OFFICIAL NEWS MF new design.

I think the container in front of this ship fits with the falcon.

 

I wonder if the Millennium Falcon originally carried a small "tug" vehicle docked to its nose between the nose mandibles. In orbit, the tug could have been used to push large containers to dock between the Falcon's nose mandibles. The tug would remain docked to the front of the container during a cargo delivery voyage.

Once the cargo container had been delivered, the tug would then dock between the mandibles for storage and recharging. This would be a bit like the Rebels "Ghost" ship and its shuttle "Phantom".

To lower the mass and increase the Falcon's speed, perhaps the tug and its docking mechanism were taken out by Han Solo to leave the familiar "bite" gap we know now?

 

I’ve to admit that the theory with the detachable container between the mandibles is out of the window with these pics – surely it’s additional cargo space, but highly integrated. I wonder how Han will get rid of it…





And look at this shiny interior!

 

What if this is a red herring? What if this isn't the Falcon? What if this is Beckett's ship, and Not the Falcon, which is Lando's? Beckett's ship gets destroyed, and han later ends up with Lando's falcon. I doubt it, but it would be just like the powers at be to continue to troll the living hell out of us.

 

If I were in a betting mood, I’d say this isn’t the Falcon and is meant to get us asking questions.

 

The circular "pits" in the mandibles are also missing, there's usually four on the top and four underneath.

 

The fact that it's so clean is actually a nice touch in my opinion.

Think about when we first meet Lando in Cloud City. Cloud City is unarguably the most beautiful, cleanest and most pristine thing we've seen in Star Wars up until that point, and probably since then too. Maybe a few things from the prequels give it a run for it's money but the point is, Lando likes things to be shiny and clean. He's always been big on appearance.

It's a very stark contrast to Han. He doesn't care about how things look. He doesn't care if you think his ship looks like a piece of junk, a ship's job isn't to look nice, it's to fly... and fly fast.

 

Zooming in on this photo shows "seams" between the plastic of the front piece and the rest of the ship. It almost looks like the front is removable. Please forgive the crudeness of my paint skills. I do believe the front section detaches. We may even see that in the film, if this model is any indication.

 

Nice find! And there you have it.

 

https://www.inverse.com/article/410...ic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=inverse-ent

Apparently "reasons" are for story emphasis.

Also the redesign is based on original concept of the Falcon.

I think in the end it will be explained as many have suggested that the front unit comes off. Perhaps when Han has to dump cargo before imperial search.

 

Really great find, you got me 100% convinced!

This explains the sleek look of that ship – the mandibles are also longer then the later ones with this add on!
If you remove it, you get back exactly to the silhouette we all know.



… and in addition it explains the hollow part in the middle of those mandibles – it’s a possible connector and gangway!



Edit: That sleek ship we see in this configuration with shiny interior was set up in this way by Lando. So in respect to the Interview with Donald Glover (https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2018/02/donald-glover-talks-lando-with-entertainment-weekly.html), it could be that the additional space does not house more freight room, but Landos elegant quarters. From the original Falcon layout, there’s not much room for fancy crew quarters, so Lando’s have to be somewhere.

https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/11/falcon.jpg

 

We don't know. Maybe the Falcon will be a very important and real character in this movie (of course we know it will be, but probably more than we can expect or imagine) and the ship will have a cool progressive degradation in the hands of its owners during the 6 years that theoretically has the story.

 

I bet the Falcon gets put through hell in this film and I can't wait to see every minute of it.

 

It's true, and it probably reflects very different approaches to the similar things they do. Lando probably looks at gambling as an investment. He's an entrepeneur. Han looks at it as a game. He's a player.

 

Contrary to popular belief, the saucer shaped "bitten burger" design of the Millennium Falcon is NOT the original one.
The top one is:


This original design was dropped at a very late stage, because it looked too similar to an existing design - the Eagle Lander (bottom) vehicles from the "Space 1999" tv series.

Some parts of the first Falcon design were kept for the "bitten burger" saucer design, notibly the cockpit and saucer shaped dish antenna. The rest of the ship was then reused to make the Tantive IV blockade runner.

 

Huh. I really like this look and hope to see another one like it some time around.

 

I'd love a scene where the Falcon is transporting goods, gets hit by a shot, and the middle "container" is knocked loose, and Han says something to the effect of "We'll go back for it later", since the audience knows we'' they won't.

 

Correct. That Falcon draft was then used to build up the design for the Corellian Corvette. The original version with the Falcons Cockpit was then used by West End Games to come up with the Corellian Gunship in the P&P RPG.