Holograms are here. At least that’s what Microsoft wants you to think with its HoloLens headset and Windows Holographic software. But holograms are no new thing, especially if you consider the mountains of science fiction fodder that has been dedicated to the subject.
I asked you all last week what was your favourite hologram, fictional or otherwise, of all time. Some were must-have choices and others were a little more far afield, and some of (at least what I thought) were iconic holograms weren’t even mentioned. Here are the nine holograms that frequently held the top spot in your hearts.
The Doctor, Star Trek: Voyager
The Coctor, also known as the EMH Mark 1, was a hologram created specifically for emergency scenarios. Of course, almost the entire Star Trek: Voyager show is an emergency scenario, so this glorified medical assistant became a full-fledged member of the enterprise.
Time Traveller
A 3D holographic arcade game in 1991 may seem overly ambitious — that’s because it was. Sega’s Time Traveller was 99 per cent presentation and 1 per cent gameplay, but the idea was a cool one. Unfortunately, it had to go up against the most popular arcade game at the time, Street Fighter II. Let’s just say it was an easy K.O. for Capcom.
Al Calavicci, Quantum Leap
Al Calavicci is an interesting hologram example, since he’s actually a real person but appears to protagonist Samuel Beckett as a project observer as Sam navigates through several time-based adventures. Actor Dean Stockwell is also just great in general, even if it’s as just a creepy dude in Blue Velvet or one of my personal favourite cylons on the remake of Battlestar Galactica.
Arnold Rimmer, Red Dwarf
Who says holograms can’t be funny? This hologram was created after his uptight and much detested namesake, Arnold Rimmer, died in a radiation leak. He was branded with the letter “H” and became the companion of Dave Lister, three million years later.
Hatsune Miku
So this may be a controversial pick since Hatsune Miku, the “real” Japanese icon who really isn’t real at all, uses the Pepper’s Ghost illusion, similar to that famous Tupac hologram. But this blue-haired Anime pop star is such a strange cultural example of our love of hologram-ish things, it felt criminal not to include her…or “it”?..or…I don’t know.
Cortana, Halo
When you were blasting away at grunts or going toe-to-toe with an Elite (or even worse, The Flood), Cortana was the calming guiding voice behind your mission. Really, she was Master Chief’s only friend, whose bond may someday mimic the bond between us and the realistic AI that technology dreams up. Cortana has only grown closer to our hearts with her integration into Windows Phone, and soon, Windows 10.
James Moriarty, Star Trek: The Next Generation
James Moriarty is one of my favourite holograms Star Trek ever dreamed up, and that’s actually saying a lot. Moriarty was originally created in the episode “Elementary, Dear Data” as a possible foil that could rival Data’s overwhelming android intellect. The result was an hologram and AI that was so smart, that he was able to discern he was a hologram and begin planning his escape from the confines of the Enterprise’s holodeck. There is research that suggests we are all just floating in a hologram, so cut Moriarty some slack — we could have more in common with him than you’d think.
The Orrery, Prometheus
This is one of the few holograms on this list that doesn’t try to don a human-like form, and you can say what you want about Prometheus (a “big let down” would be appropriate) but man did that scene look great. But the real reason I love this scene so much is the subtle reference to a great painting by Joseph Wright of Derby called A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery. Well, that and it just looks cool.
Jaws 19 Shark, Back to the Future
Well, this one is pretty self-explanatory.
Notable runner-ups: Visionaries, Jem and the Holograms, and that one time Arnold Schwarzenegger was a hologram in Total Recall.
Comments
21 responses to “9 Of The Best Holograms Of All Time”
Great list! Can’t wait till I am upto to that star trek. I still have to push through the last season of TNG.
snigger
No Lumi? Genki Rockets kick ass. Love them to pieces 🙂
…not to be one of those people, but, anything reflected on glass ( ie: that Time Traveller game just reflected a TV onto glass twice. And Hatsune Miku is a projection ) isn’t a Hologram.
I thought the controversial holograms would be the live action people on this list, and not Hatsune Miku.
Oh great…. you have Hatsune on the list but didnt include Kriegers Virtual Girlfriend in Archer.
Halo 1 or Halo 2 Cortana was always better for me. The distinction between the unmistakably human (if at times too logical) voice and the jagged form of the low res AI hologram (at least before they remastered it), you see in the cinematics made her internal struggle with rampancy seemed more real.
What? No Tupac at Coachella?
You guys are probably too young to have seen the films, but Star Wars.
Seriously…..
SERIOUSLY!
+1
Help us Screamface Kenobi, your our only hope
Rimmer is probably the best on this list.
Smeghead.
“You’re a Smmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
“A Sme he…”
“Yes, a complete and total one”
I just got finished re-watching the whole series a week or two ago. Season 10 (the one after the show got picked up by Dave) was actually pretty decent. Which was nice, because season 8 and 9 were awful.
Was it 8 or 9 (or both?) that they were the ‘canaries’ in the prison with the yellow suits? yeah that season was pretty bad
Season 8 started with Red Dwarf being rebuilt by the nanobots along with all the crew. Season 9 was the three-part ‘Back to Earth’ miniseries. Season 7 was the one that lost Rimmer and introduced Kochanski. Frankly, 7 was bad, 8 was worse. 9 was pretty bad but it was a bit unusual in the way it worked since it was a 3-parter.
Season 10 was back on Red Dwarf with Rimmer back, 15 years after season 9 I think. It took the comedy back to its roots and even though the actors are all visibly older it felt to me much closer to the early seasons in style and humour. Season 11 is in the works currently, I hear.
OK cool, thanks for that great reply Holly 😉
I really liked that “Back To Earth” special. It was cool to see how they got on in the “real world”.
I’m probably in the minority though, but I tend to like those kinds of storylines, e.g. Star Trek IV is one of my favourites yet a lot of people hate it because there is not much space action.
What were “the cocter”s other functions? Rimmer is the best
Malcolm McDowel’s (Kesslee’s) head in Tank Girl…
That scene in Prometheus is one of the reasons I rewatch it. So good!