The Book of Boba Fett, Episode 5, Review

CONTAINS SPOILERS

One of Star Wars' greatest strengths is the breadth and depth of its universe.  There are key characters on far-flung planets that are easily recognisable as part of the Star Wars saga, and the films and series play on this extensively (for example, the unexpected arrival of Lando Calrissian in the Rise of Skywalker; or the appearance of Jabba's torture droid in the kitchens in the previous episode of Boba Fett).  These characters have their own lives, and we see the small part that intersects with the main plot.  That's how Boba Fett's series came to be - he had barely a handful of lines in the films, but here he is with his own series.

Except it seems like the series is starting to run out of new material.  He escaped the Sarlaac pit, and... he met with the Tusken raiders... hijacked a train... reclaimed his ship and killed the Sarlaac...  thank you very much and good night, roll credits.

Charging into Episode 5, with only a few brief hints (which were enough) in previous episodes, is a far more intriguing character, with a far more interesting back-story:  The Mandalorian.  It is unfortunate for Boba Fett that he's been completely upstaged by a much better character - on his own show.  Boba doesn't make a single appearance in this episode, and he isn't missed.  His deadpan, emotionless expression is just not enough, and without his armour and gadgets he's just not interesting.  He was at his best in the films talking sass to Darth Vader and flying around with his jetpack; the writers here just haven't done anything more with him (and he's spent half the series without his gadgets).

The Mandalorian, meanwhile, has plenty of sass, weapons and gadgets.  Within his first few minutes on the screen, he's pulled out a bounty hunter's tracker device; then a puck; then the darksaber - and then, when surrounded by thugs and told to consider his options carefully, replies, "I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold."  Ah yes, Mandalorian sass.  Boba Fett, pay attention.

The episode is 99% Mandalorian - even the opening music has been remixed to include the recognisable Mandalorian riff.  We see how he's returned to operating as a bounty hunter, but still misses Grogu (Baby Yoda).  He meets up with The Armourer, and the last of the Mandalorians (apparently they're down to just six in total), Paz Viszla -- the extremely heavily armoured one.  Mando asks for the beskar spear to be melted down and turned into something useful for Grogu.  We don't see what it is, but I expect we'll find out soon.  Paz Viszla believes that Mando isn't worthy to carry the darksabre, which Mando claims is getting heavier to handle every time he wields it.  The Armourer gives him a training session in how to fight with a darksabre; Paz Viszla has other ideas and fights Mando in order to take it from him.  The fight doesn't have the typical flow of a lightsaber battle - these are two heavily armoured combatants, not a pair of Jedi in light robes - and loses nothing for it.  It concludes with The Armourer forcing Mando to admit that he has removed his helmet; as such, he is no longer a true Mandalorian, and must be expelled from the order.

I don't see that making much difference to him.  

He receives a distress call from Tatooine (where else?) and sets off on a transport ship, in one of the funniest scenes in the episode.  He's asked to check all his weapons before boarding, and despite weapons being part of his religion, he complies, and unloads most of what he's wearing into a security case.  blaster; knife; wrist rockets; grappling hook... the list goes on.  And, in contrast to Boba, who really is nothing without his gadgets, we see how Mando is still a strong character without all his weapons.  Sitting on the passenger transport, he shares a moment with a young Rodian, before looking at the knotted kerchief, which has a shape similar to Grogu.  He misses him.

The landing on Tatooine is uneventful (if comical... Mando retrieves all his weapons without incident, the valet droid lives to serve another day), and Mando makes his way to his old friend Peli Motto.  Peli featured in the Mandalorian's own series, when she carried out repairs on his Razor Crest, and looked after Grogu while Mando dealt with a bounty hunter who was looking for them.  Well, Mando's back, and Peli remembers him and his old ship... he's looking for a replacement, and she has just the thing.

Watching this with my son, we were both convinced it was going to be a podracer.  Those twin engines at the front and the cockpit at the back (covered by a huge tarpaulin) worried us both; thankfully, we were wrong - it's an old Naboo single-seat fighter, of the type which young, chirpy Anakin Skywalker flew.  Fortunately, this is an upgraded model - with significant improvements.  And - note - the droid port on top has been removed, and has been covered with a clear glass dome, leaving room behind the pilot which is suitable for carrying a small passenger, probably.

