A Disturbance In The Force: How The Star Wars: Holiday Special Happened review by Bobby Blakey
No matter what you feel about the various entries into the franchise there is no denying that Star Wars is one of the biggest film series of all time. One film from the mind of one man has spawned a franchise juggernaut like few others. Nowadays there is a built in fan base for the property, but in the 1977 when the original film opened they were trying to keep the name in audiences mind in any way they can.
The characters and ideas were showing up in everything they could shove them into, but nothing has become as infamous as the Star Wars: Holiday Special that featured the entire original cast of the film and aired only once on CBS in 1978 prior to the release of Empire Strikes Back. The special has become the thing of legend in its purpose, execution and release. True fans have all seen it and likely own a bootleg copy, since that is the only way to get it, but that doesn’t explain why this bizarre piece of Star Wars history even exists.
Directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak have stepped up and finally getting to the bottom of this special with the new documentary A Disturbance In The Force: How The Star Wars Holiday Special Happened. Whether you are a fan of Star Wars, the holiday special or none at all this is a fantastic film that dives into one of the biggest mysterious in Hollywood and geek culture like never before.
From the opening moments of the film I was instantly sucked into the silliness of the source material, my love of all things Star Wars and the sheer intrigue to how this came to be. They have dived deep into the cast and crew that were willing to
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speak about this film as well as archival footage of those no longer with us and speak they did. From the love of the work to the confusion to what they did it is fun to hear all about it and you get an even bigger picture to bringing it to life.
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While its structured like a pretty straight forward documentary they have perfectly broken down the development of every strange element of the film from the song and dance numbers, Wookie erotica, cross dressing and everything in between with my favorite timing how long into the special before there is any understandable dialogue.
There are plenty of celebrity interviews as well showcasing their love and experience with the cult classic special that just further shows the power of its legacy. I really hope this documentary shines the much deserve light on the special and gets it onto the radar for a whole new generation and even more so maybe it will eventually get the release it deserves. While we wait for that unlikely event to occur we at least have this insanely perfect film that will no doubt become a must see for all Star Wars fans.
My buddy Scott has one of the largest Holiday Special collections in Arkansas and he made the trip down for us to go check out this film earlier this year at the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) where we represented the 501st Legion, the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi and the Holiday Special itself.
The film has now been killing it in festivals for months and is now finally making its way to Blu-ray and DVD on December 5th.
To pre-order your copy head over here.
