It’s time to reveal the truth about the Star Wars Holiday Special

And that context is 1970s television. To understand the Holiday Special, A disturbance in the Force places it in the right pantheon of its peers: other weird 1970s TV specials, like Wayne Newton at SeaWorld or The Brady Bunch Variety Show.

“The Star Wars Christmas Special was a product of its time,” explains Coons. “We’ve tracked down almost everyone who worked on it and is still alive. And many of them were older when they were working on it, and it was just a different thing that came through. If you were 45 when this came out, you didn’t care war of starsand they didn’t do that.” That’s probably the most important and faintest finding of the documentary: it’s not The Star Wars Holiday Special is it all strange; the phenomenon of war of stars itself is strange. Since 1977 the first war of stars Film has been elevated by critics and fans as something of an untouchable pop culture masterpiece. But a year after the movie came out, it was just a movie.

For those of us who grew up in a time when war of stars has always If you’ve been on VHS or DVD, it’s important to remember that things used to feel very different. If something was on TV and nobody was around to record it, it basically didn’t happen. For Coon, this type of ephemera is of particular interest. He co-directed with Tim Skousen Robber!the 2015 documentary that told the story of a shot-for-shot fan recreation of the first Indiana Jones film in 1989.

“I like the idea of ​​going back in time,” says Coon. “There are so many videos out there that just get forgotten. Until 2002 I thought so Star Wars Christmas Special was an urban myth because it’s so hard to find.”

The legacy of Star Wars Christmas Special is still with us. As Coon points out, the Star Wars Christmas Special contains a wonderful cartoon interlude that introduces Boba Fett a full three years before his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. The rifle used by the title character in The Mandalorian Season one was a direct homage to Boba Fett’s weapon in the Holiday Special, even if George Lucas didn’t care. Fun, A disturbance in the Force reminds us that the creator of war of stars don’t even want to talk about it Good things off The holiday special. As A disturbance in the Force proves even if Lucas wants to pretend he had nothing to do with it, there is paper trail proving that’s not true, including a five-page treatment written by Lucas himself.

On that point, Coon is sympathetic: “I feel for him because he’s in his thirties at the time and he’s made the greatest movie of all time,” explains Coon. “He’s getting these things thrown at him and he’s preparing for it The Empire Strikes Back. You can’t really blame Lucas.”