Warning! Contains spoilers for The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special!

James Gunn's The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special could make up for Star Wars' failed attempt in 1978. Set before The Empire Strikes Back, the Star Wars Holiday Special featured members of the original cast reuniting on Chewbacca's home planet of Kashyyyk to celebrate "Life Day." Unfortunately, this television special was largely met with disappointment upon release. More than 40 years later, the MCU succeeded where Star Wars failed.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is Marvel's second live-action title fully dedicated to seasonal celebrations, with the first being Werewolf by Night, the MCU Halloween special that revealed more about the origin of werewolves and vampires in the MCU. The success of Werewolf by Night on Disney+ has led to high expectations for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which the MCU Phase 4 closer met with flying colors. While the Star Wars Holiday Special is remembered as a failure, it's notable how it inspired the MCU's own lighthearted sci-fi Christmas special feature.

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The Star Wars Holiday Special Enabled The Guardian's One

James Gunn and Guardians of the Galaxy Team in Avengers Infinity War

Despite the Star Wars Christmas special disappointing audiences, its infamy led long-time Star Wars fan James Gunn to develop his own Holiday Special. Despite the return of a cast featuring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, the Star Wars Holiday Special was notoriously terrible, but it also cultivated its own legend of sorts, as it was never re-broadcast or released through any home video mediums. Living up to his public claim of unapologetically loving the Star Wars Holiday Special, Gunn has paid tribute to the Life Day story by tweaking aspects to fit the Guardians team. In the process, the Holiday Special also set up the MCU future of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Though the Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special revolves around the Guardians teaching each other about Christmas, its different tropes are all inspired by elements from the Star Wars Christmas special, like the live music performances. In particular, the animated sequences in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special are a nod to how Star Wars also combined animation and live-action. The Guardians team has been unable to avoid friendly Star Wars comparisons since it began too — as both are obviously team-based space operas owned by Disney — so there's also the meta-humor of playing into that parallel with Gunn embracing the idea of the Christmas special for the MCU. It certainly made waiting for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 just a little easier.

The Star Wars Holiday Special Is So Bad Even Disney Doesn't Want It

Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Comparison - Yondu and Boba Fett animated sequences side by side

The fact that the Star Wars Holiday Special isn't even on Disney+ already answers any questions MCU or Star Wars viewers may have about how bad it actually is. In hindsight, it wasn't much of a challenge for Gunn to make something better, as it might have been more difficult to make something worse. To be fair, this is also a result of the times. While the Star Wars Holiday Special was a bit of an experiment, the Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special is not as unusual of a feature when compared to the rest of contemporary television, which also has much higher standards in general compared to the '70s.

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