Hold on… About this internal consistency thing… The original trilogy and the prequel (soon to be prequels) aren’t the only movies to have appeared set in the Star Wars universe. There’s also at least one, and I think two, Ewok movies… Are they canon, too? Not that they really establish much that might potentially contradict other sources, but just to be clear.
There should have been only one. 
I curse this board, I despise everything it stands for.
Yes, I got the Star Wars Holiday Special about a year ago from the Canadian outfit mentioned above. It is truly horrific. The quality is quite good, the only problem is that it does not show the commercials, except for one for some Star Wars toy in the middle. I only remembered one scene from its original airing. I was about 10 and it is the scene where the storm troopers tear the head off of Lumpies stuffed Banta (I think) I remember this because my little brother started crying after that happened.
So I ordered it last year and survived watching it for a second time. Now thanks to this post I am inflicting it on me again!!! It is now on the scene of Itchys’ virtual porn machine. I now may have a story for Jarbabyj’s Shuddering tales of Vomit
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=99382
I remember seeing this when I was a kid (around 10 or so) during its network airing.
My evil hated sister (seven years older than I) watched it with me. I remember thinking the kid Wookie was kinda cute in a cuddly stuffed animal sort of way. The best thing about it though: I thought it was pretty stupid, even for a cheesy holiday special, but the evil hated sister CRIED TWICE during it. I unfortunately can’t remember the scenes or much beyond what I’ve posted here.
That’s one thing I love about SDMB. Until I started coming here a year an a half ago or so, people often accused me of making this travesty up when I’d mention it in conversation. This, however, is the third or fourth thread I’ve seen on it.
It’s good to not be alone when dealing with trauma.
I deliberatelydidn’t watch this when it first aired. I sort of knew it would be awful, just from the advance media blitz. Now, of course, I’m sorry that I don’t have a copy for my annual Bad Film Festival.
The visual quality of the downloaded version I got was horrible… I couldn’t watch more than a minute or two. I was expecting the entertainment quality to be bad, so that didn’t phase me. It’s like they took a 50th generation analog copy, digitized it with a Colecovision, and transmitted it to the internet through squirrel intestines.
Boy, this brought back memories. It truely was as bad as everyone says. I was 12 when it aired and I was amazed not only at how bad it was, but how childish. It was like Romper-Room. It seamed geared for 5 year olds. As I remember it was long, two hours I think. But the whole show was just padding. The actual plot was about 15 minutes, maybe.
I’m surprised that I don’t remember the wookie kid’s pornovision. I remember the wookie old man playing with a MF model. I remember Art Carney’s stupid code/pun thing, “she made it by hand. Solo.” I remember seemingly endless (and pointless) short scenes in the MF cockpit. I remember the whole “happy life day” theme (supposedly this explained why Chewie didn’t get a medal at the end of the movie(?)) The only cool thing was the short animated radio play.
I remember too that it was shot on video tape. This really made it look bad.
I finally had the misfortune of seeing the SW Holiday Special last year, after someone gave me a link to a site where I could download it. It hurt. A lot. It’s two hours long, but it feels like twelve. When you hear people describe it, it sounds like it’s so bad it’s good, but if you haven’t seen it, believe me, this is not the case at all. It’s just mind-numbing. (It’s possible to laugh at it later, after it’s over, but while it’s on, it just dissolves your brain.)
Most of the highlights have been mentioned: the revelation that Chewbacca’s father is named Itchy and his son is named Lumpy (of course, he’s called Chewie, but still…), the Wookiee porn, the lengthy scenes in unsubtitled Wookiee, Harvey Korman in drag (cooking Bantha rump), Carrie Fisher’s singing, Bea Arthur’s singing, the bizarre Jefferson Starship sequence, Han Solo’s brave battle with stock footage, the fact that it goes on and on and on and on…
Actually, I took a bathroom break a good way into Diahann Carroll’s Wookiee-porn song, and before I left, I said, “It’ll probably still be going on when I’m done.” I wasn’t trying to hurry or anything, but sure enough, when I came back it was STILL ON!
It hurts. It hurts so much…
The cartoon was the least sucky part, and it wasn’t all that great. Boba Fett is noticeably more articulate than he is in the actual movies, though.
Can I sig this? 
Oh, and one other thing I forgot: among the most disturbing scenes are those featuring Han Solo. Probably because, if you are anything like me, you end up sitting through them while thinking “Wow. That’s really Harrison Ford. Respectable actor Harrison Ford, who appears in good movies and rescues lost hikers in his helicopter. He’s in this dreadful waste of videotape.” 
Wow.
I just watched this again, thanks to the peer network mentioned above.
I vaguely remembered seeing this as a child when it first aired, but my mind’s natural defense mechanisms must have blocked out the specific details. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have terrible nightmares tonight.
By all means. Robert Byrne pays royalties, doesn’t he?
I’m with ignatzmouse. I was nine years old and in full Star Wars saturation mode when this aired, yet I have no memory of it whatsoever. Does anyone with a copy want to do a tape trade? I have a bunch of old KISS concerts and stuff. If you’re interested click here
Sorry, but the only KISS-related video worthy of trading for The Star Wars Holiday Special would be … KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park!!
Inspired by this thread, I went and downloaded it, thinking there was no way it could be as bad as everybody says. Hell, I hadn’t seen it in 24 years.
It was.
I thought it would be entertaining, in a “Manos: The hands of fate” bad movie sort of way.
It wasn’t.
But it was interesing to see it again, it reminded me of watching it at my Great-Grandma’s house when I was 7 years old. She died in 1991, so it was actually a pleasant memory in spite of the shittiness of the show.
And now, I’m going to have to get Phantom of the Park. You bastard, tracer!
George Lucas tounge-in-cheekly talked to TV Guide about R2-D2, the subject of the online mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome, which will be previewed on FOX’s TV premiere of Phantom Menace on Sunday.
Lucas said that R2 once wrote and directed his own TV special. “We don’t really like to talk about it…it was called The Star Wars Christmas Special or something like that.”
So now we have an excuse.