# I actually liked Boba Fett's prequel backstory **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758 "2013-01-30T00:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/21 "2013-01-30T10:34:46Z")
He didn’t really stand up to him - he just sort of complained. Admittedly, that’s more than you could say for any other bad guy in the movie, but it doesn’t quite make him Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/22 "2013-01-30T12:35:14Z")
Oh good, a Boba Fett thread. Another opportunity to complain that Boba Fett was much beloved by fans of TESB & ROTJ, despite being little more than the proverbial empty suit and a plot device to get the Hansickle to Jabba. When I watched the prequels and saw that Lucas had shoehorned him into the story AGAIN, my eyes rolled so far that I could see my brain hating the decision. Seldom has so much been made of NOTHING. They might as well have given a backstory to the stormtrooper that hit his head on a door in the first movie. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/23 "2013-01-30T12:50:50Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > They might as well have given a backstory to the stormtrooper that hit his head on a door in the first movie. I’d have actually liked that if done right, have one of clones hit its head and the Camino rep turn to Obiwan and comment they aren’t perfect.😃 ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/24 "2013-01-30T14:01:51Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Yeah, I REALLY don’t think it’s fair to call any actors in the prequels “wooden” or whatever. Lucas, as director, demanded a certain type of performance… and the actors gave it. Every actor that I’ve seen do a terrible job in any of the prequels have done many other wonderful things outside of Star Wars. Lucas just really liked the sound of stiff, unemotional dialogue that also happened to be extremely poorly written. Does Lucas _demand_ wooden performances, or does he just not care, as long as they say the correct words? I was always left with the impression (based purely on viewing the films; no extra-film information) that some of the actors he hires require direction that Lucas is incapable of, or uninterested in, providing (Hayden Christensen being the prime example, with Natalie Portman running a close second), whereas others are more…independent? I’m thinking of Alec Guinness, Ewan McGregor, Ian MacDiarmid, and to a lesser extent Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson. I get the feeling that they realized that any emotions that came to screen were going to have to come from their own choices, because Lucas wasn’t going to give them any real direction on that front. If you watch some of the interactions between Cristensen and McGregor the contrast is stark, and I can’t believe Lucas would deliberately ask one actor to deliver a nuanced performance while the other one simply recites dialog. I honestly think he just didn’t care as long as they hit their marks and his dialog came out of the proper mouths. Christensen, for whatever reason, wasn’t able to do much more than that, whereas McGregor could actually “self-direct.” I could be completely wrong here (I’m not an actor and I don’t know much about the filmmaking process), but this is the impression I got from comparing and contrasting actors in the films. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/25 "2013-01-30T15:59:28Z")
It didn’t really make sense to me as a motivation for his actions in the original trilogy. He sees his dad killed by a Jedi… thus instilling in him a lifelong hatred of the Jedi… so he devoted his life to catching smugglers who’d reneged on their debts, who only just happened by pure coincidence to be best buds with the last of the Jedi. I’m not saying it _has to_ be related to his actions in the OT, but if it’s not, what’s the dramatic purpose of including it? If Batman’s parents or Spider-man’s uncle were killed by drunk drivers instead of thieves, why put that in their origin story at all? It doesn’t motivate them, it doesn’t explain anything, it doesn’t have any kind of payoff later. Also, **Galaxies are big!** Like mind-blowingly, incomprehensibly, ginormously huge. So how come the same people keep showing up? C-3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Greedo (in a deleted scene), etc., etc. It’s just needlessly taxing my suspension of disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/26 "2013-01-30T17:05:18Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > That being said, I’ve never seen the actors who played Jango or kid Boba in anything else, so they may be bad actors. But if you’ve never seen them in anything else either, I say give them the benefit of the doubt. I suggest you watch _Once Were Warriors_. Temuera Morrison gives just about the scariest performance I have ever seen. Made scarier because his character is very very real. The movie had flaws but his performance was not one of them. > [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Oh good, a Boba Fett thread. Another opportunity to complain that Boba Fett was much beloved by fans of TESB & ROTJ, despite being little more than the proverbial empty suit and a plot device to get the Hansickle to Jabba. When I watched the prequels and saw that Lucas had shoehorned him into the story AGAIN, my eyes rolled so far that I could see my brain hating the decision. Seldom has so much been made of NOTHING. They might as well have given a backstory to the stormtrooper that hit his head on a door in the first movie. As one at the exact right age to be influenced by it, Boba Fett became popular because he was a very cool looking toy. The toy came out before he first appeared in the movie. > [@tim314](#): > > Also, **Galaxies are big!