The era commercials were amazing. BTW, I watched this when it originally aired. If you get a chance to watch the Rifftrax version of this, I highly recommend it (it eases the pain).
If you watch Carrie Fischer closely, when she starts singing, watch Harrison Ford's reaction. You can see whatever love he had for Star Wars die off and the jaded Harrison Ford is henceforth born.
The special in general was where Ford stopped caring about Star Wars and viewed it from then on as a paycheck and the stepping stone to get his career started. That's it.
Actually.... that's not entirely true. Those of us who were children when Star Wars came out, enjoyed this, because aside from the original movie(that had left theaters long before), this was the ONLY other Star Wars content to come out. I mean, in retrospect, it's terrible... but at the time, it was ALL WE HAD! We didn't have home video yet, so we couldn't watch Star Wars whenever we wanted to. Sure, by this time, we had some toys to play with, and the comic book adaption of the movie. But this was pre-1980. Empire hadn't even begun filming yet, and video games were only JUST becoming "a thing" you could have in your home. Hell, Star Wars was still "Star Wars"..... not even "Episode IV: A New Hope" yet. You have to take the time period, as well as our ages, into context here. Not to mention that "Variety Shows" were popular at the time. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been edited to put Boba Fett's "new" voice in there. I've got to give these guys credit, though.... I've tried to watch this as an adult, and simply couldn't get through it in one sitting. That's saying something, as I tend to like "campy/cheezy" stuff from that era and before.
@@IggyStardust1967 You're right. In Australia we had a terrible TV show called Young Talent Time, which consisted of a team of teens singing and dancing, and I remember watching their Star Wars special because, hey, it's Star Wars. I remember liking the sparklyness of the sets, but I suspect I wandered off bored pretty quickly.
It's a holiday tradition of mine to watch this, it's been 7 years in a row now, and I'll tell you, it doesn't get any easier. It never gets any easier.
Carrie Fisher was also one of the few people who owned a copy of this, which was given to her by George Lucas. She would play it at the end of parties to make people leave. 😁
She looked high AF. I assume Luke looks all weird because of his accident. It'd probably be easy to film. I mean they obviously put no effort at all into it. It's like they were all drunk after a Christmas party and filmed it in an hour. Yeah yeah, just go down to costume and grab anything. People are crazy about Star Wars they'll watch anything.
You poor things. Imagine watching this on television, when you're 8 years old....and having to sit through commercials on top of this schlock. The torture. The thinking...'ok...something good is finally gonna happen now,' and it never does. It may have been the darkest Christmas ever.
Some fun facts about this horrible television special: -Mark Hamill's face looks weird because he had been in a car accident prior to filming and had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery. It's also the reason his face looks off in Empire. - This was the first appearance of Boba Fett in the Star Wars cinematic universe. - It was never broadcast after it's first airing and George Lucas disavowed any knowledge of it existing, and has walked away from any and all interviews when it's brought up. - All network copies were destroyed upon George Lucas's request, and any street copies only exist in bootleg. It was never mass distributed through legal means. - Harrison Ford did not want to be there. Obviously. -Harvey Korman plays 3 roles throughout. None of them good.
Man, my friends and I tried to watch this many years ago and we couldn't even get through it. It's so bad it's not even funny bad. Props to you guys for making it through.
I'm very sorry you had to witness that mess. I remember watching this live on television when I was 8 or 9 years old and felt very embarrassed for all involved. Especially Harrison Ford, he looked like he was ready to murder someone when they made him sing,LOL! The coolest thing about it was the cartoon with Boba Fett. The whole special was a unique kind of cringe I have never again experienced in my lifetime.
I remember when it aired as well. I know you, me and every other kid was so looking forward to it. We only had a few t.v. Channels back then and, if there was a “Special” on you knew about at least a week before and, your butt was parked in front of the t.v. right on time. It was awful then and, it still is today.
I was 10 at the time.. I think it aired on a Thursday night and my brother and I were looking forward to it from the commercials... then it aired and it was "WTF?!!" We switched channels to watch something else periodically turning back to see what was going on to see if Luke, Han and Leia showed up but instead we got lumpy 😛
I was 11 at the time. Saw Star Wars three times - so the family was really excited about this special. Not expecting it to be like that. Though it would be more like the movie. Strange bond those who saw it live, have we?
This use to be used to torture inmates at Guantanamo bay but was considered far too cruel by the U.N. So it was replaced with the more humane practice of waterboarding.
I've never clicked on a link so fast in my life. I don't really consider myself a sadist, but found myself revelling in your pain. Thanks for taking one for the team
I vowed back in 1978 to watch this again...ever. Having watched it with you guys only enforces that thought. Never, ever, ever again. You brought this on yourselves. :)
Now imagine that with commercials, this took 2 hours to sit through when it originally aired. Not that anyone did, I hope. And fun fact, Ackmena the bartender (Bea Arthur) is in the Disney canon - she lives on a moisture farm with her Twi'lek wife while working the night shift at the Mos Eisley cantina. Apparently Bea Arthur wasn't even aware it was a Star Wars thing - all she really remembered was "singing to a bunch of people with funny heads". Though I also heard that she did it because her son was into Star Wars and she thought he'd get a kick out of seeing his mom in it, lol.
