Funny that this is being discussed here! Over on the prequel edit ideas thread, I’ve been talking a little about the design differences between the PT and the OT. The OT definitely is grounded in that 70s aesthetic. Not only are console controls more analog, but the graphics on the screens have that early digital interface feel, not that different from what would you see from early games like Pong, or a film like Wargames. I think the new Disney films definitely get this. In Rogue One, we see that classic Death Star schematic with the dish at the equator, in the ST, while it is still 30 years in the future from the OT, a lot of the displays still have that very simplistic digital look. And in Solo, some of the screens in the cockpit match that 70s look.
While in some moments in the PT, the display screen graphics are reminiscent to the OT style, they seem a little too complicated. Like they’ve been overproduced when the artists should’ve been focused on making them more basic. I think that would’ve helped relieve that disconnect between the OT and PT aesthetics a lot.
Overproduced is probably the right word. I’ve been listening to the Blu-Ray commentaries lately, and one of the FX guys the process of creating the prequel hologram effects digitally. They could have more easily done it old school, shooting an actor on videotape and reshooting it off a CRT screen to get all those analog video idiosyncrasies that give the OT holograms their unique look. CRT monitors and analog video cameras were still plentiful when the prequels were being made.
I’ve read that the Alien: Isolation game went this route to give all the video displays the look and feel of the Nostromo’s monitors in the original film.