The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm
January 19, 2022 2:59 AM - Season 1, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Boba Fett rescues Fennec Shand.
Flashback: Fett rescues an injured Shand in the aftermath of The Mandalorian episode "The Gunslinger" and they set off to get reclaim Fett's ship from Jabba's palace. The flashbacks have now caught up with the Mandalorian timeline.
Now: Fett's bacta treatment finishes. Does this mean no more flashbacks since the rest of the story is filled in in The Mandalorian?
Flashback: Fett rescues an injured Shand in the aftermath of The Mandalorian episode "The Gunslinger" and they set off to get reclaim Fett's ship from Jabba's palace. The flashbacks have now caught up with the Mandalorian timeline.
Now: Fett's bacta treatment finishes. Does this mean no more flashbacks since the rest of the story is filled in in The Mandalorian?
Love that droid-part cybernetics (droidpunks?) aren't limited to Jedi who've lost their arms any more.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:09 AM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:09 AM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
And now the flashbacks have caught us all up, we've got two more episodes to progress the story? Okay.
The structure of this season has been so strange.
posted by crossoverman at 3:24 AM on January 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
The structure of this season has been so strange.
posted by crossoverman at 3:24 AM on January 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
There’s certainly been a lot of BAD Star Wars, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen BORING Star Wars.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:46 AM on January 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:46 AM on January 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
The even-numbered episodes have far outshone the odd-numbered ones. I'm glad Fennec is getting more characterization and that Ming-Na Wen is showing off her martial arts skills.
Bantha tongue is one of the most traumatizing things I've seen this year.
At the end when they discuss hiring muscle, as a Bad Batch fan I thought hey, Fennec happens to know a bunch of clone commandos! Which won't happen of course, and Din Djarin is a perfectly acceptable consolation prize.
posted by orrnyereg at 5:47 AM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Bantha tongue is one of the most traumatizing things I've seen this year.
At the end when they discuss hiring muscle, as a Bad Batch fan I thought hey, Fennec happens to know a bunch of clone commandos! Which won't happen of course, and Din Djarin is a perfectly acceptable consolation prize.
posted by orrnyereg at 5:47 AM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Thing 1: For about half an hour, I felt as though I was watching my teenage cousin play a Star War on his GameStation. Scout out the palace with a recon droid, fight some droids in the kitchen, slip past the guards (cited by name), shoot your enemies from above as they flee, go back to where you lost your armour on a previous level and try to recover it, NPC droid tells you, “You are completely healed.”
Thing 2: That rancor has fantastic dramatic timing.
Thing 3: Fennec Shand refers to the cyborged youth gangs by name as “Mods.” I wonder in which order the name and the scooters came up in the writers’ room.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:57 AM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
Thing 2: That rancor has fantastic dramatic timing.
Thing 3: Fennec Shand refers to the cyborged youth gangs by name as “Mods.” I wonder in which order the name and the scooters came up in the writers’ room.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:57 AM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
I really liked this episode, seemed like a good balance on all sides. Some action scenes, some advancing of the bigger plot. Had plenty of old callbacks but also expands Star Wars into new cyborg and cyberpunk territory. Even some semi-plausible character development about why he wants to go from bounty hunter to mob boss.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:19 AM on January 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:19 AM on January 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
If they really want to have an 80s throwback feel, next episode's flashback sequence should be a clip show from the Mandalorian where Boba Fett gets his armor.
posted by Gary at 8:56 AM on January 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Gary at 8:56 AM on January 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
Was that the Mandalorian music sting at the end of the episode ? When Fennec says credits can buy muscle ?
posted by Pendragon at 9:34 AM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 9:34 AM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
“I found a dying woman at the edge of the desert with a gut wound, then took her to an illegal mod shop in Mos Eisley and had her insides replaced with droid parts, thereby saving her life. She seems annoyed. AITA?”
posted by Happy Dave at 12:06 PM on January 19, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by Happy Dave at 12:06 PM on January 19, 2022 [23 favorites]
Also the quality of this show is falling off pretty rapidly. Oof.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:07 PM on January 19, 2022
posted by Happy Dave at 12:07 PM on January 19, 2022
So basically the mods were introduced last week in the slowest car chase scene ever made so they could explain how Shand got a tum full of pistons. Ok.
