Ever been watching a television show that couldn’t be farther removed from Star Wars and then suddenly a Star Wars reference pops up? Well, when this happens, it absolutely has me grinning from ear to ear. The legacy and impact of the saga reverberates far and wide and filmmakers love to slot in references and Easter eggs where they can.
We continue our look at Star Wars references on the small screen.
The Muppet Show (1976 – 1981)
This seminal variety show become the corner stone of pop-culture back in its day and anyone who was anyone in showbiz wanted to be on it. Starring Hollywood legends Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, this madcap comedy series became a hit with both children and adults alike.
In February of 1980, the show – now its fourth season – aired a very special episode that kicked off the road to The Empire Strikes Back that would be released in the May.
The episode starts in brilliant Muppet style before some unexpected guests take the show in a different direction. The guests we’re talking about are Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO who are in search of Chewbacca. Kermit is thrilled about his new guests being on the episode but gets a little more anxious when he realises that they won’t actually perform anything. Luke Skywalker has a solution, though. He can always go and fetch his cousin…Mark Hamill.
It’s brilliantly silly and joyful and Hamill displays his innate talents for comedy with some spot-on impressions of The Muppet gang and some flashy dancing thrown in for good measure. Hamill has stated over the years, that, despite all he’s done in his career, this remains one of his personal highlights.
The episode is available to view on Disney+ and is well worth a watch if you need a nostalgia hit or a catch-up of pop-culture of years past.
How I Met Your Mother (2005 – 2014)
This hit comedy was a massive success with audiences and critics alike and featured a massive amount of Star Wars references and Easter eggs over the years. In a way, the love of Star Wars is a massive part of the characters and is often mentioned.
One of the best, however, was known as ‘Trilogy Time’ where the characters Ted, Marshall, and Barney get together every three years to watch the original Star Wars trilogy and envision what their life will be like in another three years. Its revealed that this tradition started way back in 2000 when Ted and Marshall were meant to be studying for a college exam but instead watched the trilogy. It’s stated by the group that if they fail on this tradition then the dark side will win.
This is the first episode that was entirely based on their groups pure love of the Star Wars series and that watching them was the starting point for the story. It also aired around six months before the announcement of the Disney acquisition.
Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (2002 – 2024)
This cornerstone of Saturday night tele in Great Britain is coming to an end this year after twenty series and endless amounts of laughter. Ant and Dec remain at the top of their game and still unrivalled when it comes to what they do best. This show is now the only one that I actually watch on ‘real live TV’.
It all kicked off in Star Wars style way back in the first series in 2002 when the pair went live to a cinema using secret cameras to surprise unsuspecting audience members. The film that people had chosen to go and see instead of watching Newcastle’s cheeky chappies was, of course, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Now, I was only ten years old at the time and had already seen Attack of the Clones for my birthday, but I remember watching this skit and asking my folks: “Can we go and watch it again like those people?”
In later seasons of the show, they had a different guest announcer each week. Sometimes it might be a local pop star at the time or daytime television personalities but occasionally a Hollywood superstar might drop by…or even a Jedi. In 2017, while Mark Hamill was filming The Last Jedi in London, he appeared on the show as the guest of the week. We’ve established by now that Hamill loves these sorts of things and really thrives on them. The skit involving him displaying his Force powers is particularly funny.
Once Upon a Time (2011 – 2018)
This fantasy drama ran for seven seasons and consisted of 155 episodes. Its unique premise involved a parallel story between the ‘real world’ in a town of Maine and a fantasy realm where fairy tales happen – hence the show’s title.
In the 15th episode of the second season, ‘The Queen is Dead’, the show’s writers were able to sneak a reference into the dialogue that’s either really, really subtle or a complete knock of the head – depending on your level of fandom.
In the episode, Snow White is pleading with Mother Superior. Eventually she utters a few words that have been lifted straight from a certain Princess of Alderaan. Instead of, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope,” here we’re treated to the line, “Help us, Mother Superior, you’re our only hope.”
