Tag Cad Bane

Rob Watches Boba Fett – Staying in Your Lane

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

The Book of Boba Fett, characters posterSERIES: The Book of Boba Fett
EPISODE: S1:E6. “Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor”
STARRING: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Pedro Pascal, Amy Sedaris, David Pasquesi
WRITERS: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
PREMIERE DATE: February 9, 2022
SYNOPSIS: Boba Fett and his forces collide with the Pyke Syndicate.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

After Luke’s ultimatum in the previous episode, Grogu abandons his Jedi training, and elects to return to Din Djarin’s side. Ironic, isn’t it? Luke made a similar decision with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

And thus, Luke’s first student winds up ditching him. Not a great start to a Jedi Academy that will ultimately meet a tragic end…

Boba Fett agrees to stop the spice (a drug in the Star Wars universe) from flowing through Tatooine to get the villagers of Freetown to fight for him. This, despite the fact that spice trade makes up a huge portion of his business. This, plus the fact that he and his crew are essentially defending Mos Espa from the bad guys, make Boba Fett seem much more like a Robin Hood figure than a crime lord. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Is that really the Boba Fett that people want to see?

I appreciate that Mando doesn’t look graceful or polished at all in his use of the Darksaber. It makes sense. He’s not a swordsman. So he should look like an amateur.

Boba Fett riding a rancor seems like the kind of thing a fanboy saw in a wet dream. Granted, it was pretty awesome. But still.

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT

It’s a little surprising that they killed off Cad Bane. Granted, this is Star Wars. People in this universe can survive being cut in half and dropped down a pit. So there’s no hard and fast rule that says he can’t come back at some point. But this felt like it had a measure of finality to it. A fitting end for the character.

The fact that the episode and the season end not with a shot of Boba Fett, but Mando and Grogu, pretty much says it all. They wound up being what people cared about, not Fett.

Temuera Morrison has said that, in a second season, he’d like to see Boba Fett go after Mace Windu for killing his father. Eh…no thanks. It might be cool to see Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu again. But not in that context. I’m content to let him stay dead.

All in all, it seems like The Book of Boba Fett, the first season at least, will be remembered as a series that couldn’t support itself from a storytelling perspective. Thus, the need to borrow elements from The Mandalorian. It was awesome to see all that stuff. But it belonged in season three of Mando’s show, not Boba Fett’s show.

That’s not to say Mando had no business being there at all. He could have, say, come in at the end of episode six as a hook for the finale. That way we still get those scenes of Fett and Mando fighting off the Pykes together. But devoting two full episodes to him? To call that pulling focus is a gross understatement.

I guess sometimes you just need to stay in your lane…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Rob Watches Boba Fett – A Star-Studded Affair

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

Book of Boba Fett, Cad Bane posterSERIES: The Book of Boba Fett
EPISODE: S1:E6. “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Timothy Olyphant
WRITERS: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni
DIRECTOR: Dave Filoni
PREMIERE DATE: February 2, 2022
SYNOPSIS: The Mandalorian seeks out Grogu and Luke Skywalker.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

We open the episode with a surprise appearance from Cobb Vanth. Having Cobb Vanth in the show makes a little more sense than having Mando here. And it’s good to see Timothy Olyphant back. I like the character, and he comes off pretty bad ass here. But I won’t lie, I did roll my eyes a little bit when he showed up. First Mando, now this.

And in terms of holdovers from The Mandalorian, we weren’t done by a long shot.

Not only do we not know how Mando knows where Grogu is, we don’t even know anything about this planet. We saw it in flashbacks in The Last Jedi. But I think this is the only other time we’ve seen it. Certainly that’s the case in the movies and television. Maybe in the comic books somewhere…

Well, there he is. There’s Luke Skywalker. Inevitably, this CGI Mark Hamill sparked a big debate amongst viewers as to how right or wrong it was to do, whether actors are about to be replaced by lifeless CGI algorithms, how good the effect actually looked, etc.

I can’t say I have answers to any of those questions, accept to say it looked about as real as any other visual effect Star Wars has ever done. Especially since this time they had the character doing more. Running, using a lightsaber without the hood, and just generally having more screen time. As for how appropriate it is, one thing that eases my conscience a little bit is that Mark Hamill himself is involved here. It’s not like what they did with Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One, where they’re resurrecting a human being who’s long dead. It’s a little less creepy that way.

The Book of Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker

Incidentally, it’s only a matter of time until we get CGI Han Solo. I mean, is that even debatable at this point?

In an episode filled with surprises, seeing Rosario Dawson return as Ahsoka Tano was, for me at least, the biggest one. As Ahsoka was obviously Anakin Skywalker’s student, having her meet his son opens up a lot of intriguing storytelling doors. I’m hopeful we’ll expand on Luke and Ahsoka’s relationship, whatever it may be, once we get to her show.

It’s worth noting that Boba Fett does, in fact, appear in this episode of The Book of Boba Fett. Fennec Shand does most of the talking in the scene, so he’s almost a background player. But at least he’s there. That’s more than we could say about the last episode.

I must admit: I haven’t seen as much of The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch as others have. But I still knew the blue stranger emerging from the desert at the end of the episode was Cad Bane. He looks damn good, and has a nice foreboding vibe about him.

I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in Luke. He’s still going with this “attachment is forbidden” rule of the Jedi code, when that’s part of what led to Anakin’s fall, and the subsequent destruction of the Jedi Order. Luke has a chance at a fresh start. To create his own vision of the Jedi Order. Instead, he’s just going back to what they did before.

The Book of Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Grogu

What’s more, Luke has attachments, doesn’t he? He has his sister. He has friends. Hell, the love between Luke and his father is the key to the whole Darth Vader redemption story. This could be an interesting opportunity to expand on what a Jedi is and can be. They could illustrate how attachments and connections can actually make us stronger beings, and thus stronger Jedi. I hope some of that is addressed as time goes on.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.