Millennium Falcon/Legends

"'Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"

- Han Solo

The Millennium Falcon was the famous personal smuggling starship of Han Solo and Chewbacca. The Falcon began life as a standard Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 stock light freighter. Solo won her from Lando Calrissian in the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament. Under both Calrissian and Solo, the ship endured many adventures and upgrades which led to her dilapidated exterior appearance, and played a vital role in the Galactic Civil War.

History
"Flandon's Teeth, what a history that ship has!"

- Milo Thirk, Alliance Intelligence Bureau Chief, Bespin system



Constructed in 60 BBY by the Corellian Engineering Corporation in their shipyards on Corellia as a YT-1300f light freighter, the Falcon existed in its stock state for several years. All documentation pertaining to its ownership at this time has remained undiscovered, however persistent rumor claims that the vessel was both owned and used secretly by members of the Jedi before Emperor Palpatine took power. These assertions, while intriguing, are unproven. However, in 19 BBY the ship was present at the Republic Executive Building docking bay on Coruscant shortly after the Second Battle of Coruscant, landing beneath the shuttle that brought Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to safety.

Sometime after this the Falcon was hit by an asteroid causing massive critical damage to the entire frame. What was left of the ship was interned in an orbital junkyard near Nar Shaddaa. The Falcon rested there for some time before it was purchased as scrap by an enterprising technician. Under the technician's ownership, the Millennium Falcon was reconstructed from core to hull, and various systems were replaced with updated hardware. Though the effort purportedly required a great deal of time and effort, the technician committed himself to finish the job as a test of skill, and also perhaps a labor of love. It was during this time that several sections of the ship were refitted with modular components from an old YT-1300p light freighter which had previously been used for diplomatic missions before meeting a similar fate. The uncredited mechanic then gave the ship its name; what the Falcon was called before this remains unknown.

The Falcon served its new owner for only a few short years performing basic light freight duties before being stolen by an opportunistic pirate. Following this event, the Falcon passed through the hands of several shady dealers, and was the collateral of at least a few wagers before coming into the hands of a young Lando Calrissian. The ship's identiplate was removed during this time to facilitate its new career in smuggling by one such owner, and each also added their own "special modifications" so that, by the time it came into the hands of Lando, it was already able to outfly almost any vessel of its size.

Smuggling days
"Take good care of her, Solo. That ship saved my life quite a few times over the years."

- Lando Calrissian

Lando Calrissian acquired the Falcon in a game of sabacc on Bespin around 5 BBY from a gambler who couldn't cover his debt. After learning the basics of its controls from his new friend Han Solo, he collaborated with his droid Vuffi Raa and operated as a freelance transporter. Calrissian piloted the ship during his smuggling missions in the Rafa system, the Oseon belt, and the Starcave of ThonBoka. He continued to make modifications to the ship in order to better protect himself during these runs. During this time, the Falcon suffered a large tear near her entry ramp when a Renatasian Confederation starfighter rammed her.



During the final round of the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament, Calrissian threw in a marker for "any ship on his lot" (at the time, he was the owner of a used spaceship lot). Solo, the other contestant remaining in the tournament, accepted the marker, knowing that Calrissian had taken a cruise ship to the tournament and left the Falcon behind. When Solo won the game, he claimed the Falcon as his own on the technicality which had been overlooked by his unlucky opponent.

After winning the Millennium Falcon from Calrissian, Solo began to add to the prior owners' modifications. His personal enhancements included upgrading the armor plating, weapons, engines, sensors, and sensor jammers (the jammer that Solo installed was so powerful that the first time the unit was tested, it disrupted the information relays inside an adjacent Imperial corvette. Luckily for Solo, the system was so powerful that it jammed itself and shut down. Solo managed to escape without notice.

Solo's first mission with the Millennium Falcon was a trip to Kashyyyk for the benefit of his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca. Proceeding from there, the Falcon left Imperial Space for the Corporate Sector, smuggling goods for crime bosses like Big Bunji and Ploovo Two-For-One. As a result of her less-than-legal activities there were frequent run-ins with the Corporate Sector authorities. Her captain was responsible for destroying the secret Authority prison installation, Stars' End, as well as helping to expose a slave trade ring that involved some very prominent Authority executives, in addition to participating in the ill-fated search for the lost treasure of Xim the Despot. After her return from the 'Sector, the Falcon continued her work smuggling goods (mainly spice) for Jabba the Hutt. Just a few months prior to the Battle of Yavin, Solo was forced to jettison his cargo of glitterstim when he was boarded by Imperials.

