Jason Fry, a man who has travelled from one side of the galaxy to the other in search of fascinating facts and information, explains just why he’s such a freighter fanatic as he presents a love letter to the galaxy’s favourite piece of junk.
Over the years, enterprising mapmakers created many different blueprints for Falcon’s interior and I studied each one. Where were the crew cabins? The engines? The refresher? The smuggling compartments? If the famous “ring” corridor wasn’t a full circle, I’d scoff and toss the latest entrant aside.
Eventually I was lucky enough to get to write Star Wars books, but adding to the lore around the Falcon stayed stubbornly on my bucket list for years. I made do by tormenting my friends Ryder Windham, Chris Trevas, and Chris Reiff, collaborators on several superb Falcon books; eventually they’d see me coming at conventions and sigh, because they knew that within minutes I’d be razzing them about how their Falcon blueprints lacked a galley.
I finally got my chance when I was tapped as the author of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-Sections and took full advantage, gleefully geeking out about what went wrong with the Falcon’s propulsion system malfunctioned after Jakku, and detailing modifications made by Gannis Ducain and the Irving Boys. I included the best theory I’d ever heard for the ship’s original purpose, one invented and illustrated by my friend Jeff Carlisle: She’d started life as a space tug, pushing shipping containers sandwiched between her forward mandibles. Finally that sidecar cockpit made sense!
Oh, and you better believe I restored the galley.
