The Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Matt Gourley & Eden Sher (HDTGM Matinee)

Who speaks in this episode?

• Matt Gorley (Guest)
• Eden Sher (Guest)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Star Wars, Harvey Corman, Kashik, Matt Gorley
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Star Wars
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Star Wars, Harvey Corman
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Star Wars, Harvey Corman, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Kashik
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Star Wars, Harvey Corman, Kashik
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Harvey Corman
7. 1:00:00 – 1:03:18: Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Kashik

Notable quotes from "The Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Matt Gourley & Eden Sher (HDTGM Matinee)"

• A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a group of writers were tasked with writing a holiday special about Star Wars. But none of them ever saw Star Wars. We saw Star Wars a holiday.

  about Star Wars · at 0:00

• There's a lot of things going on with June and her beliefs and I don't we keep them very separate. so you just heard Matt Gorley who is joining us and I would say the maker of so many great podcasts but also a true Star Wars fan.

  about Matt Gorley · at 1:46

• Involvement in it, but it has come out that he has had involvement in it. He had watched the dailies every day and he had asked for this to be about Wookies on the planet of…

  about Kashik · at 3:14

• And yet I feel like Harveyman she memorized all this nonsense. And I feel that Harvey Corman on the other hand fully committed to it and just went 100% in.

  about Harvey Corman · at 24:08

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Harvey Corman — Person · Referenced performer (Holiday Special cast) · 11 mentions · first at 5:14
  Repeatedly highlighted as one of the few performers who fully commits, anchoring multiple bizarre segments (cooking show, cantina, instructional video).
• Matt Gorley — Person · Guest (panelist) · 1 mention · first at 1:50
  Introduced as a major podcast creator and longtime Star Wars fan with personal history of owning a bootleg copy; provides detailed recollections and commentary.
• Eden Sher — Person · Guest (panelist) · 1 mention · first at 2:17
  Introduced as a guest known from 'The Middle' and framed as a newer Star Wars viewer, offering a fresh reaction to the Holiday Special’s strangeness.
  And you know her from the middle. Please welcome Eden Sher. You have now you're a newer Star Trek con or sorry, Star Wars convert right?
• Miss Pat — Person · Referenced writer (Holiday Special writing staff) · 1 mention · first at 3:35
  Cited as one of the writers brought in to write the special, used to underscore the claim that the writing team hadn’t seen Star Wars.
  Wanted to get into this in the Star Wars world. So, he was a little hands-on. And then he also gave it to these writers like Pat Prof who wrote Airplane and Naked Gun and of…

Places & events

• Kashik — Place · Setting · 4 mentions · first at 3:24
  Planet where the Holiday Special is set, home of the Wookiees

Media & podcasts

• Star Wars — Media · Core topic · 34 mentions · first at 0:07
  Central theme of the episode, discussing the Star Wars Holiday Special and its impact on the franchise
• The Star Wars Holiday Special — Media · Primary focus · 4 mentions · first at 32:49
  Main subject of the podcast, analyzing its production, reception, and legacy
  Normally we do movies on the podcast. We are doing something different. Today we are focusing on a 1978 CBS television special that was made around Christmas time focusing on Star Wars. If you have not seen it, I urge you right now to.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a group of writers were tasked with writing a holiday special about Star Wars. But none of them ever saw Star Wars. We saw Star Wars a holiday special. So, you know what that means?

0:15 Now, it's time for this. We're going to have a good time celebrating failure, not just cuz you know, you wonder how this wall in the mediocrity of some art. Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, how did this get made?

0:32 Hello people of earth and welcome to How Did This Get Made? Our holiday edition. Normally we do movies on the podcast. We are doing something different. Today we are focusing on a 1978 CBS television special that was made around Christmas time focusing on Star Wars. If you have not seen it, I urge you right now to stop what you're doing and check it out. But now that you have all this morning in front of you, I now would like to introduce my co-host live from New York, Jason Manzukus.

1:04 Hey, in New York right now in New York City celebrating Life Day. Yes. So excited. Um, as the listeners of the show know, uh, June does not celebrate Life Day and, uh, is very anti-life day, so she is not here, but we have, uh, some amazing guests joining Well, does that mean that June is part of the empire?

1:27 I'm just saying that June, you know, was brought up imperial and doesn't really celebrate kind of Wookie uh celebrations.

1:35 She celebrate the war on Holllet on Life Day. I I don't want to talk about what she does. Yes. I mean, look, I she believes that obviously that you know, you know, I don't want to tell I don't look she there's a lot of things going on with June and her beliefs and I don't we we keep them very separate. Uh so uh you just heard Matt Gorley who is joining us and I would say uh the the maker of so many great podcasts uh but also a true Star Wars fan

2:01 from way back. I I had to have seen this on TV. I have vague recollections of it. I would have been five when this was on. So there's no way I missed it. But then I was given a bootleg copy of this in the early 90s which I treasured and it had all the commercials intact. So this thing has been with me my whole life. And you know her from the middle. Please welcome Eden Sher. You have now you're a newer Star Trek con or sorry, Star Wars convert right?

2:25 Yes. I only I just saw the originals like a year and a half. I didn't I don't even remember like actually seeing the second one. I feel like I watched it but didn't like actually watch it. But yeah, I just saw them like a year and a half, two years ago, but then I saw the new one. I love it.

2:38 Yeah. Well, I love the new one. Uh there's so much to talk about, but this special this is crazy because I got like a DVD of this when I was a kid. Uh, and I was like, "Wo, this is crazy and weird." But I never watched the entire thing um at all. No,

2:56 it's impossible. It's impossible to sit through it all in one day. Did people you got it like people gave it as gifts for like it as a thing?

3:04 It was Well, here's like the little bit of the backstory and it's all kind of a little bit documented. I'm going to kind of give you my version of it. This was made. George Lucas says he had no involvement in it, but it has come out that he has had involvement in it. He had watched the dailies every day and he had asked for this to be about Wookies on the planet of uh Kashik uh because he wanted to get into this in the Star Wars world. So, he was a little hands-on. And then he also uh gave it to these writers like uh Pat Prof who wrote Airplane and Naked Gun and of course uh oh Bruce Valanche uh who TV is Bruce Valanche and

3:44 classic Valanche. There's so many classic Valanche bits in this and none of them seem to have uh watched Star Wars at this point that this was being made. So, you have writers who are not versed in the Star Wars universe writing a special for Star Wars and um and but there are a lot of interesting things we'll get into that kind of connect to the Star Wars cannon. But yes, this was a a failed thing and George Lucas has gone around and said uh if he had a sledgehammer in the time, he would go around and destroy every single existing copy of this.

4:18 I'm pretty sure he has both of those now. But I think the internet can't get it anywhere. It's not on DVD. You can't download it. No one wants you to see this and they shouldn't because it is I mean it's next level crazy. I mean it really is garbage.

4:38 It is not garbage. It's garbage. And I watched this I did watch this when it came out. I remember it. Well, to me, this is like the thing that's so crazy about it is it is your main characters are Wookies who don't speak English and are not subtitled.

4:55 God, that's the entire thing is in Wookie except for the people that come into the Wookie's life who are all um TV and like Broadway stars from like the 1950s. I mean, Art Carney, uh, I mean, Louis Arthur, Harvey Harvey Corman twice,

5:17 three times. Three times, right? Um, yeah, it it's insane. So, let's talk about that because if they were household names, it was only because of Star Wars. Were they doing this to stay in the good graces of Lucas for the next parts of the trilogy? How did this happen?