The Banthamance was the highlight of this episode. So it turns out that Banthas are like big dogs that talk a lot, and you can ride on them. It takes me back to episode 9 of The Mandalorian. How am I supposed to now conveniently forget that Din Djarin used one of these big doggo babies as bait to lure the Krayt Dragon?
They dispensed of the biker gang WAY too quickly. Zero tension, it should have been a real YAASSSS moment but was a big anti-climatic nothingburger. It would have been cooler to have Din and Boba and Fennec attack them from the ground.
It doesn't sound like it but I actually liked this episode. We've been asking for 40 years about what happened to Boba Fett and asking since The Mandalorian what happened to Boba Fett and they're trying (albeit very clumsily and on a budget) trying to tell us and almost everyone's mad about it. Not without reason, I have to say.
posted by the webmistress at 12:24 PM on January 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Banthamance was the highlight of this episode. So it turns out that Banthas are like big dogs that talk a lot, and you can ride on them. It takes me back to episode 9 of The Mandalorian. How am I supposed to now conveniently forget that Din Djarin used one of these big doggo babies as bait to lure the Krayt Dragon?
They dispensed of the biker gang WAY too quickly. Zero tension, it should have been a real YAASSSS moment but was a big anti-climatic nothingburger. It would have been cooler to have Din and Boba and Fennec attack them from the ground.
It doesn't sound like it but I actually liked this episode. We've been asking for 40 years about what happened to Boba Fett and asking since The Mandalorian what happened to Boba Fett and they're trying (albeit very clumsily and on a budget) trying to tell us and almost everyone's mad about it. Not without reason, I have to say.
posted by the webmistress at 12:24 PM on January 19, 2022 [4 favorites]
We've been asking for 40 years about what happened to Boba Fett
Have we? Thousand years of agony seemed a very reasonable explanation.
posted by biffa at 2:06 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
Have we? Thousand years of agony seemed a very reasonable explanation.
posted by biffa at 2:06 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
He found community with the Tuskens, was ready to leave hunting behind...called it.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:13 PM on January 19, 2022
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:13 PM on January 19, 2022
At the end when they discuss hiring muscle, as a Bad Batch fan I thought hey, Fennec happens to know a bunch of clone commandos!
By my reckoning this is like 25 years or so after the Bad Batch. This show is set...5 years? after ROTJ. Wouldn't the Bad Batch be pretty old?
Then again, Ming Na Wen is in her late 50s, so who am I to judge who can kick ass?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:16 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
By my reckoning this is like 25 years or so after the Bad Batch. This show is set...5 years? after ROTJ. Wouldn't the Bad Batch be pretty old?
Then again, Ming Na Wen is in her late 50s, so who am I to judge who can kick ass?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:16 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
A lot of people seem unkeen on the direction this show is taking, but honestly I quite like it.
I'm not really invested in Boba Fett being an awesome bad ass. I'd be more than happy if they lean into him being basically a bit past his best and trying to sort out all the conflicts by making friends and being reasonable (where possible)
Also, yeah the mods thing. Some writer somewhere was delighted with themselves when they came up with that concept.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:21 PM on January 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm not really invested in Boba Fett being an awesome bad ass. I'd be more than happy if they lean into him being basically a bit past his best and trying to sort out all the conflicts by making friends and being reasonable (where possible)
Also, yeah the mods thing. Some writer somewhere was delighted with themselves when they came up with that concept.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:21 PM on January 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
For a long time my big wall of crazy has had dusty red string connecting Star Wars to Hidden Fortress and The Dam Busters. Looks like I have to tack up a card for Quadrophenia now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
Why did Boba Fett think his armor was in the Sarlacc? Dehydration amnesia after his escape?
posted by CaseyB at 5:22 PM on January 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by CaseyB at 5:22 PM on January 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Why did Boba Fett think his armor was in the Sarlacc? Dehydration amnesia after his escape?
