The Star Wars Holiday Special (TV)
In 1978, it can be argued the “Star Wars” saga was at the height of its popularity. A year before, the first of George Lucas’ space saga had become the highest-grossing movie of all-time, as well as a multi-generational phenomenon of marketing and moviemaking. Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had become superstars. And in two years, the saga would reach its greatest creative heights with “The Empire Strikes Back.” A television special was inevitable, right? Right? RIGHT?!
How the franchise endured through this indignity is anyone’s guess. A lesser franchise would have fallen into the pop culture abyss. And yet “Star Wars” endured. Anyone who thinks the franchise hit its lowest point with Jake Lloyd’s moppet Anakin, Jar Jar Binks, Hayden Christiansen’s whiny teen Anakin, an embarrassing love story, and a prequel trilogy that messes with the storytelling and logic of decades of mythology has obviously never seen this turkey.
The story, such as it is, involves Han Solo and Chewbacca’s attempts to get back to Chewie’s family on the planet of Kashyyyk. The occasion? Life Day, an important day in which Wookies…um, honestly I don’t know what they do, why they celebrate it, and why it’s important or why we should care. All I know is that Han and Chewie are supporting players to Chewbacca’s family. Yes, his family, including wife Malla, father Itchy, and son Lumpy. And let’s not forget Art Carney, Bea Arthur, and Harvey Korman, and special performances by Diahann Carroll and Jefferson Starship…even if they would prefer that we did.
Because of Chewie’s family being the focus of this “special,” there are a lot of times when we’re just watching Wookies interact and speak in their typical growls. That makes any real dialogue we hear extra important to following the story, although if you’re like me, you’ll have put the RiffTrax on not ten minutes in…or at least wish you had. Yes, I actually watched this straight for this review. I know I know; I’m a glutton for punishment.
This special only aired once, on this day 32 years ago, and has only existed as a bootleg item ever since. If you ever had any questions as to how, shall we say, bizarre the ’70s were, consider “The Star Wars Holiday Special” as your education. Diahann Carroll’s performance is part of an erotic holographic show for Itchy, and yes, it’s just as unnerving as you think it is. The cameos by Carney, Korman (who embarrasses himself three times over), and Arthur (who is a Cantina barmaid who leads the bar in a song) are certainly the low points of all three icon’s careers. And need we mention the humiliations the original stars had to endure, coming to a head when Carrie Fisher’s Leia sings at the Life Day celebration that gets a bit odd at the end? Only an animated section, which was the debut of fan favorite Boba Fett, survives as worth a fan’s time in watching this thing. The rest is like a car accident-too horrible to look at, but too curious to look away.