5:33 Or were they getting paid? Were they getting paid a ton? Like, how much money did CBS put into this? I mean, I don't imagine it was a lot because when you look at it, it looks terrible. It looks like a soapful.

5:44 Yeah. They didn't put it on the screen. Yeah. It's not there. And I feel like every character or every actor that was involved like seems like they were there begrudgingly. No one wanted to be

5:55 sure. And this this special is summed up by the initial showings of the three stars. So, you get right in sequence Luke who's wearing strange amount of eyeliner.

6:06 Yeah. with a little girl. I wrote down Mark Haml, Little Girl. And then it cuts directly to Harrison Ford who does a really reluctant nod to camera. And those things, I think, sum up this holiday special completely. You know what you're in for.

6:20 And and it seems to me like this connection to Chewbacca's family, if we just want to even talk about like thematically, like I don't think that like I don't know if Luke has the best relationship with Chewbacca's family,

6:32 but he does. Like everybody knows Mala, Itchy, and Lumpy. Yeah. And and there are like there's a certain point where they call Carrie Fischer and she's like, "Look, I I don't want to tie up the line. Can you just put Chewbacca on the phone?" Which even get Carrie Fischer is like, "I don't want to talk to Lumpy and Mala. Let's get the main guy in." But like his name is Chewbacca. Okay, that I get.

6:56 Why Why did he name his son Itchy and his father named Lumpy? I can answer this because I had the Wookie story book that went along with this. So, Itchy, Lumpy, and Mala are all nicknames. So, they're really long. Like, Malawir Rump is her real name. And it's like it almost gets like

7:17 Do you feel like this was made retroactively after someone described it? It had to be to to uh yeah, justify it. Had to be. There is something I noticed this time through right in the beginning when it cuts to the first ad that I think also may answer some questions about the where the American public was because the first ad is for General Motors and their slogan is

7:37 I wrote it down transportation to serve people. People building transportation to serve people. That that is couldn't be more literal and there's nothing catchy about that. And I think that these people making this probably are dealing with that public that would eat that up. people building transportation to serve people. That's just people building cars. That doesn't mean doesn't mean your companies make anything good.

8:01 How that's basically trying to explain like how did this car get here? Somebody made it.

8:08 Don't worry, people built it. But it's also goes to that there was no car um uh competition. Like foreign imports were just starting to happen cuz the original commercials are like every third commercial is a union commercial, too.

8:20 Well, yeah. Because I I remember I think on the copy that I watch for this, the commercial is like a guy like I'm Ted Baker and I work I I make these cars and he just talks about his day of making Fords and he's like he's like I I like the welding the most because it's um it's a real art. But

8:36 yeah. Okay. I actually want to know though, how was the reception of it when it originally aired?

8:41 Well, it only aired once, so that should tell you anything Christmas. It seems like it will air a million times. I mean, Lucas did buy every copy of it so no one can air it again. Uh,

8:53 wait, is that true? True or is that That is true. True. Lucas did buy every single copy. Uh, so yeah, he So, yeah, the master copies. So, so it can never be broadcast. Um, I want to just show like the lackluster performance right off the top. This is Han and Chewy as they are kind of flying into life day. And you could just tell it was like one take only.

9:15 I'm turning back. I know your family's waiting. I know it's an important day. All right, we'll give it a try. I'll set your coordinates. Won't jump. I'll get you back there in time, pal. Trust me. So, that's a little bit of a I'm going to light. The sound effects are actually louder than the actual dialogue. They're just going through the motions. And I just love though it just it grounds this world in a way that I don't want it grounded. Like it's like why? Like I don't think of Chewbacca having a family, nor do I want Chewbacca to have a family, oddly.

9:59 Right. Yeah. Because it also implies that Han Solo is keeping him away for his family year after year, and he only gets to go home once a year.

10:06 That's what I was thinking. I was like, is life day is that the one time? Is that the one time he goes home? This also brought up a question for me in the new Star Wars movie. I won't spoil anything, but it does hearken back to something to this that Chewbacca can see his family.

10:22 Well, Chewbacca is a bad dad. I mean, that's what I'm learning right away. He's a deadbeat dad.

10:28 He's a total deadbeat dad off fighting in the rebellion while his family is home getting terrorized by stormtroopers and Imperial guards.

10:38 But he's sending he's clearly sending a lot of money home cuz they have a nice house. I would live in that house.

10:42 That's a very nice house. But I mean, but I will even take it one step back. He's barely in the uh I want to say the Republic. I'm sorry. What? Uh the rebellion. He's barely in the rebellion cuz he's just a smuggler. I mean, he gets caught up in the rebellion.

10:54 Yeah. Right. Good point. Yeah. So before this, they're like Chewbacca's just hanging out with his buddy just shooting around the galaxy with a gun just like he's a bad dude, a bad dad.

11:05 Like he only recently has uh has really stepped it up. Um, and also I mean the other thing too which is like really insulting I guess but I guess it like they credit R2-D2 and uh C-3PO as R2-D2 and C-3PO. They do not like call them by their actor names even though there are people inside those suits but yet Darth Vader is James Jones.

11:28 Yeah. And Anthony Daniels did the voice. Yeah. What do you mean they credit that like

11:33 in that and that terrible opening credits like with Hans, you know, like so with R2-D2 and C3PO and then when Darth Vader came on, it was James Roll Jones.

11:43 So interesting. Uh even though James Ro Jones was technically not in the special, he was only in reused footage from the Star Wars movies.

11:53 I There's so much to talk about here. Um they're in a nice mid-century modern house. They are

12:00 with felt. Well, there's a green. What is the What is the The floor is just felt.

12:05 Yeah. Well, you know, they're bookies, so they have soft feet already and they just even they're just a

12:10 Yeah, they're walking carpets. They don't really need function in terms of carpets.

12:14 How high up are they? And how do they actually get down? Because a stormtrooper was killed by falling off.

12:20 Oh, huge. They straight up murder someone in this. They murder somebody in the worst fight of all time. Harrison Ford like his choreographing of this fight is like dodge the left, dodge the right. And the guy just literally just jumps over a ledge. Han Solo not giving a [ __ ] Like he's like, "Yeah, I'm here."

12:40 Then Yeah. Then they walk inside and it's like, "Hey, that guy's not going to give us any trouble anymore cuz we killed him."

12:47 It was a way for them to do a familyfriendly kill because it was just a fake out. It's not his fault he fell off the balcony.

12:53 Yeah. Hansel just went a little bit to the left and a little bit to the right. He just zigzagged them. Um, this whole special is really basically people watching or Wookies watching TV.

13:02 No [ __ ] Yes. The whole thing. It almost seemed like every also like it was just broken up into all these like segments. They have so many devices to watch TV on and like it's like every one of those was just kind of killing time. Like this is the whole special. What are you stalling?

13:17 Yeah, they really are just they're just killing time for some the next thing to happen. And they have more like they have iPods. They have like TVs. They have iPads. Like there there's not one device.

13:28 They have a virtual reality porno. Wait, I mean before we even get into because I have so much to say about that because I

13:35 I could just talk about that alone. Maybe we should just get to it because to me that is the reason that a podcast like this should exist. And it wasn't like I was saying how did this get made for this whole thing. I understood why this special got made but that 5 minutes how did that happen? It is the mo single most baffling moment of television history that I have ever seen.

