The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 1 follows everybody’s favorite bounty hunter on Tatooine after he takes over Jabba’s Palace.
“Jabba ruled with fear, I intend to rule with respect.” – Boba Fett
Here’s what we know about the series: it is set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. My guess is that it takes place between season 2 and season 3. We know that Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) does not get his Mandalorian armor back until the second season. Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) is also by Fett’s side as Master Assassin during this first episode. “Chapter 1: Stranger in A Strange Land” not only reintroduces Fett to Tatooine but shows us where he’s been.
While the series will run for seven episodes, it was originally going to be an anthology film. The series format works much better. It allows for a longform storytelling that works much better for TV than film. The format especially works perfectly in the first chapter. Fett tells Shand that the dreams are starting up again. Are they dreams, memories, or nightmares? I would think that these “dreams” are actually Fett’s memories of what happened.
Several species pay tribute to Fett after he takes over. One is a bounty hunter that he used to work for–his name escapes me at the moment. Another is a Twi’lek majordomo (David Pasquesi) to The Mayor. Something tells me that he’ll be back and we’ll eventually meet The Mayor. Meanwhile, Fett and Shand pay a visit to The Sanctuary, a Mos Espa catina run by a Twi’lek named Garsa Fwip (Jennifer Beals). If there’s a catina, there’s also a band. Hello, Max Rebo Band! After leaving the catina, the two find themselves attacked and I imagine we’ll learn more as to why in the weeks to come. I would expect a few Star Wars cameos between now and the seventh episode.
While I don’t know if future episodes will switch back between past and present, it works for the first episode. We see the immediate aftermath of ROTJ and fans are going to eat up every bit of it. I love seeing how he was able to escape the Sarlacc Pit. Could the escape have been slower? I don’t think you could stretch it out much longer than it already is. Honestly, I love how we get to see what happened following the escape. Jawas and Tusken Raiders both play a role. We knew he lost his armor but now we can see it happen on the screen! In all honesty, 40 minutes sometimes feels too short for an episode because you want it to keep going!
This series takes advantage of the technology in a way that Return of the Jedi never could. For one, the Sarlacc Pit. The limits of special effects technology in 1983 meant that George Lucas could not show it in the way he really wanted. Droids and aliens have evolved over the years in their appearances and this episode is no exception. The Gamorrean guards look much better in The Book of Boba Fett than they ever did in any previous Star Wars films. We owe much thanks to the updates in visual effects technology.
The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 1 makes for a solid start in catching up with Boba Fett.
DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
SCREENWRITER: Jon Favreau
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez
CAST: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen
The Book of Boba Fett is now streaming on Disney+.
Please subscribe to Solzy at the Movies on Substack.
