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Info Wanted: anyone done 'The Donny and Marie Show' Star Wars skit...

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 (Edited)

Has anybody tackled this one yet? If the Holiday Special is to be inflicted on future generations, might as well include these 12 minutes of cheesy horror.
I got a copy at a con many years ago. It could never be mistaken for a low generation tape, but I was hoping somebody with better gear could take a whack at cleanup and transfer? I’m getting nowhere at the moment…

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Where were you in '77?

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I had the privilege (?) of seeing this on one of the various extras discs out there. Now, as bad as the Holiday Special is, that has a certain charm to it (yes, even Bea Arthur's inexplicable involvement). But the Donny & Marie thing is just awful-- it's obvious that the staff was like, "Hey, that Star Wars is mighty popular. Let's do something that barely relates to it, and whip up some bad songs and dance numbers!" "Cheesy horror" is an understatement.

I can't even remember how good or bad the quality was-- I think I blocked it out!
We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
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I think this is on one of the OCPMovie outings. Possibly Return of the Ewok?

I know I only watched it a few weeks back. It was so bad that I've made countless people watch it since
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It's on Return of the Ewok, courtesy of Rarities 1.


It is the worst thing ever made ever.
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The Donny and Marie Show skit was really bad. I could watch the Holiday Special. I couldn't make myself sit through this thing.
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I think you're all being too harsh on it. It may be bad, it may be cheesy (personally I like cheese), it has one thing going for it that the holiday special could have benefitted from - a chorus line of dancing stormtroopers. Surely I can't be the only one who gets a kick out of seeing that?

And however misconceived, it seems to be done with more enthusiasm and enjoyment from the participants, than appeared on screen with either the holiday specials or much of the prequels (or ROTJ in Harrison Fords case)
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Kinda offtopic - but weren't there dancing stormtroopers that formed the LucasArts logo in front of one/some of the old Star Wars games? No wait, actually I think it was one of the Rogue Squadron games, Rogue Leader I think (on the Gamecube).

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It is the worst thing ever made ever.



The abc Saturday Sneak Peek and Fun Fit Test with Tony Danza, See Threepio and Artoo Detoo wins that contest for me........ (Rarities 2)

4 - 5 - 3 - 1 - 6 - 2

Discuss…

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How is the video quality of the Rarities disc version? The video is really "squiggly" on what I have. Whatever the source was, the commercials were professionally edited out.
Does anybody appreciate the irony of Donny and Marie playing Luke and Leia in light of a certain plot twist in Jedi?
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Where were you in '77?

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Originally posted by: booah
I had the privilege (?) of seeing this on one of the various extras discs out there. Now, as bad as the Holiday Special is, that has a certain charm to it (yes, even Bea Arthur's inexplicable involvement). But the Donny & Marie thing is just awful-- it's obvious that the staff was like, "Hey, that Star Wars is mighty popular. Let's do something that barely relates to it, and whip up some bad songs and dance numbers!" "Cheesy horror" is an understatement.

I can't even remember how good or bad the quality was-- I think I blocked it out!


LMAO !!!

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Originally posted by: Ell the Ewok
There were linedancing stormies with will shanter at AFT I beleive,



Yes, there were. That whole monologue was hilarious. Wonder if they recycled the idea from the Donnie and Marie skit?
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That is truly the most horrible piece of shit I have ever had to watch.
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"Sanford has no sun"

Neil

Well at least the reversed surround channels have been addressed.

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Originally posted by: Neil S. Bulk
"Sanford has no sun"

Neil


That part was a prime example of why the show was show stupid.
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The actor who played Lamont on Sanford and Son left the series that year. So it was a topical joke back then. BTW, wasn't Kris Kristofferson among the many who auditioned for Han Solo, or did I hallucinate that tidbit?
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Where were you in '77?

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It wouldn't surprise me if that's why he appeared to there, to parody him losing the audition.
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Just watched this today on Return of the Ewok. The quality is pretty bad.
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That's just the star wars segment, though, on the ROTE disc. Does rarities1 have the complete thing?
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There's a convention DVDr available which has the full Donny & Marie special and the Bob Hope Christmas Special.
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Where?!? I have been looking for the Bob Hope special for a long while!
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That disc sounds nice to have. I've never seen the Bob Hope special (the UK being relatively Bob Hope free). How 'good' or bad is it? Is it another special best tossed onto Donny and Marie and Holiday Special bonfire?
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i've seen the version on Rarities 1, and I think I have a VHS version that beats it out..."think" being the operative word as it's been a while since I watched it on VHS. (I did inflict the Rarities 1 version on a big group of fans this summer during a full saga marathon... )

I'd be happy to send the VHS to a "regular" if they want to take a look at it and see if it's worth another transfer. I actually have a couple things I think might make up a good "random rarities" disc that I haven't seen circulate too much...the tape with the Donnie/Marie special has a talk show clip that I've never seen anywhere (or at least I don't think I have) from some random American daytime talk show around ESB. i also have a few MSNBC specials from around the prequel era that I haven't seen make the rounds...I think they're Headliners & Legends.

anyway, i'd love to see if this stuff is worth circulating, so PM me if you're not an untrustworthy vagabond and would like to check out the tapes. I can mail them to you but of course would love to get them back!
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Originally posted by: DarthAstuart
i've seen the version on Rarities 1, and I think I have a VHS version that beats it out..."think" being the operative word as it's been a while since I watched it on VHS.



I've seen a couple of people talk about these Rarities 1 & 2 discs. Could anyone help me in finding a copy?

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