A fateful trip
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"

- Leia Organa to Han Solo

Millennium Falcon's destiny as a tool for a small-time smuggling operation was changed when she was chartered by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker only months later for passage to Alderaan.



When challenged by Obi-Wan about his ship's speed, Solo famously replied, "She's fast enough for you, old man," and cited that the Falcon was capable of attaining "0.5 past lightspeed," and that it "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

The journey to Alderaan proved to be much more than a simple passenger flight. The Falcon was forced to blast her way out of Mos Eisley when a garrison of stormtroopers attacked the ship in an attempt to recover her cargo. She also narrowly avoided capture by a couple of Star Destroyers before making the jump to lightspeed.

The Falcon emerged from hyperspace into the remains of Alderaan. After chasing a single TIE fighter stranded in what appeared to be empty space, the Falcon was captured by one of the first Death Star's tractor beams and secured aboard the massive space station. Thanks to quick thinking by those aboard the Falcon, the ship was made to appear as if the crew had escaped soon after taking off from Tatooine. She was searched by stormtroopers and it was reported that there were no passengers on-board. Their search had managed to miss the crew who were hidden in a series of secret smuggling holds shielded against most types of scanners.

In a matter of hours, Millennium Falcon had once again escaped the Imperial Navy, this time with the rescued Princess Leia Organa onboard. Upon seeing the Falcon for the first time, Princess Leia had remarked, "You came on that thing? You're braver than I thought!" After a fleeing battle with Imperial fighters and a trip through hyperspace, the ship arrived at the secret Alliance base on Yavin IV. During the ship's stay on the battlestation, the Empire had planted a homing device onboard the Falcon which it used to pursue the Princess to this location. As the Rebels scrambled to organize a preemptive attack on the massive Death Star, Solo loaded his reward on board the Falcon and departed the moon. However, her smuggler captain had a change of heart. Solo and his ship returned just in time to cover Luke Skywalker in his last-ditch effort to destroy the station and secure the safety of the Rebel Alliance.



Zann and Jabba
Proceeding the Battle of Yavin, Urai Fen of the Zann Consortium hired the crew of the Millennium Falcon to pick up crimelord Tyber Zann from the spice mines of Kessel under the guise of a spice run. After retrieving Zann from Kessel, the crew continued their attempts to repay Jabba for the spaced load.

During the trip back to Tatooine, the Falcon was boarded by a pirate force led by Crimson Jack. Robbed of Jabba's credits, the idea of joining the Rebellion became the best option available to her young Captain. Thus the ship became the fastest in the motley assortment that constituted the Alliance's fleet.

Escape from Hoth
Around 3 ABY, the Falcon was undergoing repairs in the main hangar of the Rebel installation Echo Base as the Empire began its assault on Hoth. As the Alliance scrambled to escape the base, Solo and Chewbacca hurried to make the ship spaceworthy. Princess Leia was cut off from her shuttle by a tunnel cave-in and was forced to make her escape from the Hoth on board the Falcon accompanied by Han, Chewbacca and C-3PO. Solo used the ship's uncanny maneuverability and his piloting skills to elude three Imperial Star Destroyers that made up the planetary blockade - the Falcon's evasive maneuvers nearly made the three Star Destroyers collide with each other. The Falcon then attempted to make the jump into hyperspace, but was stopped short by an equipment malfunction. Forced to take drastic measures to avoid capture, Solo made the decision to pilot the Falcon into the nearby asteroid field in an attempt to lose the Imperial pursuers.



"Oh, yeah? Well, we can still outmaneuver them!"

- Han Solo

After a near disastrous encounter with a space slug, the Falcon journeyed to Bespin's Cloud City, where old acquaintance Lando Calrissian held the position of Baron Administrator. The Empire had arrived first, however, and the crew of the Falcon  were captured, interrogated, and detained. Han was encased in carbonite and given to the bounty hunter Boba Fett. The remaining members of the crew, joined by Lando, escaped to the Falcon. After rescuing Luke, who was dangling from a weather vane on the underside of Cloud City, the ship left the planet and attempted to jump to lightspeed. The crew were unaware that the recently repaired hyperdrive had been disabled by Vader's men, and only a last minute patch by R2-D2 prevented the Falcon from falling into Imperial hands.

