star wars - Why does everyone think that the Millennium Falcon is a piece of junk?

It’s a running joke in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), and carried over into Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), that the Millennium Falcon looks like a piece of junk: Luke, “What a piece of junk!” when he sees it for the first time, and Leia later says sarcastically “You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.” And Rey dismisses it initially until her alternative is destroyed.

But to me the Falcon doesn’t look any worse or more battered than any of the other ships we see in any of the films. What's wrong with it?

(Note I’m not talking about the hyperdrive problems, which only happen in The Empire Strikes Back and aren’t apparent from the outside anyway.)

Answer

Just a moment after Luke's “What a piece of junk!” line we see a prime example of why it looks so junky:

Millenum Falcon blast hole; 52:21 in Star Wars (Harmy's Despecialized Edition)
_{52:21 in Star Wars (Harmy's Despecialized Edition)}

A big 'ol blast mark, right next to the boarding ramp. It looks deeper than “carbon scoring”— there appears to be exposed mechanical elements peeking through. If that doesn't make you feel completely unsafe about flying through the deep cold vacuum of space, you're living in the wrong galaxy.

It has since become a running joke, but it seems Lucas originally intended the ship's state of disrepair to be obvious and indisputable.

Comments

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