Posted by “Life is a question and how we live it is our answer.” Gary Keller
By far, my favorite Han Solo is Harrison Ford. He’s been the iconic smuggler for DECADES. I actually cried when (SPOILER ALERT) Kylo Ren killed him on the bridge in The Force Awakens. I also cheered when he and Chewie stepped foot on the Millennium Falcon in the same movie. I didn’t know he could play any other role as an actor, but he has that rough-around-the-edges persona that just makes you want him to be the no-nonsense get-r-done guy in EVERY movie. I even enjoyed his Indiana Jones role until Shia LaBeouf showed up in one.
Alden Ehrenreich was a good Young Harrison, but he just didn’t quite feel right in the role after such iconic movies with Harrison. That said, when are we getting movies 2 & 3 in the Han Solo Trilogy?! I NEED to know the rest of his story!
As far as we know (from the movies, because they ARE the original story) Han was just Han until he became a Galactic Cadet with no last name. Fitting that he became Han Solo because he was always alone. After a while, he met the Wookie Chewbacca, and saved his life. Things that I will never understand:
- HOW does Han know how to speak Wookie?!
- Why does Chewie decide that Han’s heroism in the prison is worth a lifelong commitment to a scoundrel smuggler?
These questions don’t detract from my crush on the character, or the Star Wars experience. I will forever LOVE this universe!
In the original trilogy, Han’s vanity is wounded by Princess Leia early on, and we witness his pining in a very nonchalant manner, where hers is rather blatant. After a while, their relationship grows and we witness one of the most romantic, unscripted, iconic moments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdlRmWd_R7A
If you want a reminder of the most nerd-romantic line in a movie, click on the link below and get yourself some throw pillows. They’re relatively discreet for your closet nerdiness. If you want all out nerdiness, get a matching tea set, wine glass set, and coffee mugs.
Now, lets tie romance into my life: I have none. I spent 2 years on Tinder and Match, with no luck. Its not because I’m overly picky, its because I think I’m all out of the stuff – Love. I spent so long being myself and receiving nothing but apathetic convenience that I can’t seem to come back from it. I have no energy or desire to love anyone else. Sad, but true.
Every breakup boot-camp or self-help book always tells you that you should spend some time on yourself after a long term relationship ends, but I don’t see how that was ever a factor. I threw everything I had into a partnership with no return on investment, the problem was never that I lost myself in a relationship, so why should I change or focus on something that wasn’t broken? Its always hard ending things, and its even harder when that person was your legitimate best friend. But, here I am, on the other side, with the revelation that I don’t have anything that I want to give another person.
I will say, that I did gain a boatload of sadness breakup weight, then lost it, and now I have a routine of work and working out that I’m so, so comfortable with that I don’t have time to think about a relationship, love, or flings. So, I guess those relationship experts were right – it all gets easier when you focus on you, not a rebound.
As for Han and Leia, she was the badass female who rescued her love from the carbonite prison, and they lived happily ever after! For a while anyway. You go, girl!!
Personally, I want a knight in a shining armor (more like a tailored, European cut grey suit), on a white horse (or, ya know, a white Jaguar F-Type, V8, supercharged coupe), to rescue me from my tower (or, as it so happens, my 4th floor apartment). Or Richard Madden. Either works.
Now, a relationship that I CAN support: My BFF Katie is marrying her Price Charming (Or I guess she prefers Price Eric from the Little Mermaid – since she’s more of an Ariel than anyone I’ve ever met), and I’m so EXCITED for them! I actually introduced them at one of the ESDP Christmas Parties that were so popular my first year at China Lake. I met Katie because she wanted to start a softball team (and lets be real, I am AWESOME at the game) and I met Hunter at work for the F/A-18 Boeing team for aircraft instrumentation. Hunter was a huge nerd who needed more friends and I pressured him into attending this party. I bet he’s glad he did. in 2020, he proposed to Katie in front of Ariel at Disney World.
Anyway, this post is more about my love for Star Wars rather than my not-so-awesome love life, so lets talk about the science behind carbonite:
Carbonite was a liquid substance that was made from carbon gas and could change into a solid through rapid freezing. Goods could be encased in carbonite for preservation, through a process known as carbon-freezing, and an example was condensed Tibanna gas because carbon-freezing was used as a way to condense it for transport.
Carbonite blocks could also be used to place people in hibernation. Before the invention of the hyperdrive, some early spacers would use carbonite to endure long voyages. That technique, however, had brutal side effects, collectively referred to as hibernation sickness. Droids such as the DLC-13 mining droid could be made out of heat-resistant carbonite. (Source: Wookiepedia)
As we learned from C-3PO, there was a solid chance that Han wouldn’t have made it after being encased in the stuff, so why does The Mandalorian use it to transport all of his captives? We will never know. It was mostly used for transporting volatile cargo for the Empire, but after the test run with Han, Vader was going to use it trap Luke Skywalker.
Anyway, The Mandalorian probably used it so he wouldn’t have to babysit his bounties for those long haul runs to and from Nevarro. I can relate – I wouldn’t want to chat across all those parsecs either!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for you here, dear Readers,
Until Next Time!
-Jessica (@leaderofnerds)
Geek Havok 