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100-409: The Star Wars Holiday Special is an American television special originally broadcast by CBS on November 17, 1978. It is set in the universe of the sci-fi -based Star Wars media franchise. Directed by Steve Binder , it was the first Star Wars spin-off film, set between the events of the original film and the then-unreleased sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It stars the main cast of

200-563: A cartoon of his father's many adventures: During a search for a talisman , the Millennium Falcon crashes on the water moon of Panna with the main characters onboard. They run into Boba Fett , who saves Luke from a giant monster and claims to want to help the Rebels. They all board the Falcon , where Han has been infected by a mysterious sleeping virus caused by the talisman. Luke then contracts

300-501: A "fake band," they created "fake recordings," they were a "lesser cover band," and the members were "lesser artists." On December 4, 2018, the lawsuit concerning the use of the name Jefferson Starship was dismissed after an undisclosed settlement was reached between Chaquico and the current members of the band. In July 2018, Jefferson Starship announced plans to release a new album in 2019 that will include their new song "What Are We Waiting For." Marty Balin died on September 27, 2018, at

400-434: A circus-style acrobatics routine including uneven bars and juggling . The most notable segment is an animated cartoon featuring the onscreen debut of Boba Fett . Original music was composed for The Star Wars Holiday Special by Ken and Mitzie Welch, while Ian Fraser was brought in to adapt John Williams ' orchestral themes from Star Wars . The special features four songs: Harvey Korman provides comedy in three of

500-512: A couple during this period. Slick was pregnant during the recording of the album. Their daughter, China , was born shortly thereafter. Kantner and Slick with the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra released two follow-up albums: Sunfighter , an environmentalism-tinged album released in 1971 to celebrate China's birth, and 1973's Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun , titled after

600-435: A cultural legend due to the underground quality of its existence. It has been viewed and distributed in off-air recordings of the original 1978 CBS television broadcast by fans as bootleg copies , and it has also been uploaded to content-sharing websites. In contrast, the animated segment that introduced Boba Fett was positively received and, in 2021, was released on Disney+ . On Life Day, Chewbacca, accompanied by Han Solo,

700-477: A farewell song. Lumpy uses this opportunity to put his plan into motion, faking a repeated call for the Imperials to "return to base". They leave, but one stormtrooper stays behind and realizes that they were tricked. He finds Lumpy and destroys the machine, then chases Lumpy outside. Han and Chewbacca arrive. Chewie protects Lumpy as Han kills the stormtrooper. After they are reunited, an Imperial officer appears on

800-837: A full Jefferson Airplane reunion in 1989, which also resulted in an eponymous album and subsequent tour. In 1991, Kantner toured with an acoustic ensemble called "Paul Kantner's Wooden Ships," a trio that included Slick Aguilar and Tim Gorman from the KBC Band. Paul Kantner reestablished the band as "Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation" in January 1992, for which Kantner recruited Jack Casady, Papa John Creach, Slick Aguilar, Tim Gorman, former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince , and former World Entertainment War vocalist Darby Gould . In 1993, Balin joined. Creach died in February 1994, weeks after touring Europe. Concurrently, vocalist Diana Mangano joined

900-472: A local trader. He tells her through a carefully worded message that Han and Chewbacca are on their way and should be arriving soon. Malla then attempts (unsuccessfully) to prepare a meal, the instructions of which are being aired via a local cooking show by an eccentric four-armed alien cook, Chef Gormaanda ( Harvey Korman ). Saun arrives with Life Day gifts for everyone, including a virtual reality fantasy program (featuring Diahann Carroll ) for Itchy. Back on

1000-454: A loyal audience following. As the industry matured, this trend reversed; by the 1950s, most networks aimed to provide stable, routine, and proven content to their audiences. Television executives, such as CBS president James Aubrey , sought to avoid any disruption in viewing habits which might cause viewers to move to another network. These weekly series, though, typically became too expensive for any single sponsor, so stand-alone shows offered

1100-416: A member until 2000 and has also (since 1983) played with Jorma Kaukonen in a reunited Hot Tuna. Gorman left in 1995 and was replaced by Gary Cambra (from The Tubes ), Barry Flast and then T Lavitz , who stayed with the band for the recording of Windows of Heaven but was replaced by former Supremes keyboardist Chris Smith before the album's release. In 2005, twenty years after leaving, David Freiberg rejoined

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1200-514: A more integral role in the story, playing a trader named Saun Dann on Kashyyyk who is a member of the rebellion and helps Chewie's family. His segments are also largely played for laughs and at one point includes a scene alluding to his character Ed Norton from The Honeymooners , where an Imperial officer demands that he "get on with it" while Carney dallies with a prop, thus introducing the Jefferson Starship performance. The high point of

