How to Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt

This wikiHow teaches you how to watch an animated version of Star Wars rendered entirely in ASCII characters (by folks with a lot of free time) using the telnet command on your computer. As of 2021, the server hosting the ASCII version of Star Wars isn't online as much as it used to be, but don't worry—if you're really wanting to watch the ASCII-animated version of Star Wars, you can always view the java version on the original creator's website!

Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Windows

  1. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 1
    1
    Open the Command Prompt. The easiest way to do this is to press Windows key + S to activate the search bar, type cmd, and then click Command Prompt in the search results.
    • If you're not already connected to the internet, make sure you do so before you continue.
  2. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 2
    2
    Check to see if telnet is installed. Telnet is a tool used to make connections to remote servers. Because telnet isn't as widely used as it used to be (and more secure options exist), it no longer comes preinstalled on most Windows systems. To find out if you already have telnet:
    • Type telnet at the command prompt and press Enter.
    • If you see "Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Client" and a prompt that begins with Microsoft Telnet, you already have telnet. For now, just type a q and press Enter to quit telnet and return to the prompt.
    • If you see an error that says "'telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file," you must install telnet.
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  3. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 3
    3
    Install telnet if it's not installed. If you already have telnet, skip to the next step. If not, here's how you can easily install it:
    • Right-click the Windows Start menu and select Apps and Features.[1]
    • Click Optional features in the right panel (under "Apps & features").
    • Scroll down and click More Windows features at the bottom.
    • Check the box next to "Telnet Client" and click OK.
    • Close and re-open the Command Prompt.
  4. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 4
    4
    Type telnet at the prompt and press ↵ Enter. This opens the telnet interface.
  5. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 5
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    Type o and press ↵ Enter. "O" stands for "open," and this command tells telnet to open a connection. The command line will change to ( to ).
  6. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 6
    6
    Type towel.blinkenlights.nl and press ↵ Enter. This connects you to the server that hosts the Star Wars animation. After rolling some credits, the movie will begin!
    • To stop the animation and exit telnet, press Ctrl + ].
    • If the server hosting the Star Wars animation is down, you will receive an error when trying to connect. Sadly, the server is not up as often as it used to be. If you see an error that says "Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed," the server is not currently accepting connections. You can still watch the movie in your web browser at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/index.php.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Mac

  1. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 7
    1
    Open Terminal on your Mac. An easy way to do this is to click the Launchpad icon on the dock (it's a rocketship icon on some versions of macOS, and multicolored squares on more recent versions), type terminal, and then click the Terminal icon.[2]
    • You can also open Terminal in Finder—just open the Applications folder, double-click the Utilities folder, and then double-click Terminal.
  2. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 8
    2
    Install Homebrew. As of macOS Mojave, telnet is no longer installed by default. To install it quickly and easily, you can use Homebrew. Here's how:
  3. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 9
    3
    Type brew install telnet and press ⏎ Return. This installs telnet on your Mac.
  4. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 10
    4
    Type telnet and press ⏎ Return. This opens telnet.
  5. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 11
    5
    Type o and press ⏎ Return. This is the command to open a Telnet connection (the "o" stands for "open").
  6. Image titled Watch Star Wars on Command Prompt Step 12
    6
    Type towel.blinkenlights.nl and press ⏎ Return. This opens a connection to the host that hosts the Star Wars animation. After some opening credits, the movie will begin to play.
    • To stop the animation and exit telnet, press Ctrl + C.
    • Sadly, the Star Wars animation server is down a lot more often than it used to be. If you see an error that says "Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed," the server is not currently accepting connections. You can still watch the movie in your web browser at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/index.php.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    How can I terminate this command?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    You can terminate any command in the Command Prompt by pressing ctrl-C. You can also just click on the small red X button in the top right corner of the Command Prompt window.
  • Question
    Do I need to connect to the internet?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Yes. When you are watching Star Wars in the command prompt, you are using Telnet (also known as "remote desktop connection") to connect to whoever made this computer through the internet.
  • Question
    I turned on Telnet, but it didn't install anything on the latest version of Windows. What could be wrong?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    It might have been installed already. Try to watch Star Wars in command prompt with the settings set to on.
  • Question
    It accepts the command, but then a few moments later, it says connection lost. What's going on?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Be sure to use port 23. For example: "Telnet Towel.blinkenlights.nl port=23".
  • Question
    Does this prompt work on Version 10.0 of CMD?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Yes, but it is in a very small format in the top left corner of the CMD window.
  • Question
    What happens if it does not work?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Be sure that you have written: towel.blinkenlightS.nl and not towel.blinkenlight.nl as it is erroneously shown in the image.
  • Question
    Is there any way to make this work without the admin information?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    No. You need to have the administrator's password or access details, as you will be installing new software on your computer (Telnet).
  • Question
    Does it need a fast Internet connection?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    You need a steady, responsive internet connection. Fast may not be required, as this requires only ASCII bytes and not MBs of data, as in for a video.
  • Question
    What do I do if my Windows 10 is not showing the IP address?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Your IP address is not specifically needed in this case.
  • Question
    When I type in "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl" as a command through the telnet interface, it says that it "cannot connect to host." Is this an error on my part?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    You need to run it as administrator. (right-click on cmd> run as administrator).
Show more answers

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About This Article

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff
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This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 604,877 times.
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Co-authors: 27
Updated: September 28, 2021
Views: 604,877
Categories: Featured Articles | Command Prompt | Star Wars Fandom
Article SummaryX

1. Install telnet if it's not installed.
2. Open the command prompt.
3. Type telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl and press Enter.

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