Picture this. It's announced that your favorite movie is getting a TV special with the original cast. You get excited, because you hear that almost the orignial cast is coming back to star in this two hour special. You would be excited right? Well, not if you are a "Star Wars" fan.
In 1978, CBS arried "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and was only aired once. The special stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones, and Harrison Ford to reprise their roles from the original film. The special also stars Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and Harvey Korman. Because, when I think "Star Wars", I think of guest stars like Harvey Korman. This is what George Lucas had to say about this project after it aired.:
Yes. The maker, George Lucas, himself said that this a project he is personally ashamed of. Not Han shooting first, any of the changes made to "Return of the Jedi", Jar Jar Binks, and Howard the Duck. George Lucas is personally ashamed of "The Star Wars Holiday Special". This is one part of the franchise that "Star Wars" fans don't want to talk about.
The main plot is Han Solo has to get Chewbacca home back to his home planet in order to make it back for Life Day. So, what makes this worse than "Attack of the Clones"?
Well, a majority of the special follows Chewbacca's family; his wife Mala, son Lumpy, and father Itchy. So would you like to hear Chewbacca's language for about two hours? No? Well, that's a majority of the special. You barely see you don't spend time with Han and Chewie, Luke and Leia, Darth Vader, or even R2D2 and C3PO, but with Chewbacca's family and Art Carney for a majority of the special.
However, the oringal cast gets very minamal screen time and doesn't feel like they wanted to be there. Harrison Ford, who is normally a great actor, gives a performance on par with Keanu Reeves in any movie that isn't the "Bill and Ted " movies. They just used stock footage from "A New Hope" of Darth Vader so James Earl Jones (who is the best actor in the special) could do the voice. They also use stock footage of The Falcon escaping from the empire to get Chewbacca home.
Within the special, we see Harvey Korman in Blackface, a performance by Jefferson Starship, Bea Arthur running a cantina in Tatooine being shut down by the empire, and a cartoon that features the first appereance of Boba Fett.
"The Star Wars Holiday Special" is considered cannon in the eyes of Disney. But, not in the same cannon as the saga, anthology films, "The Clone Wars (2008)" and "Rebels", but it's considered Ledgendary Cannon. That meaning, it doesn't really exisit in the timeline of the main franchise. This is by far the worst "Star Wars" anything in the franchise. But in a strange way, I would recommend seeing it.
If you are a fan of "Star Wars", it is worth watching at least once. The insanity and the weird choices they make is kind of fancinating. Below is a link to the special. If you want to watch it, may the force be with you.
