# Does Star Trek have its "Star Wars Holiday Special"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [April 6, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247 "2023-04-06T12:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/21 "2023-04-06T14:19:32Z")
@Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor They’re available on YouTube. In fact, [here’s the one I watched](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdgc5Lq0PRU) at the Star Trek convention in Chicago in 1975: for some reason it wouldn’t let me embed the link normally but hopefully that works. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/22 "2023-04-06T14:27:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > There are certainly individual episodes of _Star Trek_ that are infamously bad or lame or cheesy, whether you limit it to the original series or the whole franchise. (“Spock’s Brain” and “The Way To Eden” (the one with the Space Hippies) spring to mind.) The series’ third season was particularly rife with bad episodes, and those two, specifically, are the ones that I think are the worst; if I had to pick a single worst one, it’d be “Spock’s Brain.” > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I’d actually nominate ST V. Agreed – that is, without a doubt, the singularly stupidest Trek film. > [@Odesio](#): > > They spent a lot of money on that Enterprise model and by God we were going to spend a lot of time looking at it. We used to refer to that film as _Star Trek: The Ship_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/23 "2023-04-06T14:45:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > if I had to pick a single worst one, it’d be “Spock’s Brain.” “Brain and brain! What is brain?” is classically the worst, but I think “And the Children Shall Lead” beats it by a hair. Melvin Belli, who couldn’t act, was dressed in a shower curtain type of thing, and none of the children could act. And the chant…oh, the chant… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/24 "2023-04-06T14:49:54Z")
Yes, ST spread their suckitude around several shows, moves and episodes. There’s no _one_ bad thing in total. But Wookie porn, long set pieces of the show in Wookie-ese with no subtitles, Carrie Fisher stoned, Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, Jefferson freakin’ Starship! Oh the pain, the pain! Starlog had a big write up on it (including the cover!) and oh how they thought it would be so great. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/25 "2023-04-06T14:53:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > > > ST V. > > Agreed – that is, without a doubt, the singularly stupidest Trek film. ST V is bad, but I would watch it ten times out of ten before I sat through the war crime of _Nemesis_ again. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/26 "2023-04-06T15:12:11Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > before I sat through the war crime of _Nemesis_ again. I learned my lesson from III, IV, V, VI, VII. I never watched it. And I never will. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/27 "2023-04-06T15:17:45Z")
Let’s not forget the one where Janeway and Paris turned into space lizards and had babies together. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/28 "2023-04-06T15:27:17Z")
Please. Let’s. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/29 "2023-04-06T15:28:11Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Here’s the thing, The Star Wars Holiday Special is so bad that very few other franchises have an equivalent. I’ll concur with that. Individual episodes like “Spock’s Brain” and “Code of Honor” and “Profit and Lace” and “Threshold” and “A Night In Sickbay” etc are pretty bad, but they don’t plumb the depths of the SWHS (even setting aside the fact that each of the former was just another episode while the latter was presented as an _Event_[tm]). ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/30 "2023-04-06T15:33:47Z")
I don’t suppose this counts? > **[Captain Picard sings "Let it Snow!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSn2JuDQSc?feature=share)** > > Check out my other Avengers Christmas Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KGF7SAPMAYIf you would like me to make more videos like this one, consider suppo... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/31 "2023-04-06T15:36:45Z")
One distinction between the Holiday Special and the bottom-rung Trek episodes and movies is that the latter still had the active involvement of the franchise’s creators and executive producers. George Lucas didn’t have much involvement in the Holiday Special, particularly in its latter stages of production (though he apparently came up with the main story idea about Chewie’s family, and wrote the cartoon segment with Boba Fett); the production was largely controlled and written by people with backgrounds in TV variety shows, and created with that style of program in mind – they likely saw the campiness and strange humor as a feature, not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/32 "2023-04-06T15:36:45Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > they don’t plumb the depths of the SWHS RIght—the _Star Wars Holiday Special_ was an epic fail. It was “Let’s bury this and forget it ever happened” level of bad. If you look up “bad” in the dictionary, you see a picture of the SWHS. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/33 "2023-04-06T15:52:15Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But every once in a great while some TV show, special or movie is released that is so “WTF were they thinking” surreally bad, that it becomes utterly fascinating to watch. The Star Wars Holiday Special exists smack-dab in the center of this rarefied realm. I can enjoy bad entertainment in the vein of it being so bad its good. I can sit down and enjoy a movie like _Hell Comes to Frogtown._ But the Holiday Special was simply devoid of any entertainment value. Perhaps if I was watching it with a group of people while we were drinking I could have had some fun with it. But sober? No way. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/34 "2023-04-06T15:57:05Z")
Maybe Nu Trek, which threw away subtlety, quieter character moments, and talking about issues through an SF lens for lens flares, noisy action, and non-mystery “mystery boxes.” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/35 "2023-04-06T16:09:47Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Perhaps if I was watching it with a group of people while we were drinking I could have had some fun with it. But sober? No way. Who said I was sober at the time? 😉 But really, I think it stands out as a supremely weird cultural artifact of its era. JRDelerious had a very nice capsule summary: > [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yeah the Star Wars Holiday Special was a special case of something actually produced by the franchise holders, for the purpose of maximum cashing in on what they weren’t yet sure was a long term franchise, that looked like it should have instead been produced by National Lampoon as a parody. What can I say, it was the 70s and cocaine and 'ludes are hella drugs. And all the cheesy 60s / 70s C-list TV and musical talent! Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Diahann Carroll, Harvey Korman, Jefferson Freakin’ Starship and more, all acting or singing in skits that seem to have been written by Carol Burnett Show writer rejects fired for excessive LSD usage. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/36 "2023-04-06T16:12:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If you look up “bad” in the dictionary, you see a picture of the SWHS. Or you would, if Lucas hadn’t “Ministry of information”'d it out of existence. “we have always been at war with Eastasia” “The SWHS never existed.” It exists now only in our memories. (and pirated VHS) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/37 "2023-04-06T16:19:00Z")
Not to mention Nimoy’s WTF? video. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BC35cQKHwzg/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgXShJMA8=&rs=AOn4CLAvZDyxLJjDSFeih_SS-1jlv-4cvQ "Leonard Nimoy: The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins - Full Album Version") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg) > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I learned my lesson from III, IV, V, VI, VII. I never watched it. And I never will. You hated the Whale Movie? Voyage Home was a great movie, except for time traveling special effect. But overall a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/38 "2023-04-06T16:21:45Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It exists now only in our memories. > > (and pirated VHS) There’s also a RiffTrax version of it (for those who don’t know, RiffTrax is a spinoff of 3 actors / writers from the original MST3K who riff on bad movies, minus the interstitial space skits). I enjoy RiffTrax, but…it’s been a little while since I watched the RT version of the SWHS, but I remember it being a bit of a disappointment. It’s like what’s often said about the trump admin-- you’d think it would be a gold mine for comedians, but it was such a parody of itself already, it’s hard to take it any further. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/39 "2023-04-06T16:45:14Z")
Yeah, I was going to say, you could splice together an ep of Trek: "And our super band starring in a far-out place where no man has gone before, “Mick Fleetwood! Iggy Pop! Tom Morello! Songs written by Paul Williams and sung by America’s crooners Seth McFarlane and Ol Yellow Eyes!” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/40 "2023-04-06T16:51:00Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Maybe, but the fact that heavy editing is required to make it “good” doesn’t exactly bolster its case. What movies have you seen that didn’t involve any editing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247.md?page=3)