When Colin Cantwell began work on Star Wars back in 1974 his dedsigns formed a huge part of the template of the saga, giving form to X-Wings, Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters and more. In that original swathe of designs was something known as the Javelin Destroyer and while it has flirted with fame in the decades since it finally found its place in the 11th episode of the debut season of Andor, now known as the Arrestor Cruiser.
Star Wars fans who have plumbed the depths of the making of the original trilogy already knew about that painting. Fans like Peter Briggs, co-writer of the 2004 movie Hellboy and someone who not only pored over every detail of the original movies as a kid but even had a chance to tour the Return of the Jedi sets in London one day in 1982.
“I have a particular obsession with what we now call the Arrestor Cruiser — a 1974 Colin Cantwell design for George Lucas’ mighty Star Destroyer,” Briggs recalls. “Colin had already tried his hand with a Star Destroyer that looked something like a cross between a stacked World War I Naval Dreadnaught and the Flatiron Building in New York, but when pictures were published of Colin’s long, sleek javelin-head Destroyer with the big radar dishes (originally intended by Colin to be anti-ship/space-to-land lasers) … I was in love.”
As if his younger self had been reading the future mindset of the ILM crew, Briggs continues: “It was the one specific design of Colin’s that looked as if you could take it straight off the page, put it in the middle of an Imperial fleet, and it would still look right at home. A keen toy collector (and amateur modeler), I coveted a three dimensional representation of the Javelin Destroyer for years, but couldn’t find time to fudge one together.”
In the meantime, Briggs had been chatting with Colin as the 2018 release of Solo: A Star Wars Story neared, and a friend let him know that not only was Hot Wheels going to release a die-cast toy of Colin’s ship, but it was going to be a piece of official merchandise from the movie too.
He remembers: “I was there opening day for Solo to see the mighty ship — now called an Arrestor Cruiser — in action. What a swizz! We got a brief shot in an Imperial recruitment video at the Correlia Spaceport, looking elegant and menacing alongside a Star Destroyer … and that was it!”
However, Briggs and other fans found their disappointment short-lived, since the home video release of Solo featured a cut scene in which the Arrestor Cruiser played a prominent role. In fact, it was even the ship a young Han Solo was assigned to.
Four years later, Briggs finally felt some vindication when he saw that aforementioned scene in Andor: “Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael has his Fondor starship halted in orbit above the planet Segra-Milo by a prowling Arrestor Cruiser (even identified onscreen as ‘Cantwell Class,’ finally giving Colin his legendary onscreen status!), its dishes now gigantic tractor-beam arrays that prove ineffective against Luthen’s tricked-out spycraft. And 12-year-old me was finally happy.”
- Audible Audiobook
- Lucasfilm Press (Author) - Kevin Kemp (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 09/19/2024 (Publication Date) - Audible Originals (Publisher)
