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:17.960 we're seeing like, you know, these people's view of the universe. 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:21.639 What about back on book. Yeah, he might have just 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:24.119 been a fly by night wookie, right, yeah, but not 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:27.399 the case, very famous wookie. Yeah, and he really loved it, 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:31.360 like soak in his fame. Alright, So he realizes there's 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:33.879 a problem. Valanche. He goes to Lucas and it's like, 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:37.679 I don't know, man, this is your world, but it 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:40.920 may not be the strongest thing to do to set 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:44.480 this in wookie Land and have all this incomprehensible dialogue. 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:48.320 And he says he was met with a glacial stair. Uh. Well, 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:51.000 he put it a little differently than that. Well, he 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:54.399 said glacial stair. He did. The glacial stair that he 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:58.399 got was for this quote. He said, these people just 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.960 talking what sounds like fat people having an orgasm. He goes, 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:03.800 if you want, you can set up a tape recorder 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:06.000 in my bedroom and I'll do all of the follying 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:08.359 for it. Yeah. He's a large guy, he is, so 0:25:08.680 --> 0:25:11.920 uh that's what got the glacial stare. But Valanche later 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:14.960 said that from this, there was one development meeting that 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:19.160 Lucas attended, and it was here's the Wookie Bible tell 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.040 me what you got, and Valanche said he and the 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:25.080 other writers and producers and director were just kind of 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:28.560 throwing ideas, and George Lucas would either say like, no, 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.040 that doesn't work, give him a glacial stare, or say, yes, 0:25:32.200 --> 0:25:36.040 that's exactly it. Yes, let's make this a variety show. Yeah. 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:38.880 And there was a little bit of um background there. 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:42.880 The cantina players in the band had appeared on other 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:46.480 variety shows at that point, and I think it went 0:25:46.520 --> 0:25:49.200 over a fairly well, just as a short segment on 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:54.760 like the Richard Pryor Variety Show or Donnie Marie um Man. 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:57.040 There were a lot of variety shows. But that's what 0:25:57.080 --> 0:25:59.840 I'm saying. It was that was television. That's what you did, 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.560 like the break these um the The show had its 0:26:04.600 --> 0:26:06.760 course and then it became a variety show. It was 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:11.280 just everybody love variety shows. By this time, though, everybody 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.600 was sick of variety shows and so it really was 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:17.120 a terrible choice. In fact, they even hired a couple 0:26:17.160 --> 0:26:20.840 of writers from Shields and Yarnell, which I hadn't heard 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:23.840 of it. Oh yeah, I watched it. It was creepy, 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:27.920 this mind couple who had their own variety show, and 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:32.360 they figured these two will be great because they are 0:26:32.480 --> 0:26:35.119 used to working without words, right, So, and so there 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:37.200 is a certain logic to the variety show. It's not 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:41.080 that's just that variety shows were popular at the time. 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:44.840 Somebody was like, well, Wookie's you don't understand what they're saying. 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:47.480 So this is all going to be very physical. So 0:26:47.920 --> 0:26:51.840 these people who who did what is it Shields and Yard, Now, yeah, 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:54.639 that that's a perfect choice. That that makes complete sense. 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:58.200 You can see this whole, this whole process of leading 0:26:58.280 --> 0:27:01.040 up to the point where it was produced in and everything, Yeah, 0:27:01.359 --> 0:27:03.760 a series of like, oh we have this problem, well 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:06.440 here's a fix. Yeah, but that leads to another problem. 