Did you successfully finish watching The Special? - Shop the Grogu collection now and get 25% off your first order at meundies.com/rejects - Full Length Reaction Watch Along & More For *SS* Rejects: www.patreon.com/thereelrejects
@@thegladve We’re going to a great big party The whole world is gonna turn out Everybody’s set for a good time People getting ready to shout From New York City to Moscow All getting ready for fun Makes the Autumn’s day seem like nothing Boys this is nothing wrong Whole world is celebrating People getting ready to dance Whole world is celebrating Tonight is the fall of romance, oh yeah Whole world is celebrating Diggin’ everything in the sky, everybody Whole world is celebrating Brother kiss your mother goodbye, oh oh yeah 😊
03:25 No, this is immediately after his accident: he was in pain, in bad shape, heavily medicated and you can see it when he tries to smile. Frankly, this performance is heroic.
Carrie Fisher has confirmed it on multiple Occasions that she was High AF while filming this, Mark Hamill laughs about it, and Harrison Ford always forgets he is in it... And George Lucas wants every Trace of it vanished, so the perfect Ingredients of it being a cult Classic. I just love how damn unintentional Hilarious it is
The only person who had a legally made copy of this tv special was Carrie Fisher, who would play it at the end of parties to get the guests to leave, yes Carrie Fisher would troll her guests with this tv spacial to get them out of her house. Chewbacca‘s whole family makes an appearance in the Lego Holiday special they still do exist.
The Holiday Special was an exact representation of a family holiday in the 70's - creepy grandpa or uncle, Mom in the kitchen, bored kids, irritating neighbors dropping by uninvited, and everyone having to wait for the college kids to arrive and rescue them from their painfully drab existence. 😎
Do you wanna party It's partytime We gotta party It's partytime Do you wanna party? It's partytime We gotta party! It's partytime It's partytime It's partytime It's partytime It's partytime It's partytime😊
There truly is no words to express this...piece of history. A piece of history that George Lucas rightfully so like the ET Video Game that came after, he wanted buried and forgotten. But it will never be forgotten. It happened. It exists. And now all of us curious cats must suffer for viewing such...unique art.
When you know who you are When you know you belong You’re not a stranger anymore Sometimes it’s not so clear You’re out there all alone You’re not a stranger anymore Here in the heart, we’re not two worlds apart The same dream we’ve all seen Reach for that star, no matter where you are It will bring. Just believe in you and me You’re near the rainbows end So let the whole world know You’re not a stranger anymore (Instrumental) Here in the heart, we’re not two worlds apart The same dream we’ve all seen Reach for that star, no matter where you are It will bring Just believe in you and me When you know who you are When you know you belong It’s written on your face Now you’ve found that special place You’re not a stranger anymore 😮
First of all, Greg looks amazing in those Baby Yoda pajamas. Secondly, this is by far the wackiest Star Wars production I've ever seen. It's crazy to think that not only was this the first ever appearance of Boba Fett, but that Bea Arthor and Jefferson Starship got roped into it. Also, Leia's musical number was pretty hilariously bad to the point that I *ironically* loved it.
Oh goodness I have tears rolling down my face. There really is nothing that can prepare anybody for the Holiday Special unless they watch it. I take so much weird glee in watching others react to the absolute WTFery that this thing is.
The best way to survive the Star Wars Holiday Special is to watch it with the Rifftrax commentary on. "There's not enough pot in Modesto to explain this."
It's the description of Chewie's family as "Scream-yourself-awake-nightmares" that had me laughing so hard I was worried I'd weird out my neighbors in the next apartment over.
I was 7 when the special aired and I was totally mesmorized - my parents thought it was absolute crap - but kids loved it. You also have to understand that many of the guest stars (Art Carney, Bea Arthur, and Harvey Corman) were huge comic tv stars at the time. Also, Dianne Carroll was a huge star, so this fit in to the crazy variety programs we saw all the time. We were obsessed with Donny & Marie and Shields & Yarnell, Carol Burnette, etc. so to have Star Wars in that format was like crack to us. Is it crap? Yes. Was it wildly entertaining to children? Hell yeah! And kids wanted any star wars toy or content, so we ate it up. I make no apologies 😊
This show was a HUGE embarrassment to Star Wars fans. They had bragged and talked nonstop for six months about the movie, but their family wouldn't pay to watch it. But now here is going to be a FREE star Wars show and everyone will see that you are not just a nerd. So you make the family turn in, yeah, you gonna show them how great Star Wars is. And then this, lol. Everyone was pissed at Lucas for selling out. "THIS is what you've been going on about, this is TERRIBLE" came from living rooms across America.
@@FloridaMugwump this aired in 1978, a year and a half after the movie had been released. No one was snubbing their noses at the hugely successful Star Wars and calling someone "a nerd" for liking it. You clearly weren't around.
@@Tr0nzoid I read the first start wars book before the movie came out, genius. Maybe I got the year of the Xmas special wrong, but I remember what my friends said when it came out, the excitement and anticipation followed by disappoinment and SHAME. for having spent 18 months talking nonstop about a stupid muppet-fueled scifi in an era when scifi was already considered childish and stupid.
I was a kid when this aired originally and I talked my parents into letting me watch it on the big TV in the living room with the entire family. I was the youngest of five. 40 odd years later, and I still haven’t lived it down.
I watched this live on CBS as a kid and for years I thought I had dreamed it up. Many years later I got hold of a heavily bootlegged VHS copy (complete with commercials!) and realized that it was real.. and really bad!!
Me, too! I spent years thinking I was the only person who remembered this thing (since it was never officially re-aired or released) to the point that I started wondering if I imagined the whole thing. I was glad when it showed up on RUclips. It was vindicating to have proof that it existed and was as painfully boring as I remembered.
Oh, you sweet summer children. I was 13 when this first aired, and only aired. It was my first harsh lesson in life, when I watched this, mouth agape, and said, "This is absolute garbage." They don't call it The Holy Grail of Crap for nothing.
