Christmas in July Blogathon: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The wonderful Drew at Drew's Movie Reviews is running his Christmas in July Blogathon right now. How has it been a whole year since Drew’s last Christmas in July Blogathon?! I honestly remember writing last year’s post as if it were yesterday. Anyway, I’m so glad it’s back, because I need the outlet - Christmas is my favourite time of the year but no one will let me talk about it until December. Last Christmas was an amazing time for me as a movie fan as I delved into the Star Wars movies before watching The Force Awakens, and shocked myself with how much I fell in love with it.

Imagine my surprise then when I discover that in 1978, a Star Wars Holiday Special was broadcast on TV! Okay, so general consensus seemed to be that it was the worst TV movie ever made, but I couldn’t help but feel that watching it was a rite of passage for Star Wars fans. Or maybe I just like to torture myself and watch terrible movies. Who knows! I read the reviews, I read the quotes from the cast saying they wish they could forget it was ever made, and all I could think was, surely it can’t be that bad? I mean, the entire main original cast is here. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, even James Earl Jones! 

Oh, I was so wrong…

So, the gist of the story is this. It’s Life Day, a holiday celebrated by Wookiees, and Han Solo is desperately trying to get Chewie home to his family in time for the celebrations. That’s right, Chewie has a family! Specifically, a father called Itchy, a wife called Malla and a son called...Lumpy. Who names their kid Lumpy? I sure hope that’s a nickname. Anyway, Malla is getting impatient and puts in a few video-calls to some friends to find out where her beloved Chewie is. One of those calls goes to Luke Skywalker himself, wearing more make-up than I do on a night out, but he knows nothing. A local trader and friend by the name of Saun Dann tries to ease Malla’s worries, and later turns up at the house (that was fast) with gifts for everyone.

At this point I should probably point out that over 50% of this movie’s dialogue is spoken in Wookiee, with no subtitles, so you kind of have to guess what’s going on. I was at least grateful for the lack of translation when Itchy was gifted with some bizarre adult-fantasy video…thing. That was disturbing. I need to try and forget that moment, erase it from my memory somehow.

I mean, on the surface of it, The Star Wars Holiday Special is like any other Christmas movie. The father of the family is late coming home, leaving a disappointed child. The family are being inappropriate and no help to anyone, and the cooking turns out to be a disaster. That part at least was actually funny, watching Malla try and follow a cooking program to cook a stew. Turns out, it’s really difficult to mix, whisk and beat a mixture when you only have 2 arms. Who’da thunk it?

Then come the Imperial Officers, flanked by 2 Stormtroopers, here to search the property. Doesn’t anyone get a day off work on Life Day? Poor Lumpy is told to watch his cartoons and stay out of the way. Somehow, Lumpy’s cartoon happens to explain what exactly is holding Han Solo and Chewie up. It’s all a rouse played out by Boba Fett and Darth Vader! Bah humbug, guys!

Honestly, at this point the rest is a blur. I made myself a drink during the first 10 minutes, knowing I was going to need it to watch anymore, and I got through a lot of drinks very quickly. A lot like Christmas I guess! All I know is that it was happily ever after, and there was a musical interlude by the Cantina band somewhere in the mix.

So, lesson learnt. This really was a monstrosity. But did you know this was Boba Fett’s very first introduction? Gotta give the movie a point for that. And another for Malla’s cooking attempts. That’s all I can face giving out, though.

In true Christmas in July fashion, Drew is forming a star-studded Christmas party, and we’re all allowed to invite our favourite celebrity in the hopes we’ll catch them under the mistletoe. I feel like I should stick with the Star Wars theme, and as much as I’d like to catch Kylo Ren and warm up that icy heart of his, I worry he’ll throw one of those tempers and wreck the party. With that in mind, I certainly wouldn’t mind bumping into the best pilot in the galaxy, Poe Dameron, AKA Oscar Isaac! Swoon…

Watching the Star Wars Series for the First Time

I’ve always wondered how long I could put off watching the Star Wars movies before either society shunned me, or I got too curious for my own good. The upcoming release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens is what did it in the end. It’s my family’s movie of choice for our Christmas IMAX outing, and well, I don’t want to be sat watching a movie not knowing what on earth is going on! So, I’ve been compiling this post over the course of 5 weeks, whilst I catch up.

Slight white lie I should fess up to first, I’ve already seen Episode I, but general consensus seems to be that the world would be a much better place without it, so I’m hoping to be forgiven for that.

I will get to see Episode VII on Sunday 20th December, so starting on 15th November, and on every Sunday afterwards, my fiance and I have got together to watch the next installment. We’re watching this in episode order rather than release date, for my own benefit. I get confused easily.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

It would be wrong to miss this one out really, wouldn’t it? For some reason I got my friends together to watch Episode I at the cinema for my 12th Birthday. I don’t remember much other than the pod racers, and I was a big fan of Jar Jar Binks at that age, too. In fact, I did a fairly good impression of him too, in my own opinion, but it probably sounded exactly like my Yoshi impression…

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Impression #1: 2 hours and 22 minutes long?! Sigh...get the kettle on. No, I jest. I quite enjoyed watching Attack of the Clones actually. Anakin is an extremely whiny Padawan though, I much preferred him as a cute little kid. The crazy action scenes were fun to watch too, and the CGI wasn’t bad at all. I also had no idea Samuel L Jackson was in this series either, so that was good. Without a doubt Jango Fett was my favourite character, which obviously sealed his fate (curse my luck) but I’m looking forward to seeing Bobba again!

I’m just not sure I understood the whole clone situation though. With a title of ‘Attack of the Clones’ I was expecting Jedi HQ (or whatever it’s called) to be attacked by clones...but no. Who ordered those clones, anyway? My fiance explained it to me but I forgot already. There’s a reason I haven’t watched Star Wars before now. Wait, do they mean the droid army? They attacked? No, I’m not going to try and work it out...

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Okay, I think I’m really getting into this now. Episode III was much better than the other two, although some of the dialogue just made me cringe. It was a sad ending indeed, but at least I don’t have to suffer Anakin and Padme’s relationship any longer. I have to say though, I feel really conflicted about Anakin turning over to the dark side. On one hand, it’s awful and slaying the younglings is absolutely unforgivable. On the other though, he was pretty much forced into it by both sides. The Jedi Council treated him awfully!


I have just 2 things to whinge about with this one. Firstly, why on earth does no-one wear any proper kind of protection on their wrists? I lost count of how many hands were lost due to lightsabers this time round. Secondly, surely this movie should have been called Attack of the Clones?! This time they did actually attack!

Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Oh lordy, why did I save these ones till last? Okay, I understand why I was told to watch in release order now. It is so hard going from modern day special effects to this. Although, and I know this sounds weird, I’m really surprised at how modern the Stormtroopers look. I mean, they look exactly the same from 1977 - 2005 without looking odd over time. It’s a terrible way of wording it I know, but that’s what I’m thinking right now.


Anyway, loved the story in this one! There were also so many quotes I’ve always known but without context, and so being able to visualise the ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ moment gives me great joy. Watching Luke pander after Leia was a little cringey, and I’m hoping they found out that they’re siblings before that gets too weird. I never thought I’d say it, but I am really enjoying Star Wars right now.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Okay, Star Wars fever has hit me full blast. I have stormtrooper pajamas with matching fluffy socks, I'm playing a Star Wars game on my tablet religiously every day, and I've even nabbed joint custody of my fiance's Star Wars Lego advent calendar. Oops.

The Empire Strikes Back was probably the movie I was looking forward to the most, everyone I spoke to said it's their favourite. Maybe I was expecting too much, and I really did enjoy it, but I preferred A New Hope! Han Solo was hands down amazing in this though. He just oozes charm! I've never been a big Harrison Ford fan, but he converted me. That moment when Leia tells him she loves him, and he just responds with 'I know' was brilliant. The battle on Hoth was a highlight for sure too, but that was ruined a little from watching the new Battlefront game too much. Dem graphics, man!

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
So...unfortunately life got in the way. My viewing schedule got mixed up, and although I'll be watching Return of the Jedi on Friday night, I wanted to get this posted before the internet breaks with The Force Awakens reviews.

I'll add to this as soon as I have seen it but for now...this has been one of the most exciting blogging features I've done. I've gone from reluctantly booking my family's IMAX tickets to being more excited than a child at Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by...but for now I'm logging off the blog, Facebook, Twitter, the Internet, Radio and TV until Sunday night, when I finally get to witness the Awakening.

May the force be with us all...