Normally, when I talk about the cars in a Star Wars trailer, I’m messing with you, like some big jerk. This time, though, I’m not really kidding, because the just-released trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Movie effectively starts with what is, really, a car chase. Sure, they have no wheels and they’re technically landspeeders or whatever, but translated from Star Wars, that means cars. And, more importantly, I think there’s an Easter Egg there for us gearheads.
Here’s the trailer itself, so you can view and get yourself prepared:
Okay, let’s get to the good stuff first. The first real scene showed in the trailer, after the exciting control-panel-switch-flipping bit, at 0:08 in, shows the rear of a landspeeder, its jets glowing a luminous red. To anyone who remotely knows cars, those twin jets will likely look familiar:
See where I’m going? When I saw those jets on that slab-like body, I immediately thought of ‘60s Fords. One Ford in particular: the Ford Falcon.
Falcon. The first thing we see Solo piloting is something that sure as hell is reminiscent of a Ford Falcon. Is there any other thing that Han Solo is known to pilot that has Falcon in its name?
I can’t prove this is a gearhead-targeted shout-out here, but I’d bet at least one of my astromech droid toys on it. Or one of my son’s if he’s not looking.
Let’s get a better look at this Space-Ford Falcon here; it’s one of the most car-like speeders we’ve seen in the Star Wars universe, with a real steering wheel and seats and windshield and even a roll bar. Ever wonder what a speeder’s dashboard looks like? We get one of the best views of one ever in a Star Wars movie right here:
It’s tricky to get a sense of what those instruments do, but maybe the green light is on because his left blinker is flashing, and that 3D grid-like display to the far right sure looks like what the X-Wing’s targeting computer display looked like. Maybe that’s just what a standard GPS display resembles in this universe.
And look, it’s even a manual, and we get one of those dramatic Fast and Furious-style watch-the-hand-shift shots:
Chasing Han in his Astroford Falcon are a clunky motorcycle-like speeder and an equally clunky larger speeder with blue, vertical engines:
From the front quarter, Han’s non- Millennial Falcon has an asymmetrical, industrial look, with a whole exposed panel on one side. The lighting is pretty tiny and minimal, but I’m guessing those are powerful projector-type lamps.
From the other side, there’s more bodywork, and the resemblance to a Ford Falcon is even more pronounced:
There’s also some nice hover-drifting going on, too:
So far, Solo is looking like it has the potential to be the most car-oriented Star Wars movie, ever. I guess that’s not shocking, since Ron Howard’s directing it, and he maybe wanted to inject a little American Graffiti flavor into the mix.
Oh, one other thing to note from the teaser trailer:
It sure looks like someone’s playing Berzerk on this screen, right? There’s even a joystick to the right.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I did spot one Astromech droid:
I’m excited to see more of these speedsters. And, if anyone affiliated with the movie can confirm or disprove the Ford Falcon/Millennium Falcon possible Easter Egg, I’d really appreciate it.