It’s fascinating to see so many people interested in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
I’m reminded of my drive home this evening, and seeing the flashing lights in the darkness ahead: I moved to the left lane of highway 167, trying to give space to the situation on the right, and was amazed to find that, even there, everyone was slowing down to see what sort of damage there might be.
Not that I’m all that different. I can tell you that there was no visible carnage, just a police car and an unladen tow truck, and I admit that I did spend the summer trying to create an SE disc of the SWHS. At some point I hope to be able to finish that disc.
In light of that hope, and also because of others’ interest (two fanedits of the Special are currently underway, and I think I read about a third), I decided to begin this thread on Holiday Special RESOURCES and DREAMS.
The SWHS web site that SKot runs has some good-quality video of the Fox News and TVLand mentions of the Special, and both play well when converted to DVD. However, is there better available?
Conan O’Brien surprised Harrison Ford when he was shilling for “Firewall”: I’ve only found a terrible copy of that, overcompressed and all but unwatchable, and would dearly love to find it in better condition.
It would be great to have an archival disc, a “final word” in special editions. My own dream would be to have a dual-layer disc with both the KCCI (great video quality) and WMAR (I think that’s the one with the commercials included) transfers playable, the commercials playable separately, the four “musical moments” bookmarked, and (as an Easter egg) the Bill Murray musical moment from Saturday Night Live. [The Bill Murray moment, BTW, was played as part of the AFI salute to George Lucas for Life Achievement.]
Of course, only the truly obsessed would take the script and subtitle the program. [Hands, those of us who’d do it in a heartbeat!]
And the frightfully manic could create a featurette on the evolution of Kashyyyk: initial concepts in the pre-ANH screenplays and treatments, the SWHS, The Wookiee Storybook, various comic strips and comic books, the Tyrant’s Test novels, and finally RotS.
While I’d love to create this disc, right now it’s not a possibility. Perhaps someone will, or perhaps it’ll be a team effort. Who’s interested?