Lego Star Wars Holiday Special

In 1978, the Star Wars Holiday Special was released in all its trashy glory! 42 years later, the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special was released in all its rollicking glory! Both are designed to sell toys, both prominently feature Life Day, and both have some bafflingly unintelligible grunting Wookiees. And both are pretty awesome, but for very different reasons. Lego properties are often light-hearted, genuine, and downright funny. So what makes the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special so full of the force? Let's break it down:

• BB-8's sassy hand. Such 'tude!
• Force Ghost Obi-Wan clearing his throat with a loud "ahem!" to get everybody's attention.
• Roasting tip-yip on the Millennium Falcon's engine thrusters.
• Vader vs. Vader. Yes, you heard that correctly.
• The slight bit of flex in the light sabers, to emulate what a "real" Lego saber fight would look like.
• The only thing cuter than Baby Yoda ... is LEGO BABY YODA!
• Three Obi-Wan Kenobis. Triple the awesome!
• The top of Darth Maul hobbling through the desert. (Still the most acrobatic fighter there is.)
• Old Han asking young Han if he wants to shoot first. (Yes, to quote Greedo, there are oonta goota Solos.)
• Vader covering for himself when he accidentally spills the beans to Luke that they are related. "My these binary suns!"
• 
  Kylo's entire shirtless scene. Lego shirtlessness is just as amazing as live action shirtless Kylo!
• Ever wanted to hear Star Wars characters sing "Jingle Bells"? In the original Huttese? Well now is your chance!
• Vader doing air quotes. With Lego hands!
• BB-8 facing off against a light saber ... using just his little Bic lighter thingy.
• Vader's ugly sweater. Happy Life Day!
  
• Great lines like...
• Poe: "If there are two things Wookiees love, it's arm-ripping, and parties!"
• Yoda: "Participation trophies for Jedi, there are not."
• Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Bored. Bored. Bored. Who cares about a trade dispute?!"
• Vader: "Now I have the ... what IS this thing?"
• Clone Troopers: "Jinx. Oh! Double jinx!"
• Luke: "I have no idea what a 'Darth Vader' is..."
• Vader: "Oh, that's original!"
• Poe: "The biggest intergalactic disaster since Jar Jar's senate speech!"
• Admiral Ackbar: "It's a wrap!"
• Luke: "I think that's what Yoda said. It was all backwards-y."
• Any of Ol' Sheevy Palpatine's insanely hysterical lines:
• 
  "Of course I'm the galaxy's best emperor. I'm the galaxy's ONLY emperor!"
• "Me want-y, you get-y!"
• "Yeah, yeah, blabbity-blah."
• "A lousy Tibanna gas mine?"
• "You think maybe you could put a shirt on?"
• "Less talky-talky, more fighty-fighty!"
• "Woo hoo! Dark side!"
• "Zappity zappity zappity!"

But in the end, what really makes the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special so awesome is its heart. When Force Ghost Yoda shows Rey the scenes she overlooked, it had the same Dickensian impact as the ghosts showing Scrooge scenes from Christmas Past, Present, and Future. He points out that it's all about connection. This was powerful to me. Not only was it a good distillation of the Force (everything is connected), but it also really describes one of my main philosophies in life (relationships are all about the strength of our connections). So when Palpatine says that Rey is alone and she emphatically replies "I am NOT alone", it really hits hard. 

May the force be with you all as you enjoy some joyous joy this Life Day!

And if you need some glorious Life Day trash, check out the original 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special!