Sunday, December 24, 2017

Star Wars Holiday Special Review



Christmas Eve wound up being the first time that either my son or I watched the relatively rare (for now, anyway) Star Wars Holiday Special, which was aired on television only once, during the approach of the holiday season back on November 17, 1978 on CBS.

I had heard about this special some years ago, and thought about obtaining a copy. But sellers seemed to want far more for it then it seemed to be worth, and so I waited. A local music shop was selling a copy for nearly $30, which seemed a bit too much for me. Many on Ebay seemed to be selling for over $20 or so, and that was still a little steep for me.

Why?

Because this special was supposed to be really, really bad. Supposedly, Carrie Fisher said that she wished she could hunt down every copy of it so she could destroy all evidence that it ever existed! 

Yet still, being a fan, I wanted to obtain a copy, but waited until what I felt would be a good opportunity.

Then earlier this year, I found a copy that seemed to be what I wanted. It had a nice jewel case that matched the Star Wars DVD's that I already had, and it had some extra added stuff. plus, the seller had a good rating, and had sold copies of this Holiday Special before, which buyers seemed to have appreciated.

So, I parted with roughly $16, as I can recall, and awaited the arrival of the DVD. When it came, the first thing that I did, admittedly, was make multiple copies. 

However, I remained patient to watch it until the holidays rolled around. Not sure what difference it made, but it seemed more appropriate. Also, it was a priority for me to be able to watch this with my son.

Well, we did, and it was not perhaps quite as bad as I had imagined. Not that it was great, mind you. But by Star Wars standards, especially during the era of the original trilogy? Then it is far, far below those standards.

To be fair, it was a TV special, and not meant to be high drama. In fact, the main characters are only in it briefly. It focuses on Chewbacca's family, so Chewie is shown more than any of the other main characters, followed by Han Solo, then Princess Leia, and finally, Luke Skywalker. Of course, there are also appearances by both C-3PO and R2-D2.

Again, it is not especially good, or anything. In fact, it is a bit corny and a sign of those times. Clearly, it is not movie quality, but rather just a made for television special for kids.

But there were some cool things, such as the first real glimpse that we have of Kashyyyk, Chewie's home planet. It is also the first time that the general public learned about the character Boba Fett, who makes  an appearance in the animated part. Also, it is just cool to see the original cast, and to marvel at how young they all looked!

Pretty cool, but this really is for Star Wars fans. Anyone expecting even a bit of the magic of the original Star Wars trilogy will be disappointed. 











P.S. - I found this article about Boba Fett's actual first appearance, although it was in a small town in California, two months before the Star Wars Holiday Special was aired. Still, it was pretty fascinating to look at and read about. Here is the link:

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