Star Wars Holiday Special
| ♥ | This article is dedicated to The late James Earl Jones (1932-2024). |
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 This holiday, It's a very dark time for the rebellion.
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"If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it."
— George Lucas
The Star Wars Holiday Special is a 1978 American Christmas television special set in the famous Star Wars universe. It starred the film's main cast while introducing the character of Boba Fett, who would appear in later films. It was one of the first official Star Wars spin-offs and was directed by Steve Binder. The special was broadcast in its entirety only once, in the United States, on November 17, 1978 (the week before Thanksgiving), on the U.S. television network CBS from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST), prior to Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk; and on the Canadian television network CTV from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm EST. It was also broadcast in New Zealand on TVNZ and in Australia on the Seven Network.
The special has never been rebroadcast or officially released on home video. The only way it survives is through copies of home VHS and Betamax recordings of the show's one-time airing.
Plot
On Life Day, 1 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), Chewbacca and Han Solo try to get back to Kashyyyk to celebrate it but are delayed by an Imperial blockade, so Chewbacca's family has to try to pass the time with entertainment.
Why It Should Be Force Choked By Darth Vader
- The primary issue with this film is its inadequate understanding of the source material, lacking all the charm that defined the original trilogy. Additionally, in contrast to other Star Wars media, it is significantly more obscure.
- Chewbacca's family, despite being main characters, are not given subtitles, and to compound the issue, they do not have actual dialogue lines.
- The Wookiees, with the exception of Chewbacca, are outfitted in costumes that are unappealing and absurd in appearance, particularly Itchy's.
- Itchy's jaw is hilariously awkwardly designed as it extends up over his nose and up to the spot between his eyes.
- Lumpy sounds like a bee.
- Uninspiring and forgettable songs and musical numbers that don't align with the Star Wars franchise's legacy.
- Extremely poor acting, despite the cast from "A New Hope" reprising their roles.
- Carrie Fisher was reportedly whacked off her skull on drugs during the special's production... and it painfully shows.
- Mark Hamill was recuperating from a severe car accident during the production. Nevertheless, the attempt to conceal his injuries with heavy makeup during his scenes resulted in an appearance that some viewers found to be noticeably artificial, akin to a Ken doll.
- The CGI representation of Luke in The Mandalorian's season 2 finale appears more realistic than his depiction in this context.
- The plot suffers from inconsistency, confusion, and a lack of continuity, which gives it the impression of being more akin to a variety show than a cohesive TV movie or special.
- The film's portrayal of the holiday known as "Life Day" lacks adequate context.
- Moreover, "Life Day" seems to be a rather uninspired and unimaginative holiday, even within the context of the Star Wars universe.
- The film gives little to no focus on the original main characters, dedicating minimal screen time to them and primarily concentrating on Chewbacca's family instead.
- The cartoon produced by Nelvana is satisfactory overall, but the human character designs are lacking; this is particularly true for Han Solo, who appears as though he's had an unfortunate encounter with a horse's hoof.
- The film recycles stock footage from A New Hope, incorporating a deleted scene with Darth Vader and Chief Moradmin Bast—who died in the explosion of the first Death Star—as well as several unused takes of Mos Eisley.
- There is a very disturbing and inappropriate scene, even by Star Wars standards, where Itchy, Chewbacca's father, is implied to be masturbating to a VR erotic dancing tape. Yes, this is not a joke.
- Not only that, this scene also implies that Itchy is shown to be perverted as well.
- The "comedy" is annoying, especially the "Stir, whip, stir, whip, whip, whip, stir!" segment.
- The script was written assuming that the special was only going to run for one hour. When CBS extended it to two hours at the last minute (which is basically double the intended runtime), the entire thing had to be drawn out as much as possible, resulting in loads of filler and pointless scenes that drag on for too long, such as the cartoon segment.
- False advertising: The poster features the Death Star in the top right corner, despite it being set after the Death Star's destruction.
- Overall, this special had no impact on the Star Wars franchise as its events and characters are ignored later on. You can watch any other Star Wars media and anything important would not be missed.
Redeeming Qualities
- The cartoon is noted for featuring Boba Fett's debut, although it is probable that he was already included in the script for "The Empire Strikes Back".
- Bea Arthur's performance as Ackmena is pretty good, especially when she sings "Goodnight, But Not Goodbye", to the point where Ackmena was kept when Disney rebooted the canon in 2014 and the special was exiled from the new canon.
- Jefferson Starship's "Light the Sky on Fire" is an excellent song, despite the performance being somewhat superfluous.
- The scene in which Han causes a stormtrooper to stumble over his own weapon and tumble off a balcony to his demise is unintentionally comical.
- According to WTHINS#16, this special does not affect the Star Wars franchise and is therefore unlikely to be regarded as canon.
- Despite its flaws, it's so bad that it's considered good.
Videos
The Movie
Reviews and the Top 10
Reception
The special is notorious for its extremely negative reception, both from Star Wars fans and the general public. David Hofstede, author of What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History, ranked the holiday special at #1, calling it "the worst two hours of television ever".
George Lucas hated the special so much that he famously said: "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that special and smash it". Carrie Fisher revealed in a 2010 interview that she had forced George Lucas to give her a copy of the special in exchange for recording DVD commentary for the Star Wars films. She added that she sometimes showed it at parties, "mainly at the end of the night when I want people to leave".
In the years since, many fans have stated that the prequels (more specifically, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones), the sequels and Solo are masterpieces compared to this.
The film currently holds a rating of 2.1/10 on IMDb.
Trivia
- The special was only ever a tenuous part of the Star Wars universe and was shunted off into the non-canon "Legends" timeline after Disney acquired the rights to the Star Wars franchise; however, references to Life Day still turned up in Star Wars Battlefront II and The Mandalorian.
- Coincidentally, EA's Star Wars: Battlefront II was released exactly thirty-nine years later and was considered to be just as bad as the special, if not worse.
- Mark Hamill's makeup was needed to cover up injuries sustained from a car accident that occurred after filming of A New Hope wrapped up. This is also why the early scenes of The Empire Strikes Back have Hamill's face covered with snow and why he is injured and put in the Bacta Tank at the Rebel Base, as there were worries the film might have to explain Luke's face changing if Hamill looked different once his injuries healed.
- This special was remade as a short LEGO film, titled the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, which debuted on November 17, 2020 on Disney+. The film received better reviews and was considered an improvement over this special.
- While George Lucas is often blamed for making the special, he actually had little to do with it, since he was busy handling pre-production on The Empire Strikes Back.
- Speaking of George Lucas, when asked about the special at a Star Wars convention, he said, "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it.", making this one of the few pieces of media that Lucas has disowned, alongside the 1986 movie Howard the Duck.
- Contrary to popular belief, R2-D2 was not played by Kenny Baker in this special at all. Instead, he was actually performed by a radio-controlled unit, operated by Mick Garris. This would also explain why Kenny Baker wasn't credited in the special, and that R2-D2 starred "as himself".
External Links
Star Wars Holiday Special at the Internet Movie Database
Star Wars Holiday Special on Rotten Tomatoes
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