The cult legacy of the awful ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’
George Lucas spent years tinkering with the original six Star Wars movies to upgrade, update, and, in the eyes of many, dilute the classic sci-fi sextet. However, at no point since its premiere in 1978 has he even considered the possibility of diving back into the Star Wars Holiday Special in any form.
Released little over a year after the first instalment in the franchise became the highest-grossing movie of all time, there still hasn’t been a drop-off in quality between the first and second salvos of any major multimedia property in the near half-century since. That’s how bad it is.
It does retain its place in the hearts of fans everywhere, though, and not just because an animated interlude marked the first-ever canonical appearance of future Star Wars mainstay Boba Fett. Thanks in part to just how terrible it was, how much everyone involved regrets it, and Lucas’ insistence that it never be made available under any circumstances in any format, it’s attained near-mythical status.
The creator of Star Wars has maintained that position for well over 40 years, with the Holiday Special never being broadcast again, released on home video, or made available to stream on Disney+. He may have sold Lucasfilm to the Mouse House for $4billion back in 2012, but it’s beginning to look as though he had it written into the small print that the festive folly would never be seen ever by anyone in an official capacity.
Ironically, that’s exactly what saw it become so popular among the fandom, many of whom traded grainy bootleg tapes in the days of VHS before various poor-quality copies began emerging on YouTube. These days, it’s not hard to check out the Star Wars Holiday Special, but anyone unaware of what it is or why it gathered the reputation that it did would no doubt be left shocked by the shoddy quality seeping out of every frame. Whether it’s the costumes, makeup, effects, dialogue, acting, or story, make no mistake about it: it’s awful.
Harrison Ford has refused to publicly acknowledge its existence, while fellow mainstay Anthony Daniels succinctly described it as “a turd”. Carrie Fisher told The New York Times that she had a copy, but only to “have something for parties when I wanted everyone to leave”. Even to this day, Mark Hamill continues to apologise for his part in it, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had plenty of fun at its expense.
According to the legendary Luke Skywalker, Lucas has “never lived it down”, as he told Insider: “He once said, ‘If I could find every copy of that holiday special, I’d smash them with a hammer,'” The actor has been poking fun at it for years, even famously tweeting after a presidential debate: “That debate was the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I was in The Star Wars Holiday Special.”
The Star Wars Holiday Special arguably wouldn’t be so infamous if Lucas simply held his hands up, admitted it was a disaster, and then took one on the chin by sharing it with the world. Instead, his reluctance to let it out of the vault has seen it gain a life of its own, to the point fans have made a habit of rewatching it right around the Christmas period despite knowing fine well it’s the worst thing the franchise has ever – and maybe will ever – put out.