13:58 It's absolute insanity. According to the producer and director Mity Welch, the scene with Diane Carroll was intended to be softcore porno that would pass the sensors.

14:11 It's a joke, right? Like they knew what they were doing. I think they had to because it's like let's take a listen to Diane Carol just so if you've not seen the special and I really would recommend that you watch like 15 hours of Thomas the Tank instead of this because it'll be easier to get through. Uh but uh take take a listen to this is how Diane Carol sounds and you'll just a couple of seconds to get the idea.

14:30 I know you're searching for me searching searching. I am here. My voice is for you alone. I am found in your eyes only. I exist for you. I am in your mind as you create me. Oh yes. I can feel my creation.

14:57 I'm getting your message. Are you getting mine, girl? E. So that so basically Lumpy the grandfather is in a virtual reality headset. By the way, this this show is very uh I mean it's it's kind of like the Jules Vern of uh of specials. It really

15:16 set is made out of a like a salon hairdryer. Yes. So he and he's he's by the way he's watching this porno in the middle of the living room

15:25 and he's gumming himself like his his mouth is moving so uncomfortably. I have nothing. I I I did not understand what was happen. I thought I was watching I watched half of it like before I went to sleep and then half of it in the morning and I was pretty sure that I that was like part of my dream going into it. I was

15:43 how do you know what's real and what's not? It's so bizarre because I mean she's singing and performing for I I not that it's unusual but I also thought it was odd that Lumpy the old grandfather likes humanoids like he is

15:58 plenty weird plenty. I thought that with the uh with the cooking show also I was like why I don't know I was really hung up on this why are these Wookies watching a cooking show where why isn't there a Wookie cook why is there a human

16:12 well that's the thing about like all Star Wars to me that kind of gets me like here's a planet full of Wookies so if you think of Earth as the like the comparison like even within our earth there are so many different subcultures here they're just like they're just shipping it out to like humanoids. They're like, "You have a planet." And there's like a line in here where like Han Solo's like, "Uh, there's some traffic. We're going to land on the north side of the planet."

16:38 Yeah. That that would be like me going like, "Oh, yeah. I got to get home to California. I'll land in China. We'll figure it out." Like, there's no sense there that that would make it simpler to get home.

16:49 The simple answer is they're like, "Well, we already know we really want to do 30 minutes of Wookies just talking to each other with no subtitles. We should put some humans in there for something." and no subtitles and really the first I would say 10 minutes doesn't even have 13 doesn't even have a human to tell you what's going on. It's just

17:08 I started to lose my mind. I was like what what what's going on? What what are we doing here? Is this what we're do? Is this the whole thing? We I mean we have we're talking honestly about one of the most interesting specials of all time because not only is it a special where they don't speak English. It's a special where they got softcore porn in but then it's also like trying to get in like a whole idea of like Nazism. I feel like the Nazi thing is big in

17:38 this is bigger than in the films. Way bigger. It scared me. It actually scared me when they like when they started uh oh my god when he tore apart the stuffed animal.

17:48 Yeah. It actually frightened me. But there's something That's the part I remember from when I was a kid watching it was when they trash's room. I was like I remember very powerfully being super upset and scared by that.

18:02 Well, it it was even scary for me to watch it now because it's like why is this Stormtrooper going into this kid's room to basically just break [ __ ] Like he's just just destroying this kid's room. I definitely thought that there was going to be I thought there was like a buildup to the stuffed animal. Like I thought he was going to find something in it. You would think he didn't. He just broke it for the hell of it.

18:24 The thing that's more unsettling to me though is that you have Nazis, but then you have this ' 70s aesthetic. And so there's like a Imperial Guard Nazi with a whisk broom mustache that is so offputting

18:34 when he tears up Lumpy's room. Oh god. Well, it's so weird because it's like they're trying to make so many statements and none of them work. Uh because the other thing is too like the whole premise is like they're waiting for Chewbacca to get back and like the Imperial forces are like where's Chewbacca? But it's not like he's hiding something but they act as if they're hiding this 7 foot tall giant Wookie. Like why would they need to like break stuff in the It's like it he's very apparent when he's around. And they also when he does finally get back to them, they got to keep Chewbacca far away from them because his costumes so much better than their costumes that they cannot put them in the same shot. Like one looks like you got it at a costume shop and one's like a Hollywood costume.

19:18 I found the Itchy the little boy costume to be very unsettling. Isn't Itchy the grandfather and Lumpy's the kid or

19:25 Lumpy was the kid, but I don't Yeah, itchy. Itchy is the old man, right? Yeah. Thank god.

19:30 Got it. Um, I also dis I agree and disagree about Lumpy being unsettling of the costume. I I I loved him so much. So much. My favorite character.

19:41 He somehow manages to look like Gary Coleman in some way. I just want to know what was going on that little kid's mind, too, because like that kid that is a child or

19:49 it's a woman in there. Oh, it's a woman and a man plays Mala. Weird. Yeah. Yeah.

19:54 Oh, I did not know that. So, is Chewbacca is Chewbacca gay? That's a female Wookie played by a male human.

20:02 Got it. Got it. Um, I also thought that would be an amazing reveal. I would love a gay Chewbacca. Uh, no spoilers for Force Awakens, but maybe you'll get it.

20:14 Uh, great. Like this whole time he's just hoping for something with Han. Um, that's why he stays away from his wife for so long. He's like, I can't go back there. I'm not myself. I I need to be out here.

20:25 His beard. His literal beard. Um I I wrote down this of one of the many things that they watched. They watched cirto sole or a version of cirto sole and I wrote down uh bad cirto sole is good cirto sole is great medium cirto sole is unwatchable and that's what this is. Not quite cir to sole and it's so boring to watch and like to who is this appealing to badly malanche

20:54 I I want like okay so I just want to make sure this came out this was only after the first one

21:00 right 1978 it came out so they had cuz when I watched that cir so I wasn't quite like I'm not super familiar with Star Wars story I was like I know this chessboard thing I've seen it that's what they do they have things on it like games whatever

21:14 is This is the circuit of sole thing. Is that something that happens? Like an app? Like another app?

21:19 You thought it was in the movie or something? Yes. I was like, was this is this just something that they weren't quite sure was going to be part of the universe? They were testing something out.

21:27 Oh my god. Like the other things that they could do with the Millennium Falcon. All right, guys. It's going to take us a little time in uh in in our in our warp speed to get there. So, let's just uh Sorry.

21:36 Ceue up the moment. Let's go. Oh my gosh. It's so It's so weird. Uh everything about it. Um we can get into Art Carney. Art Carney who go is he the creepy white guy.

21:49 He is the creepy Well, he's like the traitor. Yeah, the trader Joe who was supposed to be Lando Calisian.

21:55 What? Apparently Lucas came up with the idea for Lando as being this traitor who had an outpost on a Wookie planet. And so this was like we introduced Boba Fett later on supposed to be the introduction of Lando Calisian. Oh,

22:12 wow. I didn't know that. And was this also then was it the introduction of Boba Fett? Yes.

22:18 Cuz he wasn't in the first one. He was not in the first one. And this was followed up by this uh if you collected the action figures, you could send in proofs of purchase and get a Boba Fett. He before he came out in the movie and then of course the big scandal where he his rocket fired and apparently choked a child. So they recalled it and you can't get the rocket firing Boba Fett.

