Imagine goofing around with friends on Google Earth, which is a great tool for seeing what the neighbors are hiding in their backyards, and discovering that one of them had the Millennium Falcon -- that iconic space pirate ship from the "Star Wars" franchise -- hidden on their property. That is what happened recently to some "Star Wars" fans. The ship is currently walled up in Surrey Field, which is very close to Barrow Hills Golf Club and Longcross Studios in Chertsey, England. Chertsey is about 18.5 miles from London. From the looks of the overhead photo, it looks like a full-size set.
A report by the Daily Mail provided a lot of information for this article.
Full-size 'Star Wars' Millennium Falcon movie set hidden in Chertsey, England
In order to create the illusion of a spaceship doing spaceship things, production companies typically build a fleet of sets and models. It is not known what sort of scenes this particular set is involved in, or even if there is a realistic interior, but it is certainly exciting to think that the Millennium Falcon is parked half an hour outside London. For the original "Star Wars" trilogy, only part of the ship was created full-size and nearly full-size for scenes that take place near the ship.
For scenes that took place inside the Millennium Falcon, separate sets were created for the different "rooms." For instance, when we see the actors in the cockpit of the ship, that is its own contained set, not physically connected to any part of the ship.
There are also separate sets created to represent the Millennium Falcon's hallways and gun turrets. Oh! And we can't forget the wonderful set that was the Falcon's main hold, where everyone relaxed and played holochess or began their Jedi training.
Those were just the sets themselves, used when the "Star Wars" actors had to be shown in relation to the ship.
For scenes taking place in space, or showing the Falcon coming in for a landing, the production company created many models. They even used a model that could fit in the palm of your hand! It will be interesting to see a younger version of the beloved Falcon in the Han Solo movie set for release in 2018.
'Star Wars' Millennium Falcon is part Ferrari
StarWars.com introduces the term kit-bashing, in which model kits for other types of vehicles were used to create something new – in this case, the Millennium Falcon. The four-foot model of the ship was built using this method. Some of the model pieces used for this Falcon model came from a Ferrari kit. No wonder it made the Kessel Run in fewer than 12 parsecs! And this was before Lego made everything easy-peasy for Millennium model-makers!
At least some of the sets had to be rebuilt for later chapters in George Lucas' trilogy of trilogies. "The Force Awakens," which is the seventh installment, first of the final trilogy, was released at the end of 2015.
"The Last Jedi," set to be released December 14 – or, more colloquially…"In just a few weeks OMG OMG" – is the eighth of the series. The penultimate. Fans are in a state of delighted semi-panic over the film's imminent arrival, like a couple wishing for two years that their wedding day would hurry up and arrive, then kind of freaking out a little inside when the countdown commences.
As of this writing, "Episode 8" is only 35 days away.
Thirty-five, people.
Thirty. Five.
