Or in layman's terms: reducing the total length of road segments between two points when there are options at junctions. What Was It Like When The Universe First Created More Matter Than Antimatter? Completing the route in the shortest distance means solving a mathematical problem where the aim is to minimize the combined length of all edges between two vertices in a graph (from A to F in the illustration below). Neither did the majority of his audience, so it didn't really matter. Since they are speaking in English, parsec means what we think it means. One explanation is that creator George Lucas didn't understand (or care about) what a parsec is -- the word was used simply because it sounded more science fiction-y. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/59478#59478, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/20488#20488, Precisely. It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. This means he was telling the truth all along. In the revised fourth draft of A New Hope in 1976, the description for "Kessel Run" is put as follows: Han: It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs! He needs big money for his debt/bounty to Jabba, so the parsecs BS is an incentive to close the deal. Don't forget he was a smuggler / indeed a reference to him as even a pirate. And unlike the old black-hole cluster, it has a single gravity well -- also called 'the Maw'. Simple - they made a silly, ignorant mistake, and then, when that ignorance was pointed out, covered it up with scientific theory and technobabble. @GorchestopherH - .5 past light speed refers to the class (it has a class 0.5 hyperdrive, with class 0 being infinte speed). Was he just trying to impress Obi Wan with big words, not knowing who he was talking to. Discussion in 'Classic Trilogy' started by c2good25, Jan 22, 2016. c2good25 Jedi Youngling. A Parsec is an obscure unit of distance in Astrophysics, equal to 3.26 Light Years.". But it was still made in the E-U, so it can only be considered a C-Canon level retcon, and not G-Canon. This wiki article agrees with the latter of the two: Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. L3-37, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian in the Falcon's cockpit in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', The Falcon is a highly modified Corellian light freighter and in Solo we discover what makes the ship so special: its computer exploits knowledge from L3-37, a headstrong female droid and friend of gambler Lando Calrissian. While this answer is wrong, that is not justification to delete it. The film gets round this potential astronomical mistake by showing that you would need careful manoeuvring along at least one part of the route: the Akkadese Maelstrom. While I have no doubt that it was originally just an oversight/misinterpretation of what a parsec really is, it can simply be explained by a misinterpretation of another kind... the dialogue. In The Force Awakens, Rey references the Kessel Run but describes it as being completed in fourteen parsecs, after which Solo corrects her. And, the Falcon makes the Kessel Run in 13 parsecs. Han seems shocked that Ben has never heard of the Falcon (as though it is famous for something). But does it have to be made obvious? as if to say 'what's it so famous for?' The shortest path (blue) between points A and F in a weighted graph. scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/206689/…, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run. Taking certain interstellar roads reduces the risk of being caught red-handed by an Imperial patrol. That's possible thanks to a trick of Einstein's general theory of relativity, as the enormous mass of black holes cause spacetime to bend so that, between any two points, a ship would follow a curved path. It's not brilliant, but at least tries to explain a plot hole / mistake...you know, like Rogue One did with the Death Star's weak spot. Coupled with its speed, agility and Han's piloting skills, this explains how the ship took shortcuts -- cutting both distance and time -- for its most impressive achievement: making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. This would be a legitimate criticism if the Kessel Run was a set distance like a marathon. As crime lord Dryden Vos says, to deliver the coaxium in time, "You'd need an incredibly fast ship and a brilliant pilot.". But it was still a mismatch of a distance unit in place of time unit. I've never considered it from that view point. I cover science and technology in popular culture, Indirect Contributions Are Essential To Physics, The Crisis In Theoretical Particle Physics Is Not A Moral Imperative, Why Study Science? But the new canon rules have made this explanation defunct. So instead of going directly from A to B, a ship would have to travel from A to Z via points B, C and D etc, meaning that ships could take different paths to Kessel. navicomputer would calculate much faster routes than other ships @MatthewRead - Wasn't that Mara Jade? There's a trade-off between speed and efficiency, so pathfinding algorithms will often simplify variables to find a rapid solution. This was