Boba Fett, George Lucas, and SW geeks

Cafe Society
41

A friend of mine has a pet theory that Lucas hates Boba Fett. This minor character becomes a darling of Fanboys out of nowhere, so Lucas has him rather pathetically killed in Return of the Jedi. But pressure from the Fettistas forced him to make a big deal out of Boba Fett.

I like the theory, which explains why, if Boba Fett was supposed to be so superbad he never actually does anything, but unfortunately it presupposes that Lucas gives a shit what Star Wars fans think, which he sure doesn’t seem to do.

42

They digitally removed his eyebrows. I guess they get singed off in Ep3 and didn’t grow back by Ep6.

43

Wasn’t he the guy that Vader field-promoted after strangling his predecessor? There was definitely someone else in that scene, addressed as “captain” before, and who Vader addresses as “admiral” (with the same tone of voice as the later “captain”) after killing the admiral.

44

Vader kills Admiral Ozzel for alerting the Rebel on Hoth to the Imperial presence by coming out of hyperspace too close to Hoth. He then promotes Captain Piett to Admiral.

Later, Captain Needa of the Star Destroyer Avenger “loses” the Millenium Falcon, and goes to Vader to personally apologize.

Apology accepted, Captain Needa.

At the end, R2 saves the day by turning on the Millenium Falcon’s hyperdrive and ZOOM, they get away. Vader, sorely disappointed, turn away. Admiral Piett must have soiled himself, for just moments before, he assured Vader that the Millenium Falcon couldn’t possibly escape because their hyperdrive was deactivated. But Vader just stalks off in a huff.

Jeez, rent a video. :wink:

45

With the reduced widower pension payouts, Vader could buy himself a shiny new helmet.

46

OK, I guess I got my Imperial bit-character officers mixed up. I have recently seen the movie, but I wasn’t in control of the remote to zip back and forth between scenes and take notes.

47

This part I never comprehended - did they think he just popped into existence one day as a butt-kicking action hero with Kung-Fu grip? (Well, Ok, he technically did since he came from Lucas’ imagination, but the point remains) Even Stalin and Hitler were kids once, too, and probably not particularly evil ones, either.

“Whiny”? Where in the whole movie did he whine? He looked suspiciously at Obi-Wan, let him in and got Jango. At the end of the scene, I don’t believe he even makes a peep when told to pack his things to leave. Later on, he fired off some serious laser cannons at Obi, and towards the end he picks up his father’s helmet. No tears, no weeping - no whining. Good lord people, its one thing to think it wasn’t approiate (I disagree) but this is making up things wholesale!

Neither really. Tarkin had a very high civilian rank - high enough to order admirals around - and Vader had no official rank. He was the Emperor’s right-hand man, but had no official position in the government. Vader did what Tarkin said for two reasons: (a) Tarkin had the Emperor’s trust and faith, which was a considerable honor, and (b) Tarkin respected Vader - as an equal and nothing more. And of course, the Death Star was Tarkin’s baby and “home turf”, so to speak. The operation as a whole was Tarkin’s work, not Vader’s.

48

As far as the action figure with the missle firing backpack.

  I remember my brother and I saving up proof of purchase points to get one. We notice that on one of the action figure card, the Boba Fett figure offer was a decal, so we CAREFULLY peeled it off, and underneath was an offer for the same figure with the rocket firing backpack. We sent in our points, and sure enough, the rocket was glued in.

   An early experience with disappointment :(

I do still have both a colonial viper an cylon raider that do fire rockets, so I guess it’s a tradeoff

49

I haven’t abandoned this, and I don’t want to derail an interesting discussion, but I want to return to the subject of the OP for a moment.

I understand that we’re talking about a popular character. Reading this thread, I’m also gaining some insight into whay he’s so popular. None of this, however, addresses my question.

I remember the action-figure flap about as well as I remember anything that happened when I was nine, and I understand that there’s a lot of secondary material (that I haven’t seen and don’t know anything about) that presents Boba Fett as some super-human asskicker. That’s all beside the point.

Taking the first three movies, standing alone, especially considering the retroactive changes, there is no way to conclude that Fett is anything other than an ordinary henchman and errand body. He doesn’t even ever do anything particularly badass, and in fact goes down pretty weak and ugly in Return of the Jedi.

50

Exgineer:

While I agree with the gist of your statement that Fett was never anything particularly special as villains go, I don’t think that’s an accurate characterization. It seemed pretty clear to me that he was an independent operator, a gun for hire, not, as the terms you used would have implied, in the permanent employ of either the Empire or Jabba the Hutt.

51

I can see this interpretation, particularly since the first three movies would tend to bear this out if you’re willing to stretch a few things. For instance, it’s entirely possible that he’s in Jabba’s palace when Luke and the gang show up to rescue Han simply because he decided to hang around after he got paid off and wait for a line on his next job. Hey, he’s got to be somewhere, right?

The problem is that Lucas’ revisionism completely shoots this idea in the ass. In the stupid and unnecessary Jabba/Han confrontation scene in the hangar, Fett is clearly in the background acting like a bodyguard/henchthug. If he were truly an independent operator he would have no reason at all to be there.

