Talk: The Star Wars Holiday Special

Article milestones Date Process Result November 6, 2005 Featured article nomination Success December 4, 2005 Featured article by Adamwankenobi March 4, 2007 Featured article review Removed March 17, 2007 Former Featured article
Current status: Former Featured article

Star Wars:Galactic Battlegrounds

I own this game, and I believe it features several screenshots from the special, if thats worth mentioning I don't know, could someone confirm this and wether or not it belongs in the article anywhere?207.5.197.180 22:53, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Is this considered a film?

It was a TV show, but was it really a full movie? BTW, I'm going to post a copy of the show. Feel free to post a better one (or in a better format) if you have it. WhiteBoy 01:10, 27 Mar 2005 (EST)

• Yes, it is considered a film. Adamwankenobi 14:27, 6 Nov 2005 (UTC)
  • No, it is a tele-movie. Not a film. .... 10:12, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

New version

I have GREATLY added and improved this on wikipedia, and have copied that version here, as it is much more detailed. I'll wookieefy later and upload the appropiate images. Adamwankenobi 05:53, 24 Oct 2005 (UTC)

Random Trivia

Holiday Special featured a M'shento'su'Nikto, named Kelbo, a subspecies of Nikto not seen in any of the 6 main movies!JustinGann 11:02, 6 Nov 2005 (UTC)

• Interesting, I'll add it! Adamwankenobi 11:17, 6 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Allegiance

"Lucasfilm has hired well-known Star Wars author, Timothy Zahn to write a book entitled Allegiance, which will serve as a prequel to the animated segment of The Star Wars Holiday Special" ...come again?? CooperTFN 03:37, 4 Dec 2005 (UTC)

• Yes. I read once, I believe it was actually on the TF.N CUSWE, that Zahn's new novel would occur directly before the animated segment of the holiday special. This would then qualify it as a prequel novel. Adamwankenobi 05:46, 4 Dec 2005 (UTC)
  • Could you possibly track down a link? I don't see why info like that would be on an Encyclopedia site, one way or another. CooperTFN 06:03, 4 Dec 2005 (UTC)
    • Yes, see this link. Adamwankenobi 06:30, 4 Dec 2005 (UTC)
      • The note below Allegiance's listing about setting up the cartoon is for the Holiday Special itself, not Allegiance. I'll grant that the book is listed right before the Special, but for one thing, that's just a presumed timeline placement; there's been no absolute confirmation of the dating yet as far as I know. For another, taking place right before something does not a prequel make. Alan Moore's Tilotny Throws a Shape, to take an example from down the page, is not a prequel for Planet of the Dead from Tales #17. CooperTFN 06:39, 4 Dec 2005 (UTC)
        • Anyways, isn't the Holiday Special sometime inbetween IV and V? So wouldn't it be an original trilogy novel rather than a prequel one?
          • Yes and yes. Adamwankenobi 07:09, 9 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Canon

Unlike the rest of the EU, this movie was done by Lucas himself. Why isn't it G-canon? MoffRebus 09:59, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

• Because, unlike the rest of his movies, George Lucas has declared it to be complete and utter crap, and he'd like to destroy every copy of it ever made. Just because he made it doesn't mean it's part of his version of Star Wars. jSarek 11:43, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
  • That's not quite the reason. Canonicity is defined by Lucas Licensing. Currently, they consider only the six theatrical films, screenplays to those films, novelizations, and radio dramas to be G-canon. Although Lucas wrote the story for the holiday special, the two ewok films, and had a hand in projects like the Clone Wars animated series and will work on the upcoming live-action series, they are still considered EU / C-canon. Adamwankenobi^{Talk to me! My home.} 14:13, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
    • Actually, that's not how it works: "Anything in the films and from George Lucas (including unpublished internal notes that we might receive from him or from the film production department) is considered "G" canon" (from here). If it's from Lucas, it's G-canon. As a side note, the only G-canon things in the screenplays, novelizations, and radio dramas are those things which came from Lucas himself (as discussed here). jSarek 01:29, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
      • I thought Lucas disowned this entire special and wanted all copies of it tracked down and burned. Majorthomme 02:11, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
        • Yeah, but its storyline and characters have been referred to in so many other EU works, it's as well integrated into canon as anything else. —Silly Dan _(talk) 02:14, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
          • Shouldn't this have a Not Canon tag? GMo 01:20, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
            • Nope. As much as most people dislike it, it has been referenced in a LOT of EU sources, so most of it is C-canon. Adamwankenobi 01:51, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
              • Chee says S canon here or has it changed since that was posted? Vetinari^{(Appointment)} 22:04, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Muppet Show?

