The original intent was clearly that Han was bullshitting a farm kid, that’s why Obi-Wan smirks at the line.
Lucas at the time was asked to explain it in interviews because that was simply too subtle for children and Americans. The bullshit he comes up with is that Han is bragging about how good that ship computer is, essentially likening it to an old sailing ship having an expert navigator and accurate sea charts.
The explanation that the EU came up with, unaware of both of those things, is about the black holes and relativity. Honestly a lot better than Lucas’s excuse but ultimately missing the point of the original line.
And the movie Solo, I think, actually did a pretty genius job of uniting these interpretations. The Falcon gets a uniquely powerful ship computer, black holes fuck with relativity, and then the number he relates in the movie is higher than the one the one he tells Luke. Honestly the best thing the movie did imo.
That and actually showing blasters as dangerous instead of people prat falling when they get hit in the shoulder.
I didn’t know what a parsec even was, the first dozen times I saw A New Hope. Even now, I’m happy to let the line slide, although it does make me laugh. Not because of the line itself, but the fact that Lucas got caught with his pants down, and instead of laughing it off he and other writers bent over backwards to insist that he didn’t make a mistake.
My favorite part of a movie is the part where you have to read a wiki and listen to a commentary so that one slightly questionable line makes sense.
It doesn’t have to make sense, you could just treat it as technobabble and enjoy the rest of the movie without worries.
Right! He’s either [wiki explanation], or he’s trying to impress a naïve farm boy with bullshit.
It goes deeper.
The original intent was clearly that Han was bullshitting a farm kid, that’s why Obi-Wan smirks at the line.
Lucas at the time was asked to explain it in interviews because that was simply too subtle for children and Americans. The bullshit he comes up with is that Han is bragging about how good that ship computer is, essentially likening it to an old sailing ship having an expert navigator and accurate sea charts.
The explanation that the EU came up with, unaware of both of those things, is about the black holes and relativity. Honestly a lot better than Lucas’s excuse but ultimately missing the point of the original line.
And the movie Solo, I think, actually did a pretty genius job of uniting these interpretations. The Falcon gets a uniquely powerful ship computer, black holes fuck with relativity, and then the number he relates in the movie is higher than the one the one he tells Luke. Honestly the best thing the movie did imo.
That and actually showing blasters as dangerous instead of people prat falling when they get hit in the shoulder.
I didn’t know what a parsec even was, the first dozen times I saw A New Hope. Even now, I’m happy to let the line slide, although it does make me laugh. Not because of the line itself, but the fact that Lucas got caught with his pants down, and instead of laughing it off he and other writers bent over backwards to insist that he didn’t make a mistake.
It’s fine George! Nobody’s perfect!