﻿‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is pulling back the curtain on the formative years of our favorite space pirate,
and throwing a huge hydrospanner in the complex ‘Star Wars’ canon.
The Expanded Universe is gone but certainly not forgotten,
and the new movie seems to be taking bits and pieces from old backstory,
to create an all-new, Disney-approved continuity.
I thought we were in trouble there for a second, but it's fine. We're fine.
I’m Moose, and today,I’m taking a look at the behind-the-scenes history and EU origins
of these smugglers, thieves and scoundrels,
to paint a picture of
How Han, Chewie, and Lando Became heroes
Since he’s the titular star of the show,
let’s start with
Han Solo
The character that became Han Solo wasn’t a smuggler in the early drafts of ‘Star Wars,’
he was a member of the Jedi-Bendu, and an old war buddy of the elderly general Luke Skywalker.
Also, he was a giant green alien with gills.
Lucas realized that his hero needed some humanity,
and by the third draft, he’d evolved into
‘a tough, James Dean-style cowboy in a starship,
simple, sentimental, and cocksure of himself.’
I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight.
I don't know where you get your delusions, laserbrain.
He was the perfect foil to Luke Skywalker’s childlike naivete,
and with the character solidified, the question turned to who would play him.
Lucas auditioned soon-to-be stars like Christopher Walken and Kurt Russell,
but none of them had that Solo swagger.
The only actor who did was the one Lucas hired to feed them lines,
a moonlighting carpenter named Harrison Ford.
The two had worked together on American ‘Graffiti,’
and he was the perfect fit for the swashbuckling scoundrel.
There have been hundreds of thousands of words written about the life of Han Solo,
most of which are no longer canonical, and you have wasted your time by reading them.
NON-CANONICAL! NON-CANONICAL! NON-CANONICAL!
but we shouldn’t throw the old backstory out with the bathwater.
The movie promises to show us how Han Solo got his name,
THANK GOD!!!
but in the old canon, he was born with blue-blood in his veins.
Not literally,
but he is descended from the House of Solo that ruled Corellia in ancient times.
Han was left to fend for himself on the mean streets when his parents Jonash and Jaina vanished,
until a hardened crook named Garris Shrike took him under his wing,
A cruel mentor who abused and eventually tried to kill Han when he wanted to set out on his own.
Kinda like Yondu in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1,' but not 'Vol. 2,' where he's much sweeter.
I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!
Solo bounced around the galaxy for a while until enlisting in the Imperial Academy.
where he was commissioned as a TIE pilot under the command of a sadistic slaver named Nyklas.
Han turned traitor to save the life of an enslaved Wookiee,
an act of bravery that got him booted from the service,
I was kicked out of the Flight Academy for having a mind of my own.
but earned him the right to wear the Corellian Bloodstripe on his space trousers.
If you don't know what that is, it's the little stripe on the outside of his pants,
because nerds have to justify '70s fashion choices by coming up with elaborate lore.
The newly-liberated Wookiee swore a life debt to his savior,
and from then on, Han was never far from his trusty co-pilot
Chewie
When George Lucas was writing ‘Star Wars,’
he owned a 130-pound Alaskan Malamute named Indiana,
We named the dog Indiana!
who may be one of the most important dogs in movie history.
For one thing, she had the perfect name for an ass-kicking archaeologist,
and second,
driving around with his furry friend in the passenger seat inspired George to create Han Solo’s co-pilot.
Makeup artist Stuart Freeborn stitched together a suit made of goat, rabbit, and yak hair,
Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?
while sound designer Ben Burtt combined the squeals of tigers, bears, camels, badgers, and walruses to create Chewie’s guttural growls.
Boy, you said it, Chewie.
All they needed was a big-ass Brit to bring him to life.
Lucas offered the part to 6’6 bodybuilder David Prowse,
but he decided to play Darth Vader, instead.
I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission--
[WELSH ACCENT] You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! Take her away!
And can you blame him? Would you rather walk around in cool black armor with a lightsaber,
or would you rather get fleas?
You fleabitten furball! Only an overgrown mophead like you would be stupid enough to--
Luckily, Lucas discovered a 7’3’ orderly named Peter Mayhew.
who nailed his audition by, uh, standing up.
I'm raised in England. Soon as someone comes in the door, I stand up. George goes 'hmm.'
You're seven feet tall, you can't teach that, you're in!
Mayhew played the Wookiee in five films, until his retirement after ‘The Force Awakens.’
and Chewie became one of the saga’s most beloved stars,
although apparently not beloved enough to deserve a medal.
Forget medals, though, because Chewie deserves a lifetime achievement award after all he’s gone through.
He was born 200 years before ‘A New Hope,’
but the forests of Kashyyyk couldn’t hold him for long.
He left for the stars,
serving as a scout and navigator for a clan of Wookiees charting new Hyperspace routes.
