Gobble Project '24: A Disturbance in the Force

As I wrote about here, the Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978 was a bizarre affair that my mind mostly blocked out.  It was not really Star Wars, it was a variety show.  Not a good combination.  Those of us who survived it, know the whats, it's the whys that have kept us perplexed all these decades.

Thanks to last year's A Disturbance in the Force, those questions are answered. 

The thing aired just before Thanksgiving in 1978, and I remember it didn't go over well that night, nor did it hold up (minus Nelvana's Boba Fett sequence, which is the only thing Lucas approved of, and can be streamed on Disney+) to any extent, in any form or fashion. 

So why??

All the folks involved get their say here, and the main purpose was to keep Star Wars alive in the eyes of the zeitgeist until The Empire Strikes Back could appear and do its thing. If the folks behind Star Wars knew how big the film would turn out to be, how embedded in the culture it would become, this thing probably wouldn't have been necessary.  

Lucas apparently wrote a 5 page treatment that showed how seriously he took the thing before departing to work on Empire, and it appeared to be a quasi-sequel of sorts.  The network, CBS,  handed it off to what really were a bunch of folks who worked on variety television (the mainstay of network TV at the time) and it eventually evolved into something it was never intended to be.  Much like that Donnie and Marie Star Wars dance a thon with Kris Kristofferson as Han Solo (!) and Mark Hamill's dancin' appearance with Bob Hope.  To the Holiday Special's credit, these things were far more embarrassing. 

I don't want to give away a whole bunch, as you learn some great stuff, much of which is a bit shocking. The details here are often laughable, and at times during the testimonials, kind of fuckin' sad.  Let's just  say you feel for all involved, you really do.  Again, this was an example of something that was done truly for marketing purposes to keep Star Wars alive while America waited for the sequel, and it eventually became an inside joke; Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and Harvey Korman included.  It was done before Star Wars became cemented as Star Wars and no one thought it silly at all, especially at that time. 

That would come later. 

With all the people speaking here, from its creators to those who get a laugh or a warm fuzzy from it now, you find yourself growing a bit sentimental towards it, and that's a good thing. 

It may not be the best example of Thanksgiving (or Life Day) television, but it certainly is the weirdest.