0:27:06.480 --> 0:27:08.600 Well we'll fix it with this, and and no one 0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:11.840 stepping back and being like, all we've done is create 0:27:11.920 --> 0:27:14.800 a series of problems that are going to come together 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:18.920 and make one extraordinarily large problem that will become legendary. 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:21.679 No one did that, and so the whole thing was 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:26.200 was made. That's right, And that eventually airs on November 0:27:26.240 --> 0:27:31.440 seventy eight, a Friday, at eight pm Eastern time. That's right. 0:27:31.520 --> 0:27:36.040 And according to Nielsen ratings, it um attracted thirteen million 0:27:36.119 --> 0:27:40.240 viewers just the second hour just in the US. It 0:27:40.320 --> 0:27:43.800 aired in six or seven countries total. Yeah, but no 0:27:43.840 --> 0:27:45.639 one cares about that, I guess not because none of 0:27:45.640 --> 0:27:48.800 those around the internet, you know. Uh. It finished second 0:27:48.880 --> 0:27:51.080 to the Love Boat in the second I'm sorry from 0:27:51.080 --> 0:27:53.760 eight to nine, and in the next hour actually finished 0:27:53.760 --> 0:27:56.800 behind part two of a mini series about Pearl Harbor 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:00.560 starring Angie Dickinson. So it didn't even win their respective 0:28:00.560 --> 0:28:04.399 hours thirty million. That's that's not bad. The thing is, 0:28:04.440 --> 0:28:08.280 apparently if you look at the Nielsen ratings graph for 0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:11.320 the first hour, yeah we know about that graph, It's okay, yeah, 0:28:11.359 --> 0:28:15.240 we do. And then after a very important part, which 0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:18.320 we'll talk about soon. Um, it just drops off at 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:20.960 the end of the first hour, and that actually probably 0:28:21.040 --> 0:28:24.520 made the executives at CBS cringe for a number of reasons. 0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:28.199 Number one is this special was originally supposed to just 0:28:28.240 --> 0:28:31.520 be an hour, but so many advertisers wanted to sign 0:28:31.560 --> 0:28:36.120 on that they extended it to two hours. And it 0:28:36.160 --> 0:28:39.640 shines through you can totally tell that this thing was 0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:42.520 never supposed to I think an hour might have been 0:28:42.520 --> 0:28:45.640 stretching it. To tell you the truth, it's thirty minutes 0:28:45.680 --> 0:28:49.719 of content, forty if you're generous an hour and then 0:28:49.800 --> 0:28:52.800 two hours, it becomes one of the worst things that 0:28:53.000 --> 0:28:55.160 was ever put on television. All right, well let's take 0:28:55.200 --> 0:28:56.840 a break and then we'll talk a little bit more 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:01.120 about the actual um uh. I don't want to call 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:05.280 it content, but it is content in the strictest definitions. 0:29:05.400 --> 0:29:29.160 Right after this, George, all right, so the show itself, 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:32.560 we've given you the main plot line, which again is 0:29:32.640 --> 0:29:35.400 that Chewy is trying to get back to his home 0:29:35.440 --> 0:29:38.320 planet to celebrate life Day with his family. Right, that's it, 0:29:38.880 --> 0:29:43.160 And again we almost barely see Chewy. Yeah, the rest 0:29:43.280 --> 0:29:47.280 is his family on because look waiting for him to 0:29:47.320 --> 0:29:49.560 come back for a life Day. Yeah. So um. Some 0:29:49.600 --> 0:29:51.880 of the various things they did, they were guest stars. 0:29:52.000 --> 0:29:55.200 There was Harvey Corman from the Carol Burnett Show, one 0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:59.320 of my all time favorites him or Carol Carol Burnett 0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:02.520 Show both. He's great. Yeah, he actually if you watch 0:30:02.600 --> 0:30:05.880 what he's doing, you're like, this is comedy genius for sure. 0:30:06.000 --> 0:30:08.280 Apparently he too, was like the only one on set 0:30:08.280 --> 0:30:10.560 that was bringing levity. He was joking around and kind 0:30:10.560 --> 0:30:13.120 of kept spirits up. Good for him, that's what I say. 0:30:13.320 --> 0:30:16.400 And he had three different three different parts. Yeah, he 0:30:16.480 --> 0:30:20.880 played uh well, I don't even know the names. Actually 0:30:21.000 --> 0:30:23.640 we could look him up, but he played a he 0:30:23.720 --> 0:30:28.440 played a Julia child like cook. There's an actual cooking segment, 0:30:29.040 --> 0:30:32.720 a long one, a very long cooking segment where Chewbacca's 0:30:32.760 --> 0:30:36.840 wife Um makes Banta stew to kill some time, to 0:30:36.920 --> 0:30:41.320 kill some time because waiting on her planet and in 0:30:41.400 --> 0:30:43.920 our living room. Yeah, so Harvey Corman is in drag 0:30:44.040 --> 0:30:49.040 is a foe armed Julia childlike uh TV chef And 0:30:49.080 --> 0:30:52.080 I think it's Gormanda. Is her name Gormanda? That makes 0:30:52.120 --> 0:30:56.440 total sense. He also plays Um. There's this one weird 0:30:56.480 --> 0:30:59.959 bit where Chewbacca's son tries to figure out a way 0:31:00.160 --> 0:31:03.280 to trick the stormtroopers that the Empire had come and 0:31:03.400 --> 0:31:06.440 kind of because the blockade raided the house and other properties. 