Star Wars is well known for many things, Lightsabers, Jedi, the Millennium Falcon, just to name a few, but as well know as its successes are, so too are its failures. There is one mistake in particular that has become an ongoing joke within the fandom; the misuse of the term “parsec.” Funnily enough, it took The Orville, a parody of Star Wars‘ biggest rival Star Trek, to finally get it right.
For those that may not know, the parsec line in Star Wars has always been a slip up that has caused not only much controversy but a never-ending fountain of jokes and jabs at the franchise. The famous line of course refers to Han Solo discussing just how impressive the Millennium Falcon is, claiming that, “It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” The issue here is that, well, simply put, parsecs are not a measure of time, but rather a measure of distance.
In fact, a parsec is about 19 trillion miles, so claiming that a ship was able to specifically journey in under a certain amount of distance really doesn’t make much sense at all. This error even carries on to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, causing astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson to chime in. What makes the butchering of the phrase even that much goofier is that they actually attempted to correct this mistake in Han Solo’s solo film Solo (try saying that 10 times fast), only to mix it up again in the more recent Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Luckily this slight boo boo has spawned laughter rather than hatred, leading to it becoming a staple piece of humor in the genre, being spoofed upon time and time again.
The Orville is a comedy at its heart, so it only makes sense for the franchise to eventually take a poke at this reference, and it couldn’t have been done in any more fitting of an adventure. While The Orville’s television series has grown a cult following, it has actually also taken the plunge past the screen into another form of popular media, comic books. Recently, The Orville Launch Day comic series launched onto shelves, acting as a season 2.5 for the franchise, giving fans more time with the crew as they patiently await the arrival of the third season; a season that is happening thanks to Hulu picking up the series from Fox. It is within the first issue of this new story that the reference is made, and although it is slipped in quite casually, based on the overall plot of the issue it definitely seems intentional.
As mentioned before, it is just a quick little line, subtle enough to be missed completely as a Star Wars joke unless one really considers the context of the entire issue. The story of this comic focuses on the investigation of a possible superspace weapon, and even introduces what very well may be The Orville’s own version of the Death Star. It is within the discussions between Captain Mercer and the Krills where the threat is first brought to light that the word parsec is quickly tossed in. The Krill captain is quoted saying, “Alibar is less than one parsec away from the Krill homeworld.” Clearly, as if the word “away” doesn’t give it, well, away, on its own, it is quite obvious here that the word parsec is being used to represent distance rather than speed.
Being the plot is centered around the idea of a planet-destroying weapon, and an orb appears that looks almost visually identical to the Death Star, there is absolutely no question that this issue was heavily influenced by Star Wars, and that this quick little line was hidden in as an easter egg for super fans to giggle at.
The Orville Launch Day #1 is out now!