I guess so? He had it when he went in. He was unconscious when the jawas stripped it off him. He didn't have it when he woke up. So he reasoned it was lost at some point in between going in and waking up. Checking the sarlacc was the only option he had, since he didn't know about the jawas.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:39 PM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
I guess so? He had it when he went in. He was unconscious when the jawas stripped it off him. He didn't have it when he woke up. So he reasoned it was lost at some point in between going in and waking up. Checking the sarlacc was the only option he had, since he didn't know about the jawas.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:39 PM on January 19, 2022 [7 favorites]
I'm not really invested in Boba Fett being an awesome bad ass. I'd be more than happy if they lean into him being basically a bit past his best and trying to sort out all the conflicts by making friends and being reasonable (where possible)
I'm coming around to this point of view. I know next to nothing about Boba's EU adventures, and going by his few minutes on screen in the original trilogy, he's a guy who got knocked ass over teakettle into a stationary monster's mouth by a blind dude. Possibly he was never super good at whipping ass - that was more his dad's thing. Boba has survived this series mostly by way of good hiring and partnership decisions.
While this hasn't turned out to be the dirtbag crime lord show I was hoping for, I gotta say that as someone who works with the public in an ongoing lethal pandemic, the line "I'm tired of working for idiots who are going to get me killed" resonated. I'd love to believe the Disney Corp would be willing to further develop concepts of labor relations and worker self determination in Star Wars, but I'm not sure I really see it happening.
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:52 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
I'm coming around to this point of view. I know next to nothing about Boba's EU adventures, and going by his few minutes on screen in the original trilogy, he's a guy who got knocked ass over teakettle into a stationary monster's mouth by a blind dude. Possibly he was never super good at whipping ass - that was more his dad's thing. Boba has survived this series mostly by way of good hiring and partnership decisions.
While this hasn't turned out to be the dirtbag crime lord show I was hoping for, I gotta say that as someone who works with the public in an ongoing lethal pandemic, the line "I'm tired of working for idiots who are going to get me killed" resonated. I'd love to believe the Disney Corp would be willing to further develop concepts of labor relations and worker self determination in Star Wars, but I'm not sure I really see it happening.
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:52 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
By my reckoning this is like 25 years or so after the Bad Batch. This show is set...5 years? after ROTJ. Wouldn't the Bad Batch be pretty old?
Not Omega. Look for a dirty-blonde Kiwi woman who goes by "Meg."
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:16 PM on January 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
Not Omega. Look for a dirty-blonde Kiwi woman who goes by "Meg."
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:16 PM on January 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
The even-numbered episodes have far outshone the odd-numbered ones.
The two episodes directed by Robert Rodriguez have been bad.
posted by chrchr at 8:23 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
The two episodes directed by Robert Rodriguez have been bad.
posted by chrchr at 8:23 PM on January 19, 2022 [8 favorites]
I am 100% here for Boba Fett building an entire powerhouse galactic faction solely made up of all the highly competent underlings who got sick of working for dumb, disinterested, power-mad and/or egotistical bosses. Once they've got a solid base of fed-up bounty hunters established for muscle, they can go recruit Lobot to run the administrative side of things.
I know there's bad blood between Wookiees and Trandoshans, but man, those Trandoshans Krrsantan decided to smack around at the end there were just about the least-intimidating Trandoshans I've ever seen.
I enjoyed the robot kitchen though; that was just slightly campy and slightly bizarre, but still fun, in a way that really landed as "Yup, this is Star Wars" for me.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
I know there's bad blood between Wookiees and Trandoshans, but man, those Trandoshans Krrsantan decided to smack around at the end there were just about the least-intimidating Trandoshans I've ever seen.
I enjoyed the robot kitchen though; that was just slightly campy and slightly bizarre, but still fun, in a way that really landed as "Yup, this is Star Wars" for me.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:28 PM on January 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
OK, forget Boba and Fennec, bring on The Book of Garsa Fwip!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:30 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:30 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
I liked this episode!
They dispensed of the biker gang WAY too quickly. Zero tension, it should have been a real YAASSSS moment but was a big anti-climatic nothingburger. It would have been cooler to have Din and Boba and Fennec attack them from the ground.
