WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: The Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:05.360 Happy belated life day everyone. It's me Josh uh, and 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.360 I chose for this week's s Y s K selects 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:12.440 the Star Wars Holiday Special episode. It's true this just 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.079 came out two years back, but in my opinion, listening 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:21.080 to this episode should probably become a worldwide annual holiday tradition. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:23.919 So we missed last year, we can just go ahead 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:26.520 and consider this year one of that tradition. I hope 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.440 you enjoy it, and Merry Christmas and happy holidays however 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:40.120 you celebrate them. Welcome to Stuff you should know from 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:48.960 how Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:53.680 I'm Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuckers Bryant and Jerry 0:00:53.760 --> 0:01:01.080 Jerome Roland. Uh. Who's the Wookie mother? Yeah? Mala? That 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.479 was the Wookie wife. Oh and mother? Yeah sure, Chewbacca's 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.920 momb is not with them any longer. She left. She 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.000 was not about to appear in that. She went out 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.360 the window. I'm excited about this. I have to say 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.760 we should say Happy Star Wars Day. Yeah. Today is 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:24.720 um December. Um, I have my opening night tickets? Do 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:31.360 you really sure? Wow? You know I into it? Oh? Yeah, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:33.360 well I will definitely go see it in the theater, 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.440 But um, why won't be the opening night? Sure, I've 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.160 gotten really adept at like ignoring spoilers, people talking about 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.479 stuff all like, so I can I could conceivably see 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.160 this movie a month after it comes out and still 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:53.000 going fresh. I'm an ostrich. Yeah you black yourself out, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:57.800 Yeah you go dark. I make myself go to sleep face, 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.040 you go to the dark side. Been there a while now? 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.520 Uh Well, Happy Star Wars Day though, I'm sure that 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.880 I think this pairs nicely with Christmas Star Wars Day. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.400 It's all come together. Yes, Um, we already missed Life 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.919 Day though, so happy belated Life Day. Are they celebrating 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.239 it this year? Novemb Yeah, but it's every three years. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:24.240 Mm hmm, our cane man job. Okay, so it's every 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.959 three years, started in nineteen seventy eight. Let's do the math, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:33.520 shall we? Mm hmmm, quick math break. I believe that 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.320 two thousand fourteen was the last Life Day, man, we 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.320 just missed, and then again in seventeen. Okay, soeen we'll 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.600 celebrate Life Day. Will put on our red robes, are ultralong, 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.400 straight ironed wigs, and we'll celebrate Life Day the way 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.520 it was meant to. Yes, And if you have no 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.200 idea what we're talking about. We are talking about Life Day, 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.480 which is a celebration, uh that Wookies in the Star 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.920 Wars Union first have every three years. Yeah, it's like 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:07.799 their Christmas or the Kanza, their tet. Supposedly, it's sort 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:09.960 of like Earth. They too. They celebrate the diversity of 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.000 their ecosystem and also remembrance of the dead, and they 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.919 also give the gifts there like the Fins. Basically, Yeah, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.720 it's a it's a very interesting part of the Star 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.120 Wars canon. It is, and it's almost entirely made up, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.120 dashed off you could possibly say, by um, George Lucas 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.480 in the seventies. Um. And it's the basis of what 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.440 is become derided as like one of the worst things 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.040 that ever happened to the Star Wars galaxy. Well, not 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.640 only that, one of the worst things ever aired on television. Yeah, 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:47.320 with this galaxy. Yeah, at first that sounds like hyperbole, like, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.760 come on, it's because it was Star Wars, we had 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.960 high expectations, but it's really that bad. Yeah. The people 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.480 who say that haven't seen even a second of it. Yeah. Yeah, However, 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.839 I watched it uh, when I was a kid. Then 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.800 it again this week, and you watched it twice this week. Yeah, 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.480 I watched it last night and this morning. There's something 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.480 about it. It's mesmerizing, it really is. It's one of 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.080 those things that you start watching it and you want 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.520 to turn it off, but you want to see just 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.320 how absurd it can get. Almost Yeah, and it starts absurd, 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.040 it stays absurd. In the middle, it's increasingly more absurd, 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.159 it's a little less absurd, finishes super absurd. Yeah, it's 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.040 just a train wreck in every single sense of the word. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.400 Talk to bottom. It's extraordinarily difficult to overstate how bad 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.440 this is, and some people have, you know, in researching this, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.240 you read about it, you read descriptions of these things, 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.120 and it just can't possibly be gotten across until you 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.720 see it. So luckily, as we will see, you can 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.640 go onto YouTube and watch it, and you may even 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.159 enjoy this episode more if you pause, go spend two 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.000 hours watching this thing, and then come back and laugh 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.520 along with us. Yeah, there's a great Over the years, 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.400 there have been many segments of it on YouTube from 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.960 badly VHS tapes, but there's one really pretty good version 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.159 of it in full UM brought to you by w 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.479 h I O Dayton, Ohio, Channel seven. Because that flashes 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:20.040 up on the screen periodically. Man, it is high quality, 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.120 it looks good, and it has to basically be the 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:27.239 copy that the actual UM affiliate broadcast. It's like that, 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.320 that quality compared to the other stuff floating around on YouTube, 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:34.920 clearly recorded on a pc R, which we're really expensive, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.680 very expensive. I did some calculating on west Egg okay UM, 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.479 so the average VCR went for about a thousand dollars. 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.920 There were brand new it's amazing thousand dollars in money, 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:46.960 so they were about thirty eight hundred dollars in two 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.839 thousand fourteen money. Luckily, there were some rich people out 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.240 there recording this stuff, and the wealthy have saved us 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:58.880 all again yet again, as they always do. Uh. We 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.080 need to shout out some art goals that we used 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.040 for this. There's great a great article in Vanity Fair 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:09.240 called the Han Solo Comedy Our exclamation Point by Frank D. Jacomo. 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.720 And then there's the Star Wars Holiday special was the 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.760 worst thing on television ever by So when we kind 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.240 of know Alex Pasternack uh from Motherboard, Yeah, which is uh, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.120 not wired. It's uh vice. We wrote a little bit 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.320 for Motherboard back then and we had a call with that, 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:30.520 like we're like old motherboard vets basically, and when they're 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.039 one more, there was another one and I don't know 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.159 who wrote this one chuck. Uh, yeah, it's the titles 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.160 the Star Wars Holiday Special. George Lucas wants to smash 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.840 every copy of with a sledgehammer, which was a famous quote, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.760 uh supposedly at a convention by Lucas, Yes, which is 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.640 not correct. He didn't ever say that. No, okay, that 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.240 that sounded like something that people made up. Yes, but 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.000 if you go on the internet, you will quickly believe 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.120 that he did. Apparently didn't, so that's I'm sure he 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.159 felt that way though, clearly, because he did appear on 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.360 Robot Chicken and I think two thousand five on the 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.400 Therapist Couch talking about how much he hated the special. Alright, 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.240 so let's set the background, shall we Shall we go 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.640 back to summer getting the old way back machine. All right, 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:24.239 let's do it. All right, here we are, there's Waterson. Yeah, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.160 I'm just a little six year old excited about Star Wars. 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.840 I am. I've just turned one. Yes, you don't know 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.280 what's up yet. I please forgive me if I urinate myself, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.160 no problem, okay. Uh So what has happened is Star 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:42.360 Wars has become a huge, huge hit, seemingly out of nowhere, 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.440 establishing George Lucas is one of the brilliant young minds 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.440 and filmmaking, even though when this first movie it was 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.560 his first huge, huge breakout hit. Oh yeah, for sure, 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.240 talk don't even talk about a breakout hit, Like no 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.160 one had ever seen anything like it before two thousand 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.280 one had come out in the late sixty but it wasn't. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.520 It's still it still isn't accessible to all audiences. You know, 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.800 it's kind of cerebral film. Yeah, it's not an adventure movie. 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.200 This was This is like basically swashbuckling on the screen. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.760 But you know, in a galaxy far far away, Star 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.720 Wars just changed everything and it came on just like 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:22.080 a hammer. Um, there's a new hope by the way, yes, 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.400 and then then we're gonna get stuff wrong, nerds, So yes, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.640 just go ahead and get your little fingers ready to 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.240 email us. Like if it wasn't driven home that I'm 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.120 not a nerd by the fact that I don't have 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.640 opening night tickets or any tickets yet, give me a break, 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.520 and by proxy chuck to okay, thank you. So um, 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.680 it's it's hard to stay how great Star Wars was 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.760 in everyone's mind, right. Bill Murray came out with that 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.719 lounge singer Star Wars thing. It was everywhere and if 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.239 you if you just listen to the lyrics of it, 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.840 it's really it's just Bill Murray singing about how much 0:08:55.120 --> 0:09:01.320 Star Wars is awesome. Right. So, by the following year, Um, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.000 George Lucas was he wanted to figure out a way 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.120 to keep audiences just engaged with the whole Star Wars 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.560 franchise that he was just starting to build. But he 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.160 knew the Empire Strikes Back was a couple more years out, sure, 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.640 so um he I think he was approached by some 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.199 TV executives who said, have you considered doing some sort 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.760 of TV special? They're all the rage right now. We 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.000 have a we have a graphic that's really awesome that 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.040 we set aside just for TV specials here at CBS. 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.240 Why don't you let us let's get together and do 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.320 a Star Wars special. That's right. Producers Gary Smith and 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.800 Dwight him on. Uh, we're working over at CBS, and 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:43.880 they said, this is a great way to keep the 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.959 spirit alive while you're making your other movie. Maybe move 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:52.440 some more toys. Yeah, which George Lucas got. So it 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.719 was right before Thanksgiving, and he said, there'll be a 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.400 lot of people watching TV um pre holiday season or 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.280 I guess in the holiday season. Well, the weekend before Thanksgiving, 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.840 it's like everybody's shopping, sitting around family like waiting to 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:08.160 actually do stuff. That's right, perfect time to broadcast something 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.079 on TV. So Lucas says, all right, let's do this. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.839 I don't have a ton of time, but how about this. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.360 I'll get I'll get a story together and then you 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.400 can go hire a whiz bang team of of veteran 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:24.679 writers and producers and directors whatever genre you think is appropriate. 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.120 And those are the words that will haunt you, George 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:31.720 Lucas to his grave. Yeah. So Lucas said, here's my idea. 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.280 I wanted to be based um on Wookiees, and I 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.680 wanted to take place on their home planet of Kazook 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.960 or Wookie planet. See is that how you saying Kazuk 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.040 That's how it's pronounced. In the episode, the Holiday special. 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.480 But it's also pronounced different ways. Other times I would 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.599 have pronounced that cashy e e got spell it k 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:58.360 a s h y y y k, which I mean, 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.200 I guess that sounds like Chewbuck is plan sure also 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.360 called G five Wookie planet see or Eaton is a 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.760 mid rim planet. Right. So the whole reason apparently that 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.120 George Lucas was interested in featuring the Wookies was it 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.680 is what we in show business call low hanging fruit. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.480 The reason why it was low hanging fruit was because 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.680 they had just established the different scenes that would make 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:27.040 the cut for Empire Strikes Back and uh, what how 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.240 did you pronounce it again? Kazook Kazook had not made 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.640 the cut. Uh. Even prior to this, apparently for a 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.120 new hope, George Lucas had whipped up a forty page 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.640 what's known as the Wookie Bible. It's like a forty 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:44.199 page supplement that's all about Kazook and Wookies and Chewbacca 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.440 and his family and everything about wookie um. Right, so 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.600 he's like, I've got this thing already, you know established 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.800 I love Wookies. Um, they didn't make the cut. I'm 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.160 a little sad about that. They're not gonna kazuok is 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.880 not gonna show up in an Empire strikes back. Let's 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.040 let's build the entire special around wookies. It's basically the 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.920 one demand me George Lucas has. Yeah, that's it. I'll 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.280 be totally hands off from this point on which he 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.800 kind of was. He totally wasn't It was actually this 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.360 experience that apparently taught him to be the very hands 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.560 on a person that he is famous for being. It 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.720 came out of this Christmas special. Absolutely he was burned, 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:26.080 and um he had an iron grip after that on everything. 