Up until the release of Revenge of the Sith (which introduced Luke and Leia as infants), the Holiday Special was the only other live-action production, outside of the Original Trilogy, which featured any of the "big three" (Han, Luke, and Leia).

This is not actually true, as Mark Hamill did play Luke on an episode of The Muppet Show around the same time. Granted, the Muppet Show appearance is definitely not canon, but it was a live-action appearance.

• Yeah, I saw that on Youtube! They kept asking Luke who his tailor was. It was hilarious! Danish on each ear 15:34, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Unidentified Star Wars Symbol?

I recently got a copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special - Angrysun Edition and noticed on the back cover that there was a strange marking similar to the era markings.
(i.e. Rise of the Empire, Old Republic)

It might just be the angrysun logo, but I'm not sure and I'd like to know.

In Star Wars, that's the symbol for Black Sun. Adamwankenobi 23:55, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

What a mess!

God, the article is in horrid shape. Punctuation, repeating itself...hell, half of it is just copied and pasted from Wikipedia. And the Synopsis is a blow-by-blow account, far too lengthy. How is this an FA again? .... 10:11, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

• I specifically wrote the synopsis to be a blow-by-blow account, as we are not limited by the "concise" standards of Wikipedia plot summaries. For an example of what I am trying to accomplish, look at any of the Star Trek episode summaries over at Memory Alpha. Some of the "summaries" are nearly book-length! Adamwankenobi 21:01, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Red Links

Anyone else think we should get rid of some of the red links? I don't think we need an article about "What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events In Television History" Trueblue9999 22:45, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

• That probably goes back to when this was a Wikipedia article. So yeah, they should be removed or converted to Wikipedia links. -LtNOWIS 23:09, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Canonocity?

Is it G-canon? I always thought of it as EU but I saw that the story was written by George Lucas himself.--Herbsewell 00:53, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

I can't say for sure, but based on George Lucas' comments on the film, I'd wager not. 68.228.89.148 19:57, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

In my User Page i have the Star Wars Holiday Special

Hi, i have in my User page this special...but also it is possible to be seen in You Tube Sincerelly: User_talk:Starkiller1996

Image culling needed

The amount of screenshots from this is surely a severe breach of fair use. We should have at most 2 in the plot summary, and then only when needed in other sections. .... 03:49, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Commercials from the special?

You really should see the commercials that aired during the Star Wars Holiday Special, 'cause they're pretty good. For example, there's a commercial for Bell telephones where a telephone is dismantled ("This isn't the phone... this is the phone"). There's also a McDonald's commercial promoting the Egg McMuffin ("There's more in the middle of an Egg McMuffin than an egg in the middle of a muffin"). There are also two commercials for General Motors that take you inside the automotive plant where you hear comments from the workers about their jobs ("I like welding!"). There's also a commercial for Fruit Of The Loom underwear where an old lady picks a grape off of the green bunch ("I think this fruit deserves a little picking!"). There are also commercials for odd toys (such as the Tobor, which is robot spelled backwards) as well as commercials for products I've never heard of (Sheer Indulgence pantyhose and something called Twice As Fresh?!), and even commercials for 1978 CBS programming (Bobby Vinton's Rock'n'Rollers and Lucy Comes To Nashville) - and even a brief report from CBS News that mentions about Khrushchev and "the New Jersey blizzard of '78"! Someone should create a section in this article about these novelty 1970s commercials that were featured during the Holiday Special. Supi&Oola 04:25, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

