On this day 45 years ago, the second feature-length Star Wars production aired for the first and only time on CBS affiliates across the nation. Children (including my father, age 11) who had been waiting an eternal year and a half to see what happened next to their heroes Han, Luke, and Leia watched eagerly, only to have their souls crushed by a hundred and twenty minutes of untranslated Wookiee gargling, Harvey Korman bits, holographic variety show performances, and ads for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
Impounded in the LucasFilm vault immediately due to overwhelming public vitriol, the special passed into legend for decades. It lived on only as bootleg VHS tapes and whispered comic-shop rumors of Bea Arthur singing in the Mos Eisley Cantina and Chewbacca’s dad watching space porn. But it was a matter of historical record that it had aired on November 17th, branding today, eternally, as Life Day.
Fortunately(?) there’s no longer any need to find a back-alley dealer and a VCR to enjoy this infamous train wreck. While the “fighting the frizzies” New York affiliate broadcast that circulated widely in the 80s and 90s remains rare, you can now enjoy(?) the WMAR Baltimore version with commercials intact on YouTube.
Now you may be wondering, what is Life Day all about? I think Carrie Fisher, coked out of her gourd, sang it best: Life Day is a day “to live, to laugh, to dream, to grow, to trust, to love, to be“. That’s right, simply existing is enough to celebrate Life Day.
So if you want to be reminded of how stupid Star Wars always was, pour yourself a nice tall Oga’s Cantina Jet Juice (2 parts bourbon, 1 part each acai liqueur, ancho reyes chili liqueur, white grape juice, lemon juice), put the Special and its commercials up on the TV, and let yourself get swept away by the Life Day spirit.