The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is a chance to have fun with all of Star Wars and some laughs in the LEGO tradition! It is currently streaming on Disney+. The special was directed by Ken Cunningham with animation by Atomic Cartoons. The Star Wars Holiday Special was infamous since its debut in 1978. The best info on the special is in Filmfax #69-70 (1998) with interviews of many of the crew including Patty Maloney who played Lumpy. A strange off shoot of the holiday special was the Star Wars: Wookie Storybook (1979). The best part of the special is the Life Day song, “A Day to Celebrate”, there is a CD of it in the Star Wars Vault (2007). The company titles include a LEGO Rey with X-Wing helmet winking at you. We hear the voice of Yoda explaining that the First Order was destroyed. There is pieces of a TIE fighter, a stormtrooper, and a red Sith trooper tossed around in space. This shifts to the planet as Yoda explains that is Life Day! Rey “and friends” travel to Kashyyyk, the setting of the original holiday special. In the Millennium Falcon, Finn (Omar Miller) is practicing with his yellow lightsaber against a training remote, but is nervous with Porgs staring at him.
Rey (Helen Sadler) puts a helmet with the blast shield on him, but Finn starts to rage swing with his lightsaber! She consults her Jedi manual and gives Finn a wooden staff. They are interrupted by General Poe Dameron (Jake Green) with a green holiday sweater, D-O, BB-8, Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), R2-D2, and Chewbacca. He is arranging the Life Day party. Rey goes to a hold to look through her Jedi texts, I wonder why she doesn’t scan them into a data pad, she concentrates and a brown book falls. She picks it up and finds an answer to the training. Rey announces her finding of a planet, Cordokku, on Life Day it reveals answers to Jedi. The party hoped Rey would make tip-yip, one of the dishes in Galaxy’s Edge is Fried Endorian Tip-Yip. Rey takes off in her X-Wing with BB-8 and promises to return for the party. She reaches the blue planet, the surface has multi-colored polar lights, and discovers a snow-capped Jedi Temple. Rey enters and uses the Force to take hold of a crystal, “the key to the galaxy’s past”, it opens a portal which Rey calls a “Force gateway.” They fall in the swamps of Dagobah and watch Yoda training Luke (Eric Bauza). Very funny, Yoda’s line, “Participation trophies for Jedi there are not.”
A tentacle threatens BB-8 so they escape back to the temple. Then, head for the Trade Federation ship with Obi-Wan (James Arnold Taylor) and Qui-Gonn (also voiced by Tom Kane). The time travelers escape the gas to see Obi-Wan and Anakin (Matt Lanter) in the elevator as Padme checks on them. Taylor, Kane, and Lanter are all veteran Star Wars actors from Star Wars: Clone Wars. The time travelers have to escape the Jedi who have seen them and end up in the Death Star trench run! It’s a nice recreation of the original Star Wars. Back at the Jedi Temple, Rey celebrates witnessing moments of Jedi history. At Kashyyyk, Rose checks off the party, Poe has 3PO run the engines of the Falcon to incinerate the tip-yip! BB-8 wants to return to the party and ends up joining Rey’s time travels. They travel to Death Star II, Darth Vader (Matt Sloan) gives the Emperor (Trevor Devall) a present for Life Day, and the time travelers escape with the Force gateway still open! Darth Vader appears at the Jedi Temple! The party is almost ready and there is the arrival of Chewbacca’s family; wife Malla, son Lumpy, and father Itchy. The special really just have them show up, no nod to the original with Malla cooking and Itchy playing games.
Darth Vader and Rey duel at the Jedi Temple when the crystal falls into the Jedi gateway! Their duel continues at the Rebel base beneath the Battle of Hoth! This is cut short by the arrival of Darth Vader and the snowtroopers! This ends up with Darth Vader vs. Darth Vader! They order the snowtroopers to blast Rey, this knocks the crystal out of her hand opening a gateway, Rey leaps in followed by other Vader plus two snowtroopers. The gateway opens to Mustafar with the duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin! A snowtrooper picks up the crystal, but it is taken by the Force opening another gateway. This time it features The Mandalorian with IG-11 and Baby Yoda! It gets to be an increasingly mish mash of time lost characters; Rey and Vader duel on top of Podracers, past First Order stormtroopers on speeder bikes. Luke wipes away blue milk moustache watching the twin suns as characters from all versions of Star Wars fall onto Tatooine. This is an all out battle between SW characters! Ultimately, we have at the Jedi Temple, Darth Vader getting the crystal, called “the key to space and time”, a Tardis crystal? He destroys BB-8 and leaves with the crystal as a Life Day present to the Emperor. There is also jokes about the shirtless Kylo Ren (Matthew Wood). Left behind is moisture farmer Luke and Rey. This is goofy fun, but loses the narrative with Poe and friends on Kashyyyk.
Rose has a surprise for Poe, the arrival of Max Rebo for entertainment! Best moment of course is Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) liking Max Rebo performing for Life Day. There is also the brief appearance of Maz Kanata (Grey Griffin). I absolutely love Admiral Ackbar (also voiced by Trevor Devall, the credit is for a Mon Calamari) and his present to Lando! Um, Finn starts singing a Life Day song in Huttese to the tune of “Jingle Bells”, not an improvement over “A Day to Celebrate.” Rey is cheered up by the Spirit of Life Day Present? Rey has to realize that it is not some lesson she needs to teach Finn to become a Jedi. Also, that she has to untangle the time conundrum with some advice from farmer Luke. This is all brings us back to Kashyyyk, unfortunately, we don’t get the red Life Day robes. It is jam packed with characters, but Ezra, Hera, and Sabine are left out. Count Dooku is also missing, he was voiced by Corey Burton in Star Wars: Clone Wars. I kinda expected Jar Jar to show up. Besides Rey, like the Sequel Trilogy, the female parts are undeveloped, especially leaving out Leia who really as much part of Star Wars as the others. Julie Dolan was incredible playing Leia in an episode of Star Wars: Rebels. The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is just a nod to Star Warriors, favorite scenes and characters, and ultimately the message of spending time with family and friends! Happy Life Day!
Three Lightsabers out of Five!
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