I've heard of this for decades, seen bits of it, then saw the whole thing was on You Tube. I felt like it was something I had to see for myself. I felt ever ounce of pain you guys did while watching this, and it helps to see someone else suffer as much as I did. I hate it.....and I love it for the horrible and absolute sewage explosion that is. I believe it is a right of passage for Star Wars fans need to go through, for the brave souls who dare.
Omg I'm laughing my ass off! This is absolutely the Best video from y'all so far!! The please please please at the end for it to be finally over was hilarious! I hope you both have an amazing Christmas!!
God bless you boys for enduring this excruciating torture!!! 😂 I can’t believe you guys actually sat through this! Your reactions to this are hilarious! Sean’s reaction and punching the couch; priceless!! Thank you both for making me laugh my ass off! I loved Tom’s Christmas apparel too btw! ❤️🌲🎁⛄️
Hey guys what's up? Merry Christmas! And... You may want to look away at this abysmal abominable holiday special. Even Harrison Ford said it was terrible and never wanted to talk about it on Jimmy Fallon. Lol!
The Darth Vader scene was good because it was a deleted scene from the original film. If crack had been around in 1978, the people that made this film would've been smoking it. As it is, I think they were on LSD.
You guys are troopers for sitting through the whole thing. I do actually really like Bea Arthur's song in the cantina, it's a nice moment if taken out of context from the rest of the show, and she's such a pro. Harvey Korman tries his best with all his roles, but even he can't save the bits. The rest of it though is just a nightmare, the worst-ever fever dream.
Thanks for the laugh, guys. The thing about the Star Wars Holiday Special is that while some of it is so bad it's good, most of it is so boring that it doesn't matter. I'd give it like a 0.8 out of 10. It'd be lower but it does give me some laughs, in between the dullness.
I genuinely feel sorry for you guys. I skipped through most of the Holiday Special and saw the entire thing in under 20 minutes and even that was almost too much to bear.
A bit of context: Mark Hamill's make up looks that way because he had an accident prior to filming this. Not defending his participating in this otter piece of crap, but that's a reason. Also, that cartoon marks the first time Boba Fett was on screen. RIP Jeremy Bulloch
@@gokaury If you meet somebody that don't like soul food, they still got a soul and it don't mean ya don't got rhythm if you don't like rock n' roll, but if your taste's like mine, you like cider not wine, then your very favorite thing to do, is get a purty girl dancin' to jug band music and a mess a' mama's barbecue!
I've never seen the whole dumpster fire, only clips and snippets. And I think I should probably be grateful for that. I admire your determination watching the whole thing! :)
Full lockdown has just been announced, cancelling all my Christmas plans here in Wales. Somehow, The Star Wars Holiday Special remains the worst thing to happen to Christmas.
I was seven when this aired and seeing this after seeing Star Wars was like getting a lump of coal in your stocking. You really need to be drunk to watch this. Thanks for going through hell for us, it was hilarious watching you suffer. 🤣😂🤣
You guys need to watch the clip of Harrison ford on Conan O'Brien's talk show where Conan brings up the holiday special, you can see the look of disdain on Harrison's face lol.
Tom, that is WAY too high a rating my friend!! Shaun was closer to the correct rating! I think I'd give it maybe a 0.5, only because it introduced Boba Fett to the world. I was 6 when I watched this on TV when it premiered. I really don't remember it then. I'm 48 now & I've tried several times to watch it over the years. I have seen pretty much all of it in pieces, but I have never been able to watch the whole thing straight through, and I'm one of the biggest Star Wars fans! So, for that, I give you guys a round of applause, I just can't do it! LOL!!
In this one hour special, Dark Vader was here only for TWENTY SECONDS! We got an eterinity of gibberish with the Wookies and boring stuff like the cooking show and the carpet vendor BUT the villain of this saga least than thirty seconds. What a gift X)
I come back to this every Christmas season , and I’m doing it again this year. Shawn slowly going into madness and anger never fails to crack me up. Love this video so very much
I was falling down the You Tube rabbit hole and discovered these guys! Not only are they absolutely adorable but their reactions are hysterical! Damn, if I was only 40 years younger I would be stalking these two cuties! Lol
I had tried and tried and tried to get through this thing. Watching it with you guys was the first time. The horror, the horror. It tells you how Strong Star Wars really is because this would kill any other franchise. Dead in it tracks.
Thanks for reviewing this. Also a total massive Star Wars fan and have never been able to block out the memory of this complete travesty :O All copies should be gathered together and burned lol
Oh, no! I would have warned you if I knew. I watched it on broadcast as a kid, and I walked out of the room. This was supposed to be a 30 minute show, but Lucas handed it off to some minions and they caved to pressure from the network and sponsors to keep expanding it so they could run more toy commercials. This is the result.
I've been binging you guys and I never watched this one even though it was a year ago. You guys deserve a medal for sitting through this. Thank you I laughed a lot!!!!🏅
Fair play to you guys getting through this lol, im a huge star wars fan but i have never sat through it all! ive fallen asleep, given up, lost my temper each time ive tried! through reviews like this and others is the only way i know how it ends 🤣👍
