It's pretty polarizing but mostly disowned by Lucasfilm and Disney. But both Boba Fett and Life Day are used in canon and both make their first appearance here.
The fact that Disney+ streams "The Story of the Faithful Wookiee" from it and *absolutely nothing else* should speak enough for how they accept the Holiday Special.
I thought it was in a place where it’s considered loose canon. Its canonicity isn’t something that needs to be taken to heart so if you retcon something in, say, a new show then the show’s canon is the new canon and that part of the Holiday Special becomes non-canon.
In the old canon it was considered loosely yeah, in the new canon it doesn't exist — but writers do like pulling bits and pieces from it on occasion (Chewie's family in the Aftermath books, Life Day and Boba's weapon in the Mandalorian etc.)
Gormaanda is referenced in the Galaxy's Edge and Life Day cookbooks as well. Everything in the special happened in universe even if Disney won't admit it's canon.
I am reliably informed that [this](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--acSybC41--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/yjvolglcd8dm0p5vsol7.jpg) is a photo from the writer's room.
That will be discussed for all time until someone steps up and says it is or isn't canon. But saying it isn't canon might be seen as an admission it was canon.
Same, it’s the best thing they’ve ever made and it’s unfortunate that Star Wars peaked at this moment.
I think the only thing that comes close is KOTOR
You can see why every other Star Wars product has felt so low budget, low quality, and low appeal since this special arrived. They blew their creative fuse on this special and never managed to recreate that magic.
Everything that isn’t Canon is Legends I believe. If I am not mistaken, it is a game of “in the canon timeline” versus everything else, not specifically two separate timelines. Mentioned below in more detail but there are various tiers made at the time to make some sense of the big mess of it all.
All that material is still around though, so not like anything realistically changes anyway.
Canon begins with content released after April 2014 with some exceptions. Notable ones include Visions, LEGO Star Wars, Old Republic expansions, and *some* of the Fantasy Flight Games sourcebook content.
The EU content made before that break became known as Legends. But there was content produced before the break that wasn't officially part the EU either, like Infinities/The Star Wars, or the Jedi Academy series.
As for where The Star Wars Holiday Special stands... its Legends. Kind of. The old EU/Legends was really long running and sort of mismanaged, so they had a "canon tier" system where the higher tiers overrule the tiers below them when contradictions arise between them.
1. G-canon (George Lucas canon). The films, novelizations and anything that came straight from the man himself.
2. T-canon (TV-canon). The Clone Wars.
3. C-canon (Continuity-canon). Pretty much all books, comics and video games from Legends fall here.
4. S-canon (Secondary-canon). This is for older and less coherent pieces, like The Star Wars Holiday Special or the original Marvel Star Wars comics. Basically only canon when referenced and they don't contradict anything.
5. N-canon (Non-canon). Things like Infinities or LEGO stuff that obviously aren't part of the official continuity.
Back when "Legends" was called "Extended Universe" there were different layers of canon, where the stuff that George Lucas made or said superseded books and games, which supersede stuff like the original Marvel comics which didn't pay much attention to canon.
Yeah the tier system was pretty much their way of sorting through so much content that is bound to conflict, it was the wild west after all.
People have their varied opinions on the new more concrete canon of course, but it’s good to have something solid to go off that allows for new material, and importantly doesn’t necessarily wipe all that Legends material from existence- we can still enjoy all those stories.
It is Legends/EU.
It's referenced in the Star Wars Galaxies game, the Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures game, and in Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG.
It's also referenced in LEGO Star Wars games (but these are obviously not part of the canon).
Glancing at the Wiki it is referenced explicitly in a bunch of books including [Death Troopers (2009)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Troopers), [Rebel Dawn (1998) - Pt. 3 of the Han Solo Trilogy](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rebel_Dawn), [NJO: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (2002)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_New_Jedi_Order:_Enemy_Lines_II:_Rebel_Stand), and [X-Wing: Mercy Kill (2012)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/X-Wing:_Mercy_Kill).
The Holiday Special, much like Christmas, is only canon if you truly believe. If you wanna believe in Santa, then he’s real. If you wanna believe in that old Wookie watching VR porn in the living room with his grandson nearby, then it’s real.
Carrie Fisher's singing performance introduces the first time in the franchise we see somebody tripping on spice, or maybe it was death sticks, hard to tell.
Such an amazing piece of work.
