Friday Fun-Until-Someone-Loses-An-Eye Link

Jesse Walker | September 29, 2006

Little known facts:

1. You know that Superman vs. Muhammed Ali comic book? It isn't the world's strangest pop culture crossover.

2. You know that Star Wars Christmas special? It isn't the most deranged Star Wars spinoff.

Behold: You got Star Wars in my Sesame Street!

Bonus link: Star Wars on The Muppet Show. This one isn't quite as shocking, because (a) I remember seeing it when I was a kid, which softens the blow, and (b) it's actually better than any of the Star Wars sequels or prequels.

Would-be Jedi Knights are invited to stop by our comments section, where we welcome your thoughts on the continuity issues raised by these broadcasts.

Comments

Ron Hardin|9.29.06 @ 10:33AM|#

``It's funny until somebody loses an eye. Then it's still funny, just not around that person,'' is the full quote, found on usenet a couple decades ago.

Warning succumbs to observation.

|9.29.06 @ 10:33AM|#

You know, Jesse, I liked you until you just took a gratuitous swipe at the the Star Wars theatrical releases. Burn in hell....a jedi-less hell.

|9.29.06 @ 10:38AM|#

Snuffleupagus + Sweetums (+horns)=Bantha

|9.29.06 @ 10:44AM|#

Oh, and by the way, I know �jedi-less hell� is redundant. Anyplace with Jedis is a hell.

|9.29.06 @ 10:51AM|#

Of course I meant Anyplace WITHOUT Jedis is a hell. I'm just flustered with my rage over your swipe at Star Wars.

Oh, and by the way, as often as the reason staff smoke Captain Kirk�s pole around here, I thought you guys might actually appreciate real science fiction like Star Wars. I guess I was wrong.

Star Trek is so bad that I defy anyone to refute the following sentence; �The best thing that ever happened to Star Trek is Ricardo Montalban.�

Enough said.

Jesse Walker|9.29.06 @ 10:53AM|#

Cab, we welcome your thoughts on the continuity issues raised by these broadcasts.

Jesse Walker|9.29.06 @ 10:56AM|#

...and answer me this: Do any of those Star Wars sequels have a scene where C-3PO tapdances? Huh? Well, that Muppet Show episode does. Therefore it's better. QED.

|9.29.06 @ 11:01AM|#

continuity...CONTINUITY? Who can think of continuity at a time like this? You have, purposefully mind you, degraded the Star Wars theatrical releases. Blasphemous if you ask me.

(Have you seen the special about the wookie family? That one is so bad even I couldn�t watch it...and I named my first born son Luke)

Jesse Walker|9.29.06 @ 11:08AM|#

Have you seen the special about the wookie family?

I sure have. I watched almost all of it, because I'm an aficionado of really, really, really bad ideas, but even I had to hit fast-forward when Bea Arthur started to sing.

|9.29.06 @ 11:09AM|#

Sorry, I just figured out it was part of the christmas special you linked to already. I'm dumb.

|9.29.06 @ 11:11AM|#

Did this Sesame St. thing actually air?

|9.29.06 @ 11:14AM|#

Christmas Special:

link

Jesse Walker|9.29.06 @ 11:19AM|#

Did this Sesame St. thing actually air?

According to that unimpeachable source, the Internet, it aired over two separate episodes in 1979.

|9.29.06 @ 11:23AM|#

"it's actually better than any of the Star Wars sequels or prequels."

Put down the crack pipe, Jesse; The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the films.

|9.29.06 @ 11:23AM|#

One more train wreck of an idea for you, Jesse.

Redd Fox as Okey Ben Pinocchi, "a stately but slightly deceased Jedi."

http://www.timewarptv.com/Default.aspx?tabid=143

|9.29.06 @ 11:36AM|#

Star Trek is so bad that I defy anyone to refute the following sentence; �The best thing that ever happened to Star Trek is Ricardo Montalban.�

The only possible reply is "Captain Kirk never showed up on Sesame Street."

