A Disturbance in the Force

Stumbling upon the 2023 documentary "A Disturbance in the Force" and of course having already watched the 1978 abysmal "The Star Wars Holiday Special", of course there was no doubt about me having to sit down and watch this documentary.

Directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak definitely deliver a rather enjoyable insight into the making of the eyesore that came to be known as "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and what would become George Lucas's Achilles heel.

There are some very insightful interviews, footage and information shared throughout the course of the 85 minutes that the documentary runs for. And I have to admit that I enjoyed sitting through this. It does give you a better understanding of just what happened in the process of making "The Star Wars Holiday Special" and why it ended up like a farce.

The documentary has some good interviews with members of the "nerd" community and people who are devoted "Star Wars" fans. It is just a shame that they didn't have members of the original cast participate for interviews. Sure, they were there, but it was stock footage of interviews done elsewhere. But it was better than nothing.

If you have seen the 1978 "The Star Wars Holiday Special" then you definitely have to sit down and watch this documentary.

My rating of "A Disturbance in the Force" lands on a six out of ten stars.

"A Disturbance in the Force" is quite the eye-opener, especially if you're into Star Wars. It delves deep into the odd and often overlooked 1978 'Star Wars Holiday Special.' As a life long Star Wars fan, I knew the Holiday Special existed, but had no semblance of why and how it was made (or why George Lucas was so embarrassed by it). The mix of interviews, archival clips, and fan takes makes it a fascinating watch. It's a solid 8/10 for me, offering more than just nostalgia for hardcore fans. Even if you're not a Star Wars buff, it's an intriguing look at a quirky piece of TV history. Definitely worth checking out!

A Disturbance in the Force was enthusiastically received at its world premiere at SXSW Film Festival. This is a film for all of us who grew up on Star Wars; I saw the first Star Wars film in the theater when I was 7 years old. It examines the mysterious "Making of" the Star Wars Holiday Special (broadcast once in the U. S. on November 17, 1978 on CBS). The film provides the autopsy of a disaster when sci-fi people were working with variety show people in an failed attempt to produce Christmas special for kids (mainly to promote Star Wars merchandise for Xmas). This entertaining documentary, which doesn't take itself too seriously, explains how this well-intended project produced an epic failure. In so many ways, the making of a failure is much more interesting than the making of a success.

The script and acting of the Holiday Special are horrendous. Lucasfilm has refused to make it available so it is only available in the form of Betamax copies of the original broadcast that originally circulated on VHS and DVD and are now available on YouTube. Lucasfilm is too embarrassed to release so that it has become an underground cult classic. Through interviews with the participants, the film tells the hilarious story of the making of this beloved campy failure that centers on Chewbacca trying to get home to his family to celebrate the Wookie Holiday of "Life Day."

This is a fun documentary that all true fans will appreciate. After seeing it I watched the original special on YouTube. It is unwatchable, but good, because it is so bad.

I actually saw the original telecast of the Star Wars Holiday Special. At that time in my life I was young, was both a Star Wars fan and a Trekkie (yes, Trekkie, not Trekker... that's how deep I was in this stuff)... and I remember thinking even 1/4 of the way in to it, "This is awful". At that time I was not acquainted with the concept of "So bad it's good" and Mystery Science Theater did not yet exist. I was in my early 20s, so I wasn't an enraptured child. I was an adult and I knew schlock when I saw it.

That said, after watching this documentary I almost want to see it again. I now have an appreciation for "so very bad productions". Several Star Wars movies down the line, I think it would be interesting to see these actors while they were still young and vibrant, and watch what they put into the show, no matter how many Rotten Tomatoes it may have received.

Should Disney restore and remaster this and put it on Disney+ and DVDs? Only if they want to make millions of dollars. If they did they should go all the way and make it a collectors boxed set, and include this documentary with it. Because this documentary would definitely make the set shine. Put in great big bold letters, "The worst Star Wars ever produced! So bad it's great!" Make the collector's set as intentionally hokey as the show, and maybe even include collectable figures. ;D

This documentary is really an excellent presentation. They examined this show from all sides, good and bad. They presented its very obvious defects along with its not so obvious benefits later down the line. Seeing the "easter eggs" put in shows years later was very interesting. And the lasting duration of LIFE DAY is something everyone can celebrate, eh?

One part I especially enjoyed was when they presented snippets of other shows that had aired during the same years... and they were equally horrid if not far worse. Bringing in Donnie Osmond was a brilliant bit of insight on the part of the writers and directors. He gave a balanced, sensible viewpoint of the show and even compared it with his own show. Smart documentation.

So overall I really enjoyed this, beginning to end. I'm no longer a Trekkie / Trekker / Star Wars "fan" (ie, fanatic). I still enjoy Star Trek now and then, somewhat enjoy Star Wars (it has gotten quite a bit darker and my tastes these days are a bit more discerning than when I was young). Yet I have enough appreciation for the history and uniqueness of all these things to have watched this documentary.

That very fact is I think, what validates this video, and makes the point they were aiming at all the way through the documentary: good or bad, enjoyable or not, loved or hated, this is a part of Star Wars history. And if someone like me, a few decades down the line, can still appreciate this documentary... that really says something about the impact Star Wars had on the industry.

You'd think that back when there were only 3 networks and no streaming services, the bar to get something on TV would have been extremely high, but you would be very, very wrong about that, and nothing exemplifies that better than TV "variety shows", with the ultimate being the one-off "variety show specials", like this one.

Young people will have a hard time grasping the magnificent awfulness of these things, but the documentary starts by pointing out - with examples - that by the standards of the time, this was no worse than a lot of others. What made it uniquely terrible was the attempt to make it both a variety show AND semi-serious Star Wars canon.

I honestly don't know if I watched it back in 1978. If I did, I wiped it from my memory. I did watch it a few years ago, after the bootleg showed up on YouTube, and it's is truly horrible. Even if you hate watch it, you need to fast forward to the "good" parts to keep from being bored and/or getting a cringe headache.

The documentary does a good job of breaking down the exact chain of events that led to the Special, and the revelation is that Lucas was far more involved than he admits to now, at least in the beginning. There's lots of entertaining commentary, both by the people involved and by modern celebrities.

I dinged it a little bit for two shortcomings: (1) I would have liked a few more clips from the Special, with direct commentary about them. They did this a few times, but a few more would save you the trouble of ever watching it.

(2) They pulled a punch by making no mention at all of the extreme amount of cocaine that was *definitely* involved in the creation of this. I'm sure they left out some good stories in that department.

Still, fun for Star Wars fans who are also fans of bad television.