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)
