Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A low point in Star Wars history

Any nerd worth their salt has glimpsed portions of the God-awful 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. George doesn’t want you to see it and for good reason. I’ve never been able to get all the way through it without lots and lots of scene skipping. Here’s one of the best examples of how low this “special” sank. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Bea Arthur’s cantina song. Now I love Bea as much as the next guy, but she had no place in the coolest place in Star Wars, the creature cantina. The one good thing about this clip is that we get a better look at some of the cantina’s denizens. The bad thing is that the “video” quality highlights how fake it all is. Enjoy.

2 comments:

Octopunk said...

Wow, I've only been able to sneak a look at the first couple of minutes so far, but this is nutty. I only ever saw this once.

It IS a great look at the Cantina creatures, some from the background that I never noticed.

Isn't this a bizarre phenomenon? Totally a product of 70's marketing thinking. They were all "it's Star Wars! How cute! Everybody loves it! Well then, we gotta make a variety show!"

Just wow.

Octopunk said...

Yeesh. Okay, now I watched it. Jeepers creepers, how would anyone think that was entertaining? It's like the people with lines were just making it up on the fly. And the corny characterization of the Empire, with "required viewing" notices and planet-wide curfews. Like the scum and villainy of Mos Eisley would give a rat's ass what some Imperial guy on a TV says.

And speaking of rats, what's with the giant mouse? The hell?

Malevolent

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