As someone who was 14 at the time this aired, let me roll back some of the weirdness for you. In the 70's, Christmas Specials were *always* like this... Donny and Marie... Sony and Cher... Captain and Tennille... etc... The entire show was just sitting in a mountain lodge, waiting for the occasional guest star to stop by and do a funny skit or sing a song... And that's what you get here.... Bea Arthur (Maude), Harvey Korman (Carol and Burnett), Art Carney (The Honemooners), Diahann Carroll... Jefferson Starship... These were *huge* guest stars. So, the disjointed nature of it is just the way these things ran at the time. It was still horrible... I love seeing people watch this for the first time, just for the reactions...
'78, I was 7 years old, and remember being planted in front of the TV and watching this enjoying every minute of it... Today, not so much...but it's still a cool STAR WARS memory that I still have ...
It's very much a snapshot of Hollywood and the TV biz at that point in time, and it's clearly managed by a bunch of old-school producers who just said "We'll just make it a Star Wars themed variety show" which were quite common on TV back then. That's how you wind up with Art Carney and Jefferson Starship ("the kids will love them!") and Bea Arthur, who only really became cool after hipsters discovered Golden Girls. I realize this is difficult for younger folks to understand, but we didn't even have films on VHS tape yet in 1979, so the only way to see Star Wars was in the movie theater. So when this came out, it was a huge deal for Star Wars fans, and no one complained that much because that sort of variety show was pretty common. It's a lot like the way some of us OG fans feel about the prequels... we were desperate for more Star Wars content so it took a few years for us to admit that maybe they weren't actually very good films.
This was by far the funniest reaction I've seen you guys post. I couldn't stop laughing. I think you guys should definitely watch Ewoks: the Battle of Endor (1985) and Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984). Both terrible films, but they have their moments and are infinitely better than the cringe inducing Holiday Special.
Lumpy's animated movie, was an animated re-creation of a mission log. A past mission, where Chewie was late coming home. Lumpy was watching it to reassure himself, that his dad will get home.
It could be nostalgia speaking but the Ewok's show was actually great. It was dark, it had a lot of fantasy inspiration, and the ewok's felt like they had their own culture and mannerisms. I adored it as a child.
I saw this when I was 7 in 1978. It was the first Star Wars related thing to air on tv (the 77 film hadn’t aired and home rental media wasn’t a thing back then) and we had no knowledge of any more films coming out so for a kid this was a fun surprise even if it was dopey. I enjoyed it.
My entire experience of this is just BlindWave's reaction and I just remember Shane being like "they look like they're all gonna drink cool aid and die" and everyone was laughing and he was like "i wasn't trying to be funny" he was just having an awful awful time 😂😂😂
November 1978, I was a very confused and traumatized 8 year old after watching the holiday special and wondering what Hell did I just fall into. This wasn't the Star Wars I remembered from the theaters in 1977. When I re-watched this 43 years later, after discovering that people actually uploaded, over the years, various copies of it to RUclips, did I realize that those horrific memories were not delusions. This truly was FUBAR. Since then, I've inflicted this torture to friends so they could prove their loyalty to the franchise. Congratulations on completing this sh*tshow. No matter what anyone says, you have nothing to prove. Your Star Wars Fandom is secure. Great reaction. P.S. - Do enjoy the torture of BOTH Caravan of Courage & Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. P.P.S. - Last year, during the holiday season, this special was on Disney+.
Ive cried laughing so much during a reaction. This was too good. The Diahann Carroll virtual reality part was killing me! How is this for kids and families?! 😂😂😂 They should do a new Holiday Special with all the live action and animated characters but make it more wacky 🤣
47:58 Chewbacca didn’t just randomly get A medal in TROS, he was given HAN’S medal. Leia was holding it to help her reach out through the force and get Ben to hear her, and was holding it when she died. She seemed to use it as a physical embodiment of the feelings she needed to feel to reach out to her and Han’s son. It would’ve been able to be more clear if not for Fisher’s passing, but that didn’t seem out of nowhere at all to me (Han’s dice would’ve probably been a better symbol, but they were presumably on the Falcon).
I do NOT believe you guys are watching this..... I watched it when it originally aired, and loved it...... but I was 11 years old, and it was the 1970s. So that's excusable. But watching it NOW?! Man.... I can't believe we loved that back then.
2am, almost 30 min in, and I nearly woke the house when I realized - THATS HEADEY G.D. LAMAR from Blazing Saddles! xD I love that I get to be shocked by the Absolutely Bonkers Cast every time.
I love that The Mandalorian pretty much took Boba Fett’s design from this special and gave it to Din Djarin. Even down to his tuning-fork-shaped weapon. That’s pretty cool, the cartoon is the best (and arguably only good) aspect of this special.
Not only is this not on Disney+ but they paid to make a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special to obfuscate future search results and make the original Star Wars Holiday Special harder to find. 😏 Medals awarded to each of you for watching the entire thing.
The three made for TV Specials - Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), The Ewok Adventure - Caravan of Courage (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) were dropped from the official canon when Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Just imagine a decade-long span that gave my generation grew up with: the original trilogy AND this holiday special as well as the ewok movies...the franchise has always had its hits and misses.
We all watched it. It was an event. The kids were all talking about how bad this was but Boba Fett was really cool and Star Wars is a cartoon now and that was a thing too. I liked the tree house and they did keep that idea too.
The extent of Lucas' involvement in the special was his suggestion to build the show around Chewbacca's family. CBS came to him with the idea of a special and hired experienced comedy and variety show writers and producers to come up with the story. Everybody had different ideas -they used all of them and threw them a the screen. I watched this in 1978. My first question was why did they hire Sandy Duncan to play Luke? .
I finally saw this in its entirety a few years ago and for all I know, I might have watched it when it aired. It is rather impressive that the cast members got involved. It kind of represents how people had no way to know where Star Wars would go with its sequel.
Hilariously I’m sure this was BEFORE Golden Girls. So Dorothy was that lady from the Star Wars Special. I was a small child when RotJ came out. So I missed this in real time, but I remember managing to see it when I was young somehow. Can’t imagine how if Lucas disappeared it until home video was a thing. In those days, being able to watch a VCR tape of something was a big deal. They used to sell the tapes at grocery stores for like $50-$80. It was a strange time.
