ST Why didn't Rey recognise the Millennium Falcon?

Hi,

A question that keeps spinning in my head since I've watched TFA when it came out is 'Why didn't Rey recognise the Millennium Falcon?'. Let me elaborate on this:

Rey lives on the planet Jakku. She works for Unkar Plutt who now owns the Millennium Falcon which is parked right behind his shop. When Rey and Finn escape Jakku they run towards a Quadjumper when Finn asks: "What about that ship?" and she replies "That ship is garbage!".

So she knows the ship well enough to know it's garbage and when they get inside she even states that "this ship hasn't flown in years". It is only until Han Solo boards the 'garbage ship' that she finds out that she's on board of the Millennium Falcon ("this is the Millenium Falcon??").

So she has clearly heard of the MF before and judging by her surprised response she seems to be happy to be on the ship. Like she's meeting one of her childhood heroes or something. Then why didn't she recognise the ship before in Unkar's junkyard? Was there never a moment when she asked herself (or someone else) 'Hey, that YT1300 over there, that wouldn't be the MF, would it?'. Because wouldn't most people in the SW universe know that the MF is a YT1300? I mean, it helped destroy the Death Star and has been in so many battles, not to mention being the fastest spaceship in the universe, Kessel Run, etc. It definitely has a name, a reputation. If people talk about it, don't they also want to know what kind of ship it is? It's the first thing you ask, right? Or am I missing out on something?

 

Who's to say that she had any inkling as to what kind of ship the Millennium Falcon was?

 

How many YT-1300's are there in the galaxy? Han was a smuggler, so he'd want a ship that doesn't stand out from the crowd. I'm guessing that YT's are a dime a dozen, and there are probably rusted out YT hulks parked behind the hangars at half the starports in the galaxy.

 

Because the Falcon isn't famous for being on a cop show, and distinctive for the decal/paint job it displayed on TV. It's famous for its accomplishments and associations.

 

Considering that it's stolen property, I would have thought Unkar Plutt had made efforts to hide its identity. With presumably a fake name attached to it, one wouldn't necessarily assume it was the Millenium Falcon just because it was a YT-1300. I suppose Rey could have recognised or deduced that it was the Falcon because of its many 'special modifications' but that would have to mean that she first had access to that kind of information (why would Han have publicised that?) and also have been a real geek to learn all of it.

 

And a real geek wouldn't think Han's Kessel Run record was less than 14 parsecs.

 

Why wouldn't she know what type of ship the MF is? And judging by the following scene she definitely has a lot of knowledge (also technical) about the Millennium Falcon:



She knows a number of things:

- She knows that Han Solo owned the MF
- Knows that he's a smuggler (and Finn heard he's a war hero)
- She knows about the Kessel Run (although not the right distance)
- She knows who previously owned the MF before Unkar Plutt
- She apparently did some work on the MF and knows how it works (1:44 'I thought it was a mistake too...')
- And last but not least, she knows how to fly the damn thing

So with knowing all that I'd say that she should also definitely know what kind of ship the MF was. And yeah, maybe there are plenty of YT-1300's out there and she had a very different idea of what the fastest spaceship in the galaxy looked like. But then she should have responded differently instead of saying 'THIS is the Millennium Falcon?' it would have been better to respond 'This IS the Millennium Falcon?'. Seems more appropriate imo. I don't know, still a weird scene I think.

 

That makes me wonder about Kylo. Did he know it was the Falcon when Mitaka told him about it?

 

Which scene are you referring to?

 

Mitaka tells Kylo about BB-8 and he mentions the ship's a YT-1300 Corellian freighter. Kylo just reacts baffled to how a droid stole a freighter, but did not react to what kind. You would think he would.

 

She knows of two parties who had the ship before Unkar Plutt. That exchange happens before she finds out it's the Falcon.

 

It may be straying a tad off topic, but considering Rey didn't seem to have a personal account of ever having been on the ship called the Millennium Falcon, couldn't that rule out that she's either a Solo or a Skywalker? I mean you'd think Han would've let her on the ship if she was family.

 

That's a very good point. I suppose the only counterpoint to that is the timing of when the Falcon was lost. Does Han have it in Bloodline?