Part of ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’ Is Coming to Disney Plus
The Star Wars Holiday Special is the most infamous film in Star Wars history. Released about a year and a half after the original Star Wars became an instant cultural phenomenon, the Christmas special was so utterly reviled by fans (and with good cause!) that it was never officially shown again anywhere. It was never rebroadcast after its first airing on CBS in November 1978, and George Lucas never released it on home video — despite the fact that from a historical perspective, the Holiday Special is an incredibly important piece of the Star Wars universe.
For all its flaws, The Star Wars Holiday Special is also the place where Boba Fett made his first appearance, in an animated sequence titled “The Story of the Faithful Wookie” that also happens to be the very first Star Wars cartoon in the franchise’s history. Even though the rest of the Holiday Special is a disaster of bad comedy and bizarre musical numbers, the 10 minutes of “The Story of the Faithful Wookie” is a pretty solid piece of animation. But because it was part of The Star Wars Holiday Special, it’s been hard to find for decades.
Until now. For the very first time, part of The Star Wars Holiday Special is coming out of the Lucasfilm vault and getting an official release. According to Disney’s monthly announcement of what’s coming to its streaming service, “The Story of the Faithful Wookie” will be available on Disney+ starting on April 2. That same day a whole slew of vintage Star Wars content is getting added to the service. The two Ewok movies — Caravan of Courage and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor — will be joining Disney+ as well, along with two seasons of the Star Wars: Ewoks cartoon and the Genndy Tartakovsky Star Wars: Clone Wars series.
Those are all pretty notable additions, but “The Story of the Faithful Wookie” absolutely tops them all. With The Book of Boba Fett coming this Christmas, it’s the perfect time to finally give it the release it deserves. Next, we need all of the Holiday Special on Disney+. Don’t make us spend another Christmas without an HD print of Bea Arthur’s big Star Wars musical number.
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