Anna Daniels
Almost every time President Donald Trump has issued a presidential pardon, it has engendered some degree of controversy. According to Fox News, Star Wars star Mark Hamill is an outspoken critic of President Trump. Hamill had some interesting advice for how President Trump could reinterpret the concept of a presidential pardon.
Specifically, he was hoping President Trump could pardon a certain film. The implication a film could have committed a crime of some sort points to it being truly reviled. What Star Wars film was so bad in Hamill’s eyes it could need a presidential pardon?
The ‘Star Wars’ film many people forgot
First, a step back. Star Wars took the galaxy by storm in 1977 and 1978. No one knew if Star Wars would be a lasting franchise or a fly-by-night 1970s fad. Someone wanted to cash in on the Star Wars brand while the iron was hot.
Enter the Star Wars Holiday Special. On paper, this is a fine idea. Kids like Star Wars. Kids like holiday specials. Surely a movie that combined the two would be great family entertainment.
But that’s not what happened. The Star Wars Holiday Special is widely regarded by fans as a low-point for the franchise. It’s a bizarre collection of skits that – to many – feels so incompetent it almost becomes an accidental surrealist film.
The skits in the special are disconnected and often have little to do with Star Wars. There’s an acrobatics performance, a performance by Jefferson Starship (an appropriately-named band for this franchise), a comedy cooking skit starring a robotic Harvey Korman in drag, and a melancholy musical number from a pre-Golden Girls Bea Arthur. To many, The Star Wars Holiday Special is an inexplicable mess, though some fans enjoy it as a so-bad-it’s-good movie.
Mark Hamill bashes the special
Hamill is apparently not a fan. He jokingly asked President Trump to pardon the movie. Hamill tweeted “Hey ‘Chief Law’ Enforcement Officer of the Country”…Pardon THIS.” Attached to the tweet was a picture of an advertisement for The Star Wars Holiday Special.
Hamill appeared briefly in The Star Wars Holiday Special, reprising the role of Luke Skywalker for the very first time. He delivered his lines like a professional. However, in the years since the release of The Star Wars Holiday Special, he’s dismissed it.
CNET reports that, in 2018, a fan tweeted to Hamill they loved Lumpy, Chewbacca’s son who is seen in The Star Wars Holiday Special and no other Star Wars films. Hamill responded, “I liked Lumpy Rutherford (the one on ‘Leave It To Beaver) better.” The fact Hamill said this without incurring criticism from Star Wars fans shows how The Star Wars Holiday Special isn’t well-liked.
The Star Wars Holiday Special might not be the best film out there. It would certainly be interesting if it was somehow given a presidential pardon. That would truly make the history books.
Also see: ‘Star Wars’: The Secret Symbolism in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’
Written by: Cheat
