The Star Wars Holiday Special
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The Star Wars Holiday Special was a two-hour television special (including commercials) broadcast on November 17, 1978 on CBS. In it, Chewbacca and Han Solo visit Kashyyyk, Chewbacca's home world, to celebrate Life Day. Along the way, they are pursued by agents of the Galactic Empire who are searching for rebels on the planet. The special introduces three members of Chewbacca's family: his father, Itchy, his wife, Malla, and his son Lumpy. Later Star Wars novels would also feature these characters, notably Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Patricia Wynne's "The Wookiee Storybook," and Matthew Stover's "A Forest Apart."
The program also features cameos by other Star Wars characters, including Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, R2-D2, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia (who sings the film's "theme song", set to the music of John Williams' Star Wars theme, near the end).
The Holiday Special is important for being the first film-length Star Wars story after the original movie, and for showing an expanded look at parts of that universe. For the most part, however, the plot serves as little more than a means to string together a series of musical numbers, celebrity cameos, and other variety-show acts. These include songs and comedy routines by such '70s talents as Jefferson Starship, Diahann Carroll, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, and Bea Arthur. Easily the most notable segment is an animated cartoon featuring the pre-Empire Strikes Back debut of Boba Fett.
The Star Wars Holiday Special had been lost to the world and mostly forgotten after its premiere in 1978. There was very little evidence of its existence until sometime in the early to mid 90s when people who had in their possession original recordings of the show from 1978 came forward and began to actually copy this show and sell it at conventions. It soon became a cult classic and legend among die hard Star Wars fans, and at the same time maintaining a hated existence among the fans for the most part. Since then, the special has become more widely available to curious fans to see for themselves.
The Star Wars Holiday Special is reviled by most Star Wars fans for its meager plot and low production values and beloved of others for its unabashed wackiness and pure sense of fun. Regardless, it continues to be sold and traded as a bootleg video, and many Star Wars fans have a copy in their collection. George Lucas, who wrote the basic story for the special but otherwise had very little to do with it, is quoted as saying at an Australian fan convention, "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it." Some fans, however, continue to hope that one day it will see an official release, if only as a comedic novelty.
Rumors of a follow-up special called A Very Star Wars Christmas have propagated in recent years, but are an April Fool's prank. Also, a digitally remastered version of the original special was claimed to exist by many fans, but in fact did not. It was later revealed to be only a slogan used to sell copies, many times with expensive prices on eBay and at conventions. Another edition of the special with a few extra seconds of the famed Boba Fett cartoon segment is rumored to exist, although its credibility is doubtful.
The Star Wars Holiday Special is technically in the Star Wars canon, despite the fact that George Lucas despises it. Although not officially released, it can be easily found on eBay on DVD and VHS. Despite Lucas's best attempts at hiding this from the public, The Star Wars Holiday Special will almost certainly continue to live on, with the help of diehard Star Wars fans across the world.
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Music
Four songs were performed on the show. The first, sung by Diahann Carroll, is best remembered for the bizarre monologue which preceded it in which Carroll—who was a supposed to be an image created by a virtual reality machine—tells Chewbacca's father, Itchy, that she is his "fantasy" and invites him to "experience" her.
The second musical number was the song "Light the Sky on Fire", performed by Jefferson Starship, which was worked into the special as a 3-D music video watched by one of the Imperial guards.
Later, Bea Arthur, who plays the bartender in the Mos Eisley cantina, sings a song to the same set of aliens which were seen in the cantina in Star Wars.
At the end of the special Carrie Fisher sings (somewhat off key) a song in celebration of Life Day to the tune of the Star Wars main title.
Comedy
Harvey Korman provides the comedy in three of the special's skits, including the cantina skit with Bea Arthur. He also performs two solo routines: one as a four-armed parody of Julia Child that Mala watches, and one as a malfunctioning android in an instruction video watched by Lumpy. Art Carney has a more integral role in the story, playing a trader on the Wookiee planet who as a member of the rebellion helps Chewy's family, but his part is also played for laughs.
The cartoon
The high point of the special is generally considered to be the animated segment, produced by Nelvana. While the artistic style took great liberties—R2-D2's body was flexible and Han's face looked nearly deformed, the animation was good and the music and sound effects were straight out of the film. With all the main stars from the film doing the voice work for their characters the cartoon sounded like a Star Wars film even if it looked a little odd at times. Not only did the cartoon introduce Boba Fett, but both his jet pack and rope gun, which would not be used in the movies until Return of the Jedi four and a half years later, were both seen in the cartoon.
Other Bits
The Holiday Special was more like a variety show than anything Star Wars and managed to work in one other act—a circus style acrobatics routine that included uneven bars and juggling. All the acts were loosely linked together with linking material which involved the Wookiees' preparation for Life Day, Han and Chewie's attempt to evade the Imperials and make it to Chewie's family, and the Imperial Garrison's search for rebels.
In a May 2005 interview, Lucas was asked if the episode had soured him on working in television:
- "The special from 1978 really didn't have much to do with us, you know. I can't remember what network it was on, but it was a thing that they did. We kind of let them do it. It was done by... I can't even remember who the group was, but they were variety TV guys. We let them use the characters and stuff and that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but you learn from those experiences. I had a wonderful time on Young Indiana Jones. It was a great series. We did it for four years. I spent those four or five years actually working on it. That's really all I did during those years. It was really a great experience and I love television."[1] (http://www.staticmultimedia.com/content/film/features/feature_1115643931)
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External links
- Star Wars Holiday Special comprehensive fansite (http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com)
- Star Wars Holiday Special original fansite (http://www.lucasfan.com/swtv/index2.html)
- Star Wars Holiday Special German fansite (http://starwars-union.de/index.php?id=holidayspecial)
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- TVObscurities.com - The Star Wars Holiday Special (http://www.tvobscurities.com/pages/sw_holiday.php)
- Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Movies/Titles/S/Star_Wars_Movies/Star_Wars_Holiday_Special/)
- When the Force Was a Farce (http://www.tvparty.com/70starwars.html)
- Site with some of George Lucas's comments on the special. (http://www.staticmultimedia.com/content/film/features/feature_1115643931)
- Nonofficial, but very informative site on The Star Wars Holiday Special (http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/)