I was 12 years old when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977. It was interesting because it marked the first time my parents had taken me and my brother to see a blockbuster film. They wouldn't take us to see "The Godfather" in 1972. They wouldn't take us to see "The Exorcist" in 1973. They wouldn't take us to see "The Godfather Part II" in 1974. They wouldn't take us to see "Jaws" in 1975 and they wouldn't take us to see "Rocky" in 1976. They wouldn't take us, even though we BEGGED to go. However, when they did go, there was usually a family film playing at the Cinema Twin in Roswell, so we were all able to go to the movies at the same time and didn't need a babysitter.
I became a big Star Wars fan right away and was later thrilled to hear that they were going to make a sequel. In the meantime, I first heard about "The Star Wars Holiday Special," but I didn't know it was supposed to have anything to do with the holidays. In the fall of 1978, I overheard two boys talking about it during the bus ride home. One of them asked the other if he knew about the upcoming "Star Wars" TV-movie. "Yeah, the one about Chewbacca and his family?" I was surprised that I didn't know anything about it. Years later, I would remember this was during the period of time in the 9th grade that I was doing poorly in school and Mom punished me (and my brother, who also wasn't doing well) by taking away the TV for several months. This was why I didn't get to watch it. The punishment was so severe that I couldn't even look at TV Guide.
In my head, I envisioned a TV-movie that was shot on film, similar to how the "Ewok Adventures" would look a few years later. I expected it to be a prequel solely focused on Chewbacca and his family, without Luke, Leia, Han, R2D2 or C3P0. I thought it would be serious in overall tone, like the first "Star Wars" movie. Another thing that I anticipated was that the TV-movie would be shown again about a year later after I got my grades back up and Mom's TV punishmnent was over. I would be certain to be on the watch for it, but it never did come back on again.
I put it out of my head for decades. After 1999, when "The Phantom Menace" came out and was being released on DVD, my friend Chud and I were discussing getting the DVD release. I told him I was going to wait for the full package with all six films. And I wanted EVERYTHING to be included, like the "Ewok Adventures" and the TV-movie about Chewbacca and his family.
It was at least another 10 years after that conversation that I came to learn what that TV-movie actually was. It was called "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and it was a variety show. And it was shot on videotape, not film. Also, while Chewbacca's family was the primary focus, it included all the other characters. And it was apparently the biggest freaking disaster in the history of Star Wars!
Looking back at Mom's punishment, I was very thankful for having TV taken away because it gave me a new perspective on life. I didn't need to watch TV every day. In fact, TV would have been detrimental to me in high school because I otherwise wouldn't have been involved in so many extracurricular activities. As bad as I thought high school was, it would have been even worse if I spent every night at home watching TV. And of course, not having to sit through "The Star Wars Holiday Special" was icing on the cake.
I still have not seen the entire special. I've watched the first 20 minutes. I've seen clips of the rest of the show and have watched all of the Boba Fett cartoon. I have a good idea of what my 14-year-old self would have thought of this, especially after expecting a serious TV-movie. A few months later (when I could watch TV again), I watched both episodes of "Legends of the Superheroes" (featuring live-action versions of the DC Superheroes). When the first episode started, I thought, "Oh, they're not going to take this seriously." I then altered my expectations so I could enjoy the program on a different level. I assume I would have done the same for "The Star Wars Holiday Special." I would have recognized it wasn't going to be a proper follow up to "Star Wars" and probably would have been entertained by it. By this point in my life, I had seen lots of cheesy stuff on TV and considered it the norm.
Of course, another issue was that no one talked about it at school, not even the two boys I had overheard discussing it in the first place. It was years later that I was reminded about what happened after the special had aired. The Guyana Tragedy took place. EVERYONE in school was talking about that. I felt so out of the loop because I hadn't been able to watch the news on TV. After that, Mom agreed to allow me to only watch the news on TV.
I guess the only thing I don't like about missing it was how clueless I was about the content for the next 35 years. I'm glad I didn't embarass myself by casually bringing up the TV-movie about Chewbacca and his family and getting a series of distorted looks from my geeky friends. Yes, there were things worse than missing "The Star Wars Holiday Special."
