Following the massive success ofStar Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, an attempt at a spin-off in the form of a holiday special was released on CBS in 1978, aptly titledThe Star Wars Holiday Special. The special was set betweenEpisode IVandEpisode Vof the Skywalker Saga, with the original cast returning. As a spin-off of a film, audiences were then introduced to the infamousbounty hunter, Boba Fett. While the special was highly anticipated, as it was a continuation of the most popular movie at the time, the special was pretty much universally hated upon its release.
TheHoliday Specialwas a made-for-television movie that didn’t include George Lucas' involvement. The actors and creators hated it, and it has been scrubbed from canon quickly, with no official release of the special ever airing following its original broadcast. Yet, it would find a cult audience as something so bad it is good. While fans love to argue about howStar Warsis now worse under Disney, the fact remains that they still have yet to make something as bad asThe Star Wars Holiday Special. Between the script’s poor quality and the overall execution of the story, here’s a look at why the 1978Star Wars Holiday Specialis so un-loved by fans.
Update July 20, 2025: In honor of the eight-year anniversary of the release ofThe Force Awakensand the recent release of the documentary,A Disturbance in the Force, this article has been updated with more information onThe Star Wars Holiday Special.
Why The Holiday Special Was Made
TheStar Wars Holiday Specialbegins with Han Solo and Chewbacca traveling to Kashyyyk for Life Day, where Chewbacca’s family is waiting. Upon their arrival, Lumpy, Chewbacca’s son, begins watching a cartoon recapping his father’s adventures. He then creates a translator that can hack into the communications technology of the Star Destroyer to trick them. The Special also contains many guest appearances including Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and the band Jefferson Starship. The Special also features the first appearance of Boba Fett in an animated segment.
WhileA New Hopegenerated $10 million at the box office in just three days, the studio felt the pressure to maintain the momentum of the franchise while Lucas was working on the sequel. George Lucas had expressed interest in a film entirely about Wookies, so the idea for that part of the story came from Lucas but, for the most part, was very hands-off as he was busy preppingThe Empire Strikes Backand thought the special would be a good way to promote the movie.
The Special’s Poor Reception
With theStar Wars Holiday Special, fans felt underwhelmed by the storyline, the script, and the film’s structure. Especially following the excitement ofA New Hope, the holiday special should have lived up to the excitement. Indeed, fans are adamant that the feature is a massive failure. There was an opportunity to tease what fans could expect from more Star Wars when the highly anticipated sequel was released, but the special was wasted on a dull celebration that nobody could understand.
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Just the first ten minutes of the special alone are a true indicator of the atrocity that will unfold. First, the storyline’s main focus is Han Solo trying to get Chewbacca home for Life Day. This is an example of fans’ main discomfort with the script. Part of the writing process for many films is the original script and final script, which are naturally different due to a myriad of factors during development. Yet, as writer Brian Jay Jones explains toLit Hub, the original script for the holiday special was, in fact, also the final script due to time constraints (and, therefore, a lack of proper development). It’s very easy to tell that the script was rushed as it feels very unpolished with too much dead air that could’ve been removed.
When theStar Wars Holiday Specialwas released, fans were upset. It’s not hard to blame fans for their initial reception of the film. Even younger or more recent fans feel a remarkable level of disdain for the special. It felt like a cheap cash grab because it was. In nearly every way, the special failed to do something interesting with its characters as it all amounted to nothing exciting happening.
The Legacy It Leaves Behind
From the moment it aired on TV, Lucas wanted everyone to forget about the holiday special. It was only ever aired one time and has been referenced as little as possible in continuity. The infamous reputation the special quickly garnered turned it into a bootleg legend as people went out of their way to see if it was really that bad. Despite Lucasfilm doing its best to bury it over the next few decades, elements from it have popped up across the Star Wars franchise.
The first is inStar Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which featured the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk, and the production design team modeled it after what was shown inThe Holiday Special. The most significant nod towards the special came in the first episode ofThe Mandalorianwhen a DisneyStar Warsproject made reference to it for the first time. When the titular hero was bringing in one of his bounties, the prisoner said that he “was hoping to be free for Life Day… get home to the family.” He’s directly calling into canon the holiday celebrated in the special. The Mandalorian’s blaster is also the same one used by Boba Fett in the special, which was another easter egg fromJon Favreau, who is surprisingly a fanof it. Star Wars has slowly started to embrace the special as a wink and a nod to the fans who know.