the very first of these movies, and Lucas was making his first foray into writing about space. (Warning: Spoilers for Solo. Therefore making the distance in 12 parsecs, an astronomical unit of distance, may still be argued as feat to be bragged about "the kessel run" in less distance than most other's. Parsecs is a unit for measuring distance, not time. It actually is a less stupid retcon than the two the canon is actually trying to use - distance = time and the infinite class measurement of stardrives. There's an infamous line in Star Wars: A New Hope where Han Solo brags that the Millennium Falcon "made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs." Han Solo claimed that his Millennium Falcon "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs". One upshot of this strategy is it turns Han Solo into a time traveller. Sometimes, if you've made a mistake in ignorance, admitting that ignorance honestly, and then correcting it is the most honorable thing one can do. well he was using it in a measurement of time correct? It's known as the only ship that has done the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Lost her ship trying to best Han? that's it! ok now i really have to ask this to the rest of the star wars fans. I'm a science communicator specialising in public engagement and outreach through entertainment, focusing on popular culture. Later on, it was retconned into the whole story about Kessel run being a path between singularities. How is it more stupid? The Millennium Falcon isn't just "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy", it also has the best sat-nav. Scientifically speaking, this line makes no sense. Do you have any base for this? As seen in the trailer, the Millennium Falcon has to evade an Imperial blockade and is pursued by a Star Destroyer, TIE Fighters and a gigantic tentacle creature. It basically means "my ship can go close enough to a black hole to shorten the length of the Kessel Run to 12 parsecs, and still escape, so it's pretty fast", https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/81772#81772, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/94564#94564, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/116072#116072, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/147480#147480, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/95965#95965. "kesselrun" is a standard unit of time used to rate starships. "A New Hope" was a terrible book IMO. Likely, YOU didn't know this was an error the first time (or even the first several times) that you heard it. Nonetheless, it's possible that "parsecs" was originally an error: in the novelization published before A New Hope came out in 1977, Han's line ends with "twelve standard timeparts." Kessel run in 12 parsecs. This means that all Han Solo had to do was take the Millennium Falcon on a shortcut to make the Kessel Run in 12-Parsecs. Whoever can travel from point A to point B in a manner closest to a straight line, is reaching point B faster. Wookieepedia's Kessel Run article says that : In the A New Hope novelization, Han says "standard time units" rather than "parsecs.". That move angered lots of fans because those stories had, in many ways, wonderfully expanded the Star Wars universe. The question is how far you can travel in one "kesselrun". When he is talking to Obi Wan he is trying to persuade him that the Falcon is the fastest ship in the Galaxy, but if he were truly referring to the distance he made the run in, it would be more referring to his pilot skills, not the ship's speed. First and foremost, they're wrong about language: a 'run' is not always a race against time, the word is also a synonym for 'route', as used when parents make the school run or a courier makes delivery runs. The MF going a whole 12 parsecs in one kesselrun is ridiculously fast, no other ship ever getting farther than 10.63 parsecs. Could it have been that he just misspoke, or was his "I made it in 12 parsecs" really referring to the distance of the run. To explain that, we must answer another question: What is the Kessel Run, exactly? Because this is all fiction, and fictional worlds will continue to evolve, both forwards and backwards, as long as their creators continue to explore them. :-), 2021 Stack Exchange, Inc. user contributions under cc by-sa. Think of trying to run out an inside-the-park home run in baseball wearing cleats as opposed to, oh... flip-flops. well a parsec is actually a measurement of distance. There was a well-finessed retcon in one of the novels. It worked perfectly well until people started pointing out that a parsec is a unit of distance while Han acts like he's talking about time. This is not a claim to the ship's speed, but the reason why Ben should have heard of it. The better the rating of your hyperdrive, the closer you could fly to a gravity well without being pulled out of hyperspace. He and the falcon are the only ones to have taken than shorter more dangerous corner cutting course. They meet smuggler Han Solo, who brags that his starship -- the Millennium Falcon -- is "the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. According to the