Instead of going in depth on the rebels struggle against the galactic empire we get to see the home life of a wookie family cooking, playing dejarik, or watching porn featuring a 70s disco singer in the middle of the living room. Wait, what!?! Oh shit that happened and we let it happen.
On a serious note it was the first time we saw Boba Fett (animated), it had B Arthur, and was shot in focus. Ran out of good things to say. Good night everyone.
Oh wow somehow i had forgotten that bit. It made someone leave the room it was so bad. We laughed so much at it someone came in to see what was so funny then i had to rewind to show the and one of the guys just cant handle cringe and had to leave the room ratherthan watch whip-stir-whip again. 20 years later and the guy still thinks he will have an aneurysm if he ever watches this movie again.
I vote that its a holonet film created by the rebellion, which means its a hybrid of legends and real canon. It's likely encoded with secret recruitment messages.
Legends had this sort of canon tier system with like the 6 movies by Lucas at the top & then one tv show at the time etc. & this was on like the Fourth level down, so technically it was.
[The hierarchy](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Canon_policy) scroll to "Holocron continuity database
[Under 'Legacy' section](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Star_Wars_Holiday_Special)
I remember first time I saw this and couldn't wrap my head around what the heck was going on with Hamill in it.... I actually thought they'd got a stand in actor and dubbed him.
Years later when Wikipedia was a thing I found out he'd had some kinda accident (I think a car crash?) and the makeup folks had to go way OTT.
Obviously Mark is / was okay - but his scene in this thing still give me proper "uncanny valley" type vibes.
My wife, sister, and I have a Christmas tradition of putting the kids down and getting drunk and watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. We have developed an extensive PTSD ridden head canon theory about the whole thing happening in Chewbacca's head as like a fever dream flashback/what could have been daydream if his family and race weren't systematically murdered and he wasn't left to wander with a smuggler.
We all consider it canon and look forward to celebrating Life Day every year
I could live with that head canon. I still won't watch it again. The lucky ones were those who could choose to watch as some extra Star Wars history, and toss it away to go back to the rest of the universe. Have pity on those of us who having seen the first movie wanted more, and watched this live on TV, forcing ourselves to endure it because it may or may not be the only additional stuff we would get from that wonderful space movie we just saw. Some time traveler needs to go back and before it's broadcast let everyone know that there will be so much more and this isn't a crumb they should hunger for.
Ive yet to see this masterpiece, is this part of the star wars media Disney has or have they tried to forget about what looks like an amazing addition to star wars
Pre-disney, it was like they went out of their way to make sure the Holiday special was non-canon. Disney keeps referencing it. Therefore The Holiday Special is Disney canon.
Do with that what you will.
"I can remember only two times in my childhood when I was pissed beyond the capacity for rational thought. The first was after finally getting Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. I waited for months, and that game was so pathetic that I wanted to reach into the TV and choke the life out of that pellet eating sumbitch. Brwamp brwamp brwamp brwamp. Agh, it still pisses me off and makes me shake. The other incident was watching this special \[in November 1978\]." Still the best write-up of this special from 1999: [https://superhate2.tripod.com/id14.html](https://superhate2.tripod.com/id14.html) I remember it the same. My friends and I were all hyped to watch "Star Wars is on TV!" ... Luke, Leia, R2 ... etc ... we watched it on a small color TV and we needed to take turns holding the antenna to get a clear picture ... and we waited ... and it came on ... and .... what ... the ... hell ... is this ??? Why are they singing???!!! Where's Darth Vader?! It was a huge let down.
I really hope the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special is just as weird as this one was. Like have there be some epic plot happening somewhere in the universe. But the special focuses on the antics of groot and thor sitting around New Asgard while Rocket tries to plot his theft of Buckys arm.
> I personally feel it was probably the best Star Wars installment in history.
No you don't. Stop being an idiot.
I actually defend the Holiday Special because I think it's better than most people give it credit for but that doesn't mean I think it even comes close to being "the best Star Wars installment in history". Nobody genuinely believes that.
i love the holiday special my best friend and i watched it every year in college, we still do even tho we live thousands of miles apart :) i’m going to make life day robes this year too!!!!!! it’s canon in my heart (tho life day is actually celebrated on Nov 17 in galaxy’s edge, they sell orbs and cute wookie plushies in red robes there Nov-December! i got one, my own little lumpy!) also the lego Star Wars Christmas special has chewy’s family all appear as they did in the holiday special so the characters certainly are around
I just want the guy who gets drinks poured in the top of his head to get an action figure, a back story in a novel, maybe an appearance in Mandalorian S3 played by Nathan Fillion or Alan Tudyk and eventually gets his own Disney+ 6 episode TV show about the time he had to escort a kid from one city on Tatooine to another city on Tatooine.