For a show that’s based on fairytales, let us not forget that Star Wars, amongst many other tropes, is based on classic fairytale components.
Family Guy (1999 – present)
The show that came along to rival The Simpsons is well known for its Star Wars references and even went as far to release its own trilogy of parodies known as Laugh it up, Fuzzball.
The first of them, titled Blue Harvest in reference to Jedi’s working title, was released in the saga’s 30th anniversary year – 2007.
The parody was created for no other reason than the staff writers of Family Guy were all huge Star Wars fans and wanted to make it. Other parodies were considered, mainly those of Star Trek and Indiana Jones, but Lucasfilm were the only company who gave the project their blessing. (Indy still being under distribution rights at Paramount) The only stipulation from Lucasfilm was that the characters in the show had to look exactly like they did the movies.
The way the show got into the parodies was by a power cut happening in the Griffin household and Peter then retelling the events of the films from there. A brilliant gag comes at the end when Chris, voiced by Seth Green of Robot Chicken, tells the family that Robot Chicken have already done the spoofs.
Two sequels; Something, Something, Something, Dark Side and It’s a Trap, were released in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Parks and Recreation (2009 – 2015)
This sitcom is extremely well-executed from start to finish. It features consistently polished writing and the sort of humour that is both silly and clever at the same time. There’s a plethora of Star Wars content throughout the show but there is one in particular that has become the stuff of improvisational comedy legend in of itself.
You may know what I’m referring too and that’s Patton Oswald and his masterful Star Wars filibuster speech. (A filibuster, for those like me who didn’t know, is an American political term that is used to describe a person who gives a prolonged speech in order to delay congress or legislation. Basically, time wasting)
In the episode, Oswald’s character launches off on a filibuster speech to stop the local law from overturing a ridiculous legislation about throwing a guy named Ted into a lake. His character then goes on for nine minutes about what the plot of the newly announced Episode VII could be.
The fun thing here is that Patton Oswald did indeed improvise the whole thing right on the spot after the director had done a few takes as scripted and simply said, “Talk for as long as you can about something that interests you.” And Patton did just that.
My words, however, will not do it justice. Here’s the full clip from the show.
The Big Bang Theory (2007 – 2019)
This monster-hit of a comedy ran for 12 seasons and nearly 300 episodes in total and was an unstoppable powerhouse ratings pull in its heyday. Like many shows featured in this pop-culture series, there are simply too many to name all in one go and so we’ll look at some of the highlights.
There are clever jokes about the release order of the saga’s film and tv shows as Sheldon, at one point, states that he will only watch The Clone Wars animated show after first viewing the theatrical film that served as its pilot. “I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended,” he jokes…or not as the case may be for some.
There’s a Fanboys-style plot involving our main characters trying to break into Skywalker Ranch and there’s even an entire story about the gang heading to see The Force Awakens on opening night and capturing the magic of anticipation that we all felt.
There’s a brilliant episode titled. ‘The Convention Conundrum’, where the gang have failed to secure tickets to Comic-Con and so Sheldon puts on his own. He manages to get the Dark Lord himself, Mr James Earl Jones, to attend and later in the episode – our Princess -, the late Carrie Fisher, puts in a brilliant performance and displays her thunderous comic talent.
Force ghosts appear in this show too as Professor Proton, Bob Newhart, arrives on Dagobah to help guide Sheldon through a dream and there’s even an episode devoted to the unofficial Star Wars holiday, May 4th, with literally everything in the episode revolving around Star Wars gags. The best of these is when Sheldon plans his Star Wars viewing marathon and leaves an hour spare after The Phantom Menace so he can moan.
Finally, in the season 11 finale, Sheldon and Amy need someone to officiate their wedding and the gang pull out their biggest cameo yet…a certain farm boy – Mark Hamill.
Join us next week for the final part of Star Wars in Pop-Culture
- Hardcover Book
- English (Publication Language)
- 144 Pages - 03/05/2024 (Publication Date) - Titan Comics (Publisher)
