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Trivia / The Star Wars Holiday Special

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  • Acting for Two:
    • Three characters (Chef Gormaanda, Dromboid the Amorphiian instructor, and Krelman) are played by Harvey Korman.
    • Mickey Morton portrays Gormaanda's second set of arms and Tork (the cantina's bouncer) in addition to Malla.
  • Bury Your Art: The special has not seen an official release since the first broadcast. George Lucas allegedly wanted to physically smash every physical copy of the special in existence with a sledgehammer, and many of the actors are embarrassed about anything related to the special. The exception is the animated Boba Fett segment, which has since been remastered and rereleased many times.
  • Completely Different Title: The special was called Stjärnornas krig och fred ("Star Wars and Peace") when it aired in Sweden and Au Temps de la guerre des étoiles ("At the Time of the Star War") in France.
  • Creator Backlash:
    • George Lucas allegedly said, "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that special and smash it." He apparently didn't mind the Boba Fett short, though — it was the only part of the special that was remastered and featured as an Easter Egg for the Blu-Ray release of the six films that he oversaw and years later Disney+.
    • Mark Hamill thought the script was awful from the first reading and initially refused to participate. Lucas had to tell him that they were pretty much locked into making it as a "favor" to the merchandisers. However, he does think it's fascinating enough to warrant a home video release.
    • Harrison "Stone-Face" Ford was so embarrassed, he could barely keep from fleeing the room when Conan O'Brien surprised him with a clip. He says he has no memory of making the special, so either he's lying or just wishes he could forget it. We don't blame him either way.
    • Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) claimed in an interview that he still has his copy of the script, but is too embarrassed to even look at it. In a documentary promoting the worldwide tour of Star Wars: In Concert, he notes with a laugh that the Star Wars universe includes "The horrible Holiday Special that nobody talks about". In his 2019 autobiography I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story, Daniels referred to the special as a "turd".
    • Carrie Fisher owned a copy of the special, which she obtained from Lucas in exchange for doing the DVD commentaries for the original trilogy. She would put it on when she wanted everyone at a party to leave.
    • Because of its infamy, as well as Lucas actively trying to bury it, the special has never been rebroadcast on television. As of 2024, over 45 years later, it still has not, even as ownership of the franchise has shifted hands from Lucas. RiffTrax has done a bang-up job keeping the Life Day spirit alive, having played the special twelve consecutive times on November 17, 2021 (the 43rd anniversary) through their Twitch channel. Additionally, a dedicated documentary focused on the making of the special would be made and released in 2023.
    • CBS themselves also seem to be ashamed of it — they've never rerun the special since its first airing.
  • Executive Meddling:
    • Originally, Lucas was to be much more involved in the project — he helped to write the first draft of the script (a standard-issue Star Wars adventure revolving around Life Day) and contributed to the animated Boba Fett segment. Sounds great so far, but then CBS execs decided it had to be a variety show spectacular of the type that was relentlessly inflicted on unsuspecting audiences of the 1970s. Lucas, by this time, had gone off to concentrate on The Empire Strikes Back, and other hands — namely Pat Proft and Bruce freaking Vilanch — rewrote the script to fit the network's wishes.
    • In spite of this, the one aspect Lucas wrote that remained in the final draft, the special focusing on Chewbacca's family on Kashyyyk, is also the one thing that he stubbornly insisted on from the final writers and director of the special.
    • A more benign example happened (although it's not beneficial so much as the lesser of two evils) — the entire Mind Evaporator sequence was originally intended to be quite explicitly a porn tape. However, it was toned down in order to meet CBS' censorship standards, although the implications of what the Mind Evaporator actually was are still present.
  • Friday Night Death Slot: CBS airing a "holiday" special on a Friday night in mid-November suggests that they knew they had a fiasco on their hands and were trying to minimize the damage. Despite heavy anticipation, the show didn't even make the Nielsen top ten for the week.
  • He Also Did:
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: An infamous example, so much so it’s practically the poster child:
    • The only thing about it that's ever seen an official re-release is the Boba Fett cartoon segment; first as an Easter Egg on one of the 2011 Complete Saga Blu-Ray bonus discs, then on the 2020 The Empire Strikes Back UHD bonus disc, then on Disney+ in April 2021.
    • There are four notable bootleg tapes: the Ohio tape (from WHIO, which has the best quality available so far), the New York tape (from WCBS, the one with "Fighting the frizzies, at 11."), the Baltimore tape (from WMAR, used by RiffTrax), and the Chicago tape (from WBBM, highest quality available at FuzzyMemories.TV). The special was also dubbed into French (from TF1 in France), Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese (which aired on Rede Record).
    • The only person with an official copy was Carrie Fisher, who got it from Lucas in exchange for doing the DVD Commentary on the A New Hope DVD. She used it to scare off house guests.
    • The infamy of the show, and the difficulty of obtaining copies prior to YouTube, was alluded to in the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "White and Nerdy", in a scene where Al's character buys a bootleg copy in an alleyway (in a brown paper bag!) in a way that evokes drug smuggling.
  • Looping Lines: Leslie Schofield's line of dialogue in his scene with Darth Vader (a redubbed Deleted Scene from the film) was dubbed by an unidentified voice actor.
  • No Budget: By the time the ending celebration scene was shot, the production ran out of funds. The lighting consisted of store-bought candles, and rather than full Wookiee costumes, extras wore red robes and Don Post Studios Chewbacca masks.
  • No Export for You: Despite the HUGE popularity of Star Wars in Britain, the special has never been shown on UK television. A bullet may have been dodged; UK viewers did eventually get a much better blend of "Star Wars" and a variety show.