Maybe, but I did like Boba acknowledging that he got the Tuskens killed. Maybe, for the first time in his life, he's feeling remorse.
In response to the question above: yes, that was the Mandalorian theme at the end of the episode, unquestionably.
posted by JHarris at 9:31 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
They dispensed of the biker gang WAY too quickly. Zero tension, it should have been a real YAASSSS moment but was a big anti-climatic nothingburger. It would have been cooler to have Din and Boba and Fennec attack them from the ground.
Maybe, but I did like Boba acknowledging that he got the Tuskens killed. Maybe, for the first time in his life, he's feeling remorse.
In response to the question above: yes, that was the Mandalorian theme at the end of the episode, unquestionably.
posted by JHarris at 9:31 PM on January 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
The single best moment of this episode was when the leek-chopping droid sensed a combat situation and immediately ascended to Grievous Mode, and it wasn't close. I was thrilled to see food being prepared in Star Wars at all, especially by special purpose droids, and as any long term potrzebie fan knows, I love nothing more than to imagine the lives of people who program droids in Star Wars.
So let's imagine, if I may, the coder showing up for his first day at Galactic Culinary Intelligence Corporation who's just finished his PhD with a thesis on robot knife skills, specifically alliums. Turns out teaching a robot to slice a many-layered vegetable like an onion or shallot that releases noxious gases when chopped is technically complex from both an algorithmic motion planning and a materials perspective. A previously unexplored problem! Now thoroughly explored thanks to our intrepid researcher. He shows up for his first day on the job, highly motivated. After all, he just spent the last eight years at Corellia University - Kor Vella working on droids chopping onions, and now he's got a job making mass market droids who chop onions. This is going to go great. Gonna pay off those student loans in no time flat.
So his manager's manager rolls in and he's like, "Hey man, welcome to the team. So glad to have you. Say dude, bro, tell me. You've spent a lot of time on alliums - mad respect - love that expertise. But let's think outside the box for a minute. We've just had a visit from a, uh, big customer... Like, physically big, if ya know what I mean...And they posed an interesting hypothetical. What if the droid that chops our aromatics and root vegetables - you know, the CUU series, the one you're working on - what if the next generation of the CUU series could also murder a person. Like they already got all those knives, dude! Why not get a little bodyguard mode in there, right?"
Poor recent grad all "well, I mean...it's not really... Like I've really been pretty focused on alliums, with a little work on some nightshades for my research internship, this isn't really my area," thinking privately to himself "I woulda went to Arakyd fucken Industries for 4x my salary if I wanted to work on combat droids." And his boss is all "bro, I hear that, I get it. Look what do you say we just put a little intimidating knife twirling subroutine in there for now and I'll just tell the Hutts it's done, what are the odds this feature is ever going to get used, I mean who's getting their battle on in an industrial kitchen."
New hire heaves a huge internal sigh of relief. "Ya, no problem boss, I can definitely trigger some scary spinning knife show for 'self defense'. On it boss, I'll have that design doc for you tomorrow," thinking "sick, I bet imma get a sweet bonus now that the Hutts won't kill my boss."
Does our hero get the bonus? He does not. Is his twirling knife show rad?? 1000%
posted by potrzebie at 11:17 PM on January 19, 2022 [33 favorites]
So let's imagine, if I may, the coder showing up for his first day at Galactic Culinary Intelligence Corporation who's just finished his PhD with a thesis on robot knife skills, specifically alliums. Turns out teaching a robot to slice a many-layered vegetable like an onion or shallot that releases noxious gases when chopped is technically complex from both an algorithmic motion planning and a materials perspective. A previously unexplored problem! Now thoroughly explored thanks to our intrepid researcher. He shows up for his first day on the job, highly motivated. After all, he just spent the last eight years at Corellia University - Kor Vella working on droids chopping onions, and now he's got a job making mass market droids who chop onions. This is going to go great. Gonna pay off those student loans in no time flat.
