How Han Made the Kessel Run in Less than 12 Parsecs.
In Han Solo's introduction scene he claims that the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs with the line “"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” which sounds ludicrous at first because a "Parsec" is a unit of length not time. Which has led many fans to speculate that Han was simply boasting or that it was mistake in the filming; however, there a few theories on the subject that might explain this discrepancy. After listening to the commentary track by George Lucas and various others on the DVD of Star Wars, he clearly explained the reasoning behind the statement. In space a ship has to navigate around objects (planets, asteroids, ect.) in hyperspace routes and either through Han's skill as a navigator or the Falcon's navigation computer he made the Kessel Run in a very shorter distance. On the other hand, in A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, the Maw cluster of black holes distorts space and time, therefore the length of the route is shortened by flying close to it. Another possibility is that he was simply boasting and later information was changed to make that statment true. Because in the revised fourth draft of Star Wars in 1976, the description for "Kessel Run" is put as follows: “It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs! Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation. “This would imply that Han’s claim is only "misinformation", not truth, and it has nothing to do with the nature of the Kessel Run in any aspect. Even in the final edition of the script, the parentheses added to Han's line states that he is "obviously lying." I believe that Lucas’s answer is the most logical, although I assume he only thought of this well after he filmed Star Wars. What are your thoughts on the debate? Please comment below.
Originally this post was a guest post on Edessa's blog, HoloNet Entertainment Daily, but I wanted to have this on J and J Productions' archives. I recommend checking out her blog.
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I think he was either boasting or testing their knowledge of space travel...I honestly don't buy Lucas' explanation especially after reading the scripts from that scene :P
I'm with you, Stilwater -- I think he was lying to see how much they knew about space travel. Luke seems to swallow it whole, while Obi Wan gives him this sort of, "Riiiiiiiiiiight" look and lets it slide, IIRC.
I remembered reading this too! :P In the books I read, it said he was lying as you said. I read the Han Solo Trilogy and thought about it too, but I still think he's lying.
I think he was either boasting or testing their knowledge of space travel...I honestly don't buy Lucas' explanation especially after reading the scripts from that scene :P
ReplyDeleteIt could really go either way, but it is one of those in hindsight changes.
Delete-James
I'm with you, Stilwater -- I think he was lying to see how much they knew about space travel. Luke seems to swallow it whole, while Obi Wan gives him this sort of, "Riiiiiiiiiiight" look and lets it slide, IIRC.
DeleteI actually think I remember reading this! :D LOLOLOL
ReplyDelete~Jamie
I thought you might, but I wanted it for my archives. :D
Delete-James
Perhaps it his way of doing space flight travel and I believe that he was sarcastic from at the start.
ReplyDeleteAh, good point, I did not think about that.
Delete-James
I remembered reading this too! :P In the books I read, it said he was lying as you said. I read the Han Solo Trilogy and thought about it too, but I still think he's lying.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard this before. Fascinating!
ReplyDelete