Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

I Guess It Could Get Worse

Posted by Rampant Coyote on December 1, 2010

Out of sheer morbid curiosity, on two separate occasions I have tried to watch the Star Wars Holiday Special. I have yet to succeed. I don’t think I’ll ever be up for a third try.

But then, I remember as a child watching it air “live” on its single performance, I was incredibly disappointed and bored with it. Apparently, I did have some powers of discernment even when my age was in the single digits. But then, when something stinks that bad, it’s hard for anybody to fail to recognize it. Except for TV producers in the late 70’s, I guess.

At least it helps me to keep the prequel trilogy in perspective. There are depths of suck that even Jar-Jar himself did not plumb. At least, not yet.

It also helps me understand – to a degree – the paranoid levels of compliance IP holders sometimes demand of their licensees. (I’ve only personally ran into problems with that once, out of two licensed games I’ve been involved with).  While they may take it to the extreme, the paranoia is not unjustified.

UPDATE:  Corrine R. emailed me with this highly amusing article about the Star Wars Holiday Special:

“9 Reasons You Should Watch the Star Wars Holiday Special.”

I don’t think I’m convinced, quite, but it was a funny read. With parts of the show in bite-sized chunks, so you don’t have to wade through so much of it to see the debut of Boba Fett.


Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 5 Comments to Read



  • LateWhiteRabbit said,

    I was sick one day and some how decided I would torture myself further by watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. I couldn’t make it all the way through it either. I think I gave up sometime around when grandpa Wookie started watching his “human porn in everything but name”. I was far too squicked to continue.

    That show is one of the only times I have just spontaneously screamed while watching something. The wookie-speak just got to me.

    I think a big part of the problem was that whoever created the Holiday Special didn’t seem to know what they wanted to DO. It’s like a schizophrenic with ADD wrote the script. No scenes are related to each other, and what little plot there is takes frequent random breaks to indulge in insanity. And whose bright idea was it to base the story around wookies and not translate anything they said?

    Like you say, it definitely makes the paranoia of IP holders seem justified. I don’t think I could let anyone use my IP unless I had a producer position with veto and final approval powers.

    It is obvious that George Lucas never read the script or visited the set of this disaster. Seems a little careless that you wouldn’t demand to read the script or see a rough cut before the thing aired on TV. To be fair though, I don’t think any IP had ever been mangled this badly in the history of mankind up to that point.

  • Alex said,

    I haven’t watched the vanilla version of it but I highly recommend the RiffTrax version, it makes it really entertaining, or as entertaining as it can possibly be.

  • Joe Larson said,

    thatguywiththeglasses.com did a review of the whole thing last year and that was all I needed. You’ll know how bad it is and what the entire thing is without torturing yourself.

  • Felix Pleșoianu said,

    “While they may take it to the extreme, the paranoia is not unjustified.”

    Oh? And how can you know whether the new work is going to be any good or not if you block it outright, or mess with the authors? I’ve seen fan fiction that far surpasses the work on which it’s based.

    90% of everything is crap. That’s true no matter what you do, and choking the other 10% to death isn’t going to create more gems. On the contrary.

  • skavenhorde said,

    Did someone order Starwars with a side of cheese? I give you the most awesome, corny, cheesiest Star Wars themed show ever:

    Hyperspace Hoopla at Disneyland:

    Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2C4OAwVnhE&feature=related

    Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN9OudFrZg4&feature=related

    Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZubb_Ssik8&feature=related

    Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6qdC8KDdE&feature=related

    It’s just too awesome for words 😀

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