Preserving the...cringe...Star Wars Holiday Special (Released) — Page 20

So that's how he does it!

DVDs don't smash nearly as well as videotapes, though.  But where is the famous hammer?

--SKot

SKot said:

DVDs don't smash nearly as well as videotapes, though.  But where is the famous hammer?

I find that scissors work better. But I've never destroyed a Holiday Special disc.

My guess is that the whole thing would be on there, as it's only 11 minutes long and can theoretically be sourced from the actual original film that Nelvana provided - which is perfect for scanning at hi-res and putting on Blu-ray.  And that would also mean that, in theory, the whole uncut cartoon would be there including the cut "commercial" segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSfkcAlVaE

Let's hope it is!

--SKot

Yeah I was just thinking last night that if the cartoon is going to be on there I hope they leave in the nutty original commercial. Anyone know if that border/frame seen in the picture is optional. I don't want to really complain too much cause its great to finally have the cartoon, but I'd want to watch it just in normal 4:3 status.

I didn't know they went with the border thing during the extras. Kind of lame, but its still just good to finally have it.

But the real thing about the borders on the Disney blu-rays is that at the least they put the time and effort to make it fill in the extra black areas and blend with the rest of the film (I rather like them).

This on the other hand, looks like it took a few minutes to slap together...

none said:

Starwars.com got a redesign (everything radically simplified) and there's a section for outside websites (only 21 or so selected) but SKot's Holiday Special site is one of them.  Congrats!

http://www.starwars.com/connect/fan-sites/

 I'm extremely pleased to see that my site made the list and got official recognition!  I'm also pleased to see Starwars.com getting simplified in a way that looks like it will be more meaty and less Flash-y.  Previous incarnations were a bit full of bells and whistles and kind of buried the content part.

I'm curious, though, how much of the older content now will find its way back to accessibility.  Far too often perfectly good information just disappears into the ether when a site gets revamped...surface trimmings should never supercede or replace actual useful content!

--SKot

Can anyone confirm if the Nelvana cartoon is indeed on the blu-ray set?

Nice; thanks for that, AF!  That border not being optional is a real detractor.  It also means the 4:3 cartoon doesn't fill the whole frame like it should.

Looks like the wacky commercial is missing, along with the entire "computer bleep" intro and outro.  Which leads me to believe that this is indeed sourced from the HS master tape.  The missing intro/outro is the biggest clue: since the outro shows up in a tiny window on Lumpy's viewscreen in the broadcast, they would have had to either show a few seconds of live action with Lumpy or cut out the intro/outro entirely.  They went with the latter, of course.

Too bad they didn't (or couldn't) use Nelvana's master animation reel. That would have been on at least 16mm film, like the Leica animatic reel they had online a while back...which they could have scanned in hi-res and included in uncut form.  However, this does confirm one good thing: Lucasfilm apparently has a master copy of the HS that is in good shape.  The only previous excerpt from this cartoon was in the "Bucket Head" web documentary, and the quality of the picture in that one was bootleggishly bad...leaving some of us to wonder if their only archive copy was crap.

Since this wasn't technically a real easter egg (not hidden; just a regular menu option), I wonder if any interesting actual easter eggs will show up?

--SKot

SilverWook said:

IIRC, on the "Rock and Rule" DVD, a vault fire was mentioned as to why the alternate cut of that film survives only on videotape.

I have to wonder what else Nelvana may have lost?

 That would be unfortunate.  But then how did Lucasfilm get hold of the Leica animatic reel, and why didn't they have the cartoon as well?

It begs the question of where the original film reel would have resided.  What form did CBS receive it in, in 1978?  Was it already converted to videotape?  If so, that might explain the source of the alternate cut floating around.  If not, and CBS got the cartoon on film, they would have had to telecine it themselves and insert it into the HS...and then where did the film go?  If CBS hung onto it, Lucasfilm would have picked it up when they acquired the HS rights and masters in the 80s.  If they sent it back to Nelvana (which seems unlikely), then it could have been lost in that fire.

Did the "Rock and Rule" DVD specifically mention the HS cartoon being in the fire?

--SKot