The 1970’s were just, just terrible. A wrecked economy coupled with a culture trashed by the abandonment of Viet Nam, Watergate, OPEC and disco led to just a whole great steaming pile of *crap* for the most part. Still, there were some bright spots… 1977, for instance, gave the world both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both of which were massive improvements in the art of sci-fi movies, and remain quality entertainment to this day.
But 1978… gave us the Star Wars Holiday Special. If you are too young to have seen it, let me assure you that this festering boil of a program was far, far more of a disappointment for little Star Wars fans like m’self than Phantom Menace could ever have dreamed of being. It coupled Star Wars characters, actors, locations and plot elements with the worst dreck that 1970’s variety television had to offer. Harvey Korman doing “comedy.” Bea Arthur as a bartender on Tatooine doing a musical number. Princess Leia doing a musical number. Diahann Carroll and Jefferson Starship doing musical numbers.
Gah. The Holiday Special is, without a doubt… dreadful.
It has one feature that might be considered redeeming: an animated sequence featuring the introduction of the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Most people think he was introduced in 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” but he was actually introduced two years earlier in the Holiday Special. So, there’s that.
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For some reason, parts 4 and 5 have been shut down for copyright reasons… but not the rest. Shrug.
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And if you want just the Boba Fett segment, here it is (at least until the Disneylawyers get a hold of it):
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