0:31:06.800 --> 0:31:09.400 So he tries to trick them by I think, rigging 0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:12.920 a calm link to speak in a different voice. So 0:31:12.960 --> 0:31:18.320 he has to watch the instruction manual. He watches an 0:31:18.360 --> 0:31:22.800 instruction video which was Harvey Kitel as a robot. Oh, 0:31:22.880 --> 0:31:26.600 it would have been wonderful, little big Harvey Kitel. Harvey Carvey, 0:31:27.160 --> 0:31:32.040 Oh many murder someone in the middle of the instruction 0:31:33.000 --> 0:31:35.400 Harvey Corman. And then the final role he had was 0:31:35.440 --> 0:31:40.080 as a a bar patron in the cantina that drinks. 0:31:40.600 --> 0:31:42.480 He has a hole in the top of his head 0:31:42.520 --> 0:31:45.160 like a volcano, where he pours his drinks and that's 0:31:45.160 --> 0:31:48.440 how he drinks. And he he loves be Arthur. Did 0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:50.480 we mention be Arthur was in it? B Arthur is 0:31:50.480 --> 0:31:53.000 not only in it, Chuck. She sings a song. She does. 0:31:53.040 --> 0:31:58.000 She is theodnotes to everyone she manages or maybe owns. 0:31:57.400 --> 0:32:02.080 The owner. Yeah, the what's the mos? What mos deaf cantina? 0:32:02.440 --> 0:32:05.680 Uh no, most deaf is a rapper? Oh yeah, I 0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:09.240 think you mean Moss Eisley. Yes, yes, that cantina. She's 0:32:09.320 --> 0:32:11.680 the owner. Be Arthur is the owner be author of 0:32:11.720 --> 0:32:14.920 the Golden Girls, but in this case the Arthur of Maud, because, 0:32:15.320 --> 0:32:16.880 as one of the people who wrote one of the 0:32:16.960 --> 0:32:19.760 articles we based this on points out, she's just basically 0:32:19.800 --> 0:32:22.440 playing Maud as the owner of the cantina. Yeah, and 0:32:22.480 --> 0:32:27.960 her song comes because um, they basically say, there's a lockdown, 0:32:28.000 --> 0:32:30.840 so you gotta call last call um at your bar. 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:34.560 So she calls last call by singing a song to everyone. Right, 0:32:34.600 --> 0:32:39.000 and again, we can't possibly have the script lead anywhere 0:32:39.040 --> 0:32:42.040 else but Chew Bacca's house while his family waits for it. 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:45.320 So all this takes place as part of a public 0:32:45.440 --> 0:32:50.680 service announcement basically broadcast by the Empire about how immoral 0:32:50.840 --> 0:32:54.120 life on tattooing is. So let's go see what's going 0:32:54.280 --> 0:32:58.520 on in the mos Eisley Cantina as it's being shut 0:32:58.520 --> 0:33:05.480 down for curfew. Alright, this is incomprehensible, but it goes on. Um, 0:33:05.520 --> 0:33:08.880 so they're in it. There's also Art Carney. Yes, he's 0:33:09.120 --> 0:33:11.640 the Honeymooners family, the star of the whole thing. Really, 0:33:12.880 --> 0:33:15.560 he has the most lines, I would say, the most 0:33:15.920 --> 0:33:20.280 comprehensible line. Right. So he plays a trader, a human 0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:23.960 trader um that is, uh recently been with Han Solo 0:33:24.000 --> 0:33:27.280 and Chewy and actually gets to Kazook and says they're 0:33:27.320 --> 0:33:29.600 on the way. It's all good. Yeah, a trade or 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:36.480 not trade tour. Yeah, traders in trades humans for you know, money. No, 0:33:36.720 --> 0:33:41.840 he he sells goods. Yeah, a trader. He isn't trade humans. Yeah, 0:33:41.840 --> 0:33:45.000 he's in the human trade. He No, he isn't. Really 0:33:46.000 --> 0:33:49.400 he trades humans like he sells humans. Looked it up 0:33:49.440 --> 0:33:51.840 in the Star Wars Encyclopedia said that he was in 0:33:51.880 --> 0:33:56.480 the human trade. So in this Christmas special, apparently they 0:33:56.480 --> 0:34:00.280 sanitized his his background because he's basically just sell like 0:34:00.360 --> 0:34:03.560 gadgets and novelties and stuff like that to the Wookies 0:34:03.640 --> 0:34:07.640 and the Empire who were occupying the area. Yes, he 0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:12.000 comes bearing gifts because he's a friend of Chewbacca's family. Yeah, 0:34:12.440 --> 0:34:14.279 so he comes bearing gifts. One of the gifts he 0:34:14.320 --> 0:34:18.200 gives is a UM sort of like a little digital 0:34:18.239 --> 0:34:22.200 insert to a Oh, I guess you would call it 0:34:22.239 --> 0:34:27.080 a virtual reality hair dryer hair dryer, like a beauty 0:34:27.080 --> 0:34:30.799 shop hair dryer. Right. He gives it to Grandpa Itchy. 0:34:30.960 --> 0:34:34.680 Grandpa Itchy UM sits under this hair dryer pops in 0:34:34.760 --> 0:34:39.320 this uh digital cassette, and it can only be described 0:34:39.440 --> 0:34:43.880 as softcore porn. Apparently the writers who were interviewed for 0:34:43.920 --> 0:34:46.640 this said that was totally the intent. They were trying 0:34:46.680 --> 0:34:49.760 to get what amounted to softcore porn that would pass 0:34:49.800 --> 0:34:55.000 the sensors. So it's all m You can't even say 0:34:55.000 --> 0:34:58.440 it's innuendo. It's too obvious in overt for innuendo. Instead, 0:34:58.440 --> 0:35:04.560 it's just it it's just it's just gross. It's really gross. Um. 0:35:04.600 --> 0:35:09.920 Diane Carroll, Yes she is. Um, a Vegas staple shows 0:35:10.000 --> 0:35:16.480 up and starts basically tantalizing. Um. Grandpa Itchy, who again, 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:20.600 this is Chewbacca's elderly father who now engages in some 0:35:20.680 --> 0:35:24.799 sort of well he's he's watching virtual reality pornography now, 0:35:24.880 --> 0:35:27.560 and this is a pretty lengthy segment in and of itself. 