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Holiday Special > Feedback > Memories > Mexico


MEXICO

December, 1978

Televisa XHGC Channel 5


From Carlos Perez-Chavez (Mexico):

At that time Star Wars was a great theme between kids and I was just 8. I had seen the Star Wars Episode IV movie just once like many of my friends, but it made such an impression on me that I remembered just as if I had seen it 10 or 20 times.

A day in December 1978 there were ads on TV about a Star Wars Special that was going to be broadcast on Televisa's XHGC Channel 5. My mom told me about it and she and I expected it with pleasure. At that time there weren't many good shows on TV and this was about our #1 movie!!!

We waited and saw it. It was subtitled which was good because that way the original sound was preserved (on later years Televisa broadcasted dubbed versions of Episode IV, V and VI with horrible results). I just remembered the show as boring, the Wookiees were cool and there were stormtroopers! But as a non-American audience we didn't know who Bea Arthur or Art Carney were. We did get to see many American shows but still we were not from the same culture.

That way many of the segments were so boring or meaningless. In fact the ONLY thing that I remembered of this show was a scene with the Wookiee family and a stormtrooper... just that.

I don't remember ever commenting on this show with my friends... until 6 years after in highschool.

A friend and I were talking about Star Wars and I mentioned the show to him and my vague memories of it. My friend yelled and was full of joy!! Why? Because he had seen it too but no one in his family remembered the show (the mind protects itself). Their parents told him that he surely had dreamed it and he ALMOST believed that until the day I mentioned the show to him.

Also Televisa used to air the specials many times (for example the same Carpenters special year after year) but it did never broadcast this again. Why? I understand that the show did not do well on ratings.

So I have just seen it again. It's bad but today there are worse TV shows.

Now, to complete my giving in to the dark side I have to get a copy of the Mexican broadcast, complete with subtitles.

Carlos Perez-Chavez
Mexico City


Now let's hear YOUR memories of seeing the Holiday Special when it aired!