A Retro Treat from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

For a bit of geek nostalgia, you can still watch Star Wars: A New Hope — entirely in ASCII art — right from your command line.

Created by Simon Jansen (aka Asciimation), this animated masterpiece runs over Telnet and recreates the movie frame-by-frame using only text characters.

How to Watch

Windows 11

1. Enable Telnet Client:
   • Press Windows + R, type optionalfeatures, and enable Telnet Client.
2. Open Command Prompt and run:

   telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

macOS or Linux

Most systems include Netcat (nc), which works the same way:

nc towel.blinkenlights.nl 23

If Telnet is blocked on your network, you can find mirrors or run it locally using a Docker image from github.com/gabe565/ascii-movie.

A Bit of History

This project has been online since the late 1990s and remains one of the best examples of early internet creativity — proof that a few ASCII characters and a lot of patience can bring even a galaxy far, far away to life.