That's right, yesterday marked 40 years since the Star Wars Holiday Special aired--it should have been an annual tradition, like "The Wizard of Oz" or "A Charlie Brown Christmas." But it was not to be, my fellow Star Wars fanatics.
What? No "Special Edition"? Why not? After all, Lucas saw fit to tamper with the Original Trilogy!
Ah, but why tamper with perfection?
Still, no FSMer in this Star Wars-obsessed forum has come forth to reflect and reminisce on what must have been a momentous occasion on Star Wars history.
Please share your memories--fond or otherwise--of that great day, November 17, 1978.
I was 15 when I turned the TV on and got ready to watch this. I was hoping to be alone watching it but my dad plopped down in his recliner and wanted to watch it with me. Major embarrassment ensued.
When Carrie Fisher started singing I wanted to get up and go to my room but my dad said I should finish watching it and keep him company. I can understand why Lucas has disowned this thing.
I was 15 when I turned the TV on and got ready to watch this. I was hoping to be alone watching it but my dad plopped down in his recliner and wanted to watch it with me. Major embarrassment ensued.
When Carrie Fisher started singing I wanted to get up and go to my room but my dad said I should finish watching it and keep him company. I can understand why Lucas has disowned this thing.
Happy Life Day!
That pretty much mirrors my story. LOL! I was a Star Wars fanatic, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the film. It rocked my world like nothing has ever before.
So imagine my anticipation and excitement when I sat down with my family to watch The Star Wars Holiday Special. My immediate reaction? What is this shit?! I was horrified and embarrassed. It was like walking in on your parents having sex. It scarred me for life.
I watched this not too long ago (out of morbid curiosity, and to see if I was really remembering it correctly), and it really is as bad as people remember it.
I was about 10 when it first aired, and I will never forget that cold, cold November night in 1978...
Based on the lack of replies I'm guessing most people had to blank it from their memory in order to stay functional human beings.
It wasn't all bad. I really loved the Nelvana cartoon which introduced Boba Fett. And frankly that was the segment I was most looking forward to back when I saw promos for the special.
I don't remember it at all. Was it a 'America Only' deal? I've no recollection of it ever airing on UK TV around the time of the first STAR WARS film release. I think I may have caught a showing of it via a video dub, some years later, but by then, it's status was already legendary.
Based on the lack of replies I'm guessing most people had to blank it from their memory in order to stay functional human beings.
Most people here are either too young to remember it or it never aired outside of the US--does anyone know about the latter?
It wasn't all bad. I really loved the Nelvana cartoon which introduced Boba Fett. And frankly that was the segment I was most looking forward to back when I saw promos for the special.
The Special put me in such a stupor that I still consider it the template for all things boring. IIRC, Han shoots a Stormtrooper who then tumbles down a staircase. If this memory holds true, then that was the lone moment that briefly awakened me from my undead slumber.
I saw scenes of the Special in recent years, and I must admit: Diahann Carroll looked tremendously good with her intergalactic Bo Derek corn row headpiece.
...and of course Bea Arthur was always great, albeit in a MUCH different way.
Some people claim that the Jonestown morons did themselves in the day after the Holiday Special aired--THAT'S how bad it was.
I remember watching the Star Wars Holiday special. It was a big event in our household. My Mom set my siblings and I up with some frozen tv dinners in aluminum trays to enjoy while we watched the special. My Mom serving us something from the frozen aisle of a grocery store as a meal was a rarity, so that is part of why that sticks out.
Anyway, even as a child, and as someone who loves Star Wars, I knew it was terrible. The best thing about Carrie Fisher singing was that they showed some clips from the movie. Mercifully I have forgotten much of what happened in the special in the 40 years since. With respect to the special, to borrow a quote from H. P. Lovecraft: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its [i.e. the Holiday Special's] contents." The comment in brackets is obviously mine.
Reportedly, Carrie Fisher got a copy of the special in exchange for recording commentary for the Star Wars DVD releases, and she would then play it at the tail end of parties to get everyone to leave.
Most people here are either too young to remember it or it never aired outside of the US--does anyone know about the latter?