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:31.000 Well yeah, and she literally says to him, now, I 0:35:31.000 --> 0:35:35.920 can see you're really excited. Yeah, it's pretty rough to watch. Yeah, 0:35:36.000 --> 0:35:38.560 So then you've got another musical number because also again 0:35:38.600 --> 0:35:45.880 he shutters, it's really strange, all right, So there's also ah, 0:35:46.040 --> 0:35:47.879 I know, it seems like we're jumping around, but it's 0:35:48.000 --> 0:35:50.480 it's so flow not like this is pretty much like 0:35:50.600 --> 0:35:53.600 blow for blow. Um. Actually I forgot earlier on in 0:35:53.719 --> 0:35:57.760 the in the special, um, there's one of my favorite 0:35:57.760 --> 0:36:02.719 sequences is when Grandpa Itchy goes over to Lumpy and 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:06.480 basically sets up remember the the hologram chessboard that they 0:36:06.520 --> 0:36:09.200 played in A New Hope, basically kind of sets that 0:36:09.320 --> 0:36:11.759 up and says, here, just play this. He pushes the 0:36:11.760 --> 0:36:16.120 button which is clearly a nineteen seventies cassette recorder and 0:36:16.280 --> 0:36:22.520 another uh, like it's like a Cirque de sol acid 0:36:22.640 --> 0:36:28.319 trip um gymnast routine happens in front of the kid's eyes. 0:36:28.960 --> 0:36:31.200 And again this all just it's not like it shows 0:36:31.200 --> 0:36:34.600 a snippet. They showed the entire segments, like five, six, 0:36:34.680 --> 0:36:37.239 ten minutes long of all of these things. So you 0:36:37.239 --> 0:36:40.440 would think, Okay, they've gone to this hologram well a 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:43.439 couple of times, why not go to it again? Well 0:36:43.480 --> 0:36:47.160 they do. They do to kill more time. While the 0:36:47.200 --> 0:36:52.040 Imperial Guard is ransacking their house. Um, Art Carney apparently, 0:36:52.560 --> 0:36:54.800 I guess it's trying to get one of the Imperial Guard, 0:36:55.040 --> 0:36:57.520 the leader I think, or one of the leaders who 0:36:57.520 --> 0:37:01.520 looks like somebody from Spaceballs by the way, very much so. Um. 0:37:01.560 --> 0:37:03.600 And the writer of the Vanity Fair article, by the 0:37:03.600 --> 0:37:07.400 way said, um, this this is so incomprehensible. The specialist 0:37:07.640 --> 0:37:10.080 George Lucas didn't even have the schwartz with him at 0:37:10.080 --> 0:37:17.280 the time. So anyway, our Carny's distracting this uh Imperial leader. Um, 0:37:17.440 --> 0:37:22.240 while they're ransacking the Wookie's house, Chewbacca's house with a hologram, 0:37:22.280 --> 0:37:25.520 and this hologram instead of being an acrobat or Diane 0:37:25.600 --> 0:37:27.879 Carroll or any kind of porn or anything, like that 0:37:28.560 --> 0:37:33.880 is Jefferson Starship and they decide that they're going to 0:37:33.920 --> 0:37:37.280 play Light the Sky on Fire, which apparently is about UFOs. 0:37:37.400 --> 0:37:40.399 It's a little music video. Basically, it's a pretty Yeah, 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:43.439 it's the predecessor to like video kill the Radio Storry 0:37:43.480 --> 0:37:47.280 you can tell um. And again it is the whole 0:37:48.000 --> 0:37:52.320 lengthy song, the whole thing. So every time that somebody's 0:37:52.400 --> 0:37:56.120 like we need to escape mentally from what's going on 0:37:56.239 --> 0:37:59.200 here in our house, let's go into the video world. 0:37:59.800 --> 0:38:02.720 It not just and they don't cut back and forth. 0:38:03.440 --> 0:38:08.080 It's okay, here's five minutes of Jefferson Starship performing this song. 0:38:08.640 --> 0:38:11.680 And even the Jefferson Starship guys um were like, yeah, 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:13.959 it's sort of a weird trip, like we didn't get it, 0:38:14.400 --> 0:38:17.239 but we did it right. They gave us some money 0:38:17.440 --> 0:38:22.319 and some cocaine. Well probably, so we said, yeah, chuck. 0:38:22.360 --> 0:38:25.759 I think though, um, there yet another segment like this 0:38:26.320 --> 0:38:29.880 is actually widely regarded as the high point of the 0:38:29.880 --> 0:38:33.440 whole thing. So there is a cartoon actually yeah that 0:38:33.960 --> 0:38:38.080 Lump Lumpy watches. Yeah, Lumpy's like the Imperial Guard is 0:38:38.120 --> 0:38:41.960 still ransacking my house. I think I'll entertain myself by 0:38:42.000 --> 0:38:45.200 watching a cartoon on my little Um, I don't know what. 0:38:45.560 --> 0:38:49.040 I guess it was an iPad and uh, he watches 0:38:49.080 --> 0:38:52.479 this cartoon and it's it's actually remarkable for a number 0:38:52.480 --> 0:38:54.680 of reasons. It's the best part of the whole special 0:38:55.239 --> 0:38:59.440 generally agreed upon as such, not just us. And it 0:38:59.480 --> 0:39:01.920 introduces Boba Fett. It's the first time Boba Fett ever 0:39:01.960 --> 0:39:04.319 makes an appearance in the Star Wars universe. Yeah, it's 0:39:04.320 --> 0:39:06.400 actually not a bad And you can't find it in 0:39:06.440 --> 0:39:09.040 the the one version I told you to watch. They 0:39:09.120 --> 0:39:12.160 removed it for copyright. But he didn't watch a separate version, right, 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:14.640 you can find it on its own. Yeah, and it's Um, 0:39:14.680 --> 0:39:17.200 it's very much reminiscent of like the cartoon style of 0:39:17.239 --> 0:39:20.040 the day, like a he Man or something even even 0:39:20.480 --> 0:39:23.840 it's even a little more artsy than that. Yeah. But 0:39:23.920 --> 0:39:26.160 it does have a plot that you can follow that 0:39:26.320 --> 0:39:29.680 makes sense as a Star Wars thing, and it introduces 0:39:29.719 --> 0:39:32.560 Boba Fette, like you said, And um, it's actually not bad. 0:39:32.760 --> 0:39:35.680 It's like Luke and R two and C three p O. Yeah, 0:39:35.760 --> 0:39:37.960 and they're like they crash on a planet or something. Yeah, 0:39:37.960 --> 0:39:39.320 and Han and Jewry you're in it, and it's the 0:39:39.360 --> 0:39:41.480 first time we see in Darth Vader, it's the first 0:39:41.480 --> 0:39:46.000 time we see Boba Fette and that he is, uh, 0:39:46.080 --> 0:39:48.480 that he is just doing whatever he can do for money. 