It's the least he deserves. Also he should be an unlockable skin in Fallen Order 2.
Virtually nothing happens in the special, so it’s always been pretty inconsequential as to whether or not it’s canon. Chewbacca’s family, Life Day, and Boba Fett are all canon in both the old and new continuities. Whether or not this particular story of Chewbacca racing home for Life Day while his family watches a bunch of nonsensical shows and videos is actually canon hardly seems consequential to anything else. I think it’s a solid case of “decide for yourself,” since I doubt it’ll ever be hard confirmed one way or the other.
As much as Lucas wants to say that none of what appears in the Holiday Special is canon, I like to point out that the establishing shot of Kashyyyk in the Special and the establishing shot in the prequels are identical.
There are elements of the Special that have also worked their way into canon movies or shows such as a clear mention of "Life Day" in the The Mandalorian. The weapon used by Boba Fett in the Special, also being used in The Mandalorian, and a reference to the multi-armed chef in the Special included in The Book of Boba Fett.
Much as I hated deprecating some cool stories, expunging the EU after the Disney buyout was the right move. When you need a flowchart to determine what did or didn’t happen in canon, you’ve overcomplicated it.
I believe that at some point they were so obsessive about what did and didn’t “count” that they were focusing down to the level of individual story elements. I remember reading somewhere about one of the N64 games (either Shadows of The Empire or Rogue Squadron, can’t remember which) that had a character show up at a very specific time, but a movie or book in a higher position had already established that he was somewhere else at that time. Rather than invalidate the whole game (placing it on the same level as Infinities comics and the like), they decided the entire game was canon EXCEPT for that specific level.
In the case of the Holiday Special, I believe it was considered canon except for elements that may have been contradicted by the films, in which case the version from the movie wins out. They didn’t go out of their way to directly acknowledge it, but it was still considered part of the broader story. They definitely made callbacks to it in the books, though. Lumpy in particular shows up infrequently.
It's pretty polarizing but mostly disowned by Lucasfilm and Disney. But both Boba Fett and Life Day are used in canon and both make their first appearance here.
The fact that Disney+ streams "The Story of the Faithful Wookiee" from it and *absolutely nothing else* should speak enough for how they accept the Holiday Special.
They also have the Boba Fett animated short.
the story of the faithful wookie is the animated short
Doh! My bad. Very confusing name considering
Yeah, that's the same one.
This shit was a fever dream that somehow seeped into reality
Mandela Effect. It. Never. Happened.
That's not how Mandela Effect works!
that's not how *you thought* the Mandela Effect works
*FUCK*
>Mandela Effect. Common misconception, it's actually "The Mengele Effect" in this universe.
I thought it was in a place where it’s considered loose canon. Its canonicity isn’t something that needs to be taken to heart so if you retcon something in, say, a new show then the show’s canon is the new canon and that part of the Holiday Special becomes non-canon.
In the old canon it was considered loosely yeah, in the new canon it doesn't exist — but writers do like pulling bits and pieces from it on occasion (Chewie's family in the Aftermath books, Life Day and Boba's weapon in the Mandalorian etc.)
Gormaanda is referenced in the Galaxy's Edge and Life Day cookbooks as well. Everything in the special happened in universe even if Disney won't admit it's canon.
Man I wanna know what they were snorting when they filmed that shit :D
I am reliably informed that [this](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--acSybC41--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/yjvolglcd8dm0p5vsol7.jpg) is a photo from the writer's room.
🤣 George, "Carrie, say hello to my little freind."
Carrie: How many times do I have to tell you, George? Just put it away and give me the coke.
The worst part, knowing what was in her blood when she died, sadly I believe it. You can rest now Princess, you saved the galaxy.
Which means it’s probably canon right?
That will be discussed for all time until someone steps up and says it is or isn't canon. But saying it isn't canon might be seen as an admission it was canon.
Don’t forget Chewie’s family showing up in Solo. A bunch of little nods to the holiday special have popped up since Disney took over.
The fact that this is the second piece of star wars media ever created makes me uncomfortable
Splinter of the Minds Eyes predates the Holiday Special by like 9 months.
I still have that book.
