Prompt Cast
The Star Wars Holiday Special: A Campy and Awful Variety Show
TLDR The Star Wars holiday special, created in 1978, was a two-hour variety show that featured musical numbers and a plot where Han Solo tries to get Chewbacca back to Kazook in time for life day. Despite attracting 13 million viewers, it is widely regarded as one of the worst things ever aired on television due to its lack of content and declining popularity of variety shows.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The podcast episode is about the Star Wars holiday special, which is widely regarded as one of the worst things ever aired on television.
05:41
The Star Wars holiday special was made in 1978 as a way to keep audiences engaged with the franchise while waiting for the release of The Empire Strikes Back.
10:51
The Star Wars holiday special was created as a variety show featuring musical numbers, but George Lucas didn't realize that variety shows were declining in popularity at the time.
16:00
The Star Wars holiday special was created during a time when variety shows were declining in popularity, but they decided to wedge it into the variety show genre anyway.
21:33
The Star Wars holiday special features a plot where Han Solo is trying to get Chewbacca back to Kazook in time for life day, but most of the special is spent showing the Wookiee household waiting for Chewbacca and killing time.
27:34
The Star Wars holiday special aired on November 17, 1978 and attracted 13 million viewers, but lost the second hour and finished behind The Love Boat and a mini series about Pearl Harbor in their respective hours.
32:46
The Star Wars holiday special was originally supposed to be an hour long, but due to the number of advertisers, it was extended to two hours, resulting in a lack of content and making it one of the worst things ever put on television.
38:08
The Star Wars holiday special includes a long cooking segment, a scene where Chewbacca's son tries to trick stormtroopers, B. Arthur singing in the cantina, and a segment with Diane Carroll that is essentially soft-core porn.
44:00
The Star Wars holiday special includes a hologram of Jefferson Starship performing a music video, which is considered a high point of the special.
49:07
The Star Wars holiday special ends with Han Solo and Chewbacca returning home, defeating the stormtroopers, and celebrating life day with Princess Leia singing a song.
54:21
The Star Wars holiday special was made by a variety TV group and used footage from the movie, and George Lucas initially considered releasing it on videocassette and later as a bonus on the DVDs, but ultimately decided against it, although there is a clean copy floating around, and the hosts of the podcast find the special campy and awful, but still enjoy it.
59:07
The hosts recommend checking out the Rift Tracks audio commentary for the Star Wars Holiday Special, as well as reading the Vanity Fair article "Han Solo Comedy Hour" and the book "How Star Wars Conquered the Universe," and visiting the website StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com for more information on the special.
Categories:
Society & Culture