22:36 I didn't know that he choked a kid. Well, that was the room. I think it was actually the Sylon toy that did it, but because of that, they recalled or I think never produced the actual firing one. And I remember getting it or this kid in kindergarten got it first and he's like, "It doesn't launch like they said." And I went, "No, that's a lie. Give it to me." And I had to like fully inspect it like you're missing the button or something. And it was gone.

22:58 Well, I also like that Boba Fett, the action figure can kill. Like that that's the great assassin if your even your toy can kill a kid.

23:04 Yeah. Yeah. That's the one to be reckoned with. a sleeper cell. Okay. Well, that seems weird to me though to introduce in like that. Then this special was like weirdly really important.

23:16 Yeah, it could have been great. It should have been great. Somebody involved with Star Wars should have been involved in it, I guess. I think they gave him like a lot of table scraps like uh and yeah, there'll be a Boba Fett and uh this Lando guy and uh and there's

23:30 now I'm just imagining if they went to Cloud City and it was Art Carney that greeted them on the on the when they landed the ship.

23:39 Oh my god. Get out of here. You Art Carney. Art Carney. I feel like both Art Carney and Be Arthur, I felt so bad for them because all of the Star Wars jargon and names felt so unnatural coming out of their mouths.

23:57 Yeah. Like the the scene where Be Arthur is the cantina bartender and goes around begging every customer to leave.

24:04 Oh my god. By name. Why did they leave? Also, why? And yet I feel like Harveyman she memorized all this nonsense. And and I feel that Harvey Corman on the other hand fully committed to it and just went 100% in.

24:20 Uh basically Harvey Corman's doing performance art cuz I would even I would even argue that Harvey Corman's not even like first of all that cantina scene is like is part cabaret.

24:30 It's all cabaret. All cabaret, which was so conflicting for me as a child going, I know this is Star Wars and I'm I'm drawn to it, but I can't stand this because I hated musical numbers as a kid. Well, I mean, again, like I'm just as you kind of see all the influences, it's all bad. But Harvey Corman comes in as this like lovelororn guy who drinks out of a a thing in his head and he still has a mouth. He still has a mouth. Still a fully humanoid, but he just pours drinks in his head. Uh, and he comes in as this like loveorn guy who wants to like be with be Arthur. And again, I'm thinking for what child is this like this sad like romantic like this drunk coming and going to the bartender like I love you. I love you.

25:11 Let's be together. So sad. I think because the writers were all seasoned variety show writers. So they went let's plug in the old guy at the bar sketch in here and just get it done. We got to kill two hours.

25:22 To me, it feels it feels everything. It feels like an oldfashioned it. that doesn't feel at all modern or current. It feels old-fashioned like an old variety show in that way. And that's that those are all the games they're playing,

25:38 but with all the appropriate actors, but it wasn't funny. No, it was it had no joy to it. It was like it was almost melancholy. The whole special is upsettingly sad. It's like, all right, a family's being tortured. This woman is being like her her like everybody who owns a store is being like shut down by these Nazis. and like you know like and no one's there's no joy and even in the end when they finally get to life day it seems like a somber holiday as well.

26:06 They take the cantina theme which is the happiest music in Star Wars maybe next to that Ewok song.

26:11 Yeah. Turn it into some kind of minor key cabaret durge and it's incredible. And and then they just like you know the the the most Eley Cantina which is very like weirdly described why they're even watching it. Uh, and they're like, "No, you'll watch a live feed from another planet." Like, "So, all right. So, are we watching like a webcam inside most Eisley Cantina that's being broadcast on like satellite television?" Like, I don't even understand how we're getting there. Like, and but again, we got to say,

26:41 why would we? Yeah. Why would you like They say that like Mos Eisley is like the hive of scum and villain. Like, it would it would be like you would never

26:51 Yeah. You would never put a a webcam there to broadcast across the the the universe.

26:56 Well, I guess cuz they were trying to somehow like get them in trouble cuz they would like then they got shut down. But and and a lot of the whole thing kind of doesn't have a point obviously, but actually what was the point of having that there? Why did we

27:09 killing time? There were so many instances where I literally said out loud, take your time, holiday special. Take your time.

27:16 It's a 2-hour special that could probably have been really good at like a 30 minute special. Yeah. Okay. A great 30 minutes.

27:22 I had a question also. I really didn't understand for the cartoon part. What like was he was this fiction or was it what was he watching?

27:30 I had the same problem cuz Lumpy or Yeah, Lumpy or who the kid is watching his dad in a cartoon. So that's weird. And he seems affected by it. Like, so I don't know if like Chewbacca has commissioned a a buddy who's an animator to like show him his adventures, but like but he literally is freaked out at a certain point. Oh, my dad's in trouble. It's like

27:53 in some ways this is like so David Lynchian in an absurdly brilliant way, who by the way was the original choice for Return of the Jedi director.

28:01 Oh, really? He turned it down. That would have been great. I know. And and and the original Return

28:07 and then made Dune. Well, when you know, Return of the Jedi was supposed to be on a whole planet full of Wookies, but then they simplified it and made it Ewoks, but I think uh for maybe marketing purposes, and I'm sure somebody JW Rinsler can get in here and describe that to why that happened, but uh like this was the original conception like, oh my gosh, it's so it's so bizarre cuz that makes no sense at all while he's watching his dad. And if they did want to watch his dad, I could get them going like, oh, that's why they're delayed. Maybe that's why they're delayed. But we see in the very beginning that they're not delayed because of that. They're just kind of just Yeah.

28:43 fighting. They're just randomly just fighting. Do you think that was the cartoon made as a way of like championing these great figures of the rebellion?

28:56 Oh, I think you guys are giving it too much thought. Like I don't think that was put in there. I think it was seriously we have this cartoon to market this action figure. find a way to fit it in and just know that I'm not gonna check up on this, so do it however you want. My name's George Lucas.

29:14 Um, you know, we did actually uh our guy uh Blake Harris is uh writing a very good oral history. You can check it out on SlashFilm. If you're bored here on Christmas and you're listening to this on Christmas, head on over to SlashFilm and read the oral history of this because actually the director of this special was the guy who directed the Elvis comeback special like

29:33 Oh my god. Yeah. So he has like some real chops, but here none of them are on display at all. But they made a drama a drama holiday special for children.

29:45 This really was intended a Star Wars Holocaust special. She imagine if Anne Frank was with Wookies and you would get the Life Day special. C

29:58 can we talk about Princess Leia for a second because Oh my gosh. Yes. when they call her on the screen and she gets up from her desk which she's no doubt sitting behind because she doesn't want to stand up just physically. She gets and walks towards the camera has to sort of lean on the desk a little bit to make it the full way. She does that thing that actors do when they don't know their lines and they take a very like meaningful breath and she would pause between each of her lines while she would think of her line and then her I rewound it. Did you guys catch this? Her line, I think, is I don't want to tie up the channels. But she says, I I don't want to tie her up the channels.

30:35 Like that. By the way, I want to even talk about how they even get her on the view screen. They get her on the view screen. The view screen is like X's and O's. Like literally like like like just like XX O XXX. Okay, we got the transmission. Like they didn't even try to do anything like weird alien language. Just X's and O's. This is This is like This is not even a first draft. This is like a draft where people put pulled pages out of a garbage can. It's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that one."

