Seth Green tells a fascinating story about how George Lucas met with Warner Brothers after the first Star Wars, where they told him in so many words that he would be a washed-up hack in no time. Lucas left that meeting furious, vowing to make more Star Wars hits, and supposedly, the Holiday Special was born. Many more interesting and comedic backstories in A Disturbance in the Force try to explain how and why the television special ended up the way it did.
It’s also highly entertaining to watch the clips of the Holiday Special itself that are shown in the documentary because the only other way to do so is through low-quality bootlegs. The film details how the Special was only shown on TV once before being locked away and told by Lucas never to be mentioned again by the original film cast of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford (who were forced in their contracts to appear in the Special). George Lucas famously said that he hated it so much that he wished he could personally smash every copy with a hammer, which only added to the lore for Star Wars fans. The most out-there scene in a two-hour show full of them in the Star Wars Holiday Special has to be when the grandpa Wookie of the family puts on an ahead-of-its-time VR set and makes uncomfortable grunts of joy while watching 70’s star Diahann Carroll tempt him with sultry lines and looks in a way that can only be described as soft-core porn. If you find things like this laugh-out-loud funny in a disturbing way, then you will love this documentary. The nostalgia for both Star Wars and bad 70’s variety television is on full display in this movie, and as a child of that time, I’m here for it. Donny and Marie Osmond dancing around with stormtroopers, the Golden Girls’ Bea Arthur doing an awkward cantina song and dance with aliens, and Jefferson Starship performing a song with extra cheesy effects even for the 1970s are a few more highlights (or lowlights). Even George Lucas does not escape unscathed, with his strange concepts of Life Day (a sort of Festivus-like made-up holiday) and wanting Raquel Welch to save the galaxy with some scantily clad dancing. This documentary is right up my wheelhouse, but it should be fascinating for non-Star Wars fans as well. A Disturbance in the Force covers everything about the Star Wars Holiday Special in such a hilarious and entertaining way that it would make even Darth Vader chuckle. The Force is strong with this one.
