Chewbacca from Star Wars has a wife named Malla (short for "Mallatobuck"), a son named Lumpy (short for "Lumpawarrump") and a father named Itchy (short for "Attichitcuk").
These intimate personal details of Chewbacca's life were revealed to the world in the infamous November 17, 1978 TV broadcast of the two-hour Star Wars Holiday Special, which featured Harvey Korman, Bea Arthur, Art Carney, and all of the principals of the first Star Wars movie, including "Darth Vader and his Raiders." You get a whole new perspective on the Star Wars universe when you see a Dark Lord of the Sith and his Imperial Stormtroopers prancing around the stage in a song and dance number. My wife and I watched the show over 45 years ago on our little Zenith black-and-white portable, and I still have flashbacks to that traumatic experience.
David Hofstede, who authored the scholarly treatise of What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in TV History ranks this program as "the worst two hours of television ever." Nathan Rabin, noted film and music critic, opined that it may have been "ultimately written and directed by a sentient bag of cocaine."
The show was mercifully never rebroadcast and never released on any recorded media. Any copies available to the public are the pirated products of nerds who had access to what would have been very expensive videotaping equipment at the time. Carrie Fischer (Princess Leia) compelled George Lucas to give her a copy in exchange for her narration of a commentary for a DVD of Star Wars films. She played the tape of the Holiday Special at the end of parties at her house when she wanted to hustle the guests out to go home.
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| Photo via Wikimedia |
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