** Like mind-blowingly, incomprehensibly, ginormously huge. So how come the same people keep showing up? C-3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Greedo (in a deleted scene), etc., etc. It’s just needlessly taxing my suspension of disbelief. That is really what annoyed me the most about the prequels (I know what can I say I’m weird). Especially the droids. Why shoe horn them in there? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/27 "2013-01-30T17:48:52Z")
carlb, if we are to believe what Hayden himself said, Lucas demanded he act the way he did on screen in the prequels. Considering that Hayden has done other great stuff and can actually act, and so can Jackson, McGreggor (who I also thought stunk in the sequels), Portman, Neeson, etc, I’m going to go with the idea that Lucas DEMANDED the performances we see on screen. But if you want to chalk it up to him just being lazy and not caring, that’s just as bad really. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/28 "2013-01-30T18:20:43Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > …But if you want to chalk it up to him just being lazy and not caring, that’s just as bad really. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/29 "2013-01-30T18:35:20Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > carlb, if we are to believe what Hayden himself said, Lucas demanded he act the way he did on screen in the prequels. Considering that Hayden has done other great stuff and can actually act. Cite? Please note that “stuff” suggests more than one performance. I’ll give you _Shattered Glass_, where’s he’s supposed to be a hateful, creepy, unctious, pathetic, sniveling toad of a person. But everything else in which I’ve ever seen him? He’s just as horrible as he was in Anakin. That performance (unlike most of his SW prequel colleagues) was not an anomaly. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/30 "2013-01-30T21:30:27Z")
Fish in a barrel, picking apart ep. 1-3 flaws, but my complaint isn’t the backstory itself, but how poorly it dramatically ties into BF’s ultimate demise when he’s 3-stooged into the sarlaac pit. What would have been more welcome is if, in the prequels, he had been turned into a hapless character meeting misfortune after misfortune as random events torture every action of his. That way we would get a nice narrative effect in ROTJ evoking Wile E Coyote holding up a little \*Why me?" cardboard sign before falling into the sarlaac. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/31 "2013-01-30T22:51:06Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Also, **Galaxies are big!** Like mind-blowingly, incomprehensibly, ginormously huge. So how come the same people keep showing up? C-3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Greedo (in a deleted scene), etc., etc. It’s just needlessly taxing my suspension of disbelief. The Force works in mysterious ways. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/32 "2013-01-30T22:57:16Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I’d have actually liked that if done right, have one of clones hit its head and the Camino rep turn to Obiwan and comment they aren’t perfect.😃 Lucas _did_ do that. Jango actually hits his head in the same manner as the Stormtrooper dude. I thought it was pretty funny, actually ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/33 "2013-01-30T23:01:57Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As one at the exact right age to be influenced by it, Boba Fett became popular because he was a very cool looking toy. The toy came out before he first appeared in the movie. Maybe that’s it. I never got into the toys. Had some trading cards, though. I remember going to school and hearing everyone going Boba Fett this, Boba Fett that. What the hell? He had like three\* lines, guys! Anyway, something about him and the weirdly out-of-proportion attention he received rubbed me wrong, and now I dislike him in an equally unreasonable, disproportionate manner. It’s funny, the weird shit we fixate on. - OK, I looked it up. Here’s everything he said in the first trilogy (episodes 4-6): > [@](#): > > “As you wish” > “He’s no good to me dead” > “What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me” > “Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold” [shivers] Oooohhh, that’s the stuff - and it’s so quotable! I’m sorry. I think it’s out of my system for now. Mostly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/34 "2013-01-30T23:12:36Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Maybe that’s it. I never got into the toys. Had some trading cards, though. I remember going to school and hearing everyone going Boba Fett this, Boba Fett that. What the hell? He had like three\* lines, guys! Anyway, something about him and the weirdly out-of-proportion attention he received rubbed me wrong, and now I dislike him in an equally unreasonable, disproportionate manner. It’s funny, the weird shit we fixate on. > > - OK, I looked it up. Here’s everything he said in the first trilogy (episodes 4-6): > [shivers] Oooohhh, that’s the stuff - and it’s so quotable! > > I’m sorry. I think it’s out of my system for now. Mostly. 