Stab me with money
Have you read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Spoiler alert: The meaning of life is 42. Numerologists and Star Wars fans alike know it’s been 42 years since the release of the original Star Wars Holiday Special, when we gave up hope on ever finding a meaning. The joke of a production had been a cult meme destination for fans since the seventies ended. By the eighties, the bootleg VHS had been a holy grail for fans searching convention booths until the internet arrived. We all know that the only real good thing that came out of the original was the debut of Boba Fett. Oh, and Chewbacca’s son, Lumpy. Gold that actually made it into the old canon we now call Legends. Stay put, Lumpy. We’re happy with Boba Fett.
So let’s get that part out of the way right now. Skip this paragraph if you don’t want a major spoiler. The new LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special dropped on Disney+ November 17, 2020, exactly 42 years after the original aired. It gave us the meaning of life in under an hour. It’s a five-star effort that needs to be seen by all Star Wars fans immediately. I only have one gripe, so here it is: Boba Fett carried the weight of that special for 42 years, and he didn’t even get a mention in the new LEGO special. I’m going to scour the show a few times to see if I have a collateral gripe. Since we were given a fan-favorite so long ago, why weren’t we given a new mystery character to fawn over? Okay, that’s it. That was the only thing wrong, but there was so much that was right that I’m going to let it pass.
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When the new LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special begins, it fells like it’s going to stumble. The voices are not the voices we know, but we get past that as soon as the story gets rolling. Note that Rose, Lando, and C-3PO are all voiced by their original actors, but their parts are small. Voice over actor Trevor Devall (Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy) kills it as Emperor Palpatine. He sounds a bit like he’s doing a Stewie Griffin impression, and I’m okay with that. In fact, it’s perfect.
There’s a bit of childish humor that we can all appreciate if we’re willing. Sure, Star Wars isn’t comedy, but it’s a special, and it’s for kids. Lighten up, Francis. Remember how hard we took it when Seth Green’s Star Wars Detours got canned? The success of this new special is only evidence Lucasfilm should dig up those hilarious animated crossover sketches because the reception would be…”Impressive. Most impressive”
Without giving too much away, the story begins some time after The Rise of Skywalker. There’s a new generation of characters. Rey is training Finn with a lightsaber and remote. The classic scene where Luke puts the blast shield down while training with old Ben Kenobi is ripe for lampooning, and it’s been done before; but it’s a great place to launch the premise of the special. Rey doesn’t have the confidence to be a master because Finn doesn’t have the confidence to be her student.
As the rest of the Falcon’s crew, including Chewy, Poe (dressed in an adorable ugly sweater), Threepio, Artoo, and Rose prepare for Life Day, Rey sets off to find clues on how she can be a better Jedi Master. Writer David Shayne should get a commendation for his effort here. When it comes to storytelling, a simple premise is smart if the details are going to get complicated. He knocked it out of the park with the patchwork of source materials, tying together nine movies better than the sequel trilogy did (not a knock, just a point). He worked in timelines that also included The Mandalorian, a nice nod to the Disney+ series that’s also doing a great job. He successfully tied decades of galactic tales together. Director Ken Cunningham kept it easy to follow, visually. The brand of Star Wars was falling apart at the seams for a while, but something has been set right because this ship still floats.
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The convoluted tale is something that could easily confuse casual fans, but the animation and character design are so well done that any confusion is avoided. When Rey finds a Jedi artifact that reveals the World Between Worlds (canonized in the animated series, Rebels), the story really gets going. Shayne plays on all the best situational tropes in movies and cartoons that include things like body swaps, clones, twins, and time travel. Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? Old and young Han make shooting first a thing again, Vader competes with himself for authority, Luke is a whiny farm boy and oblivious to what the future holds despite it being presented to him on a silver platter. Even Kylo Ren gets an important part. We can still joke about the shirtless scene from The Last Jedi. We’re family, Star Wars fans. We know it’s cheesy, so we scoff that platter together, like hungry hippos. Rey experiences an Ebenezer Scrooge moment as she and the Ghost of Christmas Present (actually, the force ghost of Yoda) shows her the wisdom of living in the present.
The show pokes fun at itself and any plot holes fans have joked about over the years. Throughout the special, we’re walked through each era like we’re skimming a photo album of family memories. Memorable scenes are replayed for the benefit of teaching Rey a lesson, and we get to laugh along knowing what she’s going to witness. She’s the fanboy in all of us, star struck by all the characters she meets. Even as things get complicated, and main characters are stranded in the wrong time and place we rest assured that everything will get cleaned up. The Tex Avery holes in the universe are distributed neatly, and repackaged for later use at Acme, awaiting Wile E. Coyote’s online order.
Yoda is the narrator of the story. He conspicuously leaves out any commentary when we pass through the Mandalorian era and see the “Baby Yoda’ there. Oh, how a clue would have been welcome, but those would be big toes to step on. It was a nice touch at the end to have Yoda dressed as the Sam the Snowman, the narrator from the Rankin/Bass classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Burl Ives, the voice of Sam, would approve. This fan has loved Star Wars since 1977, and I approve this message.
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Stab me with money