0:39:48.880 --> 0:39:50.960 Like Luke trusts him at first, C three bos like 0:39:50.960 --> 0:39:52.960 you sure you should trust him this quick and he's like, 0:39:52.960 --> 0:39:55.840 oh three p o you and your non trusting ways. 0:39:56.239 --> 0:39:57.920 And then it turns out he's selling them out to 0:39:57.960 --> 0:40:01.160 the dark side. So it's it's basically Boba Fette is 0:40:01.160 --> 0:40:06.880 an allegory for George Lucas himself. Um, so the cartoon 0:40:06.960 --> 0:40:08.759 comes and goes, and that was the thing that came 0:40:08.800 --> 0:40:11.759 at about the end of the first hour mark, and 0:40:11.800 --> 0:40:16.480 after that everybody just turned off their television sets. Yeah, 0:40:16.600 --> 0:40:19.600 I don't remember. Did you watch this when it came U? Yeah, 0:40:19.640 --> 0:40:22.440 I remember watching it, but I don't remember much about it, 0:40:22.480 --> 0:40:24.399 like if I made it through it all. I mean 0:40:24.440 --> 0:40:26.440 it was I was seven and it was on until ten, 0:40:26.520 --> 0:40:28.759 so I probably didn't make it through it all. Um, 0:40:29.160 --> 0:40:33.160 you're probably disturbed. Who knows, I just remember that. I'll 0:40:33.160 --> 0:40:34.840 have to ask my brother. He might have a memory 0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:37.719 of this. Oh, Betty does I'm sure he met everybody 0:40:37.719 --> 0:40:39.960 afterwards or something like that. You know, it has a picture. 0:40:40.160 --> 0:40:42.399 Well he was tin at that point. So cynicism had, 0:40:42.600 --> 0:40:45.759 you know, become a thing in his life probably by then, 0:40:46.160 --> 0:40:49.280 sure didn't that one? Cynicism kicks into n Hes Scott 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:52.800 holding out the fourteen fift Yeah maybe so so um chuck, 0:40:53.840 --> 0:40:55.960 the whole thing finally does in. And actually there's a 0:40:56.000 --> 0:40:59.160 guy his name Nathan RayBan, he writes over at the 0:40:59.200 --> 0:41:01.280 A V Club. He had a great quote. He basically 0:41:01.320 --> 0:41:04.200 said that one of the great redeeming values of this 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.319 um the special is that it does eventually end. Yeah, 0:41:07.360 --> 0:41:08.640 you know what the first part of the quote is, 0:41:09.800 --> 0:41:12.520 I'm not convinced the special wasn't ultimately written and directed 0:41:12.560 --> 0:41:16.640 by a sentient bag of cocaine. And like, go read 0:41:16.719 --> 0:41:19.479 his his review of the Star Wars Holiday Special, because 0:41:19.680 --> 0:41:22.399 he goes on to describe exactly what that must have been, 0:41:22.440 --> 0:41:25.000 like the development meeting where the bag of cocaine is 0:41:25.000 --> 0:41:28.440 pacing back and forth talking about what should happen. That's 0:41:28.480 --> 0:41:31.080 what it feels like. But it doesn't and it ends 0:41:32.960 --> 0:41:36.200 even more. It takes this bizarre two hours and wraps 0:41:36.239 --> 0:41:38.839 it up in just a nice bizarre bow. Yeah, so 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:45.000 what happens is eventually Han Solo should we say spoiler alert. Eventually, 0:41:45.000 --> 0:41:46.920 Han Solo and Chewy make it to the planet. They 0:41:46.920 --> 0:41:49.560 park on the far side of the planet because they 0:41:49.600 --> 0:41:52.719 know the uh the Imperial forces are there and the 0:41:52.760 --> 0:41:56.080 exercise will do Chewy good, so they have to hike 0:41:56.080 --> 0:41:58.399 over there. They eventually make it back home. Uh they 0:41:58.400 --> 0:42:02.920 find a storm the stormtroopers at their house. Um, their 0:42:02.960 --> 0:42:07.520 tree hut. Yeah, which, by the paintings that set this up, 0:42:07.560 --> 0:42:10.200 I don't think we mentioned I don't even call him 0:42:10.200 --> 0:42:12.880 Matt paintings. It looks like someone painted something on the 0:42:12.920 --> 0:42:14.960 wall and they just like put a camera in front 0:42:14.960 --> 0:42:19.560 of it pretty much. Yeah. So they get back and um, Chewbacca, 0:42:19.960 --> 0:42:22.239 Han Solo hides around the corner of Chewbacca steps in 0:42:22.239 --> 0:42:25.560 front of his son to protect him. Han Solo jumps out, 0:42:26.360 --> 0:42:31.279 and the stormtrooper trips over a pile of logs and 0:42:31.360 --> 0:42:34.400 falls over the balcony and dies in a holiday special. 0:42:34.400 --> 0:42:36.560 So they wouldn't even not only could he not shoot 0:42:36.560 --> 0:42:41.279 first with Grido, but they couldn't even have him like 0:42:41.360 --> 0:42:43.960 wrestle the storm trooper and throw him off. He trips 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:47.839 over a log and Han Solo has his hands thrown 0:42:47.920 --> 0:42:49.680 up like wasn't me It might as well have been 0:42:49.719 --> 0:42:54.160 a banana peel, you know. But again, uh, this is 0:42:54.600 --> 0:42:59.000 basically produced by vaudevillians starring vague villians. Why not have 0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:01.880 the one death take ace from basically what amounts to 0:43:02.000 --> 0:43:05.600 somebody slipping on a banana feel it's a perfect way 0:43:05.600 --> 0:43:08.840 to end it. So that's uh that that guy basically 0:43:08.880 --> 0:43:11.560 represents the end of the imperial threat for the rest 0:43:11.600 --> 