“Introducing Chewbacca’s family…his wife, Malla…his son, Lumpy…and his father, Itchy…” Let’s just stop and reflect for a moment. If anyone had any illusions that the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special was going to be forever remembered as a classic of American television after hearing that line, they should immediately surrender their drivers licences and any firearms they might possess. Clearly, their decision-making and situational awareness skillsets are suspect. Yes, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and the rest of the cast were involved, so there was the potential of fun…but with the inclusion of Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and Harvey Korman you knew that this would not end well.
Still, nobody’s life is complete without sitting back and watching some of the pure schlock that was the Star Wars Holiday Special. Enjoy!
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For all the horror that was The Holiday Special, it should be noted that it was the first appearance of Boba Fett, so it wasn’t all bad. Although I only dimly recall the animated bit that introduced the character – that may have sucked as bad as/worse than the rest of the show. Not that I really knew how bad the show sucked at the time. It was Star Wars, and as kids we were so hungry for ANYTHING Star Wars that even things like this and the Donny & Marie skit were packed with awesome from our perspectives. (That concept may be difficult for some younger folks to grasp, but SW hadn’t achieved the level of over-saturation it has today.) Of course, at 12 years old, my decision-making and situational awareness skills were DEFINITELY suspect; fortunately, however, I neither possessed a license nor owned any real firearms at that time…
Oh dear… That was beyond amazing; never heard of this attrocity before, mind.
The story was that George Lucas was involved at the beginning when the concept was discussed, but had to leave it to others to take care of as he was deep in the planning stages for The Empire Strikes Back. He was apparently mortified at the result and could be the reason why it took so long for any Star Wars property to ever see a television schedule again.