(upbeat rock music)
What is the Kessel Run anyway?
We know that it's something
that Han Solo's miraculously made in less than 12 parsecs,
but why is that so impressive, and why should we care?
Well, before you see Solo: A Star Wars Story,
brush up on a bit of history from the galaxy far, far away
on today's episode of The Dan Cave.
The Kessel Run, which was first mentioned by Han Solo
in 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope, is a smuggling route
used to transport spice from the mines of Kessel
where Wookiee slaves were worked to death
to turn it into a recreational drug.
Before Disney hit the reset button in 2012,
Kessel was a planet
home to a massive glitterstim spice manufacturing operation,
producing what was basically a psychotropic drug
made from the webs of space spiders
that provided its user with feelings of intense euphoria,
boosting mental and telepathic abilities.
So, think of it like MDMA for telepaths,
not that I would know.
I'm not telepathic.
Anyway, Kessel and its mines were largely controlled
by the Galactic Empire, hence the need for smugglers
to devise a route to spirit it away from Kessel
to black markets all across the galaxy far, far away.
18 parsecs in length, the Kessel Run was one
of the most popular smuggling routes in the entire galaxy,
leading from the planet of Kessel to what
used to be the Si'Klaata Cluster, a group of planets
that were controlled by the Hutt crime family,
but now, well, now that's just a Star Wars legend, baby!
The Pyke Syndicate employed a number of smugglers
including presumably Han Solo
to transport its sweet space drugs across the galaxy
so they could make their ill-gotten gains,
but how did Han make this 18-parsec run
in less than 12 parsecs?
Parsecs are a unit of distance not time after all.
Did he even make the run in less than 12 parsecs,
or was Han simply lying to sound cool?
Well, there's a couple conflicting theories.
According to an early draft of A New Hope,
when Han makes his claim, Ben Kenobi, quote,
reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them
with obvious misinformation, end-quote.
Kenobi is similarly skeptical in the 2015 novel
A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy,
wherein he also sees through Han's clever ruse.
George Lucas though has gone
on record multiple times over the years,
saying that ships are unable
to travel in straight lines in hyperspace
due to the potential for colliding with celestial objects.
I mean, that would be the world's worst fender bender
because you would just straight up die.
Therefore, charting a course
to get to your destination can be a tricky endeavor.
However, due to the Falcon's superior navigation computer,
it was able to make shorter, quicker jumps between points,
enabling it to arrive at its destination even faster.
Now, according to A.C. Crispin's trilogy of Han Solo novels,
which sadly are no longer canonical,
the Kessel Run is adjacent to the Maw Cluster,
a group of black holes that distort space and time.
By flying close to the Maw Cluster,
Han, Chewie, and the gang could have conceivably made use
of the distortion as a shortcut of sorts
to make the run more quickly.
However, this opens up a whole can of wormholes.
Case in point, back in 2013,
my friend and colleague Kyle Hill wrote an article for Wired
that explains how the time dilation
caused by traveling at light speed
would mean that spending just one hour
aboard the Millennium Falcon at light speed would result
in Han returning to find everyone three years older.
So one hour in his time is three years in the real world!
Now, if we expand that
to include the entirety of the Kessel Run,
Han would return some 40 years later,
while merely having experienced about a half day himself,
which is not exactly ideal turnaround time for smuggling.
"Here's your drugs!
"I'm sorry it's four decades later.
"Oh, I'll just give them to your now adult son."
So, there you have it,
a brief explanation of what the Kessel Run is
and why it's so important in Star Wars canon,
and speaking of canon, we know we're gonna see a version
of the Kessel Run in Solo: A Star Wars Story,
and it might be a little bit different
than what I discussed here today,
but that's the beautiful thing about canon.
It's always evolving and changing,
and Disney's looking to pull on elements
from the Expanded Universe
to make the best possible product.
At least, that's the hope, but tell me.
What other elements of Han Solo's story
from the Expanded Universe
do you wanna see explored on the big screen?
Let me know in the comments below
and give me a spicy thumbs up while you're there.
Careful, it's habit-forming.
Be sure to like, subscribe,
and smash that notification bell, fam,
or else you might miss next week's episode
about the story of a married ogre who has a midlife crisis
and gets transported to a faraway land by Rumpelstiltskin
where he must do battle
with Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith
who are astronauts for some reason now
in Shrek Forever After Earth.
Special thanks to producer Aaron Vale, age 11,
for sending that one in.
Keep it up, Aaron.
Until next time, keep on digging.