I think Johnny Angel is right, and Lucas just hates Boba Fett.

52

First of all, let me state my credentials. I was ten years old when Star Wars came out. My friends and I, and every other 10-year-old, were Lucas’ target audience. Whatever else you may have to say about the man, he knew what he was doing. He created something so magnetic to us, that, a quarter century later, we are willing to risk getting fired for using up valueable company bandwidth in order to talk about the damn thing.

I am not your typical, frothing fanboy, however. I saw the original “Star Wars” (N.B. NOT “A New Hope” !! :mad: ) in the theaters but three times (similar for the first two sequels), mainly because every image burned itself so thoroughly into my then-fertile imagination, I didn’t feel the need to go back so much. I bought a snap-together model or two, the “photo-novel” of the movie, maybe some bubble gum cards. I pestered my partents to get an Atari 800 Computer because the bad guy ships in the game “Star Raiders” looked like TIE fighters. But that’s about it. I therefore feel I have retained sufficient objectivity to address this topic properly.

Here’s how it went down, to the best of my recollection:

“Star Wars” was released. Big hit, so I hear.

Kenner Toys gets its license to make action figures. Long about 1978, they suddenly say that if you send in parts of the packaging off specially marked action figures, you can get an action figure of (and I remember the announcer’s voice to this day) “Boba Fett, Star Wars’ villain!”

WTF?

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

To my friends and I, this was the ultimate cynical marketing ploy. The previous year or so had seen the release of mountains of cheap crap with the “Star Wars” name on it (not to mention cheap knockoffs along the lines of plastic WWII-era replica machine guns that would be sprayed silver, strapped to a cardboard backing with stars printed on it, and marketed under some bullshit brandname like “Space Battles”). Random cantina extras had sprouted names in order to sell toys (“Hammerhead”, anyone? Ooooh, what a pivotal character!) But now, apparently bereft of new product, they had sunk to a new low: They were MAKING UP characters to sell to you. And villain? When every kid had just spent the previous halloween stepping on robes and bumping into trees while dressed as Darth Vader? Who did they think they were kidding? Bastards! (Still, really cool costume on that guy, gotta get that!)

Soon, we began hearing that there was to be a “Star Wars Holiday Special”, which was to include a droid cartoon featuing: Boba Fett! COOL! Not only did we not have to shell out movie-ticket money to satisfy our Star Wars jones, we would find out just who this Boba Fett clown was. So we sat ourselves down 26 years ago, almost to the day, and endured a monstrous shitfest that stole two hours of my childhood that I STILL want back, dammit! And how long was Boba Fett onscreen? Thirty seconds, maybe?

It was a good thing that we eventually began seeing theater previes for “The Empire Strikes Back”, or there would have been trouble. NOW, everything was clear! Kenner was giving is a special, mail-order only sneak preview of Boba Fett, be HE was the villain of “Empire”! So now that we were twelve, we did what twelve-year-olds do: tried to make it sound like we, and we alone, had the inside scoop on the film. So did every other twelve-year-old: Boba Fett was the Emperor; No, Boba Fett KILLED the emperor; NO, Boba Fett killed the emperor and Darth Vader during a light saber duel; No, no he’s from some other galaxy, and he poses such a threat that the Rebels have to team up with the Imperial forces to fight him off! By the time we were through with him, Boba Fett was such a badass that he made Darth Vader look like a limp-dicked paraplegic in drag. I mean, look at the costume, he has to be! We all went out to "Empire to see just how much ass Boba Fett could kick.

Not much, as it turned out. But, still. That getup, the callous attitude toward human life, the ship, hiding out in garbage just to track his prey. Just a taste of what was to come certainly. By then, we knew that there was to be a trilogy of trilogies, and SURELY “Return of the Jedi” would reveal the full evil of Boba Fett that was only hinted at in “Empire”.

Alas, early in that film, ol’ BF falls into a hole in the sand lined with Muppet teeth, and that (but for a belch) was that. Our kickass villain, reduced to bodily humor. We were PISSED! Hell, two decades later, ask any of us. We’re STILL pissed!

Hence the apparently large volume (I haven’t read any of it) of alternative fiction where Boba Fett is a serious player. The hardcore fanboys are attempting to provide the payoff Lucas didn’t give us.

53

I’ve also wondered about the remarkable disparity between Fett’s evidently sterling reputation as bounty hunter par excellence, despite the fact that at no point during any of the movies does he ever manage to capture a bounty. The one bounty he does collect is actually captured for him by the Empire, and literally gift-wrapped before being presented to him. I know the movie claimed that they wanted to test out the carbon freezing process, but I think Vader secretly knew that if a conscious, mobile Han Solo were placed in Fett’s custody, Solo would have just clobbered him with a big cartoon mallet and been out of there in about two seconds.

Fett’s only real coup in the entire series is to successfully follow the Millenium Falcon at a respectful distance. However, the poncho-clad aardvark from Star Wars accomplished a practically identical task by tracking the 'droids on Tattoine, and no one gives him any respect.

