‘A Disturbance in the Force’ Trailer Unveils the Secret History of ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’
After a long wait, a new trailer for fan documentary based on The Star Wars Holiday Special has arrived. Entitled A Disturbance in the Force: How The Star Wars Holiday Special Happened, the documentary explores how a well-intentioned attempt to fit the Star Wars franchise into a variety show format resulted in one of the franchise’s most infamous, near-mythical blunders.
To keep a long story short: The Star Wars Holiday Special was created as an attempt to capitalize on the worldwide phenomenon of 1977’s Star Wars, as well as to build up excitement for the upcoming sequel, even serving as the place where soon-to-become-a-fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett would make his franchise debut. No expenses were spared, as nearly all of the major actors from the film reprised their roles, alongside popular television actors and musicians like Art Carney, Beatrice Arthur, Harvey Korman, Jefferson Starship, and Diahann Carroll. CBS dedicated a primetime slot for the two-hour program to hit the Friday before Thanksgiving. But nobody could have predicted what a trainwreck the experience would be, so much so that Lucasfilm has refused to re-air the special since then and has not released anything from it on home video or streaming (aside from a remastered version of the Boba Fett cartoon).
In November 2020, it was revealed that Jeremy Coon, who worked on the cult teen comedy film Napoleon Dynamite and the documentary Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, would be directing a new documentary feature film (alongside Steve Kozak) which would explore the surprisingly complex history surrounding The Star Wars Holiday Special and its legacy. Though it’s been a long wait, we are now very close to the first showing of the documentary at South By Southwest Film Festival. You can see the trailer for A Disturbance in the Force below:
The film features archive interviews from longtime Star Wars cast members such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Anthony Daniels, along with contemporary interviews from other celebrities, including “Weird Al” Yankovic, Kevin Smith, Seth Green, the late Gilbert Gottfried, and many more. The official synopsis reads as follows:
“In 1977, Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon that single-handedly revitalized a stagnant film industry, and forever changed how films were sold, made, and marketed. Movies would never be the same again. A year later, neither would television. In 1978, CBS aired the two-hour Star Wars Holiday Special during the week of Thanksgiving and was watched by 13 million people. It never re-aired. While some fans of the franchise are aware of this dark secret, this bizarre two hours of television still remains relatively unknown among the general public. Simply put, we will answer how and why did the Holiday Special get made.”
A Disturbance in the Force will premiere on March 11, 2023, at the South By Southwest Film Festival held in Austin, Texas, with there being currently no word on how the film will be released or distributed after that. If you wish to watch The Star Wars Holiday Special for whatever reason, then your only option is to seek out the Boba Fett cartoon segment that you can stream on Disney Plus, or scour the internet for a copy of the full television special… And on behalf of Star Wars fans everywhere, we apologize in advance for the buffoonery that you will encounter if you really want to watch it against your better judgment.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
