News

Patty Maloney, an actress whose 30-plus year career included memorable turns on Little House on the Prairie, Syd & Marty Krofft’s Far Out Space Nuts, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and the Star Wars Holiday Special, has died. Her passing was confirmed via a post on the official Syd & Marty Krofft Facebook page. She was 89.

Maloney stood 3 feet 11 inches and weighed about 60 pounds. Her stature and pantomime stills meant she often worked in costume. And work she did, with memorable roles on some of the most popular TV shows of the ’70s an ’80s.

On her first series, the actress played the furry and funny Honk on the Kroffts’ Far Out Space Nuts, a character who spoke only in horn-like honks. The show was a Saturday morning staple for kids in the ’70s, especially via syndication. She also appeared on 13 episodes of The Krofft Superstar Hour and other of the duo’s shows.

Patty Maloney, the 3-foot-11 actress who played the alien Honk on the Sid & Marty Krofft family show Far Out Space Nuts and Chewbacca’s son, Lumpy, on the long-lamented Star Wars Holiday Special, has died. She was 89.

Maloney had suffered several strokes over the years and died Monday in hospice care in Winter Park, Florida, her brother, Dave Myrabo, told The Hollywood Reporter. “For a little person growing up in a big world, she did everything she wanted to do,” he said.

Maloney did lots of work alongside the 3-foot-10 Billy Barty. The two appeared together in the Wizard of Oz feature Under the Rainbow (1981), starring Chevy Chase, and on episodes of Little House on the Prairie, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D. and more.

Far Out Space Nuts, starring Bob Denver and Chuck McCann as bumbling maintenance workers turned accidental space travelers, aired for one season (1975-76) on CBS.

When it comes to costume changes in horror movies, the term is a little more elastic than merely an actor obtaining a different wardrobe. A "costume" in a horror movie might refer to full-body latex or an animatronic suit to completely transform an actor's physicality. It could mean a character goes from being an actor in an outfit to a CG creation. Or it may address the fact that, in adapting non-filmic source material, changes had to be made for the camera, or were made by editorial decision.

Whether it be between installments of a franchise, or from original to remake, or from costume to special effect and vice versa, audiences do not embrace every change. And in some cases, even if most people like a change, purists remain unconvinced. Horror movies, novels, and comics leave indelible images in our minds, so when a newer version "re-skins" them, so to speak,...

"Star Wars" fans of a certain age sat through it on television. Younger fans had to hunt for it on the Internet. It was the debut of Boba Fett, and there was an excruciatingly long Wookiee domestic scene without any dialogue but plenty of grunts and groans. Yes, friends, I'm talking about the "Star Wars Holiday Special." Carrie Fisher sings while high as a kite, Mark Hamill wears an astonishing amount of makeup, and Harrison Ford is clearly unhappy to be there. 

It's full of all sorts of weirdness, like Chewbacca's (Peter Mayhew) wife Malla watching a cooking show while her hairy paws cook food without gloves (eww), and Chewie's father Itchy watches soft porn in the form of a VR recording of a singing Diahann Carroll. His kid Lumpy watches some sort of variety show acrobats ... it's a mess. 

It wasn't just a disaster to watch. It was actually...

A lot of people ask me, "Creepy, how did you first come to love horror movies so much?" Well, growing up in the Seventies, there was plenty to go around. There were TV classics like Gargoyles, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and any number of TV Movies of the Week, and there was also...

There was also a ton of weird and quirky bits of monster-themed kids programming. Usually "The Munsters" and "The Land of the Lost" get all the love, and rightly so. They're absolute classics. That being said, we're gonna talk about some other things here. Things you may not have known even existed. For instance, were you aware that way before Venkmen, Spengler, Stantz and Zeddmore there was a whole other set of Ghostbusters? How about a different Monster Squad? Got your attention? Good. Sit back, relax, and get ready to soak up some lunacy as we revisit.

“Why do I always think gettin’ you home for Life Day is gonna be easy?”

So says a languid Han Solo to an excitable Chewbacca in the legendarily awful 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. Perhaps the most infamous Television Christmas Special ever made, The Star Wars Holiday Special is a mythic assault on fanboy watchability. There are shows that are so good they’re bad, the kind of outing where laughable moments and poor production add an air of ironic, even classic credibility. Then there’s The Star Wars Holiday Special. So bad its good just doesn’t apply here. This two-hour spinoff is utterly unwatchable save for a brief section of animation wedged between the overcooked buns of this whopper of a fail.

While the idea of a Star Wars Christmas special may have sounded good on paper, this Lucasfilm misstep left a blemish on Star Wars even greater than Jar Jar.