‘A Disturbance in the Force’ Doc Trailer About THAT Holiday Special

A Disturbance in the Force Trailer

“Nobody’s allowed to mention it.” An early promo trailer has debuted for a new fan documentary titled A Disturbance in the Force, co-directed by the filmmaker behind the Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made documentary. This crazy Star Wars doc is about the infamous, unbelievably bad Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978, digging deep into the behind-the-scenes story. The filmmakers explain to io9: “Most attention on the Holiday Special just focuses on how bad it is and doesn’t go deeper. Our film is not going to be 90 minutes of dumping on it because no one wants to watch that. We’re gone really deep in the research and like an onion, there are a lot more layers as to how the Special happened than you would expect.” Sounds good to me. As much as I want nothing to do with that Holiday Special (although this year’s Lego Holiday Special looks fun), I’m curious about this and what they learned from the people who made it.

First trailer (+ poster) for Coon & Kozak’s doc A Disturbance in the Force, from Vimeo (via SlashFilm):

A Disturbance in the Force Doc

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… George Lucas decided to capitalize on the Star Wars craze by producing a holiday special. What could possibly go wrong? Answer: Everything… Now the filmmakers behind Napoleon Dynamite and Raiders! The Story Of The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made are making a documentary of the story behind the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. A Disturbance in the Force is co-directed by filmmakers Jeremy Coon (producer of Napoleon Dynamite, director of Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made) & Steve Kozak (producer on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, researcher on “The Tonight Show”). The film is still being edited, however the directors claim they’ve spoken to every living crew member involved: “Most of the crew are proud not only of the special but of the TV variety genre that so few know about today, so they enjoy reminiscing about it.” A Disturbance in the Force is expected to be released sometime in 2021 – stay tuned for more news. First impression? Who wants to watch already?