1300-526: A public parade appearance two months before the Holiday Special aired. The simplified color scheme for the cartoon was later repeated for Fett's appearance in Droids . According to the official Star Wars website, Fett was voiced by Don Francks in the special. Separate from the rest of the special, the cartoon is presently available to view on the streaming platform Disney+ . The Star Wars Holiday Special

1400-456: A short speech and sings a song in celebration. Chewie remembers his adventures during the events of the original film. Finally, the Wookiee family sits around a table and bow their heads. Kenny Baker , who played R2-D2 in the films, was not involved in the special. The droid was performed entirely by a radio-controlled unit, operated by Mick Garris (Lucas's receptionist). In the credits, R2-D2

1500-595: A shortened 72-minute version, dubbed in French. It was shown on Swedish SVT on May 31, 1979 as Stjärnornas krig - och fred (literally "Star Wars - and Peace"). It aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ 2 on Christmas Day 1979. The special was also broadcast in Honduras on Canal 5 and Brazil on TV Bandeirantes (on Christmas Day, 1981). Despite the unpopularity of the special, Lucasfilm maintained its status as part of

1600-444: A television special was a good idea." Lucas was busy moving his production company to a new location, which was not heavily involved in the special. According to Lucasfilm producer Gary Kurtz : It did start out to be a lot better [with a different script]. We had half a dozen meetings with the TV company that was making it. In the end, because of work on promoting Star Wars and working on

1700-650: A touring band without them. The musicians on Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun formed the core of a new lineup that was formally reborn as Jefferson Starship. They appropriated the name from Kantner's Blows Against the Empire , with manager Bill Thompson convincing the group that keeping the connection to Jefferson Airplane made sense from a business standpoint. It included the other five remaining members of Jefferson Airplane, including Kantner on rhythm guitar and vocals; Slick on vocals and percussion, David Freiberg on vocals and keyboards, John Barbata , who had played with

1800-466: A trademark claim over the use of his likeness. On August 16, 2018, Judge Maria-Elena James denied Chaquico's motion to strike the counter-claims by the current Jefferson Starship band members of intentional interference to gain a potential economic advantage and defamation. The defendants alleged that the plaintiff caused economic harm and attempted to prevent the band from operating by actions such as Chaquico posting statements on his website that they were

1900-734: A vocalist for their 1972 tour, documented on the live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (1973). Kantner was introduced to the teenage guitarist Craig Chaquico through his friend and fellow musician, Jack Traylor, during this time. Chaquico, a high school English student of Traylor's and a member in his band Steelwind, played guitar on the song "Earth Mother" from Sunfighter . Chaquico would go on to perform with Kantner and Slick on their subsequent album collaborations, then with Jefferson Starship, and finally with Starship until 1990. Early in 1974, Slick released Manhole , her first solo album. Appearing along with Slick on Manhole were Kantner, Freiberg, Chaquico, Jack Casady, David Crosby, and

2000-731: A way to continue accommodating the single-sponsor practice, leading to shows like Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951, sponsored by Hallmark Cards as part of the Hallmark Television Playhouse ) and the Ford 50th Anniversary Show (1953, a two-hour variety show simulcast on both CBS and NBC). In 1954, NBC president Sylvester Weaver pioneered an innovative style of programming which he called "spectaculars". These stand-alone broadcasts, usually 90 minutes in length, were designed to attract large, new audiences and bring prestige to

2100-531: Is credited by announcer Art James as playing himself. Because James Earl Jones was originally uncredited in Star Wars , the special marked the first time he was credited as the voice of Darth Vader. Malla's mask was repurposed from a Chewbacca mask from the original film. The names of Chewbacca's family were later explained to have been nicknames, their full names being Mallatobuck (Malla), Attichitcuk (Itchy), and Lumpawarrump or Lumpawaroo (Lumpy). While outlining

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2200-560: Is headed home to see his family. Along the way, the duo is chased by two Star Destroyers , but they escape into hyperspace . Meanwhile, on Kashyyyk , Chewbacca's family is preparing for his return. Hoping to find the Millennium Falcon , his wife, Malla, runs a computer scan for starships in the area but is unsuccessful. Malla contacts Luke Skywalker , who, along with R2-D2 , is working on his X-wing fighter . Luke tells her that he does not know what happened. Malla contacts Saun Dann,

2300-755: The Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner , which has continued since his death in 2016. The group was formed by former Jefferson Airplane members Kantner and Grace Slick , and evolved from several solo albums they had recorded. They were joined by David Freiberg , Craig Chaquico , John Barbata , Pete Sears , and Papa John Creach . Former Airplane frontman Marty Balin subsequently joined

2400-600: The Cash Box Top 100. The new lineup toured, augmented by saxophonist Steve Schuster. Schuster, along with horn player David Farey, had previously played on Jefferson Starship's 1978 tour, and he had also appeared on Freedom at Point Zero . In early 1981, Grace Slick returned to the band, rejoining in time to sing on one song, "Stranger," (No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart), on the group's next album, Modern Times (1981). Modern Times , which also went gold, included