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:30.199 So here's some some of the folks behind it. Bruce Valanche, 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.000 famous TV writer. You've probably seen him on Hollywood Squares. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.960 Wasn't he suspected of being Thomas pinch On for a while. 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.600 I don't know, or was Thomas pinch On on Hollywood Squares? 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.840 I have no idea. I may be confabulating some stuff confounding. Yeah, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.800 there's some kind of some sort going on. It sounds 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.760 like it. So Valanche was hired as a writer. A 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.720 guy named Lenny Rips was hired as a writer who 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.800 has some great quotes in that Vanity Fair article. He does. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.439 His first quote was, we were really excited because this 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.440 is Star Wars. How could it lose famous? Last words? 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.200 Who else was hired? There was a husband and wife team, 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:16.080 the welch Is, who are the parents of folk singer 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.160 Gillian Welch. I'm a big fan of and I had 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.760 no idea that her parents. They were producers slash songwriters 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.240 of the day. They were big on the variety show scene, 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.880 which would turn out to be a really key cog 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.200 in this whole experience. So I feel like, right about here, 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.880 Jerry should insert a needle coming off of a record 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:41.080 sound effect. Okay, thanks Jerry, So Chuck, you just said 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.120 singer songwriters. Yeah, what would that have to do with 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.760 Star Wars. Yeah? Well, actually, in this Star Wars Holiday special, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.840 for those of you hadn't seen it, there are musical numbers. 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.360 They decided from the outset that there should be musical numbers. 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.720 And the reason that they decided that there should be 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.000 musical numbers is because the people who sold George Lucas 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.680 and at the time it was started, the Star Wars 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.160 Corporation was what it was called um On the idea 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.480 of doing this TV special was that everyone would love 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.160 a variety show. Yeah, it was the seventies. Great idea, 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.240 let's do a variety show. The problem was this, Apparently 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.520 George Lucas didn't watch enough TV and he also overly 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:24.600 trusted people who talked to him because by yes, variety 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:29.800 shows had dominated television for over ten years, but it 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.920 had come to an end. It was getting stale. Yeah, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.360 we're talking to Carol Burnett show, one of my favorite 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.720 had just been canceled after eleven seasons. Sonny and Chair 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.240 had just had its last season. Um, I mean what 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.680 else like he Hall was he? I was still going on, 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.560 probably still on solid golden yet to come on and 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.160 take up the mantel that that would never write a show. Oh, 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.640 it was a little bit, and there was talking in 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.800 between the songs. Remember the Mandrell's Sister show. I never 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.560 watched that one. Well, it's with that country chic thing 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.240 that happened. Yeah, it was a big deal in the 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.440 it's kind of happening again. I think, Oh, because of 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.040 that dude, the guy who won all the c m 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:16.360 A Awards. I don't know, he's like he's he came along. 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.520 He's like actually country. His dad's like a coal miner 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.600 for real. From Kentucky. I think, I know you mean 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.720 Chris something. Yeah, he's come along and been like, what 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:27.760 are you guys doing? Well, there's a revival in like 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.440 good country music. Again, that's like in the tradition of 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.600 Merle Haggard and and I guess that's probably where the 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.520 country she came from because there was actually good country 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.520 going on. Yeah, Johnny Cash out a variety show, did 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.640 he really? Yeah? I knew they did, like a Sunday 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.600 singing thing like out in Virginia. Yeah, he had his 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.600 own variety show. Is actually pretty good. There's some like 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.400 really great performances. Do you know how many nerds are like, 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.200 get back to Star Wars? I know, I'm so sorry. 