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Holiday Special > News > 2005

December 18, 2005

Heather's diaryThe next best thing to being there

Just added to the site: two diary entries from Heather Semmens, as written at age 12 in 1979 and 1980, from two separate nights the Holiday Special aired in South Australia. This is a unique artifact, and many thanks to Heather for sharing it with us.

Check the Memories section under Feedback for full details and scans of the entries.


December 14, 2005

Bea Arthur on the Holiday Special: in her own words

Head on over to the Quotes in our Text section to read a new entry from Bea Arthur commenting on her experience working on The Star Wars Holiday Special, as seen in The Portland Mercury's October 13-19, 2005 issue.


December 11, 2005

The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments: #59 clip now online

We've now added a 1 minute 32 second clip from TV Land's "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments" (see News mention below), featuring the Holiday Special at #59. Check it out in our Multimedia section.


December 10, 2005

Richard Pryor dies at 65

Star Wars BarWell-known comedian Richard Pryor died of a heart attack today at the age of 65. Although this news is not directly related to the Holiday Special, it does have a certain connection: the first episode of the short-lived "The Richard Pryor Show" (broadcast September 13, 1977) featured a segment called "Star Wars Bar", where Pryor played the bartender of a standard hole-in-the-wall bar with one unusual difference: this bar's regulars were the creatures from the Star Wars cantina... the same ones featured almost a year later in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Richard Pryor meets The Devil.There was a lot of similarity between this scene and the cantina scene in the Holiday Special, as both Richard Pryor and Bea Arthur (as Ackmena) tended their respective bars and made wisecracks at the expense of their odd-looking patrons. In the wacky world of Star Wars appearances on 70s television, both the Holiday Special and the "Star Wars Bar" skit stand out as a bizarre and funny product of their times.

So long, Mr. Pryor. Thanks for the laughs...


December 8, 2005

Sally Forth's family holiday tradition

You never know when the Holiday Special will suddenly pop up. Take, for instance, the December 3rd Sally Forth comic strip as seen at the Seattle Times website here (choose December 3rd for the date from the drop-down menu).

Thanks to Garrett Gilchrist for pointing this one out.


December 5, 2005

The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments

Tonight, December 5th, and continuing through December 9th, TV Land will air "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments". Guess which show got #59? That's right, the infamous Holiday Special will receive its mention on Wednesday night the 7th--sadly, only photos and no actual footage will air for this one. Check the TV Land website for more details and broadcast info here.

UPDATE: You can now download a clip featuring the segment about The Star Wars Holiday Special in our Multimedia section.


November 17, 2005

Happy 27th Anniversary of The Star Wars Holiday Special

Yes, it's been 27 years now since the Special aired, and also 2 years since this site opened for the 25th anniversary. I imagine we'll have to plan something special for the 30th...

And in honor of the 27th anniversary, custom figure maker Paul Hruby (aka Master Phruby) has created what is certain to be a first: a custom figure of The Great Zorbak from Lumpy's holographic circus table (see photo). Check out more details in the Fan Creations section under Feedback.


August 18, 2005

Fett cartoon clip shown at Comic-Con, featured in Hyperspace video

One of the recent additions to Hyperspace, the paid membership section on Starwars.com, was the video clip "Animation Sizzle", which was shown at Comic-Con International 2005 in San Diego. The clip is a run-down of all the Star Wars animation projects over the years, and naturally it starts out with a segment from the 1978 animated Boba Fett cartoon used in the Holiday Special. This is one of the few occasions when a part of the Holiday Special has been shown officially. Previously a clip from the cartoon appeared in the Episode II webdoc "Bucket Head", which was later included on the Episode II DVD.


June 3, 2005

Fighting the Frizzies

At eleven.


May 30, 2005

New article on the Holiday Special at TVparty.com

A very interesting and informative article is up at the TVparty! website. Written by L. Wayne Hicks, the article also features an interview with and link to us. The interview was originally conducted for a piece in the Denver Business Journal. Direct link to the article is here.