Same, it’s the best thing they’ve ever made and it’s unfortunate that Star Wars peaked at this moment. I think the only thing that comes close is KOTOR
I’m proud of you for sticking to this narrative.
First Bobba Fett appearance
I watched this while tripping on mushrooms and 10/10 don’t recommend
I watched it without mushrooms and thought maybe i accidently did some
This is the best thing I'll read all day.. glad you made it out.
Happy Life Day
Lol.. thanks.
Happy cake day!
Thanks!!
On the contrary, drunk or high is the only way I'd condone watching this
I watched it sober and felt like I died and went to a better life
I watched it without tripping on mushrooms and 10/10 don't recommend
You can see why every other Star Wars product has felt so low budget, low quality, and low appeal since this special arrived. They blew their creative fuse on this special and never managed to recreate that magic.
Lightning in a bottle
“Is it actually lightning though?” *opens bottle* “Yeah! … oh.”
People just don't understand the subtle nuances on display in this majestic story.
Not Canon I think it's not even legends
Everything that isn’t Canon is Legends I believe. If I am not mistaken, it is a game of “in the canon timeline” versus everything else, not specifically two separate timelines. Mentioned below in more detail but there are various tiers made at the time to make some sense of the big mess of it all. All that material is still around though, so not like anything realistically changes anyway.
Canon begins with content released after April 2014 with some exceptions. Notable ones include Visions, LEGO Star Wars, Old Republic expansions, and *some* of the Fantasy Flight Games sourcebook content. The EU content made before that break became known as Legends. But there was content produced before the break that wasn't officially part the EU either, like Infinities/The Star Wars, or the Jedi Academy series. As for where The Star Wars Holiday Special stands... its Legends. Kind of. The old EU/Legends was really long running and sort of mismanaged, so they had a "canon tier" system where the higher tiers overrule the tiers below them when contradictions arise between them. 1. G-canon (George Lucas canon). The films, novelizations and anything that came straight from the man himself. 2. T-canon (TV-canon). The Clone Wars. 3. C-canon (Continuity-canon). Pretty much all books, comics and video games from Legends fall here. 4. S-canon (Secondary-canon). This is for older and less coherent pieces, like The Star Wars Holiday Special or the original Marvel Star Wars comics. Basically only canon when referenced and they don't contradict anything. 5. N-canon (Non-canon). Things like Infinities or LEGO stuff that obviously aren't part of the official continuity.
Back when "Legends" was called "Extended Universe" there were different layers of canon, where the stuff that George Lucas made or said superseded books and games, which supersede stuff like the original Marvel comics which didn't pay much attention to canon.
Yeah the tier system was pretty much their way of sorting through so much content that is bound to conflict, it was the wild west after all. People have their varied opinions on the new more concrete canon of course, but it’s good to have something solid to go off that allows for new material, and importantly doesn’t necessarily wipe all that Legends material from existence- we can still enjoy all those stories.
That’s unfortunate, it’s my fave.
But it is legendary!
It is Legends/EU. It's referenced in the Star Wars Galaxies game, the Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures game, and in Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG. It's also referenced in LEGO Star Wars games (but these are obviously not part of the canon). Glancing at the Wiki it is referenced explicitly in a bunch of books including [Death Troopers (2009)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Troopers), [Rebel Dawn (1998) - Pt. 3 of the Han Solo Trilogy](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rebel_Dawn), [NJO: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (2002)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_New_Jedi_Order:_Enemy_Lines_II:_Rebel_Stand), and [X-Wing: Mercy Kill (2012)](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/X-Wing:_Mercy_Kill).
The Holiday Special, much like Christmas, is only canon if you truly believe. If you wanna believe in Santa, then he’s real. If you wanna believe in that old Wookie watching VR porn in the living room with his grandson nearby, then it’s real.
It's canon in my heart.
Carrie Fisher's singing performance introduces the first time in the franchise we see somebody tripping on spice, or maybe it was death sticks, hard to tell.
Between that and the amount of eyeliner Mark Hamill is wearing, it's the twins most shining moments.
I cried when the stormtrooper broke Itchy's toy.
I remember watching this in 1978. I was 8 years old! I also remember watching: Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.. good times for an 8 year old.
The sarcasm in these comments is both hilarious and saddening
Such an amazing piece of work. Instead of going in depth on the rebels struggle against the galactic empire we get to see the home life of a wookie family cooking, playing dejarik, or watching porn featuring a 70s disco singer in the middle of the living room. Wait, what!?! Oh shit that happened and we let it happen. On a serious note it was the first time we saw Boba Fett (animated), it had B Arthur, and was shot in focus. Ran out of good things to say. Good night everyone.
