The Star Wars Holiday Special: Boring fans for 31 years

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.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by pholley.

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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.