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"Banned" Like in Farenheit 451, or what?
	Topic by: lizzoqops Posted: November 29, 2004 - 2:35 PM PST Last Reply: December 1, 2004 - 10:27 AM PST

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author	topic: "Banned" Like in Farenheit 451, or what?
lizzoqops	post #1  on November 29, 2004 - 2:35 PM PST   Moviemaker George Lucas wants his first Star Wars sequel banned, as he is so disappointed with its quality. The one-off, two-hour-long The Star Wars Holiday Special was originally screened on the CBS network in 1978 and tells the story of Chewbacca's journey home with Hans Solo to celebrate Life Day with his family. During the course of the much-maligned movie, Carrie Fisher's beautiful Leia is seen reducing Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker to tears with a song. A contributor on the Star Wars website comments, "The Holiday Special has always been the red-headed step child of the Star Wars family." While a source at LucasFilm adds, "The Holiday Special was the biggest f***-up ever. The Force was definitely not with Mr. Lucas the day that doozy was born." -Stolen from the Imdb news site- ----------------------------------------------------------- Aha! Ha ha ha! The best part of watching this with a bunch of friends was the "Look for the Union Label" commercial...everyone knew the words. It was great.
jross3	post #2  on November 29, 2004 - 3:12 PM PST   bad: "banning" things is a bad idea, in general, the fact that i've never heard of this before is proof enough that it shouldn't be necessary.... good: more directors should know when their stuff is that bad. If George himself has realized it, that's good for him, isn't it? If only it were really possible to to a full recall on lousy movies, maybe some other disasters could have been averted.... What's the motivation, though? I don't think George is gonna salvage any respect by burrying this now, of all times. He would do better to burry some more recent work.....
jross3	post #3  on November 29, 2004 - 3:16 PM PST   on the other hand, being "really, really bad" seems like the best reason for banning a movie. Let's apply this principle to some other movies (and tv shows, please!) and our children will live in a better world.
lizzoqops	post #4  on November 29, 2004 - 5:17 PM PST   But "bad" is so arbitrary. I've seen a lot of "bad" movies that were so much fun! So, if we're going to ban "bad" movies, do I get to pick the ones that are really bad? I think we're on to something here! First movie banned: Hollow Man! Now that was painful. Someone must've just broke the news to George Lucas that you can buy boots of this on the net.
hamano	post #5  on November 29, 2004 - 7:03 PM PST   I thought Hollow Man had a really nice opening credits sequence. You're talking about that Kevin Bacon invisible man film, right?
woozy	post #6  on November 29, 2004 - 9:36 PM PST   Heh, heh! I saw this when it came out. And it *was* as bad as they say. My big question is why in the heck did he make it if it's so bad. It's not one of those things that looked good at the time and seem bad in retrospect. It was bad at the time. Banning it just seems... Well, it seems like a spoil-sport who can't laugh at his mistakes. It wasn't any worse than C3PO cereal, or the Star Wars characters guest starring on the Muppet Show.
kamapuaa	post #7  on November 30, 2004 - 12:51 AM PST   The obvious joke is he'll have to ban the rest of his movies as well. There's some racist movies that will probably never get released but I'd still like to see - Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" or Disney's "Song of the South," for instance.
underdog	post #8  on November 30, 2004 - 10:45 AM PST   > On November 29, 2004 - 7:03 PM PST hamano wrote: > --------------------------------- > I thought Hollow Man had a really nice opening credits sequence. You're talking about that Kevin Bacon invisible man film, right? > --------------------------------- Maybe she meant "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams... now that movie should be banned, if the level of pain inflicted upon a nation is any indication. But more to the original point, it's interesting this came up because just the other day I noticed we had a bootleg VHS copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special here in the GreenCine office. My, the notion of having a secret screening of this is mighty tempting, just as the idea of making it available via VOD would be, were it not illegal and certain to bring down upon us the wrath of George. (And if he's reading these boards, I take it back, we don't have the SWHS and never will show it to anyone anywhere.)
dh22	post #9  on November 30, 2004 - 11:30 AM PST   I have the Star Wars Holiday Special. hehehehe! Lucas will never get it from me. hehehe! > On November 30, 2004 - 12:51 AM PST kamapuaa wrote: > --------------------------------- >... or Disney's "Song of the South," for instance. > --------------------------------- Song of the South is available on DVD.
lizzoqops	post #10  on November 30, 2004 - 11:31 AM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 10:45 AM PST underdog wrote: > --------------------------------- > Maybe she meant "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams... now that movie should be banned, if the level of pain inflicted upon a nation is any indication. > No, that's not what I meant, but I'm with you. I won't stop you from banning that piece of crap, either. > But more to the original point, it's interesting this came up because just the other day I noticed we had a bootleg VHS copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special here in the GreenCine office. My, the notion of having a secret screening of this is mighty tempting, just as the idea of making it available via VOD would be, were it not illegal and certain to bring down upon us the wrath of George. (And if he's reading these boards, I take it back, we don't have the SWHS and never will show it to anyone anywhere.) > > > --------------------------------- I'm with you in spirit. Let's all sing the Union song, Brothers and Sisters! And then try and stop the awful pain that is SWHS. I don't suppose anyone else thinks we should ban the English Patient? Nope, just me and Elaine.
artemis9976	post #11  on November 30, 2004 - 12:21 PM PST   > On November 29, 2004 - 5:17 PM PST lizzoqops wrote: > --------------------------------- > First movie banned: Hollow Man! Now that was painful. > --------------------------------- I actually saw this in the theaters, and then bought it on DVD....then again, I did the same with BattleField Earth, and from what I hear, I'm one of a handfull who actually enjoyed that movie ;) ahh well, we already established that I have a serious DVD buying (and renting) addiction so I guess nothing is surprising at this point ;)
nyetah	post #12  on November 30, 2004 - 12:49 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 12:51 AM PST kamapuaa wrote: > --------------------------------- > The obvious joke is he'll have to ban the rest of his movies as well. > --------------------------------- lol, no joke!!! ;-) but then this could just be a marketing plow to get a re-fueled interest in this "Christmas Special" so that he can bank some cash on DVD sales and go on ruining the Star Wars name...
