The new Netflix competition reality series Wonka’s The Golden Ticket drops viewers into a color-splashed confectionery wonderland of candied apples growing on trees, a goopy chocolate river, giant gummies resembling Oompa Loompas, mushrooms speckled with marshmallow fudge — and holograms.

Yes, Wonkavision has come a long way since sweet young Charlie Bucket’s tour of Willy Wonka’s fantastical chocolate factory. In the 1971 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved 1964 children’s fantasy novel about imagination, wonder, greed and humility, Wonka’s fictional invention broadcasts real-life objects to television sets by breaking them into millions of tiny pieces that zip through the air and reassemble on screen.

In the nine-episode Netflix series, released Wednesday to mixed reviews , Wonkavision gets a decidedly 21st century spin. Fifty years after the bratty, TV-obsessed Mike Teavee famously got teleported into a television set, hosts Wayne Brady, Nick Cannon and Howie Mandel have been beamed into a lifesize projection box tricked out with cameras, sensors, microphones, speakers and and other electronics.

The showrunners say they chose a nod to Wonkavision through holograms as part of their broader vision to remain true to the spirit of the original film.

“Being authentic was always something we held onto. Did Wonka do it? Then we can too,” showrunner Alison Holloway said in an interview.

The virtual likenesses Holloway added, “helped the contestants believe they were part of something that wasn’t quite real and that was such an important part of their journey through the factory. Wonka likes to mess with minds. Put a live host in front of them and they might as well be on Jeopardy .”

Contestants navigating tests and temptations interact in real time with the hologram hosts via live feed to the elaborate set in Australia, the biggest ever built there, according to Netflix. There, amid the technicolor flourishes, 12 golden ticket holders and a partner of their choice tackle sticky challenges in hopes of snagging a $3 million prize. They lick edible wallpaper to uncover hidden clues, for example, and race to stack a tower of the fabled Everlasting Gobstoppers, which never get smaller or disappear.

In an all-white Wonkavision 2.0 broadcast studio that pays homage to the original, they play games like “Wheel of Misfortune,” “Bubble Jeopardy” and “Steal or no Steal.”

How The Hosts Became Holograms

The hologram hosts come from Proto Hologram, which makes interactive holographic experiences for the entertainment, retail, health care, education and hospitality sectors. To become holograms, Brady, Cannon and Mandel visited Proto Hologram headquarters in Van Nuys, Calif., and got filmed talking and gesturing using a 4K camera, controlled lighting and a white background.

It used its own software to adjust the footage, which it then used to create the illusion of the life-size hosts appearing inside its holographic display, which measures about 7.4 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide.

Comedian Mandel says hosting via hologram isn’t all that different from interacting with contestants in person on Deal or No Deal and America’s Got Talent .

“It essentially feels like I’m actually standing in front of them,” he told Proto Hologram founder and CEO David Nussbaum in a recorded conversation.

Proto Hologram has made digital doppelgangers of Big Brother host Julie Chen Moonves and reanimated the late heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne , among others. But seeing a Proto hologram placed in the Wonka universe holds special sway for Nussbaum, a Willy Wonka fan since childhood who took inspiration from Wonkavision when he first started envisioning his holograms.

“I would actually reference Mike Teavee in interviews because it was one of the easiest ways to explain what we were trying to do — make it possible for a person to appear somewhere they physically weren’t,” he said an interview.

When Paris Themmen, the actor who played the character in the film, learned of the Wonka-Proto connection, he asked to view the product in person. His visit to the company took place long before the Netflix series went into production.

“He was seeing the underlying technology and the real-world version of this idea that his character had been part of more than 50 years earlier,” Nussbaum said.

In one of the most nostalgic twists of all, the late Gene Wilder comes back as the eccentric owner of the chocolate factory, his voice recreated by ElevenLabs using artificial intelligence, with permission from his estate. Not all viewers find this callback appetizing — unsurprising given that critics of resurrecting dead celebrities call the practice disturbing and disrespectful .

The Netflix series brings back two other actors from the half-century-old film, as well. Rusty Goffe reprises his role as an Oompa Loompa, joining other Oompas Loompas of varying shapes and sizes to better reflect today’s world. And Peter Ostrum, who played the kind-hearted paperboy who inherits Wonka’s factory, makes a cameo during a montage of contestants discovering golden tickets tucked inside chocolate bars.

“We just devoured everything that was Wonka-related,” showrunner Emer Harkin said, “and tried to create the most evocative and nostalgic experience that we could for the cast coming in to share in this world.”