Rescuing Han
During the following months, the Falcon served as home base to Leia and Lando as they tracked Fett in an attempt to save Solo. The Falcon flew through dangerous canyons on the spaceport moon of Gall, and, despite being one of the most wanted Rebel ships in the Galaxy, managed to infiltrate Imperial Center. After finally rescuing Han from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Falcon rendezvoused with the Rebel Fleet, which was preparing to assault the newest Death Star.



Battle of Endor
"Look, I want you to take her. I mean it, take her! You need all the help you can get, she's the fastest ship in the fleet!"

- Han Solo to Lando Calrissian

During the Battle of Endor, Lando and Sullustan copilot Nien Nunb flew the Falcon as Gold Leader. After the planetary shield protecting the Death Star was destroyed, the Falcon and several Alliance fighters entered the battle station through a conduit port and headed towards the reactor core. Space was limited in the conduit tunnels leading to the core and the relatively large Falcon lost her sensor dish when it smashed into a bulkhead. Lando was able to pilot the craft into the energy core housing targeted the main reactor, launched a volley of concussion missiles, and headed for the exhaust port. The Falcon barely succeeded in outrunning the massive explosion that destroyed the powerful battle station.

New Republic
"According to the official records on file with Coruscant control, the Falcon is now a nice, normal light stock freighter. All of the illegal weapon systems and smuggling hardware removed. Except Han never did get around to removing all the handy little modifications and add-ons and military-specification sensors and weapons."

- Lando Calrissian in 18 ABY



After the Battle of Endor, the Millennium Falcon was one of the few ships left in fighting condition that was able to drive back the invasion of the Ssi-Ruuk at the Battle of Bakura. In the years following the Battle of Endor, the ship fought in the Battle of the Avatar Orbital Platform, of Kessel and of Coruscant, she became a New Republic diplomatic courier for the Skywalker-Organa-Solo family. Before the Black Fleet Crisis in 16 ABY, the ship was rebuilt with 15% of structural parts replaced, new wiring and several upgrade components.

The cobbled-together nature of the ship presented many problems throughout her smuggling days and during the Galactic Civil War. Systems were barely held together and apparently had many incompatibilities, resulting in numerous malfunctions. C-3PO commented that he wasn't quite sure where the ship learned to communicate. (However, that may be a reference to the ship's "dialect", leaving open the possibility that the ship's computer uses slang and/or vulgar language, thus upsetting C-3PO's sensibilities.) Years after the Battle of Endor, Han Solo and/or Chewbacca appeared to have resolved these difficulties, much to the relief of Leia Organa-Solo. The resolution of those problems may have involved a virtual rebuild of her internal operation systems; this was never discussed in detail.

Yuuzhan Vong War
After Chewbacca's death at the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Han Solo gave the Falcon a matte-black surface coating, both as a symbol of mourning for his co-pilot and to make her less recognizable. Eventually Leia Organa Solo became the new co-pilot, a role she would embrace.

Second Corellian Insurrection
By the time of the Second Corellian Insurrection, the Falcon (now in her centennial year) was in need of engine repairs. While attempting to land on Coruscant, the engine vibrations began to shake the ship apart. Even with Han and Leia piloting, the ship was on the verge of crashing. Leia used the Force to try and slow their descent, but lacked the fine control to do so. However, with Jacen remotely bolstering her abilities with his own, Leia was able to hold the ship together and bring it to a safe &mdash; if not rough &mdash; landing. The ship was out of commission for the next few weeks while Artoo slowly repaired her.

During the battle in the skies over Hapes, the Millennium Falcon attempted to avoid combat with Leia Solo at the helm. Jacen Solo, believing that his parents were terrorists and had set him up, ordered the Anakin Solo to open fire on the Falcon (under the transponder codes for a ship known as the Longshot). A single long range turbolaser blast was fired, destroying the central core and gun turrets of the Falcon. Unfortunately, the two Noghri Cakhmaim and Meewalh were inside the turrets when they were destroyed. The Falcon managed to escape, but with serious damage.

The Falcon was repaired in the Gyndine system at the Tendrando Refueling and Repair Station.

Layout and modifications
"You know, that ship's saved my life quite a few times. She's the fastest hunk of junk in the Galaxy!"

