Boba Fett, George Lucas, and SW geeks

Cafe Society
1

This has probably been talked to death by hardcore fans already, but I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes and I’d like someone else’s opinion.

My understanding is that the concensus among fans is that Boba Fett is some tough-as-nails independent bounty hunter who wanders the Galaxy kicking ass and taking names, but after watching the first three movies again I can’t see it. The only time we see him anywhere other than on Tatooine following Jabba the Hut around like a dog is when he’s acting as a glorified truck driver sent to fetch his boss’ new wall ornament. I can’t come to any conclusion other than that he’s just another one of Jabba’s thugs. Lucas cemented this idea in my mind when he inserted the Solo/Jabba confrontation scene into the first movie where Fett just stands around in the background very conspicuously doing nothing of any interest whatsoever.

So here’s my question. Is this just an accident and I’m reading too much into it, or is it deliberate? From what I’ve read/heard about Lucas, he has a strong proprietary attitude towards these films, and I can see him purposefully turning the Fett character from what some fans wanted into something less just to “take back” his movie. Possible?

I’m not trying to pee in anybody’s soup here, but I’d like to know if I’m the only one who sees it this way.

2

Eh? He inserted a quick shot of Fett into the Episode 4 special edition because fans like Boba Fett. Hell, he wrote Boba Fett’s father into the prequel trillogy just because he new it would make the fans happy. In fact, he made him the genetic donor of all the stormtroopers. I feel confident Lucas never originally intended for Fett to be anything more than a bit player in the Star Wars saga, but because he’s such a fan favorite Lucas has gone out of his way to please the fans.

As far as why Fett is seen as some sort of awesome bounty hunter, maybe it’s because of the many books, comics, video games, etc. that portray Fett as some sort of awesome bounty hunter. Personally, I’m not really a fan of all the “extended universe” Star Wars stuff, so to me he’s just a guy with a cool suit who fell into a giant mouth. But Lucas authorizes all that extended universe stuff, even if he doesn’t pay much attention to it – if he wanted to force them to make Fett just some thug, he could. And he doesn’t.

3

Sort of a partial answer: Many fans have complained about Boba Fett as a child because it so disappointed the tough, macho bounty hunter.

Lucas depicted him as an annoying whiny child who had no steel in him whatsoever, and his father as an arrogant smug conceited bastard.

(I think Lucas shouldn’t be allowed to direct kids, look how he screwed up Anakin.)

So yes, many people did have a stylized image of Boba, and it may not truly match what he is on screen.

4

Well, he was the one who tracked down Han and Leia. Plus he’s the one that Vader turns to when ordering “No disintegrations.”

5

Boba Fett started out as a minor character. He made his debut in a brief animated segment in “The **Star Wars ** Holiday Special”, then had an even briefer appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. In the book based on the movie, they mention that he wears the armor of a group that fought against the Jedi in the Clone Wars.

That’s all.

But he looked cool.
And his background was mysterious.
And so, the fans could fantasize that he was as cool as James Bond, as tough as Bruce Lee, as resourceful as Macguyver, and anything else their imaginations could come up with. And it snowballed, and George Lucas had to play catch-up.

6

Which explains a lot. I remember the fan outcry back in 1977 when we were aghast that Han shot first.

Thank god he listened to us.

7

Lucas’ “Magic Kingdom” of Star wars is rife with this kind of stuff.

For instance, the original concept of the Y-Wing was that is was a fighter-bomber, and most suited to making the first attack/Trench Run on the Death Star. But they all died, shot down by Darth Vader.

Next, Red Leader, a tough veteran, tries and he and his two wingmen are shot down.

Finally, it takes Luke, a wet-behind-the-ears farmboy, armed with THE FORCE, to defeat the Evil Wizard™ and destroy his Evil Fortress™. Er, Death Star™.

Now, in the Heroes & Villains Melodramatic Universe, this is all fine and dandy; the Y-Wing fighter-bombers were defeated by the Villain’s superior Evil-Fu, and only the callow youth armed with Supernatural Goodness can defeat the Villain.

But the folks who are writing and filling the Extended Universe have some sort of filter which doesn’t allow them to see this Melodramatic Universe, and they come up with all kinds of goofy rationalizations for why Things Are The Way They Are

For instance, in the Extended Universe, the Y-Wing is made out to be some kind of second-rate bucket that can no longer hack it in combat, because THE HERO obviously wouldn’t have chosen an inferior steed, er, ship, with which to fight the Forces of Evil. Ergo, the Y-Wing sucks in Star Wars.

