The Millennium Falcon is probably the best-known spaceship in the whole Star Wars franchise. Piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca, the ship has been essential in the Rebels’ victory against the Empire. But, despite all the feats, everyone who lays their eyes on the ship for the first time thinks it’s a piece of junk. Why is that?
Is Millennium Falcon really a piece of junk?
“What a piece of junk!”
— Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: A New Hope
The above-mentioned quote, uttered by Luke Skywalker when he first saw the Falcon, is a common reaction to people seeing the ship for the first time. Everyone who saw the ship for the first time thought it was a piece of junk. Why? Well, the Falcon really looks like one.
FalconIV
First of all, it is a really old ship, built around 60 BBY. Second of all, it was designed to be a cargo hauler, and you’re certainly not going to go for a user-friendly design with a ship manufactured to tug around large containers and other junk. Thirdly, the Falcon, as we see it in the canon movies, is not even the original model but a rebuilt, refurbished model that was altered a lot, both by Lando and Han.
It also has a lot of stains, holes, and other evidence of its adventures with Han and Chewbacca; Han even refuses to wash it and clean it out of pride.
“You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.”
— Leia Organa, Star Wars: A New Hope
In several instances, the Falcon was also very faulty. It had problems with its Hyperdrive, and it required constant maintenance whenever it was not flying (just remember the scene in the Resistance base on Hoth, when Chewbacca was fixing it and things started to go haywire and explode), which also explains why people think it’s a piece of junk.
And it is, in a way – it’s an old, crappy model – but the Millennium Falcon has proven its worth on multiple occasions.
It is a fact that, despite its appearance and all the problems, the Falcon is a really fast and practical ship. Being a good pilot, Solo has managed to get the best out of the Falcon, using it to help the Resistance on several important occasions. This is why, despite everything, we cannot state that the Millennium Falcon truly is a piece of junk, but we cannot deny that it does look like one, and we’ve explained why.
