The Star Wars Holiday Special

[Jay]

Honestly, I enjoyed the prequel films, almost as much as the originals.  I don't think they were a bad move at all.  And I'm glad they've been breathing new life into the franchise.  As far as I'm concerned, Star Wars is back and better than ever!

This, on the other hand...
Well, it just doesn't fit into the life in the movies at the time!  Not much I can say about this that hasn't been said.

One thing I'd like to note is how one of the Imperial officers announces that due to suspected Rebel activities, the galaxy is to be placed under martial law.
Well, to the family, it's just another normal day!  Vader really needs to strangle that officer to death, since he apparently forgot that the galaxy already is under martial law and has been for over 20 years!!

[Patrick Jackson]

What kind of world do we live in where stuff like THIS gets made...instead of SPACEBALLS: THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL?

That would have been so cool, had they taken the opportunity to introduce us STAR WARS fans to the still-never-yet-seen Galactic Emperor himself. Imagine, if you will: It turns out to be...(drum roll)...Adolf Hitler, as portrayed by...(another drum roll)...Mel Brooks! MB even satirizes himself by leading his fellow Imperials in an impromptu musical number, "Springtime For Vader!"

But seriously, what George Lucas should have done was just adapt the original STAR WARS fan novel into a two-hour TV movie. You know...Alan Dean Foster's SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE. At least the plotline would have been decent.

[Bargle5]

I watched this when it was on network back in the day. I managed to erase all memory of it, except that every so often, the sound bite of Lumpy transmitting 'Return to base." would pop into my head for no apparent reason. This continued for many years. Many, many years.

[Flu-Bird]

Its plain the force wasnt with them

[annoymous]

I'm pretty sure all of the star wars actors and George Lucas want to take all video  tapes and prints of this and burned them or bury them. This is definitely something George wouldn't bother with a special edition for unless he would just like to remake all of it.

[PDW]

Ahh, the Holiday Special... I saw it in '79, but to this day, don't remember much of the thing. Maybe Han Solo sneaking around to catch the guard unawares, but much of the 'humor' is not in memory.... Perhaps it just as well.
Great review.

[Rick]

I downloaded the RiffTrax version (Mike and the bots from "MST3K's" Sci-Fi channel years) and it's hysterical.  It's PAINFUL to watch without such a buffer.  I was eleven when it aired (not exactly an age when kids have taste) and I remember thinking "WHAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?"

[Kathy]

I remember way back when trying to decide if I wanted to watch this (since it involved having to lobby to have the TV on what I wanted to watch over what the rest of the family wanted that night)....going back and forth...yeah it's Star Wars and the people from the film will be in it....but it's only an hour and there's all these other people in it taking up time.

Finally I decided if it was any good they'd probably start showing it every year at Xmas and skipped it....

Didn't see it until the Rifftrax...and I may forgive them for that someday.     Heard for years that the only "good part" was the Boba Fett cartoon....  The animation was weird, the story was kind of boring and it infers that Fett is non-humanoid....which we know much later isn't true.   

But really...this show just ads to a question I've been screaming at the heavens for years....WHO KEEPS HIRING FREAKING BRUCE VILANCH AND WHY???????

Seriously, he's supposedly the best comedy writer in the world - to the point that they made a documentary about it - and yet the was a writer on this, he writes the "jokes" at the Oscars (Carrie Fisher is also guilty of that now) and lots of other unfunny crap.

Who does he have pictures of....and is it with a dead girl, a live underage boy or a goat?