In addition, Disney steered into the skids in 2020 withThe Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. This special took place afterThe Rise of Skywalkerand saw Rey training Finn before Life Day and going through the World Between Worlds to different points in theStar Warstimeline. Since it is Lego, the special is not canon with theStar Warsfranchise, but the fact that it is aStar Wars Holiday Specialand features Life Day (including a cameo by Chewbacca’s family) shows they are slightly embracing the Special even if they won’t put it on Disney+ aside from the Boba Fett animated segment.
Although theStar Wars Holiday Specialwas hated, it went on to inspire others to try the same thing. In 2022,The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special wasreleased on Disney+ as the Marvel Cinematic Universe attempted to do a good one. Director James Gunn directly called out theStar Warsspecial as an influence, saying that “When I was a kid, I loved the Star Wars Holiday Special”. The idea of doing thisbecame a thing on the setofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2as Gunn and Kevin Feige discussed the idea. After writing the script in just a couple of days, the special was on its way to becoming a real thing. It’s clear to see how the Guardians take inspiration fromStar Warsas they focus on only part of the team, with the rest making brief appearances, but other than that, it stands as its own thing. The Guardians' special is great, too,learning lessons from Star Wars' failed experiment.
The influence even extends beyond Disney. The special has been parodied on series likeCommunity, and popular video essayist Patrick H. Willems is parodyingThe Star Wars Holiday Specialwith his own Special that acts as the season finale for his 2023 series of video essays airing exclusively on Nebula on July 31, 2025. The special will be both a send-up of classic holiday specials and a video essay onStar Wars, the first he has done since January 2020 after he swore he would no longer make videos on the subject. Yet the format (and infamy) ofThe Star Wars Holiday Specialmakes it perfect for parody, and audiences instantly know what to expect.
Star Wars And Christmas
Even though it was largely ignored by fans and evenStar Warscreator George Lucas, the special might have had an unintentional effect of linkingStar Warswith the holiday season. WhileStar Warswas originally dated for release in December 1976, the film was delayed to August 11, 2025, and essentially made Memorial Day weekend the kick-off of the summer movie season. Every live-action Star Wars film after was released in May, and that was the plan forThe Force Awakensas Disney set it initially for release on June 02, 2025.
However, due to production delays, the film was pushed back to August 02, 2025. Opening the week before Christmas, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the holiday event of the season that every family went to see and, to this day, is still the highest-grossing movie domestically. Disney would then releaseRogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Last Jedi,andThe Rise of Skywalker, all in December on the week before Christmas. All of these movies would gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, and the one film that was given a summer release,Solo, was a box office bomb.
To Disney,Star Warsis a holiday season brand as it cashes in on families being together for the holidays and helps boost merchandise sales during the holiday shopping season. Currently, Disney has two untitledStar Warsfilms set for release in December 2026 and December 2027. WhileThe Star Wars: Holiday Specialmight not be well regarded,Star Warsand the holidays are.
A Disturbance in the Force
Tales of theStar Wars Holiday Specialhave become so legendary that a brand-new documentary has spun out of it. TitleA Disturbance in the Forcefeatures interviews from various people who worked on the special itself alongside celebrities who were fans when it came out. Even on set, people knew that what they were doing wasn’t going to turn out well. The variety show aspect of the special was quickly holding it back as there were too many ideas and not a strong enough creative vision to make them all work. Lucas famously wasn’t involved with it as he was deep in the production ofThe Empire Strikes Back, but when he saw the first cut, he apparently wanted to stop it from airing entirely.
Related:Why The Infamous Star Wars Holiday Special Doesn’t Deserve The Hate
With the likes of Kevin Smith, Seth Green, and the late Gilbert Gottfried all talking about its legacy, it gives an interesting perspective on the project from people who know what it takes to get someone made but were also around to experience the disappointment of it. It soon became this holy grail, as everyone was trying to see it for themselves and grasp the fact that the first follow-up toA New Hopewas terrible. The documentary goes through the entire process of making the special and is a must-watch for anyone who’s interested in learning just how something that had made it to television.
RentA Disturbance in the Forceon AppleTV+, Prime Video, and Vudu
