The first episode of The Book of Boba Fett is here, and having just finished watching it, all I can do is wonder what it is that I just sat through. Running at about thirty-four minutes, the first episode is odd. Was this hampered by the pandemic? Does it explain the nature of what I just viewed. At times it seems that it might aim for something decent, and at other times the show feels disjointed in ways that are peculiar. Let me give an example:
It one scene, we’re watching Boba Fett and his companion walking through a town that should now pay him tribute because he rules Jabba the Hutt’s throne. Okay. It’s strange enough that they’re walking alone to collect money if they also rule a huge amount of territory… sort of like if the mayor of your town were to show up at your doorstep to collect your taxes. But then, out of nowhere, Boston Dynamics quadruped robot dogs come walking through the street. They’re not really disguised, and they definitely walk just like the Boston Dynamics robots you’ve seen. It pulls you out of the show quickly, and it just is something that makes you scratch your head. Why in the world is that in this show?
There are some more disjointed things about this episode. Even when dealing with specific CGI characters, there are times when they are rendered and animated fantastically, along the lines of quality we’ve expected in The Mandalorian. There are other times when the same exact characters are rendered and animated at Star Wars Prequels quality. In other words, very not good. Was this show rushed for some reason? I don’t know. There are things that just don’t make sense. The lizard dog creature is one of those things that goes up and down in quality with every scene it is in.
If you’re interested in member berry stew, this thing has it in aces. Green pig people, check. Robot starring Pee Wee Herman from Star Tours, check. Cantina band members, check. Who shot Han first species, check. But unfortunately, the most important member berry of them all, Boba Fett himself, doesn’t act very much like Boba Fett should. We know that because we’ve seen Boba Fett before, specifically in the original Star Wars trilogy. But this Boba Fett isn’t a bad guy. He doesn’t act like a bad guy. He acts like a good guy who has a moral compass and wants to do well. He even acts that way moments after we last saw him in Star Wars Episode VI. How much better would this show be if we had bad guy Boba Fett to start with and then worked our way to why he is more anti-hero by The Mandalorian?
The first episode isn’t horrible. It’s just ho hum. At the same time, there’s no reason for this Boba Fett to be cool that we’ve seen so far. How long has Lucasfilm had to figure out a really awesome way that this character escaped from almost assured death? But when it is time to see how that happened, it’s just a flamethrower and then a cut-away. Drax gets a better escape from inside a beast in the opening song of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Boba Fett is fine. There’s a strong chance it could become far better, especially considering who is in charge of this thing. But as far as openings go, this would is a solid “meh”.
Score: 5 (Average)
Perhaps this is Lucasfilm showing us all the character we have been fixated on for almost 40 years, despite being in a minuscule portion of the original trilogy, a child in the prequels, an annoyance in the Clone Wars and not in the sequels…just was never as cool as we thought?
2bfair, I enjoyed almost all of this show, except the quipping while on the throne…that seemed malplaced.
Oof! I actually liked it. I was wondering how they were going to get him out of the pit, as well. We know how it happened in the books from the original EU, but Kennedy erased that history, so “now what?”
I would say his escape was a little lackluster… definitely more so than having Dengar rescue him and nurse him back to health. Oh well… he did it himself.
My wife was a little annoyed, because she basically said it was a show about him sleeping, waking up, getting beat up, and then sleeping again. She’s not a Star Wars fan, though, so that’s expected. She doesn’t have the attachment to Boba that I do, but I do get where she’s coming from. If you want to captivate new audiences, that probably wasn’t the best way to do it.
His new role as kingpin of the underground is a little silly, but hopefully as they show us more of how he got to where he is, it’ll ground the idea.
Do we know how long after the Mandalorian scene, where he takes the throne, this takes place? He just killed Bib Fortuna, took over the throne, and now he’s receiving tribute without a full criminal enterprise. He doesn’t even have guards until this episode…
There’s potential here, but for me, Episode One lacked the oomph or cohesion to make everyone say “ooooh, what’s next?!”
The Book of Boba Fett Thoughts:
1. Was Entertaining but not exciting.
2. Felt like a Prelude, not the start of the main story.
3. Morrison is great. Use him while we have him! He’s not getting younger.
4. Won’t save Disney+ or Star Wars yet. But hasn’t hurt it either.
I think there is a fair amount of time that has passed since we last saw Fett or Jabba’s organization, which I hypothesize has allowed two things to happen:
1. Jabba’s organization has deteriorated under Bib Fortuna. He may have been an able Number 2, but look at the decrease in staff at the palace when Boba offed him. The other Hutts probably assimilated a lot of the cartel, as Hutts are prone to do. Look at how Boba was expected to pay tribute. I think that Fortuna ran a weak organization. I think a lot of the series will be centered on Boba rebuilding things.
2. The Boba Fett that was jet packed into the pit was remade and reborn by five years’ worth of experience on the sands of Tatooine and the clan mentality of the Sand People. He is not the same because five years is a long time to have character development going on. He’s learned a new way of life and living.
I am looking forward to Chapters 2-6.
It was bad not badass like Boba Fett. I didn’t expect LFL to keep him gritty like he was in OGSW and pre-Disney Expanded Universe. They instead emasculated him, first in the Mandalorian and now with this show.
If he needed a Bacca chamber, why didn’t they show one aboard Slave 1. Also, Boba in the show is about 42 years old but the actors who played him in the Prequels are now 61 (Temeura) and 32 (Daniel). I wished they had gone with Daniel because he’s young and slender since D+ Boba looks fat. Faveur could have made up Canon with the explanation the Cloners did not give Boba the advance aging program but made him to look different than Jango as he grew up, incase the Empire was to hunt down and kill the other clones still alive. They changed the look of the surviving clones on Rebels and Bad Batch, making them all look like White people. So why not change Boba’s appearance? D+ seems to emasculate past characters Boba but more recently the King Pin. Also, I think Disney is not diversifying their Brand but only focused on G to PG-13 family movies and shows. Eisner diversified by creating Touchstone Pictures and Pleasure Island(now generic looking Disney Springs).
:-(
The first episode was underwhelming. Lots of that I chalk up to being the first live action Starwars since the Mandalorian season 2 finale. That’s a hard act to follow. It seems like Disney is trying to make this a family friendly show but also a gritty organized crime drama. I think they need to choose one of those two directions. No one wants family friendly mob shows.