It definitely aired in Australia. I remember being so excited about it when I saw it advertised and then, even at the ripe old age of 7 or 8....being absolutely shattered after understanding the enormity of the shit that it was.
I guess I’m the oldest reviewer – I was 23 when it aired. It came off as a possible “pilot” for a Saturday morning-type kiddie spinoff, ala Sid/Marty Kroft. Really though, what chance did it have? Expectations could likely never have been met - they couldn’t waste a legit “Episode” on a small-scale television special. It had to be something to attract the kiddie audience and the casual, curious whom would never go to the theater to see it. So, they added the new characters and videos and lowered the bar to appeal to all audiences and struck out with all of them. I agree with Solium about it not being all bad; the cartoons were good. I think Carrie Fisher sang quite well. If you can’t bear to watch it, start it playing and listen to Fraser’s score while your eyes are busy with something else. I think he did a good job.
It came off as a possible “pilot” for a Saturday morning-type kiddie spinoff, ala Sid/Marty Kroft.
Really? A Saturday morning show of Chewie's toothless father "Lumpy" watching music videos on the hologram machine and getting turned on?? I know Sid and Marty Krofft were weird, but they were never THAT weird...
A control freak like George--or his cronies at Lucasfilm--often let things slip in the side projects. Marvel Comics exitors have stated that Lucasfilm personnel would often just rubber stamp their approval without actually having checked over what Marvel produced, such as the Ewok-esque "Lahsbees", first seen in Star Wars #73:
A control freak like George--or his cronies at Lucasfilm--often let things slip in the side projects. Marvel Comics exitors have stated that Lucasfilm personnel would often just rubber stamp their approval without actually having checked over what Marvel produced, such as the Ewok-esque "Lahsbees", first seen in Star Wars #73:
Did you know Lucas went to Marvel asking them to do the Star Wars adaption for free?! Meaning Marvel wouldn't have to pay a licensing fee. At the time Lucas saw the comic as free promotion for his film and hit the targeted demographic. Marvel Comics who were hard up for cash at the time jumped on the offer.
A control freak like George--or his cronies at Lucasfilm--often let things slip in the side projects. Marvel Comics exitors have stated that Lucasfilm personnel would often just rubber stamp their approval without actually having checked over what Marvel produced, such as the Ewok-esque "Lahsbees", first seen in Star Wars #73:
Did you know Lucas went to Marvel asking them to do the Star Wars adaption for free?! Meaning Marvel wouldn't have to pay a licensing fee. At the time Lucas saw the comic as free promotion for his film and hit the targeted demographic. Marvel Comics who were hard up for cash at the time jumped on the offer.
And of course, one of those Marvel Star Wars comics with real deal cast autographs on the cover showed up on Pawn Stars. And as usual, Chumlee tried to get it on the cheap. I wonder if the girl who brought it in ever got the four grand she was asking for.
While the Star Wars Christmas Special is certainly a cringeworthy entry in the Star Wars universe and bizarre to view today, I think it was in line with television programming of the time. Many TV specials were of the variety type, although by this time the format was probably on its last leg. Watch the Paul Lynde Halloween Special only two years earlier to see a similar multi-performance show with a cobbled-together story arc.
Also, the children to whom this was likely aimed were familiar with the format from The Muppet Show. Sadly, the creators probably felt they were on the right track and reinvigorating variety TV by modernizing it. The special is very much peculiar to the television medium of the time, and is possibly one of the last feeble efforts in the arena of variety television. Who knows, maybe it contributed to the demise of variety programming, for better or worse.
Also, I imagine that the Star Wars aspect was probably not so much an aspiration of the producers as it was mandated from on high. Television shows were likely still considered disposable at the time, so those involved probably couldn't have imagined that the show would be remembered a year later much less 40!
I obviously have no memory of watching this at the time, since it aired two days before my 1st birthday (and probably not aired in Norway at all). But I saw it for the first time some 10 years ago. On Youtube, I think. Glad I'm too young to have had this 'taint' my STAR WARS experience growing up.
