I have a very unique experience regarding the Star Wars films, and that is this:
The Star Wars Holiday Special was the first Star Wars film I ever saw.
I was old enough (7) to have seen Star Wars in the theaters in 1977. But I did not, because my parents had had a bad experience at a drive-in and refused to go to any theater again after that, at least until many years later. So I missed ESB and ROTJ as well, and did not finally see Star Wars until years later, after it came out on video. Yet I was the biggest Star Wars fan in my school (no exaggeration!) due to my devouring the novel, the comics, the cards, the toys, etc.
I happened to catch the Holiday Special at my grandparents' house on that fateful night of November 17th, 1978, and for the first time I was able to see my heroes come to life on the screen. Years of therapy have helped me to live a somewhat normal life now.
Did anyone else at all have this same experience, where the Holiday Special was the first time you saw moving footage of the characters from Star Wars?
--SKot