However, the real insight into Fett’s competence level is revealed during his scene with the other bounty hunters in Empire. After Vader finishes briefing them all, he turns to Fett and, with a little scolding school-marmish finger shake, warns: “I want them alive. No disintegrations.” “As you wish,” Fett replies petulantly.

(Since this isn’t The Princess Bride, I think we can safely assume that Fett isn’t really saying that he loves Vader. But I digress.)

Think about the implications of that exchange: Boba Fett has to be reminded not to disintegrate his bounties.

Now, killing your bounties is one thing; in some situations it may be unavoidable or even preferable. But I submit that it takes a very special kind of incompetence to choose disintegration as a preferred bounty hunting strategy, insofar as it would seem to preclude ever actually being able to collect on your bounties:

SCENE: IMPERIAL BOUNTY COLLECTION AND LICENSING AGENCY

IBCLA OFFICIAL: Step forward, please. (EXAMINES BOUNTY HUNTING LICENSE) Ah, yes. Roberta Catherine Fett–

BOBA FETT: I usually just go by “Boba.”

OFFICIAL: Of course. What can we do for you today, Mr. Fett?

BOBA FETT: I’m here to collect on the bounty for Sticky Al, the Nerf Molester.

OFFICIAL: Certainly. May I see your proof, please?

BOBA FETT: Er…well…that is, I disintegrated him. Here’s a handful of dust that once was him.

OFFICIAL: (ADMINISTERS BROOM HANDLE BEATING TO FETT)
Another argument in favor of the “Lucas hates Fett” school of thought is the prequels, where we learn that Boba is in reality an exact clone of Jango T. Fett, Stupidest Man in the Galaxy. (The T stands for “Tiny, tiny brain,” although I have also heard it argued that the T may be short for “Taking into account the fact that I am armed with a blaster rifle, jetpack, grappling hook, missile, and flamethrower, I think it’s best to engage lightsabre-wielding Jedi Knights by landing and getting within arm’s reach.”)

54

On this subject, at least in terms of our ages and experience with this thing, scotandrsn and I could be the same person.

55

Assuming Terrifel is female, I’d like to propose marriage. That post kicked all the ass Boba Fett didn’t.

If Terrifel is a guy, uh, have a beer buddy.

Seriously, the only thing impressive or dangerous about the guy is the costume, and anybody could wear that. Considering what he actually did on screen it could have been Woody Allen under there.

Now that I think about it, it would have been a cinematic triumph to have firmly established Fett as a badass, have her kick the living snot out of Han Solo in a fair fight, and then remove her helmet to demonstrate that she was a woman.

That would have been the baddest of badassery of all time.

56

Thanks, I’ll hoist a Grolschlager on your behalf. Although I’ll certainly keep your first offer in mind if I ever find myself in a situation where I’m female. It doesn’t seem very likely, but then it never hurts to plan ahead either.

I think it probably has a lot to do with the mystique of the costume too, although I’ve never been able to see the appeal myself. What with the armor’s flaking avocado paint job and the helmet antenna, Boba Fett looks to me sort of like a Transformer might look, if its vehicle form were a used GMC Gremlin.

The armor is certainly distinct, I grant you, as it is one of the few costumes in the Star Wars film universe that shows signs of extensive wear. I presume that the many dents and scratches are intended to imply an adventurous, rugged life spent on the fringes of Galactic society. But based on what we see in the movies, I think it’s equally plausible to assume that he just fell down a flight of stairs at some point.

Yeah, I have to say that would have beat hell out of what we actually got: a pratfall, a Wilhelm scream and a belch.

57

My hopes are dashed. I’ll buy Terrifel a drink if he ever drifts through Albany, but the geek-fantasy-smashing-because-I-thought-I-met-a-geeky-chick wound will probably never heal.

Heck, picture the Simpson’s Comic Book Guy with more head hair, and subtract the scragly facial hair, bad skin, braces, pony tail, encyclopedic knowledge of all things geeky, and about fifty pounds, and then you have me. The geek other geeks think is a loser.

Back on topic: we’re all agreed that Boba Fett is a wiener, right?

I’m sure they spent big money making injection-molded plastic look like battered metal. They could have saved enough for a few scenes that made this guy look tough by banging the damned armor out of aluminum with a shop mallet, spraying it with the paint they had left over from re-doing the garage floor, and taking a stuntman to a gravel pit and asking him to put it on and roll down the pile a few times.

Damn, I’m starting to agree with Lucas on something. I hate Boba Fett. There was no reason for this character to exist.

58

Damn. I’m an inadvertent genius. That’s it.

It was all a marketing gimmick after all. Lucas came up with the action figure first and only then did he realize that he had to fit an inanimate object into the script for his next movie. It might not have been him with action figure, either, it could have been some toy designer at Kenner. Then Lucas needed to bury it, because he didn’t have a story arc for another character, so Boba Fett just became a distraction that he had to get rid of, and then the fans got involved.

That’s plausible. Hell, it sings. Lucas has demonstrated that level of stupitity on numerous occasions, so it can’t come as a surpise now.

59

Heh. Worked for Ewoks. At least George didn’t just replace a highly anticipated and kick-ass feature of The Empire Strikes Back with Boba Fett in order to flog the toy, like he did with Return of the Jedi.