The first Life Day was celebrated 42 years ago yesterday with the release of the Star Wars Holiday Special with its cringy holiday cheerfulness and tacky short segments that confused our televisions. As one of my Instagram followers told me, it is “the true greatest mysteries of this universe.”
So, needless to say, when The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special was announced, many of us, mostly myself, were skeptical about another Holiday Special and whether or not we’d be cringing the entire time or laughing because we were awkwardly uncomfortable.
Now with the Lego special, you will cringe but you will also genuinely laugh. This 45-minute special is truly what we needed during this pandemic to help welcome the many favorite holidays that we will all be celebrating a little differently this year.
This bricktastic holiday special, as narrated by the one and only Master Yoda, opens with our Rebel friends from the sequel trilogy planning a Life Day party for Chewbacca and his family on Kashyyyk aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Rey, now a Skywalker, is attempting to teach Finn the ways of the Force, paralleling Obi-Wan Kenobi training young Luke Skywalker aboard the same ship about 50 years prior. Like Luke, Finn is also struggling with trusting in the Force in their training and Rey begins to doubt herself as a Jedi teacher.
While hysterical, holiday-happy Poe is frantically trying to plan the best Life Day celebration ever, with Rose and the porgs helping, Rey decides to consult the ancient Jedi texts that miraculously survived Yoda’s burning of them in Episode VIII. The texts lead her to a temple on the planet Kordoku where she discovers a weird Kyber crystal that when she motions with it in air-circles opens a time travel portal that teleports her to moments throughout the Star Wars timeline. When the crystal falls into the hands of Darth Vader and the Emperor, Rey must get it back to keep them from changing the past for the worst while learning what it takes to become a better teacher to Finn.
Throughout the mini-movie, we are transported back and forth to iconic moments in the Star Wars franchise from when Yoda was teaching Luke to use the Force in Episode V, the Anakin’s victorious podrace against Sebulba in Episode I, and the ever so memorable lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar in Episode III. Each time we visit a new scene from the franchise, they are picked up and brought along to the next time warp until they are all dumped on Tatooine, interrupting Luke as he gazes at the two binary sons setting in Episode IV.
While Rey is comically following Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine (who never mentions his relation to Rey whatsoever) to get the Kyber key back, she learns that being a good teacher isn’t about how by-the-book you teach but the connections made between Master and Padawan that reinforce those teachings and bring them together.
I truly enjoyed every minute of this Holiday Special. I’ve always thought that Lego humor was truly a genre in itself and adding that to a Star Wars special just makes it even better. The brand knows they are corny — or bricky, in this case — and use that to their advantage and it’s definitely present in this movie. All of the classic Star Wars jokes like shirtless Kylo Ren jamming in his quarters and Chewbacca’s family aimlessly chasing the porgs to eat keep the holiday special light-hearted while staying true to the Star Wars franchise and moving the story along.
Just like the original Holiday Special, there’s a heavy emphasis on the original trilogy timeline, with characters from the sequel trilogies etched in to create that continuity.
Something I thought that could’ve complimented the movie a bit more was that bonding element between other characters many holiday movies often have. I know the film aims to be corny, but while Rey and Darth Vader are jumping through time while fighting over the Kyber key, they pick up so many characters of different ages and time spans that it would’ve been cool to see some of the characters interact with each other like Anakin from The Clone Wars meeting Darth Vader or even Yoda meeting The Child (I’m still convinced they’re related by the way).
This special is loaded with comic relief but I think there were just a few little script additions that would’ve really made this special a Life Day miracle.
Overall, this movie really helped me get into a holiday mood and brightened my evening. The Lego storytelling and humor mixed with memorable Star Wars moments really make this a fantastic Holiday Special that I will probably be watching again and again as we prepare to spend the holidays in quarantine and socially-distant from many loved ones.
So for the original Holiday Special haters who are looking for another way to get into a jolly mood, give the Lego Holiday Special a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to attempt to learn to sing “Jingle Bells” in Huttese.
Reporter’s Notes Dump:
Favorite Quotes:
“Participation trophies for Jedi, there are not.” -Yoda
“Hello there!” -The Three Obi-Wans from Episodes I, II and III
“And if there’s one thing Wookies love-Well, it’s ripping arms off things. But if there’s two things they love, it’s arm ripping and parties!” -Poe
Favorite Character Performances:
Darth Vader
Favorite Part:
When it begins to snow on Kashyyyk and everyone has a Life Day celebration around the Millenium Falcon.
Sara Edwards is a Star Wars Writer for Boardwalk Times
