Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher Reflect on the 'Embarrassment' That Was the 'Star Wars Holiday Special'

Want to get a look of pure scorn from Harrison Ford? Just tell him that there were some positives to come out of 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special, the much-maligned television variety show that introduced us to Chewbacca’s extended family of Wookiees (including father Itchy and son Lumpy), featured celebrity guests like Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, and Art Carney, and found Carrie Fisher belting out a song about the fictional holiday “Life Day.” (For the record, it also gave us the first look at fan favorite Boba Fett.)

“What an embarrassment,” Ford remarked of the special during the press day for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (watch above).

“It was awful,” said Fisher, who, nonetheless, sang a snippet of her song for us. “And I don’t mean awful in a good way.”

The TV project, which George Lucas had no creative control over, was so horrifying that the Star Wars mastermind refused to ever let it be rerun on television or released on home video. However, bootleg copies can still be gawked at on YouTube.

Related: Carrie Fisher on that ‘Empire’ Screen Kiss With Screen Brother Mark Hamill: 'There Were No Tongues’

The director and new cast members of Force Awakens, though, were enthusiastic about the idea of doing their own contemporary version, especially with musical talents like Oscar Isaac (whose rendition of Bill Murray’s Star Wars song just went viral), Daisy Ridley (who, director J.J, Abrams said, sang on set every day), and Adam Driver (who like Isaac, sang in Inside Llewyn Davis) onboard.

“I think they should, because it’s good for kids,” said John Boyega, who plays Stormtrooper-turned-Resistance ally Finn. “Maybe there’s a version that none of us could imagine that would be genius,” Abrams said.

Just don’t tell that Harrison Ford.

See the stars of ‘The Force Awakens’ demonstrate how to properly play with their action figures: