Christmas has always been a time rich with traditions. It evokes images of pine fresh trees, boozy egg nog… and Wookies? Some of you out there may have heard thew legend of the Star Wars Holiday Special, a televised event from back in 1978 to capitalize on the popularity of A New Hope in the only way they knew how back then. Those who tuned in were “treated” to a nonsensical story about a family of Wookies trying to celebrate something called “Life Day”, a plot assembled loosely enough to allow for cameo appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher… and Bea Arthur? It’s a total mess, but there is one redeeming (well, almost) offering, a short animated tale involving the first appearance of Boba Fett and has been generously sampled by DJ Shadow. I came across a page about the special that includes some choice moments for the show, and the best reasons for you to check it out they could muster.
Now I may be a bit of an old-timer, especially in movie blogger terms, but I didn’t catch it on TV. In fact, I never knew it existed until a few years ago and have yet to watch the whole thing. Not because of a lack of access, but because it’s two hours of craptacular abuse of the Star Wars license.
I was always frustrated by how little screen time Boba Fett got in the Star Wars films. He’s such a cool and captivating character, but so little time was spent with him. As for this one, I never managed to watch the entire thing. I usually say ‘this year I’m going to do it!’ then turn it off five or ten minutes later.
Have you read “Tales of the Bounty Hunters”? Plenty of great stuff about Boba Fett in there – as well as all the other guys you see on Vader’s ship in Empire Strikes Back. Getting through the Bea Arthur stuff and the Art Carney stuff is a serious challenge, I know. The show winds up being pretty much like an episode of The Muppet Show that went way off the rails.
Yes I was one of the priveleged few who got to experience it firsthand when it came out on TV. And yes it was a glorious disaster–of course when I saw it I did not think it was–I mean it had Han Solo and Chewie in it! And of course a glimpse of the ultra cool Boba Fett!(The first glimpse was on the back of our Star Wars action figues packaging).
I do like the fact that Lucas has never released it DVD/Blu Ray–makes it seem like a phenomenon…like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster–few people have actually seen it on TV when it came out– and those who did are thought of as lunatics!
On another note- Lucas did repeat the “Boba Fett First glimpse in cartoon form” when they made The Clone Wars Cartoon network animated show–remember how cool general Grievous was when we first saw him in those–then what a dissapointment he turned out to be in Live action–(well the whole Prequel series turned out to be that BUT I DIGRESS!)
Yes, the show certainly maintains its mystique by being something of a fugitive from George Lucas’ mighty legal team. I don’t know why the Muppet Show didn’t try to do something like this a second time – perhaps turning Fozzie into a wookie or something.
Yeah, you can thank Genndy Tartakovsky for those outstanding retro-style visuals. The prequels from the Cartoon Network are pretty much the only ones worth watching, I don’t care so much for the later movie and TV series. Feels to be like they’re beating a dead horse. If they could just get on with the Star Wars ive actions series there’s been so much chatter about, then I could watch that and make my decision about whether to close the book on the franchise, buy the blu-rays and stop wondering what Lucas is gonna come up with next.