# Quick Star Wars Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888 "2019-12-15T13:43:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/1 "2019-12-15T13:43:59Z")
I’ve seen most of the movies, but my knowledge of the books, tv series, comics, video games, etc. is extremely limited, so I’ll ask my fellow dopers. Are the falcons (as we know them) in the Star Wars universe? I know ewoks, mantha, tauntauns, but I dont think I’ve ever seen a falcon mentioned. There has to be, though, right? Are they ever mentioned anywhere outside of the Millennium Falcon? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/2 "2019-12-15T13:49:36Z")
It’s an obvious hole in the movies, yeah. Having the ship named after something that doesn’t exist is weird, right. But this is Star Wars. Where everything can be retconned if you just believe in fairies hard enough. Bat-falcons! > **[Bat-falcon](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bat-falcon)** > > The bat-falcon was a swift species of flying creatures. It inspired the name of the starship Millennium Falcon. Millennium Falcon (First mentioned, simultaneous with Millennium Falcon audiobook) Millennium Falcon audiobook (Mentioned only) Snow falcons! > **[Snow falcon](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Snow_falcon)** > > The snow falcon was an avian native to Rhinnal. These creatures became extinct prior to the rule of the New Republic. During the Galactic War, the endangered snow falcons of Rhinnal were a rare and prized delicacy worth a small fortune to those... Spire falcons! > **[Spire falcon](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Spire_falcon)** > > The spire falcon was a bird native to the planet Coruscant. It was at the top of the food chain of animals such as gully rats, grate toads, ferro-worms, and trantor pigeons. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/3 "2019-12-15T13:51:54Z")
According to Wookipedia the ship was named after a bat-falcon: [Bat-falcon | Wookieepedia | Fandom](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Bat-falcon) There is such little detail that this was undoubtedly invented to give some justification to the name. There is also the Spire Falcon: [Spire falcon | Wookieepedia | Fandom](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Spire_falcon) EDIT: Damn! Beaten to it! ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/4 "2019-12-15T14:12:08Z")
There’s an [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/890/) for everything, isn’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/5 "2019-12-15T16:14:42Z")
the main window design was inspired by the front window of the WW 2 bomber B-29 > **[Boeing B-29 Superfortress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress)** > > The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Superfortress was designed for high-altitude strategic bombing, but also excelled in low-altitude night incendiary bombing, and in dropping naval mines to blockade Japan. B-29s dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only ai... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/6 "2019-12-15T16:16:14Z")
I was reading a fantasy novel once that was set in another world. And there was a scene were the characters encountered some llamas. And that threw me right out of the story. I was thinking _“This is a completely different world. Why would there be llamas there?”_ And then I realized I was being dumb. Other animals like horses, dogs, cats, and birds had been mentioned. And of course humans. And I hadn’t questioned any of that. So if you have a different world with those animals, why can’t you also have llamas? ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/7 "2019-12-15T16:17:24Z")
What the hell is an aluminum falcon? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3F1d3QWsyk0/hqdefault.jpg "The Emperor's Phone Call | Robot Chicken | Adult Swim") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1d3QWsyk0) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/8 "2019-12-15T16:19:43Z")
I don’t see a big problem here. Obviously the characters can’t really be speaking English, so we must assume the dialogue is translated from their language; likewise the ship name. So “falcon” isn’t really the word used in the name of the ship. It could be a translation of some word referring to a similar but not necessarily identical animal. One might equally well wonder how Han can use the word parsecs (even incorrectly) when that’s a human created unit. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/9 "2019-12-15T16:36:37Z")
The falcon has a “cameo” in Revenge of the Sith . I think it’s just a quick shot of it sitting at space dock on the planet Coruscant [Millennium Falcon - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Falcon) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/10 "2019-12-15T16:50:02Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The falcon has a “cameo” in Revenge of the Sith . I think it’s just a quick shot of it sitting at space dock on the planet Coruscant > > [Millennium Falcon - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Falcon) It also shows up in _Spaceballs_ parked at the space truck stop where Lone Starr and Barf are. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0RyIidI4IU/maxresdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0RyIidI4IU/maxresdefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/11 "2019-12-15T16:50:07Z")
Just because we’ve never seen a falcon, doesn’t mean they don’t exist on a planet somewhere in the galaxy. They don’t use English letters, but the Rebels have ships like the a-wing, b-wing, u-wing, x-wing, and y-wing. Sent from my hand-held telephonic communication device using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/12 "2019-12-15T17:06:39Z")
> [@Yodalicious](#): > > Just because we’ve never seen a falcon, doesn’t mean they don’t exist on a planet somewhere in the galaxy. > > They don’t use English letters, but the Rebels have ships like the a-wing, b-wing, u-wing, x-wing, and y-wing. That reminds me of this [The less loved Star Wars wing fighters – Camestros Felapton](https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/the-less-loved-star-wars-wing-fighters/) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/13 "2019-12-15T17:18:23Z")
They also call someone Carrie when her name is Leia. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/14 "2019-12-15T17:28:10Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I don’t see a big problem here. Obviously the characters can’t really be speaking English, so we must assume the dialogue is translated from their language; likewise the ship name. So “falcon” isn’t really the word used in the name of the ship. It could be a translation of some word referring to a similar but not necessarily identical animal. It was actually the Millennium [Smeerp](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CallASmeerpARabbit). ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/15 "2019-12-15T20:24:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > They also call someone Carrie when her name is Leia. FWIW Mark Hamill has said on a few occasions that’s not the case Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/16 "2019-12-16T00:50:17Z")
[quote=“BMax, post:7, topic:844888”] What the hell is an aluminum falcon? [/QUOTE] That is, I’m confident, the funniest line of dialogue in that entire series. Certainly _my_ favorite. Anyway, the notion of an alien “falcon” just reminds me of taking a banal simile and spacing it up, i.e. “Why, you’re no bigger than a Tarkalian fieldmouse!” or “You’re as slimy as an Aldeberian eel!” I get that the dialogue has to be accessible to the audience, so while it might be reasonable within in the fiction to name the ship “The Millennium Grosnola” (grosnolas being the fiercest flying predators of the planet Sli’t’h’ihcanio, a fact generally known to the society inhabited by the characters), it’s just a distraction to the viewer. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/17 "2019-12-16T03:44:52Z")
One of the weird inconsistencies in Star Wars is they established an alphabet as their default basic language, called Aurebesh, but numbers are all still the same as ours. Then they refer to ships called X-Wings even though Aurebesh has no X. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/18 "2019-12-16T03:47:23Z")
By which you mean the funniest line in Robot Chicken, or the funniest line in Star Wars? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/19 "2019-12-16T04:01:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By which you mean the funniest line in Robot Chicken, or the funniest line in Star Wars? Well, there are a few other _Robot Chicken_ moments that I think are pretty close. Bitch Pudding’s line at 2:08 of [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjRxVxquOrY) is a contender, though to get the full flavor, you have to watch the whole sequence starting from 1:06 or earlier. Anyway, that’s a whole other topic. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888/20 "2019-12-17T00:07:43Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > FWIW Mark Hamill has said on a few occasions that’s not the case > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk He did. If you can ever get a chance to see the original print of the movie (I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at a charity event in 93 or 94) he says Carrie plain as day. They apparently muddied the audio in future prints. You can tell it is an original print because it doesn’t have 3P0’s narration about the tractor beam. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-star-wars-question/844888.md?page=2)