stories, namely the Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin, the Kessel run was a popular smuggling route that went around the Maw black hole hole cluster. Lucas mentions that the parsecs are due to the Millennium Falcon's Written by [Dr.] Dru Johnston Part of The Year of the Blog project. Well, at least he isn't Sith. It sounds like Han is boasting about a unit of time. I can't remember which book was in, though, but perhaps this added trivia can help someone else remember! Hopefully my details aren't too far off, it's been a few years since I've read the books. It does appear that he his referring to a time frame as people seem to concur, but what if he wasn't. ... Tie-in books have explained that Han meant he cut down the distance commonly traveled on the Kessel run by flying close to Black Holes that no one else had dared to. Han then explains the reason why it's famous. Finding the shortest path has a variety of real-world applications, such as getting the best directions between two locations on Google Maps. To say that a ship has done it in less is to say that that ship is fast enough to get closer than safely recommended to a black hole, thus decreasing the distance the ship has to travel around said black holes. It was more likely the author being a bit playful and taking it onto himself to perform the retcon in a way that didn't make anyone look bad. It was completely intentional. Posts about kessel run in 12 parsecs written by theyearoftheblog. That safe distance when navigating the "Kessel Run" is factored to make the run require 18 parsecs (of distance) traveled. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/56462#56462, https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/102411#102411. People don't understand what Han Solo meant by saying he did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. The dude wrote the Jedi Academy Trilogy in 1994, and in it he describes the Kessel Run in vivid detail. The path would be calculated by a machine like the navigational computer ('navicomputer') onboard the Millennium Falcon. Parsecs is a unit for measuring distance, not time. The Mandalorian just sneakily fixed a huge problem in Star Wars movie canon. It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. Only by going really fast can you get that close to the black holes and not get sucked in. I see that good ol Lucas isn't a Jedi. We discuss. The multi-holed Maw from the Legends continuity became obsolete. ), In Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are trying to charter a flight from the planet Tatooine to reach Alderaan as fast as possible. As a retcons usually go, this one was nicely done. A popular travel route for smuggling operations, the Kessel Run went around the Maw, a cluster of black holes. The Same Reason You Would Study Anything Else, The (Mostly) Quantum Physics Of Making Colors, This Simple Thought Experiment Shows Why We Need Quantum Gravity, How The Planck Satellite Forever Changed Our View Of The Universe. According to Anderson the Kessel Run is a route from Kessel to the area south (let's say Space South) of the Si'Klaata Cluster. Actually, making it in twelve parsecs could be a factor of speed. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/188807#188807, I would rather say "NOT a mistake ANYMORE". That cargo is kept cool in canisters and must reach a refinery before it gets too warm and explodes. Plus One! Han saying that he made the run in 12 parsecs is like a runner saying she ran a marathon in 26.2 miles. If you had a hovercraft, you could make the trip in less distance by going over water in a straight line. Of course he also finds out that Jabba has put a hit on him for dropping the drugs. However what about if light speed cant be done in straight lines because of astronomical issues, such as so called black holes, asteroid fields or other space type threats such as imperial blockades even. But after the Star Wars franchise was sold to Disney, almost everything from the Expanded Universe was erased from the official canon and became part of an alternate 'Legends' timeline. Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation. The Millennium Falcon jumps to hyperspace in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', According to the new canon revealed in Solo, the Kessel Run is normally 20 parsecs long and the mines are now controlled by an organization of drug dealers, the Pyke Syndicate. To add to this correct answer: The later change was part of a larger retcon and "special edition" edit to convert Han Solo from an unprincipled smuggler that does a heel-face-turn into just a reluctant hero from the start. I don't know about the Han Solo trilogy (so there may have been one there, as well), and I don't remember it from the Jedi Academy trilogy. ", After L3 is killed in action, her brain (internal processor) is connected to the Falcon's computer and she constructs a model to find a way out of the Maelstrom. At least, that’s what it sounds like if you pay attention to the exchange between Chewie and Han toward the end of the movie. I'm pretty sure that in one of the books, Han explains that the Kessel Run is normally a 18 parsec route and that he could make it in 12 by travelling insanely close to the maw cluster, which requires a very good navigator/computer, sharp piloting skills and a whole lot of guts. Kessel Run in Twelve Parsecs. I have a ship that can do the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs. They covered the kessel run in twelve parsecs - that sentence doesn't refer to the kessel run, or the parsecs - it refers to the massive coverup that the novels did on a massive goof-up. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/37332#37332. Han knew what he was talking about the whole time. The speed of light is one of the few constants in our universe that we consistently look to when it comes to space. If they had races out to Maia (or something like that), I think I could be a competitor in my new Firefly class ship. So, to put it simply, it seems like it was originally a screenplay error that then became accepted in the lore, which adapted so that a line that was intended to be a boast anyways became a statement of fact. He made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs of distance rather than taking a longer route. What Is (And Isn't) Scientific About The Multiverse, The Pillars Of Creation Haven't Been Destroyed, Say New NASA Images. 3.26 light years = 1 parsec. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. In order to fly close to large objects, you would have to be flying fast enough to not be pulled into them by their gravity. Han Solo is a smuggler, not a sprinter, and the Kessel Run is not a race track. I think the real question isn't "Did Han know what a parsec was?" And I think it's fairly clear that the answer is No, he didn't. Well, Han made the run in 12 parsecs by finding another route through the maelstrom. Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. The wiki explanation doesn't explain how it would be possible for him to even travel 12 parsecs in a ship that can only go "point 5 past light speed". Han Solo managed to do the complicated kessel run, which is full of imperial blockades, in under 40 light years of distance. Less then 12 parsecs makes no sense when discussing speed. I think an asteroid field was involved. Consider context please: Han probably knew what a parsec is but he's been busy gettin his drink on in the Cantina and then some deseparate scrubs crawl out of the desert - he has no clue they are a couple Jedi badasses - and he's just "puttin on airs" as we used to say: spouting some BS to sell it. Solo has solved a problem with the Kessel Run: because space is unimaginably big and the Millennium Falcon is insignificant by comparison, the chances of a small ship colliding with celestial objects such as asteroids is low (probably near zero). Much of its reputation comes from Han's boasting in A New Hope that the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Archived. According to Star Wars: The Essential Atlas and the Solo novels, the road to Kessel involved navigating a cluster of black holes known as 'the Maw'. A sith would be killing everyone who ever knew or perceived the error, instead of merely covering it up :). A faster ship could stay closer to these without getting pulled into them and thus keep a straighter line resulting in a shorter distance travelled than for a slower ship that had to go further around them. I have a PhD in evolutionary biology and spent several years at BBC Science Focus magazine, running the features section and writing about everything from gay genes and internet memes to the science of death and origin of life. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. From: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run. Anything from any kind of canon, or an interview of someone? https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/20359/kessel-run-in-12-parsecs-screenplay-error-or-part-of-the-movie/20360#20360. The Millenium Falcon above the planet Kessel in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story'. Solutions are found with an algorithm -- a sequence of logical instructions -- and a problem's complexity determines how soon it can be solved. Now, Han’s “less than 12 parsecs” brag makes a whole lot more sense. In the Han Solo Trilogy (I believe the last book), Han drops his load of drugs to save some Corellian slave kids from the Empire. Google maps says 180 miles. I believe (hence the comment) that this was just a screen play error that many fans picked up on and eventually fixed with the explanation quoted by wiki after the Jedi Search book, which introduced the Maw. He needs to find some fast cash to pay Jabba back and ends up on Tattoine... where history is made. a trick of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Ok, I think i finally have it. The Maelstrom is a dense cloud of ionized gas, water vapor and planet-sized 'carbon bergs' that crash into one another. According to the EU, Han had to skirt the edges of the black hole cluster "The Maw" in order to cut the distance to less than 12 parsecs. Registered: Jan 22, 2016. In fact, it was a pretty blatant one. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance.