This DVD will come in a paper DVD sleeve with no art
work.
The Star Wars Holiday Special
was a two-hour television special (including commercials) set
in the
Star Wars
galaxy
. It was broadcast on Friday,
November 17
,
1978
on
CBS
-TV from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST),
but was so poorly received that it has never been re-aired. The
main storyline of the film (set in
0 ABY
) transpires on the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk. During
the course of the film, scenes also take place in outer space and
in spacecraft such as the
Millennium Falcon
and an Imperial
Star Destroyer
. The variety-show segments and cartoon introduce a few other
locales, such as a cantina on the desert planet of
Tatooine
and a water planet known as
Panna
.
Chewbacca
and
Han Solo
visit
Kashyyyk
, Chewbacca's home world, to celebrate the
Wookiee
holiday
Life Day
. Along the way, they are pursued by agents of the
Galactic Empire
who are searching the planet for
Rebel agents
. The special introduces three members of Chewbacca's family:
his father,
Itchy
, his wife,
Malla
, and his son
Lumpy
. The program also features cameos (although the cameo actors
are listed as stars) by other Star Wars characters, including
Luke Skywalker
,
C-3PO
,
R2-D2
,
Darth Vader
, and
Princess
Leia
(who sings the film's "theme song", set to the music of
John Williams
's
Star Wars theme, near the end). The program is probably
best known for an animated cartoon produced by Toronto-based
Nelvana
that introduces, for the first official time in the
Star Wars universe, the
bounty hunter
Boba Fett
. Though the program received excellent ratings for its
one-time airing,
Star Wars creator
George Lucas
's involvement in the special's production was limited, and he
was unhappy with the results. He reportedly removed his story
credit from the special, despite creating the original story
material for it. It has never been re-aired or officially released
on video, but has been widely
bootlegged
by fans, many of whom consider it ironically hilarious or
kitschy
. Despite disagreements over its quality, this film is
considered the first canonical sequel to
A New Hope
. It was the first film produced, in a total of four
Star Wars spin-off films.
The
Holiday Special is important for being the first
film-length
Star Wars story to appear following the release of Episode
IV, as well as for showing an expanded look at parts of that
universe. The main focus of the film, which is intended to tie
together the stories of
A New Hope and
The Empire Strikes Back, is the
Blockade of Kashyyyk
. For the most part, though, the plot serves as little more
than a means to string together a series of musical numbers,
celebrity cameo appearances, and other variety-show acts, including
songs and comedy routines by such 1970s celebrities as
Jefferson Starship
,
Diahann Carroll
,
Art Carney
,
Harvey Korman
, and
Beatrice Arthur
.