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💫 Get ready to blast off for space church as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special!  🎙️ Lizzie Twacthman joins our exploration of the farthest point from the bright center of our favorite galaxy far, far away.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Some folks are in space for the benefit of nobody” (SB Nation, 2015)  Our disappointment that Chewbacca’s family didn’t show up in Solo, but at least we got L3-37, who was great.  High praise for the animated segment, marking our introduction to Boba Fett and the return of Luke’s awesome yellow jacket.  Dihann Carroll was 43 years old in that erotic VR helmet sequence.  Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers of the Star Wars Holiday Special and other spinoffs.  ****  “Star Wars Holiday Special” © 1978 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s2 #1970s #nelvana

🎄 We’re teaching aliens about Christmas again, but this time, George Lucas is watching.  🎙 Jeff Fox from Name That Christmas Special is our special guest as we go on a domesticated goose chase back to 1977 through “A Cosmic Christmas,” the first fully animated feature by Canadian studio Nelvana.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Jeff’s collection of “A Cosmic Christmas” music and scanned promotional items.  Joanna Wilson’s Christmas TV History.  This special got George Lucas’s attention and led to Nelvana producing the animated segment of the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”  “The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years.”  Today’s TV Trope: Big Ball of Violence.  Jellybean looks like the red-eyed Pac-Man on the side of the arcade cabinet.  Duncan Regehr (Amalthor) as Dracula in “The Monster Squad.”  Marian Waldman, Mrs. Mac from “Black Christmas,” also has a quick line or two.  The Castle Thunder stock sound effect.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Burger King Doll Christmas Commercial (1977)  Weird Christmas.  ****  “A Cosmic Christmas” © 1977 Nelvana Enterprises, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1970s #nelvana

🎄 It’s 1988, and the Care Bears are threatening to take hostages on a quest to save Toyland.  🎙 Lindy Kempe and Karen Flieger join us to stare intensely at the totally nuts series finale of “The Care Bears Family,” the Care Bears’ last TV appearance for 16 years.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The World’s Smallest Tenderheart Bear.  Karen’s awesome Nutcracker socks.  Abby Hagyard (Ms. Walker, and also the mom on “You Can’t Do That on Television”).  “The Wild Puffalumps.”  Billie Mae Richards, the voice of Rudolph, as Tenderheart Bear in “The Care Bears Movie.”  That time a goose flew into Fabio’s face on a roller coaster.  Today’s TV Tropes: Identity Amnesia, Evil Chancellor, Rail-Car Separation.  “The Sad Story of Henry” from Thomas the Tank Engine.  The train runs on soda, like the time machine in the first draft of “Back to the Future.”  When we recorded this, the special’s Wikipedia entry was oddly specific about setting this story in 1967.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Care Bears Drinking Glasses from Pizza Hut (1984)  “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.  Snow in Southtown.  ****  “Care Bears Nutcracker Suite” © 1988 Nelvana Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s #nutcracker #nelvana