Yes, Mando flies it through Beggar's Canyon (the podracing track); yes, he tries spinning ("That's a neat trick..."  sigh) but this is definitely Mando's ship, not Anakin's.  He carries out a flypast of the transport ship that dropped him off - the young Rodian is still on board, and Mando gives him a nod before executing a range of high-speed maneouvres close to the transport.

This draws the attention of the local traffic police (in X-Wings, naturally).  We did a double-take at one of the pilots in the X-Wing (has anybody here seen the Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience?).  This is a hilarious scene - written purely for the laughs - "Didn't you used to fly a Razor Crest?"  "No, officer, you must have me confused with someone else."  This lasts until Mando gives up and presses his turbo-boost button (one of Pelo's many modifications) and goes charging off into the distance.  "Okay, see you."

Mando returns to Pelo on the ground; she mentions that someone's looking for him.  Who?  Who else?  Fennec, who wants to enlist him into Boba's mercenaries.  Mando agrees to fight without payment... but first:  "I got to pay a visit to a little friend."  I wonder who?  And I wonder if he'll be seen next week?

The main character in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was Brutus, who was better developed and the hero of the story; this episode of The Book Of Boba Fett didn't feature the title character, was actually the next episode of The Mandalorian, and was much, much better for it.

*I don't read other people's reviews before I write my own; I just borrow the images from fans' sites.

The Book of Boba Fett, Episode 4 Review

CONTAINS SPOILERS

As we saw last time, the Boba Fett of the past (bouty hunter loner) is now homeless.  The Kintan Striders (the Nikto speed bikers) have burned down the Tusken camp where he was living, and killed all the members of his tribe.  All he has left is his trusty bantha, which he rides across the sand, in search of a new (or an old) home.  He returns to Jabba's Palace, which is too heavily guarded to be attacked.  However, while he's settling down for the night - campfire and roasted meat - he finds a woman lying in the sand.  There's been some rocket fire, or some flares have been launched, and Boba, in the near darkness, finds an unconscious woman.  You'll need to watch this in near darkness too, or with the brightness turned up, as the producers decided to shoot this at night with the barest of illumination.  Boba takes her to a doctor's... well, she needs modifications and cybernetic implements, and since the Borg aren't coming to Tatooine today, Boba finds a back-street modifications expert (side note - Picard Season 2 is on Prime starting in March).

In the better-lit doctor's surgery, (or 'mod-parlour'), we can see the the woman is Fennec Shand, who will become Boba's trusted second-in-command.  Fennec undergoes significant modification - the number of wires, pistons, pipes and so on inside her show a serious degree of fixing and replacing which was needed after taking a blaster at close range.

Fennec has a bounty on her head, and she assumes that Boba is going to collect, but he has other ideas.  He wants her to help him get his revenge on the Nikto speed bikers, and to do that, he wants her help in retrieving his Firespray gunship from Jabba's palace (now occupied by Bib Fortuna).  She agrees.

Two are better than one, and the two of them are able - in a long and entertaining sequence - to sneak into the lower regions of Jabba's palace.  The kitchen scene is particularly funny and very true to the feel of the original trilogy of films - Jabba's assistant droid ("You are a protocol droid?  Yes or no will do?" has been appointed head chef, while there's a distant relative of General Grievous on chopping and slicing.  The architecture and characters of Jabba's palace are very well executed and re-create the atmosphere of Return of the Jedi.  

Boba acts as a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain - he wants his ship, he wants his armour, he wants revenge, and he wants to set up his own tribe ('Gotra') and run the crime scene in Mos Espa.

And his shopping list is taking shape:  he and Fennec seize his Firespray Gunship - none other than Slave I.  It's smaller than I remember it, but given that we didn't see much of it in Return of the Jedi, I'll go with it.  It's still airworthy, and Boba and Fennec are able to retrieve it without too much difficulty (Fennec is a crack shot).  However, siezing it and getting away with it are two different things - Boba can't find the gate or the way out (it reminded me of Kirk trying to steal the Enterprise from Spacedock).

