Wookiee Life Day might seem ridiculous, but according to Chewbacca himself, nothing is more absurd than the starship Enterprise seeking the God of Sha Ka Ree at the center of the galaxy.
On the anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special on November 17, William Shatner teased Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Peter Mayhew on Twitter by saying that two hours of his life was stolen by the Star Wars Holiday Special. But it’s not wise to upset a Wookiee, because Peter Mayhew threw some Twitter shade right back at Shatner saying “Same to you Bill. Two hours. Poof. Star Trek V. I know the feeling.”
Mayhew is referring to the fact that most people regard William Shatner’s 1989 directorial debut Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as not only the worst Trek film of all time, but also one of the worst movies of all time. But is it as bad as the Star Wars Holiday Special?
In a way, Peter Mayhew is actually defending Star Trek V, at least insofar as it counts as part of the “real” Trek-canon whereas everything about the Star Wars Holiday Special doesn’t count at all. (Even though the awesome Boba Fett cartoon totally should.) But, even if someone preferred Star Wars to Star Trek in general, saying you’d rather watch the Star Wars Holiday Special instead of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a little bit of stretch, the nerd version of cutting your own nose off to spite your face.
Even if it doesn’t come through in the movie itself, The Final Frontier has an interesting story on paper. Conversely, the “story” of The Star Wars Holiday Special is non-existent. It’s an unfair cage match to be sure, similar to answering the loaded question: “Which Jar Jar Binks joke is your favorite?” but it still feels like The Holiday Special is way worse.
Without question, Mayhew got the better diss on Shatner, but sitting through the celebration of Wookiee Life Day is painful, no matter how big of a Star Wars fan you are. Now, if you want to figure out who would win in a brawl between Chewbacca and Captain Kirk, the answer is pretty obvious: Chewie would beat Kirk down with Kirk’s own arms.
