Impulse detector unit

Impulse detector units^[3] were a type of impulse detector,^[1] a device used to monitor the dangerously high power output of podracers. The units consisted of a flat base with a grill above it on the device's front with a triangular central surface in the center of the grill. A series of protrusions extended from the dark gray top of the device, including a signal clarifier and a receiver antenna.^[3] Tubing ran from each side of the device back round to the rear.^[2]

In 32 BBY,^[4] there was an impulse detector unit sat on the counter of the junkshop owned by the junk dealer Watto^[2] in the city of Mos Espa^[3] on the planet Tatooine when the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn led a group of his allies into the store in search of a T-14 hyperdrive generator.^[2]

Behind the scenes

An impulse detector unit appeared in the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,^[2] which was released on May 19, 1999.^[5] In the current Star Wars canon, the unit was identified in the 2018 reference book Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition, which was written by Pablo Hidalgo and David West Reynolds.^[3] The name for the unit originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first used in the reference book Star Wars: Episode I: The Visual Dictionary, written by Reynolds^[6] and published on May 26, 1999.^[7]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (First appearance)
• The Phantom Menace French junior novelization
• The Phantom Menace Read-Along Storybook and CD
• The Skywalker Saga
• "The Path of a Podracer" — The Prequel Trilogy Stories (and audiobook)

Sources

• Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition (First identified as impulse detector unit)
• "Tatooine" — Star Wars Encyclopedia (Picture only)

Notes and references