Fennec decides to stick around, Boba, "Has a few scores to settle."  And what scores!  After annihilating the Nikto speed riders as if he were merely swatting flies, he goes back to settle a very old, very large score - the Sarlaac.  This is a great scene - the wreckage of Jabba's barge and support craft still litter the crater of the Sarlaac pit - nicely done.  Not only does he want his revenge on the Sarlaac, but he thinks it holds his Beskar armour (not realising that it was the Jawas who stole it while he was unconscious).  Is he after revenge on the Sarlaac just for its attempt to digest him?  Or is he primarily after the armour?  I think it's the latter, but he can certainly hold a grudge and it might just be more revenge.

Either way, the Sarlaac gets a sonic torpedo in the neck (nice sound effects, consistent with Attack of the Clones) and will probably have indigestion for a thousand years.

Boba braves the Sarlaac's acid-filled stomach to search for his armour - and comes out looking even worse than when he went it.  Fennec:  "What you need is a bacta tank."  Put it on the list of 'needs'.

If two are better than one, then a tribe would be even better, and Boba and Fennec decide to form an alliance.  We see a brief flashback scene where Boba kills Bib Fortuna and takes Jabba's throne.

In the present, we see Boba's scars are healed (on the outside at least) and he's ready to start taking full charge of the situation in Mos Espa.  His gang of biker-riding Mods (see, the name stuck) are patrolling the streets, and he's going to start showing his face around town.  One person who isn't too pleased is Black Krrsantan, the giant black Wookie who tried to kill Boba.  Boba returned him to the Twins; the Twins told Boba to keep him.  No master, no aim, no self-esteem and decidedly unwanted, he's now stewing quietly at the local bar.  One wrong move and he takes objection to a group of gamblers, throws them around the room, and then holds one up by his arms.  The barkeeper, Garsa Fwip, tries to persuade Krrsantan to let the gambler go; she'll cancel his bar tab if he does.  He declines - the poor gambler loses his arm - he drops a bag of coins and walks out.  Better let the Wookie win.  Boba recruits him into his ragtag group of mercenaries.

Boba hosts a meeting of the local crime lords; as the Daimyo, he's in charge and he's looking to get everybody together to tackle the Pykes.  Each of the crime lords has tried to overthrow Jabba and Bib Fortuna, but have each been unsuccessful.  Boba proposes an alliance; when they decline, he points out that they're all sitting on the trap door to the Rancor's cave.  All except Boba, naturally.  They still decline - they have no advantage in supporting Boba, so he permits them to leave, providing they remain neutral in the conflict.

As the crime lords leave, there is something familiar in the background music that plays, suggesting the impending appearance of a well-know character, just as Fennec completes the line, "Credits can buy muscle, if you know where to look."

A good episode, plenty of story development (mostly focused in the past this time), and with a very, very clear message that good things are going to happen with Boba's credits,  Very excited for next week's.

However, he is massively outnumbered by the frequent arrivals of more Pykes into Mos Espa.  Unfortunately, despite his attempts to reach out to the other crime bosses in Mos Espa, they all know he's the boss and he's the one who has the most to lose.

Fortunately for Boba, he has a Rancor in his cellar.  That should bring them back into line.

The Book of Boba Fett Episode 3, Review

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Boba Fett has always been a loner.  

Well, since his father died, at least.  Before then, he was surrounded by thousands (or millions) of copies of himself, all growing and ageing faster than him (and we see this briefly in this episode's flashback scenes).  But since the Clone Wars, he's become largely self-sufficient and independent (up until the point where he recovered from the Sarlacc pit and became dependent on the Tuskens).  Boba with his armour, weapons and gadgets was a solo (Solo?) bounty hunter who could look after himself.

This episodes flashback scenes look at Boba after he had become a fully-accepted member of the Tusken tribe.  He met with the Pykes (who run the train we saw last time) to collect the protection money - only to discover the Nikto riders had already claimed the protection money for the Tuskens' region.  The Nikto riders are the same gang of thugs we saw in the Mandalorian series recently, who go around terrorising the resident tribes on Tattoine, and who mark their territory with a graffitied pair of horns on a suitable wall or tent... and they have been to 'visit' the Tuskens while Boba was meeting with the Pykes - they've slaughtered the Tuskens and destroyed the camp.

