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The Star Wars Holiday Special Commercials RESTORED 1978

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The Star Wars Holiday Special Commercials RESTORED 1978
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https://archive.org/details/star-wars-holiday-special-commercials-1978/

With two hours of bonus material. There are several good copies of The Star Wars Holiday Special circulating these days, but the better copies often don't include the commercials. In the 2000s, it was common to cut the commercials out of the special, which only stopped when in 2007 when Rifftrax released their commentary, based on the WMAR airing. The more famous WCBS airing does not circulate in good quality.

Here, the commercials have been restored using multiple sources overlaid and combined. There is also two hours of bonus material. This includes additional commercials (which are often related in some way), part of the news with Roger Mudd which aired before the special, four restored promos, part of "Flying High" which aired after the special, and the "Wasting Electricity" deleted scene from the cartoon, which has been restored from a source which was damaged by digital dirt removal.

From acclaimed film restorationist Garrett Gilchrist. Rick Klein (Fuzzy Memories TV) and Rob Richardson (RobatSea) have contributed rare material to this presentation. This is the result of months of research and frame by frame restoration work.

There are local commercials here from the airings on WMAR, WCBS, KIRO and KOIN, and one segment from WHIO. All of these airings (plus the WCCI, briefly) have been cleaned up, restored, and combined into one picture when possible. Hundreds of additional rare sources have also been found to restore some of the commercials, and provide the material for the post-show.

In this trailer, the restored and combined edit is compared to our best DVD source of the WCBS airing alone, or sometimes the WMAR airing for local commercials, or a typical bootleg of "A Special Sesame Street Christmas," or a typical WCBS bootleg for "Fighting the Frizzies."

The full special and Rifftrax are not included in this upload, but I expect there will be edits which include the Rifftrax. Some DVD versions of the special are split at the commercial breaks, so it will not be difficult to set up a playlist and watch the entire presentation in full as intended.

Thanks to Alex Douglas for the music mashup, and to many others for the additional video sources.

The Bonus ads include other material which aired around the same time, or are similar to ads which aired during the special. This includes ads from "A Special Sesame Street Christmas," the CBS News with Roger Mudd from November 17 1978, and "Flying High." Plus other ads just for entertainment purposes. All ads have been restored from multiple sources when possible.

KIRO broadcast via Rob Richardson (RobatSea)

KOIN broadcast, Flying High clip, Lincoln Bobcat ad, and other sources via Rick Klein (Fuzzy Memories TV / The Museum of Classic Chicago Television)

Midas commercial via Osborn Tramain and several other sources. Actors: Ron McLarty, Skip Hinnant, Loretta Tupper.

Christmas Eve in McDonaldland via Test Macoroni Classic, and other sources.

Here's a guide to the commercials aired during The Star Wars Holiday Special, including some local ads.

WHIO 7 Head Lines: Judy Houck (WHIO)

Wonder Woman / Incredible Hulk cards

General Motors card

General Motors Willie Rawls

Trail Tracker

Sunday on CBS (60 Minutes, All in the Family, Alice, Lucy Comes to Nashville, Dallas)

Comtrex

ILGWU

Bell Telephones (Snoopy)

The Bible Promo (George C Scott and cast)

Reggie Bar (Reggie Jackson, WMAR) Diet A&W Root Beer (WCBS) Pzaz Frederick & Nelson (KIRO)

Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers promo card (WMAR) Fighting The Frizzies (Rolland Smith, WCBS) Spirit of the Great Northwest (KIRO)

General Motors (James Rock)

Pillsbury Plus

Hungry Jack Biscuits

CBS Newsbreak Marlene Sanders (Brezhnev/Neutron Bomb) Contac

Bobby Vinton's Rock N Rollers 20s promo (Valerie Bertinelli)

The Wild Geese trailer (WMAR) UFO Attack (WCBS) Bob Holt Bigfoot's Bank / Pacificbanks (KRIO) Kodak "Our Gang" Camera (KOIN)

Gladding Chevrolet (WMAR) Captain Crook McDonald's Glass Mugs (WCBS) National Lampoon's Animal House (Parade Riot) (KRIO) The Grizzly Bear Pizza (KOIN)

Consumer Catalog PSA (Michael Vale, WMAR) Fighting The Frizzies (Rolland Smith, WCBS) In Focus promo (KOIN)

Hot City Promo card (WMAR) Family Feud Card (KRIO)

TOBOR the Telesonic Robot

Revlon Cream-On Blush

Whirlpool Eagle (Leslie Nielsen)

Anacin

Woolite

Sheer Indulgence Pantyhose

McDonald's McMuffin

Flying High Next on CBS (Pat Harrington Jr.)

Lincoln Mercury (WMAR) Milk American Dairy Association (WCBS) Chevron Casey Kasem animated car (KRIO) Ken-L Ration Burgers (KOIN)

The Wiz Trailer (WMAR) National Lampoon's Animal House (Lunchroom riot) (WCBS) Sea Galley Restaurants (KRIO) Dodge Colt (KOIN)

WMAR News (WMAR) Fighting The Frizzies (Rolland Smith, WCBS) Spirit of the Great Northwest (KIRO) "Standing Tall" Ident (KOIN)

FTD Florists

Fruit of the Loom Emma (Loretta Tupper, Samuel E. Wright, Joey Faye, Harry Goz. $1.30 variant.)

Bell System (Jogging)

No Nonsense Pantyhose

Twice As Fresh

Star Wars Toys from Kenner (Anthony Daniels)

Colony Wine (Darkroom photographer)

After special:

Wonder Woman / Incredible Hulk cards

Bobby Vinton's Rock N Rollers (Valerie Bertinelli)

Harold Robbins' The Pirate

Lucy Comes to Nashville (Bill Bixby)

Washington Mutual (KIRO) Meier & Frank Women's Boots (KOIN)

Taco Bell (KIRO) Jack Livingston Dodge Chrysler Credit (KOIN)

1.98 Beauty Show Card (KIRO)

Jan Harrison Newsbreak "Shoe Bandit" Franzia, Snow on Sunday (KIRO)

Newsbreak S&W Colombia Coffee Freeze on federal hiring (KOIN)

Koin coin (KOIN)

Flying High promo

Flying High "Fun Flight" clip (Kathryn Witt, Connie Sellecca, Pat Klous, Howard Platt, Ken Olfson. Guests Nancy Dussault, Jim Backus, Dave Madden, Charlotte Rae, Bobby Sherman, Lyle Waggoner)

Garrett Gilchrist PATREON 0 favs
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POSTEDMar 30, 2026
ARCHIVEDMar 30, 2026