Way before the Golden Girls. Bea Arthur was best known for Maude. Maude was the first TV character to have an abortion storyline on TV. I was the weird 7/8 year old that watch T.V that was not appropriate for my age.
Props for watching this all the way through. I have watched this three times in my life, purely out of spite to annoy three different friends. Now you know why George actively tried to destroy every known copy of this.
Gregs face during this was mostly him looking from side to side with utter confusion, trying to make sense of wtf he was watching. lol. At least you all made it through it. I made it to Boba Fett at one point and gave up because my brain cells all vanished.
I watched this as a kid on TV. This was after I had seen the First movie at a drive-in theater. I don't have fond memories of it - but at the same time, I don't have really bad memories of it. I was exposed to far more media that was not kid-friendly that scarred my young mind - Watership Down, Plague Dogs, the Japanese version of Little Mermaid..... I saw Omen when I was 5 and had nightmares about Baboons trying to break into the house for nights after that. The Holiday special wasn't even a blip on my nostalgia radar.
I remember seeing it after nostalgia critic reviewed it. It's one of those things you like how which or all the drugs taken to create that? Harrison just has a look like he was so stoned. This and KISS meets the Phantom (you guys should check it out) just screams 70s.
Think about it like this. This special introduced Bobo Fett, green light the Droids cartoon and fleshed out other side stories. I know what you're thinking. "What side stories?" The Ewoks movies came out after Return of the Jedi and continued on with the Ewoks cartoon, boardgame and toys. Watch the first Ewoks movie next.
@@michaeltessler it just reminds me of me, and I enjoy watching other people uncontrollably lose their sanity in a fun way 😂 you’re one of the best additions to TRR, glad they brought you on man
This was a Thanksgiving special, not Christmas, so it aired in November. And I enjoyed the two Ewoks movies. Compared to other made-for-television kids movies of the eighties, they were pretty great, really. And compared to the Holiday Special, they were masterpieces. 😂
The guy at the 30 min mark was in the Carol Burnette show. He's hilarious. You should watch it. Him and Tim Conway were amazing together. Watch the dentist one
For a kid watching tv in the 70's, unless you had a vcr and was able to record it, you just saw it once. It had to live in your memory. This holiday tv special was just the usual variety show for the time. You should really compare it to the other tv quality of U.F.O. 1971, The Bionic Man & Starlost both 1972, Planet of the Apes 1974, Space 1999 Season 1 in 1975, Space 1999 Season 2 in 1976, Holmes and Yoyo in 1976, The Fantastic Journey, Man From Atlantis & Quark from 1977, Battlestar Galactica 1978, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century & Salvage 1 in 1979. Thanks for giving us a great react!!!
This was filmed right AFTER Mark Hamill's accident. He had the accident right as the original Star Wars was finishing filming. He even did a few reshoots with heavy makeup to hide his injuries. Most people don't realize that the accident was a full two years before Empire came out.
Mark 25:07. The records that we had still referred to them as "Jefferson Airplane" so seeing them as "Jefferson Starship" was new to us then! Within my CD collection, though, I have them as just "Starship"! Nothing from them as they are here. 😎
I tried to watch this once and made it maybe 20 minutes in. Truly one of the most confusing and bizarre pieces of television ever put out. Glad I got to experience the weirdness with you all without actually watching it myself.
Mark 12:43. Guys! It is Harvey Korman, not inspired by Robin Williams, but by Julia Child! So yes, it is funny! Unless you've never been into Drag Humor, of which HK did a lot of on Carol's show. He and Flip Wilson and Milton Berle never tried to convince the audience that they were real women as part of the humor was knowing that they weren't, while some other character thought that they were! 😁
Howdy! 🤠 Hey, I watched this on "CBS" television when it was new and broadcast for Thanksgiving. Then I watched the repeats while they lasted. I've been wanting my own legal copy ever since! 😎 Now, to view your reactions after reading the description box and top comments. 😄
The mere mention of it in this video is making me scream "WTF are you doing?" This special would be the kind of thing to play at a party if you want everyone to leave.
I got introduced to Star Wars when I was six years old (1984). I watched both Ewok movies and owned them on VHS and regularly watched the Ewok and Droids Saturday morning cartoons when they aired. I didn’t see the Holiday Special until a few years ago and I think my reaction was most similar to Greg’s where I started out liking it and then as it kept going I found myself checking to see how much more time was left. Now whenever I watch it I basically just skip around to the parts I liked most and don’t bother with the rest. I think Greg’s idea for a second Holiday Special is a good idea. In fact, I think it’d be interesting to have a Holiday Special set within each of the now official eras of Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, The Old Republic, The High Republic, Fall of the Jedi, Reign of the Empire, The New Republic, Rise of the First Order, and New Jedi Order. But definitely like Greg said with an actual plot. To be fair since variety shows aren’t a thing now I think they’d be better. I personally enjoy the LEGO Star Wars shows and specials, but it’s because they have the same quirky sense of humor as the LEGO movies, video games, etc. And I personally enjoyed watching Star Wars: Resistance. I’m not saying it’s a must watch series, but I found it a lot easier to watch than the Holiday Special (I mean each week’s episode was under thirty minutes so that’s definitely probably why). I don’t think I’ve seen anyone reacting to the Ewok films or to the 1980’s Ewok and Droid cartoons. I’ve watched these when they were put on Disney+. The cartoons seem about par for the course for 1980s cartoons of the time. I’ve watched others from around the same time and I definitely realize why most of the cartoons I most remember with great nostalgia are from the very late 1980s and early 1990s….those just had better stories usually. Caravan of Courage is a good movie. Battle for Endor I discovered really even like as a kid and having watched it now as an adult and read up about the process to make it, I definitely think it’s just amazing it ever got made and finished and aired. I know that the Ewok films were canon at one point and supposedly took place between films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. However I know Lucas when the prequels came out said they weren’t canon any longer. I have no idea if Disney changed that. I don’t think they made them canon. They were really popular films at the time and like the Ewok cartoon added more to the Ewoks. I think Michael’s right on why the Holiday Special was made…and lots of Star Wars stuff after Return of the Jedi but before the original trilogy special editions were released in theaters. It was a way to keep Star Wars in the mainstream which helped sell merchandise which kept Star Wars a popular entertainment property. If none of those things would have happened , then Disney nor anyone else would have been willing to pay so much to obtain the property. And I agree with Greg regarding the sequel trilogy main characters. There’s lots of kids who those characters were their first introduction to Star Wars and those films were the first they saw. Just as there are folks who the prequels were their introduction or Clone Wars series or Rebels series, etc. Even now Star Wars has a new show for preschoolers, thus introducing another generation to Star Wars through that series and those characters (Yoda is part of it). Thanks for a great reaction!
