#its an enigma

[steampunkforever]

Looking back at the latest run of movies I've filmposted on, you might be tempted to think I'm only watching the good stuff these days. Let me dispel any thought that I've abandoned horrendous cinema as we tackle what I believe to be the reason George Lucas is the way he is: the Star Wars Holiday Special.

For the uninitiated (people who became Star Wars fans around the time the term "Reylo" was minted) let me set the stage. It's 1977, and the world has been changed by the arrival of Jedi to the silver screen. Lucas et al. can now afford more matte paintings than ever before, and are busy planning out the thrilling sequels to carry on the Star Wars saga ("Planning the Star Wars sequels" is a sentence that will not be uttered again in studio conference rooms until 2017, at which JJ Abrams will precede the sentence with the words "We will not be"). CBS approaches Lucas with a revolutionary concept: worldbuilding for the Star Wars universe by developing discrete self-contained stories through the medium of Television (the book of bobos, coming soon).

Lucas says yes, develops an allegedly solid script off his idea for an all-wookie movie, and then will not budge on his idea for a movie entirely focused on a species of alien that grunts with no subtitles. He's just put out one of the biggest movies to hit the screen ever, and furthermore is a man of great artistic vision. With Lucas at the helm this is set to be a hit.

Except Lucas needs to move studios to fit all the matte paintings he can now afford. So Lucas drops the story in the hands of the ever capable CBS and heads to the matte painting store, leaving them to find another director after the first guy quit after finishing the Jefferson Starship concert and "Bea Arthur sings at the Cantina" scenes.

Lucas' trust was, to be blunt, misplaced. CBS' finished cut was simply terrible (with the exception of a charming animated segment), and Lucas even offered to pay them to keep the abomination off air. They declined, but the Holiday Special was only aired once, at which point all copies were destroyed at Lucas' behest. At this point Lucas is at the top of his creative game and we haven't been subject to anything like Indiana Jones 4 yet, so you can imagine what a blow this is to the man who has yet to mastermind Jar Jar Binks.

Much like the preservation of HBO originals in the present day, the Holiday Special was only preserved and propagated through outright piracy, to the point that Holiday Special bootlegs became a known fandom trope. And so this week, for the second time in my life, I watched a rip of the Star Wars Holiday Special made somewhere around Baltimore on that fateful night in 1978, slotting in right before Wonder Woman. It was bad, yes, just not spectacularly so.

There is no question in my mind: The Star Wars Holiday Special killed George Lucas' directing career more so than the runaway success of the first movie.

In my writings on film, there runs a throughline (often utilizing Lucas as a prime example) that discourages sequels. I'll admit that this comes predominantly from my upbringing in a world of shared universes and IP sprawl, but it's a pretty agreed upon point that A) serialization only serves as a chance to tarnish an otherwise solid first film and B) new, discrete stories are more interesting. That said, sequels are not bad, and my analysis of Star Wars does not lay blame on the fact that we got to see what happened after the Yavin Award Ceremony.

You see, beyond being bad, The Holiday Special taught Lucas all the wrong things with its failure. Artistic control is paramount, yes, but what his experience with CBS taught Lucas was that in order to secure his legacy, he had to chain himself to the Carbonite slab that was Star Wars and micromanage it for the rest of his life to ensure the world he'd created would maintain the quality he intended for it.

Looking at the state of Star Wars in the years after Lucas cut the series loose, I don't think this was an incorrect statement, but a singular devotion to guiding his store-brand Flash Gordon empire is what led to a 22 year hiatus between directorial efforts. Even after this, as much as I personally find the prequels to be misunderstood, they lacked the same spark Lucas had, making me wonder what he could have put out in his most creatively charged years had he not lashed himself to the helm of a franchise that's abandoned most of the work he spent years tailoring to his vision in favor of Baby Yoda.

The Star Wars Holiday Special is truly what separates Lucas from Coppola. Without that harsh lesson in trusting Star Wars to someone else, Lucas might've focused on directing future projects of his own rather than managing those of people expanding his space wizard universe.

Or maybe if you'd swapped their places Coppola would have Don Corleone meet up with cheerful Gungan Jar Jar Binks.

Of course this is all conjecture. Lucas has put out some of his best work as a writer and story lead working on projects like Indiana Jones and Willow, but it's sad to see one of the most influential film workers in the world, whose work I truly admire, with only a half dozen directing credits despite having all the matte painting money he could ever desire to make passion project films. Coppola went broke, but at least 2/3rds of his filmography didn't get coopted to sell Disney streaming packages.

Then again if I'd just put out three revolutionary films in a row and then saw what CBS did with my high concept wookie script, maybe I wouldn't be seeing things so clearly.

We're about a dozen paragraphs too long for a filmpost on the Star Wars Holiday Special, so I'll wrap up now: I can't say I recommend it.

[plumbus-central]

studious teens pouring over the d&d handbook and permanently altering their brain chemicals

[aiming-for-phantoms]

Obsessed with Oli OrionSound asking JoeHills what the Resistance Assistance is and Joe responding

"You know, I don't really try to understand what Grian does, it really frustrates my kid because it's all she wants to talk about at dinner. She's like "Dad, why did Grian decide to do this?" and I'm like "I don't know". It's just like, why don't we talk about something more simple like politics in Europe?"

(HermitCraft 9 Ep 49 on JoeHillsTSD, 22:45)

[wombrion]

is there any way we can take a peek thru ur comic making process like a bunch of gnomes on top of each other by the door looking at idfk.. snow white cooking food in the kitchen.....

picks you up by the scruff ok. but just because you called me snow white got it

kinda long btw!! also flashing images

[fishareglorious]

Most of r1999 characters go by aliases or their first/last names, and so far I think there’s only been a few who've had their full names revealed. From what i can remember:

Shamane - Pushya Shamar

Ms. Moissan - Hannah Geier

Blonney - Jennifer Woods

Druvis III - Druvis Weyerhauser III

Rabies - Adam Miłosz

John Titor - I think you already know this one.