- Lando Calrissian



Under the ownership of both Lando and Han, the Falcon endured countless modifications and rebuilds. Lando had hidden cargo sections installed under the Falcon's deck-plates that proved to be crucial. They provided both Lando and Han easy storage for their smuggled cargos and hid the crew when the ship was captured by the first Death Star. Lando also increased the ship's shields and installed a pair of smaller blasters on the bow mandibles.

The Falcon featured duralloy plating over most of the vital areas of her hull and a sheet of armor plating from the Liquidator aft of the starboard docking arm. In addition, the ship was equipped with a set of advanced Kuat Drive Yards, Novaldex, and Nordoxicon shield generators "liberated" by Solo from the Myomar shipyards. These shield generators provided the Falcon with warship-grade shielding, allowing her to survive laser hits that would destroy an ordinary YT-1300. A set of high-grade sensor suites were tied into the Falcon's over-sized rectenna sensor dish. Powerful sensor jammers also protected the ship in combat.



In an effort to reduce his expenses and maintain his privacy, Solo modified the Falcon so that most of her major systems could be accessed through the cockpit or the engineering station in the main cargo hold. The myriad of ship control functions were funneled through what was once a Hanx-Wargel SuperFlow IV computer. It has since been modified with three droid brains, which caused the Falcon to have schizophrenic arguments with herself.

The Falcon's unkempt interior matched her dilapidated exterior. The interior corridors were littered with all sorts of mechanical gear. The main hold contained a lounge area with a holographic game table, installed at Chewbacca's request. In addition to the hidden cargo holds under her deck plates, she also had a cargo-jettison feature. The Falcon lacked a bacta tank, and to make up for it she was equipped with a cryogenic hibernation capsule. This could be used to for the transport of live cargo or to keep the critically injured stable until acceptable medical facilities were reached.

The ship was frequently required to make a quick escape. Interestingly, the Falcon had a remarkably quick start up time of about three minutes. When more firepower was required, the pilots could call on the ventrally mounted, concealed, anti-personnel repeating blaster cannon near the loading ramp.

Armaments


In addition to the hidden laser cannon, the Falcon was equipped with a pair of dorsal and ventrally mounted Corellian Engineering Corporation AG-2G quad laser cannons, which drew their power directly from her Quadex power core. They were originally installed by Lando to replace the mandible mounted blasters. When Han took over ownership of the Falcon, he modified the cannons extensively by adding enhanced powercyclers, high-volume gas feeds, and custom laser actuators. This increased the cannons' output to the point where they were able to destroy a TIE fighter with a single shot. These cannons, though typically manually operated, could be remotely accessed and controlled from the cockpit by Solo. He once found himself in need of this capability during the Blockade of Kashyyyk in 0 ABY.

After becoming the diplomatic courier ship for the Skywalker-Organa-Solo family, the Falcon was refitted with military-grade power generators, propulsion, and weaponry. The quad blaster cannons were replaced by light turbolasers. The ship also had a pair of Arakyd ST2 concussion missile launchers mounted between the forward mandibles, which were technically illegal for a civilian to possess.

During the events surrounding the reborn Emperor Palpatine, the missile launchers were temporarily replaced by a giant Ganathan lightning gun mounted in place of the portside bow mandible, which was destroyed in a shoot-out with Boba Fett's Slave I. Han didn't particularly like the modification to his ship and was quick to return the Falcon back to normal once the troubles with the reborn Emperor had ended.

The secret to her speed
"What a piece of junk!" "She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

- Luke Skywalker and Han Solo



The most famous attribute of Millennium Falcon was her hyperdrive. The hyperdrive system onboard the Falcon was fully twice the size of the hyperdrive in a standard YT-1300 freighter. This system gave her a hyperdrive class of 0.5, which was twice as fast as most Imperial warships. The secret to her speed was master starship tech "Doc" Vandangante's modifications that "streamlined" the ship in hyperspace by controlling the warp of the space-time continuum around her. Several other ships have tried to match the Falcon's speed without these "streamlining" modifications and have blown themselves into space dust.

Another key element to the Millennium Falcon's speed was its navicomputer, which could locate the quickest route from Point A to Point B while still avoiding obstacles such as star systems and asteroid fields.

Aliases


"And our stormtroopers were outfought, our starfleet evaded? How is this possible? Whose ship was it?" "That is difficult to say. She had false identification markings and a forged registration. Moreover, she was an extremely fast and elusive vessel, probably piloted by one of the smugglers who congregate in that region."

