By Adam Pawlus — Friday, September 16, 2011

The Star Wars Blu-Ray hit stores (and mailboxes) today, and as expected the complete Star Wars Holiday Special animated segment is included. If you ever wanted to see what was basically a backdoor pilot for Droids, it's here!

There is, obviously, a catch-- it's only on the 9-disc set, specifically on disc #8 (the one with the original trilogy extras). It's not even really hidden, calling it an "Easter Egg" would be like calling a pizza place in the Yellow pages under "pizza" a surprise-- it's right where it should be. To find it, follow these steps:

1. Go to Disc 8, Episode V

2. Go to Pursued By The Imperial Fleet

3. Go to Collection

4. Go to Boba Fett Prototype Costume

5. Watch "First Look"

The entire thing is presented and it looks about as good as you might realistically hope for-- it's not hi-def, and you'll see some image noise, but it's still superior to whatever you've seen on YouTube or 5th-generation VHS bootlegs made from a 1981 Betamax copy.

As of right now no super-hidden top secret stuff has been found, but there's plenty of amazing stuff, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes stuff, and all sorts of surprises in here. Speaking as someone who has read a lot of the big expensive books, watched the specials, and attended the panels, this thing is a preposterous trove of information and designs.

...it also has the mind bendingly great deleted scenes of Rebel Pilots "cut" from the film including the original female voice of Sila Kott and another pilot following her. I don't want to describe it here and spoil it for you-- but I will say it's fascinating to see the things they shot and never used, and the line between "gag reel" and "deleted scene" gets blurred in spots.