Chewbacca is going to be on the holiday episode of ‘Glee.’ Sadly, it does not appear that he will be participating in any Life Day events (if you have any idea what Life Day refers to, I’m sorry), but he will be appearing in some sort of Christmas dream sequence. “Oh, heavens, Chewbacca appearing on ‘Glee’ is a travesty to the sanctity of ‘Star Wars,'” you would have probably said before you ever watched ‘The Phantom Menace.’ Now, you just shrug. I just shrugged. Han Solo just shrugged. We are all, collectively, shrugging. But! It doesn’t happen often, but this isn’t the first time a ‘Star Wars’ character, played by the original actor, has appeared in something that isn’t Star Wars. Behold, (not counting commercials) a brief history of ‘Star Wars’ characters appearing in something that’s not ‘Star Wars.’
‘The Muppet Show’
Hey, remember ‘The Muppets’? Whatever happened to them? Anyway, back in 1980, Luke Skywalker, C-3P0 and R2D2 were looking for Chewbacca (they should really try looking on the set of ‘Glee’). Hey, want to see some overacting? Fast forward to 5:40 to watch Mark Hamill scream “Down with the Empire!” before kicking down a door.
‘Sesame Street’
R2-D2 is in love with a fire hydrant. That’s about it. C-3PO does try to talk R2-D2 out of this foolishness. People should listen to C-3P0 more often.
Anti-Smoking PSA
This is not really a commercial, so it counts. Technically it’s a pubic service announcement about the benefits of smoking. Look how cool R2-D2 looks with a cigarette! If I want to be as cool as Artoo, I should smoke. OK, having just re-watched that clip, apparently C-3PO doesn’t want you to smoke. Eh, it was the ’70s, so you never know. Lesson learned: Don’t smoke.
Whooping Cough PSA
Also, don’t get whooping cough. Smoking does not cause whooping cough, at least in humans. But, the studies are inconclusive on droids. Look, all I know is that I just watched R2-D2 smoking a butt, now he has the whooping cough. You know, I have a feeling that anyone who has ever come out against immunizing children has probably seen this add. I could envision a scenario in which listening to C-3PO patronizingly saying, “parents of Earth, please immunize your kids,” would lead some parent not to do just that out of spite.
1997 MTV Music Awards
Mike Myers awarded Chewbacca a lifetime achievement award at the 1997 MTV Music Awards. Get this, Chewbacca won this award before he even appeared on ‘Glee.’