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Preserving the...cringe...Star Wars Holiday Special (Released) — Page 13

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awesome......whereabouts? feel free to PM me if its a secret.:D

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I'm sure we're all familiar with the Ralph McQuarrie painting of Chewbacca's house with Lumpy balancing on the rail.  In a way, because McQuarrie did it, it's something that truly gives the Special a legitimacy it might otherwise not have.  That, and much of the conceptual art that SKot has at his site.  The program was taken seriously by some talented people who did excellent work.  [Too bad the rest of the production didn't rise to the same level.]

When and where did that painting see print?

I _assume_ that it was created specifically for the Special because we can see Lumpy.

So does anyone know whence it came?  And, equally important, whether it's possible to find a larger, higher-resolution image than what's generally available?

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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MattMahdi said:

I'm sure we're all familiar with the Ralph McQuarrie painting of Chewbacca's house with Lumpy balancing on the rail.  In a way, because McQuarrie did it, it's something that truly gives the Special a legitimacy it might otherwise not have.  That, and much of the conceptual art that SKot has at his site.  The program was taken seriously by some talented people who did excellent work.  [Too bad the rest of the production didn't rise to the same level.]

When and where did that painting see print?

I _assume_ that it was created specifically for the Special because we can see Lumpy.

So does anyone know whence it came?  And, equally important, whether it's possible to find a larger, higher-resolution image than what's generally available?

The matte painting they actually ended up using (2 of them actually - one for day, one for night at the end) was very similar to the Ralph McQuarrie painting, but was repainted by another unknown artist.  I'm not sure exactly when McQuarrie painted the original piece, but I believe it was well before production began on the Holiday Special, and served as an inspiration for the show.  I'm guessing it was earlier in 1978, when ideas were being thrown around for the Special.  As to when it saw print, I'm not sure about that one either.  It was hard to find anywhere, that's for sure, let alone in any kind of quality.  Sadly, Kashyyyk was not included in the 1995 Illustrated Star Wars Universe book, so it wasn't there.  I do know that more recently a giant version of it was included in The Art of Ralph McQuarrie book, along with a few other amazing HS pieces, some of which have never been seen elsewhere.  My original source for a decent-resolution image of it?  I purchased a couple of Star Wars ScreenThemes screen savers that included a lot of McQuarrie art in 1024x768.

Oddly enough, there's some Joe Johnston Wookiee family artwork that I figured was pre-production art for the HS... but it's dated 3/8/79!  Why it would be AFTER the show aired is a mystery to me.  By that time, everybody knew it was a failure, so what was LFL up to?  Were they talking about a TV series?  Or thinking of featuring Wookiees in the next film?  I'm hoping someday I can ask Joe Johnston that question.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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ive just watched the whole thing....some great bits, and....some not so great bits. i dont think Harrison Ford enjoyed himself too much. The Cartoon is fantastic though, i love the comic style it has. wasnt too impressed with the wookies, though as said before, some bits are fantastic, and others really are not.:P

 

my review though would sound like this..

NOT WANT!

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what is this holiday special you talk about? There is NO such thing. Its a lie!. No exist! LIES! LIES!

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." - Mark Twain.
"A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes"...James Feibleman (1904-1987)
www . axia . ws/axia

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SKot said:

Sadly, Kashyyyk was not included in the 1995 Illustrated Star Wars Universe book, so it wasn't there.

Yup.  That's where I looked those many months ago.  Darn.

I do know that more recently a giant version of it was included in The Art of Ralph McQuarrie book, along with a few other amazing HS pieces, some of which have never been seen elsewhere.

That may have to be investigated.  Of course Amazon would say it's out of print, but considering that the publisher has the GENERAL edition, both out of print and originally priced at $150, maybe its unavailability is not a bad thing!

Yike.

For those out there who have a copy, and who are *obviously* reading this thread [note disbelieving tone], a high-quality scan would be wonderful...

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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 (Edited)

i will check the library database at my university for you, we have access to most UK collections so you never know!:P

have you got the ISBN, title, author and year? ISBN should be fine, but the others may be helpful

i'd be interested in the mattes, it may be helpful for the eventual ROTS:R, who knows.:P

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From Amazon:

  • Hardcover: 394 pages
  • Publisher: Dreams & Visions Press (January 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0979158001
  • ISBN-13: 978-0979158001

 

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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SKot said:

I'm not sure exactly when McQuarrie painted the original piece, but I believe it was well before production began on the Holiday Special, and served as an inspiration for the show.  I'm guessing it was earlier in 1978, when ideas were being thrown around for the Special.

Yeah....  It's just that, given all the neat pre-production images he did, many wildly different from what actually made it into the film, there's the dream that it was a conception of the plan for Jedi: a planet of Wookiees.

Not unlike my first thoughts when I saw the partially built Death Star II.  Wasn't a clear picture, and I didn't know a new one was being built, so my mind leapt to an interesting conclusion:  it was the shell of the original station, the part opposite the direction of the blast that destroyed it.  The Imperials had found it, were refurbishing it....

Neither dream true, of course.  But pleasant alternate realities.

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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MattMahdi said:
SKot said:

I'm not sure exactly when McQuarrie painted the original piece, but I believe it was well before production began on the Holiday Special, and served as an inspiration for the show.  I'm guessing it was earlier in 1978, when ideas were being thrown around for the Special.

Yeah....  It's just that, given all the neat pre-production images he did, many wildly different from what actually made it into the film, there's the dream that it was a conception of the plan for Jedi: a planet of Wookiees.

Not unlike my first thoughts when I saw the partially built Death Star II.  Wasn't a clear picture, and I didn't know a new one was being built, so my mind leapt to an interesting conclusion:  it was the shell of the original station, the part opposite the direction of the blast that destroyed it.  The Imperials had found it, were refurbishing it....

Neither dream true, of course.  But pleasant alternate realities.

I think a lot of us thought that too but we did see the thing pretty much reduced to glitter in the first film which ruled that possibility out.

Unless you do this :

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-One-Death-Star-to-Rule-Them-All-6-become-1-and-only-1/topic/9797/

 

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MattMahdi said:

And, equally important, whether it's possible to find a larger, higher-resolution image than what's generally available?

Shock of shocks, the following link

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kashyyyk

includes a picture which is better, which finally has a link to a larger copy (800x600) which has a link to a huge picture (1280x960).

There are levels of detail I never dreamed of!

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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woot! ill still have a look for that book though.:P

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I had a question about the Holiday Special.  Is it true that the show has become public domain?  The reason I ask is that it is for sale on eBay stating that it is.

If anybody can answer this to satisfy my curiosity, I would greatly appreciate it .

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Yes eBay sellers are full of crap.

Please don't post any links.

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 (Edited)

Thank you.  It really chaps my a** to see people making a profit from this.  Especially when they are selling the Angrysvn Edition DVD version created by somebody else.

I've been trying to get eBay to pull the listings.

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Is there anyone in here that I could get a DVD Copy of the best transfer of this H.S. from, Please contact me, I would really appreciate it?

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 (Edited)

Do most agree too that the one with the optional Rifftrax commentary seems to currently be the best so far?  My other one is the KCCI version that is pretty good but it has color and brightness issues that the rifftrax one doesn't seem to have.  The cartoon does look best on the KCCI, but overall though the Rifftrax does seem to be the better of the two.  Anyone know what source was used for the Rifftrax one?  I can't find any of the station IDs in it, and the commercials seem to have been edited in because they are lower quality.

Tobor is robot spelled backwards.

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 (Edited)

Does no one else care about this as much?  With more comparison, I was wrong, the KCCI does seem to have the edge on quality.  I remember it looking flawless on my 480 set, but dvd compression is more apparent on HDTVs.  It also suffers from being a bit too dark, and it can't be synced to the rifftrax cause no commercials.  Anyone know the originator of it?  It would be interesting to get the original files or make a new cap and do some picture adjustments maybe pushing it to a DVD9.  I tracked down all the commercials in pretty high quality, so another everything edition to better fit on HDTVs could be done.

Tobor is robot spelled backwards.

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It's true; the KCCI is the best broadcast version we know of, but it does have its flaws.  A new, higher quality dump of the original source tape with commercials included would be the way to go.

There is another version--the WBBM Chicago broadcast--that is also extremely good.  But it isn't edited as cleanly as the KCCI, and it's missing the commercials as well.

Let's hope we can see a DVD9 with a new capture of the KCCI soon.  That's the best hope for a SWHS broadcast preservation that we have.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

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SKot said:

Let's hope we can see a DVD9 with a new capture of the KCCI soon.  That's the best hope for a SWHS broadcast preservation that we have.

You speak as someone who has reason for hope of such a thing coming to pass?

“Before the Dark Times. Before the Prequels.”

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Well I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I have the commercials in really high quality if the means to make a more HD-television-friendly version ever arises.  I always had the typical loath/love for it, but watching it with the rifftrax again this year I fell head over heels for it.  Its nice and trippy by itself, but with their riff its an absolute Christmastime must view for me now.

Tobor is robot spelled backwards.