2500-411: The Falcon , Chewbacca and Han have just come out of hyperspace not far from Kashyyyk. Han notices an increased Imperial presence, so they decide to land in an unguarded area to the north. As they enter the atmosphere, Lumpy hears the roaring of the ship. Believing Han and Chewie might be arriving, Malla opens the door, but instead finds two stormtroopers and officers. The Imperials force their way into

2600-469: The London Symphony Orchestra . It was on that album that Kantner, Slick, and Freiberg next worked with bassist and keyboard player Pete Sears (who had first played on Papa John Creach 's first solo album). Sears, was co-producing a Kathi McDonald album in the same studio. Sears wrote the music to Slick's lyrics for the song "Better Lying Down," and also played bass on the song "Epic #38". It

2700-652: The Star Wars Holiday Special was selected to be shown at the Paley Center for Media by 59% of voters in an online poll of Christmas specials (which allowed users to vote on five titles), beating A Charlie Brown Christmas (34.6%), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (31.3%) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (28.4%), among others. George Lucas did not have significant involvement with

2800-460: The Winds of Change sessions in 1982. Other members of the band also appeared on additional tracks on this effort. Around this time, the band began enthusiastically embracing the rock-video age, making elaborate videos typical of the era's superstar bands. They would appear frequently on MTV and other music-oriented television shows such as Solid Gold , and 1984's Super Night of Rock and Roll , giving

2900-582: The 'Carry the Fire' tour in March 2017, Richardson stated that the band's continuation is a tribute to both Kantner and Grace Slick, and noted that Slick had granted the current members a lifetime license to use the name Jefferson Starship after Kantner's death. In April 2017, former Jefferson Starship member Craig Chaquico filed a lawsuit against the five individual members (Freiberg, Baldwin, Smith, Gold, and Richardson) currently performing as Jefferson Starship for breaching

3000-521: The 1977 film and a cartoon produced by Toronto -based Nelvana featuring the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Scenes take place in space and in spacecraft including the Millennium Falcon and a Star Destroyer ; segments also take place in a few other locales such as the Mos Eisley cantina from the original film. The special was very poorly received, and has never been rebroadcast nor officially released on home video in any format. It has become something of

3100-409: The 1985 contract and for using Chaquico's name and likeness in their promotional materials. About this, Chaquico has said he had only given permission to Paul Kantner to use the name, and by this point, "Freiberg and Baldwin are performing with others who have no connection to the original group, using the name in violation of that agreement. If any of the members who signed the '85 agreement want to use

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3200-522: The 2010 television program Times Talk , New York Times columnist David Carr asked Carrie Fisher about the special; she said that she made Lucas give her a copy of the special in exchange for recording commentary for the Star Wars trilogy so that she would "have something for parties ... when [she] wanted everyone to leave". In 2018, Mark Hamill admitted to not having seen the entire special. In his 2019 autobiography, Anthony Daniels referred to

3300-481: The Billboard charts, and included the singles "With Your Love" (#12 US Billboard Chart) and "St. Charles" (#64 US Billboard Chart). Regardless of this success, the band considered the album's sales to be relatively disappointing compared to its predecessor and requested an audit from RCA Records , distributor of their Grunt label. RCA subsequently put a reported $ 500,000 into the next Jefferson Starship project. Earth

3400-452: The Empire . This was a concept album featuring an ad hoc group of musicians (centered on Kantner, Grace Slick , Joey Covington , and Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane; David Crosby and Graham Nash ; and Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia , Mickey Hart , and Bill Kreutzmann ) credited on the LP as Paul Kantner and "Jefferson Starship", marking the first use of that name. This agglomeration

3500-611: The Holding Company , Melanie , John Sebastian , Mountain , Quicksilver Messenger Service and Levon Helm Band , although not all artists appeared at every show. On July 3, 2009, Jefferson Starship (Kantner, Freiberg, Baldwin, Aguilar, Smith, and Richardson) performed at the Roswell UFO Parade and Festival, along with guest musicians Tom Constanten, Jack Traylor, Barry Sless , plus former band members Pete Sears and Darby Gould. A four disc live album of this concert, Tales From

3600-464: The Holocron was retired. Only the episodic films and animated series beginning with The Clone Wars were declared to be part of the new canon. J. J. Abrams sardonically referred to the holiday special as canonical in a 2015 interview. Life Day was mentioned in " Chapter 1: The Mandalorian ", the first episode of the canonical live-action series The Mandalorian (2019). After being introduced by

3700-511: The Imperials are searching downstairs, the living room viewscreen activates, announcing that Tatooine is being put under curfew by the Empire because of " subversive forces". The video is announced as required viewing for all Imperial forces and much of it features Ackmena ( Bea Arthur ) running the Mos Eisley cantina. Ackmena is approached by an admirer: Krelman, an amorous alien, who has misunderstood something she said to him recently. Ackmena announces last call , and upon being ignored, sings

