Numbers, please! Star Wars Holiday Special: 98 minutes of Christmas thrills
The Star Wars Holiday Special aired on US TV in 1978. Unfortunately for George Lucas, the unintentionally comical show refuses to be forgotten.
When the US television station CBS broadcast the "Star Wars Holiday Special" on November 17, 1978, the conditions for a television hit were actually ideal: fans were in the midst of the hype surrounding the first "Star Wars" film. The makers of the Christmas special about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and co. hoped to keep fans interested until the next movie – and saw it as a possible prelude to a TV series.
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The cast was first class: Mark Hamill was there as Luke Skywalker, as was Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Anthony Daniels once again slipped into the golden C3PO suit, Peter Mayhew into the Chewbacca costume and James Earl Jones lent his voice to Darth Vader – Apart from Alex Guinness, all the main characters were on board.
It didn't help: the result was so bad that it still upsets fans to this day and never found its way onto videocassette, DVD or streaming. At least not officially. It was only broadcast in a handful of other countries besides the USA. The special didn't even make it to Germany, but went straight into the poison cupboard afterwards.
Produced almost without George Lucas
George Lucas only provided an initial script. He was unable to work on it because he was fully involved in the production of "The Empire Strikes Back". He also drafted a "Wookie Bible": a forty-page book in which the Wookies and their behavior are described in detail.
The story is quickly told: It revolves around the Chewbacca family, consisting of wife Malla, son Lumpy and father Itchy, who live at home in a tree house on the Wookie planet Kashyyyk. They want to celebrate the "Day of Life", which takes place every three years. They are waiting for Chewie and Han Solo, who of course are held up by Imperial cruisers on their way to the festival in the "Raging Falcon" and have to fight their way through further blockades on the way home.
(Image:Â Screenshot Lucasfilm)
The Empire, in search of the rebels, also searches the tree house. It takes a few songs and tangles before the happy ending and a quirky vocal performance by Princess Leia. The Star Wars saga has been combined with some variety show elements to create a TV drama that is otherwise popular in the USA.
Elaborate special effects can't save the special either
The special effects weren't actually that bad: in one scene, Lumpy makes holograms of a circus troupe dance on the table. The figures dancing on the table via green screen looked realistic. Later, singer Diahann Carroll appeared as a kind of VR mermaid to glamorize father Itchy – The song could have been a James Bond opening credit. The disgusting moment was the lecherous look from the Wookie grandpa. Even rock'n'roll was played: Jefferson Starship appeared in a kind of MTV hologram and played "Light The Sky in the Fire".
But why was it such a flop? The stars of the movie had rather small supporting roles, they also seemed over-excited and didn't really act well. The plot was also very long-winded. At the beginning alone, 9 minutes and 11 seconds of Wookie grunting could be heard between Itchy, Lumpy and Malla before a kind of translator and explainer appeared for the audience in the form of the merchant Saun Dann, played by Art Carney. The Wookie language remained without direct translation – There were no subtitles.
The plot is illogical and seems loosely strung together. Scenes from the first film were reused in cut scenes. The associated change from television to cinema format and back again contributed to the poor impression, although the special was certainly not cheap: it cost over one million US dollars. In comparison: Star Wars, later: "Star Wars IV – A New Hope", cost 11 million dollars to produce. And the budget was quickly used up.
Production without a Star Wars background
The fact that the production team had experience in television specials but no knowledge of science fiction/space fantasy was also clearly evident in the special. It didn't help that Lucas was involved in the script development for 12 hours at the beginning. It was quickly completely rewritten.
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However, the Star Wars Holiday Special did have one positive aspect: in an animated film that distracts Lumpy from the Imperial apartment search, the character Boba Fett, who is not entirely unimportant to the Star Wars series, makes his first appearance.
However, that couldn't save the holiday special either. After being shown in the USA, Canada and Sweden, George Lucas stopped further distribution and prohibited further use as a video.
Cult surrounding the program that was taken off the market
The 98-minute special was supposed to fade into oblivion – but it did not. The allure of the hidden also created a cult around the Star Wars special. With the advent of the World Wide Web, the Star Wars Holiday Special wafted through the discussion forums like an urban legend.
One eyewitness from back then described it as a thoroughly evil Hydra, with the faces of the actors we love so much. Harrison Ford, with a twinkle in his eye, couldn't remember taking part in the Holiday Special when asked about it by US talk show host Conan O'Brian in 2006.
However, bootlegs found their way onto VHS videotapes. The special couldn't be killed off and spread among Star Wars fans. George Lucas said grimly: "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I'd find every copy of this show and crush it".
Bruce Vilanch, one of the co-authors, suspected that Lucas waved it through out of ignorance: "I don't think George was a watcher of network variety shows. If he had been, he never would have realized it." The author has another practical tip: "The show was pretty awful, but awful in a way. If you smoke the right thing, it makes perfect sense."
It is now not available on official streaming portals such as Disney+ –, but the Star Wars Lego Holiday Special offered there has hardly any parallels to the TV event apart from the name. But it can be found on portals such as YouTube. 2023 also saw the release of A Disturbance in The Force, a (non-official) documentary about the special. And the Star Wars makers also seem to have found peace with the special. In the latest series Skeleton Crew, in which four young people go on an adventure trip in a spaceship, a table holograph with the circus act from the special can be seen.
A completely unknown Star Wars special with dancing Stormtroopers and Kris Kristofferson as a singing Han Solo in the 1977 Danny & Mary show proved that things could be even worse.
(mawi)
