Millennium Falcon
| Millennium Falcon | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Corellian Engineering Corporation |
| Product Line | YT series |
| Model | YT-1300 Transport |
| Class | Light Freighter |
| Length | 26.7 meters |
| Speed | 100 MGLT |
| Hyperdrive | Class 0.50 |
| Cargo Capacity |
Varies depending on modular configuration (up to 100 metric tons) |
| Crew | Pilot (2) (could be up to 8) |
| Passengers | Varies depending on mission and modular configuration |
| Affiliation | Han Solo/Lando Calrissian |
The Millennium Falcon is a starship in the fictional Star Wars universe, piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca after Solo apparently won it from Lando Calrissian in a high-stakes game of sabacc. Lando, in turn, won the ship from an unknown person. The ship was chartered by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to deliver R2-D2 and the stolen Death Star plans to Alderaan. The ship is a heavily modified version of a YT-1300 Corellian Transport.
When challenged by Obi-Wan about his ship's speed, Solo famously replied, "Fast enough for you, old man." The ship is capable of attaining "point five past lightspeed."
Han's famous comment, that the vessel "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs," seems a little incongruous, as a parsec is a measure of distance, not time. See Alleged inconsistencies in Star Wars for more on this issue.
At sublight velocities, the Millennium Falcon is not a particularly fast vessel; Imperial Star Destroyers have been able to keep up with her. However, the Falcon was considerably more maneuverable than Star Destroyers. An example of this is when Han Solo used the maneuverability to elude three Star Destroyers that were trying to block them in and nearly made them collide with each other. The Falcon's true strength involves the skill of her crew and her extraordinarily fast supralight speeds, of which no manned vessel is known to compare.
The cobbled-together nature of the ship presented many problems throughout the movies and the novels; systems were barely held together and apparently had many incompatibilities, a fact that didn't go unrecognized among the characters of the movies. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!" was Princess Leia Organa's reaction at first sight of the Millennium Falcon, while Luke's less clever appraisal of the Falcon was, "What a piece of junk!" C-3PO once commented that he wasn't quite sure where the ship learned to communicate. During Imperial pursuit from Hoth the ship's technical difficulties—namely an inability to enter hyperspace—resulted in the ship and crew nearly being captured.
Years after the Battle of Endor it appeared that Han Solo and/or Chewbacca were able to resolve these difficulties, much to the relief of one Leia Organa-Solo. The resolution of those problems may have involved a virtual rebuild of her internal operation systems; this has never been discussed in detail.
The ship sports quad blasters startlingly reminiscent of World War II crew-operated turret machine guns, with the operator tracking targets optically (due to the high prevalence of electronic warfare in Star Wars) and swiveling along with the gun barrel. In Return of the Jedi, the ship is revealed to possess powerful armor-piercing missile weapons called "Concussion Missiles," which are illegal in the Star Wars universe for civilians (like smuggler pilot Han Solo) to possess. During the events surrounding the reborn Emperor Palpatine, the missile launchers were temporarily replaced by a giant lightning gun. Later refits, during her service as a New Republic diplomatic courier for the Organa-Skywalker-Solo family, who were highly placed in the New Republic in honor of their service to the Rebellion during the Galactic Civil War, included light turbolasers replacing her quad blasters. At least one pop-out repeating blaster is mounted to give some ground cover when the use of the heavier weapons is not warranted or possible.
The ship has been captured by the Death Star's tractor beam and searched by Imperial Stormtroopers, who managed to miss the crew and passengers hiding in the smuggling holds, which are shielded against most scanning equipment. It has also been piloted through asteroid fields, and on one occasion (miraculously) outran the massive explosion of the second Death Star.
The ship played a vital role in both of the Death Star battles.
In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the Falcon had a brief onscreen cameo appearance, but as a brand new, freshly-built state-of-the-art spacecraft. It can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the screen docking at the spaceport as Obi-Wan and Anakin are returning Palpatine to the Senate building on Coruscant. However, Han Solo was most likely not the pilot in this cameo, due to the dating supported by the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the fact that in Revenge of the Sith, Chewbacca is still on Kashyyyk. Most likely, Lando Calrissian or the owner of the Falcon previous to Lando is the pilot. Other ships of its class appeared in The Phantom Menace (they are briefly seen at the Naboo spaceport).
In real life, the original model for the Millennium Falcon was changed at the last minute because it too closely resembled ships from the television series Space: 1999. The replacement is said to be based on a half-eaten hamburger held by George Lucas and the disused original design was further developed into the Blockade Runner starship seen at the beginning of the first film. Starwars.com confirms the hamburger claim and also adds that Lucas referred to the cockpit of the Falcon as an olive on the side of the Flying Hamburger. Like many science fiction spacecraft, the Falcon's interior sets can not actually physically fit within the exterior sets. Subsequent extended universe plans are consequently a compromise attempt at squeezing the interiors in (often with detriment to headroom).
Trivia
- A model of the Millennium Falcon was used to create the top of a skyscraper for a scene in the film Blade Runner, also starring Han Solo actor Harrison Ford. The modelmaker described how to find it:
- "If you want to pick out the Falcon in that Hero Spinner landing sequence, look at the first of the two separate model shots making up that scene. The Millennium Falcon is right in the mid-foreground of the frame. In fact, the camera flies right over it during the beginning of that first shot. Just look for this little flashing blue Pan Am sign in the upper left of the frame at the start of that first shot, before the Hero Spinner starts coming in for a landing. The big, dark pointy building dead center in the foreground is the Millennium Falcon."
- The Falcon also appeared in Starship Troopers, attached to the aft side of the prominent tower of the Rodger Young, a la The Empire Strikes Back.
- The Falcon made a "guest appearance" in the 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact during the scene where Starfleet was engaging the Borg. The ship was slipped in by Industrial Light and Magic who had been contracted by Paramount to handle the special effects on the movie.[1]
- The Falcon made a cameo in the parking lot by the diner at the end of the spoof Spaceballs.
- The Falcon can be seen in the space port on Coruscant after Palpatine is rescued in Revenge of the Sith.
External links
References
- The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Star's End, Del Rey omnibus of "Han Solo at Star's End", "Han Solo's Revenge", and "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy", 1979. Brian Daley, ISBN 0-345-37980-2
- The Lando Calrissian Adventures: "Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu", "Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon", and "Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka", Del Rey omnibus edition, 1983. L. Neil Smith, ISBN 0-345-39110-1
- The Paradise Snare, 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57415-9
- The Hutt Gambit, 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57416-7
- Rebel Dawn, 1998. A.C. Crispin. ISBN 0-553-57417-5
- The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
- Dark Empire
- Dark Empire, trade paperback, 1993. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-569-71073-2
- Dark Empire II, trade paperback, 1st edition, 1995. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-56971-119-4
- Vector Prime, 1999. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN 0-345-42844-7