The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is an animated LEGO Star Wars special which premiered on Disney+ on November 17, 2020 — forty-two years to the day from the premiere of the infamous oddity that is The Star Wars Holiday Special.
The plot picks up after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, with the surviving heroes arriving on Kashyyyk to celebrate Life Day with Chewbacca's family, much like the original special. Rey has been attempting to mentor Finn in the ways of the Force, but to no avail, so she consults the Ancient Jedi Texts and learns about "a key to the past" that might hold the key to her future, which can only be accessed on Life Day.
As Poe and the rest of the gang try to prepare for his Life Day party, Rey, alongside BB-8, set out on a trip to an abandoned Jedi Temple to search for the "key to the past", which turns out to be a crystal that allows them to travel through time.
Hilarity Ensues as Rey travels throughout the events of the Skywalker Saga and meets many familiar faces, initially traveling to events like Luke’s training on Dagobah to learn how to be a better teacher to Finn, but soon ending up having to try and keep the crystal out of the hands of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine circa Return of the Jedi, the latter wanting to use it so he can prevent his defeat, culminating in a massive clash between three generations of heroes and villains in front of the Lars homestead.
Will Rey be able to save the timeline, get back in time for Poe’s party, and learn the true meaning of Life Day?
The LEGO Star Wars: Celebrate the Season shorts were released on November 5, 2020 as a tie-in to the special. Another Disney+ seasonal special, LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales, released on October 1, 2021.
Tropes in this holiday special include:
- Adaptational Comic Relief: While just about every character has goofier and more informal mannerisms than their canon counterpart, Palpatine takes the cake, his depiction here being a downright, flagrant Manchild.
- Adaptational Heroism: Palpatine, of all people, vows to change his ways as he plunges into the reactor.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Darth Vader goes out of his way to get a Life Day present for the Emperor, something unthinkable for the jerkass in canon.
- Adaptation Distillation:
- The Key seems to send Rey and BB-8 to random points in time instead of taking them to the Portal Crossroad World aspect of the World Between Worlds.
- The scene of Anakin and Obi-Wan in the elevator in Attack of the Clones uses their The Clone Wars designs.
- Kylo's mask is fixed by Palpatine, and the glowing red kintsugi is implied to come from Palpatine's Force powers instead of the adhesive seen in The Rise of Skywalker.
- Affectionate Parody: In typical LEGO fashion, this is a Lighter and Softer, Denser and Wackier take on the Star Wars franchise... and also throws The Star Wars Holiday Special into the mix.
- An Asskicking Christmas:
- The events of the story take place on the eve of Life Day, the Star Wars equivalent of Christmas.
- Apparently, the Battle of Endor also took place on Life Day.
- Ascended Meme:
- Obi-Wan uses "Hello there!" as a greeting in two separate scenes.
- The Rhodian guest’s greeting upon entering the Falcon? "MACLUNKEY!"
- OT!Han and TFA!Han get into a brief discussion about who should shoot Greedo first. They ultimately shoot him together, before Greedo.
- Aside Glance: Kylo provides one when he warns Palpatine about his impending betrayal and fall down the reactor shaft, and points out that "There's no coming back from that."
- Big Bad: Palpatine, after Rey accidentally lets him loose in time.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: A more lighthearted example than most, where members of the Light and Dark Sides of the Force from the Prequel, Original, and Sequel Trilogies clash with each other.
- Blatant Lies: To be certain of his loyalty, Palpatine asks Kylo if he would ever betray his master, like say, throw him down a shaft. Kylo flashbacks to his betrayal of Snoke and immediately says no, not down a shaft...
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Aftab Ackbar after Lando opens his present - "It's a wrap!"
- Brick Joke: When Hux becomes too distracted by shirtless Kylo, he decides that he would come back later. When he does, it's when Kylo's trashing his room after Rey sends him back to his own time.
- The Bus Came Back: While not mentioned by name, Chewbacca’s family - Malla, Lumpy, and Itchy - return from the original Holiday Special.
- Call-Back: Luke and Leia's Force ghosts show up at the end, framed exactly the way they were when they appeared at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, with a large area of dead space off to their left.
- The Cameo:
- The cast briefly show up during the fight at the start of the Season 1 finale of The Mandalorian. Mando, IG-11, Grogu, and the Stormtroopers (and Death Troopers) are baffled by what's going on.
- Max Rebo playing at the Resistance's holiday party.
- Compliment Backfire: Vader gifts Palpatine with a "Galaxy's Best Emperor" mug, which Palpatine dismisses because it implies his rule is challenged by other Galactic Emperors.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Plenty. From the trailer alone:
- Once again, the center of a LEGO Star Wars story is about a Force-sensitive character stumbling upon a ridiculously-overpowered kyber crystal relic that Palpatine has his eyes on.
- The story kicks off with Rey and BB-8 finding a key that opens portals through time, similar to the World Between Worlds. When they accidentally meet ROTJ!Palpatine, he's still interested in accessing the World Between Worlds.
- Rey teleports in on Luke during the Death Star run, the Battle of Hoth, Luke's training under Yoda, Luke's fight against Vader and Palpatine in the second Death Star, the Clone Wars, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on the Trade Federation ship, Anakin and Obi-Wan in the elevator on Coruscant, Anakin's podrace, and Luke gazing at the Binary Sunset.
- AOTC!Obi-Wan greets Rey and BB-8 with a "Hello there!", and later, three Obi-Wans greet each other with that phrase too.
- Hoth!Vader and Death Star II!Vader exchange "Impressive" and "Most impressive" after seeing the other's combat abilities.
- Kylo and Hux are from immediately after The Last Jedi, as Kylo had just become Supreme Leader.
- Cuteness Proximity: Rey and Vader are fighting in literal mid-air during The Mandalorian Chapter 8 and briefly pause to admire the Child below them.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: The heroes and bad guys podrace past two Clone Troopers waiting on their speederbikes with a donut and caf in hand.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: At the beginning of the special, Rey asks Finn to hand her the Lightsaber he's been using after he messed up during training. He misinterprets her request to mean that she doesn't think he can be a Jedi. note While the matter is soon cleared up, it comes back later when Yoda shows Rey the scene from Finn's point of view and she realizes that she accidentally hurt his feelings.
- Exact Words:
- Rey swears to BB-8 that she'll use the Key one last time to see one more master and apprentice duo. It sends them to Vader and Palpatine on the second Death Star.
- Palpatine asks Kylo Ren if he would ever betray his master, for example by throwing them down a reactor shaft. Kylo confirms he would never throw his master down a reactor shaft while recalling how he murdered Snoke by slicing him in half with Rey's lightsaber.
- Freudian Slippery Slope: Hux makes a series of Freudian Slips while making his report to a shirtless Kylo.Hux: Supreme Leader, we've prepared the - (sees Kylo shirtless) uh, shirts. I mean, ships to head to the pectoral locations - Platoon! Platoon locations across the midriff. Rim! Rim. For the... navel. Navy! Nav- Know what, I'll come back later.
- Handicapped Badass: Maul's horizontal bisection doesn't stop him from contributing to team evil during the big battle on Tatooine.
- Have We Met Yet?: Kylo furiously attacks ROTJ!Luke while proclaiming his hatred of him. Luke has no idea who he is.
- Heel Realization: Palpatine, of all people, accepts the spirit of Life Day and vows to change his ways as he falls into the reactor.
- Kick the Dog: Vader smashing BB-8 to pieces to get the time key.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!":
- If Rey were squeeing any harder from meeting the past Jedi, it would rip the fabric of time and space. Oh, wait...
- Kylo squees when he meets Palpatine and Vader.
- MacGuffin: Rey and BB-8 stumble upon an ancient relic, a "key", that can open portals to the World Between Worlds anywhere instead of pre-determined areas like on Lothal and Malachor. And then ROTJ!Palpatine finds out about it...
