SERIES REVIEW: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT ⭐⭐⭐

THE SERIES

TITLE: The Book Of Boba Fett

RELEASE DATE: 29 Dec 2021

WATCH DATE: 21 Mar 2024 (rewatch)

TYPE: live-action miniseries

ACCESS: streaming on Disney+

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THE PEOPLE

DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez, Steph Green, Kevin Tancharoen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dave Filoni

CREATOR: Jon Favreau

WRITER: Jon Favreau, Noah Kloor, George Lucas, Dave Filoni

ACTORS: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne (uncredited)

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THE STORY

RUNTIME: 7 episodes, 50m

STORYLINE: Boba Fett teams up with mercenary Fennec Shand to fight back against the Pike Syndicate running crime on Tatooine… and the Mandalorian stops by to help them…

GENRE/THEMES: action, adventure, western, crime

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THE CRITIQUE

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Boba Fett is one of the most fascinating and even important characters in the Star Wars saga. He has incredible potential in storytelling. Unfortunately, Disney fell flat in this opportunity to explore more of the Galaxy through the eyes of Boba Fett. They did however fill in the gaps of his past, which was something we definitely wanted to see. Developing the Tuskan Raiders as a people showed creativity and risk from the showrunners.

Boba Fett's character stays consistent with what we know of him from the Star Wars films. Temuera Morrison continues to portray this with ease. Regardless of poor storytelling, we are still committed to this character.

Halfway through, the series falls flat, with a pending climax that the creators knew would not fill up the rest of the series. Thankfully, the Mandalorian saves the day. Two episodes are spent on Din Djarin and Grogu, without even a mention of Boba Fett. This makes The Book of Boba Fett essentially ‘The Mandalorian Season 2.5’. The series is 7 episodes long, different from the standard 8-episode length The Mandalorian S1 and S2 followed - another indicator that the writers did not have a strong enough plot to continue the story for that long.

The rainbow biker gang Boba Fett enlists in his rebellion against the Pike Syndicate is a joke. A jarring inconsistency with the rest of Tatooine, and even Star Wars as a whole. They look like they don't belong and are useless to the plot. The character design of Cad Bane is impeccable. This is where the creators succeeded. Identical to his animated counterpart from The Clone Wars, he is a villain to fear. Unfortunately, he didn't get the involvement, development, and screen time his character deserved. So much missed potential here.

This is the first time we see the Dark Saber since the end of the Mandalorian S2, and E7 is almost entirely dedicated to developing the power and lore of the Dark Saber. If you're not going to give us the Boba Fett we want, then give us more of this.

The climax and final battle of the show seem silly and unbelievable. The ‘rainbow biker gang’ doesn’t help with this perception. With all the build-up surrounding the Pike Syndicate, they don’t put up a very good fight - and then a pair of massive battle droids that were way too out of place show up out of nowhere.

Overall, the show’s purpose was to reintroduce us to a classic character, to let us know he's still alive and active in the galaxy (or just on Tatooine?), to carry the storyline of the Mandalorian forward, and to connect the two main characters. Din Djarin and Grogu are reunited, and ready for their new adventure in The Mandalorian S3.

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THE RECEPTION

TOMATOMETER: 66%

IMDB: 7.2/10

NOMINATIONS

Primetime Emmy Award for Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited or Anthology Series, or Movie
Primetime Emmy Award for Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie - WIN
Primetime Emmy Award for Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

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