Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual [Hardcover]

In what may seem like deja vu the creative team of writer author Ryder Windham and artists Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff are back in the cockpit for another book exploring the inner workings of the most famous starship ever, the Millennium Falcon.

In September of 2010 this trio brought us the Star Wars: Millennium Falcon: A 3-D Owner's Guide, which was a really fun book put together by Becker & Mayer Books. The 3-D Owner's Guide was an over-sized heavy cardboard book that featured a layered cut-away of the Millennium Falcon, each page contained a "slice" of the ship showing certain systems and surrounding the cut away was text and images associated with the systems discussed. That book was designed for ages 8 and up, so as cool as it was it was designed for a younger audience and at 22 pages there was only so much information that could be included.

Random House Publishing's Del Rey imprint has taken a similar idea and put a new spin on it that gives a book that is both visually appealing for younger audiences and is detail rich for the more discerning nerd. Partnering with renowned automotive repair manual publisher Haynes, the Haynes Star Wars: Millennium Falcon: Owner's Workshop Manual is 125 pages of geek fun.

The book is crammed full of images from the films, production photos, and illustrations. While this full color book doesn't look like most Haynes manuals I have seen on the inside, the concept itself works to make the marketing gimmick make sense. If you have used a Haynes manual in the past, this book is of a better quality. It comes with a glossy hardcover and the internal pages are printed on a nice sturdy paper stock.

The only production issue that I have with this book, is the binding which causes you to loose some of the content into the hinge of the book. This problem is greatest on pages 36-39. Pages 36-37 feature a cutaway of the ship spread across two pages and pages 38-39 feature a two page floor plan of the ship, the problem is that both images are bisected by the binding. This would have been potentially solved by either having a fold out insert page at this point in the book, or tweaking how the image was laid out on the pages.

The book contains a ton of information, already released in the United Kingdom, here is the table of contents which is broken down into nine sections. (1) The History of Corellian Engineering & The YT-Series, (2) The Millennium Falcon, (3) Piloting a YT-1300, (4) YT-1300 Propulsion, (5) Weapons & Defensive Systems, (6) YT-1300 Engineering Systems, (7) YT-1300 Sensors, (8) Crew Facilities, (9) Size Comparison Chart.

This book gives you a ton of back story on Corellian Engineering, the YT series in general and the special modifications that Han Solo had made to the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. While it may not be a must buy for all Star Wars fans, if you are interested in spacecraft, design, art, or simply learning more about the Millennium Falcon, this is a book you will not want to miss.

If this book doesn't make you want to build your own Millennium Falcon, then I am not sure what will.

The Haynes Star Wars: Millennium Falcon: Owner's Workshop Manual will be released on January 31st, 2012 and has a MSRP of $28.00.

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When this book was first announced there was three big questions that came to mind when I first saw it listed. The first was: Is this an actual "repair" manual? The second: Does it expand beyond the movie Falcon or does it also contain information that was covered within the Expanded Universe? And finally: Will it be any more specific than the standard Star Wars Encyclopedia? Well, let's look into it.

First, is this an actual repair manual? To be straight forward, absolutely not. This is not the first time Haynes has ventured into the SciFi genre as they have also produced a book for the starship Enterprise (Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise Haynes Manual). And like fans who read that book, it is apparent that the producers of the book have no real intention on making a "repair" manual. There are no instructions or steps on repair procedures like those found in actual Haynes repair manuals and as a mechanic for over 15 years I am quite familiar with what is found in actual Haynes books.

So why the connection to Haynes? Well, in my opinion the connection to Haynes can be easily explained as an attempt to bring a fresh and new layout to the common Star Wars Encyclopedia books and to also add a gimmick to boost sales. Is this a bad thing? No. To me wrapping a Star Wars Encyclopedia on the Falcon in a Haynes manual format is not a bad idea. Not only does it offer something new to an old idea but it also creates a new format to what was become a copy and paste production within the Encyclopedia product line.

If you can over look the fact that this is not an actual "repair" or "workshop" manual then you are brought to the second question. Does this book go beyond information found in the movies and include EU information? For the most part the answer is no. As the book attempts to stay within a "technical" blueprint the vast majority of information is of a technical nature. The book focuses on things like the ships construction and component appearance and operation. Most of the book is split into three parts, first: a brief history of the YT production line and the history of the Corellian culture surrounding the creation of starships. Second, the technical aspects of the Falcon, with descriptions of items like the hyperdrive, shield units, sensors, life pods, general layout of the ships and weapons systems. Third, the Falcon as seen in Episode 4-6 and the people connected to those events. There is no mention of activities beyond the films and no connection to the EU.

And finally the third question, does this book offer anything more than what can be found in a Encyclopedia format? Yes and no. Once you open the front cover the Haynes aspect of the book is gone and the feel of the Encyclopedia product line is more prevalent. The layout of history, specs., impact is pretty much the same as the Encyclopedia books and the information and pictorial layout is very familiar.

So is the book any good? Absolutely. Once you get past the Haynes gimmick and see the book for what it really is then there is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy the book. It offers quite an extensive look at everything Falcon and does so with a good to great production value. The information is extensive and the visual layout is well done.

If you are a fan of the Millennium Falcon and want to know more about it I'd recommend picking this book up. If you are familiar with Haynes manuals and are expecting a detailed look into the operating and mechanical systems of this book you will most likely be left wanting more, this book is a "on the surface" look at the Falcon and what makes her tic.

Recommended.

The title is somewhat misleading as this owner's manual focuses on the Corellian Engineering Corporation's YT-1300 series with the legendary Millennium Falcon being the most famous (the Emperor says infamous) vessel having a major chapter. Besides the brief history of the corporation, the manual goes into depth with diagrams on the various YT-1300 models, a deep look at systems (piloting, propulsion, etc.), controls, weapons, crew facility and other floor plans, and other operations. There is also a section devoted to the modified Millennium Falcon operated by wanted preferably dead smugglers Han Solo a former Imperial pilot and Chewbacca the Wookie.

This is a great fun manual. Ryder Wyndham (see A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker) provides a well written text filled with fascinating details about the model while the photographs and art are incredible as the two Chris' show their talent and knowledge of Star Wars. Fans of the saga especially the original three New Hope movies will appreciate this entertaining entry as we will feel we are on board and even driving an YT-1300 vessel. Finally unlike politicians who insist ads by their attack Super PAC pals were not approved by them, this super packed manual is approved by Lucasbooks and a reader can see why.

Harriet Klausner

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars