$17,000 bucks for a two-hour plane ride?

[Maxperson]

I wouldn't place too much stock in the movie evidence. You don't want to make scene after scene of travel, so you do it in once scene. There could have been two hours of travel, or two days of travel and they just picked out those few scenes from the journey for the film.

 

[Umbran]

The question is: How long did Han stay in the cockpit before going aft to join the others?

Days? No way.

Hours? Possibly.

Minutes? Most likely.

Actually, I'd go with hours. Chewbacca isn't exactly the most extroverted person around. He must have left the cockpit, and been hanging around long enough with people to (get bored and) decide to get into a game with a droid, and get that game well underway. That doesn't sound like minutes.

 

[Water Bob]

Actually, I'd go with hours. Chewbacca isn't exactly the most extroverted person around. He must have left the cockpit, and been hanging around long enough with people to (get bored and) decide to get into a game with a droid, and get that game well underway. That doesn't sound like minutes.

At this point, I'd believe 3 hours or less.

 

[Maxperson]

If travel time was only a few hours from core to rim, there would be no lawless areas. Further, there would also be no Empire or Republic. The entire might of both governments could be brought to bear anywhere in the other side's territory and nothing could be done about it. A few hours travel, a few hours to destroy the planet of your choice, a few hours back to starting place and you'd be back home in time for supper and the other side wouldn't even have time to begin formulating a defense or counter strike. The two powers would have long since destroyed one another one piece at a time.

 

[Umbran]

If travel time was only a few hours from core to rim, there would be no lawless areas.

If we revert to the game version for a moment, the travel time is hours for the best pilot in the galaxy with a small ship modified to be extremely fast and not terribly reliable. It is then a week or more for a ship of the line.

Further, there would also be no Empire or Republic. The entire might of both governments could be brought to bear anywhere in the other side's territory and nothing could be done about it.

The Empire and Republic don't exist at the same time - the Republic *becomes* the Empire when Palpatine gains control of it.

You might mean the New Republic/Resistance and the First Order (in The Force Awakens). All I can say there is that the canon, and what we see in the film, is either nonsensical or physically impossible, and we must just sort of wave our hands at it and not think about it too much.

 

[Maxperson]

If we revert to the game version for a moment, the travel time is hours for the best pilot in the galaxy with a small ship modified to be extremely fast and not terribly reliable. It is then a week or more for a ship of the line.

Why would ships of the line not have the best hyperdrives?

The Empire and Republic don't exist at the same time - the Republic *becomes* the Empire when Palpatine gains control of it.

Hmm. I'm not sure what is cannon and what isn't anymore. At least not about the past. I thought the Empire and old Republic existed at the same time thousands of years in the past.

In any case, at the time of Episodes 1-3, there are factions with enough ships to destroy worlds that weren't the old Republic. If travel were that easy, even at a week to travel, what I suggested would still be easy to accomplish. Travel a week and hit a planet with overwhelming force. Leave and travel back. You'd be home before the enemy could mobilize and get to your undefended planets. Rinse and repeat for both sides.

War would be so devastating that neither side could survive, so there'd probably be no war.

You might mean the New Republic/Resistance and the First Order (in The Force Awakens). All I can say there is that the canon, and what we see in the film, is either nonsensical or physically impossible, and we must just sort of wave our hands at it and not think about it too much.

Yeah. I look forward to seeing what develops.

 

[Water Bob]

Where is the official map? I tried googling it, but my skills failed me. I went to starwars.com, but couldn't see anything beyond the maze of upcoming movie promotional stills and videos. You keep mentioning it, so a link would be useful!

Are you sure it's canon, whatever it is?

Yeah, it's supposed to be cannon. The actual map is in the book, The Star Wars Essential Atlas, but you can see parts of it online.

Look HERE for some companion information.

THIS PDF DOCUMENT from that StarWars.com page is a list of all known worlds in the Star Wars universe with grid markers to help you find it on the official map.

 

[Water Bob]

Hmm. I'm not sure what is cannon and what isn't anymore. At least not about the past. I thought the Empire and old Republic existed at the same time thousands of years in the past.

Back in the now non-canon Tales of the Jedi era (The Old Republic era from the online and single player computer games) had a Sith Empire and the Old Republic exist at the same time, but that's not the same Empire that Palpatine created.




Oh....and I just discovered that Palpatine finally got a canon first name! It's Sheev Palpatine!

 

[delericho]

It just hit me. Luke and Ben promised Han 17,000 credits to take them from Tatooine to Alderaan.

Looking around the net, the consensus is that it took the trip took about 2 hours (some people argue about 2 days).

Luke says that a ship can almost be bought for 17,000 credits. In the D6 Star Wars RPG, a used ship costs 25,000 (which fits Luke's statement).

Man, isn't that a lot of dough to cough up for a 2 hour ride?

If you're one of the Empire's most wanted, you're travelling with a kid whose name will draw attention from exactly the wrong people (and he doesn't even know why), you've got two droids in tow that the Empire are urgently looking for, and you've got a message that absolutely must be delivered safely?

Yeah, in those circumstances you hire a smuggler and blockade runner who can "avoid any Imperial entanglements"... and you have to pay what you have to pay.

 

[MarkB]

If travel time was only a few hours from core to rim, there would be no lawless areas.

Travel time from core to rim of any continent on Earth is only a few hours. We still have plenty of lawless areas.