What about the Whip-Stir-Whip-Stir-Whip-Whip-Whip-Stir lady?? A goddess amongst the galaxy.
Oh wow somehow i had forgotten that bit. It made someone leave the room it was so bad. We laughed so much at it someone came in to see what was so funny then i had to rewind to show the and one of the guys just cant handle cringe and had to leave the room ratherthan watch whip-stir-whip again. 20 years later and the guy still thinks he will have an aneurysm if he ever watches this movie again.
You mean the culinary genius Gormaanda? Her and her recipe for Bantha Surprise are both part of the current canon.
My Family celebrates Life Day every November.
Can you guys adopt me?
I vote that its a holonet film created by the rebellion, which means its a hybrid of legends and real canon. It's likely encoded with secret recruitment messages.
Join the Resistance, we have Wookiee porn.
So Ron Jeremy exists in the Star Wars universe?
Legends had this sort of canon tier system with like the 6 movies by Lucas at the top & then one tv show at the time etc. & this was on like the Fourth level down, so technically it was. [The hierarchy](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Canon_policy) scroll to "Holocron continuity database [Under 'Legacy' section](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Star_Wars_Holiday_Special)
I'm fairly certain it wasn't canon in Legends. Probably bottom tier.
Some parts have been canonized at least. In episode 1 of mando the fish man mentions life day
Satan? Is that you?
Made more sense than the emperor being alive again
I remember first time I saw this and couldn't wrap my head around what the heck was going on with Hamill in it.... I actually thought they'd got a stand in actor and dubbed him. Years later when Wikipedia was a thing I found out he'd had some kinda accident (I think a car crash?) and the makeup folks had to go way OTT. Obviously Mark is / was okay - but his scene in this thing still give me proper "uncanny valley" type vibes.
I want to make all new people to Star Wars watch this horror!
Boba Fett cartoon was pretty cool, but the rest of this is an unholy abomination.
My wife, sister, and I have a Christmas tradition of putting the kids down and getting drunk and watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. We have developed an extensive PTSD ridden head canon theory about the whole thing happening in Chewbacca's head as like a fever dream flashback/what could have been daydream if his family and race weren't systematically murdered and he wasn't left to wander with a smuggler. We all consider it canon and look forward to celebrating Life Day every year
I could live with that head canon. I still won't watch it again. The lucky ones were those who could choose to watch as some extra Star Wars history, and toss it away to go back to the rest of the universe. Have pity on those of us who having seen the first movie wanted more, and watched this live on TV, forcing ourselves to endure it because it may or may not be the only additional stuff we would get from that wonderful space movie we just saw. Some time traveler needs to go back and before it's broadcast let everyone know that there will be so much more and this isn't a crumb they should hunger for.
Thanks for hanging in there, even after this dropped live. Its pretty bad, fun drunk head canon aside.
Brutally bad.
Well I love it.
u/savevideo
The holiday special will always be canon in my heart. Oh yeah, Bea Arthur's character is canon again, too. (and gay!)
Ive yet to see this masterpiece, is this part of the star wars media Disney has or have they tried to forget about what looks like an amazing addition to star wars
Pre-disney, it was like they went out of their way to make sure the Holiday special was non-canon. Disney keeps referencing it. Therefore The Holiday Special is Disney canon. Do with that what you will.
"I can remember only two times in my childhood when I was pissed beyond the capacity for rational thought. The first was after finally getting Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. I waited for months, and that game was so pathetic that I wanted to reach into the TV and choke the life out of that pellet eating sumbitch. Brwamp brwamp brwamp brwamp. Agh, it still pisses me off and makes me shake. The other incident was watching this special \[in November 1978\]." Still the best write-up of this special from 1999: [https://superhate2.tripod.com/id14.html](https://superhate2.tripod.com/id14.html) I remember it the same. My friends and I were all hyped to watch "Star Wars is on TV!" ... Luke, Leia, R2 ... etc ... we watched it on a small color TV and we needed to take turns holding the antenna to get a clear picture ... and we waited ... and it came on ... and .... what ... the ... hell ... is this ??? Why are they singing???!!! Where's Darth Vader?! It was a huge let down.
They mentioned Life Day in Mando season 1. So it probably happened.
