Review of The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) by Chris K — 08 Aug 2007

Over the years, much scorn has been given to George Lucas and his "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. But trust me, folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. In 1978, riding the coattails of an enormous, unpredictable hit, Lucas was convinced by CBS to do a "Holiday Special"--this is inbetween the releases of "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980).

Lucas liked the idea and helped create a screenplay (or rather teleplay) and plot, about Chewbacca racing home for Life Day (note the parallels to our holiday season). But in typical producer fashion, Lucas' picked director was fired and replaced by Steve Binder, who was unfamiliar with "Star Wars.

" Lucas, busy making "Empire," was unaware of what would become of "Star Wars: Holiday Special." Within the first few minutes of seeing re-used footage from the first film, and even woodier dialogue from Harrison Ford, we find out that our favorite stars will be sharing the screen with actors such as Art Carney, Bea Arthur, and Harvey Korman, none of whom should be in a Star Wars movie.

We later discover that Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher surrender most of their time to these comedy stars of 1970s television, and if you were disgusted by Jar Jar Binks, Korman (in three roles--a black Julia Childs with four arms, a malfunctioning droid, and an alien who drinks from the top of his head) completely upstages what many consider Lucas' worst creation.

I never found the animated segment, which desperate fans call "the most promising" part of the episode, to be anything remotely good. It takes Star Wars and makes it appear as if Robert Smigel is doing a version of "Wizard of Oz," concluding with C-3PO saying, "He just didn't smell right," followed by a pause, and then laughter from the characters, which must have made them lonely when compared to the silence that was a 1978 Star Wars fan's reaction.

Although I will give credit where it is due--the animated segment marks the first appearance of Boba Fett, and that character is great no matter what. What starts with a bit of nostalgia that indeed there exists one more part to this terrific series of adventures, finalizes as an embarassement and insult to those who adore the movies.

At times it's so-bad-it's-good, but more often it's so-bad-it's-disgusting. Did I mention it's a musical? As for Lucas, he eventually was provided the grave misfortune of seeing it before it was shown, and his anger is legendary.

He once told a crowd that if he had a sledgehammer and all the time in the world, he would find every bootlegged copy and destroy it (for some odd reason, it was only shown once). Conan O'Brien once asked Harrison Ford about the special, and, according to Wikipedia: "(O'Brien) brought up the special, and began asking various questions regarding it, such as inquiring whether he remembered making it.

Ford made no response and looked away, to which the audience responded with laughter and applause. O'Brien then asked Ford what he would think if he played a clip of the special on the show, which he promptly did.

Following the clip (which featured a scene showing Ford as Han Solo telling Chewbacca and his wife that they are "like family" to him), an obviously distraught Ford only managed to mutter, 'Thank you.

'" The "Star Wars: Holiday Special" is on YouTube. It's worth a watch, trust me.