Then the Clone Wars erupted, and Chewie returned home to join the #resistance.
He fought bravely during the battle of Kashyyyk,
but after the droid army was defeated,
the Emperor unleashed Order 66 and initiated the Jedi Purge.
This isn't how it's supposed to be!
How can you not be pansexual in space? There's so many things to have sex with!
There are two rules to remember if you wanna have a good time:
Rule #1: Never run out of Colt .45
Rule #2: Never forget Rule #1.
Second only to Donald Glover, who at least in action figure form rocks a mean cape.
I like that it's blue on the inside.
Chewie helped Yoda escape certain death,
but he was powerless to stop the newly-formed Empire from devastating his homeworld.
He roamed the galaxy for years, liberating enslaved Wookiees and leading uprisings whenever he could,
until he was captured by a TIE squadron led by Lieutenant Han Solo.
Even after Han rescued Chewie,
he resented the walking carpet for costing him his dream of being a jackbooted fascist.
But Chewie’s knack for repairs and knowledge of Hyperspace shortcuts made him an invaluable first mate,
and soon the two became best friends.
Despite being a galactic outlaw,
Chewie somehow found the time to return to Kashyyyk and start a family.
And, unlike most of the stuff in this video,
his wife Mala, son Lumpy, and father Itchy,
are still canon.
One thing that will change with ‘Solo,’ though,
is the way Han and Chewie got their spectacular ship.
Well, not that much,
because it’s still coming courtesy of
Lando Calrissian
Lando is one of the most unique citizens of the Star Wars galaxy,
which is why it’s so surprising that he was originally supposed to be a clone.
In early drafts of ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’
Lando Kadar was a leftover from the Clone Wars who lived in a colony populated by copies of himself.
That element was axed, leaving the Wars a cool little mystery,
until they were revealed to be a thrilling, high-stakes conflict over space taxation years later.
The character evolved into an intergalactic playboy,
and future Colt .45 spokesman Billy Dee Williams was the perfect choice to wear the cape.
As for Lando’s original backstory,
we never found out much about his formative years.
He deliberately kept the details fuzzy,
in order to present the image of a larger-than-life legend.
We do know that in his youth, he picked up Sabacc,
So this is Saback?
Sabacc.
Sabacc. Got it.
Star Wars’ answer to Texas Hold ‘Em.
Lando made a career out of the high-stakes card game,
and amassed a fortune that extended far beyond credits.
Four years before the Battle of Yavin,
he won a rusty old YT-1300 freighter called the Millenium Falcon.
One problem: Lando has no clue how to fly,
so he hired a smuggler named Solo to put him through pilot school,
Han coveted the Corellian cruiser from the moment he laid eyes on her,
and bided his time until he could win the Falcon from his friend, fair and square.
And how you doin' Chewbacca?
She was Lando’s favorite ship, but there were no hard feelings, initially.
Although the two had a falling out after a job that went south.
You got a lotta guys coming here after what you pulled.
Lando was broke after the botched mission,
and he was reduced to driving a taxi and delivering space beans.
In 'Star Wars' you have space spice, space cigarrettes, space '50s diners,
and space beans.
During one job, he helped the people of Tanaab fight off a fleet of pirates,
which made him a minor celebrity in the Star Wars galaxy.
Well, look at you, a general!
Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab.
With his star on the rise, Lando gained entry into Cloud City’s high-roller casinos,
where he caught the attention of the Administrator,
and wound up winning control of the whole city in a single high-stakes hand.
I'm not that upset about the Empire taking over Star Wars because under the old system of democracy,
you can win the mayorship of a city by beating the dude in cards.
If you can't hold on to elected office because you're such a degenerate gambler,
maybe you need the strength and security of an evil empire.
As for Han,
It's HAN.
As for Han, Lando’s buddy returned to his old racket.
He found himself running glitterstim for a gangster called Jabba the Hutt,
across an infamously dangerous smuggling route known as the Kessel Run.
Han and Chewie were pulled over by Imperials along the way,
and forced to dump their cargo of valuable spice.
Even I get boarded sometimes!
Knowing that his failure would put a huge target on his back,
Han raced back to recover the goods,
shattering the speed record by traversing the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs,
but it just wasn’t fast enough.
Jabba put a huge bounty on Han’s head,
so he headed back to Tatooine to beg for an extension on his debt.
But before he encountered the shoddy CGI space slug,
Han stopped in a cantina to wet his whistle,
And that’s when Chewie introduced him to an old man and a whiny kid looking for safe passage to Alderaan,
with no Imperial entanglements.
That’s where we first met Han too, in 1977, and since then,
the Star Wars backstory has expanded to a whole universe and collapsed into a corporate singularity,
millions of stories suddenly silenced.
But no matter what origin you adhere to,
the core appeal of Han Solo and his sleazy friends remains the same.