So his manager's manager rolls in and he's like, "Hey man, welcome to the team. So glad to have you. Say dude, bro, tell me. You've spent a lot of time on alliums - mad respect - love that expertise. But let's think outside the box for a minute. We've just had a visit from a, uh, big customer... Like, physically big, if ya know what I mean...And they posed an interesting hypothetical. What if the droid that chops our aromatics and root vegetables - you know, the CUU series, the one you're working on - what if the next generation of the CUU series could also murder a person. Like they already got all those knives, dude! Why not get a little bodyguard mode in there, right?"
Poor recent grad all "well, I mean...it's not really... Like I've really been pretty focused on alliums, with a little work on some nightshades for my research internship, this isn't really my area," thinking privately to himself "I woulda went to Arakyd fucken Industries for 4x my salary if I wanted to work on combat droids." And his boss is all "bro, I hear that, I get it. Look what do you say we just put a little intimidating knife twirling subroutine in there for now and I'll just tell the Hutts it's done, what are the odds this feature is ever going to get used, I mean who's getting their battle on in an industrial kitchen."
New hire heaves a huge internal sigh of relief. "Ya, no problem boss, I can definitely trigger some scary spinning knife show for 'self defense'. On it boss, I'll have that design doc for you tomorrow," thinking "sick, I bet imma get a sweet bonus now that the Hutts won't kill my boss."
Does our hero get the bonus? He does not. Is his twirling knife show rad?? 1000%
posted by potrzebie at 11:17 PM on January 19, 2022 [33 favorites]
It would have been cooler to have Din and Boba and Fennec attack them from the ground.
I don't understand the nod of approval Fennec gives him afterwards. She already said she doesn't think speed bikers could take out the Tuskens. But instead of trying to solve the mystery he murders a bunch of people by shooting them in the back.
posted by Gary at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
I don't understand the nod of approval Fennec gives him afterwards. She already said she doesn't think speed bikers could take out the Tuskens. But instead of trying to solve the mystery he murders a bunch of people by shooting them in the back.
posted by Gary at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2022 [4 favorites]
The whole sequence with the kitchen droids, culminating in the droid sadly turning himself off, was absolutely delightful. More of that weird muppety stuff please. Also Gary’s comment reminds me that I love the expression “speed bikers”. Of course people who ride speeder bikes are speed bikers!
posted by chrchr at 12:47 AM on January 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 12:47 AM on January 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'd like to remind everyone that the episode made sure we knew that the rat catcher droid is now in Boba Fett's employ.
posted by JHarris at 1:37 AM on January 20, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 1:37 AM on January 20, 2022 [13 favorites]
Also the quality of this show is falling off pretty rapidly. Oof.
See, I think this show is on par with the Mandalorian. Guess I have lower expectations ?
posted by Pendragon at 4:29 AM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
See, I think this show is on par with the Mandalorian. Guess I have lower expectations ?
posted by Pendragon at 4:29 AM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm enjoying the show pretty well, I guess. I didn't even mind last week's episode with the Mod gang, although it was a bit silly. The chase through town made me laugh.
Chef droid was ready to throw down! GET SOME CLEAVERS, BUCKET HEAD! Dirty pool to attack from behind.
I was kind of hoping they would drop one of the seismic bombs on the biker gang, but I guess they saved it for the Sarlaac.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:53 AM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Chef droid was ready to throw down! GET SOME CLEAVERS, BUCKET HEAD! Dirty pool to attack from behind.
I was kind of hoping they would drop one of the seismic bombs on the biker gang, but I guess they saved it for the Sarlaac.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:53 AM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't think it's as good as the Mandalorian, but this episode was the best so far, and I thought #2 had (cough brain lizard) charms. I've seen people online comparing it with Star Trek movies, e.g., the even-numbered ones seem to be the best. In fact, I think I remember hearing someone say that here.
I agree that Boba Fett hasn't yet demonstrated in this series why he's the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter. He did in that scene from The Mandalorian, though.
I think part of the problem is that Din Djarin didn't have decades of fandom and fan speculation and fanfic and Extended Universe novels about him, so it was okay for his show to sometimes show him in a comical light, like encountering the big laser emplacement in the first episode, or getting knocked off the Jawa Sandcrawler. Boba Fett has a legion of fans demanding he be the best, but in real life, the best is very often not good enough. Numbers, situation, treachery, surprise Jedi, or having wounds that require spending most of your time in a bacta tank can be anyone's undoing. Of course, Star Wars is not real life, but realistic touches usually strengthen a work all the same.
posted by JHarris at 4:59 AM on January 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
I agree that Boba Fett hasn't yet demonstrated in this series why he's the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter. He did in that scene from The Mandalorian, though.