• No, because they have zero to do with Star Wars. —Grand Admiral J. Nebulax ^{(Imperial Holovision)} 23:56, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
• Don't forget "Fighting the Frizzies, at 11." jSarek 00:00, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
• I only wish they still had these commercials on YouTube - it's been several months since they've been available for viewing, and I can't believe the user had to remove those grainy commercials that he uploaded off a burnt DVD with dubbed material from a dusty videotape that he must have found in the attic or someplace; that user has got to put those commercials he removed back onto the website! Supi&Oola 04:25, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
• I hate to go outside the topic now, but what I find even weirder than the Bell commercials that aired during the Special are those old commercials for numbers such as 1-800-Collect, 1-800-Call-ATT, and 10-10-220. 1-800-Collect: "I need to make a call, but I left the change on the blanket!". 1-800-Call-ATT: "It's free for you, cheap for them!", says Carrot Top. 10-10-220 (the commercials with ALF and Hulk Hogan): "My friends call me sensitive, I think I am a bit. I'd really like to call them, but I simply can't commit." Those commercials did for the 90s what all the SWHS commercials did for the 70s; IMHO I'm glad we finally have cell phones as supposed to dismantled home phones or 10-10 numbers to dial. My own jingle: "Be choosy, pick genuine AT&T/Cingular/BellSouth" (the three phone companies that just merged). Supi&Oola 00:47, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
• One of my copies of the HS (a VHS copy) contains all of the commercials. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to tranfer them to the internet. Adamwankenobi 01:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
• BTW, I totally disagree, LOL; Nebulax's comment on a so-called "0% Star Wars-related section" was very unnecessary! I am 100% against the comment. :) I mean, these commercials are very definitive of the 1970s, and the way they relate to Star Wars is: they were aired during the SWHS! Any ads aired during what is perhaps the worst moment in SW history are worthy of mention in the article... these 70s retro-ads rule! So I'm asking all you users on Wookieepedia this:

Is a section about the SWHS commercials "Wookieepedic" in any respect?

Rifftrax has done the definitive riff of the Star Wars Holiday Special link title. You can get the riff and the movie itself on their site. As a matter of a fact there are a few options on the DVD. You can watch the special with or without the rifftrax and if you choose to watch the movie without the trax, you can choose whether or not to view the commercials. Hilarious stuff from the boys of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Just my 2 cents, I breezed in from the Guild Wars Wiki.--Saphyre the Wiccan 01:21, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

I live in Tampa, Florida, and every May I go to Disney-MGM Studios for "Star Wars Weekends". In fact, after several years of unsuccessful attempts to have a fast finger and plunge into the Hot Seat, just last year at Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! - Star Wars Edition... I MADE IT INTO THE HOT SEAT!!!! (Contestants play for points and prizes, NOT dollars.) I am such a genius when it comes to SW trivia, and I made it all the way to the 15th and final question... worth a million points and cruise tickets I could've sold on eBay for a whole crapload of money! I was accompanied in the Hot Seat by Warwick Davis (AKA Wicket the Ewok), and either he or the three lifelines would assist me if I wasn't sure, or would they? The winning question was:

Star Wars puppeteer Phil Tippett also played which Cantina Band member in A New Hope?

Choice A: Nalan Cheel Choice B: Figrin D'an Choice C: Doikk N'ats Choice D: Ickabel Gont

First I used 50/50, leaving me with choices B and C. I then asked the audience, and a slight majority of them said it was choice B. Still not sure, I phoned a complete stranger, and she said that she was pretty certain it was choice C. Since I don't trust strangers, I then asked Warwick Davis if he knew the answer; he said he was clueless about the correct response. In this version, there's a time limit, unfortunately; when I noticed that I was running out of time, and since I didn't want to lose - or call it middle ground (Walk Away), I immediately decided to make a wild guess (I did this with about seven seconds left on the clock) and said "B: Figrin D'an, final answer. There was a moment of silence that lasted about 30 seconds; I was crossing my fingers that the female host would yell, "YOU DID IT! CONGRATULATIONS!", but apparently I guessed the wrong answer out of the remaining two. I then went down to 32,000 points, consequently losing four exclusive pins (including the one that read 500,000, representing the points I won and then lost!) - but I still went home with a number of cool prizes. Yikes! I sure wish there would've been confetti falling down from the ceiling of the soundstage, for crying out loud! And now I don't know how I'm gonna get rich (I'm almost 20, so I can legally buy lottery scratch-offs with photo ID), but one thing's for sure, I can still beat Battlefront 2!

P.S. Please post comments on my quiz show experience, 'cause some of you guys (and girls) may have been in the audience to witness my SW expertise - or else might have heard about it someplace. Supi&Oola 21:26, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Unknown species

The few Panna shots show quite a few different species not mentioned in the list, some who can be argued to belong to known species, others which constitute entirely new ones. I'm a bit at loss for how to treat this, however. Even if I knew how to get a decent picture and upload it to Wookieepedia, what would the article say? "Unknown Panna species: This species was sighted by Boba Fett on Panna some time after the Battle of Yavin"?

Not to mention the horrible debates would result from making an assumption on which canon species these different ones in the Special could belong to.

Ugh. Who would have thought this piece of work would make someone to want to track down every copy and smash them with a hammer for a reason besides its quality and content... DarthMRN 00:38, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

• There is a wealth of information in the animated segment of the special, as well as in the Droids and Ewoks series I would like to eventually get around to documenting. Adamwankenobi 00:53, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Any possibility that the Lucas quotes could be combined, because there's some 'sledgehammer' repitition atm.

It's a conspiracy, man...

Not to sound completely kookoo for cocoa puffs, but maybe there's a REASON Carrie Fisher "doesn't remember" her role...

Did she really sing THAT BADLY? Danish on each ear 15:37, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Never, before nor since, have I seen anybody that stoned on TV before. Or in person, either.--Bosda Di'Chi 15:15, September 9, 2011 (UTC)

Images

I added sources on the images. I try to do it as often as possible within the site when I see an unsourced image. Klow 12:45, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

• Cool. Good work. Adamwankenobi 13:48, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Release?

Does anyone know what's this? Is this a joke?... I saw hundreds of jokes like that, but this thing is weird...

http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/swfa/SWHSSEE.html

Klow 21:09, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

• LOL! That's one of Star Wars Fanboy Association member/Star Tours expert Alex Newborn's tongue-in-cheek articles. Abel G. Peña (a.k.a. Halagad) actually linked to that very article a while back in one of his blog entries. Adamwankenobi 23:19, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Chief Bast - an exhausted debate

This article flip-flops on whether or not the Imperial Chief speaking with Vader in a scene is Chief Bast or not. It seems to me that enough sourced material is presented to support the conclusion that it is not Bast but a n unnamed character who resembles Bast. So why does the article still have language saying it's Chief Bast in the synopsis? Medleystudios72 16:26, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Commercials

Does anyone know how long the Holiday Special was without the commercials? --67.242.64.116 11:59, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't have an exact time count, but generally there are 20 minutes of commercial in an hour TV show. So I'd expect the run time sans commercials would be in the neighborhood of 1:20.

Medleystudios72 19:57, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

• That may be true these days, but the length of commercial time has increased in the last 30 years. I'm not at home to check the length of my commercial-free copy, but I'd wager it's over an hour and a half. I'll get a more accurate number shortly. Dangerdan97 22:53, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Timeline

Did this happen before Episode 4, or after? 'Cuz it doesn't seem right that Artoo is already with Luke, and they already know each other if it was a prequel.—B-Boba Fett! ^{Make the check out to "Boba Fett"} 17:48, November 23, 2009 (UTC)

It takes place after Episode IV. Medleystudios72 18:11, June 10, 2010 (UTC)

Canonicity and these "copies"

Is this even considered canon? And also, I thought this had never been released on DVD or VHS or Blu-Ray, and all copies were therefore considered bootleg/illegal. So how did you guys even get these? --Hello, I am the Sandman! I am also the Phantom Stranger. 20:45, July 8, 2013 (UTC) —Unsigned comment by Pluto2 (talk • contribs).

