Lost in Translation 479 – Star Wars: The Story of the Faithful Wookiee (1978)

Not everything Lucasfilm put out with the Star Wars label was a success. Case in point, the Star Wars Holiday Special from November, 1978. The special aired on CBS, where the hope was it would pull in the massive audience the movie had. Star Wars, released in 1977, quickly became the top grossing movie of the decade and, until 2009’s Avatar, was the top grossing film. Jaws, released in 1975, briefly held the title, mainly from people going back to the theatre because they were too scared to go to the beach, but Star Wars quickly took over that spot with people returning over and over during the over a year the film spent in theatres.

The special flopped. Hard. While the special had the original cast of Star Wars, it didn’t have the writers. Lucasfilm was busy getting The Empire Strikes Back going, leaving CBS to bring in writers experienced in variety shows. Audiences were not expecting comedy from Star Wars, a special effects masterpiece of pulp action. The non-movie cast included Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, and Art Carney, along with musicians Diahann Carroll and Jefferson Starship.

The plot introduces the concept of Life Day, a Wookiee holiday. Chewbacca’s family – his wife, Malla, and his son, Lumpy – eagerly await his return. The problem is, the Millennium Falcon is experiencing an Imperial entanglement, specifically a pair of Star Destroyers. On Kashyyyk, his family tries to get through the day, using local entertainment and trying to cook the Life Day dinner. Stormtroopers force their way into the family home, but Lumpy comes up with a plan to distract them. Han and Chewy arrive in the nick of time, dealing with the last stormtrooper and letting the Life Day celebrations occur.

The special introduces a few elements not shown in the movie. Chewbacca’s family and home were new. A broadcast stating that Tatooine was under curfew because of “subversive elements” showed there was fallout from what happened in Mos Eisley in the movie. The problem was the execution. The special was not well received. It was never rebroadcast nor was it ever released on video. Bootleg versions on VHS would appear from time to time, but Lucasfilm was actively removing them as they showed up.

The highlight of the holiday special was a ten minute animated short, “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee”. The animation was hired out to Nelvana, a Canadian studio that had at that point had made three specials for the CBC, including The Devil and Daniel Mouse and would go on to create the theatrical animated film, Rock & Rule. The style of animation from both those works is on display in “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee”. For the time, it works, and still has fluidity that typical animation, mostly seen in Saturday morning cartoons, didn’t have. Nelvana would also make the Droids and Ewoks TV series in 1985 for Lucasfilm.

The plot is simple. Chewbacca and Han are returning to the Rebel base with a talisman when communications fail. Chewie is in charge, with Han tied up and unconscious. Luke takes a Y-Wing and travels with R2-D2 and C-3PO. They follow the Falcon until it crash lands on a moon with ooze-like oceans, despite being shot at. Once Luke lands the Y-Wing, a creature emerges from the sea. It shrugs off Luke’s blaster bolt, requiring Luke to eject the snubfighter’s escape pod, essentially the entire cockpit section.

A second creature appears, one with a rider who shoots an energy rifle that knocks the first creature away. The rider introduces himself as Boba Fett and offers to help Luke find the Falcon. They find the freighter and board just as Chewbacca ejects the talisman from the ship. Luke falls to the same energy that affected Han. Threepio explains to Fett that Chewbacca is a friend. Artoo works out what happened to Han and Luke, with Threepio translating.

Chewie and Fett head to the moon’s starport, which is under Imperial occupation. Fett heads into the town alone to get the serum, but while there, makes contact with Darth Vader. Artoo intercepts the transmission, but Chewie was already suspicious of Fett, who smelled off to the Wookiee. The serum counteracts the virus from the talisman. Artoo and Threepio tell Han and Luke about the betrayal, but Fett makes his escape.

For an animated short part of a disavowed holiday special, it introduced two concepts into the *Star Wars* continuity. The first is Boba Fett’s rifle, which returns in The Mandalorian as Din Djarin’s disintegrator rifle. In The Book of Boba Fett, Fett’s animal handling ability returns with the Rancor. Luke’s Y-Wing is the first appearance of the two-seater variant; the versions seen in the movie were single seat only.

The animation is very much a relic of the era. There may have been restrictions on how accurate the characters could look; Marvel Comics ran into the same situation with its Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica comics in the 80s. However, the story is solid, even if it contradicts the remastered version of A New Hope with Jabba the Hutt’s cut scene restored with a CGI version of the gangster with Boba Fett acting as bodyguard. A remake of “The Faithful Wookiee” could rework the dialogue to reflect that Han and Chewbacca aware of who Fett really is.

“The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” is a bright light in an otherwise terrible production. Disney has made the short available on Disney+ and is well worth viewing. It is the first animated Star Wars work and makes full use of the Galaxy Far, Far Away despite its short run time.