Does anyone remember this?

There was a time when I wondered to myself if this actually existed as Id not seen it for many many years, until recently.

This is one show with which you guys in the USA can pin point when youve seen it (if you dont own or have never seen a bootleg) to an exact date and time. This was aired at 8PM on the 17th of November 1978, and was never aired on TV in the USA again, and I dont believe it was even aired in the U.K.

It features Wookies, Wookies, and more Wookies. Many people hate this film, even George Lucas himself, who has actually said that if he had the time and the ability, he'd like to track down every single copy of The Holiday Special and smash it with a sledge hammer. If you try to watch this as a Star Wars episode, youll hate it, but if you look at it as a peice of fluff, Im sure youll at least tollerate it.

I saw it here in Australia twice...Once in August 1979 and again in 1980. Even after seeing it twice, I forgot about it until about 1983 when I was talking about a peice of Star Wars that I remembered, but doesnt appear in any release of the film Id seen on VHS. I told my friends about it and they said it NEVER happened in any Star Wars movie. I was sure Id seen something like what Id described (Han and Chewie in a tree house fighting stormtroopers and Chewie's son being involved somehow), and set about looking for proof. I found none. I decided that I mustve imagined the entire thing as noone else remembered it.

Then, one day in 1987, I found an old Sci-Fi magazine with a picture of Golden Girl Bea Arthur on the cover surrounded with aliens and the caption: Star Wars Invades TV. I read it, and while it didnt describe the scene I remembered, it did prove that there could be more to what Id thought Id imagined.

To cut a long story short, I eventually found an old VHS tape and took both it and the magazine to school. I showed those who didnt believe me the video in the AV room and became the 'flavour of the week.'

After a while the video tape I had died and I was left with nothing but a magazine to remember this special by. Then I typed it into the ned and found where I could buy copies of this on DVD (bootlegs of course). Now I own 3 versions (1. a really bad VHS to DVD transfer. 2. a 2nd generation DVD with all original US ad breaks...and 3. a remastered copy which looks great).

The adverts on the DVD featuring the commercils are great...Reggie Bars, Tobar: Robot spelled backwards, Hole proof pantyhose, Union label ad, and an ad for The Wiz, plus more. This is worth it alone.



Anyway...Im wondering if anyone else remembers this from TV, or if youve got a copy of it?






AN

I got it from ebay. We had it on Betamax back in the day too. Loved it! "Whip stir stir stir".

yeah. i got this thing. it's awful! i couldn't watch it.

  While I don't remember actually watching this in '78 there's little chance that I could've missed it...

  I was debating on weather or not to slime a bootleg DVD from eBay.  Still debating...

  Here's a web site devoted to the thing...

  The Star Wars Holiday Special

Thats where I got my bootlegs.

It is a bad peice of film, but its something that has grown on me, and continues to do so with each viewing. I mean, if your a huge fan of Star wars its invaluable. After all, where else can you find the most of the original actors playing the original characters on film except in the Holiday Special?

Even if you hate it, the adverts are worth the cost alone. As Ive said, they are strange, and yet, compelling to watch and are an document of the late 1970's in themselves.



AN