What were they thinking...
Oh dear. TV has come a long way in 30 years I guess.
Watching them now, the Star Wars movies are a little cheesy at times, but overall, I'd say they still do a good job of suspending belief.
This 2-hour special from 1978 did a great job of almost destroying a dynamite brand. It's about Chewbacca trying to get home for "Life Day". And it's just shocking.
The best part is at around 4:20 - make sure that you stick around for that.
Don't let anyone tell you that the 70's were "cooler" than the 80's. They weren't. They were just wrong in different ways.