I think part of the problem is that Din Djarin didn't have decades of fandom and fan speculation and fanfic and Extended Universe novels about him, so it was okay for his show to sometimes show him in a comical light, like encountering the big laser emplacement in the first episode, or getting knocked off the Jawa Sandcrawler. Boba Fett has a legion of fans demanding he be the best, but in real life, the best is very often not good enough. Numbers, situation, treachery, surprise Jedi, or having wounds that require spending most of your time in a bacta tank can be anyone's undoing. Of course, Star Wars is not real life, but realistic touches usually strengthen a work all the same.
posted by JHarris at 4:59 AM on January 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
I know there's bad blood between Wookiees and Trandoshans, but man, those Trandoshans Krrsantan decided to smack around at the end there were just about the least-intimidating Trandoshans I've ever seen.
You're not wrong. The archetype was Bossk, and in this case the limitations of the technology at the time worked for him. Putting a guy in an immobile 1979 mask made him impassive and unreadable. These guys were like if I put some googly eyes on my leopard gecko (he is 59 grams at last weigh-in).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:21 AM on January 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
You're not wrong. The archetype was Bossk, and in this case the limitations of the technology at the time worked for him. Putting a guy in an immobile 1979 mask made him impassive and unreadable. These guys were like if I put some googly eyes on my leopard gecko (he is 59 grams at last weigh-in).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:21 AM on January 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: Fett murders Tusken Raiders. He murders ganglords. He murders the Hutt twins. He murders Fennec. He murders Black Krrsantan. He murders the rancor keeper. He murders the mayor. He lets Cara Dune live. The fans are finally happy.
posted by holborne at 11:01 AM on January 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by holborne at 11:01 AM on January 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
for me, new school Star Wars is at its most gleeful when it shows a big fight between weirdly matched combatants. Scrappy villagers vs. monster red-eyed AT-ST, Mando vs. Jawa Sandcrawler, and now you can add Team Fett vs. Kitchen Droid and Sarlaac vs. Firespray to that list.
(I guess we're not calling it Slave One anymore?)
Still not chuffed on the show overall but at least there were some enjoyable moments in this ep.
posted by Sauce Trough at 3:19 PM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
(I guess we're not calling it Slave One anymore?)
Still not chuffed on the show overall but at least there were some enjoyable moments in this ep.
posted by Sauce Trough at 3:19 PM on January 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
(I guess we're not calling it Slave One anymore?)
Maybe after BF spent some time as a slave, that name just hit different.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:14 PM on January 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
Maybe after BF spent some time as a slave, that name just hit different.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:14 PM on January 20, 2022 [5 favorites]
those Trandoshans Krrsantan decided to smack around at the end there were just about the least-intimidating Trandoshans I've ever seen
I wonder if they were Trandoshan businessmen who have NOT spent their entire careers in the gladiator pits.
There are probably whole other against-types we just never see. Where is the Wookiee accountant?! "Yeah, Grrn'karak is really imposing, being 9 feet tall, but what I'll never forget is how he saved me millions of credits on Republic tax duties!"
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:24 PM on January 20, 2022 [11 favorites]
I wonder if they were Trandoshan businessmen who have NOT spent their entire careers in the gladiator pits.
There are probably whole other against-types we just never see. Where is the Wookiee accountant?! "Yeah, Grrn'karak is really imposing, being 9 feet tall, but what I'll never forget is how he saved me millions of credits on Republic tax duties!"
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:24 PM on January 20, 2022 [11 favorites]
(I guess we're not calling it Slave One anymore?)
No, we're not.
I find the whole debate kind of silly, because it was never called that onscreen.
The name "Slave I" was probably invented by someone in the marketing department at Kenner who needed a name for the toy spaceship packaging. So they made up something that sounded "badass".
