Is television a part of the Star Wars universe? For years, we would have said no. The only equivalent would be the HoloNet, which is a combination of the internet and the holographic technology we’ve seen since A New Hope. But in Andor season two, we find out that television does indeed exist in the galaxy far, far away. In fact, Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) zones out in season two episode five, watching what we would qualify as a morning talk show, like The View or Good Morning America. And it’s definitely not a holographic projection like we usually see in Star Wars.
Bix is watching as two ladies vapidly dish about the latest celebrities and parties on Coruscant. Their looks reflect how the people in the Capital look in The Hunger Games franchise, which is probably intentional. They make it a point to say they “Don’t care about political parties, just parties.” Clearly, this is what we call “State TV,” a tool used in fascist societies to spoon-feed the masses with mindless entertainment and propaganda. But it’s still TV nevertheless.
Like most tech in the Star Wars universe, the television Bix watches is not exactly futuristic-looking. It looks like an old CRT tube TV, with low resolution. Your high-definition television in the real world looks better than the TV we see in Andor. This fits in with how George Lucas presented technology in his world since the beginning. There was faster-than-light travel, and space stations the size of planets. But the dials and knobs used in this were old school, almost what we’d call steampunk today. So old-looking television existing in this galaxy actually fits with Lucas’ original aesthetic for Star Wars.
In Skeleton Crew, we saw the character of Neel watching an alien circus holographic performance with his family. But this is not on a TV screen, and it’s the standard projected hologram, which we first saw with Princess Leia in A New Hope. We suppose that could be considered a TV show of sorts. Actually, it’s based on the real-world Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired way back in 1978. In The Clone Wars, we’d often see troopers listening to music with accompanying images on the HoloNet, but that was more akin to Armed Forces Radio. Andor is still the first time we’ve seen something approaching what we think of as television.
So does Star Wars television have its own designation, or is it all just part of the greater HoloNet? We imagine it’s similar to how streaming content is viewed in the real world. You can watch the same content in multiple formats, like on your computer, your phone, or on your actual TV. Someone can watch “Good Morning Empire” on a little TV screen, or in holographic form. But we can’t help but wonder, if there are talk shows, what about other TV content? Is there a Star Wars galaxy equivalent for sitcoms, or for soap operas? Maybe future Star Wars content will give us “Everybody Loves Chewie” or “All My Younglings.” It’s only a matter of time before we see something like that.
Content shared from nerdist.com.