Anyone heard of the Star Wars Xmas Special?

Xevious

Xevious

CAGiversary!
I was randomly searching the internet when I found out about a Star Wars Xmas Special which was aired only once on TV in the late '70s. Supposely there are bootlegs floating around. This is the first I have heard of this. Has anyone seen it?

Here is the information I have below:

SYNOPSIS
Wookie sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) races across the galaxy to spend the holidays with his family in this TV movie, which was broadcast after Star Wars became a pop phenomenon but before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. Sometime after the events of the first film, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca are working a reconnaissance mission while Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and the others pursue their own missions. Back on Chewie's home planet, preparations are underway for Life Day, the most important holiday in the Wookie calendar. As Chewbacca's family -- wife Malla (Mickey Morton), son Lumpy (Patty Maloney), and father Itchy (Paul Gate) -- anxiously awaits his return, agents of the Empire continue to oppress the people of their planet. Eventually, the Wookie clan is reunited, but not before Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Diahann Carroll, Harvey Korman, and Jefferson Starship appear in various vignettes. Broadcast once and only once -- on November 17, 1978, on CBS -- The Star Wars Holiday Special has never received an official video or DVD release. Despite George Lucas' avowed loathing of the project, however, bootlegs are traded avidly by Star Wars fans eager to see the first appearance of bounty hunter Boba Fett (in an 11-minute animated sequence). -- Brian J. Dillard

REVIEW
For those who wonder why George Lucas has blocked every attempt to make The Star Wars Holiday Special available to those who didn't witness it on TV in 1978, consider the following facts about the movie: Princess Leia sings...poorly. Guest star Diahann Carroll sings well, but while wearing an inexplicable silver-tinsel wig. The actors who play Chewbacca's family appear in Wookie costumes seemingly stitched together out of furry toilet-seat cozies. Bea Arthur smirks her way through the role of an aggrieved Creature Cantina bartendress, eventually leading Greedo and Snaggletooth in a protest song against the oppression of the Empire. And Harvey Korman appears as a robotic, Julia Child-esque cooking guru who makes lascivious comments about the loins and rumps of an obscure, fictional herd beast. An incredibly inept hybrid of holiday schmaltz, hammy acting, and '70s variety show kitsch, The Star Wars Holiday Special presents fans with the dark side of the ubiquitous brand extension that made the series such a commercial juggernaut. Because it's available only on bootleg, it's prohibitively expensive. But it's worth owning if only to disprove the notion that the ham-handed Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace represents the creative nadir of the franchise. -- Brian J. Dillard
 
yea u can get it at comic convetions on vhs for like 10 or so i want it on dvd though has one of the golden girls in it i think
 
You should really try to find a copy while you can. Lucas' camp has stated that they want to pretend like it never happened, so it's good to make people aware of it...for spite purposes.
 
I watched it again on VHS a few years ago, It really is awful, except for the Boba Fett cartoon, thats pretty sweet
 
It was the first time Boba Fett was shown.
There is a tiny clip in the episode 2 DVD.
Go to the tiny web documentaries.
It is titled buckethead.
 
There was a rumor going around that there are highly compressed versions of this special and the ewok movies hidden as easter eggs in the new Trilogy DVDs... I have yet to see confirmation of this, though.
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']It was the first time Boba Fett was shown.
There is a tiny clip in the episode 2 DVD.
Go to the tiny web documentaries.
It is titled buckethead.[/quote]

Was also the first time that Boba Fett was mentioned by name. If I remember correctly, his name is never mentioned during the holy trilogy.
 
[quote name='igreenbe']Was also the first time that Boba Fett was mentioned by name. If I remember correctly, his name is never mentioned during the holy trilogy.[/quote]

The first time, but not the last. Han said his name in Jedi a grand total of twice.

... Ugh, the Holiday Special is horrible.
 
I remember my father turning it off half way through... I do remember liking the tv special with the 2 kids and the ewoks
 
It strange how I have no memory of that. I loved Star Wars when I was a little kid.

I do remember the Ewok Adventure with the 2 little kids. I also remember the Star Wars episode of the Muppet Show. That had Mark Hamill, C3PO and R2-D2. Gonzo was Darth Gonzo. It was a pretty good show.
 
[quote name='tolhurst']You used to be able to download it at www.blueharvest.net and maybe will be able to again sometime... It is awful....[/quote]


cool site, I just downloaded sabbac, I feel like Lando already
 
Yaeh I know of this. It is spoken of in the underground of Star Wars fans. Very difficult to find a good copy of it though. I have only found the cartoon portion of it (the one with Boba Fett and Han and Chewie on the Falcon being captured on that one planet) and dowloaded it but the picture is just horrible. I would love to see it in its entirety just for the fact of seeing how bad it truly is.
 
Uggh, that's a 17MB RealAudio(!) version of a 1.5 hour show!!! I'd rather stick a rusty spoon in my eye! I downloaded the DVD version, and it must have been made from this same file, because the quality was craptacular. I couldn't watch it and I deleted it.
 
Not so good Al.
I don't know how the adults of the 70s put up with the poor quality of television - oh yeah, now I remember - everyone had a beard and bell bottoms and didn't know any better.
 
I remember a fair bit of hype leading up the show's intial tv airing. Of course, this was back when Star Wars was king and could do no wrong. Even as I was watching it on tv way back then at a tender young age. I can remember thinking "this is pretty bad."

You had to realize that this was "new" Star Wars stuff back in a time when when you had to wait several years for a new sequel, and the anticipation of waiting was a real killer then, not like today when you could take it or leave it. Luckily, the second and third movies eventually came out and redeemed the series. The original episode four is still one of my all-time favorite films.
 
Ugh, I remember this dreck. The synopsis has the Harvey Korman character wrong though. He was a sort of conehead variant. At one point he has a scene with Bea Arthur where she hads hm a drink and he pours it into the top of his head. Big laugh, except for viewers.

This fits in the same category as the Adam West Batman series of shows intended to make fans hate themselves. It may have been a sort of Scared Straight attempt.
 
[quote name='epobirs']Ugh, I remember this dreck. The synopsis has the Harvey Korman character wrong though. He was a sort of conehead variant. At one point he has a scene with Bea Arthur where she hads hm a drink and he pours it into the top of his head. Big laugh, except for viewers.

This fits in the same category as the Adam West Batman series of shows intended to make fans hate themselves. It may have been a sort of Scared Straight attempt.[/quote]

...I know you didn't just step to 60s Batman. Because that would be just crazy. I must have, and continue to, misread.
 
It's total crap, if you ever see it at a comic con don't you dare buy it. You can find bootlegs of it online but don't you dare spend a dime to watch it.
 
[quote name='jmcc'][quote name='epobirs']Ugh, I remember this dreck. The synopsis has the Harvey Korman character wrong though. He was a sort of conehead variant. At one point he has a scene with Bea Arthur where she hads hm a drink and he pours it into the top of his head. Big laugh, except for viewers.

This fits in the same category as the Adam West Batman series of shows intended to make fans hate themselves. It may have been a sort of Scared Straight attempt.[/quote]

...I know you didn't just step to 60s Batman. Because that would be just crazy. I must have, and continue to, misread.[/quote]

Hah. You youngin's don't remember how bad it used to be. If you were a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's every single show that came remotely close to adapting comics was entirely cringe inducing. All of the shows and movies were dripping with outright contempt for anyone who wanted to take the material seriously. The 60's Batman series is the perfect example. The reason Star Trek developed such a fanatical following is not that it was terribly good but that it at least TRIED. You didn't feel as though the you were being sneered at by the producers for watching their show.
 
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