Even the name "Firespray" is from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by West End Games, probably created by someone writing the technobabble description of the ship to put in a book.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:02 AM on January 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
No, we're not.
I find the whole debate kind of silly, because it was never called that onscreen.
The name "Slave I" was probably invented by someone in the marketing department at Kenner who needed a name for the toy spaceship packaging. So they made up something that sounded "badass".
Even the name "Firespray" is from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by West End Games, probably created by someone writing the technobabble description of the ship to put in a book.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:02 AM on January 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
Just wanted to mention my glee at seeing Thundercat cast as the modification artist. Nothing further, thank you.
posted by pianoblack at 8:58 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by pianoblack at 8:58 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Just really want a show where Boba Fett goes around rescuing Banthas and Rancors from bad owners and delivering justice. Tatooine Large Animal Rescue sort of thing.
Not onboard with killing the Sarlacc though.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
Not onboard with killing the Sarlacc though.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:04 AM on January 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
So they made up something that sounded "badass".
I mean, it was the ship that took Our Hero Han Solo away in bondage, so presumably it was supposed to sound evil, not just tough.
posted by The Tensor at 11:44 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I mean, it was the ship that took Our Hero Han Solo away in bondage, so presumably it was supposed to sound evil, not just tough.
posted by The Tensor at 11:44 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
1970's antihero, I take it then that you've managed to miss the prequel films of the 90's. lucky bastard.
posted by evilDoug at 2:18 PM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by evilDoug at 2:18 PM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the idea of boring Star Wars dates back pretty far. Unless you were just riveted by watching Chewbacca’s wife Malla watch a cooking show.
TBoBF has certain lapses, but I am still watching it. I shrugged and gave up on The Bad Batch partway through the first episode.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:18 AM on January 22, 2022
TBoBF has certain lapses, but I am still watching it. I shrugged and gave up on The Bad Batch partway through the first episode.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:18 AM on January 22, 2022
The prequel films were BAD—much worse than The Book of Boba Fett. They were not, however, slower paced than TBOBF is.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:26 AM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:26 AM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'll watch this series until the end but I doubt I'll enjoy it - haven't really yet - and I definitely won't watch a second season. I just find it really bad. I'm glad other people are liking it, though. Just...not me.
posted by cooker girl at 8:48 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cooker girl at 8:48 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
does anyone know if the music playing as they arrive at the mod shop is original?
posted by qbject at 9:10 PM on January 22, 2022
posted by qbject at 9:10 PM on January 22, 2022
Watching this episode, I thought "hang on, so he's flashing back to finding Fennec Shand - but that we saw that in The Mandalorian, and that was set five years after Return of the Jedi." Looking online, I see that others have noticed this, with the implication being that Boba Fett's time as successively a captive of the Tuskens, a member of their tribe, and a wanderer in the Dune Sea covered a period of five years.
Fett does indeed refer to losing his armour "years ago", so this is acknowledged. My assumption is that his time becoming a member of the Tuskens' tribe was compressed, and that he lived with them for three or four years before his ill-judged decision to steal the biker gang's bikes (or rather to steal their bikes and leave them alive) .
As that inverse.com piece notes, the biggest question from this is why Fett's ship is still sitting in Jabba the Hutt's old palace. Perhaps Bib Fortuna was just too busy ineptly mismanaging Jabba's crime empire to ever get around to putting an advert in Second-Hand Spaceships Weekly.
posted by Major Clanger at 6:34 AM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
Fett does indeed refer to losing his armour "years ago", so this is acknowledged. My assumption is that his time becoming a member of the Tuskens' tribe was compressed, and that he lived with them for three or four years before his ill-judged decision to steal the biker gang's bikes (or rather to steal their bikes and leave them alive) .
As that inverse.com piece notes, the biggest question from this is why Fett's ship is still sitting in Jabba the Hutt's old palace. Perhaps Bib Fortuna was just too busy ineptly mismanaging Jabba's crime empire to ever get around to putting an advert in Second-Hand Spaceships Weekly.
posted by Major Clanger at 6:34 AM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
Not onboard with killing the Sarlacc though.
