# The Star Wars Two Hour Holiday Special (1978) In 5 Minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953 "2007-12-22T19:01:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/21 "2007-12-24T14:14:45Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Those were the LEAST sucky parts?! ::shudder:: That was Art Carney, wasn’t it? ::shudder:: And that wookie looked like he had his head up Dianne Carroll’s… ::shudder:: [/QUOTE] Well, not _all_ of them. The Fett cartoon wasn’t bad (even though the animation was horrible). And yes, the wookie _did_ have his head there. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/22 "2007-12-24T20:27:35Z")
Couple of notes from that (mercifully shortened) clip: There’s a Wilhelm at the 3:58 mark. Also, look at 2:24 to 2:25. The Imperial officer definitely seems interested in the purple-silhouetted image on screen… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/23 "2007-12-25T05:50:37Z")
I have never seen any part of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Can somepne please put my mind back together? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/24 "2007-12-25T06:44:19Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Based on the RiffTrax description, the bootleg that they based their commentary on also has the commercials still in. I’m guessing there must be one copy that the bootlegs are sourced from with commercials still intact, including a news teaser for tips on how to fight the frizzies (which was later the inspiration for a running gag in a _South Park_ Christmas show). [/QUOTE] The version Rifftrax uses is referenced in the description and is available for complete download from a very public site managed by a very large publicly traded company which pretty much every user of this board encounters on a daily basis. I won’t say more than that because getting it from that source is still technically piracy even if it is a situation where the copyright holder has abandoned it much in the way people abandoned the Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/25 "2007-12-25T08:35:36Z")
I just realized how unhappy my son’s childhood made me. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/26 "2007-12-25T11:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] I just realized how unhappy my son’s childhood made me. [/QUOTE] And the winner of this year’s “Christmas Bringdown Award” goes to ::: opens shiny gold envelope to dramatic drumroll ::: **Will Repair**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/27 "2007-12-25T21:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] The version Rifftrax uses is referenced in the description and is available for complete download from a very public site managed by a very large publicly traded company which pretty much every user of this board encounters on a daily basis. I won’t say more than that because getting it from that source is still technically piracy even if it is a situation where the copyright holder has abandoned it much in the way people abandoned the Titanic. [/QUOTE] That’s right- although Rifftrax puts it in a funnier way. (I think I’m **go** ing to have to g **o** visit my **g** randfather in **L** ak **e** Video one of these days- I forgot that place even existed until I read the description.) > [@George Lucas](#): > > That’s one of those things that happened, and I just have to live with it. Lucas has also been quoted as saying he wishes he could take a sledgehammer to every bootleg copy out there, and jokingly claimed in a promo interview for the mockumentary _R2-D2: Beneath the Dome_ that it was all R2’s idea. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/28 "2007-12-25T21:58:35Z")
In the spirit of Christmas, I’m going to say something good about the Star Wars Holiday Special. Um. Ok, it exists as definite proof that George Lucas didn’t rape my childhood with the prequel trilogy…he had already done so twenty years prior. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/29 "2007-12-26T00:26:59Z")
Looking at the special, I must say it’s rather…strange. I only looked at the first 15 minutes so far, but I found something out that blew my mind. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9R4ICu1qg) is a music video featuring the Meco song _What Can You Get A Wookie For Christmas?_ If you set it up so that you have a copy of the _Holiday Special_ paused at the start of the bizarre dance sequence (08:24 in the “Lake Video” copy, to use Rifftrax’s term), play the Wookie song video, then hit “play” on the Holiday Special right after the line “We gave him a comb last year,” it synchs up perfectly! The final note should hit exactly around when Lumpy looks at the camera and shrugs his shoulders. Now I knew how the first person who played Floyd during _The Wizard of Oz_ felt- without the pot. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/30 "2007-12-26T00:38:41Z")
If you’re using the “Lake Video” version, 08:25 works much better, I just found out. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/31 "2007-12-26T04:05:30Z")
Well, I finally saw _The Star Wars Holiday Special_, and I must say: it _is_ weird. I think the major problem is that it’s two hours long. One hour would have been enough. But I guess you need all that Diahonn Caroll/Wookie porn, malfunctioning Harvey Korman robots, and Wookiee dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/32 "2007-12-26T05:30:13Z")
I never thought I’d see a film that challenged **Manos; the Hands of Fate** for the not-so-coveted title of “Worst Movie Ever Made”, but the “SWHS” is a strong contender for the title even 5 minutes was 5 minutes too long must…find…brain…bleach! ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/33 "2007-12-26T16:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] I’m afraid. I’m very afraid. Because if something, or someone, doesn’t distract me soon, I’m going to watch this. And I know I’m going to be sad that I did. And the temptation is still growing… [/QUOTE] Read [this synopsis](http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/starwars-holiday/)–I don’t know if it will help or hinder your efforts, but it made me laugh like a demented hyena! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/34 "2007-12-26T17:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=Chanteuse] Read [this synopsis](http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/starwars-holiday/)–I don’t know if it will help or hinder your efforts, but it made me laugh like a demented hyena! [/QUOTE] That’s far funnier than anything in the special, let me tell you. And I think he’s right about Lucas masturbating furiously to the thing. Certainly, it was the shape of things to come. _Empire_ was fine film, but Lucas had almost nothing to do with it. Then, for _Jedi_, he was a complete and total puppetmaster, and this is when the suck began to infest the franchise, culminating in the final prequel movie. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/35 "2007-12-26T18:53:27Z")
I remember seeing this as a kid. Since I was only 7 at the time, I didn’t truly recognize the awesomeness of it. And I use awe in the biblical sense here. What I would pay good money for though is a transcipt, or tape of a conversation that began with the words: “Sir Alec? George Lucas here. I was wondering if you’d had a chance to review that Christmas script I sent you?” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953/36 "2007-12-27T04:54:31Z")
Although I don’t agree with everything [this review](http://cc.usu.edu/~alexjack/viddiedreviews/starwarsholidayspecial.html) has to say, the reviewer makes one good point: the majority of this special is just other people watching TV. And we’re watching them watch it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-star-wars-two-hour-holiday-special-1978-in-5-minutes/430953.md?page=1)