The Star Wars franchise is rapidly expanding, with new projects seemingly announced every day. If there was once a dearth of Star Wars content, now it’s hard to keep up with everything going on in the galaxy far, far away. This year brings new Disney+ shows such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor, as well as the next installments in The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian. That’s all without even mentioning the countless comics, books, and games coming up, including the very popular The High Republic multimedia event.
However, there are many hidden gems from throughout the franchise’s history that are ripe for rediscovery. The original 1985 Droids and Ewoks cartoons, the television films the beloved 2D microseries Star Wars: Clone Wars, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle of Endor, and The Story of the Faithful Wookiee short film were recently added to the Disney+ archive, giving the new generation of fans the chance to relive the older projects.
There are many other hidden gems from the Star Wars franchise that deserve some love, or at least recognition. Here are seven oddball Star Wars projects that are worth looking into.
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The Star Wars Holiday Special
The legendary 1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special is one of the most notoriously derided projects in the history of television. Released just one year after the original film, ABC debuted a two-hour variety special featuring appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and Anthony Daniels. Although there’s a loose storyline that focuses around Chewbacca’s family celebrating the Wookiee holiday “Life Day,” it’s really just a bad sketch show that features guest stars such as Harvey Korman and Art Carney. Infamously, the special was never released on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, or digital release; the only available releases are pirated copies or recorded original VHS tapings. Disney+ did add the show’s animated segment, The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, to their platform.
Christmas in the Stars
Despite the complete and utter failure of The Star Wars Holiday Special, the franchise tried once more to get into the festive spirit with the 1980 album Christmas in the Stars. The nine-song CD included the vocal talent of Anthony Daniels as C-3POand Ben Burtt’s sound mix for R2-D2, as well as Jon Bon Jovi in his record debut. The narrative follows C-3PO’s attempts to teach R2 and their droid friends about the meaning of Christmas; who doesn’t want to celebrate the holidays with classics like “What Do You Get A Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb)?”
The Unaltered Star Wars Original Trilogy
Perhaps the most coveted gem of the entire franchise. George Lucas’s alterations to the original trilogy have been well documented (and well criticized) by fans; the original films were edited with new effects, sequences, and alterations for the 1997 Special Editions, the 2004 DVD release, the 2011 Blu-Ray release, the 2012 3D release of The Phantom Menace, and the new Disney+ cut. Finding an original VHS, or one of the rare 2006 DVD releases, can be tricky.
Return of the Ewok
Here’s one Star Wars project that wasn’t even finished. The 1982 mockumentary Return of the Ewok was designed as a fun extra to coincide with Return of the Jedi’s theatrical debut. It tells a semi-in-universe story of Warwick Davis’s character Wicket W. Warrick, and how he “wins a part” in the upcoming threequel. Although some known copies have screened at fan conventions, Return of the Jedi was never included in any Lucasfilm-produced product.
The Original Star Wars Muppets Sketches
Star Wars has an obvious connection to The Muppets universe. Jim Henson’s workshop contributed to the original trilogy, and Henson worked with Lucas personally for Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. The two unique creative forces have had fun interacting over the years. Star Wars guest stars Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew appeared in the 1980s The Muppet Show sketch “Pigs in Space,” which you can now watch on Disney+ alongside the entire original series. For additional fun, you can head over to HBO Max’s archive to check out Anthony Daniels’s guest appearance as C-3PO on a 1980 episode of Sesame Street.
Robot Chicken Star Wars Specials
Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are clearly massive fans, and Star Wars-related sketches have been appearing on their stop-motion comedy series since the beloved “Palpatine’s Phone Call” skit. Their tributes to the galaxy far, far away are among the few Star Wars parodies that gained the approval of Lucas himself. After Lucas appeared as a guest star on Robot Chicken, he commissioned Green and Senreich permission to dedicate three episodes of their show entirely to Star Wars. The first two Star Wars Robot Chicken specials expanded the show’s standard length to 30 minutes, and the third installment doubled the runtime altogether to bring in a full hour of programming.
Star Wars Detours
After the success of the Robot Chicken specials, Lucasfilm hired Green and Senreich to helm an entirely new animated series. Star Wars Detours was another animated sketch series but featured humor that was aimed at younger viewers. Detours was announced at the 2012 Star Wars Celebration event, but only months later the Disney purchase occurred. Although the release was reportedly put on hold indefinitely, Green has indicated in interviews that it doesn’t look like it will ever be put on Disney+ or Hulu. 39 episodes were completed, and an additional 62 scripts were written.
