The notorious Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978 was long considered an unholy trash grail among fans. Footage of the celebratory television broadcast, which franchise creator George Lucas would have preferred to personally destroy piece by piece, was passed around as copies for years. But since the Internet era, many more sci-fi fans have had them bizarre star wars show seen.
Harrison Ford probably doesn’t think so, because whenever you ask him about the Christmas…sorry…Day of Life special, the curmudgeon version of the actor comes out.
For example, in a legendary episode of the Late Night Show with Conan O’Brien from 2006, in which Ford acts wonderfully and is artificially more annoyed by the clip than he probably really would be. But even on the red carpet for the film Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens, he said “I would kill myself!”in the case of a new holiday special for the younger trilogy.
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What is the Star Wars Holiday Special?
The 100-minute special aired on CBS in November 1978 – before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. The main setting is Chewbacca’s family treehouse on Kashyyyk, where his wife Malla (Mickey Morton), son Lumpy (Patty Maloney) and father Itchy (Paul Gale) hope to see the hairy head of the family on Life Day.
The sitcom-like comedy with never-ending, untranslated Wookie growls is occasionally interrupted by calls from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), segments on TV or other videos. The whole thing seems more like a variety show, in which, in addition to trouble with the empire, there is a performance by the band Jefferson Starship or a singing performance by Golden Girls star Beatrice Arthur as a barmaid in the Mos Eisley canteen.
CBS
Harrison Ford in the special: A look is worth a thousand words
The special’s grand finale takes place in a festive Life Day parallel dimension at the Tree of Life, where Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) sings the Life Day song and everyone listens reverently. Also Harrison Ford, who even back then showed how little he wanted to be present for the sentimental sci-fi nonsense.
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Boba Fett: The Origin of the Fan Favorite
Perhaps the most bizarre fun fact about the Star Wars Holiday Special is the fact that it… first appearance of bounty hunter Boba Fett contains. He appears in an animated segment where he saves Luke from a giant monster. Apparently the rebels have an animation studio with which they produce cartoons about the adventures of Luke, Han Solo and Chewbacca…