Happy Life Day, or: May the Farce Be With You

Here's a special Christmas Eve treat for all you Movie Dearest readers out there, something only slightly better then a lump of coal in your stocking: yup, it's the infamous, the legendary, The Star Wars Holiday Special.

And thanks to the KinderTrauma blog, you too can recall fond childhood memories of this black sheep chapter of the Star Wars saga, such as the inexplicable Solid Gold-esque dance numbers and the unlikely presence of Bea Arthur in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

What, you say you've never seen this shameless attempt to cash in on the blockbuster's success (gee, never would have thought ol' George had that in him)? Well, thanks to the miracle of YouTube, you too can catch the entire thing at your leisure.

What, you say you'd rather not waste 97 minutes of your life on this galactic embarrassment? No problem; here's a convenient five minute version, where you can catch all the highlights, such as Bea's groovy finger dance with Greedo, Diahann Carroll as the "Mermeia Holographic Wow" and, thankfully, none of Harvey Korman's scenes. There's even a Wilhelm Scream thrown in for good measure. Marvel at Mark Hamill's make-up job, wince at Harrison Ford's obvious discomfort as he is forced to say "have a nice Life Day", wonder how this thing ever got on the air.

Oh yeah, here's how: it was the 70's.

Links via Imdb.com, KinderTrauma.com and YouTube.com.