Holiday Special > Multimedia

Holiday Special Multimedia

In this section you will find sample sound and video clips related to the Holiday Special available to download.

AUDIO:

Diahann Carroll as Mermeia - "This Minute"

From the most infamous section of the Holiday Special: in this scene, Mermeia sings to Chewbacca's father Itchy through the Mind Evaporator. Download here. (6.5 MB)

Jefferson Starship as the Holographic Band - "Light the Sky on Fire"

The Holographic Band play a number so rocking that even the Imperial Guard has to tap his fingers! This version is unique to the Holiday Special. Download here. (5.1 MB)

Bea Arthur as Ackmena - "Goodnight But Not Goodbye"

This song was sung during the Holiday Special's cantina scene to help usher a room full of uncooperative guests out into the night. Download here. (4.5 MB)

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia - "A Day To Celebrate"

At the end of the show, Princess Leia sings this song to the gathering of Wookiees and their human and droid friends. Download here. (1.5 MB)

Many thanks to Garrett Gilchrist for engineering these new, improved audio clips. According to official press releases, these are the correct titles for these songs.

VIDEO:

You may need the latest codec to play these videos.

TV Land's "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments"

On December 7th, 2005, TV Land broadcast the third part of "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments". The second item up was The Star Wars Holiday Special, coming in at #59. This short clip features that segment with various people talking about the show, including Bruce Vilanch, who was one of the writers on the Holiday Special.

Download in DivX .avi format here. (11.2 MB)

Thanks to my good friend Stephen for this one.

Fighting the Frizzies at eleven

One of the most amusing moments connected with one particular broadcast of the Holiday Special was a recurring bumper from WCBS-TV 2 in New York that featured anchor Rolland Smith saying, "Fighting the Frizzies... at eleven." "The Frizzies" were a truly 70s hair phenomenon coined for shampoo advertising.

Download and watch this very short bumper segment in DivX .avi format here. (235 KB)

Thanks to ReverendBeastly for the video clip.

This bumper was parodied on an episode of South Park in 1999 in a very obscure reference to the Holiday Special during "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" (at right). Only someone who had seen a copy of the Holiday Special from this particular broadcast could have possibly gotten the reference!

The bumper repeated several times throughout the show; then at the end of the show, the news anchor was shown in a boxing ring "fighting the Frizzies" during the credit sequence.

FOX News mentions the Holiday Special's 25th anniversary

Just a few minutes before 8:00 Eastern time November 17th, 2003, the FOX News channel broadcast footage from The Star Wars Holiday Special during the G Block portion of The FOX Report with Shepard Smith, mentioning that the show aired on CBS 25 years ago, one time only. This was likely the first time footage of the Special was broadcast on commercial TV since its original air date in 1978!

Download this clip in DivX .avi format here. (5.4 MB)