Now think about it rationally for a moment:

A rag-tag rebellion against a vast Galactic Empire would certainly have a lot of second-rate equipment, for certain.

But would it equip it’s own headquarters with this second-rate equipment?

Would it send this second-rate equipment out to do battle, in what is arguably the most signifigant battle ever (for them)? Knowing that they’ll be grossly outnumbered and have to get in fast and hit hard to have much chance of surviving?

And would they lead the attack and blow their tactical secret (that they know the Death Star’s fatal flaw) with a second-rate fighter craft?

Apply this kind of thinking to just about everything in Star Wars, and you quickly come to the realization that George Lucas isn’t worthy of carrying J. Michael Straczynski’s jock strap to the cleaners; Lucas is just about the money, which seems to count most in Hollywierd.

Boba Fett is a bad-ass because George Lucas says he is (or the Extended Universe hacks say he is, and Lucas isn’t contradicting them), not because of anything we see him do on-screen. After all, he tracked down The Good Guys and captured them (or at least led The Empire to them). Not just anybody can do that to Heroes. Ergo: Boba Fett is the best bounty-hunter in the Galaxy.

[sub]I will admit that, next to Darth Vader, he’s got the coolest costume.[/sub]

8

Can I just say that you reminded me of King Missle’s classic Jesus Was Way Cool here?

He could have played guitar better than Hendrix
He could have told the future
He could have baked the most delicious cake in the world
He could have scored more goals than Wayne Gretsky
He could have danced better than Barishnikof
Jesus could have been funnier than any comedian you can think of

9

To be fair to Lucas, at least he uses his fortunes to try and make movies better for everyone in the industry (Skywalker Sound, THX, Industrial Light & Magic, etc.). He could have simply gone the Bill Gates route, where he amassed it into a big pile, planted himself on top, and kicked everyone else who tried to compete with him.

10

(forgive a brief hijack before I respond to the OP)
I’m not sure on the Y-Wing being a 2nd class spacecraft. Both it and the X-Wing are fairly old models by the time of Star Wars (A New Hope, Episode IV, Party of the 3rd Part…). The Y-Wings are bombers, not space supieriority fighters like the TIEs and X-Wings. The Y-Wing is slower, but tougher and with a much greater payload than an X-Wing. They are the logical choice to make an attack run, and the X-Wings are the best chocie to provide cover while they do it. The Y-Wings (and 1st trio of X-Wings) fail because:
A)Vader is a Hell of a pilot
B)Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith
C) Vader is flying a TIE prototype (Which developed into the TIE Interceptors we see in RotJ).
Luke survived and made the shot because:
A)The Force is strong with him
B) Han flew the Falcon down out of the Sun (Yavin?) and blew Vader’s wingman away, which in turn lead to Vader being spun off into space.

So don’t be trash talkin’ my Y-Wing! :wink:
(here endeth the hijack)

Boba Fett became ridiculously popular with fans becase he:
A)has the coolest costume in Empire (except maybe Vader’s, but we’d already seen it made into lunchboxes and soap by that time…and how cool is soap?)
B)Was one of a handful of Bounty Hunters called when Vader needed help. When you are the 2nd baddest mother in the galaxy, with nigh unlimited resources and you need help killing someone, you call Boba Fett (this actually could have been any of the 6 bounty hunters, but Fett is the only one who actually caught his prey)
C) he outsmarted Han Solo (lying in wait with the trash)
D) after leading the Empire to Solo, he bargained with Vader. (“What if he dies, hes worth alot to me?”) That bears repeating. He bargained with Vader. The only other person who stands up to him is the Emperor, and even he didn’t live to tell the tale!
E) In the entire original trilogy, Boba Fett has but a handful of lines, and none of them suck. As Howard Hawkes is rumored to have told John Wayne “Duke if you can be good in three scenes and not annoy the audience the rest of the time, you’ll be great”

That being said, I’ve never really been a Boba Fett fan. He’s certainly the best of the bounty hunters we see, and, the only one to catch Solo in the 4 years since Jabba put a huge price on Han’s head. His appearance in the special edition is …well as annoying as everything else in the specail edition. Attack of the Clones didn’t really affect my feelings on Fett since he didn’t have enough screen time to truely be whiny or annoying (which is more than I can say for Anakin…) And I’m sure seeing you’re father decapitated by the embodiment of all that is right and good in ther universe (Mace Windu, senior member of the Jedi Council) would turn you into … well Boba Fett

11

If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Boba Fett based on Lucas’s most hated childhood bully?

Boba Fett…he’s interesting, but much more interesting when you don’t see as much of him. (He’s EVERYWHERE in the EU-the guy is like the Timex of the GFFA!)