And really, Cab, as a former total Star Wars fanatic, everything having to do with that universe outside of Episodes IV and V has been an unmitigated disaster.

|9.29.06 @ 11:48AM|#

Brian24, I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I'm going for Mongolian BBQ for lunch. When I get back, if I can stay awake, I will give you the pounding you so rightly deserve.

"Captain Kirk never showed up on Sesame Street."

That sentence assumes there is a difference between Star Trek and Sesame Street.

Jesse Walker|9.29.06 @ 11:53AM|#

Redd Fox as Okey Ben Pinocchi, "a stately but slightly deceased Jedi."

OK, that I need to see.

Put down the crack pipe, Jesse; The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the films.

It might have been, if it had a little less Jedi mumbo-jumbo and a little more, um, ending.

The only possible reply is "Captain Kirk never showed up on Sesame Street."

As a Sesame Street fan, I have to hold that against Captain Kirk. At least the droids were trying!

|9.29.06 @ 11:54AM|#

Thanks for the Muppet Show link. It reminds me that (1) I did see this when it first aired and loved it, and (2) I really miss the Muppet Show, which is still pretty darn funny today.

It's interesting to note what these 3 items show: that, unlike its most ardent fans (me included), Lucas never took his Star Wars universe seriously. Those of us who were kids at the time just didn't really notice how willing he was to sell out the project for a buck. The second trilogy (and the Ewoks) make so much more sense in the light of these links.

De rigeur Libertarian boilerplate: of course he has the right to do whatever he wants with his creations for a buck, regardless of how horribly it disappoints me, yada yada.

|9.29.06 @ 12:21PM|#

According to that unimpeachable source, the Internet, it aired over two separate episodes in 1979.

Five year old David watched, and loved every second of it.

|9.29.06 @ 12:38PM|#

Re: Sesame Street episode.
I do recall something about R2-D2 falling in love with a fire hydrant - and then a mail-box...

|9.29.06 @ 12:42PM|#

"And really, Cab, as a former total Star Wars fanatic, everything having to do with that universe outside of Episodes IV and V has been an unmitigated disaster."

A disaster, yes. But the Battle of Endor (the space part, not the great teddy bear massacre) and the great Jedi action in Eps I-III do provide some "mitigation".

|9.29.06 @ 12:53PM|#

P.S. -

So noted. They were mitigated disasters. Jedi was further mitigated by the through-the-woods chase and the oft-mocked Admiral Ackbar ("It's a trap!")

I'm less psyched on the "Jedi action." In the age of Matrix and Crouching Tiger, I have been pretty unmoved (read: bored) by the CGI lightsaber fests.

lunchstealer|9.29.06 @ 1:05PM|#

Meh,

Star Wars jumped the shark when Boba Fett, clearly the biggest baddasss since Sweet Sweetback, died by getting knocked into the big sandtrap critter in one of the lamest Three Stooges ripoffs ever to disgrace the big screen.

timekeeper|9.29.06 @ 1:14PM|#

I think this tops the list of bizarre and pointless crossovers.

I remember seeing it in the bookstore when it came out, and asked myself "Why?" It was the first ST book I refused to buy, and it was the moment at which I decided the whole book series had jumped the shark.

|9.29.06 @ 1:23PM|#

It seems I will never sell these "She-Hulk vs. Leon Spinks" comics. Worst cross-over ever!

|9.29.06 @ 1:34PM|#

I could not find the original footage of Redd Foxx as Obi-Ben (this internet thing is good for nothing).

However, I found the next best thing. Yep, you guessed it, an amateur rap video from 1991 called �The Tampon Vader� that has snippets of video from the Donnie and Marie special that shows Redd Foxx in his Jedi attire. In a strange sense, this rap video is even better than finding the original footage.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5101911187966271593

|9.29.06 @ 1:36PM|#

Ther is no such thing as a good Star Wars movie. Pull a Light Sword on me and I'll take two steps back and zap you with my scrooch gun.

|9.29.06 @ 1:39PM|#

Star Wars and Sesame Street?

