Skeleton Crew hid a sneaky Star Wars plunging neckline in plain sight

Skeleton Crew it did not connect with the wider Star Wars the universe through splashy cameos, but she was floating with herself a lot on connections and hints to the rest of the galaxy far, far away in a litany of quick notes and easter eggs. But a hidden Easter egg apparently runs even deeper than fans expected.

Early in Skeleton Crew the audience and its young heroes are transported to the pirate bay of Port Borgo, surrounded by a whole flotilla of charming-looking Star Wars ships. But one stood out in particular: a thin, white craft briefly spotted as on Onyx Ash made his way into the harbor. Some fans described the design as a classic piece Star Wars concept art: Colin Cantwell’s early design for the pirate ship it would eventually become The Millennium Falcon. Cantwell’s slim, narrow design would eventually be repeated and repurposed in the Tantive IV blocking runner but was seemingly able to work his way back Star Wars continuity through Skeleton Crewjust like how Andor canonized his early Star Destroyer design as Cantwell-class cruiser Arrestor.

However, it turns out that the ship is not like that quite a lot Cantwell’s. Instead, it’s a combination of that design with the similar-looking Eagle Lander from Gerry Anderson’s sci-fi classic Space: 1999. Cantwell’s original design for the ship was actually moved due to the perceived resemblance to the Eagle, so the combination is quite fitting – and the “Millennium Eagle” was brought to life by former ILM modeler and VFX supervisor Bill George, as part of an imaginary series hypothetical show celebrating life-size scale models of classic sci-fi ships and props.

“I’ve always loved the story of how the design of the pirate ship was changed because it was thought to look too much like the eagle from Space: 1999George said recently ColinCantwell.coma site recently created by friends and family of the deceased artist to celebrate his work. “My original concept was to make a combination of the two ships. This was not difficult at all as they have similar proportions.

George confirmed that his hybrid design made him who he is Skeleton Crewafter former colleagues at ILM approached him and asked if they could scan the model for use in a galaxy far, far away. “No one ever told me who was behind the request,” added George, “but when asked, I jumped at the chance! I have no idea, but once the model is made, they tend to show up in other media. I’m just happy that it stayed in the background as a kind of cameo appearance.”

The vessel has not yet been directly identified within Star Wars‘ universe, so time will tell if Millennium Eagle will find a designation as insolent as its portmanteau title, or if, like the cruiser Arrestor, it will be identified by homage to Cantwell and George in some other way. But at least one fun little twist Star WarsDesign history makes its way back to the galaxy far, far away the long way around, an idea almost 50 years in the making.

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