3800-463: The Jefferson Starship name, citing their initial separation agreement in 1985. All parties later agreed that Kantner could go forward, after paying Slick and Thompson an undisclosed fee. Mangano was replaced by vocalist Cathy Richardson in early 2008, and Prince was replaced by the reinstated Baldwin. In March and May 2008, tracks were recorded for the new studio album released on September 2, 2008, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty . In addition to

3900-695: The Mothership , was released in November 2012. On June 5, 2011, Jefferson Starship (Kantner, Freiberg, Richardson and Smith) performed with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in Cleveland , Ohio. The show was broadcast live on HDNet for the HDNet Concert Series. In 2012, longtime guitarist Slick Aguilar departed the band due to falling ill with Hepatitis C , and

4000-563: The Turtles and Crosby, Stills and Nash, on drums and Papa John Creach, from Hot Tuna, on electric violin. Jorma Kaukonen's brother, Peter (who had appeared on the albums Blows Against the Empire and Sunfighter ), was on bass. On lead guitar was Craig Chaquico who had played on three of Kantner and Slick's solo albums, as well as in the band Steelwind. The band began rehearsals in January 1974 and opened its first tour in Chicago on March 19. By April, it

4100-574: The United States only once, on Friday, November 17, 1978 (the week before Thanksgiving ), on the television network CBS from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (EST), pre-empting Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk leading to the latter shows' episodes to be aired that day to instead be shown a week later. It was also broadcast on the Canadian television network CTV from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. All

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4200-617: The acts are loosely linked together with material that involves the Wookiees' preparation for Life Day on Kashyyyk , Han and Chewie's attempt to bypass the Imperial blockade and make it to Chewie's family, and the Imperial garrison's search for rebels. The plot strings together a series of musical numbers, celebrity cameos and other variety-show acts. These include songs and comedy routines by such 1970s talents as Jefferson Starship , Diahann Carroll , Art Carney , Harvey Korman and Bea Arthur , and

4300-599: The age of 74 on January 28, 2016. Signe Toly Anderson, a member of both the initial Jefferson Airplane lineup and the revived Jefferson Starship in the 1990s, also died on January 28, 2016, at age 74. Following Paul Kantner's death, the band received the approval of both Kantner's family and Grace Slick to keep performing. Jefferson Starship has continued to tour with a line-up consisting of remaining members David Freiberg (vocals, guitar), Donny Baldwin (drums), Chris Smith (keyboards), Jude Gold (lead guitar), and Cathy Richardson (vocals, guitar). When Jefferson Starship announced

4400-482: The age of 76. On February 1, 2019, Rhino Entertainment acquired the catalogues of Jefferson Starship, Starship, Grace Slick and Hot Tuna for albums released between the years of 1972 and 1991. On August 21, 2020, Jefferson Starship released the new studio album Mother of the Sun . The first single from the album, "It's About Time", was co-written by Jude Gold, Cathy Richardson and former vocalist Grace Slick. Mother of

4500-596: The band a high visibility in the MTV era. Their next album, Nuclear Furniture (1984), reached No. 28 and was also certified gold. It featured the singles "No Way Out" (a Top 40 hit, reaching No. 23), "Layin' It On the Line" (No. 66), and "Sorry Me, Sorry You". While Balin and Slick had come and gone over the years, in June 1984, after the release of Nuclear Furniture , Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left

4600-404: The band due to disputes over the group's artistic direction. "I think we would be terrible failures trying to write pop songs all the time. … The band became more mundane and not quite as challenging and not quite as much of a thing to be proud of," said Kantner. In October 1984, Kantner took legal action over money he claimed he was owed and to prevent the remaining members from continuing to use

4700-415: The band for five songs, "Lawman", "Wooden Ships", " Somebody to Love " and " White Rabbit " and " Volunteers ". In 1999 Jefferson Starship released the studio album Windows of Heaven , which featured Slick on background vocals on one song, "I'm On Fire". Balin continued as a full-time member of the reunited band until 2003 and continued to occasionally join them in concert up until 2008. Casady remained

4800-566: The band to perform the song "Caroline" for a show at the Winterland ballroom in November 1974. Their followup album, 1975's Red Octopus , had even greater success. Marty Balin, who had contributed and sung the ballad "Caroline" on the previous album, officially returned to the Jefferson fold as a full-time member in January 1975 and stayed with the group for nearly the remainder of the decade. The Balin penned single " Miracles ” peaked at No. 3 on

4900-534: The chart, and along with the single “Play on Love” (#49 US Billboard Chart), helped to propel the album to eventual multiple-platinum status and topping the Billboard 200 chart. It would be the biggest selling album of the band's career. Creach quietly left the group soon after in August 1975 to pursue a solo career. The next album, Spitfire , was released in June 1976 and went platinum. It spent six weeks at No. 3 on