Bah. How about Star Wars and breakfast!

|9.29.06 @ 1:49PM|#

A Light Sword?.......Light Sword? The most noble, graceful, dignified, science fiction weapon invention of all time, and you don't even have the common decency to call it by it's rightful name? I can't get over that....a Light Sword.......Holy Jesus Mother Mary of Christ our God in heaven, is nothing sacred anymore?

Light Sword?

|9.29.06 @ 1:54PM|#

Right. Everyone knows it's a Light Knife.

|9.29.06 @ 2:03PM|#

In one of the special features things on the DVD for Episode II, George Lucas referred to it as a Laser Sword.

|9.29.06 @ 2:08PM|#

updated link:

"The Tampon Vader" with Redd Foxx and Paul Lynde.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5101911187966271593&q=Tampon+Vader

|9.29.06 @ 2:20PM|#

Did this Sesame St. thing actually air?

Yes, I remember watching it as a kid.

|9.29.06 @ 2:26PM|#

Clearly, Sesame Street crossovers are not canon.

|9.29.06 @ 2:36PM|#

So the Muppets were libertarian:

The character named "Hogthrob", who is one of the good guys, says to the effete Hamill, "Who's your tailor; I love that outfit", in the exact voice one would use to evoke gayness (adjusting for Muppetitude). A subtle pro-gay message, and no one boycotting?

The character named "Nader" disables Hamill's laser. Bad guys favor gun control.

ETC . . .

|9.29.06 @ 2:42PM|#

You call that a light knife? This is a light knife!

|9.29.06 @ 2:47PM|#

Cab,
No, nothing is sacred anymore. Actually you took it pretty well, I expected you to get upset. I don't have anything against the laser-sabre, I agree it's a cool weapon, but I truely, TRUELY, hate those Goddamn Star Wars movies.

|9.29.06 @ 3:44PM|#

I felt brain cells running for higher ground at 2:30 into the show. That was mindnumbingly stupid. This coming from someone who recently found himself engrossed in Elmo's take on jackets.

|9.29.06 @ 5:12PM|#

I remember seeing the Muppet Show piece when it ran, and it's still funny. Actually, that show was pretty much always funny. As for the Star Wars, Star Trek cage death match, I'm going to have to get a blog and post pictures of my sons in their Halloween costumes -- Boba Fett and an Imperial Storm Trooper, complete with Tri-Corders and Federation T-shirts.

|9.29.06 @ 6:15PM|#

Oh, and by the way, as often as the reason staff smoke Captain Kirk�s pole around here, I thought you guys might actually appreciate real science fiction like Star Wars

Are there any definitions of "science fiction" that favor stories about knights, old kindly wizards, magic, prophecies, destiny, villains in dark armor, and ghosts over Trek?.

Not that Trek is great SF, but that's a strange sort of snobbery.

|9.29.06 @ 6:32PM|#

Star Wars is mostly fantasy, not science fiction. It's not sci-fi just because it's in space.

|9.29.06 @ 7:34PM|#

Are we talking ridiculous crossovers? I'll give you the chief bull goose looney of ridiculous crossovers!

If the title characters aren't enough, check out the bandstand.

Kevin

|9.29.06 @ 8:57PM|#

Come on, I can't be the only person on this planet who thinks the ultra-arch Muppets are excrutiatingly unfunny...

BTW: here's a crossover I'll bet they just loved in France...

|9.30.06 @ 9:32AM|#

Sphynx,

I agree, Star Wars and Star Trek is bubblegum Sci-Fi, not the real deal. Science Fiction Lierature has always been light years ahead of the movies, except for a few like the ones you mentioned. Also, 2001: A Space Odyssey. You only have to see it 6 or 7 time to understand it, but it's worth the trip.

|10.1.06 @ 10:15PM|#

Star Wars is not science fiction, it is fantasy with spaceships and energy weapons (that is not intended as a criticism, Star Wars was not meant to be science fiction). Star Trek was science fiction and by the standards of US TV in the '60's, pretty good science fiction.