I love the tv movies that CBS and ABC made in the 60s and 70s. I know they made the cartoons to get more people to watch tv on Christmas, but they put a lot of work into it. All hand drawn or stop motion, with some even having big celebrities of the times like Fred Astaire in Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. The original How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a classic. The animated Rudolph, the red-nose reindeer, still plays every year. And even though I own it on DVD, I still like to watch it on TV; it feels so nostalgic.
Nowadays you have some things that are pure cash grabs. They use the hype of whatever show or movie hoping that will be enough. Some things should never have been made- A Medea Christmas, A Christmas Story 2, the third Santa Clause movie. And then the most hated of them all, the 1978 Star Wars holiday special.
It’s hilarious how divided Star Wars fans are about the movies. You’ll hear things like, “The prequels are so terrible!” or “The sequels are so terrible!” Yet they come together to bash the holiday special.
This thing only ever aired once—November 17, 1978, and never again. It’s funny because that’s my mom’s birthday, so I like to say she cursed Star Wars.
I’m genuinely thankful to those smart enough to record their TVs back then because that made it available online and on YouTube for poor people like me who weren’t born yet.
I watched this a year or two ago because Disney+ made a Lego Star Wars holiday special inspired by the 1978 special. So, of course, I had to see the original.
The basic plot is that Chewbacca wants to go to his home planet to celebrate a Wookiee holiday; if I remember, it’s Christmas mixed with the day of the dead. Chewbacca’s primary goal is to spend the holiday with his wife and his son, lumpy.
It’s an hour and a half long; it wasn’t bad or good; it just was what it was. The plot is inconsistent and there’s a bunch of random cameos.
I watched it, and I only remember one scene. It’s Bea Arthur (Dorothy from Golden Girls) singing. It happens in the cantina, and the song has a cheerful yet melancholy tone. I love this song. I downloaded it, and every time it plays on my phone, I have to remind myself what it’s from because I always forget about the special.
I think tonight I will try to rewatch the special and see if I like it this time.
Also my very first time ever hearing about the special was actually a song that mocks the entire thing.
Are you a even a true Star Wars fan if you haven’t seen the special?
If you have seen it what are your thoughts on it??