5000-640: The continuity, placing it halfway between Episodes IV and V . From 1978 to 2014, most elements of the Holiday Special fell under a secondary level of canon superseded by other licensed works. This was clarified in 2007 by Leland Chee, who maintained Lucasfilm's internal continuity database called "the Holocron". According to Chee, the Holocron contained at least 28 entries about The Star Wars Holiday Special by that point. These placed all elements referred to in other works, such as Life Day and Chewbacca's family members, in an intermediary level of canon. Chee stated that elements not subsequently referred to were given

5100-764: The current members, Grace Slick made contributions to the bonus track on the album, and Marty Balin and Jack Casady appear on a recording originally made for Windows of Heaven . In July and August 2008, they played a two-part UK tour, including three nights at the 100 Club in London and an appearance at the Rhythm Festival . In 2009 they toured as part of the Heroes of Woodstock tour with Jeff Pevar ( Jazz Is Dead , Crosby, Pevar & Raymond ) on bass. Other musicians included in this tour were Canned Heat , Ten Years After , Country Joe McDonald , Tom Constanten , Big Brother and

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5200-560: The end of 1978, a Jefferson Starship that was now without Grace Slick but still including Marty Balin recorded the single "Light the Sky on Fire" (No. 66 US Billboard Chart) for television's Star Wars Holiday Special . It was released as a promotional tie-in to the special (backed with "Hyperdrive" from Dragon Fly ), and was also included as a bonus with their greatest hits album Gold (1979), which highlighted their work from 1974's Dragon Fly to 1978's Earth . In October 1978, Marty Balin left

5300-450: The era before cable and home video, television audiences often had to wait an entire year or more to see a special program or film that had a great impact on first viewing. Today, streaming media such as video on demand and streaming television , often makes it possible for viewers to watch a television special again almost immediately after it is aired, and home video—which has largely given way to digital downloads —makes it possible for

5400-435: The film's production and was reportedly unhappy with the results. In 1987, Lucas reportedly said of the special: "I believe it will be released on videotape. I'm not sure if they're going to rerun it on television or not." In a May 2005 interview, Lucas was asked if the film had soured him on working in television. He replied: The special from 1978 really didn't have much to do with us, you know. I can't remember what network it

5500-607: The first night, the band was scheduled to play at the Loreley Amphitheatre , on the bill with Leo Kottke and the Atlanta Rhythm Section , but Slick was unable to perform and the show was cancelled. The show was rescheduled for July 2, but the audience were unhappy with this and began rioting, destroying or stealing some of the band's gear. The band acquired replacement gear for the following day's show in Hamburg, which

5600-459: The general public to own copies of television specials and films. Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco , California , formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane . Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum -selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on

5700-578: The group (after a brief spell by original Jefferson Airplane singer Signe Toly Anderson ) as Gould's replacement. After the first couple of years, the band dropped the use of "The Next Generation", and began to perform as simply Jefferson Starship. In 1995 they released Deep Space / Virgin Sky , a live album recorded at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California on January 21, 1995. The album featured eight new and seven classic tunes. Grace Slick joined

5800-440: The group as Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation in 1992, which toured regularly throughout that decade and into the 21st century. After Kantner's death, the group continued with new members. Craig Chaquico filed a lawsuit against them in 2016 for continuing to use the name, and the suit was consequently settled. In 1970, while Jefferson Airplane was on break from touring, singer-guitarist Paul Kantner recorded Blows Against

5900-408: The group in 1975, and the following year's album Spitfire was a top five hit. Slick and Balin both left the group in 1978, leaving the remaining members to recruit Mickey Thomas as their replacement. In 1981 Slick rejoined the group, which continued with minor chart success. Kantner quit in 1984 and took legal action towards using the name; the remaining members became Starship . Kantner reformed

6000-459: The group's spring tour in 1974, but was replaced by Pete Sears who, like Freiberg, played bass and keyboards. Kantner collaborated with Marty Balin on the song "Caroline" during the recording sessions, for which Balin sang vocals on the album. Dragon Fly was certified gold, and included the single "Ride the Tiger" (#84 US Billboard ) and its B-side "Hyperdrive". Balin then appeared on-stage with

6100-495: The group, leaving the band without a lead singer. That same month, John Barbata was seriously injured in a car accident that forced him to drop out of the group. In early 1979, the band regrouped. Barbata was replaced on drums by Aynsley Dunbar , who had previously played with Journey , in January 1979. Mickey Thomas (who had sung lead on Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love")

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6200-434: The group. Freiberg had apologized to Kantner for not departing the group with him back in 1984, ending their estrangement. Jefferson Starship played three songs on NBC's The Today Show on June 30, 2007. In 2007, Jefferson Starship began working with corporate sponsors. The owners of the name Jefferson Starship, Grace Slick along with manager Bill Thompson, objected. They sued Kantner for the sponsorship and for touring under

