Enjoy Stuff: A TechnoRetro Podcast (Holiday Special)

Happy Life Day!  

The Star Wars Holiday Special has entertained fans for thirty-nine years.  Whether people love it or hate it — whether they enjoy it or poke fun at it — The Star Wars Holiday Special is a piece of entertainment that has long outlived its intended life span.  

As a special treat for all EarBuds, this special TechnoRetro Dads “The Making of The Star Wars Holiday Special” Holiday Special will reveal just how this legendary piece of Star Wars lore came into existence.  Listen in to an actual reenactment in the boardroom where The Star Wars Holiday Special was initially conceived and the concept was developed forty years ago today: November 17, 1977.

 

The Actual 1977 Audio Clips

Without these sets of interviews, segments of popular shows, and the fabulous behind-the-scenes TV special, The Making of Star Wars, this episode of TechnoRetro Dads would not exist.  (Perhaps, The Star Wars Holiday Special would not exist, either.)  

These clips from 1977 are as follows:

  • A 1977 Bobbie Wygant interview with Harrison Ford 
  • The 1977 BBC Blue Peter Interview with Mark Hamill 
  • A 1977 BBC Parkinson Show with Alec Guiness
  • The Mike Douglas Show from 1977 with Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, & Mark Hamill, 
  • Candid Camera
  • Donny & Marie Osmond Show (S3:E1) 
  • The Making of Star Wars Television Special

 

The 2017 Cast of Reenactors

We get by with a lot of help from our SuperFriends.  Thanks to Scott Ryfun of My Star Wars Story, Mike Macdonald of The Sandcrawler on RetroZap.com, and Steve Glosson from The Big Honkin’ Show, Geek Out Loud, Disney Vault Talk, Mark Out Loud, DVT Star Wars Rebels, Rock Out Loud, and anything else on GeekOutOnline.com.

 

Are You New to The Star Wars Holiday Special?

We’ve been covering it for four years.  This is the fourth episode.  If you would like to hear other episodes, check the links below:

2013 “The Lumpy Peanuts Made Me Itchy” (features Skot Kirkwood from starwarsholidayspecial.com)

2014 “Holiday Special 2014” (with Joe Tavano from Brews & Blasters on RetroZap.com, Chris Hamilton from The Star Wars KidsCast, and Mike MacDonald from The Sandcrawler on RetroZap.com)

2015 “Holiday Special 2015” (features Art Director and Concept Artist Paul Bateman from Rebel Force Radio’s Star Wars Influences)

2016 “Holiday Special Special Edition Remix” (expands the story from the 2014 Holiday Special with additional the additional talents of Scott Ryfun of My Star Wars Story and Dinner 4 Geeks and Steve Glosson of the GOLiverse)

 

Don’t forget to rate and review TechnoRetro Dads on iTunes, share us and with us on social media, or lend your voice to our discussion about toys, cereal, games, or movies and shows from the ‘70s and ‘80s by giving the ‘Dads your feedback on voice mail at (209) 878-7323 or sending us a message or mp3 via electronic-M to podcast@TechnoRetroDads.com

 

Share and enjoy.

Direct download: TRDads_2017_Holiday_Special.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Greetings, Programs!  

’Tis the season of Star Wars with Rogue One, and of course the ‘Dads seen it…once or twice.  But shazbazzar and JediShua are itching to see the latest Star Wars story again.  But the bleak reality of winter has blocked their plans by trapping them inside during a blizzard.  What are ‘Dads to do?  Heat up the cocoa, make some cookies and Christmas cereal treats, and crank up some tunes on the stereo, that’s what.

Turn up the tunes on the turntable and get your Christmas mood amped up as we plunge into the final days before Christmas.  Whether you’re at work, school, or braving the weather, your holidays will be a bit brighter with some classic holiday tunes from long ago (and some from a galaxy far, far away).

With Sammy Davis, Jr., Billie Holliday, Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand and more, the retro gets even more retro as 40, 50, and even 60 or more years of Christmas music hang in the air.  So get your last minute shopping done, wrap the presents, and invite the whole family to share and enjoy this fourth version of UnScrooged from TechnoRetro Dads.

