Since it first burst out of Docking Bay 94 in Mos Eisley back in 1977, the Millennium Falcon has been the space ship that millions of kids have dreamed of soaring through the galaxy on with their loyal wookie co-pilot. And back when Han Solo and Chewie started bushing buttons and flipping switches in the cockpit back in A New Hope, we had no idea what they were doing or what those were all supposed to be. But sure all looked purposeful.
Looking back at the films, it’s amazing how much Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams, and Daisy Ridely especially spent time flipping switches and pushing random buttons. And thanks to this handy Star Wars By The Numbers video from the official Star Wars YouTube channel, we now know exactly how many colored knobs and metal doodads were played with by the actors in all ten films so far. And it’s quite a lot.
While we won’t tell you exactly how many Millennium Falcon buttons were pressed or switches flipped over the course of the series and spoil the video for you, we will spoil this: The movie that spends the most time with characters doing this is easily The Empire Strikes Back, with Solo coming in a close second. The movies with the least amount of it are The Last Jedi, and Return of the Jedi.
Despite the level of detail in the different buttons and gears that make up the Falcon, in the past many of the actors have stated that they were usually told to just push buttons and flip switches at random. So when we watch Han Solo go intently from one button to another while trying to dodge Imperial pursuit, there’s really no rhyme or reason to it. Which I think we can all agree that worked out just fine.
Images: Lucasfilm