6300-444: The holiday special at number one, calling it "the worst two hours of television ever". On the review-aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds a 25% approval rating, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/10. Writing for Fatherly , Nathan Rabin says the cartoon segment is singular compared to the rest of the special in that it "feels worthy of being canon and not a hypnotically insane aberration." The special

6400-415: The house. An officer orders a search for Chewbacca. As they search, Saun and the others attempt to distract them with food and Malla's music video box (which features a video by Jefferson Starship ). When the music finishes, the head officer orders the search to continue. The head officer tells Malla to keep Lumpy busy while they search his room, so Lumpy (and the viewing audience) uses a viewscreen to watch

6500-680: The lawsuit was settled. Pete Sears departed in 1987. Grace Slick left Starship in early 1988, going on to join the reformed Jefferson Airplane for an album and tour in 1989. Craig Chaquico departed in 1990. The band has been billed as "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas" since 1992. Shortly after leaving Jefferson Starship, Kantner formed the KBC Band with (among others) his former bandmates Marty Balin and Jack Casady. They released an eponymous album in 1986, but soon broke up after Balin lost interest. In 1988, Kantner toured with Casady in Hot Tuna . This led to

6600-467: The main cast are featured. Intended as an in-universe flashback, Luke wears a yellow jacket similar to his outfit at the end of A New Hope . The cartoon introduces Boba Fett , whose appearance was based on footage of the unpainted costume from The Empire Strikes Back , and according to Nelvana co-founder Clive Smith , their suggestion to "scuff up his costume a little bit" influenced the character's live-action appearance. The final costume design made

6700-418: The name Jefferson Starship. The lawsuit was settled in March 1985. Kantner received a cash settlement, the name Jefferson Starship became the property of Grace Slick (51%) and Bill Thompson (49%), and all parties agreed to not use the name "Jefferson" going forward. The remaining members renamed themselves Starship , and continued to tour and record music. David Freiberg was dismissed from the band shortly after

6800-460: The name, they need the permission of all the other members who signed the agreement and Freiberg and Baldwin do not have my permission." On August 11, 2017, U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James said the guitarist Craig Chaquico may pursue a breach of contract claim against David Freiberg, Donny Baldwin and the other musicians for performances and merchandising since January 2016, but dismissed Chaquico's claims of earlier alleged contract breaches and

6900-609: The network. The spectaculars aired on three nights every fourth week - a major gamble because it controversially broke up viewer routines and risked stable weekly sponsorship deals. To address this, Weaver used his "magazine" style which involved selling segments of each show to a different sponsor, a practice which would evolve into the modern " commercial ". The three initial spectacular blocks were Hallmark Hall of Fame (Sundays, produced by Albert McCleery ), Producer's Showcase (Mondays, produced by Fred Coe ), Max Liebman Presents (Saturdays, produced by Max Liebman ). In time,

7000-420: The next film , we realized we had no time. So we just left it to them and just had the occasional meetings with them, provided them with access to props and the actors, and that was it. Though Lucas is uncredited, it was his idea to build the narrative around Chewbacca's family. CBS hired experienced variety show writers and producers, including writer Bruce Vilanch , who was concerned about the decision to center

7100-617: The next lowest rank. Chee also confirmed that Leslie Schofield appears as an unnamed character in The Star Wars Holiday Special and not the character he played in A New Hope named Chief Bast. Previously this confusion had caused some fans to question whether Bast's death aboard the Death Star was genuine (drawing on a hint in the Customizable Card Game ). After Lucasfilm was acquired by The Walt Disney Company ,

7200-484: The nicknames David Crosby had given to the couple. Bassist/keyboardist/vocalist David Freiberg was given equal billing alongside Kantner and Slick on the latter album. A founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service , Freiberg had known and played with Kantner on the folk circuit in the early 1960s and sang background vocals on Blows Against the Empire . Following a marijuana arrest that resulted in his departure from Quicksilver in 1971, he joined Jefferson Airplane as

7300-541: The original Star Wars and planning its potential sequels, Lucas imagined a "film just about Wookiees, nothing else." After the original film's success, its cast made a few appearances on TV variety shows . According to Charles Lippincott , who was head of marketing of the Star Wars Corporation , CBS brought the idea of doing a TV special to him and Lucas, although there is some internal dispute about this claim. According to J.W. Rinzler , "Everybody agreed that

7400-573: The original Star Wars and introduces the character of Boba Fett , who appeared in later films. In the storyline that ties the special together, following the events of the original film, Chewbacca and Han Solo attempt to visit the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk to celebrate "Life Day". They are pursued by agents of the Galactic Empire , who are searching for members of the Rebel Alliance on

