Celebrating 42 Years of The Star Wars Holiday Special

The Star Wars Holiday Special aired one time only on November 17, 1978…and it never aired again, some would say for good reason. But people are still talking about it today, and despite its flaws there’s a certain charm to it that is certainly a thing of its time.

This site, StarWarsHolidaySpecial.com, went live November 2003 and has been live ever since. And we’ve continued our celebration of this show that was intended to be shown, forgotten, and probably never seen again.

Here’s what the original opening text from our page said in 2003:

The first question on everyone’s mind is probably, “Why?!”
The answer to that is, “Because no one else would.”
This site was created as a labor of love in homage to the 25th anniversary of The Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired one time only on November 17th, 1978 and has been virtually lost ever since. The intent was to gather as much as there is to possibly know about the Holiday Special and document it in great detail, since this has never really been done before.
Most websites that cover the Holiday Special can’t seem to get past how awful they thought it was. We are well aware here that this particular film is not the brightest star in the Star Wars galaxy; however, we feel that there are a lot of good or enjoyable aspects about the Holiday Special that are often overlooked. Additionally, for those of us who saw the show during its original airing in 1978, there is a certain feeling of nostalgia attached to it that is trapped in that time period, and the Holiday Special is part of that.
Take a look around the site, and whether you like or hate the Holiday Special, we hope that you will enjoy what we’ve put together here.
Happy Life Day, everyone!

That still sums up how we feel about The Star Wars Holiday Special today. And now it’s become even more talked about than ever. Elements from the show have appeared in video games, new Holiday Special-related merchandise continues to be created all the time, part of the Holiday Special is available on digital formats, The fantastic and groundbreaking series The Mandalorian has referenced it many times over. A documentary is in the works about the making of the original program. And on November 17, 2020, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special aired on Disney+ in homage to the original show from 1978.

You can still view the old site where you can find additional content by clicking below:

The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special trailer!