Han in Carbonite

I'd like to address a few issues in this thread about Han Solo's carbon-freezing, and a few misconceptions.

1. What he's wearing.

Okay, in ANH, Han wears black leather boots, blue pants with red striping on the legs (and a belt through the loops), a white/tan v-neck pullover shirt, his black vest, and his gunbelt.

In ESB, he wears black leather boots, brown pants with gold stiping on the legs (and a belt through the pant loops), a white double-breasted shirt, a blue (rebel-issue?) jacket (*very* similar to Luke's khaki Dagobah/Bespin jacket), and his gunbelt.

During the carbon-freezing scene in ESB, he's no longer wearing his gunbelt and jacket, his shirt sleeves are rolled up (and the shirt is slightly untucked), and there are binders on his wrists (like the ones put on Chewie during the scene), and silver bands on his upper arms (with a strap that connects them running along his back).

(Note: as for the controversy about the vest/no vest in the close-ups--I say it's a vest, but let's not hijack the thread, okay?--the DVD version has been corrected, so the point is moot).

As he stand on the platform, two Ugnaughts come over and remove the binders from his wrists. The platform lowers, and he's frozen.

As I understand it, the original concept was that Han would emerge, and look like a rough metal sculpture of a human (think of a basic human shape molded out of clay). He was then to be placed in a transparent floating case with a control box attached. In the final, film, the completed carbonite block (with rectangular frame and control panels) emerges from the pit (Pablo Hidalgo answered my question about where the frame came from in SW Insider # 75, and it wasn't a bad answer).

The actual "frozen Han" prop features a casting of Harrison Ford's face, and a stand-in's body. However, the body casting is clearly shown to be wearing a v-neck shirt similar to Han's ANH shirt.

When Han is unfrozen in ROTJ, he's wearing *exactly* what he wore when he was frozen in ESB, but the restraints on his upper arms have disappeared (The in-universe explanation is that they were made of carbonite...but what about the strap linking them?). For the rest of the film, he wears the same outfit, except that he's replaced the blue ESB jacket with his black ANH vest.

Questions, comments?

 

Yes, it's a movie mistake.

What's your point?

 

Just trying to clarify. Some people have been confused over the years, and have thought that he changed clothes between films and such.

 

I dont even see how they could have made the mistake with Hans vest in Empire, when he didnt even wear the vest in the movie. You would think they wouldnt have had a vest on the set to accidently put him in. I'm pretty sure it was just a lighting error, and not an actual vest like some people believe.

 

The lighting error is the new popular belief. I still say it was an editing mistake. The I love you/I know scene was filmed many times. Who knows how many times the whole freezing scene was filmed. And they could have refilmed the scene on different days.

 

Ford wearing a black vest during the shooting of that scene would be the equivalent of...

...Ford coming back from lunch wearing a thick, black handlebar mustache.

It would be such a GLARING continuity error that EVERYONE on the set would have to be retarded not to notice.

I say it's an optical illusion that has been corrected to satisfy nit-pickers.

 

I've gotta agree with that

 

How cool is this? From what I recently read about the SW Insider content on Hyperspace, Pablo Hidalgo answers my question about why Han is wearing his ANH vest in the close-ups as he's about to be frozen...and confimrs that it was fixed for the DVD.

Three of my questions got answered in SW Insider # 75. I can't wait to get Insider # 78 and read the Q and A column for myself!

 

He wasn't wearing a vest. It was a shadow. This is amazing. In the 20 some odd years I've been watching ESB, well over thousands of times, I never, ever, not in one million years, think he was wearing a vest. What's wrong with you people?

 

What Gregatron says is correct. To all who believe it was not a vest in ESB - it was (according to Pablo Hidalgo). It was a goof on the waredrobe dept.'s part, and it just so happened to shots of Ford wearing the vest were selected for the edit. From SW Insider 78, page 61.

 

If Pablo is saying that, then he no longer has credibility with me.

 

Wait, wait, wait...


Where was this supposed vest? Can I see it in the SE VHS tapes? I gotta see what this is all about because I NEVER saw such a thing.

Emperor's slugs, yes. TIE matte lines, sure. Vests?!?! Wah-what?!?!

Gee, who would have thought we'd all be going back to look at the SE and original tapes?

 

Han never was wearing any type of vest in that scene. It's, in a way, no different than people who believe Luke yells "Carrie!" in Star Wars (as is accepted by now, that never happened). It was a shadow and *that* has been "fixed" in the DVD release. Seriously, though, a shadow or a vest, does it *really* matter?

Brandon

 

Never noticed any vest. I was always wondered though, how did he get his hands up? I always rationalized that the Ugnaughts took the handcuffs off, but why would they?

 

Here's something no ones probably ever thought of, now that we're on the subject of Carbonite freezing.

Is Carbonite freezing ever been done on any other humans before Vader did it on Han? How common is it?, and how practical is it?, and how easy is it to get one of those Carbonite freezing machines?

Here's my thought. Couldn't Obi-Wan have frozen himself in Carbonite after ROTS and then have someone unfreeze him 18 years later. So he'd be younger and in better shape to fight the Empire.

Some people are reading this post right now and thinking, huh? haha.