Never saw, it except bits and pieces that convinced me that I didn't want to see it. Watching you react to it is the most exposure to the Holiday Special that I ever had. I was in a constant state of "What the fuck?!".
John is the grandpa because of how in to the fantasy vr vid he was. Michael was the mom because of how the emotional beats resonated with him. Greg was the kid who kept getting interrupted by the imps when he was trying to watch his cartoon except Greg was getting interrupted from watching the bits he enjoyed by the brutally bad chunks of the special.
For the people complaining about the Sequel Trilogy not being as good as it could have been… with the Holiday Special and so many of the wacky things that happened in the Legends comics, it could’ve been SO much worse.
Mark 59:50. Art Carney is in a sitcom in which he was the wizard, Merlin, living in San Francisco, California, with a newfound apprentice. He may have gotten that role because of this role. Both roles are quite a contrast to his character in "The Honeymooners". The holiday procession scenes remind me a lot of the "Carousel" scenes in the movie, "Logan's Run". Probably because of the similar costumes. 🤔
Mark 54:34. "Ahead of its time" you say! It's more like a part of the times! The hostage crisis situation really put a damper on the world's mood, and we have yet to recover. We probably won't recover even if that regime is no longer in power because it has been so long now that we've adapted to being how we are now and take it for granted. ☹️
😂😂😂 Greg thinking he might actually like it. You spoke waaaaaaaay too soon. Michael and John just giving in to the insanity. 16:41 🤣🤣🤣🤣 40:07 OMG everyone's faces! I'm actually crying laughing at this reaction. Michael just goes full devils advocate in the discussion 👏👏 Yes! Caravan of Courage!
Did you successfully finish watching The Special?
- Shop the Grogu collection now and get 25% off your first order at meundies.com/rejects
- Full Length Reaction Watch Along & More For *SS* Rejects: www.patreon.com/thereelrejects
I watched this all the way through about 4 years ago and I’ll never be who I was before that again.
I never watched the whole thing, guess i gotta watch it now 😅
Barely making it...
Hey Happy Life Day, everyone.
This is my first time watching it! Glad it was a reaction from the RR !
Michael was humored, John was fascinated, Greg was horrified. The Holiday Special really brings something out in all of us.
and someone else vomited........ yeah the Star Wars Holiday Special really brought something out of all of us.........
Yeah I love how Greg just dies inside with every Second that passes
@@thegladve We’re going to a great big party
The whole world is gonna turn out
Everybody’s set for a good time
People getting ready to shout
From New York City to Moscow
All getting ready for fun
Makes the Autumn’s day seem like nothing
Boys this is nothing wrong
Whole world is celebrating
People getting ready to dance
Whole world is celebrating
Tonight is the fall of romance, oh yeah
Whole world is celebrating
Diggin’ everything in the sky, everybody
Whole world is celebrating
Brother kiss your mother goodbye, oh oh yeah
😊
You can see all of them losing their minds. But while John and Michael give in to the madness, Greg just gets crushed by it, little by little.
03:25 No, this is immediately after his accident: he was in pain, in bad shape, heavily medicated and you can see it when he tries to smile. Frankly, this performance is heroic.
And a thick layer of makeup.
@@tomasjallen You're right, to try to cover up any bruises or injury traces I suppose; which is why his skin is not at all like it usually is.
Hamill's accident was in January 1977, likely well before this Holiday special was filmed.
To all the people complaining about Luke's cgi in mandalorian, he looks more like Luke than Mark Hamill in the holiday special
Wasn’t it due to Mark Hamill having been in a car accident and had some reconstructive surgery or something like that?
Facts!
I suppose if your eyes don't work you could overlook that he's not actually there in the new stuff
Luke couldn’t possibly look any more California than he does here.
Thank you. Finally somebody gets it. Everyone is like “ugh disney ruined Star Wars” GEORGE LUCAS DID THIS!!!
Genuinely, I have never said “Oh God” more during any other film. This special is just something else man.
"Something else " sure😂😂😂
It's a bit of a stretch calling this a 'film.' It's the only thing I have ever seen that causes time to slow down dramatically.
🤣
Carrie Fisher has confirmed it on multiple Occasions that she was High AF while filming this, Mark Hamill laughs about it, and Harrison Ford always forgets he is in it... And George Lucas wants every Trace of it vanished, so the perfect Ingredients of it being a cult Classic.
I just love how damn unintentional Hilarious it is
Everyone who has seen the Holiday Special knows this pain...the force was definitely with them for this
42:28 Greg's expression says it all 😂
But let's be honest, the Bea Arthur cantina song slaps hard
I FEEL that face doe.
The only person who had a legally made copy of this tv special was Carrie Fisher, who would play it at the end of parties to get the guests to leave, yes Carrie Fisher would troll her guests with this tv spacial to get them out of her house. Chewbacca‘s whole family makes an appearance in the Lego Holiday special they still do exist.
The Holiday Special was an exact representation of a family holiday in the 70's - creepy grandpa or uncle, Mom in the kitchen, bored kids, irritating neighbors dropping by uninvited, and everyone having to wait for the college kids to arrive and rescue them from their painfully drab existence. 😎
Do you wanna party
It's partytime
We gotta party
It's partytime
Do you wanna party?
It's partytime
We gotta party!