- Wilhuff Tarkin and Darth Vader

Over the years, due to the clandestine nature of its operations, the Falcon's owners have given it numerous false designations. Han Solo alone had given it over half a dozen false names by 8 ABY. Known ones include:


 * Argos
 * Sunfighter Franchise
 * Sunlight Franchise
 * Regina Galas
 * Longshot
 * Shadow Bird
 * Princess of Blood
 * Victory Ring



Under Lando Calrissian

 * Lando Calrissian (captain)
 * Vuffi Raa (co-pilot)

Under Han Solo

 * Han Solo (captain)
 * Chewbacca (co-pilot)
 * Leia Organa Solo (co-pilot)

Behind the scenes



 * 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 (specifically the Eagle Transporters). The replacement is said to be based on a half-eaten hamburger held by George Lucas. Ralph McQuarrie's original design was modified to become the Blockade Runner starship seen at the beginning of Episode IV, and the original design was also used for the diplomatic transport that brings Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Naboo at the beginning of Episode I.


 * The cockpit design of the Millennium Falcon is also heavily based on the design used in the famous B-29 Superfortress.


 * Like many science fiction spacecraft, the Falcon's interior sets can not actually physically fit within the exterior sets. Subsequent Expanded Universe plans are consequently a compromise attempt at squeezing the interiors in (often with detriment to headroom). These compromise plans often also result in the Falcon having rather small engines for a ship considered notable for its speed.


 * In Tyrant's Test, Chewbacca states that the quad-lasers aboard the Falcon are "large-bore Dennia quads", designed originally as crew-served weapons aboard Dreadnoughts. This would seem to contradict the presence of the Corellian-manufacture AG-2G cannons; alternatively, Dennia might have been the subcontractor who built the AG-2Gs.


 * Han Solo's famous comment, that the vessel "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs," comes off a little incongruous&mdash;a parsec is a measure of distance, not time. It has been conjectured that George Lucas simply did not know that when he wrote the script. However, in the original novel, Solo uses the word "timeparts" instead of "parsec." In the 4 DVD special edition of the original trilogy, Lucas explains that the remark meant that the Falcon's computer was so advanced that it was able to plot a shorter route through hyperspace than any other ship, and thus travel faster. An alternate explanation is that Solo was most likely trying to impress his travelers with plausible-sounding yet meaningless bragging (it should be noted that while Han is talking about this, the camera does cut to Obi-wan looking rather skeptically at him, and the original script supports this). Some novelizations have retconned the statement as meaning that Captain Solo was able to hug closer to the black hole cluster known as The Maw, shaving off distance (and thus time).


 * The design of the Ebon Hawk, developed for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, was inspired by the Falcon. Both ships also serve as mobile "bases" for the main characters of their respective series.


 * It was speculated that the Falcon would make an appearance in Revenge of the Sith to further tie the prequel trilogy to the original trilogy, and the ship did indeed make a cameo in the movie. At the beginning of one shot closing in on a docking bay on Coruscant, a YT-1300 freighter is seen flying in to dock. This was confirmed by Lucas that it was the Millennium Falcon itself and not just some other YT-1300 freighter.


 * While one of the Imperial officers examining the Falcon aboard the Death Star noted that several escape pods had been jettisoned from the ship, it is unclear where such pods are actually located. This is another consequence of the Falcon's last-minute redesign: in the original design, the escape pods were clearly visible from the outside.


 * A CG model of the Falcon was inserted in the battle in the film Star Trek: First Contact. John Knoll of Industrial Light & Magic, which did the special effects for the film, as well as having just completed work on the Special Edition of A New Hope, inserted the Falcon in the battle, although it is hardly visible. It can be seen when the Borg cube explodes.


 * According to Joss Whedon, the Millennium Falcon was a primary inspiration for his show Firefly. The ship also inspired the ship Serenity, which played a major role in his show.
 * In the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination traveling exhibit a reproduction of the Millennium Falcon's cockpit is featured within a miniature planetarium.


 * A YT-1300 freighter, similar to the Millennium Falcon, can be seen for a second on the landing platform of the Space Diner in the Mel Brooks space parody, Spaceballs.


 * In February 2007, LEGO Corporation announced the release of the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon, scheduled for October 1 2007. The model is scaled to LEGO Minifigures, it measures 33" long by 22" wide.  At 5,195 pieces, it will be the largest LEGO Set ever produced.


 * One of the Falcon's aliases Argos is an actual Greek city. The city may or may not have inspired the alias.