The Star Wars Christmas Special Still Exists 316
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the truth-is-out-there dept.
from the truth-is-out-there dept.
rapturizer noted the critical news that "Fans of "Star Wars" have a chance to see a free screening of the notoriously bad 'Star Wars Holiday Special' next week in Minneapolis."
Nothing brings out the Christmas spirit like watching what may very well be the worst TV ever produced. Sadly however, I'm not sure that this is the worst *Star Wars* merch ever made.
This version isn't true to the original (Score:2, Funny)
Santa shot first!
Re:Obviously the template (Score:5, Funny)
for the notoriously bad prequels
Don't worry, Lucas fixed it up this time. All of the blasters and light-sabers have been replaced by walkie-talkies and Santa shoots first.
Re:Oh no (Score:1, Funny)
I'm torrenting this with all the files set to dont download because its so bad.
tauntaun (Score:3, Funny)
For those of you awaking in your tauntaun right now
As a matter of fact, I was [thinkgeek.com].
Who's laughing now? (Score:5, Funny)
Great (Score:3, Funny)
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:4, Funny)
OK, go find a copy of Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and listen to it 20 times in a row.
It's *that* bad.
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:1, Funny)
The Star Wars Christmas Special makes the KISS special look like Casablanca.
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:3, Funny)
Can it really be worse than Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor?
No, it's not that bad. Those were trying to be serious and lacked in almost every department.
The Star Wars Holiday Special was meant to be a holiday song & dance special, set with Star Wars characters. The plot is reasonable for kids and the acts are amusing. There's even the introduction of Boba Fett, with more characterization of the character than in either ESB or ROJ. There is imagination portrayed in most of the costumes and acts acts and especially the Wookie house set (a 1970's dream home hung a mile high up a tree), but it's certainly targeted at the 4-10 year old audience it was written for (it's designed that way because it's a home they can feel comfortable with).
If you want it to be a serious entry in the Star Wars saga, you'll of course be seriously disappointed. But that would be missing the point entirely - this is the Carol Burnette show set on Kashyyk meant to make kids happy and drive home the point that it's important to be with family on the holidays. If there's no room in your heart for such a use of the Star Wars Universe, then holiday fare from Dickens and Geisel would be recommended viewing.
It's like, how much more bad could this be? (Score:3, Funny)
George Lucas on the Holiday Special (Score:5, Funny)
Excerpt from Interview:
MAXIM: "Any plans for a Special Edition of the Holiday Special?"
George Lucas: [hangs head] "Right. That's one of those things that happened, and I just have to live with it."
Hehe.
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:1, Funny)
My best memory of that song is from a radio show presented by British comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. They played the song and added commentary. It went like this:
William Shatner: Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes...And she's gone. [weird echo effect]
Richard Herring: William Shatner obviously thinks you actually have to *be* on LSD to sing this song.
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:5, Funny)
If further reinforcement is needed, I loaned my VHS copy to a coworker. It literally drove him to drink - he was a teetotaler until he'd sat through the Holiday Special.
It is far, far worse than the Ewok movies.
Star Wars Canon (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Obviously the template (Score:3, Funny)
Admiral Akbar sez: (Score:4, Funny)
It's a trap!
Really really really bad (Score:4, Funny)
I've seen it. It's bad. Really bad. I think this is what drove Carrie Fisher to do drugs. She was in it, and she had to say the lines, and the lines were bad even by Lucas standards, and I cringed with every word. It was torture by proxy; what Jabba did to Leia was nothing compared to what Lucas did to Fisher in that special...
Re:Obviously the template (Score:2, Funny)
The only way Lucas could fix this is by digitally replacing it with Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Re:Awesome (Score:4, Funny)
Don't forget when Conan O'brien confronts Harrison Ford with a clip! http://www.videosift.com/video/Conan-asks-Harrison-Ford-about-the-Star-Wars-Holiday-Special [videosift.com]
Re:Why is this on the front page?! (Score:5, Funny)
Closer to the exit?
There is definitely something worse from Star Wars (Score:3, Funny)
And I’m not even sure it’s what’s depicted in this image here: ^^
http://pictureisunrelated.com/2009/09/15/if-i-have-to-live-with-this-image-so-do-you/ [pictureisunrelated.com]
(As it says: If I have to live with this image, so do you. ;)
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:5, Funny)
You mean what the term “EPIC FAIL” was invented for, before it was used for every dumb shit? ^^
No wait, I have a new term for a failure of *biblical* proportions:
BIBLIC FAIL! — When something is as bad as *half the world* falling for a fantasy story book, believing it is real, and adjusting their whole lives to it for thousands of years! ^^
Re:Oh no (Score:3, Funny)
Ahhh the 70s - the lost decade where almost everything produced for TV was fueled by drug experimentation. Or sounded like disco. Or worse - had a little of both (Buck Rogers) so it could be twice as craptacular.
Re:Awesome (Score:3, Funny)
2:45. The singing... I can feel brain cells dying.
Re:is it really that bad? (Score:3, Funny)
OMG, yes. Yes it really is worse. I mean, I was able to sit through Ewoks: Battle for Endor all the way through. I couldn't finish watching the Christmas special. I would liken it to being digested in the sarlacc pit (pre-special edition) for thousands of years.
"Battle for Endor" - you mean the second half of "Return of the Jedi"?
Re:So what do you do? (Score:3, Funny)
You can't jeer, you can't make comments - you're too busy laughing. It's that bad.
No, the laughter is false, just intended to cover the noise of the weeping. It's that bad.
Re:Star Wars Canon (Score:3, Funny)
There are six legitimate installments of Star Wars canon. A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Caravan of Courage, The Battle for Endor, and The Star Wars Christmas Special.
You forgot the Timothy Zahn novels.
Re:Obviously the template (Score:3, Funny)
An Oyveyian.
I 3 Slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
I love Slashdot. Where else can the cultural merits of the Star Wars Holiday Special be compared to transcendental truth and the entire hope of a species?
Re:Obviously the template (Score:3, Funny)
Luke, be a Jedi toniiiiiight, just be a Jedi toniiiiiight.....
(I know it's not from the SWHS, but I'm sure people on /. will know it)