31:03 Oh, this is a show that features a fulllength cooking segment about how to make banana.

31:11 Yes, that that is stepbystep an actual cooking program. And I was going to say with that uh that cooking program, there's no real joke in this thing besides the fact that the guy has multiple arms. And if you took that away, it's just the cooking segment that Harvest is really committing.

31:29 Boring, boring cooking segment, but it's manic. I wasn't super bored. I was mostly confused, but I was compelled because it was like spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin. And then other hands came in.

31:44 Wait, let's even play a little bit of Harvey Corman saying spin spin whip whip whip whip.

31:48 And on the count of one, stir whip stir. Whip whip whip stir. Stir, whip, stir, whip, whip, WHIP, STIR. COME ON, FASTER. ALL TOGETHER NOW. COOKING CAN STIR, WHIP STIR WHIP WHIP WHIP STIR STIR WHIP STIR WHIP WHIP WHIP STIR. HAVING FUN, HAVING FUN. ALL RIGHT, coming along nicely. Now, step three. Al,

32:11 that is for kids. Enjoy it, kids. He has in his voice the fear of a man who knows this is not funny and just will not stop for fear of of hearing the silence.

32:20 He went home every night and wept. He has to say having fun. Having fun just to tell you that they're having fun.

32:31 Well, like isn't it known I I remember this from the Howard Stern interview with Carol Bernett like that Harvey Corman was kind of like a a jerky diva at certain points and like he left the Carol Bernett show and was like always an [ __ ] to people.

32:44 He was the chubby chase of Carol Bernett. Exactly. So like I feel like this was his chance to be like, "You know what? I got asked to do the Star Wars holiday special. I don't need you Carol Bernett writers. I'm going to go off and do my own thing. And then left to his own devices. This is what Harvey Corman did. And I'm sure they gave him a 100% creative license to do whatever because he does seem into it. He is out of everyone is not phoning it in at all. I think he understands that Star Wars is now a phenomenon where maybe some of those other people don't, you know.

33:13 Well, what did they tell Diane Carol? Like we're going to have you sensually talk to the camera right now. I want to know what they told her more than I want to know who killed Kennedy. How that went down that day on the set. I would pay no amount of money for

33:30 Well, you know, here's an interesting thing, too, just for those people out there wondering. Um, this is canon.

33:36 The Star Wars holiday special. Like, if you exist, it exists in a world like everything in the Star Wars universe. There are like things that are canon, things that are not. So, a lot of the books have now been excised that's not canon. this is in the world. Like, so technically, if you were to build something, you can reference that this all happened.

33:54 I think Lucas is just not kicking it out of cannon because he didn't ever want to admit it was in canon. The minute he kicks it out of cannon, that will legitimize it. And

34:02 right, so by not mentioning it, um, yeah, this is I mean, oh my gosh, there is uh I just I'm I'm so curious why Lucas refused to I mean that's a bold move and that's like a 70s move, too. No, they'll speak in Wookie and that's that.

34:22 America's got to get with the program. Like that is not fun for anyone cuz we're really just watching a a a family waiting. We're It's like it's like a Truman show with Wookies, but the the boring parts of Truman show.

34:36 No, it's it's waiting for GDAU is what it is. It is. It really is. It is. Um I also want to talk about Arc Carney's code. So he's in front of the uh Imperial troopers. Oh yeah.

34:48 And he's his code language for like what Chewbacca is like, I hope you uh I got that large furry package in for you, but it might be delayed. Like it's like everyone knows what he's talking about. This trooper should be a little bit quicker on the update.

35:05 And also, I'm pretty sure he said something about he said something by hand. You made by hand solo.

35:11 Oh, right. That's a Yeah, that was the bag code. Yeah. Like Yeah. Like you could say she made it by hand solo.

35:19 Uh like Yeah. Like so I guess he just runs like a little like shop. He's a traitor and family friend. This is It takes a village in on

35:29 Imperial Guards come in. He says, "I just thought I'd show you some of the stupid stuff Wookies purchased from me." Anyway,

35:38 I guess some of the interesting things that Wookies purchase are miniature fish tanks.

35:42 Sure. Like there was it was so like and I guess that's a joke like hey look it's a miniature fish tank that you can keep in your pocket

35:50 but do wies have pockets guys do wookies have pockets like like marupial pouches?

35:57 Yeah. Yeah. Like kangaroos. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually thinking seen them. I've never seen them pull anything out of their pockets.

36:04 What if Chewbacca's like bandelier is just full of miniature fish tanks? Like I I thought it was bullets. It's just a miniature fish tanks in there

36:11 from every life day he has. Oh, thank you for Oh, he likes the miniature fish tank.

36:18 I was also a little confused about then like the the what is it? Ubiquity like the common like this is just Life Day is just a Wookie holiday.

36:27 I imagine as far as we know, but everyone respects this. Everyone is like this is a big deal.

36:33 Yeah, we know. Well, I feel like Chewy's probably always talking about life day, his life day memories,

36:37 right? But yeah, they always are like I guess they're like I guess in the middle of like the rebellion, you know, W Chewbacca is like, "Hey guys, I I'd love to kind of do the Death Star stuff or whatever, but I got to make it home. I got to can I take a holiday weekend?" Like like Chewy is like leaving the rebellion. It seems like Luke's working on his like tie fighter. Princess Lee is like doing something else. And by the way, Luke seems uh I don't know, Luke working on that tie fighter. I had a lot of questions about that, too. I just want to know where and I guess this was for Leia also where they all look like you know when like you're in line for Disneyland and like Patrick Warbertton comes on and like tells you like he's in that room or something like working on a fake plane or something and talks to you. That's the kind of room that it felt like that Luke was in. Where were they?

37:24 It's one shot, no close-ups. Like they literally walked them in, gave them their costume and got eyeliner on Mark Hamill and and they said, "Let's Like Mark Hamill looks younger in this than he does in Star Wars.

37:37 And this is I guess before the car accident where he got the scar on his face uh from that then is now part of like the world of Star Wars. But it's like that uh it was crazy to see how young he looked and also you're right. It's it is like that Aerosmith rock and roll roller coaster like hey you guys ARE HERE JUMP ON BOARD MAN. YOU CAN COME TO OUR SHOW TOO you wookies. And there's no resolution to the blockade. The whole threat of the whole episode is like, "Oh, there's a blockade around Kashik or Kazuk as it's referenced here." And and then like they get there and Hans's like, "It's a little traffic. We'll go around." Like there they don't fight.

38:19 They don't do anything. Oh, is that all it was? Or were there also people after them though?

38:23 They were looking for rebels, right? Yeah. Yeah, but then they say that they put a blockade around the planet

38:29 and that that we guess would be the blockade that they just kind of just go, "Oh, we'll just go here. We'll make a we'll turn down this block instead." Like

38:35 it's almost as if they didn't put a lot of thought into this thing or they were on so like all of the drugs.

38:41 Yeah. And weird was it when Art Carney arrived at the house at Chewbacca's house and like made Mala give him a kiss?

38:53 Yes. And a little kid. There's a so much wookie human crossover. Really pushy about getting a kiss from Mala, which I thought was real creepy.

39:03 That's a real Lando move. Yeah, he wanted Yeah, he was all up in Leah's junk too.

39:08 That's true. Yeah. And then Jefferson Starship. We should talk about I felt so stupid. I was like, this is I know this is a famous band. Who Who is this? So, how did they get this? Why? Why? Why?

