Family Is Going Viral For Recreating A Shot-For-Shot Tribute To Beastie Boys' Intergalactic

T’is the season to be jolly! Well, unless you work at a post office, then it’s probably less jolly with all of the greeting cards piling up and waiting to be dispatched all around the world.

Yes, it’s the Holidays, the season of giving and of everyone getting super creative with their family postcard ideas. Bored Panda recently discussed one family that has been coming up with humorously awkward, but still very amazing, Christmas greeting card designs for the past 17 years. They are not the only ones going over the top with their Christmas greetings though…

A Toronto-based mother has recently come up with an idea to one-up the traditional Christmas greeting card format by going video. Oh, and also making it into a Christmas-themed tribute to the Beastie Boys’ music video for the song Intergalactic from 1998. Oh yeah, it’s as amazing as it sounds!

Angela Young, together with her two kids Lilah (6), and Levi (4) came out with a minute-long video reenacting the music clip. The scenes, the moves, the costumes—everything is so well done that it’s virtually identical to the actual music video with it’s [robot voice] intergalactic-planetary-planetary-intergalactic glory. Well, apart from the giant city-crushing robot, but her cute kids make up for that in heaps!

Bored Panda reached out to Angela Young to comment on the video.

The video was made to complement a postcard sent out to a select few people, but was later made public on Young’s Instagram. The Instagram photo caption read: “Finally getting into the holiday spirit this week and hope you are too! For this year’s card theme, we channeled the ultimate trio #thebeastieboys and one of my all-time favorite music videos, “Intergalactic” for inspiration. Getting those work suits in child size was a lot harder than you’d think.”

The video was posted on YouTube on December 17 with this caption: “Inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" music video release. Shot in Toronto's underground PATH system, Union Station and the TTC.” If you’re from Toronto, you’ve probably already recognized these sites.

Apparently, this isn't the first Christmas-themed card they have done as they do those every year. "We do a themed holiday post-card every year that we mail out to our close family and friends," elaborated Young. "I work as an Editor at Unreasonable Studios, so I thought it would be fun to add a video component as a piece of bonus content this year that could be viewed by scanning a QR code on the postcard." As soon as one of her colleagues saw this, they suggested she puts the video on YouTube. A huge thank you to the colleague!

Bored Panda asked why she chose "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys. She said: "Intergalactic is my favorite music video from when I was a kid. It sparked so much creativity in me with its guerilla shooting style, how uninhibited the members were doing something different in the streets with people watching, and made me want to go out and make my own videos too. Now that I have my own kids, it's something I share with them on Youtube and they are dancing to the videos in front of the TV. I thought it would be fun to recreate it with them in kid-sized costumes. We're all creative and love to do this type of thing together. I think it's a great way to bond."

"This was the only song in consideration for the video, to be honest," continued Young. "The whole concept was formed around it and I wanted costumes to be as spot-on as possible for authenticity, so I started gathering the pieces in the summer. We even got the stickers on the helmets and those work suits in kid sizes were sourced from the UK."

Bored Panda also asked what are Young's future plans for Christmas cards, if any (or perhaps cards for other occasions?). She had this to say: "This is our 7th year doing postcards, so it's an annual tradition that we'll definitely carry forward. We've been informed by our family and friends that a video component is a must and we had so much fun making it, so we'll definitely do it again. We actually made a vlog about our summer this year on our YouTube page, so we're excited to start sharing more videos there as well."

If you don’t know, Beastie Boys were a 3-part hip-hop group hailing from New York. They have been active for over 3 decades from 1981 through to 2012, with their most notable appearances in the '90s. They disbanded in 2012 when one of the founding members, Adam "MCA" Yauch, died of cancer. The Beastie Boys are best known for their songs “Sabotage”, “Fight For Your Right”, and the aforementioned “Intergalactic”.

Young concluded the interview by saying how grateful she is that people enjoyed the video and how positive the reception was: "I'd also like to add that the positive outpouring online and in the press has been so incredible. The fact that so many people have taken the time to tell us what this little video means to them from all over the world and that we could create something that's making people smile, especially at this time of the year, is something we never even dreamt of when we were making it, but are so grateful that it has happened!"

In just 2 days, the video has garnered over 130,000 views on YouTube, but it certainly deserves more for how well done it is. Needless to say, it is an absolute blast to the past for all of the '90s kids. Apparently, it only took an hour to shoot, and another two hours to edit.

Young herself edited the video, but she also credits Sean Mcleod as the director, Christian Flook for DOP, and gives special thanks to the Unreasonable Studios. And, of course, the adorable Lilah and Levi. Be sure to go check Young's channel out and follow her on Instagram!