Star Wars Minute: LIVE! in L.A. Part 2

←Live in L.A. Part I

Left to Right: Matt, Alex, Pete, Tony, Joseph

Date

August 20th, 2014

Summary

Discussion of classic Star Wars-related TV commercials.

Guests

Matt Belknap, Joseph Scrimshaw, and Tony Thaxton.

Notes

• Recorded live at the Nerdmelt Showroom at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles.
• No Kenner toy ads have been included; they may be covered separately at a later date.

NES Star Wars Game

• Basically a home invasion.
• Not a good idea to scare your parents - the ones that are going to buy you the game.
• Seems like a public service announcement (PSA).
• Darth Vader and the stormtroopers represent the mother's fear.
• By buying her kids the game she can alleviate her fear. This is the hidden message of the ad.
• What happened to the sister and dad from the start of the ad?
• Is this like what happened to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru?
• Are the Imperial forces (including Darth Vader) there because they're worried that these boys are controlling real rebel spaceships and attacking them?
  • Or is it a "Last Starfighter" thing and Vader wants to recruit them?
  • Or does he have other reasons entirely?
• This game and ad comes from the dark ages. Very weird timing for something Star Wars related.
• The characters have giant deformed 8-bit heads in the game.
• It was not a popular game or console by the time the game was released in 1991.

Majik Market

• Everyone that has anything to do with Comic Book Stores knows the type of guy in the ad.
• The hosts have never heard of Majik Market. It was a convenience store not linked to gas stations; like an early 7-11.
• The ad was from the era when Star Wars could be slapped onto anything and it would sell.
• The ad is from fall 1977 - it was one of the first licensed Star Wars product.
• The guy in the ad is excited about Star Wars but doesn't know any of the terms yet (eg he says "the guy lassos the thing"; "laser swords").
• Also, spoilers.
• And why is this guy the spokesperson? Shouldn't it be a cool 70s kid? He must be related to the Dunkin' Donuts guy from the same era.
• Who is he talking to? Must be an annoyed customer.
• The hosts all had the Burger King Star Wars glasses that were released shortly after the movie.
• The Majik Market cups are worth a fortune now.

Star Wars Underoos

• From 1980. Must have been rushed for the release of The Empire Strikes Back.
• The ad is an insult to Boba Fett.
• C-3PO's dancing is very awkward - not "fancy".
• The droids are for girls due to the lack of female characters in Star Wars.
• The underoos range and what they are.
• The strange sound effects and timing in the ad.
• This ad is from a different time.
• Many of the hosts owned these as kids.

Star Wars Drunk Driving PSA

• The voices are not matched to the correct characters.
• This is not from the movie - it was recreated (badly) after the movie.
• Perhaps this ad was made as a message to guys like the Majik Market guy.
• Is Chewbacca usually the designated driver? Or is it usually Han?
• The spaceship in the ad is NOT the Millennium Falcon so don't try to fit it into continuity. Its just a freighter that looks like the Millennium Falcon - this has been described in EU.
• There is a lot of quality neck-wear being worn by the characters in the ad. This is clearly to cover up the masks.
• Two of the characters in the ad did have a relationship in the "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina" book. Pete describes this story in detail.

Final comments

• Star Wars was the first movie that Matt ever saw in the theater (at 3 or 4 years of age) and Empire was a big deal for him.
• He remembers that at around the time of Empire the Ben Cooper character masks were released and there were reports of kids using other unsafe household items for costumes.
• He knew a kid who said his dad was the lawyer for a case that got certain shooting toys banned in the 80s.

Meta Minute

• 33:26 podcast episode length.
• Cold-open: Intro - and promotion for starwarsminute.com/merch.
• More special episodes like this will be released over time.

Quotes

• Joseph: ...there's snow biz like snow biz.
• Matt: Did you see when the alien drank the thing?
• Pete: This is going to go too deep into it. Alex: Now its going to... Pete: Yeah, now its going to go too deep; sorry, I know you guys have listened to all 80 hours of us talking about Star Wars and Empire.

Links

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2014/08/20/star-wars-minute-live-in-l-a-part-2/

Star Wars Ads

NES Star Wars Game
Majik Market
Star Wars Underoos
Star Wars Drunk Driving PSA

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