50 Fun Facts About Star Wars Ships and Vehicles

Why did George Lucas order the Falcon redesigned from its original elongated shape?

The original model was rescaled and reused as Leia's ship, the Tantive IV.

Lucas's only instruction for the Falcon's redesign was to think of what?

Joe Johnston had about four weeks and later said the shape was roughly a hamburger with an olive-on-the-side cockpit.

The Falcon's hyperspace sound is built from the engine noise of which airliner?

Two tracks slightly out of sync create the phasing effect, plus the hum of ILM's motion-control rig fans.

The Falcon's greenhouse-style cockpit was likely inspired by which aircraft?

The cockpit set was built separately so it could be rocked when the ship was supposed to shake.

Under what code name was the full-scale Falcon built for The Empire Strikes Back?

Marcon Fabrications built the 25-ton mock-up in a flying-boat hangar at Pembroke Dock in Wales.

In which card game did Han Solo win the Falcon from Lando?

The win came several years before A New Hope; Solo dramatises the game.

Which actress was nearly cast in Rise of Skywalker as the Falcon's original designer?

Concept artist Phil Saunders revealed the abandoned idea in 2021.

Who sketched and built the models that became the X-wing?

Lucas also said the final TIE fighter design was "60 percent mine and 40 percent Cantwell's".

What colour was the X-wing squadron in the script before bluescreen problems changed it?

Blue markings would have vanished against the bluescreen, so Red Squadron was born.

What footage did Lucas's editors use as placeholders while ILM finished the X-wing shots?

The space battles were always meant to feel like Second World War air combat.

How deep was the "lake" Luke's X-wing sinks into on Dagobah?

A hinged rig let the fighter sink or rise on cue when Luke fails to levitate it.

Which prequel starfighter is the deliberate ancestor of the X-wing?

Both are Incom designs in-universe; Incom built the X-wing for the Empire before the contract went to Sienar.

What two sounds were combined to make the TIE fighter's fly-by scream?

The Sounds of Star Wars likens the effect to the sirens on Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers.

Why were the TIE fighter models grey rather than the blue originally intended?

The muted blue finally appeared on the TIEs in Empire and Return of the Jedi.

What nickname did ILM's model makers give the twin-hulled TIE bomber?

It grew out of an unused "TIE boarding craft" concept from the first film.

Which Imperial official commissioned the original TIE fighter, according to canon lore?

He wanted it fast, cheap, energy-efficient and able to make a sound that frightened the Empire's enemies.

Why does the basic TIE fighter lack a hyperdrive, besides weight and cost?

Most variants also lack shields, which encourages pilots to shoot first and accurately.

What is the life expectancy of most TIE fighter pilots, according to lore?

They are considered elite all the same, surviving on reflexes and intense psychological conditioning.

Which camera system spared ILM from building a bigger Star Destroyer for the opening shot?

The 13-second opening shot was the first effects piece ILM completed and a key test of the rig.

Roughly how many Star Destroyers existed at the Empire's height, per background lore?

That fleet needed roughly 925 million crew.

What did a 2016 estimate say it would cost to build an Imperial Star Destroyer?

Launching the parts into orbit would add about $44.4 trillion on top.

How many individual lights did the six-foot Executor model contain?

Lucas wanted Vader's flagship so massive that regular Star Destroyers looked tiny beside it.

What finally destroys Vader's flagship at the Battle of Endor?

Out of control, the 19-kilometre dreadnought is pulled into the second Death Star's surface.

What did the film crew nickname the Mon Calamari cruiser models?

They disliked the models' unflattering angles; the designs were meant to look as unlike Star Destroyers as possible.

A Lambda-class Imperial shuttle makes a cameo in the pilot of which other sci-fi series?

It appears during the docking of Inara's shuttle in "Serenity".

Lucas suggested the Rebel medical frigate be based on what everyday object?

Luke gets his new hand aboard one, the Redemption, at the end of Empire.

According to its designer, what really inspired the shape of Boba Fett's ship?

Nilo Rodis-Jamero said the street-lamp story started when someone at ILM noticed the resemblance.

What name does Boba Fett give his ship in The Book of Boba Fett after the 2021 rename?

The change surfaced in 2021 with a Lego set called "Boba Fett's Starship" and drew a Change.org petition.

What real aircraft does Count Dooku's solar sailer somewhat resemble?

The solar sail had first been a concept for the Naboo royal starship before being redesigned for Geonosis.

Which stealth bomber inspired the Naboo Royal Cruiser blown up at the start of Episode II?

The cruiser was all CGI, but a full-size landing pad was built for the assassination scene.

Doug Chiang drew inspiration for the chrome Naboo Royal Starship from what?

A thirty-inch model was sliced into one-inch sections and scanned to create the digital version.

The Trade Federation landing ship's final design was based on which insect?

Early designs looked like dirigibles; Lucas compared the result to a biplane.

How wide is the Supremacy, the First Order's mobile capital?

Nicknamed "Snoke's boudoir", it can dock eight Resurgent-class Star Destroyers at once.

What was the Resistance flagship Raddus originally named?

Ackbar asked for the renaming in honour of the admiral who died at Scarif.

What model of ship is Hera Syndulla's Ghost in Star Wars Rebels?

Han Solo pretends to own one of the same model during the sabacc game in Solo.

In Rogue One, what does a Hammerhead corvette do during the Battle of Scarif?

Its design was meant to evoke the Tantive IV from the original film.

What is the centrepiece weapon of the Imperial Interdictor in Rebels?

The four domes yank passing ships out of hyperspace; Grievous's Malevolence relied instead on two huge ion cannons.

What model of gunship is Din Djarin's Razor Crest?

After its destruction on Tython he flies a modified N-1, then a yellow Razor Crest 2.0 in The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Which outlet called Andor's Fondor Haulcraft dogfight the best since Return of the Jedi?

Erik Kain praised Luthen Rael's escape from an Arrestor cruiser for doing only what it set out to do.

Which extinct rhinoceros relative inspired the AT-AT's design?

Lucas has called the story that Oakland's port cranes inspired the walker a "myth".

What machine did Ben Burtt use to create the sound of an AT-AT walking?

ILM studied elephants to work out how to animate the four-legged walkers in stop motion.

Which Rebel pilots trip the walker Blizzard Two with a tow cable at Hoth?

Luke takes out Blizzard Four with a grapple, a lightsaber and a grenade from underneath.

At how many frames per second was the Endor speeder-bike chase filmed?

Played back at 24 fps, a walk at 5 mph through a California forest looked like 100 mph.

Luke's landspeeder was built around the chassis of which car?

Tom Karen of Ogle Design built it; a mirror and a broom underneath faked the hover and the dust.

Why does the Death Star have its equatorial trench?

Colin Cantwell's station was meant to be a perfect sphere; the countdown buzz comes from Flash Gordon serials.

Who produced the computer-graphics Death Star briefing animation in A New Hope?

He made it at the University of Illinois Chicago with Tom DeFanti; it was real computer graphics, not animation.

What is the Death Star's diameter in the original film?

The Rebels called it the "Planet Killer" before learning its name; Rogue One calls it Project Stardust.

Which Corellian corvette opens A New Hope, fleeing Vader's Star Destroyer?

Bail Organa uses a similar CR70, the Tantive III, in Revenge of the Sith.

Who serves as Han Solo's Wookiee first mate aboard the Falcon?

Lando Calrissian owned the ship before Han, with the droid L3-37 as co-pilot in Solo.

Which pilot flies an X-wing to destroy the Death Star in the first film?

A single full-size X-wing plus cardboard cut-outs made the Yavin hangar look full of fighters.