Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Star Wars Holiday Special

Star Wars Holiday Special Cocaine Confessions

One of my favorite evaluations of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” is this one, from The A.V. Club: “I’m not convinced the special wasn’t ultimately written and directed by a sentient bag of cocaine.”

Of course, the best humor contains at least a grain of truth. One of the show’s five writers – FIVE! – Bruce Vilanch has admitted that he was using cocaine heavily at the time he was at work on the project. Therefore we can also assume some of the worst writing contains at least a grain of cocaine.

How much cocaine was consumed in the making of the “Star Wars Holiday Special?” I’m not really qualified to say. Watch Roy and my stone-sober assessments by clicking on the video below.

Then tune in on Sunday, as Roy will be joined by special guests Dominic Stefano, son of Joseph – creator of the classic television series “The Outer Limits” – and David Rash, whose book, “From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits… The Outer Limits Scripts of Joseph Stefano Volume One,” will be released in March, with preorders beginning in January.

“There is nothing wrong with your television set! Do not attempt to adjust the picture…” The next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner will be live-streamed on Facebook this Sunday at 7 pm EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

November 28, 2020
Star Wars Holiday Special Lessons Learned

The most enduring holiday specials all teach kids important lessons. For instance, in the case of the “Star Wars Holiday Special,” kids were taught the important lessons that dirty old men need their alone time with Diahann Carroll, that Harvey Korman saved his best material for Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks, that on Kashyyyk a little Art Carney goes a long way, that Jefferson Starship has nothing to do with space, that Bea Arthur singing pseudo-Kurt Weill in a cantina on Tatooine is a far less interesting concept than turning Red Foxx loose on a Jawa sandcrawler, that tedium is a fact of life (but that doesn’t mean one should seek it out), and that even a television special spun off of the highest-grossing film of all time can fail horribly. At everything.

Join Roy Bjellquist and me, as we find ourselves at that strange crossroads in the Twilight Zone where, on November 17, 1978, “Star Wars” collided with the variety show format. Han Solo and Chewbacca attempt to circumvent an Imperial blockade in order to get to the planet of the Wookiees in time to celebrate Life Day. Then all the Wookiees put on red robes (because there wasn’t enough money in the budget for full-body fur) and Princess Leia sings an uplifting Life Day song. Halfway into the two-hour slog, the whole thing gets interesting for about ten minutes as a Moebius-inspired animated interlude introduces the world to Boba Fett. Then it’s back to the black hole.

Our discussion, no doubt, will take on the character of good cop, bad cop. Roy is such a nice guy, there’s bound to be a nostalgic glow about his observations. I, on the other hand, have got my quill warmed up in Satan’s inkwell. There will be no prisoners taken on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Spew your misery in the comments section and reclaim your childhood, as we live-stream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

Here’s a link to the actual holiday special, never re-aired, never released on home video in any format. You have been warned.

May remorse be with you!

November 27, 2020
Star Wars Holiday Special A Thanksgiving Horror?

Since it’s not my wish to spoil anyone’s Thanksgiving, I’m warning you a little early this week that Roy and my topic on Friday will be the universally-reviled “Star Wars Holiday Special.” How hated is it? “Star Wars” creator George Lucas once remarked that if he could locate every copy, he would smash them with a hammer. I’m sure you will feel the same.

First aired on CBS television on November 17, 1978 (preempting “Wonder Woman” and “The Incredible Hulk”), the “special” takes a core plot of Chewbacca trying to reach his home planet of Kashyyyk in time to celebrate Life Day with his Wookiee family, and folds it into an improbable variety show format that includes music and comedy perpetrated by Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Diahann Carroll, and Harvey Korman (the kids just love those guys), and an appearance by The Jefferson Starship. I know, right? In the end, Princess Leia sings a Life Day song to the tune of… “Star Wars.” Yes, it’s THAT bad. The SOLE saving grace is an admittedly cool, stylized cartoon that introduces the character of Boba Fett. (This was still two years before “The Empire Strikes Back.”)

The special was met with slack-jawed disbelief by audiences and critics alike. It has never received an authorized release on home video. Quite simply, everyone associated with it wants you to believe that it never happened, that it was a bad dream, an undigested bit of beef, a fragment of underdone potato. But we know better.

George Lucas may wish his holiday folly would just go away, but thanks to the then practically-brand-new technology of VHS, its horribleness has been preserved to be relived again and again on YouTube.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, because this year Black Friday will be very black indeed. Share your excruciating memories of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We begin processing the trauma, livestreamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

How bad can it be? THIS bad:

November 25, 2020
Moreau Beast Makeup Outer Limits Preview

I had on my best Beast Folk make-up for last night’s exploration of the 1977 film “The Island of Dr. Moreau” – with side commentary on the 1932 and 1996 versions, H.G. Wells’ original novel, and the 1977 Marvel comics adaptation. That’s probably more Moreau than anyone needs to know.

Roy and I will resume this Friday, with a special Fakesgiving discussion of the justifiably-maligned “Star Wars Holiday Special” (1978).

Then on Sunday, Roy will be joined by special guests Dominic Stefano, son of Joseph – creator of the classic television series “The Outer Limits” – and David Rash, whose book, “From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits… The Outer Limits Scripts of Joseph Stefano Volume One,” will be released in March, with preorders beginning in January.

Tune in and test your limits. Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner is livestreamed on Facebook every Friday and Sunday evening at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

November 23, 2020
Empire Strikes Back Discussion SciFi Distilled

In case you’re interested, here’s last night’s conversation about “The Empire Strikes Back,” on “SciFi Distilled.”

“Empire” was – and remains – such a big movie (number one in America again this week, thanks to its reissue in drive-ins) that it’s impossible to do it justice in just an hour and 20 minutes. But we had a good time, and our nostalgic reflections shot off tendrils in all directions, so that we also touched on Kenner action figures, the short-lived phenomenon of Sensurround, and the never-rebroadcast, but unforgettably horrible “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

Marybeth and Michael’s “Sci-Fi Distilled” is live-streamed on the show’s Facebook page every Wednesday evening at 7:00 EDT.

On a related note, I hope you’ll join Roy Bjellquist and me this Friday at 7 pm, as we fortify ourselves against Martian invasion in our discussion of the 1953 film “The War of the Worlds,” on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”

How refreshing, to be able to revisit a story in which contagion actually works out for the benefit of humankind!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

July 16, 2020

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