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GuyKopski t1_iuott2b wrote

That wasn't a goof, people just misunderstood the scene. Han isn't bragging about his ship, he's testing Luke and Obi-Wan to see if they know anything about space travel (because they'll be easier to swindle if they don't).

If you watch Obi-Wan you can tell he sees straight through it. The shooting script actually includes the line "Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation."

But people took Han's claim at face value for some reason until the Kessel Run being distance-based became an actual thing.

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alano134 t1_iuovo8z wrote

You just...did the thing he mentioned...

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IcyFlounder1204 t1_iuowu4g wrote

Explain the line in the script then

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L-System t1_iupjhub wrote

The fact that he had the bring up the script. Something the audience isn't supposed to read, to justify a goof...

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IcyFlounder1204 t1_iupw03q wrote

You don't have to read it. You can see Obi-Wan's reaction in the movie. People just conveniently ignore that part.

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L-System t1_iupycbf wrote

The reaction can be to his boast alone, doesn't explain it.

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PerfectZeong t1_iusg3ho wrote

It's in the shooting script for a new hope, it's not inventing an explanation the explanation is obvious.

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KnotSoSalty t1_iup7xha wrote

First, acting cues in scripts are cannon now?

Second, “Ben reacts to Solo’s stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation.” Could just as well refer to Solo’s line taken at face value rather than as an elaborate test.

Third, if it was written as an elaborate test it’s one the audience could only understand if they knew what a parsec was. Instead it went over most peoples heads.

Forth, a Parsec is a unit of length equal to the radius of Earth’s orbit. Which is a very strange unit of measurement for a galaxy far far away.

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1Land_1Keep t1_iupc4x1 wrote

>Forth, a Parsec is a unit of length equal to the radius of Earth’s orbit. Which is a very strange unit of measurement for a galaxy far far away.

"He a little confused, but he got the spirit."

You're describing Astronomical Units which, while they are used to define a Parsec, are not the same thing.

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GuyKopski t1_iupcfr6 wrote

Doesn't really matter if the cue itself is canon, because Obi-Wan's reaction is. I only brought up the cue to show that, even in the 70s when the movie was being written, the intent of the scene was that Han was speaking nonsense.

It is kinda weird that they use Parsec specifically, but Parsecs are a thing that exist in Star Wars (Padme uses the same word in AotC, referring to a distance). That's also a different problem from the one you originally outlined (that Han uses a measurement of distance instead of time).

But I basically just see it as translation convention. The characters use an Earth-based word because the film has them speaking in an Earth-based language, even though the actual in-universe language of Star Wars is Galactic Basic, not English.

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