Especially given that 1. BF has the armor on when he (consciously) climbed out of the pit, and 2. Everyone watching knows what happened to the armor. It really seems egregious and senseless to kill the sarlacc here. It’s more like a scene scripted to do something cool with the ship.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:38 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Especially given that 1. BF has the armor on when he (consciously) climbed out of the pit, and 2. Everyone watching knows what happened to the armor. It really seems egregious and senseless to kill the sarlacc here. It’s more like a scene scripted to do something cool with the ship.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:38 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
As that inverse.com piece notes, the biggest question from this is why Fett's ship is still sitting in Jabba the Hutt's old palace. Perhaps Bib Fortuna was just too busy ineptly mismanaging Jabba's crime empire to ever get around to putting an advert in Second-Hand Spaceships Weekly.
Possibly this could be taken as of a piece with the Millennium Falcon's long stay on a junkyard on Jakku in The Force Awakens. Maybe it takes a long time to make a decent deal on an old ship, and Fett's dates back to the Clone Wars or before. The Star Wars galaxy is probably full of the starship equivalents of old cars up on blocks and under tarps in the backyard.
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:00 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
Possibly this could be taken as of a piece with the Millennium Falcon's long stay on a junkyard on Jakku in The Force Awakens. Maybe it takes a long time to make a decent deal on an old ship, and Fett's dates back to the Clone Wars or before. The Star Wars galaxy is probably full of the starship equivalents of old cars up on blocks and under tarps in the backyard.
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:00 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
Maybe he stopped considering selling Fett's Firespray after the security system killed a dozen or so of Fortuna's techs & guards who attempted to enter it?
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 7:54 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 7:54 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm on Team This Was Boring.
I don't care if Fett's a "bad ass" or not. But this was tying up a bunch of loose ends in the most boring way possible. Did you want to know how he settled the score with the biker gang? He shot them from the air. Fennec's decision to stay, the sarlacc, it was all pretty unimaginative.
There were brief moments of fun with the kitchen droid fight, but that ran into my personal peeve about how Star Wars deals with apparently sapient, feeling droids. (Badly.)
posted by mark k at 8:09 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't care if Fett's a "bad ass" or not. But this was tying up a bunch of loose ends in the most boring way possible. Did you want to know how he settled the score with the biker gang? He shot them from the air. Fennec's decision to stay, the sarlacc, it was all pretty unimaginative.
There were brief moments of fun with the kitchen droid fight, but that ran into my personal peeve about how Star Wars deals with apparently sapient, feeling droids. (Badly.)
posted by mark k at 8:09 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Were the Gamorreans that Shand and Fett beat up when getting back his ship the same ones who now work for him? That must be awkward.
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:06 PM on January 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:06 PM on January 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
This continues to be the dull, cut-rate version of The Mandalorian.
I do NOT believe that Banthas eat meat, not with that kind of dentition.
The design of the gate in the palace was terrible (if something breaks, it OPENS?) The design of the button to drop the bomb in the ship was terrible (why was it so far out of reach?) I guess this is what happens when you're living in a civilization that invented artificial intelligence and FTL travel, but not the safety rail.
> "... that ran into my personal peeve about how Star Wars deals with apparently sapient, feeling droids."
Droid rights NOW!
posted by kyrademon at 12:08 PM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do NOT believe that Banthas eat meat, not with that kind of dentition.
The design of the gate in the palace was terrible (if something breaks, it OPENS?) The design of the button to drop the bomb in the ship was terrible (why was it so far out of reach?) I guess this is what happens when you're living in a civilization that invented artificial intelligence and FTL travel, but not the safety rail.
> "... that ran into my personal peeve about how Star Wars deals with apparently sapient, feeling droids."
Droid rights NOW!
posted by kyrademon at 12:08 PM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are no herbivores on Tatooine. There doesn’t seem to be a single plant anywhere on the planet.
posted by Naberius at 7:41 PM on March 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 7:41 PM on March 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ah, there are the black melons that grow underground, that seem to exist as a water aggregation device.
posted by JHarris at 7:26 AM on March 13, 2022
posted by JHarris at 7:26 AM on March 13, 2022
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posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:01 AM on January 19, 2022 [3 favorites]