Hello everyone!
The Star Wars Holiday Special is extremely notorious among the Star Wars community. George Lucas said that if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he would destroy every copy of it. Having never seen it before, I set out to watch it, to determine whether or not it actually is that bad. If you want to watch it, here it is:
So here, in bullet points, are my thoughts about it.
The opening: lots of Wookiee grunts, but no subtitles, so we practically have no way of understanding it (aside from the context of their actions). Really?
The exterior shots of the Wookiee's home is incredibly fake when compared to the interior.
Chewbacca's family is really weird. Itchy (full name Attichitcuk) and Malla (full name Mallatobuck) are very strange. However, it must be said that I do kinda like Lumpy (full name Lumpawarrump), and the way he acts does resemble a little kid. Though their nicknames are extremely cringey.
I feel one of the main faults of the special was that they spent too much time on unnecessary portions, including the cooking show, Itchy's show, the Jefferson Starship music video, Lumpy's cartoon, and the Tatooine bar scene. These should only have made brief appearances and could even have been left out.
One part that lacks logic is Lumpy's cartoon. Yeah, it did introduce Boba Fett, but who watches cartoons about the Rebellion when the Empire is literally in your house?
Saun Dann is quite a funny character, especially when he talks so much to distract the Imperials.
The part at which they defeated the Imperials seemed rather strange. The Imperial Officer, Navy Trooper, and Stormtrooper just left without questioning anything, and the remaining Stormtrooper's behavior was truly strange. Given how ruthless the Empire is, I think he would have used his blaster instead of just chasing Lumpy around.
The ending of the Holiday Special seemed pretty stupid to me.
So, is it bad? Yes. But is it "the worst thing in the world", the way that Star Wars fans treat it? No.
Overall, I'd rate the Holiday Special a 2/5. Terrible, yes, but not the worst thing that could smite a film franchise.