‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ provoked the anger of many fans and later ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ revived the controversy. Personally, I was disappointed with what he did. rian johnson and happier with the work of JJ Abrams, but it seems very exaggerated to say that one of these films destroys the saga, especially if we take into account that within the ‘Star Wars’ universe there have been much worse things. For example: ‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’.
‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’ was the first spin-off of the saga and was released on November 17, 1978. It has never been broadcast again and George Lucas would be happy to destroy all existing copies of a tv movie that nowadays it is difficult to understand that it was made. The point is that it came out ahead at a very specific moment in Lucas’s artistic life, also causing tight control of everything related to the franchise until the sale to Disney.
Why was ‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’ made?
“When you’re starting out, you try all kinds of things. Fox told me, ‘You can promote the movie by doing a TV special.’ So I let myself be talked into doing it.” (George Lucas)
Between the premieres of ‘A New Hope’ (‘A New Hope’) and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ (‘The Empire Strikes Back’) three years passed, but Lucas had doubts about the possibility of the franchise’s popularity sinking during this period. Fox took advantage of that fear to sell him the possibility of making a television special as an ideal way to keep the franchise relevant and thus the toys of the franchise are not displaced before those of new productions.
The problem was that Lucas was very busy with both ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘In Search of the Lost Ark’ (‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’), so his involvement in the project was almost non-existent. His main contribution was to give access to Smith-Hemion production company both to the main cast of Episode IV and to different costumes and utensils used during the filming of the film. Well, and propose a series of plot ideas that later changed to shape what we ended up seeing.
What could have been and was not
Lucas’s idea also revolved around Chewbacca’s family and some kind of furry Earth Day Kashyyyk celebration. the scriptwriters Leonard Rips and Pat Proft they quickly got to work and delivered a script in which the planet of the Wookiees had been selected to host a galactic celebration in which all races were invited. A simple premise that gave rise to multiple reappearances but also to the introduction of new characters like Chewbacca’s family.
In addition, the writers received very interesting details from Lucas, such as all the previous work he had done to understand who Chewbacca’s relatives were -which also later came into the hands of the definitive director of the film- but also an unexpected revelation: Han Solo was married to a Wookiee. Of course, he asked them not to say anything specific about it because of the controversy it could cause.
Things seemed to be progressing well, although the idea of including musical numbers still sounded strange – already at that time he contacted Bea Arthur to perform a song that the producers had selected specifically for her, although she noted many years later that at the time she had no idea that she was participating in a Star Wars film.
It was then that he was hired David Acomba to direct it, a director who had gone to the same university as George Lucas in the same period. It was easy to believe that they were close friends when in reality their paths had never crossed, but their television experience was also zero, which would soon cause new problems.
Before that, the script was completely revised – there were up to five rewrites– to give it a tone closer to the variety shows in which its producers were specialists, reconverting the story to that Chewbacca is trying to return home to celebrate Life Day with his family.
The disaster that was about to not end
Filming began during the summer of 1978 with a budget of around a million dollars -to give you an idea, ‘A new hope’ had cost 11 million- and problems soon arrived. As we had already pointed out, Acomba was not used to the television style, so after filming the canteen scene he announced that he was giving up directing it.
That led CBS to seriously consider canceling “Star Wars: Holiday Special.” However, ‘A New Hope’ had returned to theaters shortly before, raising a whopping 10 million dollars in just three days – at that time home players were a luxury that very few could afford. It was then decided to contact the director Steve Bindermaking it clear to him that they needed someone who could get down to business the following Monday.
Binder had his doubts about certain passages – like those scenes during the opening stretch with Chewbacca’s family communicating with grunts – but he ended up accepting the challenge. CBS’s fears began to dissipate and then came the shooting problems. First? Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher had no interest in appearing in ‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’but they ended up doing it.
Ford revealed a few years ago that he had no choice because he was forced to do so by contractthe chance to sing It was what ended up convincing Fisher, while Hamill accepted after a talk with Lucas, but not before asking that the moment in which Luke had to sing be eliminated. Binder was finally able to count on them, although they did not show great enthusiasm, since at that time he was very frowned upon for a film actor to work on television.
The shoot ran into other problems – Chewbacca’s family had to remove their heads from the costume every 45 minutes for oxygen or risk drowning – until it got to the point where they simply ran out of money to shoot the movie. great ending scene How was it remedied? Well, buying a lot of candles to light an empty stage with the idea of giving it a special touch. The result? Well, let’s get to it now.
‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’, a “unique” experience
Let’s be clear, ‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’ is one of those films that seems ideal for one of those viewings in which you simply get excited about what you’re seeing, but it’s just that It doesn’t even do that job well.. On the one hand, everything related to Chewbacca’s family oscillates between the desperate and the incomprehensible, making watching those scenes end up being more of a punishment than anything else.
It seems that those responsible are aware of this and want the different situations that are introduced from there to serve to animate the function and to raise the film as a mere contrast. Unfortunately, there is only one that really does its job: the animated segment that serves to introduce the mythical Boba Fett. Made by the Nelvana company, part of a script written by Lucas himself -who finally managed not to get credited- and that is something that is perceived: it will be liked more or less, but it is the only thing that really deserves to be called Star Wars of the whole world. special.
Beyond that there is a very poorly strung story that would hardly give for 30 minutes of footage that later end up becoming more than 90. On the one hand, we have the horror of Chewbacca’s family, something that could only have worked from an openly parodic perspective, but it is that the journey of Han and our most beloved Wookiee is not very well treated, to say the least. You can tell Ford just didn’t want to be there.
However, worst of all are some musical numbers that in most cases one simply does not know why they were included. They are like small pauses that one can come to appreciate to disconnect from the nonsense that is witnessing, but it is soon discovered that it is a way of prolonging the torture and disconnecting the proposal even more from the Star Wars universe. It is clear that there were two very different productions there and the fact of trying to take the initially planned one towards the field of varieties ends up giving birth to a monstrosity.
It is true that one can come to see a certain charm if you approach it from a very specific perspective, but let’s not fool ourselves, ‘Star Wars: Holiday Special’ is complete nonsense that would be ruthlessly pummeled today if she hadn’t been ostracized (Lucas went on to say that it doesn’t represent his artistic vision and will remain in the Lucasfilm archives when asked about it by fans). That cult status is what has elevated her above her real merits, which are, let’s be clear, very few.