The Star Wars Holiday Special: Boring fans for 31 years

By Queuebot in Film on Nov 17, 2009 at 12:21 pm

31 years ago today, on Nov 17, 1978, CBS broadcast what has become one of the most maligned TV programs of all time, The Star Wars Holiday Special. It was so bad Lucas disowned it and famously said he’d want to smash every bootleg copy with a sledgehammer. This article takes a look back at the Holiday Special and the special brand of retarded it brought into Star Wars fans’ lives.

Is the Special really that bad? Yes it is. The format is similar to variety specials that were popular in the ’70s. The main story involves Chewie and Han as they are racing back to Chewie’s homeworld for Life Day, a generic Star Wars version of Thanksgiving. The story goes back and forth following Chewie and Han and then following Chewie’s family (wife, son and father). Little to no action happens when the camera is with Chewie’s family.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pholley.

Tags: Star Wars, television

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Jaycatt
Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I tried to watch a bootleg copy I found… I really *tried*… Just couldn’t do it, even though I’ve always been a Wookie fan. Ended up fast forwarding through most of it, my mind boggling how anyone could have sat through the thing in its entirety.
Aprl
Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I wasnt able to watch it. But now that you mentioned it in your article, I guess there’s no better time to watch it then, except this Yuletide season.
MadMolecule
Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I was six years old and Star-Wars-crazy when it aired, and I remember how eager I was to watch it. I won’t say I hated it (six-year-olds aren’t generally known for discriminating taste in the arts), but I definitely remember felt let-down and somehow cheated.
MadMolecule
Nov 17th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
P.S. There’s an unofficial Web site: http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/
Frau
Nov 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I remember how eager I was to watch it as well. And then seeing Bea Arthur I knew it was gonna be bad.
pwscott
Nov 17th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I’m sure I never got to see it when I was 9, but parts of it have been forced on me in the last 20 years. :p
ted
Nov 17th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Deja vu. This was previously on Neatorama – last year, maybe?

It is pretty bad.
atanguay
Nov 17th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I made it through it somehow…ONCE.

It will seriously test the limits of your endurance.
earbox
Nov 18th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I can think of a lot of words to describe the SWHS, but “boring” is not among them.
sickened
Nov 18th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Oh wow. I just went over to Youtube and watched the first few minutes. Had to shut it off. If I’d seen this as a kid, I never would have developed my Star Wars obsession and subsequent, crippling Harrison Ford crush. Harvey Corman? BEA ARTHUR?! And Chewie’s repellent “family”… crap, I need a drink.

On second thought, it’s very odd that Lucas disowned this. The Ewoks were just as bad.
sickened
Nov 18th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Aha! Perfect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG1_s3kZaCI
Seanette
Nov 18th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Maybe I’m just in a morbid frame of mind today, but has anyone else noticed that SWHS aired on the day of the Jonestown slaughter?
BenZarius
Nov 18th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Oh man. This is a labor of love, but gosh darnit I still have a soft spot for this flick. I still eagerly await the day that Lucas gets over himself and agrees to do a Bea Arthur action figure.
estebancarracas
Nov 19th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I can remember this being aired not for the holiday special as such but for the Boba Fett action figure with the rocket that shot out!

Oh how I wanted that toy!!!
Moe
Dec 2nd, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Someone told me about this special a couple years back. I’m glad I don’t remember it (though I’m sure I watched it).
Garret
Jan 11th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Ya know, I get tired of hearing and seeing critisism about the Holiday Special. If you are a true STAR WARS Fan, you would appreciate anything and everything that comes along in the STAR WARS Universe. No matter how bad it is.
Laura Maxton
Nov 1st, 2010 at 7:10 am
IMHO this would be a difficult watch without the Rifftrax guys, but with them, it’s pretty good. More to the point, as my title indicates I found many moments in this thing to be painful to watch, made somewhat palatable by the riffing, of course. It would be hellish, I imagine, without the guys working it over. One shining moment has Harvey Corman doing his cooking show bit in a sort of purple multi-armed space-drag kinda thing you have to see to believe. The wookie costumes are well-done too. If you are a Rifftrax-CT-MST-3000 fan you should own this.

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