Holiday Special cartoon online at Kensforce

Over at the Kensforce movie website, they are hosting the cartoon from the Holiday Special (aka "The Faithful Wookiee"), which is the Nelvana-produced short featuring all the voices of the original cast. It is also the first appearance of Boba Fett. You can go directly to view the cartoon here.


May 13, 2005

The Joplin Globe interviews us on the Holiday Special

The Joplin Globe (Joplin, MO) newspaper has done a story on the Holiday Special living on through illicit copies in the hands of fans, featuring our own SKot Kirkwood being interviewed. Check the online version out here.

Also, look for a similar article and interview soon in the Denver Business Journal.

Forbes calls Holiday Special one of the 'Worst Star Wars Flops'

In their recent 'Star Flops' article, Forbes.com unsurprisingly put the Holiday Special first on the list of biggest Star Wars disasters of all time. Along with the slightly inaccurate article (they should have consulted us first!), you can watch a very short clip of the Special with Leia singing.


May 11, 2005

New exclusive Tom Burman interview

We have just added a new Interviews section to the site in the Text area. Starting this off is an exclusive interview with Tom Burman, who worked with Stan Winston on make-up effects, specifically the Wookiee family. Tom had a number of interesting insights to share, so check out the interview here. Also, look for future interviews with more of the original cast and crew from the show.

And in other news, we were interviewed recently for both The Joplin Globe (Joplin, MO) and the Denver Business Journal (Denver, CO) about the Holiday Special, for upcoming articles corresponding with the release of Revenge of the Sith. Keep an eye out for those if you're in the area.


May 7, 2005

Celebration 3 was a blast! Despite the usual drawbacks with lines and organization, the fun was there if you made up your mind to just have fun. Of course, we were there with eyes and ears open for anything Holiday Special related. Here's what we brought back:

Don Bies confirms Holiday Special props in Lucasfilm archive

During a little chat at Celebration 3 with former Lucasfilm archive curator Don Bies, we were able to confirm the existence of all the props from the Holiday Special that made it into the Lucasfilm archives. Don tells us the following items have survived through the years and reside at the Ranch:

  • Itchy's suit & mask
  • Lumpy's suit & mask
  • Malla's suit (unfortunately, the mask is missing)
  • two "wood carved" X-Wing models
  • the yellow control panel where Lumpy watches the cartoon

And that, sadly, is all there is besides the things that were reused from Star Wars. Any other items from the Holiday Special set are either in private collections or were discarded long ago.

Many thanks to Don, one of the nicest guys we've ever met.


April 17, 2005

Well, we are only a few days away from the biggest Star Wars celebration yet... Star Wars Celebration 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 21-24. We will definitely be there absorbing the fun and atmosphere. And along with this comes is a piece of news...

Boba Fett cartoon to be shown at Celebration 3

Those of you attending Star Wars Celebration 3 will not want to miss the showing of the Boba Fett cartoon from the Holiday Special in the Star Wars in Pop Culture theater, Room 205 at the convention. The showings will repeat throughout the day. Here's the viewing schedule:

Star Wars in Pop Culture
Continuous footage of Star Wars in popular media
Room 205

Thurs. 12:00 noon -- 12:00 Midnight
Fri. & Sat. 9:00 AM -- 12:00 Midnight
Sun. -- 9:00 AM -- 4:00 PM

Holiday Special article in Film Review magazine

Star Wars Special Issue #56 of UK magazine Film Review has an article on the Holiday Special as the "lost episode" of Star Wars. The 5-page article has some big color photos and a review of just why the Special was forgotten.


February 18, 2005

We are overdue for some updates here, so without further ado...

New Holiday Special article in German Star Wars magazine

The official German Star Wars magazine #36 has a new article all about the Holiday Special, tying it in with the cover feature on Kashyyyk and the Wookiees of Episode III. This article, written by our friend and correspondent Marco Frömter, is a fantastic follow-up to his earlier overview article on the Special from issue #24 - this time featuring an exclusive (and first ever for Star Wars!) interview with Patty Maloney, who played Lumpy, and a lot of behind-the-scenes information. The rest of the non-German-speaking world is definitely missing out on some great content and photos with this issue. At a later date we hope to produce an English translation of the interview that can be posted here, and Patty has promised us our own interview as well, so keep an eye out.