An Eternal Nerd Question...

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

answered.

Was Lucas just pulling stuff out of his backside when he had Han Solo boast he'd made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs?

Well, yeah, probably. Esp. since no one in the universe knew what hte Kessel Run was at that point (at least, no audience members. However, the nerds behind starwars.com have finally come up with a plausible answer. Though I don't think the black hole answer works for me.

[Eagle Prince]

But how does flying by a black hole make you go faster?  Like if you have two ships going the same speed, but one flies by a black hole, that one actually has to travel further and so it takes longer, right?  Or do I just have it backward?  If not, then there has to be more to it than just flying by a black hole, he would have had to use them to slingshot or something.

[JP Dogberry]

He didn't fly faster, he flew less distance. Black Holes warp Space Time.

[Eagle Prince]

Yes I know, but I think it does the opposite of what you think.  It would make the distance greater, not shorter.

[JP Dogberry]

It would make the distance greater, but the WARPED distance is greater. So to get the Actual figure, you need to divide by two, invert it, and divide by the recipricol of the nano-Space Time Bilinear, thus making it shorter.

Don't you understand the mathematics involved in Warp Theory?

[Eagle Prince]

Nope, guess I don't watch enough Star Trek.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

actually, the way I understand it is that the DISTANCE shrinks, but the TIME expands. So making the run next to a black hole makes the run shorter, but it takes longer to do it.  But maybe i'm wrong.

That's why I don't like the Black hole explanation. It's easier to see the hitting several ships headed in different directions. if he does that in shorter distance, he did it REALLY fast.

[Dex1138]

The only thing the black holes have to do with it is that most sensible people avoid them, thus increasing their time spent flying the Run. The Kessel Run starts on the planet/asteroid Kessel. It's located near the Maw Cluster (4 black holes IIRC) so starting out it would be pilot's choice to go for the shorter distance by flying closer to the Cluster or be safer and steer clear...at least that's what I've come to understand.
I have yet to see and space/time warping/continuum stuff in Star Wars.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Lucas doesn't deny it either, though. Yet he uses parsec, and you may think I'm reading too much into it, but a parsec is the measurement of how far light travels in a second. Which implies he's using the relativity behind it all.

[Dex1138]

Well sure, if you go by our definition of it
I think it may have had something to do with slingshotting the gravity also. It's been awhile since I read the books where they "explain" it.
I've always thought he was just talking himself up to a farmboy and an old man.

[Eagle Prince]

If you had to swing real wide to not have to navigate around the black holes, that makes sense.  Of course that would mean his impressive time wasn't because of how fast the ship is but how good of a pilot he is.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The context, of course, is that he was bragging about speed though, so it doesn't work.

[Skar]

Yeah, but if it was the ships traveling apart thing then it still does.

I love RABID fans.  If they didn't think about this stuff, who would?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

it does make sense, if it's the ships traveling apart. since if there was less distance, he pulled it off quicker. I think that's what you just said. I'm just making it clearer.

[Dex1138]

A letter from Marvel Comics' Star Wars:

-> ...someone made an astronomical error. On page 16, panel 5 [of issue #2], Han Solo says his ship "made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs." I'll bet he can run the mile in less than 100 yards, too.  A parsec is a measure of distance, approximately 3.26 light years. (A light year is about six trillion miles.) I expect my oofy, gilded  no-prize by earliest mail.

We'd love to present you one, Mike, since you're right on target. However, we asked George about it, and he says he wrote that line for the movie on purpose, partly as an in-joke and partly to show that Han Solo was something of a bull artist who didn't always know  precisely what he was talking about. So, we're afraid you'll have to take it up with Mr. Lucas himself! --Roy [Roy Thomas, writer and editor for the comic at the time]

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There are a couple more theories on the [link=http://www.starwars.com/databank/location/kessel/?id=bts]Official Star Wars site[/link].
Btw, the Ep3 teaser poster is there as well on the main page