Since his reappearance in the series The Mandalorianfans of the Star Wars saga knew that the legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett did not die in the bowels of the Sarlacc, a hideous sand creature, in Return of the Jedifilm of the original trilogy. The Boba Fett Bookthe new universe series Star Wars broadcast since December 29 on Disney +, tells the adventures of the bounty hunter on Tatooine. With the same time frame as Tea Mandalorian, the first live series Star Wars which already has two seasons before a third to come.
Series opens with Boba Fett, once again played by actor Temerua Morrison, sleeping in a medical pod in Jabba the Hutt’s former palace on Tatooine. He dreams of what happened to him after being thrown into the mouth of the Sarlacc – his struggle to leave the monster’s entrails, then his capture by the Tuskens – and projects his reign as the new leader of the local underworld after taking the Jabba’s throne. Because yes, the bounty hunter has changed his life. But taking power is not easy, and it will also be the red thread of the series. “You don’t run a family like you’re a bounty hunter”warns a resident of Mos Espa.
Already at the helm of The Mandalorianscreenwriter Jon Favreau continues the immersion of Star Wars in western style. A not incongruous idea: the father of Star Wars, George Lucas, has always loved the desert. Born on a ranch in California, he had been rocked by the culture of the conquest of the West, as Franceinfo already told. A sensitivity that he integrated into his work by making the sand planet Tatooine one of the settings for the first two trilogies of the saga.
However, it lacks Boba Fett book the same scoundrel spirit that haunted Jabba the Hutt’s palace during the heyday of the fat slimy worm in Return of the Jedi. We saw Han Solo and Luke Skywalker entering a palace where a thousand bandits, dilapidated artists, bounty hunters or intriguers were crowding. In the new series of the franchise, the palace of Mos Espa rings empty and Boba Fett, who lives alone in his palace with the bounty hunter Fennec Shand (Meng-Na Wen) is not always very credible in the costume of Daimyothe local mob boss.
Several appearances also harm the spirit of the saga Star Wars. In episode 1, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are ambushed by killers, disguised as ninjas, who belong to the Night Wind, a league of elite assassins. If George Lucas liked to incorporate elements drawn from Japanese culture into his great intergalactic pot, there is something too offbeat about seeing ninjas attacking Boba Fett on Tatooine.
Same thing with the appearance in episode 3 of the Modified, a group of half-human, half-cyborg characters who travel the planet of the sands on sort of flying Vespas with garish colors. There is a good idea when Boba Fett pushes the repair shop of these young debauchers who like to graft bolts under their skin. But the soul of Star Wars is diluted a little too much in the decibels given off by the tuned vehicles of young cyborgs, Power Rangers.
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Generally, The Boba Fett Book brings together the qualities and faults associated with the development of the work of George Lucas by Disney. There is the pleasure of discovering new peoples and exploring the lives of secondary characters from the original trilogies. But there is also the commercial exploitation to the last drop of the universe of Star Wars which sometimes pushes the screenwriters to get lost.
In The Boba Fett Bookthe screenwriter Jon Favreau is a little less imaginative than what he had proposed with The Mandalorian, even if the passages where Boba Fett gradually gains the confidence of the Tuskens are worth the detour. There is moreover a little spirit of Dunes in how the series documents the survival of the Tuskens under the scorching sun, and evokes the spice trade engaged in by the Pykes, another people who wage war on the planet.
The finale of episode 4, where real tension returns to the palace of Jabba the Hutt with the return of the leaders of the underworld godfathers, also breathes new life into the series. In the purest tradition of Star Wars, earthy new secondary characters also make their appearance, such as the Hutt twins (a brother and a sister who are cousins of Jabba) who arrive in Mos Espa to the sound of drums. Their slow coming to Boba Fett to spit a few threats at him is worth its weight in beskar more than the fight scenes that sometimes follow one another in a tiresome way. Halfway (4 out of 7 episodes have already been broadcast on Disney+, the 5th comes out on Wednesday January 26), season 1 of the Boba Fett book still has time to head in the right direction in the Tatooine desert. Especially since the latest twists promise a more complex narrative than expected … and the return of a character appreciated by the public.
“The Book of Boba Fett”, mini-series created by Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, with Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Alfred Hsing. One episode per week broadcast every Wednesday on Disney+.