The Millennium Falcon – What a Piece of Junk

The minute I saw the Millennium Falcon at the 1977 opening showing of Star Wars: The New Hope, I knew this was my version of a space vehicle. No NASA Mercury, Apollo, Right Stuff spit and polish stuff, but a working man’s freighter, or in the case of Han and Chewbacca, smugglers.

The introduction to the Falcon:

TATOOINE CANTINA

Strange creatures play exotic big band music on odd-looking instruments…Han is a tough, roguish starpilot about thirty years old. A mercenary on a starship, he is simple, sentimental, and cocksure.

HAN
Han Solo. I’m captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you’re looking for passage to the Alderaan system. 

BEN
Yes, indeed. If it’s a fast ship.

HAN
Fast ship? You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?

BEN
Should I have?

HAN
It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!...I’ve outrun Imperial starships, not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you. I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now. She’s fast enough for you, old man. What’s the cargo?

DOCKING BAY 94
Chewbacca leads the group into a giant dirt pit that is Docking Bay 94. Resting in the middle of the huge hole is a large, round, beat-up, pieced-together hunk of junk that could only loosely be called a starship. 

LUKE
What a piece of junk.

HAN
She’ll make point five beyond the speed of light. She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid. I’ve added some special modifications myself.

Chewbacca settles into the pilot’s chair and starts the mighty engines of the starship. 

Imperial cruisers fire at the pirateship

COCKPIT
The ship shudders as an explosion flashes outside the window. 

HAN
Here’s where the fun begins!

BEN
How long before you can make the jump to light speed?

HAN
It’ll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer.

The ship begins to rock violently as lasers hit it. 

LUKE
Are you kidding? At the rate they’re gaining…

HAN
Traveling through hyperspace isn’t like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it? 

The ship is now constantly battered with laserfire as a red warning light begins to flash.

LUKE
What’s that flashing?

HAN
We’re losing our deflector shield. Go strap yourself in, I’m going to make the jump to light speed. 

The galaxy brightens and they move faster, almost as if crashing a barrier. Stars become streaks as the pirateship makes the jump to hyperspace. 

At the time, I drove a 1956 VW Bug. It didn’t look like much, but it had real metal in the body and a small oval back window. It had been across country at least five times. One of the most dependable and easiest to repair cars I’ve ever owned. A Star Wars-type of vehicle. When the Millennium Falcon blasted its way out of Tatooine, we were in for a very long ride.