• Sure, it's canon -- more technically, S-canon, for older official material which doesn't contradict current official material, and has even been referenced in newer material. As for seeing it, just because it's only available via bootleg copies doesn't mean bootleg copies aren't widely available (especially since the advent of high-speed internet.) —Silly Dan _(talk) 20:51, July 8, 2013 (UTC)

Deleted trivia

The special reportedly aired in:

• Canada in 1978 on November 17, 1978 (the same day of the US airing, most likely on the CTV Television Network, since a black and white still from the show has that network's logo on it). CED later showed clips from the special in 2004.
• United Kingdom in 1978 on BBC1
• Mexico in December 1978 on Televisa XHGC Channel 5
• Argentina around Christmas 1978
• France (dubbed in French, under the name "Au Temps de la Guerre des Etoiles" which means "In the Time of Star Wars")
• New Zealand sometime in 1979
• Belgium in 1979 and/or 1980 (in English, with Dutch subtitles); the French dubbed version was aired in the French-speaking part of the country
• Australia in 1980 or 1981 (possibly also in 1982 or 1983 on the WIN Network), and again in 1983 & 1984 on Channel Ten Victoria (reportedly). It was reportedly broadcast once again in the late 1990s as part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth series, Recovery.
• Malaysia in late January/early February 1981 or 1982 (in English, with no subtitles)
• Norway as Stjernekrigens helligdags-spesial, a direct translation of the English title.
• Sweden (Sweden's public television) on May 31, 1979 on SVT TV 2 in English, under the name "Stjärnornas krig och fred" (Star Wars and Peace), with Swedish subtitles.
• The special was screened at the Library of Congress in the 1990s.
• In the early 1990's the special was shown to TV cable station SAT 1 to get a possible broadcast along with the trilogy.

The products advertised during commercial breaks for the Holiday Special include (in order of appearance, on the Baltimore broadcast):

• General Motors
• Trailtracker (from Kenner)
• CBS Sunday Night programming (60 Minutes, All in the Family, Alice, Lucy Comes to Nashville, Dallas)
• Comtrex (from Bristol-Myers)
• International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU)
• Bell System
• CBS Saturday Night Movies (The Bible)
• Reggie candy bar
• Local programming (Dolly)
• General Motors
• Pillsbury Plus baking mix
• Hungry Jack biscuits
• CBS News report
• Contac
• CBS Monday programming (Bobby Vinton's Rock 'N Rollers)
• The Wild Geese in theaters
• Gladding Chevrolet (a local dealer)
• The Consumer Information Catalog
• Local programming (Hot City)

• Tobor (from Kenner)
• Revlon Cream-On Blush
• Whirlpool
• Anacin
• Woolite
• Sheer Indulgence pantyhose
• McDonald's Egg McMuffin
• Next on CBS (Flying High)
• Ford-Mercury-Lincoln dealers
• The Wiz in theaters
• Local news teaser
• FTD Wishing Well Bouquet
• Fruit of the Loom
• Bell System
• No Nonsense pantyhose
• Twice As Fresh bathroom cleaner
• The Star Wars Collection (from Kenner)
• Colony cabernet sauvignon
• Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk returning to regular airtimes on select CBS stations

Appearances

How are the links from the animated segment separate from the rest of the show? I understand that it has its own page, but it's a part of the special just as much as any of the other segments are. Adamwankenobi (talk) 17:02, March 26, 2014 (UTC)

JJ Abrams canon

According to an interview with MTV (available here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/72588) JJ Abrams says that the Special is "definitely canon." Should we take this out of Legends then? RangerSmith (talk) 16:57, August 16, 2015 (UTC)

• Posting to give this topic attention. --W Mumford (talk) 16:59, October 23, 2016 (UTC)
  • While I'm glad that Legends content isn't being marginalized, I'm pretty sure the interview embedded in the article is satire/humorous. Corellian Premier^{The Force will be with you always} 17:13, October 23, 2016 (UTC)

Three years on, I feel as though it's worth revisiting this topic what with The Mandalorian’s references to The Star Wars Holiday Special. --Scrooge MacDuck (talk) 14:10, December 20, 2019 (UTC)