Just the other day I saw mention of the fact that there are still people out there who have not seen the horrid wretched thing that is The Star Wars Holiday Special. Basically, Chewbacca has to go back to his home planet to celebrate Life Day with his family: Malla, Itchy and Lumpy. And Bea Arthur and Art Carney show up, along with Jefferson Starship as holograms. And then you wake up ninety minutes later in a puddle of your own drool, your mind having blue-screened to avoid a catastrophic failure.
Watching this is basically the fanboy equivalent of what Case in Neuromancer had done to him by his former bosses.
So…yeah. It’s up on YouTube for your dancing and dining pleasure. Be warned, the quality is bad. And the video’s pretty shitty too.
Link roundup for the uninitiated or people in shock after seeing it who want an answer to the question, “Why, baby Jesus, why?”:
- The obligatory Wikipedia article.
- A site devoted to the special. They have an air of reverent nostalgia about it. Keep one eye on them at all times.
- Our friends at Stomp Tokyo have a review.
- Locus has a nice review of the *coughcough* DVD release.
Previously: Chillin’ Like Hoth; Lucas Upstaged by Legos; DVD review of Clone Wars, Vol. 1
Well, maybe you can cut starwarsholidayspecial.com a little slack for their air of nostalgic appreciation. I was but a tiny lad when this thing aired, and although I have no idea what I thought of the coked-up Leia and the Ravishing Lumpy, I remember loving it.
After all, this was aired before VCRs, before movies even came on TV in the decade they were released. And well before the idea of back-to-back sequels came to pass, too. I would have to wait years before I could see droids again, so any space action was good space action.
Don’t get me wrong, this was dreck of the highest order. But I can’t help but get that twinge of nostalgia myself. It didn’t have to be good, it just had to be.
Sigh. I’m officially old.
M: Don’t get me wrong, I was more amazed than anything else that the guys had a website dedicated to this thing. I respect that a lot more than a ROTSith website, that’s for damn sure. ;)
As far as being old…I hear ya, brother. I hear ya.