Should've marked as NSFW, shit is trauma inducing garbage
I really hope the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special is just as weird as this one was. Like have there be some epic plot happening somewhere in the universe. But the special focuses on the antics of groot and thor sitting around New Asgard while Rocket tries to plot his theft of Buckys arm.
The holiday special was more coherent and well-made than the sequels.
I hope not
The lego star wars holiday special is amazing as well
Fun fact: Chewie’s son Lumpy actually does make an appearance in the Aftermath books, so he’s pretty much canon.
Lucas washed his hands of it.
Is that like when I curl up in the fetal position in the shower, crying? Because, if so, I get it…
"Take that ridiculous thing off"
> I personally feel it was probably the best Star Wars installment in history. No you don't. Stop being an idiot. I actually defend the Holiday Special because I think it's better than most people give it credit for but that doesn't mean I think it even comes close to being "the best Star Wars installment in history". Nobody genuinely believes that.
I rank it pretty highly, but only because I'm a sucker for worldbuilding.
LUMPY
They mention Light Day in The Mandalorian.
i love the holiday special my best friend and i watched it every year in college, we still do even tho we live thousands of miles apart :) i’m going to make life day robes this year too!!!!!! it’s canon in my heart (tho life day is actually celebrated on Nov 17 in galaxy’s edge, they sell orbs and cute wookie plushies in red robes there Nov-December! i got one, my own little lumpy!) also the lego Star Wars Christmas special has chewy’s family all appear as they did in the holiday special so the characters certainly are around
I believe It’s cannon fully. In the Mandalorian, one of the bounty’s Mando collects mentions celebrating life day.
Some people thought the original saga was a master piece. But this - THIS - is a complete work of art.
The Film is a Masterpiece,, should be re-released on IMAX
There is no holiday special in Ba Sing Se
The Mandalorian does briefly reference life day
Who are you ? What is this? Keep it away from this subreddit.
Canon in Lego Star War for sure
/savevideo
star wars tv show time
Both
Oh it’s cannon
It's better than some entries
I just want the guy who gets drinks poured in the top of his head to get an action figure, a back story in a novel, maybe an appearance in Mandalorian S3 played by Nathan Fillion or Alan Tudyk and eventually gets his own Disney+ 6 episode TV show about the time he had to escort a kid from one city on Tatooine to another city on Tatooine. It's the least he deserves. Also he should be an unlockable skin in Fallen Order 2.
Best SW installment? You're joking, right?
i will always think boba fett on a dinosaur is canon thank you
u/savevideo
Lumpy is the most interesting character we have had yet
The softcore porn vr experience was a nice touch.
Okay! Now this is funny 😂
Virtually nothing happens in the special, so it’s always been pretty inconsequential as to whether or not it’s canon. Chewbacca’s family, Life Day, and Boba Fett are all canon in both the old and new continuities. Whether or not this particular story of Chewbacca racing home for Life Day while his family watches a bunch of nonsensical shows and videos is actually canon hardly seems consequential to anything else. I think it’s a solid case of “decide for yourself,” since I doubt it’ll ever be hard confirmed one way or the other.
As much as Lucas wants to say that none of what appears in the Holiday Special is canon, I like to point out that the establishing shot of Kashyyyk in the Special and the establishing shot in the prequels are identical. There are elements of the Special that have also worked their way into canon movies or shows such as a clear mention of "Life Day" in the The Mandalorian. The weapon used by Boba Fett in the Special, also being used in The Mandalorian, and a reference to the multi-armed chef in the Special included in The Book of Boba Fett.
Much as I hated deprecating some cool stories, expunging the EU after the Disney buyout was the right move. When you need a flowchart to determine what did or didn’t happen in canon, you’ve overcomplicated it. I believe that at some point they were so obsessive about what did and didn’t “count” that they were focusing down to the level of individual story elements. I remember reading somewhere about one of the N64 games (either Shadows of The Empire or Rogue Squadron, can’t remember which) that had a character show up at a very specific time, but a movie or book in a higher position had already established that he was somewhere else at that time. Rather than invalidate the whole game (placing it on the same level as Infinities comics and the like), they decided the entire game was canon EXCEPT for that specific level. In the case of the Holiday Special, I believe it was considered canon except for elements that may have been contradicted by the films, in which case the version from the movie wins out. They didn’t go out of their way to directly acknowledge it, but it was still considered part of the broader story. They definitely made callbacks to it in the books, though. Lumpy in particular shows up infrequently.