As it turns out I watched these by accident! Hulu lists Outlaw Star as 26 episodes because apparently they put the specials in at episode 16 and 23. So I guess I watched them without even knowing it. Since no one else has reviewed this title, here we go: The first special is titled "Demon of the Water Planet", and is designated episode 16 in the series. The episode did not air in Japan on TV Network, but aired February 5, 2001 on Toonami in North America. In this episode, the crew gets a gig to retrieve a cargo of Dragonite from the bottom of the waterplanet, Heifong VII. However, this treasure is guarded by vicious sea creatures that have torn every treasure hunter that came before to shreds. This one isn't really vital to the rest of the series as ultimately the end of the episode renders the endeavor pointless. I can't explain how without spoiling the end of the episode. However you will see someone (don't remember who) holding Dragonite later in the series and without watching this episode you won't recognize what it is. It's skippable but I do think it's a pretty good episode regardless and worth a watch. I was surprised to even find out it went unaired. I did some research attempting to find the reason why it didn't air and unfortunately couldn't find anything.

The second special is titled "Hot Springs Planet Tenrei", and is designated episode 23 of the series. The episode aired June 4, 1998 on TV Network in Japan. The episode previously went unaired on Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim on account of adult content. In this episode, the crew ends up on a vacation planet filled with hot springs as far as the eye can see. However, Gene's motivation for coming to the planet is to find out the secret behind caster shells and to prepare for the upcoming battle for the Leyline. From the title, you can probably tell this is a fanservice episode. But as far as those go, this is about as well as you can do a hot springs episode. They don't spend the entire episode focused on the girls at the hot springs. Most of the episode follows Gene as he treks up Mt. Nantai to meet the 3 wizards. And story-wise, this episode moves the plot forward amidst all the half-naked and fully naked girls. Without watching this one, you won't know how Gene got the 4 caster shells. This isn't necessarily the best Outlaw Star episode and its placement just before the finale is strange, but like the first special it's worth a watch.

Note:

I don't grade individual episodes because individual episodes require the context of the rest of the series to judge its value. To me, grading this would be like grading the second verse of a song. But MAL forces you to add an overall score to any written review. So the grade I gave this doesn't mean anything other than these 2 episodes are worth watching.