Full Series All things Ghost and Phantom

Sooo... we've been seeing this mix of Millennium Falcon and WW2 bomber since last July, apparently? I'm sure there was a burst of discussion at the very first reveal, but we've learned a lot more, and I don't see an old thread just about the ship itself. So here we go.

One, the overall design. Is it too much of a smooth, prequel look? What are those stubby arms on the front that look like big plugs? Are they the "cargo pod clamps" one of the concept pictures mentions? Do those yellow patches mean something? They might -- they're reminiscent of similar markings on OT Rebel fighters. The Phantom has yellow patches that form nose art of a monster head, but on the main ship, they seem too subdued to be important symbols.

Two, the cargo-ship aspect. Does the Ghost have smugglers' holds? Is Hera a smuggler? Is she a smuggler who smuggles things, or a "smuggler" who uses her ship as a full-time adventuremobile? We never even saw the Falcon's cargo holds. Many people probably have no idea it's a freighter.

Three, the weapons. The Falcon has pretty much 360-degree protection with those turrets, but the Ghost's chin gun seems to be more for offensive use in strafing or some sort of "on his tail" dogfighting maneuver (which Hera in fact does in the WonderCon clip), leaving a great big defensive blind spot behind and below. Dumb?

Four, their gunners. In that 60-second trailer, we see Kanan sitting in the copilot's seat during a jump to hyperspace, but in the WonderCon clip, it looks like Hera is alone in the cockpit, firing the chin gun from her seat, while Kanan is in the top turret. So the Ghost, like the Falcon, is often flying with some empty seats. Did they even have anyone to fly the Phantom before Ezra joins?

In the WonderCon clip, you can see a seat in the cockpit that Sabine has claimed with her markings. In her introduction video, we see a small room with a table and chairs, maybe her quarters, that's covered with graffiti, as though she's been using it as her sketchpad. And we hear her refer to herself by the callsign "Specter 5," as in ghost, phantom, specter. She's made herself at home on the ship, but they apparently go fight TIEs without her some of the time? Or maybe she has her own ride. The Lego Ghost comes with a Hera, a Kanan, and a Zeb, and the Lego Phantom comes with an Ezra and a Chopper. Sabine's minifigure is missing. Surely they didn't just forget to put the pink Mandalorian in the Lego sets. Does she have a speeder bike or something she keeps in the hold?

And five, can we blow this ship up and let our crew go get a new one? Or is it a hero of the show in its own right, with its own character shields?

 

Yeah, whatever happens, I hope the Ghost plays a much more significant role consistently than the Twilight did. I'm sure they added that ship in for the "navigator on a spice freighter" thing (but then, I never really saw a reason to say that was true–I always figured Owen was just flat-out lying about that). But when they kept it through S1, I actually enjoyed seeing the old rust-bucket every once in a while. But then it just kind of disappeared until S5 and it just got blown up. We need a better role for our Ghost. As for the Phantom, aside from the LEGO and the Hasbro toy, I don't think we've even seen an official image of it. I'll go out on a limb and say it was not a part of the original Ghost, and will be added to the ship during their time on Lothal. But that's just random, wild speculation.

 

I hope so. I'm looking forward to Hera, the pilot, as opposed to Hera, the mama bear.

 

I don't think Ghost looks to much like the prequels. I think it strikes a nice blend aesthetically like one of the Jedi's shuttles trying to morph into the Millennium Falcon if that makes sense. It sets the tone times have changed but we're not in any really familiar territory yet.

 

It reminds me more of the Ebon Hawk than the Millenium Falcon, though of course the former looks a lot like the latter anyway. But not as much as the Outrider, which is good.

 

We have seen quite a bit of this ship...Cockpit, turrets, lounge, crews quarters, airlocks, etc.....and I have a pretty good idea where everything is in relation to each other.

But where are the cargo bays....the one place we have seen them put cargo is right inside the ramp...and there is not a lot of space there.

 

It's a light freighter, it can't carry too much. Plus there's a magnetic clamp outside to pick up large cargo containers.

 

Yeah it's pretty easy to extrapolate most of the layout. There are some quirks I've noticed in episodes here and therethat don't quite gel with the way the layout should be, but I just write those off as the animators not paying attention.

But as far as the cargo hold goes, there is a large door in the back of it. No word on what's behind it. My working theory is the engine room is back there, but depending on how the spacing works out, there could be a smaller hold back there perhaps.

We also don't know yet what what's behind the doors in the hall behind where the Phantom docks. I know the hall looks the same as the hall behind the bridge with the crew quarters, but it's not. I suspect, though that a couple of them at least are somewhat smaller holds for cargo brought in from the Phantom.

 

Isn't the cargo hold what's right inside the main boarding ramp?

 

Yes it is. The main cargo hold is in the front and features the loading ramp, and a ladder to the forward gun turret and bridge (and hence, the rest of the ship). On the back wall of it is another door. This is where I'm thinking the engine room is.

 

The issue with that is...that is a very small space...not even the room of a modern trailer or shipping container.

 

Who knows, maybe Corellian Engineering built these ships and badged them as freighters just to dodge some obscure industry regulation or such like. Even though in practice the actual volume of the ship given over to cargo space is a minority of the total, and less than that given over to crew living space.

Hell, it's also excessively heavily armed for a "freighter". It has a nose turret, dorsal and ventral ball turrets, an aft turret... and possibly other weapons I haven't covered.

 

I would imagine much of the cargo storage areas have been converted to weaponing the ship and added extra armor plating and maybe extra fuel storage. Only so much a ship can weigh realistically before problems arise, plus speed and maneuverability would be hindered. They should release actual technical specs and schematics if they haven't already.

