A book about the Star Wars Holiday Special is out now

There is a lot we still don’t know about the Star Wars Holiday Special — but thanks to a new book on sale now, many of our questions may finally be (sort of) answered.

A Disturbance in the Force: How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened by Steve Kozak — the director of a documentary of the same name — is set to detail all the behind-the-scenes secrets you have ever wanted to know about the infamous holiday special featuring the cast of the movie that started it all.

The special was originally aired on CBS on November 17, 1978, and was never rebroadcast due to poor reception. The only reason it really exists at all today is because of Star Wars fans who recorded and distributed it amongst themselves. Surely something its creators barely want to acknowledge has to have a series of stories behind it explaining why anything like it happened at all. Allegedly, this book is finally going to tell some of those stories.

The special has one positive thing going for it — the introduction of Boba Fett. The animated short that first features the now iconic character was added to Disney+ in 2021, and is the only part of the special officially acknowledged by the platform.

If you are brave enough to try watching the special for yourself, it exists on YouTube with a simple search. The new book, however, might provide some helpful context as to why it is … the way it is. I’m not going to sit here bashing it, because it has become so embedded in our fandom culture that it feels wrong to do that somehow. But I hope you’re as curious as I am to learn more about what really happened behind the scenes.

A Disturbance in the Force: How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened by Steve Kozak is available for purchase online now.

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