Boba the independent bounty hunter has changed, and in the present, Boba is clearly in need of support - something like a small army of gangsters, mobsters or mercenaries.  Every sequence filmed in Jabba's palace emphasises how alone he is - he has Fennec Shand, his trusted lieutenant, and he has his droids, but that's it.  No friends, no band playing music...  he doesn't even have a Rancor in the cellar.

He has a steady stream of visitors, and the latest is Lortha Peel, a water-monger from the Worker's District of Mos Espa.   He tells him to his face, "No-one respects you," and explains that he's had water stolen by a gang of youths with 'modified body parts.'  No, these aren't the Borg, sorry.  Boba goes out to investigate - in the middle of the night, as you would - and finds the group warming themselves by a fire.  He tells them to pay Lortha for the water they stole - at a reasonable price, and not the over-inflated price he was selling it for.  They explain they have no work because there is no work, and Boba gives them all jobs working for him.  A small gang of youths who ride brightly coloured speeder bikes and have mods in their bodies.  People are calling them various things, but it seems obvious to me that they're meant to resemble 1960s mods.

Mods

Also Mods.

And the brightly coloured Vespas they're riding?  I'm sorry, but the only answer here is toys.  These bikes have been designed to sell as toys to go with the action figures.  There's been widespread criticism of these primary-coloured vehicles on a dusty, poor, sandy, harsh planet, and I agree that it's totally out of place on Tattoine.  There are plenty of other planets where these would fit in (Coruscant would be a start), but not here.  And all I could think of was this unfortunate bunch of short-lived Daleks, who were nicknamed, among other things, the Crayola Crew.

Dr Who meets the Power Ranger Daleks.

Not long after they were introduced, the producers of Doctor Who were back-pedalling rapidly to bring the Daleks back to the more measured tones and sleeker bodies they were famous for.

I digress:  Boba hires his band of mercenaries and they return to his palace, speeder bikes and all - which works out well for him, as he's attacked while he's sleeping.  Remember last time, when the Hutt Twins warned him to sleep lightly?  Well, he's quietly having flashbacks of Kamino (the watery planet where he lived with his father and the clones) when the Wookie gladiator Black Krrsantan comes barging in with a very rude awakening.

The Mods (I can't find an official name for them) come running to Boba's defence - he's caught defenceless with no armour or weapons - and show an array of puny weapons that are really not making much impact on the giant Wookie.  The blaster they used was so weak that they could have just shouted, "Pew! Pew!" instead.  In the end, Fennec triggers the trapdoor and the Wookie is unceremoniously dumped into the Rancor pit (with no Rancor).

The Twins come to Boba's palace (is it Jabba's?  Whichever) to bring Boba tribute.  Boba offers them the wayward Wookie, on the understanding that they release their claim to Jabba's estate.  They're leaving the planet anyway; and the Wookie is turned loose.  And the tribute they bring to Boba?  His very own Rancor!  See, he's starting to make the place look like home.

Boba has had enough of the mayor's political maneouvres and goes into town - full armour, and escorted by the mods.  The mayor's assistant (who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite characters) stalls Boba and Fennec at the front desk, disappears into the back office and locks the door behind him, before making a run for it.  There's a cliche-ridden overly-long chase between the assistant and the mods (they narrowly dodge a protocol droid; they topple an astromech; they smash through a large canvas portrait of Jabba) before the assistant smashes broadside into a cart of fruit.  There's nothing new here and it seems overly long.  Boba jetpacks in and asks the assistant where the mayor is:  he's gone to meet with the Pykes.

The Pykes were the people on the 'train' last time, taking sniper shots at the Tuskens - wearing their golden masks.  Boba dispatches the mods, and one of them (they probably have individual names but I've missed them) sees a dozen or more disembarking at the space port.  This is clearly the start of an invasion and a power grab.

How will it end?  As Boba says in a comical scene, "Keep an eye on them."

