The 5 foot falcon didn't have any lights on the mandibles till it was modified for ESB and they where the main headlights
J
True, the “5-footer” did not have lights on the mandibles until ESB. However, there are significant pix of red light emanating from the brass tubes retrofitted into the mandible tips of the “5-footer” for ESB. In some of the pix, the lights look almost white, but those are washed out or suffer from other camera artifacts/limitations of the day. Are there pix of the “5-footer” that emanates genuine, confirmed white light from the mandible tips? Perhaps, though I haven”t seen them, but frankly, I don’t think it matters much either way. Relatively recent pix of the set Falcon have surfaced where these lights are also shown as white, WITHOUT the cages of the red lights. I believe the red and white lights were originally made to be interchangeable, though the by the time of the original theatrical releases and subsequent media releases (until the more recent ones) this does not seem to be evident. The most recent DVD releases now show this while the Falcon is landed inside the asteroid. But the earlier releases I have seen do not. For this reason, I believe the filmmakers changed their minds on the dual color of these inboard mandible tip lights by the time of the theatrical and subsequent releases. Until the recent releases, the “32-incher” during ESB seems to be the only revelation of the centered white headlight. When the newest releases were crafted, there seemed to be a “show more” mentality that re-reversed this decision. This is odd since other scenes have missing parts in these newest releases. Knowing this, I tend to discount the newest releases as I do the notion that Greedo shot first.
When one is much more attached to the 5-footer” than to the “32-incher” (like me), I suppose it is tempting to assign the inboard mandible tip lights, the ONLY mandible tip lights, on the “5-footer” to be THE headlights. But then there is that pesky original theatrical release with the subsequent media releases showing the “32-incher” with a purposeful row of three (presumable) light holes in each mandible tip…and the set Falcon in the Hoth landing bay having the red, caged lights in the same exact location as the retrofitted brass tube lights on the “5-footer”. This strongly suggests there is a specific location for each kind of light — as first revealed to the public. But then it is very distasteful to think of butchering the “5-footer” mandible tips to include additional locations/holes for centered headlights.
Well, failing specific explanation of intent from ILM, there are various ways to resolve this. One way is to use the seemingly original intent that was discarded by the time of the theatrical release, and that is to have both lights occupy the same location, but of course at different times. Conceptually, this might bring to mind a complex light switching arrangement, and no doubt it would “work”. With enough thought, it could be made to be simple and elegant. Another way is, in fact, to butcher the mandible tip for a central headlight hole/port. Personally, I don’t like either of these options. However, I DO like the option I see presented in the DK book Incredible Cross Sections for the vehicles. In this book, the central section of the mandible tip is retractible to reveal the central headlight. Though the book does not show the mechanism, I have gone as far as to engineer one, though not physically, yet. It is not terribly complicated, and would look slick. Also, there is more than one way it could be designed. This is my take on it, and I’m sure you have yours. I know we each have a preferred outcome, and we like to believe we seek and adhere to the truth of the evidence, but the filmmakers’ presentations are not terribly consistent, so ultimately, we each must/get to choose.
Mark
