REVIEW: Boba Fett returns in an epic adventure to regain his status

★★★★★

The Book of Boba Fett is the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise by creative dream team Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. The series offers fresh battles, betrayals, and answers an ultimate fan question which has circulated for many years – did Boba Fett survive the Sarlacc pit?

Fans were delighted to find out that he did. Fett survived the Sarlacc pit after he used his gadgets to fight his way through the creatures acid-filled stomach out onto the dune sands. He returned to Tattooine to overthrow Jabba the Hutt’s throne to become the new Daimyo of Mos Espa.

Despite only being on screen for around six and a half minutes in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), the mysterious character was given his own series. This takes place after the end of The Mandalorian season two and five years after Return Of The Jedi.

Looking back to Return Of The Jedi, fans will remember Fett was hired as a bounty hunter to bring in Han Solo and worked for Jabba and the Empire. He did not appear to be loyal to anyone as he was in it for the money.

A battle broke out between Luke Skywalker and the Hutt syndicate when Skywalker came to rescue Princess Leia who was being held captive by crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Fett ultimately ended up falling in the Sarlacc pitt.

He was not one to shy away and had a lot of sass for someone with such little screen time. “What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me,” Fett complained to Darth Vader about Han Solo being transported in carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back.

The TV series was released exclusively on the Disney+ streaming platform on December 29 2021. One episode was released each week, seven episodes in total, with the finale released on February 9 this year. All seven episodes are now available to binge watch if you need to catch up.

The theme for this show was actually set in an end credit scene from The Mandalorian season two that revealed that Fett walked into Jabba the Hutt’s palace and killed Bib Fortuna who sat on the throne.

Production started in November 2020 and was primarily filmed in a Los Angeles studio at the MBS Media Campus. The production team used next-level technology to bring the show to life with new filming technology StageCraft.

StageCraft is an on-set virtual production visual effects technology which is composed of a video wall designed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas.

The video wall makes it easier to light the characters, as the light is returned directly from the LED wraparound screens. This is useful for characters like Fett, whose fighting combinations directly reflect the light, reinforcing the realism of the sequences. The technology also saves time and money in post-production.

The wraparound screens use computer-generated photo-real imagery to make it appear as if characters are in all different kinds of locations.

As for the exterior shots, it is believed that they were filmed on the El Segundo exterior set, also located in Los Angeles.

Due to the length of time that had passed it was unexpected but Temuera Morrison reprised his role as Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Shand appeared in The Mandalorian as a highly trained assassin also seemingly left for dead in the desert sands on Tatooine.

Morrison shines

Morrison does a fantastic job of immersing himself into character especially where Fett has flashbacks to his childhood as Morrison brought an authentic experience of the character Fett to the role.

A theme for the beginning of the series is Tusken Raiders and how they took in Fett and trained him and accepted him as a member of their own clan.

As the story unravels the Tuskens can be seen in a much more sympathetic light, a group who are treated as outcasts and struggle to survive in the harsh dune sands. This is in complete contrast to the Raiders we saw in Attack of the Clones (2002) who kidnapped and tortured Shmi Skywalker (Annakin’s mother).

It is wonderful to see how Morrison has drawn from his own Maori heritage for Fett’s fighting style.

In a reverse charming training montage scene, we saw Fett teach the Tuskens to ride speeder bikes. The montage develops perfectly alongside the main theme composed by Ludwig Göransson which is brought to life by the sound of heavy drums and occasional tribal vocal chants.

Morrison continued to give the audience an in depth understanding of how his character has struggled with themes of loneliness through the slaughter of his Tusken clan and an abandoned young Fett. It should be appreciated how this was linked to reflect on Fett’s childhood when his father Jango Fett left him alone on Kamino.

In episode three – a very much awaited scene of the reappearance of Slave 1 – saw Fett eradicating enemies members with an infamous seismic charge.

Another scene from this episode saw Black Krrsantan, a huge Wookie warrier captured and thrown into the infamous Rancor pit which sat below the throne, although sadly for Rancor fans the pit was empty.

There was some confusion around episode five as this was effectively another episode of The Mandalorian. This could be because Robert Rodriguez directed three episodes of the series, with Steph Green, Kevin Tancharoen, Bryce Dallas Howard and Dave Filoni also directing an episode each.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, set the scene and collected a bounty and showed he is still very much down to business. The Armourer made a brief appearance making an adorable tiny Beskar chain-mail vest had been made for Grogu.

This episode touched on the emotions Djarin faced since he removed his helmet to save Grogu and how there is a void left from when he parted ways with him to allow his training to succeed.

The next episode seemed like a mini Star Wars reunion with further appearances of characters from The Mandalorian including Ahsoka, former Jedi and Luke Skywalker. Luke, who had been training Grogu, gives him an ultimatum that he could become a Jedi, but, if he took the Djarin’s gift, he would have to leave and give up his training.

This tugged on everyone’s heart strings but fans were delighted being able to grab some much needed Grogu screen time but overall the appearances seemed to disrupt the flow of The Book of Boba Fett.

In the finale, producers clearly wanted to please fans as an X-wing starship appeared with Grogu emerging and the most dramatic entrance of the series yet with Fett rampaging through Tatooine riding his young Rancor in serious style.

Djarin and Grogu are reunited in a tear-jerking scene, and we see Grogu had chosen to be with the Djarin wearing his new chainmail vest.

The series ended with Fett and Shand walking through Tatooine’s streets being greeted with high respect from children and street workers and of course the unstoppable duo Djarin and Grogu off on another adventure in the galaxy.

This has been an exhilarating series, although at times a tad perplexing with jumps between The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett, but a crossover would not have told the story so well. Fans have been left with answers and the realm of Star Wars has been further opened for additional story lines. Another great addition could be The Fennac Shand tales.

But what’s next for Star Wars?

Star Wars have teased the Obi-Wan Kenobi series due to be released May 2022.