It's partytime
It's partytime
It's partytime
It's partytime
It's partytime
It's partytime😊
You pretty much nailed it🤣
48:41 Greg and John's very different reactions KILLED ME 😄😂
Now you guys understand, never complain about a cameo in Star Wars again because at one point, this is what star wars was allowed to be.
Yep. 😆 Welcome to our childhood.
Well if you want a creepy puppet movie watch Howard the duck 😊
@@mikesilva3868 Interplanteary interspecies sex between Mrs. McFly and duck-alien 2015 future Marty.
It´s still way better than Star Wars after Darth Mickey took over.
Everyone talks about how Disney ruined Star Wars and how Star Wars isn’t as good as the originals, meanwhile this is the SECOND Star Wars property
There truly is no words to express this...piece of history. A piece of history that George Lucas rightfully so like the ET Video Game that came after, he wanted buried and forgotten. But it will never be forgotten. It happened. It exists. And now all of us curious cats must suffer for viewing such...unique art.
When you know who you are
When you know you belong
You’re not a stranger anymore
Sometimes it’s not so clear
You’re out there all alone
You’re not a stranger anymore
Here in the heart, we’re not two worlds apart
The same dream we’ve all seen
Reach for that star, no matter where you are
It will bring.
Just believe in you and me
You’re near the rainbows end
So let the whole world know
You’re not a stranger anymore
(Instrumental)
Here in the heart, we’re not two worlds apart
The same dream we’ve all seen
Reach for that star, no matter where you are
It will bring
Just believe in you and me
When you know who you are
When you know you belong
It’s written on your face
Now you’ve found that special place
You’re not a stranger anymore
😮
It's a piece of... something
"This is really happening!" Best summary of the special I've ever heard.
Greg’s gradual slip into madness was delightful.
It makes me die laughing remembering back in the day they went from this mess, to what's universally known as one of the greatest sequels of all time.
First of all, Greg looks amazing in those Baby Yoda pajamas. Secondly, this is by far the wackiest Star Wars production I've ever seen. It's crazy to think that not only was this the first ever appearance of Boba Fett, but that Bea Arthor and Jefferson Starship got roped into it. Also, Leia's musical number was pretty hilariously bad to the point that I *ironically* loved it.
She was so, so, so incredibly high.
Oh goodness I have tears rolling down my face. There really is nothing that can prepare anybody for the Holiday Special unless they watch it. I take so much weird glee in watching others react to the absolute WTFery that this thing is.
The best way to survive the Star Wars Holiday Special is to watch it with the Rifftrax commentary on. "There's not enough pot in Modesto to explain this."
It's the description of Chewie's family as "Scream-yourself-awake-nightmares" that had me laughing so hard I was worried I'd weird out my neighbors in the next apartment over.
I was 7 when the special aired and I was totally mesmorized - my parents thought it was absolute crap - but kids loved it. You also have to understand that many of the guest stars (Art Carney, Bea Arthur, and Harvey Corman) were huge comic tv stars at the time. Also, Dianne Carroll was a huge star, so this fit in to the crazy variety programs we saw all the time. We were obsessed with Donny & Marie and Shields & Yarnell, Carol Burnette, etc. so to have Star Wars in that format was like crack to us.
Is it crap? Yes. Was it wildly entertaining to children? Hell yeah!
And kids wanted any star wars toy or content, so we ate it up. I make no apologies 😊
I think my family was watching The Love Boat when it aired! 😂
This show was a HUGE embarrassment to Star Wars fans. They had bragged and talked nonstop for six months about the movie, but their family wouldn't pay to watch it. But now here is going to be a FREE star Wars show and everyone will see that you are not just a nerd. So you make the family turn in, yeah, you gonna show them how great Star Wars is.
And then this, lol. Everyone was pissed at Lucas for selling out. "THIS is what you've been going on about, this is TERRIBLE" came from living rooms across America.
@@FloridaMugwump this aired in 1978, a year and a half after the movie had been released. No one was snubbing their noses at the hugely successful Star Wars and calling someone "a nerd" for liking it. You clearly weren't around.
@@Tr0nzoid I read the first start wars book before the movie came out, genius. Maybe I got the year of the Xmas special wrong, but I remember what my friends said when it came out, the excitement and anticipation followed by disappoinment and SHAME. for having spent 18 months talking nonstop about a stupid muppet-fueled scifi in an era when scifi was already considered childish and stupid.
@@Tr0nzoid oh, the fact that it was not 6 months but 18 months made the shame even more intense. Thanks for the correction.
Harvey Korman was all through this special. I saw this when it aired. I Was eight. Art Carney and Bea Arthur were major guests then.
Harvey is fantastic. Blazing Saddles
@@thereallycool definitely!
I was a kid when this aired originally and I talked my parents into letting me watch it on the big TV in the living room with the entire family. I was the youngest of five. 40 odd years later, and I still haven’t lived it down.
I watched this live on CBS as a kid and for years I thought I had dreamed it up. Many years later I got hold of a heavily bootlegged VHS copy (complete with commercials!) and realized that it was real.. and really bad!!
I had the exact same experience.
Same
Me, too! I spent years thinking I was the only person who remembered this thing (since it was never officially re-aired or released) to the point that I started wondering if I imagined the whole thing. I was glad when it showed up on RUclips. It was vindicating to have proof that it existed and was as painfully boring as I remembered.
Han Solo during Leia’s song has me dying 🤣🤣🤣
Oh, you sweet summer children. I was 13 when this first aired, and only aired. It was my first harsh lesson in life, when I watched this, mouth agape, and said, "This is absolute garbage." They don't call it The Holy Grail of Crap for nothing.
As someone who was 14 at the time this aired, let me roll back some of the weirdness for you. In the 70's, Christmas Specials were *always* like this... Donny and Marie... Sony and Cher... Captain and Tennille... etc... The entire show was just sitting in a mountain lodge, waiting for the occasional guest star to stop by and do a funny skit or sing a song... And that's what you get here.... Bea Arthur (Maude), Harvey Korman (Carol and Burnett), Art Carney (The Honemooners), Diahann Carroll... Jefferson Starship... These were *huge* guest stars. So, the disjointed nature of it is just the way these things ran at the time. It was still horrible... I love seeing people watch this for the first time, just for the reactions...
