Poor In Spirit Series

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

THE LOST STAR WARS

Have you seen Star Wars? Have you seen every Star Wars movie?

In May 1977, Star Wars was released and quickly became one of the highest grossing movies of all time. Cast members became instant stars and any toy or product with the Star Wars logo flew off store shelves. Fans couldn’t get enough as they lined up to see the film in the theaters multiple times. Perhaps you were one of those fans? Still, the producers were worried. The sequel wouldn’t be released for another 3 years. How could they make sure fans wouldn’t lose interest?

Director George Lucas came up with an idea: Let’s create a short Star Wars special that we can air on television next year to continue interest. In 1978, Lucas wrote a story about how the characters celebrated the holiday season. Instead of Christmas, he would call it “Life Day” so no one was left out. The plot of this program would follow Chewbacca’s family as they awaited his return home from a recent mission. However, Han Solo and Chewbacca would be delayed by Darth Vader who wanted to ruin Life Day for the entire universe.

THE SAGA BEGINS

Lucas sold the idea to ABC who was eager and willing to make anything with the name Star Wars for their network. It might have been an instant Christmastime classic, but by the time production was scheduled to begin, George Lucas was too busy with the early stages of making The Empire Strikes Back. ABC gave the special to the hands and direction of a team of staff writers who worked on many of the short-lived television variety shows.

Early on, it looked like the show might be pretty good. Almost all of the original cast signed on and agreed to appear. The production team was on board for special effects. There would be cameo appearances by other well-known stars like Harvey Korman, Diahann Carroll, and Bea Arthur. Ads promised never-before-seen action and an animated segment. It looked like a surefire winner.

The Star Wars Holiday Special aired at 8pm on November 17, 1978. All expectations instantly evaporated during the first 15 minutes, which consisted of Chewbacca’s family arguing in Wookiee language…without subtitles. It foreshadowed the rest of the program: a tacky variety show with a Star Wars theme. It mostly showed Chewbacca’s family whining and grunting while they watched television. The television showed song and dance numbers, a cooking show, and Jefferson Starship performing “Light the Sky on Fire.” As the show progressed, most of the 20 million viewers switched channels to see the newest episode of Wonder Woman.

REBEL FIGHTERS

Today, anyone with a DVD player or a streaming service can see most any classic movie any time they would like. In 1978, however, the idea of seeing Star Wars in your own home was irresistible, which explains why the ratings were so high. Despite the large audience, reviews were awful and true Star Wars fans hated it.

So did George Lucas.

He was furious. This special had corrupted his beloved story. Because of his anger, Lucas managed to prevent The Star Wars Holiday Special from ever airing again. He assumed that the show would be an unfortunate, but quickly forgotten misstep in his career. But that’s not what happened. 1978 was the beginning of the Video Cassette Recorder revolution, so there were some viewers who taped the show.

This set in motion a vast bootlegging network that began to distribute this show to only those fans willing to pay for a copy. Comic Conventions would see this film distributed to people who knew that it would never be available anymore. Rarity meant value.

Many copies are of very poor quality, but now with the digital availability of channels on YouTube, you can watch this terrible show online any time you’d like. Lucas has been forced to give up on his goal of cleansing his reputation by erasing the Holiday Special from existence. He once said, “If I had a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that program and smash it.”

Unfortunately, the internet is forever. Star Wars might be popular, and I don’t want to minimize Jesus by comparison. But the parallels in these stories are there.

The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus’ most famous message. Great crowds of people came from all over to see and hear what Jesus would say and do next. Unlike the Star Wars Holiday Special, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is the greatest message ever preached. The popularity of Jesus drew crowds and thanks to the witnesses who wrote down this message, it is available for us to read forever.

This morning we begin our series for 2023 by going through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. His sermon spans Matthew chapters 5-7. More specifically, for the next 8 weeks, we will be exploring the Beatitudes section of Jesus’ famous sermon. The Beatitudes are the beginning verses of Matthew 5.