39:20 Jefferson Starship in this I mean Yeah. It's like who were they? They I mean they got they got out easy. I mean I think Diane Carol and Jefferson got out easy

39:29 cuz they just had to do what they do. Yeah, they just put on costumes. I'm pretty sure though I couldn't tell. Did they have them singing? Was the microphone a Did they try to make it look like a lightsaber?

39:39 Yeah, it was all glowing. All their instruments were glowing. Do you think that they were chosen solely because their name was Starship for this?

39:45 Oh, I bet you I didn't even realize that. Yeah, it led me to believe think too that when they went from Jefferson Airplane to Starship, that is the coolest band reboot name I've ever heard.

39:55 I didn't even realize that. That's crazy. Yeah. Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship.

39:58 Yeah, they lost Grey Slick and went like we're going to the Stratosphere. You know how we can top losing our the whole draw of this band? We're going to space.

40:08 So crazy. Oh my god. Um, yeah, Jefferson Starship just performs again in one of the many points in the show where someone watches entertainment. We have someone watching a circus, we have someone watching VR porn, we have someone watching Jefferson Starship, we have a lot of uh cartoons. Oh, and in the cartoon, it's voiced over by this guy. Like, now in Star Trek, it's like Captain's Log, Star Date so and so. in this there's another guy who's like uh rebel log, you know, and it's like who who is this guy that's narrating this?

40:41 Wouldn't it be like Chewbacca or like Luke Skywalker? There's so much watching of TV in this show that it leads me to believe someone's watching me watch this every time I watch it.

40:53 I have to say that like while Harrison Ford must have been bummed because his character is most closely connected to the character they base the entire special around, which means he has to be in it more than anyone. He does sell it at certain points.

41:05 He does. Yeah. Like when he like says like like he looks at Chewy like real like lovingly. He's like you're like family to me.

41:12 Yeah. And then they all say how they can't make life day but yet then they're all there at the end at life day and Chewbacca's in his red smok which I think is amazing.

41:23 Yeah. Wait that you like the robe. The robes. I'm sorry. Yeah. The robe. Yeah. But just making sure that they're cuz those were so weird. So, I think it was only to cover up the fact they didn't have enough costumes for the rest of these people because you don't even see the other Wookies. You just see red uh things. And I don't understand what life day is like. Life day, they hold an orb in their hand, then they're transported away, but then they're back.

41:46 But yeah, they walk through outer space. They walk into a sunaska is like but then they're around then they're around like a big giant tree base but they're in space guys. I think they might be on Pandora.

42:02 Oh my god. When Leia sings at the end, Han and Luke have looks on their face that remind me of when my family holds hands and pray at at Christmas where you're just you feel like is someone watching me right now? I've got to be respectful, but it's so uncomfortable.

42:19 Well, um there's something also interesting in here right before they start to sing like uh C-3PO and R2-D2 drop a very big bomb on uh on everyone in the Star Wars world where they basically say like I wish we were human so we had feelings

42:32 and could get be credited as humans in the credits. Yeah. And then so you understand that they are not human and then Leah sings. I want to just play a little bit of Leah's Life Day song. So, we'll hear a little bit of R2-D2 and C3O lamenting their non-scentient being.

42:48 It is indeed true that at times like this, Artu and I wish that we were more than just mechanical beings and we're really alive so that we could share your feelings with Chewbacca. Chewbacca, we were so relieved to hear you were all right.

43:08 All of you are an important part of my life, pal. I'm glad I could be here. This holiday is yours. But we all share with you the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom and to harmony and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we're all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage and more than anything else, our love for one another.

43:38 Here you go. This is the promise of the tree of life. This is what it is. Just do a couple seconds of this.

43:52 To the tune of Star Wars. Oh, you're right. It is a day of joy. We all essentially joy. And now I'm further confused because they all join up there. They're all meeting up on Kashik to have like a life day party. It doesn't seem like it's for them. It seems like this is purely a Wookie thing. And yet she's saying how this is like galvanizing the forces of the the rebels, but it's not.

44:30 I don't get it. Seems like it's Christmas, right? It's supposed to be like Christmas.

44:33 Yes. It should be like a It was weird weird moral preachy just like stuck on there.

44:41 Like the song at the end is like it's not nothing about this would be fun. Nothing about it is fun. This is like a a somber side story of the Star Wars world. Uh even at the end of Star Wars,

44:53 it's all Wookies. They're the only nonWookies there. I feel like why does Ch why does Chewbacca get to bring friends?

45:02 Yeah. Well, that's again I feel like Chewbacca is the outcast of the Wookie planet. Like you're first of all you're [ __ ] deadbeat dead. Then you bring all your friends over to her life day. Come on, man. Then your friends take over our celebration and make speeches. Yeah. Why is Leah singing at the Wookie celebration?

45:19 I was like if you're like I get it if it's like okay we want like because we don't want to end it like we want it to be English but they didn't care about that for all the rest of the movie. So, WHY WOULDN'T THEY HAVE LIKE GET THE CREDIT, get get Chewy to make the big speech.

45:33 And by the way, I would have been very excited at at the end of like uh Return of the Jedi where they the Yubnub song like that's all not English and that's Ewok singing like let's have something like that that seems like a celebration song like but nope. It's like let's give this old not old let's give this white lady a chance to sing like and I just feel like she's not an entertainer. She's a she's a princess and a and a rebel leader. She's not known for her singing prowess. Ah, but Carrie Fischer.

45:59 No, that's that's be Arthur. Yeah. Yeah. I Arthur gets to sing her song and that's really where it's at.

46:07 Oh my god. Be Arthur. Like, you know, they have to fill up that cantina full of [ __ ] like all these different creatures. And the the laziest version is that giant rat on the side like it's like uh Yeah. And a big rat. And she'll talk about big [ __ ] rat.

46:23 Then B. Then B, you're gonna go from this guy here and you're gonna go and you're gonna sit next to the big rat and then you're gonna sing this part. Like the blocking of that alone must have made her want to kill herself.

46:35 Shot in like one day and probably the worst one day. Terrible craft service. Uh they're just sitting there miserable. Be Arthur only agreed to do it. She didn't she never saw Star Wars either, but her uh like grandkid or something was a big fan of it, so that's why she jumped in. And apparently the cantina day was an entire day, but the actors in the alien costumes began to pass out due to lack of oxygen.

46:58 So there were oxygen tanks on set because of that. Does it say where this was shot? Like this could have been probably was like or CBS Radford or or that television city.

47:08 I think at the end it did say something about I I I should have rewound but like shot at like Burbank.

47:14 Every variety show ever made was shot in Burbank. I'm certain of that. That's amazing. there. Uh,

47:20 God, it's so close to us. That all happened so close to us. There should be a memorial or some kind of plaque or something.

47:28 But could you imagine doing the Force Awakens special now like this? Like what would be the It would be like the one:1 ratio. It would be like I don't know what it would be. I mean, it would be like the girl like two broke girls come in, you know, they work in like a Jaku diner or something like that.

47:43 Absolutely. Ava Longoria. Two broke girls are too young. Yeah. Oh, you're right. It would have to be like who

47:49 I'm too young. It would all It would have to be like Ed O'Neal. Like Doris Roberts and Ed O'Neal.

47:56 Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh, the producers turned down Robin Williams from being in the special.

