A Disturbance in the Force

How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened

By: Steve Kozak

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Even by the standards of the 1970s, even compared to Jar-Jar Binks, the legendary 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a peerlessly cringeworthy pop-culture artifact. George Lucas, who completely disowned the production, reportedly has said, "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it." Just how on earth did this thing ever see the light of day?

To answer that question, as Steven Kozak shows in this fascinating and often hilarious inside look into the making of the Special, you have to understand the cultural moment in which it appeared—a long, long time ago when cheesy variety shows were a staple of network television and Star Wars was not yet the billion-dollar multimedia behemoth that it is today. Kozak explains how the Special was one piece of a PR blitz undertaken by Lucas and his colleagues as they sought to protect the emerging franchise from hostile studio executives. He shows how, despite the involvement of some of the most talented people in the business, creative differences between movie and television writers led to a wildly uneven product. Packed with memorable anecdotes, drawing on new interviews with countless people involved in the production, and told with mingled affection and bewilderment, this never-before-told story gives a fascinating look at a strange moment in pop-culture history.

©2023 Steve Kozak (P)2023 Tantor

Fascinating history of TV variety shows in general

I loved the exploration of the variety show genre, and the early history of the Star Wars craze. I liked the balancing act towards the end: not everyone hated the show, and for some, it was the only Star Wars they knew. I like the calling out of Lucas for how he used up "friends" until they weren't yes men, but at the end it seemed to come back around to some Polly-Annish idea that Lucas cares about anything but money. Well, he also cares about absolute control, so I guess there's that. But references to The Last Jedi make no sense because Lucas had no input on those movies. They're not "his."

more than just the Holiday Special!

while the holiday special Remains the central subject of the entire book, there are numerous deep, informative and delightful diversions into the entire entertainment industry of the 1970s. unknown and obscure information on Star Wars itself would be more than enough to recommend the book. but in addition to that there is perspective interviews and histories on where popular television itself was as an art form at the time the special was conceived, produced and broadcast. Highly, highly recommended to anyone knowledgeable of or curious about not just the holiday special but 1970s American television.

Informative!

A lot of fun info in here I’ve never heard before. A fun book for a guy who saw stars in the theater in 1977.

Padded with Information Unrelated to the Special

I’ve been an Audible member for years, and during this time have only ever returned two books. This is one of them.

Aside from the intro, I made it to Chapter 5 with almost no mention or information about the Holiday Special. None of us who buy this need to know the history of how Star Wars was made. The book is simply padded with info about things other than the topic we all bought this for.

Additionally, the book sounds as though it were written by someone who simply read other books or articles as his source material for this one,

There’s also some factual errors. For example, the author mentions “DVD technology” being used to distribute the Holiday Special in the mid ‘90s, but DVD players were a *late* ‘90s product. He says that the Star Wars Early Bird Kit could be used to acquire 4 figures of your choice, when in fact it provided a *specific* 4 figures. Also, Jason Lenzi (look him up on IMDB) is described as an “action figure designer”. Not quite. He owns a toy company (among other things). Oh, and Charles Lippincott is not an unsung hero (“unmentioned” is the word the author uses). He’s mentioned in other books about Star Wars (which is how I’d guess the *author* heard of him).

Lastly, there’s the narrator. If it’s your job to read books, you should take the time to learn how to pronounce any names or words you’re unfamiliar with. It’s not the end of the world, but this narrator just winged it.

I was excited to find a book about the Star Wars Holiday Special. But apparently, this wasn’t it.