Summary

• The Star Wars Holiday Special was created out of fear that the franchise would become irrelevant between releases. Executives pressured George Lucas to produce something to keep audiences engaged.
• The writing team for the Holiday Special was not familiar with the science fiction genre. They were experienced in comedy variety shows but struggled to capture the essence of Star Wars.
• The production of the Holiday Special faced multiple challenges, including going over budget and a director change. The actors also endured long hours of costume fitting and suffered from extreme heat while filming, resulting in fainting on set.

Many things went wrong with George Lucas' Star Wars Holiday Special, but these 10 explain why he wishes he could personally throw it into the sun. Throughout the years, Star Wars has certainly had its ups and downs. Shows such as Andor and Star Wars: The Clone Wars have featured excellent writing and dialogue. Certain other Star Wars media, however, have struggled with both, with one of the most infamous examples of this being the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Airing on CBS in 1978, The Holiday Special - celebrating the Wookiee holiday of Life Day - was only broadcast once. It was never released on home video - at least, not officially. Many people created bootleg copies that have since been immortalized on the Internet. As was explained in the documentary A Disturbance In The Force about The Holiday Special, after its initial broadcast, it became similar to a unicorn or Bigfoot. Some believed in its existence, but many dismissed it as mythical. However, The Holiday Special was very real, and to this day George Lucas wishes it wasn't. Here's everything that went wrong with the production of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

10 George Lucas Was Pressured Into Making The Star Wars Holiday Special

Executives Wanted Something For The Interim Of Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back

The Holiday Special was born out of a fear of irrelevance. Despite the widespread success of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, originally released as simply Star Wars, executives feared that audiences would forget about it. Thus, they put pressure on Lucas to create something in the interim before Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back came out. This was not uncommon. In 1978, it was normal for shows and movies to have variety show specials to stay relevant between releases. As such, it was natural that the executives placed a lot of pressure on Lucas to create The Holiday Special.

The Holiday Special, while the most well-known, wasn't the only Star Wars variety show. The show Donny and Marie featured another Star Wars musical variety show that was undoubtedly worse. Featuring dancing stormtroopers and ending with Chewbacca placing his arm around Darth Vader, Donny and Marie's take on Star Wars was much more egregious than The Holiday Special. However, Lucas allowed it because he realized something important: the same people he wanted to watch Star Wars watched Donny and Marie. This publicity stunt worked, and people went back to the theaters.

9 The Writers Were Variety Show Comedy Writers, Not Science Fiction Writers

The Writing Team Was Not Familiar With Star Wars' Main Genre

The writers of The Holiday Special were not science fiction writers. While Lucas was involved at the beginning, he only spent 12 hours with the writers due to his busy schedule. After that, the other writers - Bruce Vilanch, Pat Proft, Leonard Ripps, Rod Warren, and Ken and Mitzie Welch (who wrote the music) - took over. However, because it was a TV special, the writers that were hired were experienced at writing variety comedy shows, not science fiction. As such, they knew how to write a typical 1970s variety show holiday special, but they didn't know how to write a Star Wars holiday special.

8 Star Wars' Brand Of Science Fiction Was Unprecedented

Star Wars Wasn't Just Science Fiction, It Was Space Fantasy

While science fiction itself wasn't new, Star Wars was. Part of what made it different was, that although it was broadly considered to be under the science fiction label, Lucas saw it more as a space fantasy. While it contained many elements of science fiction - causing it to be considered as such - it blended several science fiction and space fantasy tropes to craft a story that focused heavily on the social sciences with a science fiction bend to the universe. This made it unprecedented in of genre, and so the writers were in new territory.

7 The Makeup Artists Were Used To Caking On Makeup

The Quality Of The Makeup Caused Mark Hamill Injury Rumors To Worsen

One of the most noticeable issues when watching the movie is how the actors look. The eyeliner is so visible that it almost looks like someone took a Sharpie to the actors' eyes. The makeup was so bad that The Holiday Special was in part responsible for the rumor that Mark Hamill was scarred in his car accident, as people believed that the foundation must have been so thick because it was hiding an injury. The truth, however, was that the makeup artists called in to help with The Holiday Special were used to getting actors ready for the Tony Awards, which required the makeup to be heavily caked on.

6 The Show Quickly Went Over Budget

The Quick Spending Completely Changed The Special's Final Scene

The show went over budget after only a few days of shooting. This caused a lot of tension between the original director, David Acomba, and the producers and executives. That is also the reason that the final scene features a dark set with each actor in ceremonial robes and candles on the floor. It was cheaper to buy a bunch of candles and put the actors in the same robes than it was to create more costumes or build a more elaborate set.

5 The Director Left The Show Due To Poor Production

Director David Acomba Left & Was Replaced With Steve Binder

David Acomba almost immediately had issues with the Welches, who both wrote the music and were producers. Between that and the executives getting upset about how much over budget the production was, David Acomba didn't last long. He left the production early and was replaced by Steve Binder.

4 Costume Fitting Took Many Long Hours

The Costumes Were So Intricate, They Took Hours To Put On

The costumes for the Tatooine cantina scene were very intricate. As such, they were not easy to put on. That, combined with the number of people who needed to be fitted, meant that it took hours just to get the actors in costume, causing many delays and frustrations for cast and crew alike.

3 The Actors Kept Fainting In Their Alien Costumes

The Heat On The Day Of Cantina Filming Caused Actors To Faint

It was very hot on the day the Tatooine cantina scene was filmed. Not only that, but the costumes were not designed to be breathable. This meant the actors were essentially suffocating inside their costumes. The lack of oxygen combined with the heat caused a medical hazard, and actors began fainting on set. This extended the amount of time it took to get what should have been a relatively quick shoot to around 24 hours.

2 Mark Hamill Tried To Say No To Doing The Holiday Special

Hamill May Not Have Been In The Special If It Weren't For His Contract

Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and the late Carrie Fisher have all stated at one point or another how much they hated The Holiday Special. Mark Hamill revealed he hated The Holiday Special so much that he said he wouldn't do it. However, as it turned out, it was in his, Ford's, and Fisher's contracts. It certainly isn't a good sign when the actors try to refuse to take the job.

1 9 Minutes Of Dialogue Were Unintelligible

Much Of The Dialogue Was In Shyriiwook, The Language Of The Wookiees

The Holiday Special focuses on Chewbacca's family and takes place on Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld. As such, much of it is in the Wookiee language, Shyriiwook. The issue with this is, in the 1970s, subtitles on television programs weren't common. This led to 9 minutes and 11 seconds of dialogue being completely unintelligible. A human trader friend is eventually introduced to translate, but the beginning of the movie is not understandable.

With all of these issues, it is not surprising that George Lucas took his name off the project. He despises it when interviewers ask him questions about it, preferring to pretend it doesn't exist. Lucas has stated in the past that if he could find every copy of The Star Wars Holiday Special and personally smash them to smithereens with a hammer, he would. It is clear that, if George Lucas had his way, he would launch The Star Wars Holiday Special into the heart of the sun. However, given how much of a cult classic it has become, it is probably a good thing that the Internet has immortalized it.