A solid episode; more happening than last time, but the Mods are like Star Wars Marmite - you either love them or you hate them.

The Book of Boba Fett, Episode 2

CONTAINS SPOILERS 

The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 2

Boba Fett has clearly had a tough life.  Living in the desert in his Long Johns is no mean feat - at least his armoured suit probably came with air conditioning.  

We join him in Episode 2 picking up the pieces of his awkward and disjointed attempt to develop a working relationship with the mayor.  You will recall from the first episode that the mayor's representative did verbal gymnastics to persuade Boba the he should be the one paying tribute to the mayor, not the other way around.  This was always going to be a problem, and the story wastes no time in developing this further.  Boba visits the mayor (armour and helmet on, blaster in hand), and the mayor explains that the territory of Mos Espa now belongs to the Twins.

The Twins are Jabba the Hutt's twin cousins, who are (somehow) carried around by a troop of seat bearers.  There's a comedy moment where you realise that the seat bearers really are suffering in the heat, struggling to hold up the Hutts.  Boba and the Hutts trade some not-so-veiled threats and you know that this could develop into a long-running feud.  "Sleep lightly, bounty hunter."  

The flashback period in this episode deals with the Tuskens' struggles with a hover train that periodically travels through their territory, taking pot shots at them and randomly killing the Tuskens or their Banthas, or both.  The rest of the episode is a series of stitched-together cliches from a number of genres:  Boba goes to the local bar (call it what you will) where a biker gang are trashing the pool table and the jukebox, making a nuisance of themselves and intimidating the regulars.  Boba beats them up and steals their bikes - in this case, speeder bikes.  Great to see speeder bikes in the series, they really help set the story in the Star Wars galaxy.  

Boba trains the Tuskens in the way of the speeder bike (this is go, this is stop, this is backwards).  You almost wonder how Luke and Leia got to grips with them so quickly.  Comedy moments follow as the Tuskens learn which control is forwards, and which is reverse.  It's genuinely funny, but it's generically funny, as physical comedy tends to be (it's not a 'laugh it up, fuzzball' or 'who are you calling scruffy' moment).

Forwards!  No, the other forwards!

There then follows the pursuit of the train by Boba and the Tuskens on their trusty steeds.  This is classic cowboy western material, with blasters instead of shotguns and speeder bikes instead of horses.  Again there are some funny comedy moments, in particular the point where one of the Tuskens gets into the train and fights his way through it.  He engages one of the Pykes who's climbed through one of the train's skylights, drags him down, then a few seconds later replaces him with an unmistakeable message - all clear.  Physical comedy is often based on entrances and exits (think of any farce set in a hotel or a long corridor - people entering and exiting through one or more doors... it's a classic) and the exit of the Pyke and the entrance of the Tusken are in that genre.

Sure enough, the train driver (a droid, and a surprisingly shiny droid at that) tries to outrun the Tuskens... that doesn't work, Boba arrives in the driver's compartment; the droid makes a comical exit and Boba brings the train (yes, he even yells, "Stop the train!") to a grinding halt.

The Tuskens sieze the cargo - this is a classic train robbery - and tells the train owners that they must pay a fee to travel through the Tuskens' territory from now on.

One of the Pykes, evicted from the train.

This happy ending means that Boba is accepted into the tribe.  He is welcomed into the tribe with a fire-side dance, where is given a gift - a newt or a lizard or something, which jumps into his face and up his nostrils.  Peter Parker was bitten by a spider; Bruce Banner was zapped by gamma rays:  Boba Fett gets a newt up the nostrils.  It sends him off into a trance and he ends up wandering the desert, having flashbacks of the Sarlacc pit and finding a tree in the desert.  He siezes a branch from the tree, and returns to the Tusken camp, weary, dehydrated and still wearing his trusty Long Johns.  But no more, for the Tuskens now give him several layers of dark itchy material (in the hot weather?) and carve the branch into a stick.  He is now welcomed to the tribe as a fully paid-up member, complete with dark clothes and big stick.

It's a by-the-numbers story, where the 'present' is far more interesting than the 'flashback'.  Here's hoping for some progress in both timelines.