Friends don't let friends watch The Holiday Special alone.😅Hilarious reaction!
'78, I was 7 years old, and remember being planted in front of the TV and watching this enjoying every minute of it...
Today, not so much...but it's still a cool STAR WARS memory that I still have ...
I remember being so excited for this. Made my poor parents sit through that . 1978 was a great year
is it bad that I find the holiday special genuinely entertaining? prime “so bad it’s good” territory for me.
No, cus entertainment from Hitler was burning jews alive.
So id say your fine
^wow but he ain’t wrong
@@RiverRockRecords Congratulations on the weirdest take I've ever seen.
@@RiverRockRecords reading this comment gave me whiplash
@@RiverRockRecords dark humor at its finest
It's very much a snapshot of Hollywood and the TV biz at that point in time, and it's clearly managed by a bunch of old-school producers who just said "We'll just make it a Star Wars themed variety show" which were quite common on TV back then. That's how you wind up with Art Carney and Jefferson Starship ("the kids will love them!") and Bea Arthur, who only really became cool after hipsters discovered Golden Girls.
I realize this is difficult for younger folks to understand, but we didn't even have films on VHS tape yet in 1979, so the only way to see Star Wars was in the movie theater. So when this came out, it was a huge deal for Star Wars fans, and no one complained that much because that sort of variety show was pretty common. It's a lot like the way some of us OG fans feel about the prequels... we were desperate for more Star Wars content so it took a few years for us to admit that maybe they weren't actually very good films.
This was by far the funniest reaction I've seen you guys post. I couldn't stop laughing. I think you guys should definitely watch Ewoks: the Battle of Endor (1985) and Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984). Both terrible films, but they have their moments and are infinitely better than the cringe inducing Holiday Special.
I literally just opened RUclips and saw this uploaded 27 second ago lmao
Lumpy's animated movie, was an animated re-creation of a mission log.
A past mission, where Chewie was late coming home.
Lumpy was watching it to reassure himself, that his dad will get home.
It could be nostalgia speaking but the Ewok's show was actually great. It was dark, it had a lot of fantasy inspiration, and the ewok's felt like they had their own culture and mannerisms. I adored it as a child.
Nobody should have to endure this. I’m sorry. May the Force be with you on this one.
Imagine the hell I went through as a four year old. This was the first Star Wars I ever saw. I cried. I realized life wasn't fair.
I was 10 when this aired, and I had never been more excited for a tv show. And then it crushed my soul.
Same, but I was 7.
I saw this when I was 7 in 1978. It was the first Star Wars related thing to air on tv (the 77 film hadn’t aired and home rental media wasn’t a thing back then) and we had no knowledge of any more films coming out so for a kid this was a fun surprise even if it was dopey.
I enjoyed it.
Remember Blindwave’s reaction to this? The pain in their eyes, the joy in Rick’s 😂 Poor Shane’s optimism draining away
My entire experience of this is just BlindWave's reaction and I just remember Shane being like "they look like they're all gonna drink cool aid and die" and everyone was laughing and he was like "i wasn't trying to be funny" he was just having an awful awful time 😂😂😂
@@JeM130177 yesss 😂😂
November 1978, I was a very confused and traumatized 8 year old after watching the holiday special and wondering what Hell did I just fall into. This wasn't the Star Wars I remembered from the theaters in 1977.
When I re-watched this 43 years later, after discovering that people actually uploaded, over the years, various copies of it to RUclips, did I realize that those horrific memories were not delusions. This truly was FUBAR.
Since then, I've inflicted this torture to friends so they could prove their loyalty to the franchise.
Congratulations on completing this sh*tshow. No matter what anyone says, you have nothing to prove. Your Star Wars Fandom is secure.
Great reaction.
P.S. - Do enjoy the torture of BOTH Caravan of Courage & Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.
P.P.S. - Last year, during the holiday season, this special was on Disney+.
Ive cried laughing so much during a reaction. This was too good. The Diahann Carroll virtual reality part was killing me! How is this for kids and families?! 😂😂😂 They should do a new Holiday Special with all the live action and animated characters but make it more wacky 🤣
It was probably meant to keep the dads engaged. Most kids wouldn't have understood the innuendo.
47:58 Chewbacca didn’t just randomly get A medal in TROS, he was given HAN’S medal. Leia was holding it to help her reach out through the force and get Ben to hear her, and was holding it when she died. She seemed to use it as a physical embodiment of the feelings she needed to feel to reach out to her and Han’s son. It would’ve been able to be more clear if not for Fisher’s passing, but that didn’t seem out of nowhere at all to me (Han’s dice would’ve probably been a better symbol, but they were presumably on the Falcon).
I do NOT believe you guys are watching this..... I watched it when it originally aired, and loved it...... but I was 11 years old, and it was the 1970s. So that's excusable. But watching it NOW?! Man.... I can't believe we loved that back then.
Also, can you guys even believe that this was CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING back in the 1970s?!
2am, almost 30 min in, and I nearly woke the house when I realized - THATS HEADEY G.D. LAMAR from Blazing Saddles! xD I love that I get to be shocked by the Absolutely Bonkers Cast every time.
I actually saw this when it came out. I was seven years old. For years I thought I'd dreamed it up in my tiny child's brain.
I love that The Mandalorian pretty much took Boba Fett’s design from this special and gave it to Din Djarin. Even down to his tuning-fork-shaped weapon. That’s pretty cool, the cartoon is the best (and arguably only good) aspect of this special.
The reason Carrie Fisher looks so weird is because she was completely wasted for this
High AF
Checks out
Imagine being a kid in the 70’s and being so excited for new Star Wars and you come home from school, turn on the TV and it’s this…
Not only is this not on Disney+ but they paid to make a Lego Star Wars Holiday Special to obfuscate future search results and make the original Star Wars Holiday Special harder to find. 😏
Medals awarded to each of you for watching the entire thing.
When people complain about the new Star Wars movies just remember that this was a thing.
