Though outdated and hardly advanced technology, the macrobinoculars owned by Luke Skywalker on Tatooine nevertheless afforded him a distant glimpse of the planets he longed to explore.

Luke's macrobinoculars were a simple, hand-held device with a number of basic functions. The macrobinoculars were boxy in shape, with two circular lenses protruding from the front. Controls on the sides allowed Luke to record images, and to play them back at a later date. The macrobinoculars could also be left recording in a remote location, while Luke worked elsewhere on his uncle's moisture farm. Luke didn't even have to worry about the time of day; macrobinoculars could operate both in the day and at night, utilizing built-in light and dark scopes to provide optimal playback.

Looking through the eye-pieces of the macrobinoculars, Luke was presented with an enhanced image of whatever the lenses were directed at. Contained readouts around the edge of the image box provided information on zoom and elevation, as well as true and relative distances from and between objects. Macrobinoculars featured a powerful zoom function - as their primary job was to magnify distant images - allowing Luke to view space-bound objects with a degree of clarity impossible to replicate with the naked eye. Though powerful, Luke's macrobinoculars were relatively unexpensive - despite the fact that they had cost Luke a half season's savings.

Through his macrobinoculars, Luke was able to spot the battle between the Tantive IV and Darth Vader's Star Destroyer above Tatooine. Excited at the prospect of a battle occuring above his homeplanet, Luke rushed to tell his friends at Tosche Station. However, the others were less impressed; Biggs Darklighter shrugged the image off as two freighters refuelling. Later, Luke learned Biggs also believed a battle had occured, though he didn't want to let the others at the power station know.

The ships above Tatooine were indeed locked in battle, and had forced two droids to escape the devastation. C-3PO and R2-D2 would later wind up in the service of Luke's uncle, though the little R2-unit attempted to escape - to find an Obi-Wan Kenobi, or so he claimed. Luke used his macrobinoculars to scour the horizon for the droid, though he was nowhere in sight. Though the macrobinoculars could have aided Luke in locating the droid at night, the risk of running into Tusken Raiders was too great, so Luke left the search until morning. After Artoo had been located, Luke used his macrobinoculars to spy on a Tusken Raider, though he was unaware of a second sneaking up on him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Page created: 08 April 2004