48:02 CBS didn't like him, so they turned him down. So, Robin Williams could have been in the Star Wars Holiday.

48:08 The Harvey Corman part. Um, I imagine he had to have been the Harvey Corman part.

48:13 Yeah. And was Morgan Mindy wasn't on yet at this point, right? 78 was it? I feel like he might have No, probably not. Yeah, they would have loved to have had him if he was.

48:20 Oh, yeah. Uh, yes. I mean, that would have been great just to see Doris Roberts doing doing a song at like um the whatever that character the Maz the Maz characters cantina in the Force Awakens. Um,

48:35 did we talk about the instructional video? Oh, for No, that was so another Harvey Corman performance art piece. This is like what is going on here

48:44 now? That I actually liked. It was so absurd and almost in a Tim and Eric way whether they meant it or not. Yeah, I I was riveted by that and I don't know exactly why, but it's so interesting.

48:54 The child's uh computer equipment is broken and he's going to repair it. So, he puts on an instructional video to show him how to repair his like laptop and it's Harvey Corman yet again as another character. This one is like a I mean, you you guys can describe a robot yet. Did they do that after the fact where they just went, "Well, we didn't have any jokes in the first place and he didn't really do anything. Let's tweak with the editing." Was that always planned?

49:19 Again, I don't even understand the logic behind it because the idea would be like, "This is an instructional video, so why would they even release it if the robot malfunctioned? Unless the robot only comes alive when they're doing it." Like, there's not even a logic there.

49:31 Well, I thought it was the playback that was malfunctioning, but don't trust me on that.

49:36 Skipping. It was like skipping and jumping. Oh, but I thought that Harvey Corman was also falling down at certain points too because he

49:42 question I you know what I think you're right. I think it was after the fact because there was no not that people were reacting appropriately or that the the Wookies were reacting appropriately but like there was no acknowledgement that it was like there was no like like Lumpy WAS LIKE OH NO like it's it's messing up which is totally totally normal. So after the fact they were like we got to make it interesting. We got I mean and they really did make like that wouldn't be amazing if that was like one of Tim and Eric's like editor's grandfathers worked on this

50:12 or they're like we we have to make this funny or this special isn't going to work cuz everything else is right in the pocket. We nailed it. This is the one thing

50:22 and they also reuse footage from Star Wars a handful of times uh to uh to a degree. Yeah. Okay. I am watching it right now. Harvey Corman falls down. So, it's not it's not playback. He literally falls and his head hits the table and he's like he's malfunctioning. He's shorting out.

50:42 That's crazy. Why not just put him in the room with them and then you just have a funny robot performance? I guess no one was going to get on that Wookie set.

50:49 Yeah. Um it was only broadcast once. We talked about that. Uh what uh anything else that we may have missed uh that uh I know that there's so much to talk about, but I Oh, there's another issue that I always have. Mala is making Wookie ookies, which are Wookie cookies, but that's an issue that I have because we don't call them like human ookies. Like you like like I don't understand

51:14 cookies or cookies. A cookie. Exactly. They don't have to have like the name of the species before it. You wouldn't call them Yeah. Like Yeah. They were called Wookie.

51:23 Yeah. Yeah. He's like, "Yeah, I'm making some of those Wookie ookies for me. We're making some human ramen over here." I did feel like Arc Carney would have

51:30 Well, it makes it sound like they're made of Wookie. Maybe they're cannibals, which would make Wookies cannibals.

51:37 I do want to go back to Do you think that Arc Carney did have an affair with Mala? Could that have happened because the way he wanted to kiss her?

51:44 Blame her for, you know, I mean, a for because Chewbacca's gone, but also Arc Carney, what a catch. And then when Chewbacca gets back, the sexual chemistry that is between the sexual tension between him and Mala is palpable.

51:59 Why didn't they actually kiss? It almost happened and then they hugged. I I wanted to see that Wookie kiss so bad.

52:05 I don't think their mouths can do that. Yeah, there's no way. Again, I feel like I want to get into I want to go deep into Chewbacca's life, couples therapy, why Mala is upset with him. Like, what is going on? I feel like maybe that was a little bit of the intention. Like if it went over well, maybe they would have made like a TV series off of it.

52:25 Oh, I think you're probably right. Oh, I mean I feel like they did make these Ewok specials eventually like later on which we were going to maybe focus on, but they're just actually too boring. Uh but this and this is at least is a train wreck. Uh but yeah, like there I mean I think that like imagine if Lucas directed the second one. This is what he wanted. He wanted to focus on Wookies like this. Like the Empire Strikes Back could have had a giant chunk of just

52:50 this Wookie. Just boring Wookie. Takes the most interesting character, the most like beastlike character, and just like makes him the most domesticated. They There's an oven in there. They have like a nice oven and furniture. There's nothing There's nothing Wookie about it. It's just nice. It's like,

53:07 wouldn't you like to see what the equivalent of a Wookie chair is? The only difference between a Wookie and a human family is that they don't speak English and most of their house is made of wood. That's the only difference.

53:17 Which you could say for a lot of Italians. That's true. Wow. Really going hard at Italians.

53:26 Again, I mean, or anyone who like uh where is IKEA from? Uh yeah, don't try and backtrack on this now.

53:32 No, they're not notoriously hairy. You have to stay Mediterranean to make this work.

53:37 Um what else? Anything else that you saw that you worth bringing up? I was just gonna say that I the part that I I really did get emotional when uh uh Lumpy when he's putting back together the stuffed animal. I really I felt for him. I And all of the inserts they had just like random inserts really close up of a lot of their faces and like the ones at the end of Mala um like almost crying.

54:02 Oh yeah. Were so they were like I was like a And then I I couldn't I like burst out laughing cuz they were so absurd. I got emotional when he had to clean his room because they showed the entire process and it just brought me back to when I had to clean my room.

54:17 I there I don't know if it's like being a new dad on some level, but I do get emotional with like things with like sons and dads. I did get like a little bit like there was a moment I was like, "Oh, I'm like I'm feeling this." But because it was I was like you don't want to see a kid get beat up and tortured and treated poorly by this stupid. That's amazing. I really just the thing that I want to remind everybody of is that in the middle of all of this they murder a stormtrooper

54:45 and and and are everybody appears to be unfazed and and our current when he goes and he uh uh when they're like where is the uh where is he? He lies and says that he was robbed and that then he whatever he fled, but he's so incriminating himself. The guy, they will so QUICKLY FIND OUT, NO, he was thrown off of this thing.

55:08 For all of the um distrust that the Empire has throughout this entire special in that one sentence, they're like, "Okay, good enough for me. Let's wrap this up. You got it, buddy.

55:18 Makes sense that our our Stormtrooper just defected out of no reason and on cash like in this wooky planet where he'll stick out like a a sore thumb." I didn't want

55:27 I guess that guy robbed a bunch of Wookies and took off for the forest because that's that's what stormtroopers do.

55:34 Oh, there's two things I didn't even talk about. The um first of all, I just briefly just want to mention the long antenna on like uh I guess you know uh one of the Imperial soldiers has like an antenna that is I would say like 3 feet. It's like and it's like CV antenna.

55:50 Yeah, CV antenna which I loved. Uh just like the technology should be a little bit more advanced than that. We're flying spaceships around.

