Youtube movie guru Chris Stuckman reviews it all with original footage in his his ‘Hilarocity’ series. Beware some NSFW language in the video above.
It’s almost Christmas and most of humanity is also pumped about the release this week of a new Star Wars film, ‘Rogue One’ so that’s good right? This reminds me that we should never forget the pop culture disasterpiece that is the ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’. Yes, you may have heard about it and feared how it insults that galaxy far, far away so you avoided but yet you clicked here.
It is without a shadow of a doubt, the worst thing to ever have the ‘Star Wars’ name attached to it. No matter what your opinion may be on the sci-fi blockbuster film series which has spawned billions in merchandise and spin-off content but among those faithful to the Force, they all know this thing is the worst. Most SW fans would rather be thrown into the Sarlacc pit if it meant they could avoid a repeat viewing of this ‘show’. George Lucas himself, has said publicly that he wished this special was never made or released to the public.
The ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ aired only once on CBS in November 1978 on the wave of popularity after the first film, and it featured the major stars of the original trilogy including Harrison Ford, Mark Hammil, and Carrie Fisher. It doesn’t appear like these actors are excited to be there, based on their on-screen performances. Fisher sings a song that is dreadfully awkward. Ford performs like he’s waiting in a dentist office. And Hammil has a scene where he speaks directly into the camera with his face looking like a Ken doll for some reason.
Milwaukee’s favorite movie maniacs Red Letter Media roasted the SW Holiday Special in this Best of the Worst episode. NSFW language!
And then a parade of C-listers from late 70’s like Art Carney, Bea Arthur, Jefferson Starship, and Harvey Corman. The real meat of this dumpster fire on television is performed by Wookies. Yep, Chewbaca’s family is the focus of this special while they just speak to each other in unintelligible language without subtitles. They then pitched to various segments that all involve someone looking at a screen, so a lot of people basically Skype with each other in costumes.
The overall story is pretty thin as Chewbacca is trying to make it back to his home planet for outer-space Chrismtas which is called “Life Day” with the Empire chasing after Han Solo and him in the Millennium Falcon. Then from there it’s just this all-over-the-place mash-up of weird cameo scenes, spliced-in footage from the actual movie, cringe-worthy comedy, and songs that sound like they were not good enough for an way-off-Broadway musical. The only worthwhile piece from this might be the first appearance of Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who helped bring in Han Solo in the films and has grown to have his own dedicated fan base within the SW universe. He appears in a brief animated segment.
If you want to punish yourself with this special, beware.