7500-404: The planet. The special introduces three members of Chewbacca's family: his father Itchy , his wife Malla, and his son Lumpy . The program also features the rest of the main Star Wars characters, including Luke Skywalker , C-3PO , R2-D2 , Darth Vader and Princess Leia , all portrayed by the original cast (except R2-D2 , who is simply billed as "himself"). The program includes footage from

7600-548: The singles "Be My Lady," which reached No. 26 in the US, and "Winds of Change" (No. 38). By August 1982, after the recording of Winds of Change but prior to the supporting tour, Dunbar was replaced by Donny Baldwin , who had performed with Thomas in the Elvin Bishop Group. Paul Kantner's 1983 solo album, Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra , included the track "Circle of Fire", which had been recorded by Jefferson Starship during

7700-425: The song "Find Your Way Back" (No. 29), as well as the humorous "Stairway to Cleveland", in which the band defended the numerous changes it had undergone in its musical style, personnel, and even name. Modern Times also featured the promo single, "Save Your Love", (No. 104). Slick remained in the band for Jefferson Starship's next album, Winds of Change (1982), which was certified gold. Winds of Change featured

7800-517: The special as a "turd". The official Star Wars site states that the special "delivered mixed results" and states that its highlight was the Boba Fett animated segment. The official site also says, when referring to the fan interest in seeing the Wookiees on-screen, "the 1978 Holiday Special didn't cut it". The official site also refers to the Boba Fett animated segment as "a cult classic ". Despite only airing once on television, bootleg recordings of

7900-420: The special as an April Fools hoax. Television special The types of shows described as television specials include: The production of early television shows was very expensive, with few guarantees of public success, and ongoing (weekly) shows typically required a single, major sponsor to operate. As such, a good deal of programming was one-off shows, accommodating smaller sponsors and not requiring

8000-424: The special is generally considered to be the animated segment known as "The Faithful Wookiee", which is the first official Star Wars cartoon. It was written by Lucas and produced by Toronto animation firm Nelvana Ltd. , which later produced Droids and Ewoks , two Saturday-morning series based on the franchise in 1985 on ABC . Lucas requested that the visual style be inspired by Moebius . The vocal talents of

8100-456: The special on a species who grunt in a fictional language without subtitles. Regardless, Lucas would not budge on his vision. The special went through two directors. The first, David Acomba , was brought in through an attempt to "make us different in variety shows", according to Lippincott. Acomba, a classmate of George Lucas at USC film school , was unfamiliar with a multiple-camera setup , which caused some problems. Acomba also felt that there

8200-530: The special uploaded to the Internet led to it becoming a cult classic among Star Wars fans. The entire cartoon appeared as an Easter egg on the 2011 Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray set, making it the only portion of the special to be officially released in any home video format. The cartoon was also released on Disney+ on 2 April, 2021, under the name The Story of the Faithful Wookiee . The program

8300-449: The special's skits, including the cantina skit with Bea Arthur where he plays a love-struck barfly who drinks through a hole in the top of his head. He also performs two solo routines: one as Chef Gormaanda, a four-armed parody of Julia Child (the four arms allow her to work much faster than Malla can keep up with) and one as a malfunctioning Amorphian android named Dromboid in an instruction video watched by Lumpy . Art Carney has

8400-521: The special, the character Boba Fett and the planet Kashyyyk have gone on to play integral roles in the franchise, making their first film appearances in The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith , respectively. Apart from this, more specific references to The Star Wars Holiday Special have been made, including: In 2005, Lawrence Person wrote a review of a "Platinum Edition" DVD release of

8500-677: The term "spectacular" was seen as hyperbolic , and so led to the more modern and modest term, "special". Weaver's strategy was not as successful as CBS's predictably scheduled and prefilmed programs, and he was fired in 1956. In the 1960s, multi-part specials, which aired over several days in a week or on the same day for several weeks, evolved from this format, though these were more commonly called miniseries . The term "TV special" formerly applied more to dramas or musicals presented live or on videotape (such as Peter Pan ) than to filmed presentations especially made for television, which were (and still are) referred to as made-for-TV movies . In

8600-498: The viewscreen, giving a general alert for the missing stormtrooper. Saun quickly responds that the trooper stole supplies and deserted. The danger averted, the family prepares to go to the festival at the great Tree of Life. They hold glowing orbs, and appear in space wearing red robes. Wookiees walk into a bright star and arrive at the Tree of Life, where many are gathered, including C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke, Leia, and Han also appear. Leia gives

8700-465: The virus as well. Fett and Chewie go into Panna City to get the cure. Once they get into the Imperial-occupied city, Fett instructs Chewie to stay behind—so he can contact Darth Vader . On the Falcon , as C-3PO is caring for Han and Luke, R2-D2 intercepts the transmission between Vader and Fett. Evading the Imperials, Fett and Chewie return to the Falcon with the cure. After everyone recovers from

