Your memories of seeing the holiday special the first time...

OK, SKot Kirkwood has done this at his site (starwarsholidayspecial.com). Post here your original memories of when you first saw it (either when you saw it in 78' or have seen a bootleg).

 

Like Princess Leia and her Mom, I remember almost nothing of the deatils of the Special, just "Feelings". But great ones. Remember, sequels were uncommon back then. The HS was pretty much the only continuation of SW I ever expected there would be. I was 11 and I loved it. Then it completely vanished from existence. To be honest, I forgot it ever existed until I satarted coming to these threads.

EDIT: Sadly, Wookie, I think we're probably the only people who really care about this topic.

 

Yes, I do remember seeing the Holiday Special. I was at a Science Fiction convention, where. Anyway, among the movies they were showing was the Star Wars Holiday Special. I thought to myself "Right on!! This is where Bob Fett made his first appearance! I gotta see this!" So I sat down and prepared to watch it.

But no amount of preparation would have prepared for the horrifying television travesty I was going to watch. It is by far the worst piece of creative cinematic work ever created. And when I say this, I am at risk of understatement. Star Wars or not, when George Lucas himself professes a desire to take a sledge-hammer to every bootlegged copy of the holiday special, that means something.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't even watch the whole thing. I couldn't. 15 minutes alone was way too much for me to take. It was nothing but constant un-translated Wookiee growls. I just got up, told my friends "I can't watch anymore of this crap" and left. Considering I'm the biggest Star Wars fan in my group of friends, that meant something.

It's not just bad for Star Wars. It's BAD bad.

 

Myself, I first saw this in March. I had heard vague things about it on the internet and thought it sounded a little... stange. At first I didn't quite understand why I had never heard of this before, as I am a huge fan. Somewhere I found out that ebay had copies readily available. So I checked there, and found like 70 people selling copies (amazing). I ordered a copy and anxiouly awaited for it to come in. Yeah that does sound pitiful, but it was true. I had heard "it includes the wookiee home planet and all of the original cast. The original cast?!? They ahd never appeared anywhere in character outside of the OT to my knowledge at the time. So my vopy came in, and I watched it. I don't think I would say I was completely disappointed, it just... felt strange. It wasn;t long until I lost interest, and turned it off not long after the TV Chef did her segment. I had never imagined it to be so unlike the main films. It had such a reallistic Star Wars feeling to it. To me, it seemed like it was trying to show their everyday lives, which can be considered boring. It didn't seem very appealing at first.

Later that day, however, I attempted to finish it, and I did. And what was strange was that I actually began to find it somewhat interesting. I had never EVER seen anything like it, nor had I imagined star wars could be looked at the way the holiday special looks at it. The holiday special seems to take its time. I have become quite fond of it. In fact, I've seen it around 100 times by now;. It's a nice break from the content of the main films in fact. I look at it as more of the day in the life of a wookiee family, as well as our maijn characters. I don't expect greatbness, or attempt to judge it against the main films, I only take it for what it is: a non-George Lucas 1970's attempt by a corporation to create something set in the Star Wars universe. Yeah.

 

I was 5 and at the time impressed with absolutely anything star wars, toys, toy commercials you name it I loved it. I can honestly remeber getting a bit bored with it even as a 5 year old. I had never given it a second thought till about 92 when in college some friends brought it up.

 

Really to take advantage of the unprecedented popularity of the movie. Also important to remember that there were countless Christmas/Holiday specials in the 70s, from things like the Andy Williams and Bing Crosby annual specials, to Rudolph, Frosty, et al. And a whole lot more that you'rve never heard of. Why? Because they were horrible. The SWHS was better than alot of those, if for no other reason than it was Star Wars, and even included footage from the movie.

I am amzed that there are so many copes around, though: remember, 78-79 was well before the VCR became a standard household item - only very few people had one.

 

I remember the first time. It was preaty cool at the start, the falcon. The the titles hit, odd but ok I thought 70's TV! It continued and at the end I said 'What everyone complaining about!' That was preaty snazzy!

 

I'v never seen the Holiday special. But I sure want to.




Emporer Gerner Dark Lord of the Sith

 

I REALLY wish Lucas would release it on DVD. I'm not expecting something big, just a simple, unannounced, cheaply made DVD. They could release it in the style oif "R2-D2: Beneath the Dome." Maybe when Lucas releases the "2007 "archival" editions of his films he will throw in, unannounced, a DVD of the holiday special, similar to how he did the droid/ewoks cartoons and ewok movies last year. I do believe there are enough people who would buy it. I'd buy a few copies myself. And it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. It wouldn't hurt Lucas a bit. He could even throw in a featurette if he wishes explaining exactly what went wrong, and why he hates it. He could treat it as just some fun joke or something.

And, as for the guy above, if you are looking for a copy, just search eBay. Yes, I said it becuase Lucasfilm doesn't seem to care about piracy of the holiday special. Sansweet even talked in an interview of people he knew who bought it and watched it.

 

I've never seen the Holiday Special, so I downloaded it online. I watched the first 20 minutes or so, and I can't continue. Can anyone tell me at what time in the show Carrie Fisher sings, i want to see that but can't watch the whole thing.

 

She sings near the very end. She sings a song set to a slow version of the Star Wars main theme. Yeah.

 

I wish i'd seen it.

 

I was 6, and of course loved it. It was then something like 15 or 16 years until I saw it again, thanks to a comic convention.

 

Like I said before, buy a copy off of eBay.

 

"I wish i'd seen it. "
You will wish you had'nt....

 

No, it's really not that bad, if you don't go in expecting something up to par with the films. It's a TV special... made in the 70's. What can you expect? Just try to appreciate it for what it is.

 

This has been bugging me for a while...

I don't know if it's from the HS, but I remember a line by 3P0, which I have never heard in any of the Star Wars films, which goes something like:

"Please come back, R2. If you don't, I won't have anyone to yell at..."

Is there any kind of line like that in the HS?

 

Actually, that's a line from ANH. 3PO says it to R2 at the Rebel hangar before the Death Star battle, except it goes like this:

"You must come back R2! You wouldn't want my life to get boring, now would you?"

 

No. I know that line from ANH.

It's definitely "...I won't have anyone to yell at."

Unless, I'm losing my mind. lol

 

I guess you're losing your mind, then. I've seen the holiday special MANY times, and it is nowhere to be found.

 

I checked the script online at blueharvest.net, no such line.

As for my own memories, what probably saved the special fo rme was the montage from the movie at the end. Given that video rental didn't exist yet and cable was in its infancy (remember WHT?), I figured that would bethe last time I saw anything from Star Wars for quite a while.

 

I've never seen the Haliday Special and I know for a fact that I never seen it on TV because it'd have to be on TV in the 90's because I'm only 14.

-Darth-Blix

 

Actually, I watched it at exactly 7:00 tonight. I would never forget the sacred wookiee Life Day! (after all, look at my name on here) By the way, to be exact, it aired on Friday, November 17, 1978, from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EST on CBS.

 

I was six years old and for some reason it creeped me out. I didn't like it.

Though I didn't see it in 77!