0:43:15.960 of Life Day. And um, we we then see Life 0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:20.040 Day being celebrated, which is celebrated by lots of wookies 0:43:20.080 --> 0:43:25.720 assembling in what looks like a giant Olan Mills portrait. Um, 0:43:25.920 --> 0:43:31.200 and all of them are wearing red robes. And I 0:43:31.200 --> 0:43:33.560 know I'm up talking, and it's because my mind is 0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:37.600 still having trouble like wrapping around this. And then um, 0:43:37.800 --> 0:43:41.680 Princess Leia comes out with C three P O is 0:43:41.719 --> 0:43:44.160 Mark Hamill there, the whole gang zerof Okay, the whole 0:43:44.200 --> 0:43:46.799 gang there, And then they all gather around to hear 0:43:47.280 --> 0:43:50.840 a great quote from Princess Leia, which we will read 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:56.240 um verbatim. This holiday is yours, but we all share 0:43:56.280 --> 0:43:58.720 with you the hope that this day brings us closer 0:43:58.719 --> 0:44:02.320 to freedom, into harmony, and to peace, no matter how different, 0:44:02.360 --> 0:44:05.040 we appear we're all the same in our struggle against 0:44:05.080 --> 0:44:07.520 the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this 0:44:07.600 --> 0:44:10.120 day will always be a day of joy in which 0:44:10.160 --> 0:44:13.680 we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage, and more 0:44:13.719 --> 0:44:16.600 than anything else, our love for one another. This is 0:44:16.640 --> 0:44:19.960 the promise of the Tree of Life que song, right, 0:44:20.200 --> 0:44:22.560 And we should also point out the tree of Life 0:44:22.560 --> 0:44:26.000 has never been mentioned up to this point. A sudden 0:44:26.040 --> 0:44:28.560 appearance at the end. And when you said que song, 0:44:28.840 --> 0:44:33.080 by que Song, you mean Princess Leiah starts singing. Yeah. 0:44:33.120 --> 0:44:36.400 And apparently that was one of the big contingencies on 0:44:36.520 --> 0:44:39.520 Carrie Fisher being involved. She's going through a phase where 0:44:39.520 --> 0:44:41.680 she's like, I kind of like singing. Bruce Valanche calls 0:44:41.680 --> 0:44:44.840 it her Joni Mitchell period. Yeah, and she somehow convinced 0:44:44.880 --> 0:44:48.320 them to let her sing as Princess Leiah, and she does. 0:44:48.560 --> 0:44:52.040 And again I've said that she looks like she's on drugs. 0:44:52.120 --> 0:44:53.920 This is the point where she really does look like 0:44:53.960 --> 0:44:56.479 she's on drugs. And it's not just me um other 0:44:56.600 --> 0:45:00.760 writers who have written reviews of this. It's really obvious 0:45:01.000 --> 0:45:05.240 that she possibly smoked a decent amount of pot before 0:45:05.480 --> 0:45:10.000 she shot this. Shot this scene, but she sings, Oh, okay, 0:45:10.040 --> 0:45:14.239 it's fine. It's just the fact that um, Princess Leigh 0:45:14.280 --> 0:45:16.959 is singing. And actually, Bruce Valanche had a really great 0:45:17.040 --> 0:45:20.440 quote too. He says that, um, she very much wanted 0:45:20.480 --> 0:45:22.640 to show this side of her talent, and there was 0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:25.520 general dismay because this was not what we wanted Princess 0:45:25.560 --> 0:45:28.920 Leia to be doing. She did it anyway. So the 0:45:29.000 --> 0:45:32.120 whole thing ends with her singing this song about life day, 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:39.399 which is set loosely to the John Williams Star Wars theme. Uh. 0:45:39.440 --> 0:45:42.319 So along the way, the director original director quit, A 0:45:42.320 --> 0:45:45.000 new director, Steve Binder, was hired to finish the job 0:45:45.040 --> 0:45:48.040 and bring it in. Uh. And he did over the 0:45:48.040 --> 0:45:51.840 original one million dollar budget, of course. Always Uh, he 0:45:51.880 --> 0:45:55.200 did bring it in and um at this point George 0:45:55.280 --> 0:45:59.000 Lucas had uh. He was he was working on Empire 0:45:59.000 --> 0:46:01.200 Strikes Back. He didn't know what was going on. He 0:46:01.239 --> 0:46:03.840 wasn't around for the shoot. No, it wasn't until it aired. 0:46:03.880 --> 0:46:06.200 I think that he actually saw it. Yes, and it 0:46:06.280 --> 0:46:09.960 was a travesty obviously, if you haven't noticed that by now, 0:46:10.880 --> 0:46:14.600 Critics hated it. Star Wars fans really hated it. Everybody 0:46:14.600 --> 0:46:16.920 hate the people who were in it hated it. Lucas 0:46:16.960 --> 0:46:19.719 hated it. Um, you've been Harvey Corman secretly hated it. 0:46:20.000 --> 0:46:24.920 Even Harvey Kitel hated Actually he loved it. But Lucas 0:46:24.920 --> 0:46:27.200 has been asked over the years about it a lot, 0:46:27.280 --> 0:46:29.680 and he doesn't talk about it much. But in two 0:46:29.760 --> 0:46:31.960 thousand five, and I don't buy this for a second, 0:46:32.640 --> 0:46:35.600 he says, Um, it was an interview, he said special 0:46:35.600 --> 0:46:39.160 from I really didn't have much to do with us. 0:46:39.160 --> 0:46:41.520 You know that part is true. I can't remember what 0:46:41.600 --> 0:46:44.000 network it was even on, but it was a thing 0:46:44.000 --> 0:46:46.400 that they did. That's a lie. There's no way he 0:46:46.400 --> 0:46:49.440 doesn't know that was CBS. Uh. We kind of just 0:46:49.520 --> 0:46:52.000 let them do it. I believe that it was done 0:46:52.000 --> 0:46:54.080 by I can't even remember who the group was, but 0:46:54.120 --> 0:46:57.000 they were variety TV guys. I'm sure he remembers a 0:46:57.000 --> 0:46:59.839 few of them. We let them use the characters and stuff, 0:46:59.880 --> 0:47:02.000 and probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but