Movie Gadget Friday: The Dejarik Holochess game from Star Wars
Last friday Josie Fraser checked out
the Fluid Breathing System from The Abyss,for this week's Movie Gadget Friday she writes about the Dejarik Holochess game from Star Wars:
I know there are loads of cool gadgets in the Star Wars movies, and I'll get round to look at more of them in future Movie Gadget Friday slots. Last week we had a reader request for the Dejarik Holochess game that's featured in the original 1977 Star Wars (now known as Episode IV: A New Hope) and we thought we'd oblige.
In real life I have a strong aversion to overly hirsute men, but I've always had a soft spot for the 200 hundred year old, 2-meter tall wookiee Chewbacca. Everything about him is cool, although I particularly liked his minimalist Che Guevara/guerrilla chic look as a child. According to the mythology, Chewie is a champion Dejarik player who put the Holochess table into the Millennium Falcon in order to keep his game up during the years of space piracy. The table has subsequently become an essential and instantly recognisable feature of any model of the Falcon.
The table has a round, black and white checkered dartboard-like top, made up of 25 segments, resting on a single cylindrical leg. It has blue and red fairy lights around the edge and projects holographic figures onto its surface. Each player has a selection of different figures.
Full game rules have subsequently been invented by fans, but at the time the film was made the only rule seemed to be: let the wookiee win or endure his sulking. Frankly Chewbacca could have been the worst player in the entire Star Wars universe. He still would have walked off with the gold cup at the playoffs. The game scene was really just used to establish the following:
1. Chewbacca isn't just a weird yodelling bear-dog hybrid. He's actually the brains of the outfit.
2. We're in the distant future/distant past! Where they play cool space games! & you can never lose the pieces!
