‘A Disturbance In The Force’ Teaser: New ‘Star Wars’ Doc Asks What Happened To The Infamous ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’?

Nowadays, with so much Star Wars content streaming on Disney+, it’s hard to imagine any single thing being an utter failure. A failure so bad that it became the eternal butt of jokes. Well, in 1978 there was the Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired just one time on CBS…and was never broadcast again. A Disturbance in the Force is a documentary that explores this unusual blip on the Lucasfilm radar.

Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovich, Paul Scheer, Taran Killam, Danny Osmond, Gilbert Gottfried, Bonnie Burton, Bruce Vilanch, and Steve Binder lend their geeky expertise to the many questions surrounding the Star Wars Holiday Special. How did it come to be? What made it so terrible? Why was it buried to such a degree that it hasn’t even been dug up as Star Wars is more popular than ever?

Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak wrote and directed the film, which will have its world premiere this month at SXSW.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.