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Vader is put out by Palpatine rejecting his gift and favouring Kylo Ren, but when he overhears the former plan in to throw him down the reactor shaft, he angrily throws Palpatine down said shaft.
- Mundane Utility: Poe tries roasting a tip-yip with the Falcon's engine thrusters because the thrusters are super hot, so that means the tip-yip will roast fast. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
- My Future Self and Me: Several times - pre-ANH!Luke and ROTJ!Luke, OT!Han and TFA!Han, TESB!Vader and ROTJ!Vader, and TPM!Obi-Wan, AOTC!Obi-Wan, and ROTS!Obi-Wan all interact with each other, while various incarnations of Anakin/Darth Vader cross paths but do not interact.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rey has a moment of this when she realizes she was a jerk to Finn. She was so focused on doing everything right that she failed to make a connection with him.
- Mythology Gag:
- In addition to taking its name from the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special (as well as the concept of Life Day and Chewbacca's family, complete with audio clips from 1978), the special is an Affectionate Parody of the Star Wars movies in general.
- The "Galaxy's Best Emperor" mug previously appeared in the Season 1 finale of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures where Vader (and several other Imperial officers) got Palpatine as a gift for Empire Day, and Palpatine gave the same criticism he does here.
- The line "It's a wrap!" was said at the end of The Padawan Menace, though for a different reason.
- Non-Indicative Title: Despite sharing the same with The Star Wars Holiday Special, it has nothing in common with it aside from being set on Life Day, partially taking place on Kashyyyk, and the presence of Chewie's family.
- Oven Logic: Poe attempts this with tip-yip and the Falcon's thrusters. It goes as well as you could imagine.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: TROS!Kylo is shirtless when he meets Palpatine and Vader, and after the camera puts emphasis on his abs, the former asks him to put a shirt on. Guess Palps can't handle his swoleness...
- Self-Deprecation:
- Kylo making a deliberate Aside Glance when discussing how there’s no coming back from falling down a reactor shaft is a clear jab at Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker.
- TPM!Obi-Wan expresses what most fans were thinking when they saw The Phantom Menace in theatres.TPM!Obi-Wan: Ugh... bored! Bored! Bored bored bored bored bored.... (repeatedly slamming head against table) Who! Cares! About! A trade dispute?!
- Shout-Out: Narrator Yoda is dressed as Sam the Snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Hux suffers this when he sees Kylo shirtless.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Luke Skywalker, the heroic Jedi Master, attempts to intervene when he sees Kylo Ren attacking his new friend, Rey. Only problem is, this is Luke from A New Hope, long before he got any kind of training. A Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Being a LEGO movie, the movie is less concerned with the effects of time travel and more concerned with Rule of Funny.
- Verbal Backspace: Upon seeing ANH!Luke, Vader recognizes him as "my son", then awkwardly corrects himself, saying that he meant the binary suns behind Luke.
- Villain Team-Up: Kylo allies with the Vader and Palpatine from Return of the Jedi, leading to Rey and Luke facing them.
- Where It All Began: Rey's time-traveling shenanigans eventually culminates in all the people they've crossed paths with having a huge battle on Tatooine.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Vader thinks "Death Star II" is too derivative and suggests they use "Starkiller Base" instead. Palpatine scoffs, calling his suggestion "the stupidest name he's ever heard". Later, Kylo mentions that the Death Star II was the inspiration for his Starkiller Base, and Vader is a little put out when Palpatine says he's impressed by the name.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol:
- Towards the end of the show, the Force Ghost of Yoda shows what Finn is going through back on Kashyyyk, as well as examples of Jedi masters and students from several past times, basically becoming the Force Ghost of Life Day Past and Present.
- Palpatine almost has a Scrooge-esque Heel–Face Turn ... unfortunately it's while he's plummeting down the core shaft.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Palpatine's attempts to prevent Vader from betraying him and rule the galaxy for all eternity only serve to drive Vader further away from him, culminating in his destined first demise.
