The Star Wars Holiday Special was an ill-conceived 1978 attempt to capitalize on the original movie before everyone forgot about it. It was half variety show, featuring the usual TV stars of the era, and half movie, with the plot centering around Chewbacca and his family's celebration of Life Day, a generic holiday observed by Wookiees. The TV special was awful, and it was lambasted by critics, the television audience, Star Wars fans, and even the Star Wars cast. It has never been rerun on TV or officially released on video.
How can you make The Star Wars Holiday Special watchable? Cut it down to ten minutes of highlights and add snarky commentary. Rifftrax, the direct descendant of MST3K, gives us a gift for the opening of the holiday season. In case you want to suffer through the entire two hours of The Star Wars Holiday Special, you can watch the full Rifftrax version at YouTube.