12

And here re-commences the hijack, jack!

I never said the Y-Wing was “second-rate.” In fact, give me a Y-Wing every day of the week and twice when attacking Death Stars.

What I said was that the EU “spun the myth” of the Y-Wing being second-rate because:

  1. They die first in the first movie we see them in.
  2. The Hero didn’t “choose” them as his craft of choice (his “steed,” in keeping with the “mythological” fundament of Star Wars).

(Interestingly enough, at The Battle of Endor in ROTJ, the Y-wing is the most butt-kicking fighter in that battle, according to what we see on-screen.)

I used “The Y-Wing Myth” as counter-point to illustrate why Boba Fett is (supposedly) the most feared and fierce bounty hunter in the Galaxy.

And I already acknowledged your points A,B, and C, and then A & B again, here:

And it’s not your Y-Wing, bub.

It’s mine. :cool:

13

In the Expanded Universe, one of the books tell the tale of how Boba Fett actually escaped from the pit. Anyone know about this?

14

I forget which book or comic it was in, but Boba Fett supposedly used some of his armor’s weapons to give the Sarlacc indigestion, and was regurgitated.

Or, you can believe Kevin Rubio, and thank Tag & Bink (The Revenge of Tag and Bink, Star Wars Tales, vol. 3). Since I like Kevin Rubio, I favor Tag & Bink.

Star Wars Tales, vol. 2 has an interesting bit about the life cycle of the sarlaac.

15

Well, he is the only character who gets to back-chat Vader and lives.

16

Where does this happen? “He’s no good to me dead” is back-chat? Fett was a piker. The sad fact is that everyone back-chats Vader and lives.

Lando: “That wasn’t part of the deal!” or words to that effect.

Tarkin: “Vader! Release him!”

Which brings us to the fact that even Motti, a mere background character, can’t insult Vader enough. True, it seems as though Vader takes it badly and Motti has gone too far…but he doesn’t actually die, does he? One reprimand from Tarkin and Vader caves in like a house of cards, even though Motti has just gone and dissed him in front of the whole Death Star senior staff.

I used to think that was strange, but having seen the prequels it all starts to make sense. No one who has an inkling of Vader’s past could possibly find him intimidating, and underneath the hulking vampire robot disguise, Vader knows it.

Is there actually even a single scene in the original trilogy where someone does insult Vader directly and dies as a result? Because I can’t think of any. I only seem to recall that he tends to kill people who are trying to apologize to him, a clear indicator that deep down he realizes he is not worthy of respect or consideration. “Hi, I’m Anakin! Abuse me, please! Hit me with scorn and derisive laughter! That makes me feel all tingly! Thank you!!!” This is why he purposefully surrounds himself with the scum of the Galaxy like Fett and his ilk.

17

Didn’t El Moffo Grande technically outrank Vader in Ep IV? That was the imppression I’ve always gotten - that Vader might have been the Emperors number one henchman, but as long as he was on the Death Star Tarkin was in charge. I think at the time the movie was made Vader was less of a general and more of a troubleshooter, a special-jobs man who was assigned to people like the Moff for the important missions. Consider Leia’s line about “Vader’s leash”.

Of course, that means Darth someow managed to win a promotion between Ep IV and Ep V, despite having been partially responsible for the loss of the Death Star. It says a lot about the Imperial system that he managed that.

18

Yeah, Tarkin was totally Vader’s superior in Star Wars. Vader pretty much didn’t have a choice in that case.

Considering that this is Lando basically pleading in futility, I wouldn’t exactly call it back-talk. Plus, Vader gets in extremely cool lines in the midst of Lando’s whining:

“Perhaps you feel you’re being treated… unfairly?”
“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”

19

Sigh. Yeah, all kidding aside, those first two movies had some wonderful little moments of dialogue, didn’t they? Vader was such an awesomely archetypal cinematic character. This is exactly why I ain’t seeing the last of the new movies; I don’t want my enjoyment of the first two films to be tainted any further. Where will it all end? What is this obsession Lucas has with injecting fresh suckiness into his franchise, even to the point of forcibly appending pointless wacky CGI comic relief bits into the re-released original films? I fully anticipate one day that I’ll hear an interview in which Lucas declares, “You see, back when we filmed the original trilogy, we were forced to cast James Earl Jones, because the technology at that time didn’t allow us to use the voice of Balki from ‘Perfect Strangers.’ However, with the release of the Ultimate Special Edition…”

20

By ‘the first two films’ I mean Wars and Empire, of course, not Menace and Clones.