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Looking from inside a ship, through a window, white or blue lines in black space are seen when a ship is traveling through Hyperspace.

Hyperspace from the Falcon's cockpit Hyperspace from Ackbar's ship

However, from the outside, a blue, cloudy tunnel is seen.

Hyperspace outside of the Falcon Hyperspace - Clone Wars

Is there an explained reason for this?

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    Because that's what looked best to the producers. It's not as if there's anyone outside the ship to see that perspective. – Kevin♦ Nov 5 '15 at 2:07
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    how is this a plot inconsistency? – phantom42 Nov 5 '15 at 3:08
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    @phantom I incorrectly thought it was one. – Rogue Jedi Nov 5 '15 at 3:14
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    @RogueJedi, you're going to find that many of the special effects we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. – Doug Warren Nov 25 '15 at 20:09
  • @DougWarren - You win the interwebs. – Wad Cheber stands with Monica Nov 29 '15 at 22:54
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The stretching stars is only seen just as a ship enters and exits hyperspace, showing the ship's acceleration/deceleration. However, once lightspeed is achieved, all that can be seen is the cloudy blue hyperspace tunnel (whether inside the ship or not).

Entering hyperspace (as seen in the third Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer):

enter image description here

Exiting hyperspace (as seen in Return of the Jedi):

enter image description here

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    This can also be seen in Return of the Jedi--watch the scene where Lando first travels to Endor in the Millennium Falcon (about an hour and half into the movie), you see the "hyperspace tunnel" effect from inside the cockpit (with the backs of Lando and his copilot seen onscreen at the same time), and then as they drop out of hyperspace, the tunnel turns into streaking stars, which resolve into normal stars once they have fully exited hyperspace. If anyone could make a gif of this scene, or at least get some screenshots, it'd be helpful. – Hypnosifl Nov 5 '15 at 2:54
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    The scene I'm talking about with Lando can be seen starting 58 seconds into this youtube clip. Also if anyone's interested, this site has a lot of good info on how hyperspace seems to work in Star Wars, based on a combination of the movies and EU information, and maybe some fan speculation too. – Hypnosifl Nov 5 '15 at 4:24
  • Wow. First time I'm seeing that video and it looks so awesome. The hyperspace transition was one of those things that blew me away back in 1977 and I still love it today. – Todd Wilcox Nov 5 '15 at 16:41
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    thanks @Hypnosifl for the clip, I finally got around to creating a gif out of it. First time for everything. :) – RedCaio Nov 25 '15 at 7:18

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