I have a passion for collecting vintage Star Wars merchandise from the late 70's. Action figures, comics, trading cards etc - anything related to the first Star Wars movie. But why only until 1980? It's not that I don't love The Empire Strikes Back and beyond (I really do), but there is something about that first wave of Star Wars mania that really grips me, back when it was all fresh and exciting...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

The '78 Holiday Special Animated Segment

Few Star Wars fans need an introduction to the infamous 'Holiday Special' that was aired November 17th, 1978. I wasn't around then, but I've seen it since and yes, it truly is dreadful. I won't go into the details here (perhaps at a later date), but by far the best part of the whole debacle was this 9 min animated short which famously introduced the bounty hunter Boba Fett who wasn't even in the first film. By then, the hype was building for 'Star Wars 2' and the following year Kenner released an action figure of the character in both the small and the 12 inch lines with 'Star Wars' packaging.

The animated segment was produced by Canadian company Nelvana Studios (who would go on to produce the 'Droids' and 'Ewoks' cartoons of the late 80's). What is special to me about this cartoon is the fact that most of the original cast voice their characters. Try getting Harrison Ford on board such a project these days! Anyway, here it is, 'The Faithful Wookie'...

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