Movie review: Star Wars Holiday Special

Even as someone familiar with the era of cheesy 1970s variety shows like Donny & Marie, the Star Wars Holiday Special is especially weird, and more unforgivably, boring. It’s clear that something went horribly wrong during the production, and that the showrunners forgot that their audience was going to be mostly kids.

But as all Star Wars fans know, the Holiday Special was not a complete loss. It is legendary for featuring Boba Fett in his first ever appearance in an animated segment. He has a little third eye on his helmet which is a neat detail!

Since the rest of the Special is basically shit, I expected the animated segment to be one of those cheap 70s cartoons where the mouths barely move and the animation barely animates. Instead, I was delighted to see adorable caricatures of the original cast and the crew engaged in a very basic but passable story! Animated by a company called Nelvana, they later did Droids and Ewoks.

The rest of the Special is boring, but throughout it, there are actual attempts to maintain a Star Wars vibe.

The skit where delusional Krelman thinks the bartender is in love with him was unexpectedly sort of funny, preceded and followed by long, long stretches of uninspired humor delivered at a glacial pace. At least you get to hear Jefferson Starship performing the most blah song in their discography to break up the monotony.

All that being said, it’s a missed opportunity that the Star Wars franchise hasn’t found a way to reclaim this somehow. Think: a cooking show segment with General Grievous.