8800-503: The virus, they learn of Fett's true allegiances. He blasts away using his jetpack, promising they will meet again. The heroes head back to the Rebel base aboard the Falcon . Lumpy works to create a translation device that will fool the Imperials into returning to their base by faking their commander's voice. To do so, he first must watch the manual for the device, being presented by a malfunctioning, incompetent robot (also played by Korman). While

8900-404: Was a divide between himself and the producers, and chose to leave the project after finishing only a few scenes, including the cantina and Jefferson Starship. He was replaced by Steve Binder , whose only contact with Lucasfilm was a "Wookiee bible " detailing how the species should look and behave. Stan Winston was hired to design the Wookiee family. The special was broadcast in its entirety in

9000-465: Was decided that the band would go into the studio to record an album. British veteran Pete Sears, who had worked on Slick's solo album, Manhole , and played with Rod Stewart, was selected to replace Peter Kaukonen as the band's bass player. In 1974, after touring as "Jefferson Starship," Kantner, Slick, Freiberg, Chaquico, Pete Sears, Papa John Creach, and John Barbata recorded the album Dragon Fly . Jorma Kaukonen's brother Peter had played bass during

9100-482: Was during this session at Wally Heider studios in San Francisco that Kantner and Slick first approached Sears about playing in what would eventually become Jefferson Starship. Sears would eventually join Jefferson Starship in June 1974, replacing Peter Kaukonen . In early 1974, with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bass player Jack Casady having moved on to their band Hot Tuna full-time, Kantner decided to put together

9200-453: Was informally known as the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, a moniker later used on a Kantner album in the early 1980s. On Blows Against the Empire , Kantner and Slick sang about a group of people escaping Earth in a hijacked starship. In 1971, the album was nominated for the prestigious science fiction prize, the Hugo Award , a rare honor for a musical recording. Kantner and Slick were

9300-546: Was invited to audition and then joined the group in April 1979. In 1979, the band released their first album without Marty Balin or Grace Slick, the gold-selling Freedom at Point Zero . The album was produced by Ron Nevison , who would also produce two of the band's following three albums. The single " Jane " (Freiberg, McPherson, Chaquico and Kantner) peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 6 on

9400-419: Was marred by a drunken Slick continually swearing and insulting the audience throughout the show. She repeatedly asked "Who won the war?", and implied that all Germans were responsible for the wartime atrocities. Slick later described her behavior as a deliberate provocation to force her departure. Kantner subsequently asked for Slick's resignation from the band, and she left the group at this time. Towards

9500-495: Was on, but it was a thing that they did. We kind of let them do it. It was done by... I can't even remember who the group was, but they were variety TV guys. We let them use the characters and stuff and that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but you learn from those experiences. In 2006, Harrison Ford made an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien , and jokingly did not even acknowledge its existence at first when asked about it, then saying that he had never seen it. On

9600-560: Was ranked at No. 3 in "The Five Goofiest Moments of the Star Wars Mythos" in the 62nd issue of the UK's Star Wars magazine. TV Guide ranked it at number 11 on their "25 Most Hilarious Holiday TV Moments", mentioning that it was "unintentionally hilarious". Both TV Guide and TV Land ranked the special at No. 59 on their "Top 100 Unexpected Television Moments" in a five-part special that aired from December 5 until December 9, 2005. In 2008,

9700-543: Was released in February 1978 and also went platinum. The album featured the singles "Count on Me" (No. 8 US Billboard Chart), "Runaway" (No. 12 US Billboard Chart), and "Crazy Feelin'" (No. 54 US Billboard Chart). Tours of the U.S. and Europe would soon follow. Balin's reluctance to tour had kept the band off the road for over a year, and Slick's alcoholism increasingly became a problem, which led to two consecutive nights of disastrous concerts in West Germany in June 1978. On

9800-522: Was replaced by Jude Gold. In November 2015, a new lead vocalist, Rachel Rose, was phased in to replace the departing Cathy Richardson; sharing the stage with one-time Jefferson Starship vocalist Darby Gould until Richardson announced her return to the band in March 2016. The band has featured guest musicians such as Balin, Gould, Gorman, Jeff Pevar, Tony Morley, Richard Newman, and former Jefferson Starship bassist and keyboardist Pete Sears. Paul Kantner died from multiple organ failure and septic shock at

9900-672: Was seen in Canada on CTV on the same evening as the CBS broadcast . Toronto CTV station CFTO-TV aired the program at 7 pm, an hour earlier than seen on the nearest American outlet, WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York . It was also distributed and seen in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia it was repeated multiple times on local stations between 1979 and 1984. It aired in France on January 1, 1980, on TF1 , in

10000-558: Was universally lambasted by critics, audiences, and Star Wars fans alike. Jerry Buck, in a November 1978 review for the Associated Press, called the program "bubble gum for the brain". Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote, "I'm not convinced the special wasn't ultimately written and directed by a sentient bag of cocaine." David Hofstede, author of What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History , ranked

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