There's no words to describe how bizarre and terrible this thing is, so let me just explain some of the things that happen in this film, because it doesn't get any stranger then listen to annoying wookies grunting at each other with no subtitles for seemingly hours, having to sit through a cooking show hosted by a cross-dressing four armed cook (attempted humor???), Mark Hammel in thick makeup staring directly into the camera explaining that everything will be OK because Chewbacca is probably just running late for life day (WTF is life day???), Stormtroopers watching a hologram that plays a Jefferson Starship music video, listening to a bizarre musical number in a bar featuring a guy who drinks through a hole on the top of his head and a man dressed as a giant rat, seeing Han Solo and Chewbacca awkwardly hugging each other, and having to witness Chewbacca's father using a virtual reality sex machine. Not kidding. Oh look Boba Fett!

This may possibly be the worst thing that was ever on TV. It is nothing like Stars Wars and it doesn't make any sense. And it's extremely boring. There's a bunch of terrible songs that don't fit the already incomprehensible plot and they are painful to watch and hear. There's even a scene where Chewbacca's dad has weird space phone sex. How could that have been on a prime time family special? This is so bad that you have to see it.

I didn't even know that this 1978 "Star Wars" movie - and I use the term movie very casually here - existed, and I just had to sit down and watch it immediately as I stumbled upon it here in 2016.By all that binds the galaxy together, no! No! Why? This totally obliterated so much of the magic that I had growing up with "A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". This 1978 holiday special really busted up so much Star Wars magic, and it will take some serious effort to restore the balance to the galaxy and overcome the trauma that is "The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)".If you haven't seen this yet, by some weird cosmic luck, as I had, then do yourself and your love for "Star Wars" a huge favor. Don't! Don't watch it. Not if you cherish "Star Wars" and love that universe that George Lucas gave us.The essence of "The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)" is centered on Chewbacca and Han Solo trying to return to Chewbacca's family on Kashyyyk in time to celebrate Life Day.This is essentially different short stories tied together around the story of Chewbacca's family back on Kashyyyk. A family that consists of a wife, a child and an elderly family member that looks like a Wookie version of Dan Aykroyd, oddly enough. And two of the names of these three characters were just equally bad; Itchy and Lumpy.To make matters worse, then they totally and wholeheartedly failed to capture the magic of the "Star Wars" universe, and also failed to portray anything that even did an inch of justice to "Star Wars". I mean, we are presented with a somewhat chubby space trader with an open shirt that leaves nothing to the imagination and some lovely's late-70's spectacles. But it gets better, we also have Bea Arthur, yes the lady from "Golden Girls", as a cantina barkeep performing a song about friends."The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)" uses some stock footage from the "Star Wars: A New Hope" movie, which just makes it uncomfortably weird to witness here in this.But there were some golden moments to it as well. That would, of course, having the original cast from "Star Wars: A New Hope" make short appearances in this abysmal holiday special. I wonder if they had no idea what this was going to be, since they were participating. And it also had the very first introduction of iconic Boba Fett to the "Star Wars" universe in form of a poorly drawn animated short movie. And it was nice also to see that they made use of proper "Star Wars" costumes, wardrobes and props as well for some of the scenes throughout this holiday special.I painfully regret that I took the time to watch "The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)", because it caused so much damage to "Star Wars" and the love I have for that entire universe. And now I will have to rebuild and restore that.The sole reason for why I am rating it two out of ten stars, and not just one star, is because of the original cast making short appearances in it and because this was also the introduction of Boba Fett.Do yourself a favor and stay well clear of this one.

OK let me clarify that summary line.. As a child of 7 starving for ANYTHING Star Wars, I thought it was awesome! As an adult of 44 lucky enough to possess a copy, I still like it for what it is. It's a memory. It's a memory of a simpler time. It's a memory of the love I had for what I still consider to be the greatest movie ever made! It's a memory of longing for the next film to release. It's a memory of seeing the original Star Wars in the theater. Also watching it reminds me of the attraction pre-shows at Disney World. It just brings back so much. Though it is corny and cheesy, and low budget, I love it! I always will. I wish I had a better copy.