Always wondered how exactly the gunner stations are set up on the Falcon. When Luke and Han go to their respective gunner stations in A New Hope when Han says something to the tone of hey kid we aren't out of this yet. It looks like Han goes up the ladder and Luke goes down. Then when they show Luke he looks like he is laying flat go down the ladder then turn and gets into his seat which should be pointing down but then all of a sudden both Luke and Han have their backs to each other. Could someone explain what exactly I am seeing and how those turrets are set up. I look at photos of the Falcon and it does not look like it should look like it does in the movie. Especially how they go up and down yet end up with their backs to each other without Luke falling forward and down when he turns?
Millennium falcon gunner stations question
- Thread starter JBLAKE
- Start date
They do go up and down. The guns are on the top and bottom of the Falcon. The gravity is altered so they can sit in that orientation.
But it took a few years to get that explanation, at least to me as a very confused 9 year old.
Jaitea
Master Member
This confused general cinema goers back in 77,.....but I thought people were used to the gravity areas of the interior of the Falcon nowadays.... in that area of the Falcon you enter an area with different gravity generators (remember there is no right way up in space.)
J
J
Ah that makes sense. Did not know that about the Falcon and Gravity areas. Thank you for explaining it. It does really help. Just never thought that as Luke looks seamless when he turns and gets into the seat. No hint of gravity alteration.
Cool beans though as that was always one of my favorite scenes. Loved the Seated video game back in the 70's. Was very generic graphics of course but knew it was a tie fighter I was shooting at and the seated game simulated a gunner station pretty well especially with a young untainted enthusiastic sci fi imagination
Anyone here recall the game I am referring to and know the name?
It was not the standup trench run game which was awesome as well. It was just a green screen that looked a lot like what Han and Luke where looking at in the Gunner stations.
Cool beans though as that was always one of my favorite scenes. Loved the Seated video game back in the 70's. Was very generic graphics of course but knew it was a tie fighter I was shooting at and the seated game simulated a gunner station pretty well especially with a young untainted enthusiastic sci fi imagination
Anyone here recall the game I am referring to and know the name?
It was not the standup trench run game which was awesome as well. It was just a green screen that looked a lot like what Han and Luke where looking at in the Gunner stations.
But it took a few years to get that explanation, at least to me as a very confused 9 year old.
Same here. I don't know how old I was when I first saw it (since I was born a week before ANH), but it was confusing. I also thought the ROTJ Death Star was what was left of the original since it looked damaged to me.
Solos blaster
Sr Member
I thought this too when I was a kid! Even after reading the crawl, the word "another" was forgotten when what to my eyes looked like the remnants of the 1st Death Star appeared.
As far as the gunner stations go, my mind didn't think that far ahead except to think "they both turned" :lol. Now I accept they spin independently from the core tube with their own small gravity wells.
Wolfsburg
Master Member
What's funny is that as a kid, I had a friend who thought the same thing and swore up and down that the second Death Star was the the remnants of the first, despite the opening crawl being pretty clear on the matter.
He also insisted that the bounty hunter, 4-LOM, was pronounced "fore-LOOM", but I've later discovered many people pronounce it similarly. I've always pronounced it "fore-el-oh-em", but that's the topic for another discussion! Lol!
Anyway, the Falcon's turret arrangement is frankly pretty poorly executed or explained. The EU (I think) explained it as two separate gravity wells, as mentioned earlier, but I do wonder what GL & Co. were intending for the audience to think was going on in 1977. Part of me thinks the turret sequence was a hold over from a previous configuration of the Falcon and they just never changed it. As I recall, when the original Falcon's "pirate ship" design was altered and turned into the Tantive IV, the current version of the Falcon we all know and love was originally intended to fly upright, like a giant sunfish, with the cockpit on top. In that orientation the turrets would've been on the left and right, not top and bottom, and would've made a little more sense in regards to what we see in the movie.