Merry Christmas, EarBuds!

Direct download: TRDads_UnScrooged_4_.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 4:18pm EDT

Thirty-Eight years ago, television audiences were invited into the quirkier side of life in that galaxy far, far away on the Star Wars Holiday Special.  Fortunate fans were welcomed into Chewbacca’s home to wait with his wife, son, and father for him to come home for Life Day, a celebration of joy and peace among Wookiees.  On 17 November 1978, before most homes had VCRs to record this one-time broadcast, eager Star Wars fans tuned in for an unexpected combination of aliens, stormtroopers, comedy sketches, musical numbers, and the heroes of the movie that captured the consciousness of the world over the past eighteen months.  The resultant two-hour special left some fans befuddled, some frustrated, and some gleeful just to see more adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2.

 

The Star Wars Holiday Special is a tribute to the late 70s, preserving the flavor of popular television shows and the gaudy glam of disco culture.  Featuring well-known television stars Harvey Korman, Art Carney, and Bea Arthur, what worked well with audiences week after week on sketch comedy shows has been widely panned among viewers since then.  Perhaps it brought the Star Wars galaxy just a little too close to our own.  Musical guests Diahann Carroll and The Jefferson Starship lit up the imagination through sight and sound with their “in universe” performances — one of which, at least, seems entirely inappropriate for family viewing and will make you squirm in your seat.

 

Since first seeing it, shazbazzar and JediShua have held a special affection for the Star Wars Holiday Special, resulting in annual tributes to this memorable moment of our childhoods.  This year, the TechnoRetro Dads Holiday Special remixes segments from the 2014 Holiday Special into a TechnoRetro Special Edition that shows other homes were experiencing the same anticipation and anxieties about friends and families arriving in time for Life Day as Malla, Lumpy, and Itchy experienced in their home.  Hopefully, the dialogue will be easier to understand than the grunts and growls of the Wookiees on this special.  Reprising their roles from the earlier version are Sheldon and Chase Norton, Mike MacDonald, Chris Hamilton, Joe Tavano, the Shualings, and musical group High Adventure.  Additionally, the shazlings join in to prepare a meal with help from Steve Glosson, Scott Ryfun lends his voice to the mix, and a few more songs by High Adventure find their way into the story prepared especially for our EarBuds for this Life Day Celebration.

Direct download: TRDads_Holiday_Special_2016.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 7:04am EDT

Greetings, Programs!

Forty-five years ago today, JediShua took his first breath into a larger world.  Celebrate with TechnoRetro Dads on 7/11 as the older ‘Dad spins another year on the turntable of life on this JediShua Day!

SuperFriend Aaron Goins, cohost of Star Scavengers: A LEGO Star Wars Podcast, joins shazbazzar and JediShua for a peek into the latest LEGO Star Wars creation, The Freemaker Adventures.  Then the conversation moves upstairs to the attic in hopes of retrieving some LEGO bricks and reliving our own LEGO adventures of the past with our earliest memories of the building blocks from Billund as well as our ongoing fascination with the ever-popular creative toys.  From gas stations to tump trucks to space men minifigs and, of course, Star Wars sets, these three ‘Dads revel in the days of multi-colored, interlocking plastic bricks and the promising possibilities they represent.

HISTORY LESSON
Timetravel through the annals of fictional and film history this week with Aaron Burr, Agent K, Agent J, Alexander Hamilton, Billie Holiday, Billy Dee Williams, Billy the Kid, and the balding Captain of the Enterprise: Jean-Luc Picard.  

BIRTHDAY SURPRISES
But that’s not all!  Celebrities, characters, friends, and EarBuds join in the fun for 77 minutes of celebrating 45 years of JediShua on this 7/11 special occasion: JediShua Day!

Share and Enjoy!

Direct download: TRDads_04.14.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 5:30am EDT

Greetings, Programs!  

 

What do you get when you mix an Art Director with a disagreeable feline actor for an all day shoot?  Great after-hours conversation about The Star Wars Holiday Special!  SuperFriend Paul Bateman of Rebel Force Radio’s Star Wars: Influences joins shazbazzar and JediShua for a discussion about “The Faithful Wookiee” segment of the Holiday Special as we continue our annual Life Day tradition this week.

