A Human male commander serving the Galactic Empire's military was instrumental in enforcing martial law on the planet of Kashyyyk. This occurred during an Imperial blockade of the world, which coincided with the Life Day holiday in 1.5 ABY. This commander, at the head of a squad composed of two stormtroopers and a technician, was tasked with searching the homes of the native Wookiees for any connections to the Rebel Alliance. Arriving at the house belonging to Chewbacca, a hero of the Alliance who was not present, the Imperials proceeded to harass Chewbacca's family while awaiting his return, unaware of his true identity. After dismissing the trader Saun Dann from the premises, threatening Mallatobuck, Chewbacca's wife, with violence, and supervising a thorough search of the dwelling, the commander ultimately left. His departure was prompted by Lumpawarrump, Chewbacca's son, who secretly used a mini-transmitter to send a "return to base" signal to the officer's comlink. The commander, now suspicious that the missing Wookiee was a Rebel operative, stationed stormtrooper B4711 at the residence to await Chewbacca's eventual arrival.
During the Galactic Empire's conflict with the Rebel Alliance, a male Human with brown hair and brown eyes held the rank of commander within the military. In the middle of 1 ABY, during the Wookiee holiday known as Life Day, this commander was deployed to Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiees, which was under an Imperial blockade. Due to suspected Rebel activity, martial law and a curfew were imposed on the planet. The commander led a squad consisting of two stormtroopers and a technician, conducting house-to-house searches for connections to the Alliance. Their search led them to a treetop house in Rwookrrorro, a city, which was the residence of Chewbacca's family, a celebrated hero of the Alliance.
Upon entering the residence, the Imperial contingent encountered three Wookiees: Mallatobuck, Chewbacca's wife; Attichitcuk, his father; and Lumpawarrump, his son. A Human trader named Saun Dann was also present. As the residents showed fear, the technician informed the commander that another adult male Wookiee resided there. Although unaware that this Wookiee was the renowned Chewbacca, the commander demanded to know his location. Dann offered his services as a translator between the Imperials' Basic and the Wookiees' Shyriiwook, but the commander was only interested in verifying the trader's identity. While he inserted Dann's identification card into a reader, he instructed his men to search the house for any evidence of Rebel involvement. After confirming the validity of the trader's card, the commander dismissed him. Dann, secretly a member of the Alliance who hoped to protect Chewbacca's identity, only left when a stormtrooper aimed his blaster rifle at him.
The commander, growing impatient, ordered his men to expedite their search. When one of the troopers aimed his rifle at an enraged Mallatobuck after the other trooper pushed Lumpawarrump and Attichitcuk aside, the commander intervened. He instructed Mallatobuck to silence her son, implying that she would suffer consequences if she failed to do so. She complied by allowing her son to watch a cartoon depicting his father's exploits in the Rebellion. When the video caused Lumpwarrump to scream, the commander investigated. The young Wookiee quickly switched the screen of his video book to a game, and the commander lost interest. Meanwhile, the technician and one of the troopers ransacked Lumpawarrump's room during their search. The commander then ordered the young Wookiee to clean up the mess, hoping to keep him out of their way.
All four Imperials then focused on the residence's wallscreen when a program began, announcing itself as mandatory viewing for all members of the Imperial forces. The program, titled Life on Tatooine, was a live broadcast depicting a difficult night in the life of Ackmena, the nightshift bartender of a cantina in Mos Eisley, a city on the planet Tatooine. The broadcast was intended to instill a sense of superiority in viewers by showcasing the cantina's low-life patrons. After the program, the commander's comlink received a "return to base" order, which the Imperials failed to realize was sent by Lumpawarrump using a mini-transmitter. The commander led the technician and one stormtrooper out of the house but left trooper B4711 behind to await the return of the missing Wookiee. When Chewbacca did return, he and his Human companion, Han Solo, caused B4711 to fall from the treetops to the forest floor. Saun Dann then reported to another Imperial officer that the stormtrooper had fled into the woods. The officer believed the lie, allowing the Wookiees to celebrate Life Day without Imperial interference.
This Imperial commander had fair skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. He sported prominent sideburns, a common style among Imperial officers during that era. While in Chewbacca's home, the commander was curt with Saun Dann, showing little patience for the trader's attempts to interfere with the search for Rebel activity. He displayed a similar temperament with his own men, becoming annoyed by their slow progress and insisting that they had other homes to search before the day's end. He often addressed his men with a simple snap of his fingers.
Although the commander prevented one of his stormtroopers from firing on Mallatobuck, he warned her not to test the trooper's patience and subtly threatened her with harm if she did not control her son, Lumpawarrump, whom the commander found irritating. Despite being unaware that he was in the home of Chewbacca, the commander suspected that the residence's missing Wookiee was one of the Rebels he was searching for, and he acted on this suspicion by leaving B4711 behind after his departure.
The Imperial commander made his debut in The Star Wars Holiday Special, a television feature from 1978 that was spun off from the original Star Wars film from 1977. He was portrayed by actor Jack Rader. While he was only referred to as "officer" in the program and as "Guard officer" in the fourth draft of the Holiday Special's script, he was later identified as a commander in 1995's The Essential Guide to Characters. The character of an Imperial commander was present in the Holiday Special from its initial story treatment, where he is shown at an Imperial base, insisting to his aides that the Starship Musica vessel, carrying several Rebels, must not reach the Wookiee planet in time for the holiday celebrations. A guest star, intended to be played by actress Raquel Welch, volunteers to sabotage the ship.
The Holiday Special was almost universally criticized after its initial airing. Star Wars author Alex Newborn has identified the Imperial characters as contributing to the program's poor quality, describing them as "ineffectual Imperial antagonists" in the context of a 1970s variety show, which contributed to an overall lack of focus.
In the Holiday Special, the commander wears three code cylinders on his military uniform and displays a single row of six squares on his rank insignia. While The Essential Guide to Warfare (2012) explains the use of code cylinders and rank insignia by officers of the Imperial Navy, no source has specified the branch of the Imperial Military to which the Holiday Special's commander belonged. Additionally, the tunic of his uniform opens down the middle, unlike the tunics worn by officers in the original Star Wars trilogy, which open on either the left or right side.