Additionally, one thing I've never quite understood is how the turrets are actually attached to the ship, especially given the range of movement we see. In many cases, they are pointed straight up or down during that dogfight sequence but are never externally shown that way, instead always facing forward. I think they were simply attached to poles on the full-sized Falcon but I think that was just a matter of expediency, since they didn't actually need to move.
He also insisted that the bounty hunter, 4-LOM, was pronounced "fore-LOOM", but I've later discovered many people pronounce it similarly. I've always pronounced it "fore-el-oh-em", but that's the topic for another discussion! Lol!
Anyway, the Falcon's turret arrangement is frankly pretty poorly executed or explained. The EU (I think) explained it as two separate gravity wells, as mentioned earlier, but I do wonder what GL & Co. were intending for the audience to think was going on in 1977. Part of me thinks the turret sequence was a hold over from a previous configuration of the Falcon and they just never changed it. As I recall, when the original Falcon's "pirate ship" design was altered and turned into the Tantive IV, the current version of the Falcon we all know and love was originally intended to fly upright, like a giant sunfish, with the cockpit on top. In that orientation the turrets would've been on the left and right, not top and bottom, and would've made a little more sense in regards to what we see in the movie.
Additionally, one thing I've never quite understood is how the turrets are actually attached to the ship, especially given the range of movement we see. In many cases, they are pointed straight up or down during that dogfight sequence but are never externally shown that way, instead always facing forward. I think they were simply attached to poles on the full-sized Falcon but I think that was just a matter of expediency, since they didn't actually need to move.
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Oh, yes there are. It's kind of a nice watch because you get to see some parts of the Falcon you've never seen before. You're watching these rebel soldiers carrying boxes around and scrambling to man the guns. The guns themselves look exactly the same as they did in ANH which was cool to watch. Adywan said that the footage looks good enough that he'll likely incorporate it into his ROTJ revisited cut.
Riceball
Master Member
That's my problem with whole separate gravity well explanation, even if there were separate gravity wells that doesn't explain how on the internal shots the guns are facing away from Luke and Han, which, from the outside, would make them appear to be aiming perpendicular to the hull of the Falcon but since the TIEs don't ever seem to be attacking the Falcon from directly above and below then that means the guns are at the wrong angle.
There are many problems with that scene, and the Falcon interior in general. The top and bottom turrets supposedly rotate independently against the ship's hull, except some of the surface conduit goes from turret to hull, so that fixes them in place. The ladder was directly in line with the cockpit tunnel which would put it facing about 45 degrees off the ships centerline, and where it's placed would also put it off-center (that is, not running through the core of the ship). The way the guns are mounted aft of the inset windows, when they're "stowed" pointing forward means Han's and Luke's heads are pointing aft. But the ladderwell seen between their seats is the reverse -- the door is at the top (what should be aft), and the ladder is along the bottom (what should be fore).
And then there are the problems with the ring corridor hitting the main hold at a right angle instead of oblique, the boarding ramp hinging at the edge of the bottom turret so people are getting off the top of the ramp... in the center of the ship, and so on and so on. They didn't have time to do a proper set design when they switched it from being the linear design, and it shows. I can't remember now who it was, years ago, who did a logical redesign of the Falcon's interior, but I love their approach.
--Jonah
And then there are the problems with the ring corridor hitting the main hold at a right angle instead of oblique, the boarding ramp hinging at the edge of the bottom turret so people are getting off the top of the ramp... in the center of the ship, and so on and so on. They didn't have time to do a proper set design when they switched it from being the linear design, and it shows. I can't remember now who it was, years ago, who did a logical redesign of the Falcon's interior, but I love their approach.
--Jonah
Solos blaster
Sr Member
I remember thst design...i wonder if i still have the picture of the "logical/realistic" falcon on my computer. He fixed an issue with the boarding ramp as well if IIRC. The ship of mysteries he called it.
Mike Marincic.
--Jonah
--Jonah
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