Are people watching The Book of Boba Fett? Anecdotally, I think they are. At least when I talk to people, everyone seems to be pretty much caught up. Though, it certainly doesn’t have the social media cache as The Mandalorian did. But The Mandalorian had a secret weapon with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda). If there were a Star Wars character specifically made to cross over into the realm of more casual Star Wars fans, well that was certainly it. (I don’t think 8D8 has that kind of draw, sadly. Though I’d like to see people try. 8D8 deserves your respect.) A cute creature, surrounded by mystery. No, The Book of Boba Fett does not have that and, ergo, is not as meme-able. If that even matters. Maybe it does, to a point. Maybe Boba Fett should recruit Grogu to be part of his team. I bet Grogu could come in handy during an underworld fight.
Regardless, there’s a scene in this week’s The Book of Boba Fett that made me feel elation in a, “Whoa, will you look at that?,” kind of way. A little over midway through the episode, during a flashback, Boba Fett, along with his now new partner, Fennec Shand, returns to the Sarlacc in search of his armor – not knowing that shortly after he escaped the Sarlacc the armor was stolen by Jawas. While shining a spotlight out of his starship* into the mouth of the Sarlacc, unsurprisingly, the Sarlacc attacks and tries to drag the whole ship back into the pit.
*During this episode, Boba Fett only refers to his starship as his “Firespray gunship,” which has been an ongoing flareup in the bowels of Star Wars fandom. Until recently the ship has been known as Slave I, but, understandably, Lucasfilm has been distancing itself from that title that is used to sell children’s toys, which, lately, have been branded as “Boba Fett’s Starship.” (I remember when I got the original Kenner toy and, even back then, I remember thinking that name seemed grim.) Of course, there are people mad about this, even though the term Slave I is never said in The Empire Strikes Back, and doesn’t even appear in Return of the Jedi. And, as much as I can remember, is never spoken in Attack of the Clones. (I’m not going to rewatch Attack of the Clones to make sure, even though I firmly believe it’s the best of the Prequel Trilogy.)
But speaking of that old Kenner toy, this scenario, Boba Fett, who has escaped from the Sarlacc, returning with his starship and then fighting the Sarlacc with his starship is something that played out, crudely, numerous times in my backyard. And there it was! I honestly couldn’t contain my excitement to see Fett, in his ship, fighting the Sarlacc. (Though, sadly, Fett didn’t use my script, which I believe used the phrase, “Take THAT, Sarlacc!”)
(Also, I wish the Sarlacc had a name. It’s like when we learned Wequay wasn’t a character’s name, but a species name. Since there are lots of Sarlaccs, it would be great if this individual Sarlacc was named Mark, or something. Yeah, I get this Sarlacc is identified by location, being in the Pit of Carkoon, but he or she deserved better than being identified by its address. Maybe its name was Carkoon?)
And then to top it off with Fennec Shand dropping a seismic charge to finally kill the Sarlacc, with that great noise it makes from Attack of the Clones, made me applaud. (I remember when Attack of the Clones was released on DVD I had just bought my first home theater, with a rear projection HDTV and a 5.1 audio setup. When people would come over I would show the seismic charge scene to “show it off.” In retrospect, maybe Attack of the Clones was not the movie to try to recruit fellow home theater enthusiasts, but whatever.)
Anyway, RIP, Sarlacc, your reign of terror is over. Or, in the immortal words of Boba Fett, circa my back yard in 1983, “Take THAT, Sarlacc!”
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