Clickable Advent Calendar, 20: RiffTrax vs. The Star Wars Holiday Special
This year the much-maligned “Star Wars Holiday Special” celebrates its 30th anniversary, and to Lucasfilm’s chagrin, you can relive it thanks to the likes of Youtube. You might want to watch it via the protective filter of the RiffTrax commentary, if you get the chance.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” which CBS broadcast on Nov. 17, 1978. I saw it for its original broadcast and have seen it since, but it’s the kind of bizarre pop aberration that’s so strange, it’s easier to think of it as some kind of elaborate hoax (you know, like the fake moon landing) than an entertainment that people created on purpose, with sincerity. Recently I described it to my friend Tim, and explained that while it features cameos from most of the major characters and actors from the original Star Wars, it primarily focuses on Chewbacca’s family — his wife Malla, his father Itchy and his son Lumpy — as they prepare to celebrate the Wookie holiday of “Life Day.” Simply naming the special’s “human” guest stars – including Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Jefferson Airplane and Harvey Korman in three roles – had Tim doubled over in laughter.
“The Star Wars Holiday Special” was broadcast only once in the United States and a few other times in Europe, and has never been released on VHS or DVD. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, particularly Ebay and Youtube, it has resurfaced, to the chagrin of everyone involved. I personally can’t watch it without the protective filter from RiffTrax, as demonstrated in this sample:
But what is RiffTrax, you may ask?