1978 - In a time long ago, a creator tinged with genius decided to play God and create life. His first attempt was wildly successful even beyond his thoughts. Filled with hubris, in the next year he decided to aim higher and create something else, something that would be remembered and revered each year during Christmastime, as a paean to His greatness. Instead, he created a monster. Upon seeing what he had wrought, he disowned his creation and forbid it to to viewed by mortal eyes.
The townsfolk who had followed him blindly to this point would not let it rest and it IS viewed and remembered every year, with a degree of schadenfreude rarely seen elsewhere. No, I'm not talking about the Frankenstein monster - I'm talking about this year's Star Wars Holiday Special. Still notorious 46 years after its initial airing, this blatant cash grab has a LOT of people who need to answer a LOT of questions about how this got made in the first place (not to mention WHY). I will say one good thing about it, though: it's worth sitting through if you have a friend or relative who's only heard of it but never SEEN it. It's right up there with the end of CARRIE for positioning yourself to watch their faces as it runs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Holiday_Special
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-holiday-special-what-went-wrong/
https://www.sfgate.com/streaming/article/star-wars-holiday-special-documentary-17862834.php
AND, if you're still one of the uninitiated (or know someone who is), or want a second dose of this insanity, here you go! What the heck, hit play ... do it for Life Day! :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJBN0p4Dlqs
Remember when I said yesterday that the toy manufacturers massively screwed up and totally botched the Star Wars toy market for '77? They weren't ABOUT to make that same mistake in '78, as this lucky young man can attest. Now after all that waiting, YOU tell him "DON'T take the action figures out of their cards ... they'll be worth a fortune!"
Which brings me to another tangent. As someone who owns a ton of collectibles myself (although no Star Wars ones), I always find it interesting how certain acronyms and phrases pop up depending on your area of expertise. My specialty is more movie material related: posters, pressbooks, lobby cards and the like. Even there, we have our own shortcut codes for what we're talking about amongst other collectors. But let's stick with Star Wars. At the time (and today), kids were going to open up their toys, especially on Christmas, to play with them. It honestly never occurred to them that their value would skyrocket like that. As more movies in the series came out and the original fans grew older, they both wanted to share their enthusiasm with their kids or nieces and nephews, but also wanted to relive the nostalgia of that happy Christmas when they got their beloved toy - and thus began the collectibles boom.
Having some disposable income available, they started searching for certain toys, first at garage sales or flea markets, usually finding well-worn toys that other parents had tossed. Those were good enough for awhile, but then the itch of having a toy in as mint condition as possible started to grow and once people knew there was a market for that, specialty shops started popping up - comic shops that also had vintage collectibles, with HIGH prices for these items, which (if it was The One Thing you were looking for) the True Fan would pay. The trend continues to this day.
Getting back to the 'secret language' of collectors: say the young man in this photo wanted to re-collect everything he had on that magic Christmas, and also say he's well-off financially (he's going to need to be for what follows). He wants them as close to brand new as possible, with the playsets (such as the Cantina Adventures Set) having all the pieces shown and all in very good-fine condition. He finds it on eBay and starts peppering the seller with questions: is the set MIB (Mint In Box)? Is the box itself display worthy? Does it have any torn edges, i.e., when originally played with, pulling the lid off then putting it all back again when done, was the lid forced on, ripping one or more of the box edges? That immediately brings the value down. Does it have the original price tag still on it? Some collectors love that, others hate it.
https://www.starwars.com/news/fully-operational-fandom-the-collector-within-us-all
https://www.starwars.com/news/fully-operational-fandom-the-star-wars-collector-within-us-all-part-2
How many of them have our featured Holiday Special in their collection? If you answered ALL OF THEM, go to the head of the class. Why? Like it or not, it's Star Wars ... and what collection would be complete without it? :)
Join me tomorrow for a more down-to-Earth look at 1979.
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