Whether you needed to see it or not, Solo: A Star Wars Story showed us the infamous Kessel Run, and spoilers: the Millennium Falcon does manage to make it in less than 12 parsecs. I know you’re shocked. But it ended up being one of the most exciting sequences of the movie, finally putting Han in the cockpit of the Falcon to prove what an ace pilot he is. We see early in the movie how adept he is at street racing in Corellia, and that leads us into a very strange but hilarious Easter egg for Back to the Future‘s two sequels.
Han says to Qi’ra during the Kessel Run that he’s going to do a trick he learned from a pal of his on Corellia named Needles. Needles was a street racer, apparently, and this particular trick led to his death. It’s a good joke moment regardless of the reference, but if you know the Back to the Future movies, it adds a whole layer.
In Back to the Future part II, during the future section in 2015 (yes, three years ago), we see old Marty talking to his friend “Needles” (played by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea) on the videophone about an illegal business deal. Needles calls him a chicken and Marty ultimately does the wrong thing because of it, then gets fired. “No, I cannot be fired. I’m fired. Ahhh.” In the same sequence, we hear his old-old mom Lorraine talk about how if Marty didn’t have to prove he wasn’t chicken all the time, he’d never have gotten into that car accident with a Rolls Royce and broken his hand, ruining his music career.
In Back to the Future part III, at the very end, after Marty gets back to the present and the Delorean’s been destroyed, Marty and Jennifer are driving in his fancy-ass 4×4 and who should pull up next to him but Needles, a punk from school, and his buddies. Needles challenges Marty to a drag race, calling him chicken after he refuses. Though Marty looks like he’s going to take off, he actually puts the truck in reverse, and he and Jennifer see Needles’ car have to swerve out of the way of a Rolls Royce, which Marty would totally have hit. TIME TRAVEL!
A fairly random thing to reference in Solo, especially because the drag racing is a pretty minor part of the Back to the Future movies, but I certainly wouldn’t put it past any of the people making the new Star Wars.
Images: Lucasfilm/Universal
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
