logo Sign In

Idea: So how come no one has made a less-painful fan edit of the Star Wars Holiday Special?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Seriously.

Cut it down to 60 minutes and it may not be all that bad.

Author
Time

I've given it serious thought in the past. In fact a couple years ago I had a stroke of genius while watching it and had all these great ideas about ways to cut and rearrange some things but now I can't remember any of it and the last time I watched it I had lost the insight.

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

Tobar said:

.....and the last time I watched it I had lost the insight.

Wait....you were able to sit through it more than once? :o

Author
Time
 (Edited)

When I think... I have very great remembering of the SW hollyday special !!! "How is that possible?" will you ask. Simple: I saw it on TV a long time ago and haven't seen it since.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I still don't have the balls to watch it once!!!

its bad enough I've seen the PT why put myself through the torture of seeing the HS (now does that stand for holiday special or horse shit???? .....or possibly both!)

Bingowings said: Do you want to see the project finished as a playable film or a flick book?

Author
Time

BarBar Jinkx said:


I still don't have the balls to watch it once!!!

its bad enough I've seen the PT why put myself through the torture of seeing the HS (now does that stand for holiday special or horse shit???? .....or possibly both!)
http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda01/Quotes/001_thumb.png
RiffTrax

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress

Author
Time

brash_stryker said:

Tobar said:

.....and the last time I watched it I had lost the insight.

Wait....you were able to sit through it more than once? :o

Yeah I'm wired differently than most. I've seen it quite a few times actually and find it entertaining in its own way. =P

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

The first ten minutes of Wookiee-speak is one of the funniest things you can watch while high. Almost The Room levels of funny.

Author
Time

It seems that most of the bits with the guest stars could be pared down without too much loss. 

And yes, I am aware that some of you don't like it.  That's fine.  We've got plenty of threads to discuss that elsewhere.  I just want to kick around some ideas of maybe improving the thing.  No matter what you cut, it will still be bad, but maybe it could be a bit less of a trainwreck.

Author
Time

Ive only ever seen it once and its complete bollocks , but the Boba Fett cartoon is worth a look.

Author
Time

The product itself is, on the conceptual level, not prone to being improved.

If you cut the cheesey parts out, there's be nothing left. It's a cheesy TV special, not a bad movie.

It would be like trying to edit the "Brady Bunch Variety Hour" into something serious.

Author
Time

adywan said:


Maybe i should do a Holiday Special:Revisited. (When i am declared clinically insane after finishing the saga) lol
LOL

But seriously, if one were to edit it, what would we keep? I guess Chewie's family would be the part to keep. Cut the cartoon, cut the instructional videos, the music videos, and Bea Arthur (or cut everything but Bea Arthur, as even RiffTrax thinks that was good). Trim out the setups for the side pieces especially Itchy's Porn Machine (nice band name or lurker name there). In the end I think there may be about 10 minutes of usable, interesting footage.

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress

Author
Time

You could replace the bands with Lapti Nek and Jedi Rocks but make them less crap (I wouldn't want to ruin the Holiday Special with Megalips and Mr Tonsils).

Author
Time

Well, the whole "plot" of the special involves Chewie getting home for Life Day.  The things that involve the guest stars are things the Wookiee family do to basically keep busy while they wait for Han and Chewie.  About all of those could be cut entirely or trimmed heavily.

Author
Time

Someone needs to edit the ending into a "Snuggie" commerical

Author
Time

I've only seen it once. I watched it with rifftrax...I couldn't imagine just watching it without the jokes and commentary though.

 

Author
Time

If someone can fix this piece of shit, they can fix the prequels easy.

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

Author
Time

The Star Wars Holiday Special is like some alternate bizarro reality of Star Wars where Fox kept the rights to Star Wars and started crapping out Sid and Marty Krofft inspired insanity. Would have loved to have seen Lucas' face the night he saw the special for the first and probably last time. Did any of you know there is some footage out there somewhere for an Empire Strikes Back Holiday Special?

Author
Time

My problem with the Holiday Special isn't as much how bad it is, but how unlike Star Wars it is. Sure you have all the characters, it just doesn't have that feel to it.

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

Author
Time

I'd imagine the logical way to do it would be to start by removing any singing sequences.  The only music sequence that could maybe stay is Lumpy watching the acrobats.  Keep the cartoon.  Lose Harvey Korman, or at least cut his bits before they get repetitive.  Keep Art Carney doing his Norton schtick, since we still need a little humor in there and it's a nice nod to the actor's past work.  Replace the opening credits with a traditional SW style scroll.

Beyond that would be the technical stuff - replace all the FX shots so they're not just re-uses from the film and clean up some of the Kashyyyk outdoor mattes, and of course a sound mix to clean that up in spots.

 

My outlook on life - we’re all on the Hindenburg anyway…no point fighting over the window seat.