 

With a focus on the animated stylings of Nelvana, in and out of the Star Wars universe, we lose focus multiple times throughout this bonus-sized episode as we highlight some of the most memorable moments of Star Wars animation throughout the past four decades.  In addition to that Galaxy Far, Far Away, we talk about A Cosmic Christmas, The Devil and Daniel Mouse, and Rock & Rule (which JediShua finally watched after three years of constant prodding from shazbazzar).  We even talk TRON and Planet of the Apes!

 

Enjoy Life Day with TechnoRetro Dads.

 

Direct download: TRDads_03.30.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 3:19am EDT

Oh, no!

The show is a no go!

Maybe there will be more tomorrow.

Who knows?

Direct download: TRDads_03.30_No_Show_Till_Tomorrow.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 7:47am EDT

A long time ago, in many places not far away, young Star Wars fans turned on CBS for a special event featuring their favorite fictional characters.  Some were thrilled, others nonplussed, and the history of The Star Wars Holiday Special began.  

   

Download and relive the fun and frustration of the Holiday Special as JediShua and shazbazzar invite SuperFriends Sheldon Norton, Mike Tarkin, Chris Hamilton, and JoeyWanKenobi to relive the magic of that notorious Friday in November 1978 (with special musical guest, High Adventure)!  

 

But that's not all!  This year's inductees into the Toy Hall of Fame are in the news, Etch A Sketch is retrieved from the Attic, a TechnoRetro Fantasy is explored, and we reveal the success and failure of shazbazzar's Monster Cereals cake from a couple weeks back.

 

Don’t forget the TechnoRetro Dads’ reviews of Star Wars: Rebels “Out of Darkness” on RebelForce Radio’s Star Wars: Rebels Declassified and Disney Vault Talk: Rebel Yell from last week!  

 

Check out shazbazzar’s new blogs on The Star Wars Report.     

 

Listen to JediShua on Green Justice, Scarlet Velocity, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Case Files.     

 

 

Celebrate this day of peace by greeting your fellow sentients with the traditional, “Happy Life Day!” today.

 

Direct download: TRDads_2014_Holiday_Special.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 5:50am EDT

Enjoy the TechnoRetro Dads Spooktacular 2014 in the dark of night if you dare… (You can light a candle if you’re faint of heart.)

 

With classic tales from shazbazzar’s copy of Troll Records’ 1973 Scary Spooky Stories on vinyl (very retro) and songs from the past as JediShua and shaz go Trick-or-Treating with the next generation in this special edition of TechnoRetro Dads.

 

Including works by Lucasfilm, Andrew Gold, J. Geils Band, Sparks, Warren Zevon, Tim Curry, Chris Hamilton, Lawrence Grey, and Oingo Boingo.  With references and sounds from Fat Albert’s Halloween Special, Witch’s Night Out, Fright Night, The Worst Witch Ever, The Hobbit, and Groovie Ghoulies.

 

 

We dare you to listen at midnight.

Direct download: TRDads_Spooktacular_2014.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 3:04pm EDT

Greetings, Programs!

Shake off the Humbugs and get UNSCROOGED in this Christmas Music Spectacular!  Since music is such an intrinsic part of the holiday season and makes for great memories, we thought we’d share some of our favorites of years gone by as well as some new things we’ve added to our holiday playlist.
 

As a bonus feature of this episode, we called up Bob Brown for a chat about his song, “Santa, Bring Me a Dinosaur”, a fun little ditty from Down Under.

Plug this one into the car as your traveling or play it on the home stereo.  You’ll enjoy hearing these tunes over and over and over again.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Direct download: TRDads_UNSCROOGED.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 10:19pm EDT

Greetings, Programs!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from a couple of turkeys and their kin.  If you have a bit of a journey today on your way to see family and don’t feel like singing songs the whole way, here are eighty-three minutes of TechnoRetro fun (and facts) to hopefully make the ride more bearable...

Are we there, yet?

Direct download: TRDads_TDay_2013.mp3
Category:Holiday Special -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

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