There’s no excuse to miss a meeting in Star Wars, especially for those serving on the Jedi Council, when your hologram can easily fill your seat. Holograms were used extensively during the prequels in a similar fashion. The first use of holograms during real-time communication in a Star Wars film was a conversation between Darth Vader and General Veers in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, amid the Battle of Hoth. Without holograms, characters might be talking to each other more via comlinks, but thanks to the visualization, we can see both sides of the conversation, which makes it much easier to follow and is more dynamic. The most common use of holograms in Star Wars films is as a form of real-time visual communication, which benefits both the characters on-screen (it’s always nice to look your underlings in the eyes when you’re thinking about Force choking them) as well as the audience. Effective real-time visual communication. Supreme Leader Snoke’s appearances in Star Wars: The Force Awakens were solely in the form of an enormous hologram looming over Kylo Ren and General Hux.Įven the Death Star makes its first chronological appearance in a Star Wars film via hologram near the end of Attack of the Clones.ģ. Maul’s first and only appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story is again via a hologram message - this time in a conversation with Qi’ra. The first time audiences see Darth Maul on-screen in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is when he, well, menacingly steps up to a table via hologram. What better way to add a sense of mystery to a character than by revealing them to audiences as a ghostly projection whose location is unknown?Įmperor Palpatine first appeared in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as a large and looming hologram of just his upper body. Speaking of Palpatine’s alter ego, several Star Wars villains make their on-screen debut via hologram. Introducing new (and often menacing) characters. Obi-Wan Kenobi seeks out visual proof that Anakin Skywalker has turned to the dark side and he gets it when he views footage of Anakin murdering Jedi and kneeling before Darth Sidious.Ģ. The power and desire of ‘seeing to believe’ is strongly felt near the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. It’s hard to imagine a handwritten message, or even a spoken transmission, having as much impact on Jyn’s character. Galen’s message gives Jyn and the Rebels information critical to destroying the Death Star and an emotional reunion with a man she’s written off as a traitor.

After years of not seeing her father, Jyn Erso’s future changes after seeing a hologram of Galen Erso. One of the most emotional scenes in any Star Wars film revolves around a hologram message in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Anakin and Padmé help transmit Obi-Wan Kenobi’s hologram message about the Separatists to Yoda on Coruscant, giving the pair a reason to leave Tatooine (to assist Obi-Wan) and propelling the story to its climax on Geonosis where everyone is reunited on the same planet. In the very next scene, Luke awakens Rey to tell her he will begin teaching her at dawn. The message doesn’t quite result in Luke leaving the planet, as it did in A New Hope, but it clearly impacts him emotionally. R2-D2 replays the message in an attempt to prod Luke to leave the island and return to help Leia and the Resistance. The original Leia hologram message takes on even more meaning when R2-D2 projects it to Luke on Ahch-To over 30 years later in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Luke accidentally plays the message, which effectively alters the course of his future from moisture farmer to Rebel X-wing pilot. As the film begins, Princess Leia makes a holographic message, entrusted to the ever loyal R2-D2, asking for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s help. In many cases, these missives deliver an emotional punch for both the characters in the film and members of the audience, pulling all who view them into action.Īrguably the most memorable Star Wars hologram is the one that kicks off the hero’s journey for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope. Holograms have repeatedly been used in Star Wars films to deliver a delayed, often secret, message. Here are six ways holograms have been used narratively in Star Wars films throughout the years. In a galaxy far, far away, holograms - 3D visual projections of a person, place, or thing - have helped push storylines forward in ways both big and small, serving as both the call the action for a reluctant hero and the ominous harbingers of a new evil. These images help to visually connect Star Wars films made decades apart from each other, providing symmetry in storytelling, and helping to visibly explain plans that propel the story along.

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