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.320 All right, So the Variety Show is is dying sort of, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.840 and so they figure, what a great time to take 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.480 the biggest movie property on the planet and wedge it 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.920 into the variety show milieu. I don't know if wedge 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.840 is the right word. I think maybe uh, nestle it 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.920 in there and then start hitting it with the blunt 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.760 edge of an axe until it mashes into that crevice. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.200 You know, Because this is the time when Fantasy Island 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.160 had just started. Um Mork and Mindy was about to 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:28.720 change things. Charlie's Angels was getting huge. It basically television 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:33.120 as we knew it from two whenever the real world 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.280 came along. Just escape as television is what they called 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.920 it was was starting and it was the hip new thing. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.920 So basically, if they had turned Han Solo and Princess 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.960 Leiah and Luke Skywalker into maybe you know, sexy detectives, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.000 it might have gone over even better. But they went 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.080 the other way. They decided to latch onto this extraordinarily 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:57.240 stale um genre of television and they hired the best 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.720 in the business, like there was there was. There was 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.920 a from I think Lenny RiPPs who was saying, like 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:07.320 we had literally a dream team, a variety show dream team, 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.480 and everybody was good, but there were probably no bad 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.879 welders on the Titanic eare That's a great quote. Yeah. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.840 The guy they hired to direct it initially was a 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.000 dude named David A. Coomba, and he had made his 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.760 name for Welcome to the Fillmore East. It was a 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.800 concert documentary with Van Morrison Van Morrison and the Birds 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.840 in nineteen seventy one, and he actually was at usc 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.399 Film School at the same time as Lucas, even though 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.840 they didn't know each other, and um, he only ended 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.359 up directing about three segments of the thing before he quit. 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.639 Yet before he walked off, some say he was actually 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.320 let go, but we'll get to him in a minute 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.200 and who replaced him. As as we get along down 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.480 this uh gross road, well let's let's take a little 0:17:49.480 --> 0:18:13.120 break because I'm I'm overly excited. Okay, alright, so we've 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.639 established most of the main players. We'll we'll get to 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.160 a few more. We should point out that, um, Mark 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.080 hamill And and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer, Peter Mayhew, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:29.120 they had no grounds to refuse to be on this basically, yeah, 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.080 pretty much. They were not huge, huge stars, yet they 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.080 could throw their weight around and say this is terrible 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.080 and I'm not doing it. They were. They were big 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.840 overnight because of Star Wars, for sure, but they weren't 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.400 to the adoring public back at the studio. They could 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.000 still be bossed around. And this is the result of it. 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.919 And you can tell also, um, just from watching the 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.960 actual special, Like Harrison Ford is not happy to be 0:18:54.000 --> 0:19:00.359 there at any point. Um, Princess Leiah is clearly on drugs. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.760 Uh was she on drugs at this point she if 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.119 you watch it, she's she's on drugs. Especially the ending scene. 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.440 Mark Hambell, it looks like he's happy to be there. 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.360 Actually he was fine, but apparently he said no, I'm 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.520 I'm not doing a musical number. And if you watch 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.280 his part, wedging a musical number in there would have 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:24.280 been even more painful. Um. But they everybody who was 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.320 part of the actual Star Wars franchise that wasn't wearing 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.240 like a full body costume was like, I really wish 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.760 I wasn't here, And you can tell, oh yeah. In fact, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:38.040 in the opening uh credit sequence, they're showing the picture 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.800 that you know, the faces of the people, and you 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.280 see Harrison Ford as if he's flying the Millennium Falcon, 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.160 and you can you can just hear the guy I'll 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.680 screen going now look at the camera and just give 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.920 a nod. Just look at the camera and give a nod. 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:52.080 And he finally you can tell he's piste off and 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:53.879 he looks up at the camera and just sort of 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.399 smirks yeah and points at the camera like okay, I'm 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.199 looking at the camera, and then goes back to what 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.440 he's doing. