I've made a lot of special modifications myself
March 2, 2016 5:29 PM   Subscribe

A Complete History of the Millennium Falcon

Michael Heilemann is the Director of Product Design for Squarespace Inc. when he is not exploring the Origins of Star Wars at Kitbashed.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker (19 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
HAN
This ship has been to Terminus and back. There isn’t anyplace she can’t go.
I always figured Han and Chewie were agents of the Foundation.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:44 PM on March 2, 2016 [17 favorites]


There goes my night.
posted by nevercalm at 5:46 PM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


I always figured Han and Chewie were agents of the Foundation.

Could be! The extent of influences cited is surprising. The TIE fighters were ultimately inspired by the cover art for The Stainless Steel Rat?!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:57 PM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


This is great.
posted by OmieWise at 6:21 PM on March 2, 2016


I love stuff like this. I could look through a 10,000 page book of conceptual paintings by McQuarrie and not get bored.
posted by maxwelton at 6:24 PM on March 2, 2016 [5 favorites]


The extent of influences cited is surprising.

And that's why the film features so heavily in Part 2 of Everything is a Remix.
posted by timdiggerm at 6:52 PM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm always surprised when anyone besides myself finds this interesting. I find it intoxicating. That 5' falcon is a masterpiece of modelmaking.
posted by asavage at 7:40 PM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


I love that in the original script the Falcon looked like cobbled together nonsense because Han had made it himself.
posted by macrael at 8:26 PM on March 2, 2016


First of all, who eats burgers with olives? No one, and certainly not George Lucas, born and bred on Americana.

Anybody who's ever been to Halo Burger would have problems with this statement.
posted by destructive cactus at 8:33 PM on March 2, 2016


I'm always surprised when anyone besides myself finds this interesting. I find it intoxicating. That 5' falcon is a masterpiece of modelmaking.

I expect there are a lot of men in their mid-40s now who saw Star Wars and knew, just knew that they wanted to do stuff like that and then they looked sadly at the sad busted F-4 or Andromeda-class from Space Cruiser Yamato that they'd haphazardly assembled complete with big gluey fingerprints and breaking off the wibbly bits and cursed their stupid little hands and un-coordination and maybe died inside a little but still care about it.

Not that I speak from experience.

But if... someone... were ever to get access to one of the filming models and geeked out over it in front of a camera and could point at the things that are extra amazing about it, that would make a hell of an episode of Tested, wouldn't it?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:47 PM on March 2, 2016 [6 favorites]


I expect there are a lot of men people in their mid-40s now who saw Star Wars...

FTFY
posted by dorkydancer at 9:32 PM on March 2, 2016 [8 favorites]


Didn't want to speak for the not-me people is all.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:46 PM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


If you have patience, a X-Acto knife, some glue, basic manual dexterity, and 30-40 hours to invest, you can build one of these. I did. It was fun, and was a little thing I took a lot of pride in until a cat who was living with me decided to carry it around like a dead bird, causing all sorts of damage. I haven't had the heart or the ambition to make a new one yet, but I will one of these days.
posted by hippybear at 12:19 AM on March 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


I walked away from this with a better understanding of why all the prequel ships were smooth and pretty - Lucas wanted to honor a bit of the McQuarrie design that was dumped as the movie progressed.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:17 AM on March 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


The final Millennium Falcon design really works well in action scenes. The chase through the asteroid field just wouldn't have worked with the longer thinner design. The wide saucer shape is much more suited to dynamic movement.

I was always disappointed that the B-Wing got no love in ROTJ. It's one of my favorite models of starfighter. You see them onscreen leading up to the big battle, but then they're gone. Supposedly it was due to the model not filming well in action scenes. At least it got some love in the recent Rebels episode.

I walked away from this with a better understanding of why all the prequel ships were smooth and pretty - Lucas wanted to honor a bit of the McQuarrie design that was dumped as the movie progressed.

Anyone who is a fan of the McQuarrie art should be watching Rebels. They are cribbing from his work extensively. It's really great.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:21 AM on March 3, 2016


Also, for some further geekery with the Falcon design, here's something I found that draws a lot from the SWRPG Tramp Freighters book.

Or possibly someone might know if it's from a newer version of the book?
posted by Fleebnork at 7:25 AM on March 3, 2016


I was always disappointed that the B-Wing got no love in ROTJ. It's one of my favorite models of starfighter. You see them onscreen leading up to the big battle, but then they're gone.

If Adywan ever finishes Empire Strikes Back Revisited and then actually finishes Return of the Jedi Revisited, your dreams will come true.
posted by timdiggerm at 11:00 AM on March 3, 2016


I do notice what looks like it could be a window centered above the jaws in the Gary Myers storyboard, so maybe that's where the cockpit was temporarily.
posted by ckape at 11:53 AM on March 3, 2016




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