Great Reaction! This special is definitely hard to finish watching👍😂
Glad you watched 5 minutes of it. Definitely enough to say good reaction.
The three made for TV Specials - Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), The Ewok Adventure - Caravan of Courage (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) were dropped from the official canon when Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Maybe it was for the best then, especially for this dreck
I believe this was over a year after his car accident.
Also, Greg… your optimism was endearing. But your suffering was more entertaining.
Just imagine a decade-long span that gave my generation grew up with: the original trilogy AND this holiday special as well as the ewok movies...the franchise has always had its hits and misses.
I actually saw this as a child when it first aired and loved it 😆
We all watched it. It was an event. The kids were all talking about how bad this was but Boba Fett was really cool and Star Wars is a cartoon now and that was a thing too. I liked the tree house and they did keep that idea too.
@@shampoovtaThe animated part was pretty good too but thats not nearly enough to redeem this turd
This was the first time I've seen this since it first came out, I was 6 at the time. I can't believe how much I remembered, wow. Thanks guys.
I like that the footage is in it’s original aspect ratio rather than circled like with all of your movie reactions.
The extent of Lucas' involvement in the special was his suggestion to build the show around Chewbacca's family. CBS came to him with the idea of a special and hired experienced comedy and variety show writers and producers to come up with the story. Everybody had different ideas -they used all of them and threw them a the screen.
I watched this in 1978. My first question was why did they hire Sandy Duncan to play Luke? .
I finally saw this in its entirety a few years ago and for all I know, I might have watched it when it aired.
It is rather impressive that the cast members got involved. It kind of represents how people had no way to know where Star Wars would go with its sequel.
Diahann Carroll is the gorgeous singer in Itchy's weirdass pron video 😍😂
I watched this when it aired in 1978. I was six, and recall some of it still. This should be fun.
Hilariously I’m sure this was BEFORE Golden Girls. So Dorothy was that lady from the Star Wars Special. I was a small child when RotJ came out. So I missed this in real time, but I remember managing to see it when I was young somehow. Can’t imagine how if Lucas disappeared it until home video was a thing. In those days, being able to watch a VCR tape of something was a big deal. They used to sell the tapes at grocery stores for like $50-$80. It was a strange time.
Way before the Golden Girls. Bea Arthur was best known for Maude. Maude was the first TV character to have an abortion storyline on TV. I was the weird 7/8 year old that watch T.V that was not appropriate for my age.
@@marshsundeen MAAAAAUUuuude!! You’re so right!
I woke up this morning and was never expecting this
Props for watching this all the way through. I have watched this three times in my life, purely out of spite to annoy three different friends. Now you know why George actively tried to destroy every known copy of this.
Mark 4:39. Even a nudist race/species uses aprons as protection in kitchens! 👍
i definitely just ordered the grogu onesie with y’all’s link and i’m SO EXCITED!!!
Gregs face during this was mostly him looking from side to side with utter confusion, trying to make sense of wtf he was watching. lol. At least you all made it through it. I made it to Boba Fett at one point and gave up because my brain cells all vanished.
All I knew about this special was that Bea Arthur is in it, and that's all I needed.
I watched this as a kid on TV. This was after I had seen the First movie at a drive-in theater. I don't have fond memories of it - but at the same time, I don't have really bad memories of it. I was exposed to far more media that was not kid-friendly that scarred my young mind - Watership Down, Plague Dogs, the Japanese version of Little Mermaid..... I saw Omen when I was 5 and had nightmares about Baboons trying to break into the house for nights after that. The Holiday special wasn't even a blip on my nostalgia radar.
I remember seeing it after nostalgia critic reviewed it. It's one of those things you like how which or all the drugs taken to create that? Harrison just has a look like he was so stoned. This and KISS meets the Phantom (you guys should check it out) just screams 70s.
Oh my... KISS Meets the Phantom... I had forgotten about that until now. Wasn't there something about robots in it. So 70s...
Think about it like this. This special introduced Bobo Fett, green light the Droids cartoon and fleshed out other side stories. I know what you're thinking. "What side stories?"
The Ewoks movies came out after Return of the Jedi and continued on with the Ewoks cartoon, boardgame and toys. Watch the first Ewoks movie next.
PLEASE do caravan of courage, I would love more so-bad-they’re-good movie reactions, Michael’s little giggles give me life, I’m glad he had a blast 😂
Totally mentally fine 😂😂
@@michaeltessler it just reminds me of me, and I enjoy watching other people uncontrollably lose their sanity in a fun way 😂 you’re one of the best additions to TRR, glad they brought you on man
This was a Thanksgiving special, not Christmas, so it aired in November. And I enjoyed the two Ewoks movies. Compared to other made-for-television kids movies of the eighties, they were pretty great, really. And compared to the Holiday Special, they were masterpieces. 😂
The guy at the 30 min mark was in the Carol Burnette show. He's hilarious. You should watch it. Him and Tim Conway were amazing together. Watch the dentist one
Then he's back right after with Bea Arther lol
For a kid watching tv in the 70's, unless you had a vcr and was able to record it, you just saw it once. It had to live in your memory. This holiday tv special was just the usual variety show for the time. You should really compare it to the other tv quality of U.F.O. 1971, The Bionic Man & Starlost both 1972, Planet of the Apes 1974, Space 1999 Season 1 in 1975, Space 1999 Season 2 in 1976, Holmes and Yoyo in 1976, The Fantastic Journey, Man From Atlantis & Quark from 1977, Battlestar Galactica 1978, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century & Salvage 1 in 1979. Thanks for giving us a great react!!!
This was filmed right AFTER Mark Hamill's accident. He had the accident right as the original Star Wars was finishing filming. He even did a few reshoots with heavy makeup to hide his injuries. Most people don't realize that the accident was a full two years before Empire came out.
How had you never seen this??? Glad you all finally popped your holiday special cherry 😂 it's a rite of passage for all SW fans lol
It’s not that surprising when you realize it never got an official home media release
Mark 25:07. The records that we had still referred to them as "Jefferson Airplane" so seeing them as "Jefferson Starship" was new to us then! Within my CD collection, though, I have them as just "Starship"! Nothing from them as they are here. 😎
I tried to watch this once and made it maybe 20 minutes in. Truly one of the most confusing and bizarre pieces of television ever put out. Glad I got to experience the weirdness with you all without actually watching it myself.