Edit for the other ones:

Baby Blue - Rebecca Jones

Tennant - Ada Tennant

Melania - Melania Ramirez

Do you know any more with their full names? I’m just curious to know how many people have those stated.

[fg083nrt]

Here are some excerpts from Naruto's official website, Hidan's birthday column.

He even appears to enjoy the pain caused by the curse ritual, which most would be unable to bear. Perhaps this is due to the delight he takes in paying tribute to Jashin...

No comment.

The teachings of the Way of Jashin are a core part of Hidan's identity, and a conviction he must stay true to despite his enemies and his own partner, Kakuzu.

Something, something 'lead us not into temptation', something, something.

“The worst temper in thd Akatsuki!?”

Can’t believe Kakuzu’s shitty temper is mellow compared to Hidan. Adorable.

It's not only ideologically that Hidan defies social norms.

Oh, I'm sure.

His talkativeness and quick retorts give his personality a lightheartedness that contrasts with his bloodthirst in a uniquely charming way.

It's true! He's like a cute, violent cat that shows you its tummy every now and then.

However, when his blood is up, he completely loses his cool, and this seems to be more pronounced with every curse ritual he performs. Maybe his excitement affects his ability to reason?

Religious ecstasy is real within him.

Despite his rough and fearsome nature, there may be a kind of purity to be found in Hidan's sincere devotion.

⛓️🩸⚔️✨😇✨🔪🩸⛓️

[vesperionnox]

[ Day 56 ]

Nothing like a staring contest that slowly does damage

[voomity]

More frenrey doodles (i need to hit him with rocks)(in a positive way)(you get it)

[bartholomew-junior]

flowey and sleep deprived clover

[ourpleboy]

my dialtown oc named psychedelic :3

[pinazee]

If you’re so smart, then why are you dead?

To start, heres a list of scientists that some characters were named after:

Lisa Meitner (physicist, bad bitch)

Otto Hahn (physicist)

Kurt Gödel (mathematician) (shawn was sort of correct with the pronunciation)

Robert Goddard (physicist)

William Shockley (racist)

I thought this was an accident because James seems to snicker after but apparently it was planned by Dulé’s stand in Gyle (Gile?)

Gus really should have known this was Avogadros number if he took any kind of chemistry.

Were they originally going to have Shawns mom a cop too and thats why he said he was born with “an extra normal amount [of paranormalevolance]. Two cops to be exact.” I have a vague memory of someone mentioning it on a commentary.

I wish they had let Juliet have a little more participation in the solve and therefore the victory. Or better yet, gave her a separate case to solve on her own so we saw her really get a win under her belt. She could still ask Shawn for advice, or maybe while he’s doing his whole psychic episode bit to give her a clue she solves it without him, and Shawns left standing impressed. But also, you’re telling me that she wasn’t the primary when she went undercover at the sorority??

The way Dulé says “i never got carsick a day in my life!” ABSOLUTELY SENDS ME

But what really made the Gusters keep him from going? Was it just their overprotectiveness? Was shawn really his only friend? Are they still trying to protect him from the truth?

Somehow i got it in my brain that Shawn was responsible for Gus not getting in. I think i headcanoned that so hard i made it feel true lol i thought Shawn knew the whole time (i mean he must have seen Gus practicing and being extra anxious about something) and he somehow convinced his parents that Gus wouldn’t have been happy there. maybe part of that was true, but little Shawn just didn’t want him to go.

Either way, if the Gusters were actually concerned about quality of life, then they chose Gus’s happiness over his success which is such a juxtaposition to Shawn and his dad.

Or maybe they visited the school and saw a kid getting shocked and said fuck that.

Here’s another instance of Gus looking for where he went wrong in life. If only he’d spelt aggiornamento correctly, if only he’d gone to Meitner. Gus seems so unhappy with himself, and theres this underlying narrative happening that Gus might actually be depressed. Like in 9 lives when he’s convincing himself he’s happy, or in down the stretch when Shawn says Gus needed a victory more than him at the moment. This poor guy spent so much of his life being told he would go far, that he could do anything, so when he didn’t, he felt like a failure. And I don’t think that was his parents fault necessarily, i think he put that pressure on himself, simply because it was expected. He was the gifted kid who burned out, and now he’s settled into something safe, reliable, and unfulfilling.

Then you have this chess match with Shawn and Henry and we see Shawn demonstrate his own genius. But the juxtaposition here is that shawns pressure was external. Shawn also had the potential to go far but that ultimately isn’t what he strives for. Shawn just wants to have a good, fun life. Probably because his dad sucked the fun out of everything (let the kid call the knight Dwight, jesus henry).

Sidenote: I’m obsessed with finding this blonde guy in the background now haha

[simplydnp]

dan being a 'if the water is too hot i cant do it' guy who also turns the shower on while he's standing under it without testing the temperature...

[lavenoon]

@naffeclipse since I never bothered to explain (and also will not do that in the future) how my modern day self insert actually ended up in the SJ-verse, here's an imagined menace4menace speedrun <3

*self insert is not a girl (he/ she)

og detective au by sunnys-aesthetic!

Also throwing this silly character sheet out there with this because why not

[bloody-croissant]

Don't make me, cause I'll do it

[where-did-everybody-go]

[tomfrogisblue]

another message I saw as the lore dump was progressing

"WHERE IS CELLBIT'S DISCORD WHEN YOU NEED THEM??"