DLeonard	post #13  on November 30, 2004 - 1:13 PM PST   What's next? Burning all known copies of Howard the Duck? Hmmmm, may not be a bad idea actually. But it sounds to me like the Holiday Special is a camp classic just waiting to be rediscovered by the world. I mean, it's got Harvey Korman in it !!
kamapuaa	post #14  on November 30, 2004 - 1:27 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 11:30 AM PST dh22 wrote: > Song of the South is available on DVD. Not legitimately - there's only expensive bootlegs floating around on EBay and notices like these get me a little worried. If you know anything more please say.
Cinenaut	post #15  on November 30, 2004 - 1:51 PM PST   If it were banned like in Farenheit 451, Mr. Lucas would have to hire "firemen" who would go around setting copies of the Star Wars Christmas Special on fire.
dh22	post #16  on November 30, 2004 - 1:55 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 1:13 PM PST DLeonard wrote: > --------------------------------- > What's next? Burning all known copies of Howard the Duck? Hmmmm, may not be a bad idea actually. > > --------------------------------- How dare you! quietly scribbles dleonard's name on list of people to secretly hate
woozy	post #17  on November 30, 2004 - 1:58 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 1:13 PM PST DLeonard wrote: > --------------------------------- > What's next? Burning all known copies of Howard the Duck? Hmmmm, may not be a bad idea actually. > > But it sounds to me like the Holiday Special is a camp classic just waiting to be rediscovered by the world. I mean, it's got Harvey Korman in it !! > --------------------------------- It's got Bea Arthur in it too. It's a very mediocre variety talent show special, a little like the Perry Como Xmas special or something like that. I think what he's really embarassed about is the idea that there was a time before the "Stare Wars Franchise" was seriously considered. Star Wars was an instant hit but it was viewed as any other movie, so it had crappy product endorsements and a dumb Holiday Variety special which don't make any sense when you view it as the "Franchise" it was to become when The Empire Strikes Back came out and what it has become now. But in an odd way, Lucas always had the "franchise" in mind and the holiday special *helped* promote the idea as it viewed the movie itself as the star billing act and not the individual actors. This was pretty rare then. Once the idea as "Star Wars" as entity was established the franchise could get built up but ironically it grew too specific for the tacky things that defined it as an entity.
dh22	post #18  on November 30, 2004 - 2:13 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 1:27 PM PST kamapuaa wrote: > --------------------------------- > > On November 30, 2004 - 11:30 AM PST dh22 wrote: > > Song of the South is available on DVD. > > Not legitimately - there's only expensive bootlegs floating around on EBay and notices like these get me a little worried. > > If you know anything more please say. > --------------------------------- Interesting. I don't see it available anywhere, but I got an e-mail from efilmic.com that they have it. That's what prompted my comment. What cleverly disguised spam that was. I need to pay better attention. Upon review, it is only available through the newsletter, and not in their general catalog. http://www.efilmic.com/special.asp?SOTS=EISNER I have never used efilmic before, and no nothing about them. Upon even further review they are a Taiwan based company and so I have no confidence in the legitimacy of this product, or seller. Buyer beware. hmmm
woozy	post #19  on November 30, 2004 - 2:31 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 1:27 PM PST kamapuaa wrote: > --------------------------------- > > On November 30, 2004 - 11:30 AM PST dh22 wrote: > > Song of the South is available on DVD. > > Not legitimately - there's only expensive bootlegs floating around on EBay and notices like these get me a little worried. > > If you know anything more please say. > --------------------------------- Interesting. What is Walt Disney's policy on Song of the South? When I was a child, back in the days when we actually had to go to theaters to see movies, disney would rotate it's classics every six years (I find their idea of the Disney "vault" obnoxious) and Song of the South was always one. I saw it in 1972 and it came out again in 1978. There was some protest about it being racist then. But apparently even when it came out in 1946 there was a lot of protest about its interpretation was racist even then two decades before the civil rights movement. So did Disney decide to retire it? If so when. But sheesh, you can pick up Birth of a nation for 6 bucks at an supermarket.
DLeonard	post #20  on November 30, 2004 - 2:33 PM PST   > On November 30, 2004 - 1:55 PM PST dh22 wrote: > --------------------------------- > > On November 30, 2004 - 1:13 PM PST DLeonard wrote: > > --------------------------------- > > What's next? Burning all known copies of Howard the Duck? Hmmmm, may not be a bad idea actually. > > --------------------------------- > > How dare you! > > quietly scribbles dleonard's name on list of people to secretly hate > --------------------------------- What can I say? I'm still smarting from the money and time wasted on that movie. Perhaps with enough alcohol some kind of lovable loser type of charm would emerge (I'm talking HtD and not myself), but I'm too afraid to give it a try.

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