Almost 30 years ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas approved the production of a Star Wars themed CBS holiday show. Because he was too busy working on The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas was unable to directly supervise the creation of the TV special. The resulting film aired only once and was promptly locked away in the Lucasfilm vault. Bootleg tapes were traded at conventions for years. Today, peer-to-peer file sharing has made the Star Wars Holiday special widely available.
Rewrites by the producers, and creative differences with the director resulted in a bastardization of Lucas's original concept involving Han Solo and Chewbacca traveling to Kashyyyk to celebrate a Wookie holiday called Life Day. The majority of the story takes place in Chewie's home where his wife, Malla, son, Lumpy, and father, Itchy, wait for his arrival. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO make brief appearances. CBS spared no expense in getting some huge guest stars, namely Art Carney, Harvey Korman, and Bea Arthur. Additionally, there are musical numbers by Diahann Carroll and Jefferson Starship.
The only redeeming portion of the special is an animated short that occurs near the halfway point. It marks the first ever appearance of Boba Fett.
The traditional Life Day celebration consists of Wookies dawning red robes, holding snow globes, and reenacting the Bohemian Rhapsody video.
About 50 Wookies gather together at the base of a giant tree, and for some reason Luke, Leia, Han, R2, and 3PO show up again. A coked up Carrie Fisher sings a song to the tune of John Barry's Star Wars theme and everyone leaves.
Reasons to watch:
- X-Wing woodcarving
- Cirque du Soleil holograms
- Wookie pr0n
- Lightsaber microphone
- Recipe for Bantha Surprise
- Bea Arthur singing in the cantina
