Star Wars is now officially 40 years old, and has changed the cinematic world since the day A New Hope hit the big screen back on May 25, 1977. It’s a franchise that has left a lasting mark on the entire landscape of pop culture. To this day, it’s still thrilling to find new photos or videos from production of the original trilogy, but there are also the other unsung heroes of Star Wars found footage–the truly weird Star Wars-inspired shit. For a franchise that is so well-loved, it makes sense that commercials, television shows, and movies found inspiration (and occasionally straight-up stole) from Lucas’ smash hit. You could spend hours sifting through the internet looking at the bizarre (and often disastrous) ways filmmakers and advertisers have tipped their hat to a galaxy far, far away.
Luckily, the dedicated team at Cinefamily TV has worked tirelessly to compile some found footage from the Star Wars film sets, interviews with the original cast, and some of the most wonderfully weird Star Wars-inspired content from across the galaxy. Of course, 40 years is one hell of a long time, so this video is a pretty sprawling one, lasting about 90 minutes of intergalactic bizarreness. Still, it’s worth a watch, and nothing shows the lasting effect Star Wars had on our culture like showing the weird ass way we’ve shown our love for the franchise. Give the video a watch, if you dare (be warned–some of the video is NSFW):
For those of us who were born several years after A New Hope hit theaters for the first time, a lot of this content might be brand new. But even if you’ve seen some of this content before (like the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, which gets a shout out in the compilation), seeing all of the bizarre ways Star Wars has been referenced among a variety of entertainment mediums and cultures is pretty impressive. Despite the compilation’s frenetic nature, it’s still a hoot to watch. After all, the disco Threepios dancing with disco Darth Vaders and the Star Wars-themed variety show numbers (my personal favorite being the one from Donny and Marie Osmond’s variety show) make this compilation well worth the watch.
Were you able to watch the entire video? What were some of your bizarre Star Wars homages? Do you have any faves that weren’t featured in the video? Tell us about it in the comments!
Did LEGO just let some Snoke spoilers slip?
[brightcove video_id=”5453571416001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8x”]
Feature Image: Lucasfilm