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I felt bad for him. 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.600 So early on Valanche and others did you did you 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.399 feel bad for him? Though? Really? I mean, like, come on, 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.520 it's Harrison Ford, it's Hans Solo. He has to go 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.560 do this for like five days. Yeah, I felt terrible 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:16.800 for him. I think it's hilarious that they had to 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.359 do this, especially now. Well, early on, Valanche and others 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.000 knew that they may be in trouble because they decided 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.920 not to subtitle any of the Wookie dialogue, and they 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.480 literally started after a brief opening scene setting it up here. 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:34.000 Here's the basic plot is Han Solo is trying to 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.800 get Chewbacca back to Kazook in time for Life Day 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.040 so we can celebrate with his family. That's the basis 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.240 of the entire two the basis the entire two hours. 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.280 They encounter a space battle and they're delayed, and the 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.919 next two hours are kind of what's going on while 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.920 the delay is happening back on Kazoo, back on Kazook. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.119 Because you hear, like, okay, well, Han Solo and Chewbacca 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:01.520 evading the Imperial Guard and all that stuff for two hours. 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:05.159 I would watch that. I would too. That's not what 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.679 they show killing time at the Wookie household. That is 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.280 what they show. That's what they do. It's people hanging 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.240 out waiting for Chewbacca, worrying about him, and then killing 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.200 time while they wait for him to come back. Literally, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:21.640 so um and so hold on. So you say there's 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.960 a setup, right, Yeah, that's the initial setup and then chuck. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:31.480 That's followed by this. Yeah, it's followed by literally ten minutes, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:37.160 ten solid minutes of incomprehensible Wookie speak. So let's let's 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.719 join it for a second, shall we. Let's all enjoy it. 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.640 And again, you said ten minutes, and you're not exaggerating, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.680 you're not being hyperbolic. You can time it. That's it's 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.199 ten minutes of wook He's talking to each other with 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:38.560 no subtitles. Fortunately, I couldn't follow it at first, Like 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.280 I didn't even know who it was. I thought it 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.880 was might have been Chewbacca's mom and dad. Oh yeah, 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:47.840 that's a little brother. And I don't find out until 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:52.159 later when Mark Cambell shows up via skype call and says, 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.760 he really explains everything that had just happened, Like, you're 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:02.400 Chewbacca's father, Itchy, you'r Chewbacca's son, uh Lumpy Lumpy, and 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:06.600 you are Chewbacca's wife. Oh mama, thank you. So before 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:09.880 everybody starts like freaking out, we know that that's actually 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:13.760 their nicknames. Their real names are. His father is a 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:18.680 ti chick cook, a tchick cook it's really hard to pronounce. 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.320 Mulatto Buck is his wife, and his son is lump 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:26.480 O war Ump but as named by Lucas. But yeah, 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:31.920 but Lucas also named him Lumpy Itchy and Mala so um. 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:34.800 They're all back there wringing their hands, trying to figure 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:38.080 out ways to pass the time until they get word 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:43.000 from Chewbacca that he's made it to uh what is it, ketchuck, zuck, 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:47.560 kazook Um. Just say ketchup, ketchup or cats up if 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:52.680 you're fancy. Um. But Chewbacca is having trouble getting back 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:59.000 to Katchuk because there's kazuock, because there's a blockade by 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:02.639 the Empire and they're looking for rebels, specifically Chewbacca. Who 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:05.000 I didn't realize this. He's the most famous Wookie of 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:07.520 all did you know that? Yeah, of course I didn't 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:09.480 know that. Well, I mean, he's the only one that 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:13.040 really appears in the movies I mean that we're seeing, like, 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:16.840 you know, these people's view of the universe. What about 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.359 back on book Ye, he might have just been a 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.040 fly by night wookie, right, yeah, but not the case 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:26.119 very famous wookie. Yeah, and he really loved it, like 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:29.840 soak in his fame. All right, So he realizes there's 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:32.359 a problem. Valanche. He goes to Lucas and it's like, 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:36.159 I don't know, man, this is your world, but it 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:39.400