“You’re getting drunk with Boba Fett there!” The sentence breaks the heart of this parent who seeks to educate his ungrateful offspring in the exegesis of Star Wars mythology. Said offspring undoubtedly prefers to gloss over “the Way” of the “true Mandalorians”, Rey’s genealogy or even the merits of baby Yoda. This generational conflict will experience a new episode with the posting online, this Wednesday, on Disney +, of the first episode of the Book by Boba Fett. The new live series follows on from The Mandalorian and will follow the fate of Boba Fett after his takeover of Tatooine.
With this new series, Disney chooses to satisfy the “old” fans of the saga, in love with the badass prime killer, and (perhaps) the youngest converts who devoured the two seasons of The Mandalorian and draw their passion as much from comics and animated series as from the trilogies of Star Wars feature films. But does this character really deserve the honors given to him with this ambitious series?
From plastic figures to heroes from their own series
It has often been said that Boba Fett was one of the plastic figures of the bloated merchandising Star Wars, before becoming a real character in the saga. It’s a bit more complicated than that. “He first appeared on the big screen in 1980 for the release of The Empire Strikes Back. However, his first “real” appearances were around “marketing” content, recalls Arnaud Da Costa, from the Star Wars Universe site. Indeed, Boba Fett is unveiled during a promotional parade as well as in a TV movie (the Holiday Special) where it appears in cartoon. So when comes out The Empire Strikes Back, the public already shows an interest in his character through a communication campaign that highlights him. “Love at first sight is immediate with the fans and George Lucas will have a hollow nose as he gradually develops his character.
Before he had a real story, or even a line of dialogue, Boba Fett was successful for his allure and his armor (which he finds after many adventures when the series begins). “Many young children, including myself, who experienced the original trilogy in theaters and ordered the Boba Fett figure in the mail have always had a soft spot for this alluring bounty hunter. bad-ass with armor equipped to the teeth, says Dany Pépin, director of the Star Wars Live podcast. It was probably the costume and character design that fascinated fans first, and then his actions in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. But this character remained mysterious until Georges Lucas developed his origin in Attack of the Clones. »
A unique place at the heart of mythology
For those ignoramuses who would have spent the last twenty years in a distant galaxy (very distant), the prelogy of films Star Wars explained that Boba Fett is the “son” (actually the unmodified clone) of Jango Fett, a warrior who served as a model for the clone-soldiers who will form the bulk of the Imperial army, the terrible stormtroopers. You follow ? Basically, Boba Fett is linked to the most iconic white-masked characters in the series. Both unique, by his fate, and from an anonymous mass, Boba Fett is a parable of the fan: alone and multitude at the same time. In the third film of the first trilogy, Boba Fett has a pitiful end when he falls into the mouth of a giant monster …
“His fate in the Return of the Jedi clearly left a taste of unfinished business for the public and in particular the fans, recalls Arnaud Da Costa. Thus, from the end of the 1980s, what is called the “extended universe” will seize the character and continue to bring him to life through multiple novels, comics and animated TV series (The Clone Wars). Thus, the character never really died and continued to live even after the last installment of the original trilogy. “
A mercenary turned nice?
In Boba Fett’s book, the character thus finds his armor and seizes the throne left vacant by Jabba the hutt at the head of the criminals of Tatooine. But, from what we saw in The Mandalorian, Boba Fett, if he is still silent, has become a rather positive, almost peaceful character. Do we really want to see CE Boba Fett? And above all, do we want to know more when the main part of the cult around this character comes from the imagination of the fans and the gaps left in his biography?
“Boba Fett is probably, after Yoda, one of the characters whose origin has remained the most mysterious of the original trilogy, concedes Dany Pépin. This series will undoubtedly be great fan service. And knowing Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, one can easily imagine that it will open doors or bridge between other series and films in development as well as new comics, literature and merchandise. Disney knows how to make money… ”The podcast director is no less impatient to discover the series, just like Arnaud Da Costa:“ Boba Fett deserves to come back to a series just for him! The character really has an aura. Show his helmet to anyone and you will see! It is an integral part of popular culture. “
Above all, this series, if it is successful, could make it possible to reconcile the generations of fans. “One of the showrunners of the series, Robert Rodriguez, explained that it is the attraction for the character that he feels since his discovery as a child in the original films that led him to direct Boba Fett’s book », Says Arnaud Da Costa. The children of 2022 will then perhaps understand why their parents “get drunk” with Boba Fett.
