Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

(*Archived here with Permission utilising The Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

About That Princess Leia Sunbathing Photo

Oh, I’m sure you saw that photo. It was tearing up the internets this past week: the snapshot of Carrie Fisher, in Princess Leia metal bikini-wear, sunbathing with her identically clad stunt double while on set in Arizona for Return of the Jedi.

It really started spreading once Gizmodo posted it, and could be found on JWZ, Boingboing.net, Buzzfeed.com,and theforce.net. It was when the Daily Mail got a hold of the story, though, that it took a peculiar turn.

Catch that wrinkle? The “pictures have just been leaked onto the internet, more than 20 years since they were taken.” That definitely makes the story even sexier, which, come on, this is a story that hardly needs it. As exciting as the idea of leaked photos is, it’s not entirely accurate. In fact, we can offer you a “top secret” way to uncover this and even more “leaked photos.”

Step 1. Get the 2004 Star Wars Trilogy DVD boxed set. Odds are, you own it. Throw in Disc 4, the Bonus Materials. Navigate to “Video Games and Still Galleries.”

Step 2. Now, go to “Exclusive Production Photos.”

Step 3. Almost there. “View Return of the Jedi photos.

Step 4. Okay. Now thumb forward about 30 or so images and, presto! “Leaked image!”

A wise blogger once wrote, “the Internet has a collective memory of a goldfish for stuff like this.” Hard to argue that point, but we know Star Wars fans are more observant than that! Heck, we’re willing to bet that some of you even remembered that a variation of this photo was made publicly available before the 2004 DVD release. In June of 2003, starwars.com posted this snapshot. We’re certain it’s been burned into the minds of more than one fanboy.