😃 As I mentioned in post #4 his first appearance was actually in a cartoon on the Star Wars Holiday Special. I just recently found this out. I saw it when it first aired. I remember the Wookies. For some reason I remembered Art Carney. But I didn’t remember Boba Fett. And here it [is.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62NCZZAcps) The first Boba Fett toy came out after that and before ESB. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/35 "2013-01-30T23:27:25Z")
It’s not just that the Boba Fett toy was cool, but it was also _rare_. You couldn’t just buy him at the store; he was only available through some sort of mail-in promotional. So only the cool kids had him, and so therefore he became cool by association. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/36 "2013-01-31T04:06:26Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Cite? > > Please note that “stuff” suggests more than one performance. I’ll give you _Shattered Glass_, where’s he’s supposed to be a hateful, creepy, unctious, pathetic, sniveling toad of a person. But everything else in which I’ve ever seen him? He’s just as horrible as he was in Anakin. That performance (unlike most of his SW prequel colleagues) was not an anomaly. I disagree. His performance in **Life as a House** was excellent. It was shot at the same time as AOTC but released earlier. He got a Golden Globe nomination for that. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/37 "2013-01-31T08:48:38Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I disagree. His performance in **Life as a House** was excellent. It was shot at the same time as AOTC but released earlier. He got a Golden Globe nomination for that. I was just going to shout at MovieMogul to look up his own goddamn “cite” for Hayden being a decent actor, but thank you for doing what he could have done in about 5 seconds in a google search. It’s in the very first paragraph of his wikipedia entry for chrissake. It’s clearly evident to me that Lucas wanted a certain style of acting… and the actors gave it. But he wasn’t even consistent about it even within the same characters. Hayden turns in a respectable performance near the end of Episode III, as does McGreggor (and of course Ian McDiarmid was brilliant as Palpatine almost the entire time)… because I guess Lucas decided it was time for some emotion. It was almost as if Lucas just believed no one should show any emotion whatsoever except for in a few key moments, and the effect is just so jarring it makes for terrible acting. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/38 "2013-01-31T08:57:25Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > . Hayden turns in a respectable performance near the end of Episode III, as does McGreggor (and of course Ian McDiarmid was brilliant as Palpatine almost the entire time)… because I guess Lucas decided it was time for some emotion. It was almost as if Lucas just believed no one should show any emotion whatsoever except for in a few key moments, and the effect is just so jarring it makes for terrible acting. From what I heard, the very end of the final duel - those two or three minutes where everyone is suddenly a better actor - was “guest directed” by Steven Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/39 "2013-01-31T09:48:19Z")
I thought Hayden Christensen put out a fine perfomance in Episode III. Patchy at times, but otherwise fine. He handles some of the big scenes really well, for example his reaction to being told of Padme’s pregnancy, the fight scenes etc. [QUOTE=Alessan] From what I heard, the very end of the final duel - those two or three minutes where everyone is suddenly a better actor - was “guest directed” by Steven Spielberg. [/QUOTE] From what I have read, in the same vein as the above, the odd scene where the “lovers” in Ep II are less wooden and more believable were ad libbed by Portman and Christensen. I thought that the actor did fine. He was told to act like a whiny teenager and he did an excellent job at that. It was want the director wanted. It was not what the film needed, but thats not his fault. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758/40 "2013-01-31T09:52:34Z")
I agree with what others already posted: there was no reason at all to cram Fett’s story into the prequels (and doing so only cheapened the character). I would love for Disney to scrap episode VII and instead reboot the prequels (wipe clean the story and start over 100% fresh with all new character arcs, and new characters). I predict that people would come out in droves to see it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-actually-liked-boba-fetts-prequel-backstory/648758.md?page=3)