55:56 I mean, they have pocket aquariums for Christ sake. Yeah. And we're calling up across the galaxy. We're getting a live stream to Moses Eisley's. We don't need uh we don't need this long antenna here anymore. And then the other thing that I want to talk about is so at the end, Chewbacca and Han get there. They kill a Stormtrooper and Chewbacca's kid jumps into whose arms first?

56:15 Han. Solo. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. The kid jumps in like again proving Chewbacca's a bad dad. the first person he goes to.

56:23 That's only something a new dad would notice. That is the takeaway from the special. Chewbacca is

56:29 is a bad dad. That is now canon. Yes. Um, obviously that was our opinion about the film, but there are other people out there with another opinion. It is now time for second opinions. Make no mistake, this movie blows. And we have now reached the best part of the show. Here in the game, they had their say, but there are people out there that feel a different way. Let's check out these five star reviews called Amazon. trying to figure out what is going on. Damn.

57:17 Okay. When I watched this when I was a young kid, I loved it because it was a Star Wars show. I wasn't a critic. Now that I'm older, I suspect this was created by people under the influence of drug culture in the 70s using Star Wars characters to tell a story. If you can see and accept this, this show is very good, entertaining, creative, in its own way unique.

57:37 Leonard Molton, five stars. Well, I guess yeah, if you accept drug culture in the 70s, then that works.

57:45 I'd maybe agree with that sort of. I think that they did weird [ __ ] here. I mean, it definitely Yeah. Uh like no one's really into it in the five-star reviews.

57:53 They're probably all enjoying it ironically. Yeah. Yeah. Um this one, like the Star Wars holiday special is sadly a forgotten classic. The epic story line is primarily concerned with Chewbacca trying to make it home in time for life day. But at its core, the film is a metaphor for the common man's attempt to make the world better for his family in the face of corrupt and uncaring people. Parallels to 1984 envisioned by the Empire occupying their house and manhandling their property. This classic also allows us insight into the supposedly gruff character of Han Solo, who reveals his tender side and his relations with Chewbacca and Chewbacca's family. His crying when Princess Leah sings the lyrics to Star Wars main theme. Oh, wow. Five stars. I didn't realize that that would be like that's the lyrics to the main theme.

58:35 Yeah, I didn't know that. This is written by like an iron rand reader. That one where it's like the tyranny in 1984. That is like a tea party person. Yeah, people liked it. People liked this. Uh uh would you guys recommend watching this at all?

58:52 Oh yes, 100%. Over a week at least. Especially right now. Yeah, right now it's a good chance because it's a holiday season.

58:59 Watch it right before or after seeing the Force Awakens, too. Just to see when what happens in that movie happens, it's good to reflect on.

59:07 It really is good to remember the important things here. And I we didn't talk about I think the best part, which was the cartoon.

59:13 Yeah, it's Yeah. Good. I actually I really I enjoyed it. I also I mean there was no point they didn't get that it was like oh whoa like Boba Fett wasn't on our side and then nothing happened

59:25 solely to get the action figure marketed. That's it's so crazy like every resolution here is so quick. It's like like Boba Fett's like oops see you later suckers and he just like shoots like this is like a world class assassin. He could have just got into a gunfight or anything. Like they basically like we know you're a bad guy. Like

59:43 Yeah. He could have killed him at any time. Yeah. Yeah. Like Boba Fett's is a bad bounty hunter. But yeah, but it looks cool and like I almost would have preferred if the whole holiday special were these like little vignettes like these like cool little cuz that was like a cool adventure. So obviously you couldn't shoot Star Wars. So why don't you just do them as cartoons? It had that animation style like heavy metal or like the creep show interstitials where the people always are they're always moving like has that strange 70s I don't know like punk rock animation or something. It's really cool.

1:00:14 I I also I really enjoyed the way Harrison Ford was drawn. Oh yeah. It was so weird. He had like little tiny They almost drew him like like he was like high the whole time. I wish like like you know it's so funny like Harrison Ford I think had so many issues with the uh Return of the Jedi but I feel like this is back in the day where you could get your main cast of the biggest blockbuster of all time to do a TV variety special.

1:00:42 Oh yeah. There is nothing else like that. You will never see this again. Like you could never even get the L the Lord of the Rings like Elf and Feast special. You would never see these characters out and about like they people have a hard time even getting characters to do video game voices like yet alone come on and act in like a multicam production of their own [ __ ]

1:01:04 The closest analog to this is they'll go on like a Jimmy Fallon and do a Star Wars sketch or something like that or like Daniel Craig did one for Spectre and that's the best you'll get out of the

1:01:14 Yeah. And even what you'll get now I get I think what you get more is like Daniel Craig has to do like a Heineken ad.

1:01:20 Yeah. Right. Or a funnier dive, you know, which which I feel like has the same level of embarrassment.

1:01:25 That's right. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, we'll never know what Life Day is officially.

1:01:30 When When do we know when it is exactly? I mean, look, it's a We don't. It's Christmas, I think.

1:01:36 Do we know? Is it like in the Star Wars universe? Is the calendar the same as ours? I mean, it literally can't be because it's ours is what a lunar calendar based on our sun. So,

1:01:46 yeah. So, they don't have that. We know that it's not winter on Kashik. Or maybe, again, that's my issue with these planets. It could be winter somewhere. This could just be He could live in the He could live in the Miami version of the Wookie planet. We don't know if it's winter. They didn't seem to have any decorations up for

1:02:01 No, but if we've learned anything from Star Wars Planets, it's one terrain per planet. All snow, all desert.

1:02:08 It's so bizarre. Like that's the laziness of Star Wars. Just like one. Yeah. Yeah.

1:02:13 Um it would be so cool if Star Wars was on one planet. That would make a lot of sense. Like oh different islands.

1:02:19 Nope. Just all different planets. This is the island planet. This is the desert planet. Uh

1:02:24 this is the floating planet. Um well that was the Star Wars holiday special. We are glad that you guys uh beared with it with us. I I mean I'm glad I watched the whole thing. I and it's it is it's unique. It's you'll never make anything this wrong and this off ever again.

1:02:43 It has a certain beauty. I can't wait to show this to my child as the first introduction to Star Wars.

1:02:48 This is what everybody loves. And uh thank you to everybody for listening. Also, a big thank you to Averil Halley who does all of our clip pulling. Uh she has an amazing site called Movie [ __ ] Also, a big shout out to Nick Kylie, Mr. Zites, uh, Cody Scully, everybody here at Earwolf for making this show, and we thank you and wish you a very happy life day or whatever holiday you celebrate. Uh, see you in the new year. Bye-bye.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Matt Gourley & Eden Sher (HDTGM Matinee)"?

Matt Gorley (Guest), Eden Sher (Guest).

What is discussed in "The Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Matt Gourley & Eden Sher (HDTGM Matinee)"?

In order: 0:00 Star Wars, Harvey Corman, Kashik, Matt Gorley; 10:00 Star Wars; 20:00 Star Wars, Harvey Corman; 30:00 Star Wars, Harvey Corman, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Kashik; 40:00 Star Wars, Harvey Corman, Kashik; 50:00 Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Harvey Corman; 1:00:00 Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Kashik.

What is mentioned in this How Did This Get Made? episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Star Wars, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Harvey Corman, Kashik, Matt Gorley, Eden Sher. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Star Wars Holiday Special w/ Matt Gourley & Eden Sher (HDTGM Matinee)"?

The episode runs 1 h 3 min; the transcript is about 12,740 words in 272 timestamped sections.

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