Star Wars Holiday Special revisited

Star Wars Holiday Special revisited

The guys over at Red Letter Media reviewed the very off-putting Holiday Special. I've already wrote about this special. I find it shocking that many younger people have no idea this existed. I always mention special whenever some talks about how bad Episode 1 is. It is a struggle to sit through the entire Special, but I think every SW fan should force themselves to sit through it once.

They're right that this special was just a variety show. Heck, it was produced by a group that made variety shows. This was clearly a product of the 70s. Thankfully, this type of show isn't popular anymore. 

Yes, they are covering up a lot with the heavy makeup.

This special was released in 78, a year later from A New Hope. Yes, it was after the horrible car accident Mark Hamill had in 77. I think the heavy makeup in this special was to cover some of the scars Hamill had.  I could be wrong, but he looks completely different in Episode V.

Lucas hated the show so much he vowed to never have it released again. Lucas had little to nothing to do with this special. It was shown once on CBS and promptly never shown again officially. It should also be noted that Lucas LIKED Battlefield Earth.  And, he picked some of the worst actors to play Anakin Skywalker. 

-Harrison Ford does NOT want to be there. He clearly hated every minute being on the set. I mean he looks completely bore or pissed in most of his scenes.

-Carrie Fisher : Damn, I not sure where she looks more coked up here or in the Blues Brothers movie.

-Speaking of Fisher, I found this rather amusing. From the wiki page, ((On the 2010 television program Times Talk, New York Times columnist David Carr asked Carrie Fisher about the special; she said that she made George Lucas give her a copy of the special in exchange for recording DVD commentary for the Star Wars films. She added that she shows it at parties, "mainly at the end of the night when I want people to leave." ))

-Is the HS still canon? Is it now part of the history and time-line of Star Wars? What about those Ewok movies?

-Here's the best part. Kenner actually planned on having action figures from the Special released to the public. They went as far as designing and making prototypes of the figures. The Chewbacca family was built.