The Book of Boba Fett: Episode 1

CONTAINS SPOILERS

The Book Of Boba Fett, Episode 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

One of Star Wars' most famous supporting characters, Boba Fett had barely a handful of lines in the original trilogy but had an extensive back-story retroactively created in Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. His story ended dramatically in Episode 6, with his ignominious head-first plunge into the mouth of the Sarlaac Pit on Tattoine, but he was mysteriously resurrected for the new Mandalorian series.  In fact, Boba's plight has been discussed repeatedly and at length over the past 40 years:  did he escape, or was he slowly digested over a thousand years?  And if he did escape, how did he do it?

Episode 1 of the new Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett, starts with Boba in a bacta chamber (lying horizontally, compared to Luke and Anakin Skywalker who were vertical in theirs).  He's suffering flashbacks in his dreams, and well over half of the episode time is spent in flashback, which is helpful as the current story is set several years after the Sarlaac pit.

Boba blasted his way out of the Sarlaac Pit using his wrist-mounted flamethrowers, and clambered his way through the desert sand, breaking through the surface of the sand exhausted and depleted.  And vulnerable. The Jawas find him first, and strip him of all his armour, weapons and gadgets. The Tusken raiders - the sand people - find him next, revive him and drag him off to their camp.  So, this is an origin (or re-origination) story, which reminded me of Batman Begins - the hero spends most of his time without his suit of armour.  His time with the Tusken raiders is typical desert prison material - there's no point trying to escape when the captors hold the water supply.  Nevertheless, Boba is determined to try - even after being betrayed by another captive, a red-coloured Rodian (like Greedo).

Events take a twist while Boba and his fellow prisoner are taken into the desert to dig for water.  Water on Tattoine is found in organisms that look like sea urchins and which hold water, and Boba is commanded to start digging for these urchins which live just below the surface of the sand.  The Tusken who is in charge is a youngling, a juvenile who needs to earn the respect of the camp, and who has been given prison duty to learn desert craft.

The Rodian, while digging for water urchins, uncovers a large, dangerous six-legged lizard creature.  After a dramatic and well-executed battle scene, the lizard makes short work of the Rodian, and starts pursuing the young Tusken.  Boba intervenes, leaping onto the back of the creature and using the chain that was previously shackling him to the Rodian to strangle the lizard.  The lizard falls down dead, and the Tusken lives to tell the tale.

Well, he would if he was an honest Tusken. Instead, he steals the credit and tells the rest of his tribe that he killed the creature.  He shows the tribe the spoils of 'his' victory - the head of the creature - and regales them with with details of the fight.  The action here is excellent - for a character who is covered head-to-toe in inscrutable costume, the young raider has a youthful animation - bobbing his head excitedly and rocking his shoulders with excitement and delight.

One of the older members of the sand people can see through this little Deception, and again without words or expression conveys this extremely well.  He hands Boba one of the water urchins to drink, knowing full well that there was no way that the young raider slew the lizard, and it must have been Boba's doing.

Boba in the present is a man who carries the wounds of his past.  This is not the same ruthless character who was Darth Vader's favourite Bounty hunter, and he wants to change the way things are run on Tattoine.  He has not recovered from his time in the Sarlaac pit, or his time with the sand people; as he explains: "The dreams have started again."  He sleeps in a bacta tank; his face and chest are layers of scar tissue; he trusts his lieutenant, Fennec Shand, but nobody else.

He has taken over Jabba's palace, which has not changed since the Hutt was in charge. The palace looks exactly the same as it did in Return of the Jedi, and the crew have used some of the same camera angles from the original film (but without any of the fanfare that accompanied the nostalgia shots in The Force Awakens  for example).  This understated approach works well, and underlines the fact that this might be the same building but it's not the same place.  Jabba's palace was full and noisy; Boba's residence is empty and quiet.  As he quietly remarks to Fennec at one point, "We're going to need a protocol droid."

Boba's entire approach to running his business on Tattoine is completely different to Jabba, and he says so. However, not everybody is keeping up with the regime change.  Citizens of Mos Espa still bring him tribute; local businesses are still paying him protection money and the local criminals are out to assassinate him.  Others think that his new ideas make him look weak, and expect him to pay tribute - the scene with the mayor's messenger are equally tense, awkward and hilarious.

He visits Mos Espa - a large, crowded city - on foot, helmet off. I guess when you've gone through the experiences with the Tuskens in the Tattoine desert, you realise that the man is more than just the armour he wears and the weapons he carries.  There follows a failed assassination attempt, and an impressive extended fight scene, where Boba and Fennec are ambushed by a team of well-trained soldiers, and need the assistance of their Gamorrian bodyguards (the same species that Jabba had as his bodyguards).  

This is a new, different Boba Fett, but this is still classic Star Wars, and I am excited to see how the Book of Boba Fett unfolds (weekly on Wednesdays on Disney+).