you 0:47:02.080 --> 0:47:05.719 learned from those experiences. I think they even use some 0:47:05.760 --> 0:47:09.480 of the footage from the movie. At the end, it 0:47:09.520 --> 0:47:11.560 looks like some of the space like a highlight reel. 0:47:12.600 --> 0:47:15.960 The gang well, and during the um it looked like 0:47:16.040 --> 0:47:18.279 some of the they had some insert shots of like 0:47:18.600 --> 0:47:23.040 Imperial cruisers and Thai fighters and stuff that. Remember when 0:47:23.360 --> 0:47:26.200 when Chewbacca like leans back and puts his hands behind it, 0:47:26.880 --> 0:47:28.759 that's in there. It's it's like a it's just a 0:47:28.840 --> 0:47:31.399 highlight reel from the movie saying like I feel like this, 0:47:31.640 --> 0:47:34.120 go see the movie. Well, and also that means it 0:47:34.160 --> 0:47:36.319 doesn't match the look of the rest of it at all. Yeah, 0:47:36.360 --> 0:47:39.040 that's true. It's just sort of inserted. They tried, They 0:47:39.120 --> 0:47:42.440 definitely tried, UM, And George Lucas is totally full of 0:47:42.480 --> 0:47:46.080 it because in seven he told star Log magazine that 0:47:46.160 --> 0:47:49.479 the Christmas Special would be out on video cassette very soon, 0:47:50.360 --> 0:47:53.000 and in two thousand seven, two years after that quote, 0:47:53.000 --> 0:47:54.360 you just read where he's like, I don't even know 0:47:54.400 --> 0:47:59.560 what you're talking about. Basically, Um. He apparently considered releasing 0:47:59.560 --> 0:48:02.520 the christ Special is a bonus on the UM the 0:48:02.640 --> 0:48:07.200 DVDs of the first three right, but did not didn't 0:48:07.320 --> 0:48:09.919 And apparently Carrie Fisher told Lucas that if you want 0:48:09.920 --> 0:48:14.160 me to do UM DVD extras commentary commentary, then I 0:48:14.200 --> 0:48:18.319 want a clean, original copy of the Holiday Special, So 0:48:18.400 --> 0:48:21.640 why go ahead? So I can play at parties when 0:48:21.680 --> 0:48:25.400 I want people to leave. It's pretty great. It is 0:48:26.200 --> 0:48:29.040 so uh and there is one of those clean copies 0:48:29.120 --> 0:48:31.319 is floating around out there, so you can watch this 0:48:31.360 --> 0:48:34.920 in it in its entirety. Some of it, like the cartoon, 0:48:35.080 --> 0:48:38.040 was removed due to copyright infringement and that kind of stuff, 0:48:38.200 --> 0:48:41.040 but as as the case with the rest of the Internet, 0:48:41.080 --> 0:48:43.400 you can just go find it elsewhere and piece it together. 0:48:43.640 --> 0:48:48.799 There's also the original ads that aired in Baltimore that 0:48:48.840 --> 0:48:53.239 are just fascinating. Those are always fun GM ads where 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:56.280 one of the guys who's in quality control is he says, 0:48:56.600 --> 0:48:58.480 did you watch it? I don't think I saw that. 0:48:58.600 --> 0:49:01.040 He goes, um, we really care about these cars and 0:49:01.040 --> 0:49:04.680 that's no job man, a GM man, and he's like 0:49:05.719 --> 0:49:08.600 they're trying to be hip. Yeah. Um, it's a pretty 0:49:08.600 --> 0:49:13.440 good stuff. Here's my final thought on it. I love it. 0:49:13.920 --> 0:49:16.319 It does not taint my Star Wars experience or my 0:49:16.360 --> 0:49:19.479 love for the franchise, and I'm glad it is out 0:49:19.480 --> 0:49:23.440 there because it it's a it's a fun little stain 0:49:24.600 --> 0:49:29.000 that shouldn't be taken too seriously. I think it adds 0:49:29.040 --> 0:49:32.719 to it actually, because it's campy and awful and I 0:49:32.719 --> 0:49:36.000 don't know somehow that enriches the rest of it. I'm 0:49:36.040 --> 0:49:38.600 with you, you like it? Oh yeah, I mean I 0:49:38.680 --> 0:49:40.440 watched it twice. I wouldn't watched it a second I 0:49:40.440 --> 0:49:43.000 wouldn't have made it through the first time. I let 0:49:43.000 --> 0:49:45.320 me take that back, as I'm a pro, so I 0:49:45.320 --> 0:49:46.920 would have made it through the first time. I wouldn't 0:49:46.960 --> 0:49:48.879 have watched it a second time if I wasn't. There 0:49:48.920 --> 0:49:51.000 wasn't something about it, and I figured out. I think 0:49:51.000 --> 0:49:53.320 the thing that I like the most about it is Lumpy, 0:49:53.680 --> 0:49:58.359 Chewbacca's son, played by an actress named Patty Maloney, who 0:49:58.400 --> 0:50:02.399 frankly is hands down the best actor in the entire thing. 0:50:02.960 --> 0:50:07.080 She like her responses and everything is just awesome. I 0:50:07.120 --> 0:50:10.640 think my favorite parts are, uh, well, there's a great 0:50:10.680 --> 0:50:14.960 Wilhelm scream trips over the law. Jerry would not have 0:50:15.080 --> 0:50:19.080 noticed it. Uh And then there's a part where all 0:50:19.120 --> 0:50:21.759 the wikie dialogue you can't understand, but there's clearly one 0:50:21.840 --> 0:50:25.320 part where we're Itchy and Lumpy. Are have any exchange 0:50:25.760 --> 0:50:30.439 where Lumpy you can make it out goes I love you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:50:30.560 --> 0:50:33.560 I noticed that, but it's covered up. But someone was like, 0:50:33.640 --> 0:50:35.680 we have to have at least one exchange where you 0:50:35.719 --> 0:50:38.319 sort of know what they're saying, or they were like, 0:50:38.360 --> 0:50:40.120 I think she said I love you. Should we have 0:50:40.200 --> 0:50:43.120 them redo it? And the directors like, no, I want 0:50:43.160 --> 0:50:45.239 to go and Chuck. There's one other thing that I 0:50:45.280 --> 0:50:49.000 figured out from watching this. It's not readily apparent. The 0:50:49.120 --> 0:50:51.839 whole thing is made all the more odd, and that 0:50:51.840 --> 0:50:56.960 there's