 

It's still more cargo space then Han has on the Falcon.

 

It is supposed to be a modified light freighter , so it cant really be designed to be hauling massive and/ or heavy loads since its only a light freight carrier.

 

I doubt that's the engine room, as that door is pretty far forward in the ship. That door is probably how the wookiees got inside the cargo bay from that mag clamped cargo container.

I think the Ghost is actually pretty big... looking at the design, the VCX-100 actually has to have at least three decks.

That's a huge amount of space for a light freighter.

Edit: I just rewatched the second to last episode of the season. In it we see Chopper board the Ghost through a set of doors set in a compartment directly behind that door you were referring too. It's a second cargo bay, apparently equipped to load and unload containers. Hence how the Wookiees and team got aboard from the container in the first episode.

 

I'd like to think that Corellian Engineering "sells to everyone" and this is a fast ship expressly designed for smuggling small but high-profit-margin goods.

Damn those Corellians. Whose side are they anyways

(Not really surprising, actually. In EU the Empire also doesn't want to fully rule Corellia, as long as Corellia supply the Empire. And the Corellian Council was made up of corporate representatives and big city representatives. Money is money, no matter the source.)

((That's why Corellian Jedi have green clothes. They're literally The Greenback Jedi ))

 

Corellian Engineering knows that smugglers sometimes can't stay on-planet for too long. So, here's a fast ship with living quarters and enough cargo space to store high-margin stuff. Or rations & logistics. Just in case some... galactic entrepreneurs need to be off-planet for an extended time while keeping precious cargo inside.

Marketing Dept. of Corellian Engineering insisted that the ship is NOT named "Smuggler Freighter", despite repeated proposals from the Engineering Dept. It had led to a not insignificant animosity between these two Departments, and several Marketing people had been experiencing mysterious airspeeder problems. Fortunately with no loss of life.

 

Actually that access hatch in the floor is in the main bay. You can see it in the top down shot after they save the wookies in "Spirit of Rebellion" and during Zeb and Ezra's chase in the opening of "Fighter Flight" and a few other places. Plus when Chopper shoves the imperial droid back out the open hatch, Sabine's standing on the forward gun turret platform watching and Ezra and Zeb are climbing down the access ladder to the bridge, and they're all standing right next to the same open hatch in the floor. That puts them in the main bay.

Now, that being said, I don't disagree at all about the space. Engine room was my first thought but there could also be room for more storage back there, or access to get at things being held below the ship by the magnetic seals. The Ghost is fairly long, and there are absolutely three decks. The top deck where the phantom's parked, the main deck, and the cargo deck.

But one thing I did notice going through that second to last episode you mentioned, scene by scene, is that the animators went and changed something on us. Whereas in "A Machine in the Ghost", "Out of Darkness" and "Gathering Forces" where we had a hall with the four doors behind the phantom's rear door, NOW when Zeb and Sabine board the Phantom to meet Ezra, they enter through a tiny room with another access door right behind the phantom. So, now that's going to drive me nuts for awhile.

I know the budget was small and they probably had to build scenes from whatever assets they had lying around, but they need to get more consistent with the layout of the ship. They're consistent with the cargo deck and the main deck so far, for the most part, but the top deck where the Phantom is needs some work.

 

Hmm... and after looking at some episodes again, I'm getting a bit more confused as the position of the overlooking area and ladders seems to change from scene to scene for that cargo hold... But I think I've got it overall figured out.

Deck 1 'Top Deck':
Cockpit, access hallway, ladder to dorsal turret, airlock for the Phantom and the Phantom

Deck 2 'Crew Deck':
Bow turret, open space for the main hold, crew compartments, and docking ports

Deck 3 'Cargo Deck'
Front loading ramp, main cargo hold, ship's lounge

The engine room or engine access is probably somewhere on Deck 2. There is probably a second cargo hold somewhere on Deck 3 and another loading ramp.

 

Interesting. I remember when the series was in it's infancy I came up with this:

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ilers-allowed.50011239/page-601#post-51878930

Subsequent episodes having come out though I can modify it as follows:

Starting on the mid deck at the bridge, forward and working back:
Command deck/bridge w/ladder to main cargo hold/forward gun turret
Hall with crew quarters with two rooms on each side of the hall, assigned as follows:
Hera - Starboard side Forward
Zeb/Ezra - Starboard side Aft
Sabine - Port side Aft
Kanan - Port side Forward
Next, A small central hub containing the dorsal gun turret access ladder, and access to both port side and starboard docking rings.
Behind this, the common room w/ladder to the upper deck.
Behind that, the kitchens

Lower Deck:
forward gun turret
Main cargo bay, the loading ramp of which is in the forward section beneath the forward gun turret access platform, along with the ladder to access both it and the bridge.
The door in the back of the cargo hold is still unknown bout could be more storage and/or engine access.

Upper deck:
Dorsal gun turret only accessible from the access ladder in the central hub on mid-deck
The Phantom.
this is another big question here. the Phantom is docked up there, the problem is what's in front of it. most episodes show a hallway similar to the crew quarters hallway with a ladder beyond, which I would think is the ladder down to the common room, but I'm rapidly of the opinion that the animators just reused the crew quarters asset and stuck the phantom on the end of it before replacing it with whatever was in the second to last episode.

hopefully more layout clues will be forthcoming in future episodes.

 

The short 'The Machine in the Ghost' shows that the hallway behind the main bridge runs directly to the Phantom... basically along the spine of the ship. There really isn't much room for any crew compartments on that deck. I think the hallway that has access to the crew compartments actually runs laterally between the two docking ports on the side of the ship.

 

I wish they would give us a map.And explain why the empire cannot look out the window.