The Star Wars Holiday Special
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
The Star Wars Holiday Special is one of the most critically acclaimed Christmas specials of all time.
Based on a forgettable sci-fi film flop from the 1970s, The Star Wars Holiday Special ignited a worldwide fascination in Life Day, a new-age holiday that influenced the creation of fictional holidays like Kwanzaa, Festivus, and Hannukah. The special also launched the careers of unknown actors Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, and Art Carney.
Most of the film's original cast reprised their roles in the special; in a 2000 appearance on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio, co-star Harrison Ford pointed to his work in the special's dramatic "going into hyperdrive" sequence as the exact moment when he realized facial expressions were entirely superfluous to his craft.
To this day, the special has only aired once on TV and has never been released on VHS or DVD. Enigmatic and reclusive creator George Lucas has stated that this is because he thinks of it as a magical, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and to try and make money off of it would be sacrilege.
It is considered by cognoscenti to be the best writing work of Bruce Vilanch's career, mostly because the Wookies don't talk.
