Lucasfilm’s latestStar Warsstreaming series,The Book of Boba Fett, has finally premiered on Disney+ after being announced in a post-credits scene over a year ago. This one is a direct spin-off ofThe Mandalorianwith its own pulpy action sequences, prequel-era flashbacks, and mind-blowing Ludwig Göransson theme. Like the flagship series, it captures the tone and style of theStar Warssaga beautifully. The pilot episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land” – now available to stream on Disney+ – is a promising sign for the show’s future in its subversions ofStar Wars’ usual traditions.
MostStar Warsstories jet all over the galaxy, bouncing from planet to planet. The original 1977 moviestarts on Tatooinebefore sending its plucky young hero to a giant death machine in space, a misty jungle world, and the trenches of intergalactic battle.The Empire Strikes Backbegins on a snowy planet and ends in a city in the clouds.Revenge of the Sithhas a lava planet, a forest planet, a city planet, and a planet adhering to Kramer’s “levels” apartment design fromSeinfeld.
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The pilot episode ofThe Book of Boba Fettdoesn’t take audiences all over the galaxy. It doesn’t just use Tatooine as a jumping-off point like the 1977 original orThe Phantom Menace; the whole thing takes place on Tatooine. There are flashbacks set on Kamino and Geonosis, but the main story never leaves the desert. It tells a refreshingly small-scale story asa post-Return of the Jedisurvival thrilleris contrasted with a gangland actioner a few years later.
The Book Of Boba Fett Is A True Star Wars Western
The Book of Boba Fett’s refusal to leave the sands of Tatooine behind makes ita trueStar Warswestern.The Mandaloriancharacterized its titular bounty hunter as a Man with No Name-style gunslinging antihero wandering the frontier, but it’s a more traditional planet-hoppingStar Warsadventure that introduces fans to brand-new worlds in almost every episode. It’s closer to a straightforward space opera than the revisionist western it was conceived to be.
By sticking to the galaxy’s most western-inspired environment,The Book of Boba Fetthas established itself as one of theStar Warssaga’s only full-blown westerns. There’s even a fun nod toSergio Leone’s spaghetti western classicThe Good, the Bad, and the Uglywhen a beaten and bloodied Boba is dragged through the desert by Tusken Raiders on banthas. Westerns aren’t the only cinematic influence onThe Book of Boba Fett; it’s also heavily influenced by gangster movies – particularly Francis Ford Coppola’sGodfathertrilogy.
The early scene of locals coming to Boba’s throne and begging for favors is reminiscent of the iconic opening sequence fromThe Godfather. The show’s parallel prequel/sequel storylines, chartingBoba’s escape from the Sarlacc Pitalongside his takeover of Jabba’s palace, follow a similar narrative structure toThe Godfather Part II. The mainlineStar Warssaga is about super-powerful clairvoyant warriors battling for control of the entire galaxy, butThe Book of Boba Fettfocuses on the criminal underworld of Tatooine. It’s about ruthless mobsters battling for control of a single section of a single planet.
Boba’s Series Is The Show The Mandalorian Promised To Be
Based on its first episode,The Book of Boba Fettis shaping up to be the show thatThe Mandalorianpromised to be: a small-scaleStar Warswestern series filled with nefarious outlaws and ice-cool gunslingers, exploring the darker, shadier corners of the galaxy.Mando is a traditional antiherothroughout the first episode ofThe Mandalorian, but becomes a more straightforward hero after taking Grogu under his wing. His intimateLone Wolf and Cubstory blew up into a Skywalker-sized war for the galaxy when the Imperial Remnants got involved.
WhenThe Book of Boba Fettwas first announced, someStar Warsfans worried it would skew too closely toThe Mandalorian, since they’re both half-hour serials about Mandalorian bounty hunters. But the show’s producers have done a great job of makingThe Book of Boba Fettstand out as its own thing. Itdoesn’t feel likeThe Mandalorian 2.0; it has the same title design, but also has its own distinctive style. Boba is much less overtly heroic than Mando, the stakes of his conflicts are much lower, and his story is confined entirely to the unforgiving deserts of Tatooine.
It’s possible thatThe Book of Boba Fettis only sticking to a small-scale story in its first episode and that Boba and Fennec will explore new corners of the galaxy as the series goes on. Much likeThe Mandalorian,The Book of Boba Fettcould have a larger-scale future. Whether Boba’s series will continue with its ground-level perspective or not, Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez have gotten the seriesoff to a terrific startwith the Tatooine-centric “Stranger in a Strange Land.”
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