  • The Other Darrin: In the French dub, except for Francis Lax as Han Solo, none of the voice actors from the films reprise their roles.
  • Prop Recycling:
    • Malla's mask was repurposed from a Chewbacca mask from the original film.
    • The large white rat suit in the Cantina scene was made for The Food of the Gods. Additionally, almost all the alien masks in the scene are the same ones from the original film, albeit repainted.
  • Referenced by...:
    • South Park: In "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", there's a Running Gag of a news anchor saying "Fighting the frizzies at 11", referencing Rolland Smith saying the same thing during WCBS' broadcast. At the end, the anchor actually fights the frizzies.
    • Robot Chicken: In "Robot Chicken: Star Wars", there's a segment in which George Lucas goes to a therapist to discuss the Holiday Special.
  • Refitted for Sequel:
    • An early idea for A New Hope was for the film to begin in a Wookiee household, with a Framing Device of Wookiee parents telling the events of the film to their child.
    • Saun Dann is based on an early concept of Lando Calrissian being a trader on Kashyyyk.
  • So My Kids Can Watch: Bea Arthur claimed she only appeared in this special because her youngest was a big fan of Star Wars.
  • Streisand Effect: The special wouldn't be nearly as infamous if it weren't for the desperate attempts by George Lucas to bury it so it never sees the light of day again. This inherit curiosity is likely why it was voted #2 behind A Charlie Brown Christmas for Christmas specials to be exhibited during the holiday season at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC.
  • Throw It In!: Lev Mailer and Art Carney ad-libbed the scene where his character and Saun Dann were interacting in the trading area. More specifically, they chose to do the scene in a manner similar to the "Bully and Idiot" comedy routine.
  • Uncredited Role:
    • The uncredited announcer who introduces the cast near the beginning of the special is Game Show host Art James.
    • The voices for Boba Fett (speculated to be Don Francks, who would reprise the role for Droids, Gabriel Dell, or Charles Bronson) and Captain Kazan (whose actor currently remains unknown; but speculated to be John Larroquette) from the animated segment are similarly uncredited.
    • Neither David Prowse nor Leslie Schofield (who also appeared in the film as Chief Moradmin Bast) are credited either, though their one scene is recycled deleted footage.
    • Also uncredited is the "Life on Tatooine" segment's opening narrator.
  • Wag the Director: Carrie Fisher demanded to be allowed to sing in the special.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The special was supposed to segue into The Empire Strikes Back, but the only part of the special that got it right was the animated segment.
    • Kenner, which at the time had the license to produce Star Wars figures, planned to make several toys based on the special including action figures of Chewbacca's family and the creature that Boba Fett rides during the cartoon, although they were scrapped after the special flopped.
    • According to David Acomba, he recommended Robin Williams for the special, but the producers turned him down.
    • The documentary Empire of Dreams originally had a 10-minute segment dedicated to the special to emphasize what could've happened to the franchise if George Lucas hadn't maintained control over it, but it was cut out for pacing reasons. The idea of a Holiday Special-oriented documentary wouldn't come to fruition for about 20 years, when A Disturbance in The Force would be made and released as a standalone project unrelated to Empire of Dreams.
    • As mentioned above, the special was supposed to be more what one would expect from a Star Wars holiday special: It was supposed to be Kashyyyk's turn to host the festivities of the galaxy's holiday, Life Day, with Chewbacca as the main host (since he's a hero due to his part in destroying the Death Star). The Empire hates Life Day, but can't openly ban it without causing huge backlash and uprising; so a female Imperial officer (whom Lucas wanted to be played by 1960-70s sex symbol, actress, dancer, and singer Raquel Welch) would volunteer for a secret mission to sabotage Life Day by sneaking aboard the Starship Muscia, a ship filled with Life Day stuff which Luke and Leia have appointed R2 and 3PO to make sure it gets to Kashyyyk on time. It's worth nothing that had this gone as planned this would have been the first appearance of a female Imperial. Chewbacca was to meet up with his family in the first 10 minutes of the special, dropped off by Han. Chewie and Lumpy would have then gone to meet up with a trader (who became Saun Daan), who would have had a bigger, less comedic role in the special as he worked on Life Day, but since his family was destroyed by the Empire years ago he has no one to celebrate with, so he plans to go to the Mos Eisley Cantina to drink with his buddies. Lumpy would have begged for the video book (which would have been what the cartoon would have been viewed on), but Chewie denies it to him, only to get it for him in secret as a surprise gift, but Lumpy, hurt, sneaks aboard Daan's ship before it takes off. The infamous VR chair/softcore porno thing Itchy watches in the final special was going to be viewed by Chewbacca, but instead of the notoriously suggestive woman, it would have been a rock music number (possibly the Jefferson Starship appearance). Afterward, the machine would give Chewie a nightmare about Lumpy, and that's when Chewbacca and his family realize that their son is missing. Daan would have discovered Lumpy (who was watching the cartoon segment on another video book) and decides to take him back after he drinks with his friends, which is where the Cantina sequence would take place. It would eventually lead to Lumpy and Daan on the Starship Musica with R2 and 3PO as Raquel Welch distracted the crew with a sexy dance while she sabotaged it in secret. Chewie would board the ship and save the day, egged on by encouraging messages from Han, Luke, and Leia.
    • Cher was offered the role eventually taken by Diahann Carroll.
    • Early in pre-production, the special was considered to be the start of a potential TV series.
    • Luke was going to have his own song like Leia; Mark Hamill vetoed the idea.
    • Lumpy's full name in the script was spelled "Lumwarrump" instead of "Lumpawarrump".

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