You should watch the Rifftrax version. It’s hilarious
Mark 12:43. Guys! It is Harvey Korman, not inspired by Robin Williams, but by Julia Child! So yes, it is funny! Unless you've never been into Drag Humor, of which HK did a lot of on Carol's show. He and Flip Wilson and Milton Berle never tried to convince the audience that they were real women as part of the humor was knowing that they weren't, while some other character thought that they were! 😁
There has never been more genuine pain in anyone's eyes than Greg's here!
Howdy! 🤠 Hey, I watched this on "CBS" television when it was new and broadcast for Thanksgiving. Then I watched the repeats while they lasted. I've been wanting my own legal copy ever since! 😎 Now, to view your reactions after reading the description box and top comments. 😄
The mere mention of it in this video is making me scream "WTF are you doing?"
This special would be the kind of thing to play at a party if you want everyone to leave.
How have these guys not seen this yet?
I got introduced to Star Wars when I was six years old (1984). I watched both Ewok movies and owned them on VHS and regularly watched the Ewok and Droids Saturday morning cartoons when they aired. I didn’t see the Holiday Special until a few years ago and I think my reaction was most similar to Greg’s where I started out liking it and then as it kept going I found myself checking to see how much more time was left. Now whenever I watch it I basically just skip around to the parts I liked most and don’t bother with the rest. I think Greg’s idea for a second Holiday Special is a good idea. In fact, I think it’d be interesting to have a Holiday Special set within each of the now official eras of Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, The Old Republic, The High Republic, Fall of the Jedi, Reign of the Empire, The New Republic, Rise of the First Order, and New Jedi Order. But definitely like Greg said with an actual plot. To be fair since variety shows aren’t a thing now I think they’d be better. I personally enjoy the LEGO Star Wars shows and specials, but it’s because they have the same quirky sense of humor as the LEGO movies, video games, etc. And I personally enjoyed watching Star Wars: Resistance. I’m not saying it’s a must watch series, but I found it a lot easier to watch than the Holiday Special (I mean each week’s episode was under thirty minutes so that’s definitely probably why). I don’t think I’ve seen anyone reacting to the Ewok films or to the 1980’s Ewok and Droid cartoons. I’ve watched these when they were put on Disney+. The cartoons seem about par for the course for 1980s cartoons of the time. I’ve watched others from around the same time and I definitely realize why most of the cartoons I most remember with great nostalgia are from the very late 1980s and early 1990s….those just had better stories usually. Caravan of Courage is a good movie. Battle for Endor I discovered really even like as a kid and having watched it now as an adult and read up about the process to make it, I definitely think it’s just amazing it ever got made and finished and aired. I know that the Ewok films were canon at one point and supposedly took place between films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. However I know Lucas when the prequels came out said they weren’t canon any longer. I have no idea if Disney changed that. I don’t think they made them canon. They were really popular films at the time and like the Ewok cartoon added more to the Ewoks. I think Michael’s right on why the Holiday Special was made…and lots of Star Wars stuff after Return of the Jedi but before the original trilogy special editions were released in theaters. It was a way to keep Star Wars in the mainstream which helped sell merchandise which kept Star Wars a popular entertainment property. If none of those things would have happened , then Disney nor anyone else would have been willing to pay so much to obtain the property. And I agree with Greg regarding the sequel trilogy main characters. There’s lots of kids who those characters were their first introduction to Star Wars and those films were the first they saw. Just as there are folks who the prequels were their introduction or Clone Wars series or Rebels series, etc. Even now Star Wars has a new show for preschoolers, thus introducing another generation to Star Wars through that series and those characters (Yoda is part of it).
Thanks for a great reaction!
Never saw, it except bits and pieces that convinced me that I didn't want to see it. Watching you react to it is the most exposure to the Holiday Special that I ever had. I was in a constant state of "What the fuck?!".
This is the last thing I expected to wake up to in my notifications. But I'm not complaining
John is the grandpa because of how in to the fantasy vr vid he was.
Michael was the mom because of how the emotional beats resonated with him.
Greg was the kid who kept getting interrupted by the imps when he was trying to watch his cartoon except Greg was getting interrupted from watching the bits he enjoyed by the brutally bad chunks of the special.
The most complete experience of watching this is with those TV commercials in between.
Yes, I couldn’t believe this actually existed too. Crazy world we live in, right Reel Rejects?
🤣 Awesome reaction as always, Greg and John! Michael is adorable!
For the people complaining about the Sequel Trilogy not being as good as it could have been… with the Holiday Special and so many of the wacky things that happened in the Legends comics, it could’ve been SO much worse.
Mark 59:50. Art Carney is in a sitcom in which he was the wizard, Merlin, living in San Francisco, California, with a newfound apprentice. He may have gotten that role because of this role. Both roles are quite a contrast to his character in "The Honeymooners".
The holiday procession scenes remind me a lot of the "Carousel" scenes in the movie, "Logan's Run". Probably because of the similar costumes. 🤔
Mr. Merlin and that was Barnard Hughes (yes with an A)
Mark 54:34. "Ahead of its time" you say! It's more like a part of the times! The hostage crisis situation really put a damper on the world's mood, and we have yet to recover. We probably won't recover even if that regime is no longer in power because it has been so long now that we've adapted to being how we are now and take it for granted. ☹️
😂😂😂 Greg thinking he might actually like it. You spoke waaaaaaaay too soon.
Michael and John just giving in to the insanity.
16:41 🤣🤣🤣🤣
40:07 OMG everyone's faces!
I'm actually crying laughing at this reaction.
Michael just goes full devils advocate in the discussion 👏👏
Yes! Caravan of Courage!
The art and animation of the cartoon are _insane_ -- in a good way. I think it's fascinating.
Greg aggressively yawning the whole time was my favorite part.
Gregs reaction makes this channel my new favourite 🤣