Opening scene from the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

I don't dare force anyone to watch the entire thing. If you want to find it, it's easy enough to track down on the web (it's also "serialized" into several parts on YouTube). But in this season of too many Christmas specials on TV, it's good to be reminded of how much worse they all could be by taking a look at the most glorious travesty that was ever done in the name of Star Wars...This is the thing that George Lucas has stated that if it were in his power to do so, he would track down every existing copy and have them incinerated. There's a reason he has that sentiment and if you watch this you'll understand why.

I will say this though: when I was the Humor editor at TheForce.net, the Star Wars Holiday Special did provide a lot of great pics to use in the "Captioning" feature. I went back and tracked 'em down: #36 and #37 are from late 2000 and a year later I ran #57 (again featuring Harvey Korman as the weird 4-handed alien "Julia Child") and #58 (that's Art Carney with Chewbacca's son Lumpy... yeah this was a pretty forgettable special awright). I remember those captions especially well 'cuz everyone really enjoyed poking fun at the Holiday Special. And these aren't from the special but I still have a lot of fondness for #41 (a pic from the B-movie Yor: Hunter from the Future) and #61 (doesn't Andre the Giant look so much like Emperor Palpatine in that shot? :-).

Anyway, if you really absolutely must, don't let me stop you from watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. It should be seen by every Star Wars fan at least once in their life. After that, even Jar Jar Binks looks pretty good.