# How can I watch "The Star Wars Holiday Special?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126 "2007-07-25T19:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/1 "2007-07-25T19:00:22Z")
Somehow, I missed this cinematic tour de force when it aired. Now that my son has become a Star Wars fanatic, it seems like it might be fun to show him this movie. He’s six, so perhaps he won’t be put off by the hideousness. But is this possible? Are there copies to be had somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/2 "2007-07-25T19:02:30Z")
It’s on YouTube. Do a search for “Star Wars Holiday Special”. Someone uploaded it, broken into 10 separate parts. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/3 "2007-07-25T19:03:03Z")
George has done his best to recall every existing copy. Your best bet is Google. ETA: and it’s not broken into parts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/4 "2007-07-25T19:08:05Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] ETA: and it’s not broken into parts. 😉 [/QUOTE] It’s just plain broken. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/5 "2007-07-25T19:08:19Z")
I bought a copy on ebay a few years ago. It’s since been stolen, but one viewing was more than enough for me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/6 "2007-07-25T19:09:02Z")
Bought my copy on Ebay. The picture quality was surprisingly good. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/7 "2007-07-25T19:13:16Z")
Any scifi/fan convention (including, presumably, the biggie this weekend in San Deigo) will have tapes of the show circulating for sale at any number of underground video vendors. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/8 "2007-07-25T19:13:57Z")
Answer: preferably drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/9 "2007-07-25T19:16:55Z")
Watch it with a hot poker in one hand and a bag of ice in the other. The contrast between these alternating on your genitals will distract your attention from the horror unfolding in front of you, especially when Bea Arthur starts singing. (Seriously, who ever thought that was a good idea?) I do have to point out, however, that due to George’s meddling with the events and plot elements of the original trilogy of cinematic films in order to retcon it into is completely needless and soul-sucking backstory, the _Star Wars Holiday Special_ remains the only genuinely untainted piece of original _Star Wars_ canon. Also, it doesn’t have any Ewoks. This may not redeem it, but at least it didn’t sink that far. If it had…I shudder to think. Bea Arthur probably would have ended up having group sex with a gaggle of Ewoks. I’m going to go find a bag of ice, now. You can thank me later. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/10 "2007-07-25T19:16:57Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Any scifi/fan convention (including, presumably, the biggie this weekend in San Deigo) will have tapes of the show circulating for sale at any number of underground video vendors. [/QUOTE] Only 6 hours till preview night opens. I can keep my eyes open for this at comic con if you want Briker. Just give me a spending limit. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/11 "2007-07-25T19:18:11Z")
I feel, as a moral person, that I need to speak up and ask you to reconsider viewing the special yourself, not to mention to urge you to think of the welfare of a child! Honestly, the only interesting things about it are the 1970s-ness of the commercials, which would probably not be too relevant to a six year old person. There is one segment which is not completely awful (cartoon Boba Fett) but the rest of it would, at best, not hold his attention, and at worst, scar him for life. I got my copy at the local “comic book guy” store. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/12 "2007-07-25T19:32:50Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] Are there copies to be had somewhere? [/QUOTE] [Step right up!](http://www.antimattermultiverse.com/products/star-wars-holiday-special-1978-dvd?gclid=CP_PhsG4w40CFQZnZQodyEWD-A) On DVD, no less. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/13 "2007-07-25T19:41:35Z")
My Kids love Star Wars despite my protests. They were 6 and 7 and only lasted 5 minutes. A groan of boring was the last thing I heard as they plodded off to play outside. It is awful… not good cheeze filled bad… just awful… painful bad! Boring, dumb , and more pointless than even Lucas’s jerrymandering of his old films. Lord was it horrible. You watch waiting for some glimmer of entertainment and you get nothing but waves and waves of dull pounding you about the head like some grey surf of whitenoise. The headaches you will get from this will last days. You will question the exstance of a creator for what God would allow such tedious awfulness to exit. By the end you will even disregard the belief that humanity is worth fighting for. Oh sure there is a cartoon of Boba fett but, so what? The cartoon is so stylistically horrible and the plot so insipidly stupid you’d rather bash your face through the screen rather than endure the pain of knowing you are in the same universe where this exists. Uh… sorry where was I… Oh yeah the kids hated it… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/14 "2007-07-25T20:17:41Z")
There’s a version on youtube cut down from two hours to five minutes, but not even that is merciful enough. Look for “The Two-Hour Star Wars Holiday Special in only Five Minutes!” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/15 "2007-07-25T20:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] There’s a version on youtube cut down from two hours to five minutes, but not even that is merciful enough. Look for “The Two-Hour Star Wars Holiday Special in only Five Minutes!” [/QUOTE] Somebody needs to do the 30 second version, with bunnies. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/16 "2007-07-25T20:27:28Z")
My review of the “thing” is [Why Would A Wookie Want to Jerk Off to Diahann Carroll?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=215821) I think that explains the depths of stupidity and horror that this thing sinks to. ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/17 "2007-07-25T20:28:05Z")
It’s still better than _Revenge of the Sith_. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/18 "2007-07-25T20:35:08Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass] It’s still better than _Revenge of the Sith_. [/QUOTE] Noooooooooooo!!! (George Lucas crumples up, mortally wounded, next to a mountain of one hundred dollar bills.) 😛 Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/19 "2007-07-25T23:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] Only 6 hours till preview night opens. I can keep my eyes open for this at comic con if you want Briker. Just give me a spending limit. [/QUOTE] I’ve PM’d you… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126/20 "2007-07-25T23:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] I’ve PM’d you… [/QUOTE] _My God, man! You **don’t** know what you’re doing!_ :eek: :eek: :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-watch-the-star-wars-holiday-special/413126.md?page=2)