situation after situation after situation where we, as normal audiences, 0:50:57.000 --> 0:51:00.040 were trained to expect the laugh track, but there's not 0:51:00.239 --> 0:51:03.680 a laugh track. Hadn't been a laugh track, it what 0:51:04.000 --> 0:51:08.560 it might have been less bizarre, but the fact that 0:51:08.600 --> 0:51:11.960 it's missing just makes your agitates the mind. So it's 0:51:12.000 --> 0:51:14.600 this whole additional element that it is weird. I never 0:51:14.640 --> 0:51:16.880 thought about that. There's just weird moments of silence all 0:51:16.880 --> 0:51:19.560 throughout it. Ye, like when Art Carney's doing his thing, Yeah, 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:23.680 telling jokes, Yeah, okay, I agree with you, Chuck. Don't 0:51:23.680 --> 0:51:25.960 take things too seriously. I think that's the great lesson 0:51:26.000 --> 0:51:28.080 in this. Yeah, and then it's the lesson of life. 0:51:28.640 --> 0:51:32.160 It is. And in two thousand seven, Riff tracks The 0:51:32.280 --> 0:51:35.880 Great Mystery Science Theater three thousand Guys Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, 0:51:35.880 --> 0:51:40.080 and Kevin Murphy uh provided audio commentary for the full 0:51:40.160 --> 0:51:43.319 version of the special, So try and go grab that 0:51:43.360 --> 0:51:44.759 if you can as well. So you can. It's on 0:51:44.800 --> 0:51:46.440 the site because it's great. I think it's like eight 0:51:46.480 --> 0:51:49.040 bucks and those guys are awesome and they are at 0:51:49.120 --> 0:51:53.520 least I think Corbett listens to us. So, hey, Corbett, 0:51:55.520 --> 0:51:59.600 you got anything else? No, No, I think we did this. 0:52:00.239 --> 0:52:02.640 There's some good stuff. Go read the Vanity Fair article. 0:52:02.880 --> 0:52:05.960 Uh Han Solo Comedy Hour. There's a book called How 0:52:06.040 --> 0:52:08.360 Star Wars Conquered the Universe that has a very interesting 0:52:08.400 --> 0:52:10.600 chapter about this. That's where we found it asserted that 0:52:10.680 --> 0:52:13.000 George Lucas never said that he would smash this thing 0:52:13.000 --> 0:52:16.280 with a sledge hammer. Um. And there's also an entire 0:52:16.320 --> 0:52:19.960 website dedicated to its Star Wars Holiday Special dot com. Yeah, 0:52:20.040 --> 0:52:22.359 and if you want to know more about the Star 0:52:22.360 --> 0:52:25.319 Wars Holiday Special, we have a ton of heart Star 0:52:25.360 --> 0:52:27.520 Wars stuff on how stuff works by the way. Yeah, 0:52:27.520 --> 0:52:29.960 we have cool, um sort of fun articles about the 0:52:30.000 --> 0:52:33.200 Death Star and Lightsabers videos with the Holly Fry from 0:52:33.320 --> 0:52:36.120 stuff you missed in history class. Yeah, who she knows 0:52:36.120 --> 0:52:39.000 her stuff, she does. Um. So you can just type 0:52:39.080 --> 0:52:41.080 star Wars in the search bar. How stuff work, Stop 0:52:41.080 --> 0:52:42.960 com and it will bring up some cool stuff for you. 0:52:43.239 --> 0:52:45.480 Since I said search bar, its time for listener mail. 0:52:48.080 --> 0:52:51.040 Hey guys, just finished listening to the Voyage Manuscript podcast. 0:52:51.120 --> 0:52:54.280 Found it's super interesting, especially the theories on its definition 0:52:54.360 --> 0:52:57.239 or origin. No Josh Minchin Chuck sire, but being drug 0:52:57.239 --> 0:53:01.040 induced is somewhat surprising or even unlikely given language in 0:53:01.080 --> 0:53:04.839 the manuscript follows linguistic laws only founded in the past 0:53:04.880 --> 0:53:07.760 one years. But if you think about it, it's a tough. 0:53:07.960 --> 0:53:11.960 It's tough to stray away from familiar structures, especially for 0:53:12.000 --> 0:53:14.080 something like language. I think back to when I was 0:53:14.120 --> 0:53:16.960 younger and friends invented their own languages, or even in 0:53:17.040 --> 0:53:20.160 writing a song or poetry. Creativity can sometimes be limited 0:53:20.440 --> 0:53:22.640 by what we know. Uh. So I just thought i'd 0:53:22.680 --> 0:53:25.680 contribute that to the conversation. Thanks big, thanks for all 0:53:25.719 --> 0:53:27.560 you guys do. I found the podcast after moving to 0:53:27.600 --> 0:53:30.480 San Diego in the last few years for some noise 0:53:31.280 --> 0:53:35.240 around my apartment, so basically we were blocking out noise 0:53:36.239 --> 0:53:38.520 we do that, which I love, uh and then as 0:53:38.520 --> 0:53:40.279 a way to get through traffic on my commutet home 0:53:40.280 --> 0:53:42.600 from work. You guys are far more interesting and enjoyable 0:53:42.640 --> 0:53:45.640 than television and YouTube videos. Sure, I've listened to hundreds 0:53:45.640 --> 0:53:48.000 and will continue to listen to hundreds more. Keep on 0:53:48.200 --> 0:53:51.640 keeping on. That is from Amy J. Moffett. Thanks a lot, 0:53:51.719 --> 0:53:54.600 Amy in San Diego. Does that mean like place of 0:53:54.600 --> 0:53:59.759 the whales in German or something like that? Uh? Yeah. 0:54:00.640 --> 0:54:01.960 If you want to get in touch with this, you 0:54:02.000 --> 0:54:04.040 can tweet to us at s y s K podcast. 0:54:04.120 --> 0:54:06.200 You can join us on Facebook dot com slash Stuff 0:54:06.200 --> 0:54:07.960 you Should Know. You can send us an email The 0:54:07.960 --> 0:54:10.279 Stuff podcast at how Stuff Works dot com and has 0:54:10.320 --> 0:54:12.520 always joined us at a home on the web Stuff 0:54:12.520 --> 0:54:17.320 you Should Know dot com. Stuff you Should Know is 0:54:17.320 --> 0:54:19.960 a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 0:54:20.000 --> 0:54:22.439 podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 0:54:22.520 --> 0:54:25.160 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.