About

"Hello There" is a memorable quote uttered by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi, portrayed by actor Ewan McGregor, in the 2005 science fiction action film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Online, the scene has been used to create various remix videos and image macros, as well as seeing use as a catchphrase.

Origin

On May 19th, 2005, the film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was released in the United States. In the film, the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (portrayed by Ewan McGregor) surprises the film's antagonists and says, "Why, hello there" (clip below).^[1]

Two years later, on August 21st, 2007, YouTuber Thereisnospoon303 posted a remix of the scene with the title "OBI-WAN SAYS HELLO WHILE I PLAY UNFITTING MUSIC." The post received more than 8,000 views in 12 years (shown below).

Spread

On March 25th, 2014, Tumblr ^[2] user suzcatonmars reblogged a post of several Obi-Wan GIFs from Revenge of the Sith, including the "Hello There" scene. The post received more than 2,100 notes in five years (shown below, left).

Three years later, on January 29th, 2017, Imgur ^[3] user Spatzz posted a photoshopped version of Obi-Wan saying the line in a "dump of 50 prequel memes." The post received more than 1,600 points and 96,000 views (shown below, center).

Around this time, the image and phrase became a popular meme on the Star Wars meme subreddit /r/PrequelMemes. For example, on February 24th, 2017, Redditor^[4] zenthegod posted a photoshopped version of the meme as a shitpost. The post receive more than 1,300 points (97% upvoted) and 30 comments in two years (shown below, right).

Over time, the meme became one of the subreddit's most frequently referenced moments. On July 23rd, 2018, Redditor RealShooterMcGavin edited a clip from the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series into a clip from Parks and Recreation. The post received more than 42,000 points (92% upvoted) and 395 comments (shown below).

When you rewatch The Clone Wars and realize that Grievous said "Hello there" first from r/PrequelMemes

TikToks

On December 4th, 2019, TikToker @chuggernuts uploaded a sound clip from the Revenge of the Sith scene and reenacted the scene^[5]. The video gained over 28,700 likes in a month (show below, left). December 19th TikToker @codecosplay uploaded another version in which two people form a four-arm antagonist (show below, center). The video received over 366,600 likes in three weeks. Over time, hello there parodies on TikTok became more abstract. For examples on December 31st, TikToker @logan_shaw uploaded a video in which the four-arm antagonist is carrying odd items for weapons (shown below, right). The video garnered over 312,100 likes in a week.

Ewan McGregor Confirms That "I Do Knock Out 'Hello There' Every Now And Again"

In a May 24th, 2022, interview promoting the new Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series on Disney+, actor Ewan McGregor confirmed that he is aware of the "meme legacy" phrase "hello there" and has said it a few times himself in his personal and professional life (seen below). While McGregor told the interviewer that he does not enjoy it when strangers he meets on the street ask him to repeat the catchphrase, he does enjoy the catchphrase itself. He shared that Alec Guinness, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV of Star Wars, used the phrase much more than he did.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+ Series)

In the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor makes another appearance as Obi-Wan, and throughout the show repeats various lines of dialogue from earlier in his Star Wars career, which includes the Hello There line. This time, the line is said in a friendly way, towards a child Luke Skywalker, as his introduction to the boy, and it's inclusion lead to a lot of comparisons to previous iterations of him saying it, forming a complete line of original series, prequel series, and in-between. This comparison was uploaded in video form to YouTube on June 22nd, 2022, by the channel Kakuchopurei^[6] where it gained over 400,000 views in one day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References