Everything You Missed From ‘Book Of Boba Fett’ Episode 1

Star Wars

Jan 5

Like its “spiritual father” The Mandalorian, Chapter 1 of The Book of Boba Fett is full of references and nods to other Star Wars material as well as to things from our own universe. We are not going to talk about the most obvious ones, as most fans have probably caught them anyway, so just for the sake of completion:

The bacta tank, which Fett uses to heal and to rejuvenate himself
Gamorrean guards that finally get so see some action
The wreckage of Jabba’s sail barge Khetanna
Boba strangling the six-armed monster with his chain, much like how Leia killed Jabba in Return of the Jedi
Max Rebo making a return, but with a different band
8D8, the droid that tortured other droids in Jabba’s palace
An RX droid, a model that is also part of Star Tours and Galaxy’s Edge and was also used as a pilot in Rebels

So, now that we got these out of the way, here is a list of things that you might have missed from “Stranger in a Strange Land.”

A Biblical Title

The title of this episode is quite fitting as Boba struggled to find his place, first as a slave to the Tusken Raiders, and then in his role as the new crime lord of Tatooine.

“Stranger in a Strange Land” is actually taken from Exodus 2:22 from the Bible, which reads: “...for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.” This was a quote of Moses after he was expelled by the Egyptian Pharaoh to live among his own people.

Stranger in a Strange Land is also the title of a 1961 sci-fi book by Robert A. Heinlein which tells the story of a human who was raised by Martians and later returned to his home planet to live there.

White Is The New Beige

The undergarment that Boba Fett wore under his armor was light blue or grey in The Empire Strikes Back and beige in Return of the Jedi. In The Book of Boba Fett the coverall is now nearly white probably from being bleached by the Sarlacc’s stomach acid

Missing Parts

In the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas added a strange beak-like appendage to the mouth of the Sarlacc in an effort to make it look “less sexual.” When Boba Fett crawls out of the gut of the creature, there is no sign of this beak, however. One could argue that it is not receiving food at this moment as it did in Return of the Jedi, but someone first using a flamethrower in its innards and then cutting a hole out of its belly surely must cause the creature to scream in pain and show off the beak again. So either the Sarlacc is already dead by then, or Robert Rodriguez is not a fan of Lucas’ late addition and chooses to remove the beak again.

Also lying in the sand is a part of one of the Sarlacc’s tentacles, which might be the one that grabbed Lando’s leg and was shot off by a still weak-sighted Han Solo (“A little higher! Just a little higher!”).

(New) Republic Credits Will Do Fine

When Fett and Shand get their helmets returned at Madam Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary, many of the credits bear the symbol of the New Republic, a sign that the time of the Empire has passed even on a remote planet like Tatooine.

Helmets Will Roll

A few scenes later when Fett and Shand are attacked by the six crimson-glad figures and Fett has to release his helmet, it rolls away much like Jango Fett’s helmet (with presumably still his head inside it) had rolled away after Mace Windu had decapitated the bounty hunter in Attack of the Clones.

Misused Technology

When Jabba’s 9D9 droid ordered R2-D2 to become a rolling drinks-tray in Return of the Jedi, this seemed like just another belittlement by the Hutts. But now we learn that using astromechs for serving drinks is not uncommon, as there several of them are rolling around in the Sanctuary. What a misuse of droids that were originally built to calculated hyperspace routes.

Single File

When the Tusken Raiders take Boba Fett away, they actually ride single-file, just as Ben Kenobi had stated in A New Hope (“Sand People always ride single file to hide their numbers”).

Western Influences

The Mandalorian is filled with references to classic Western themes and it looks like The Book of Boba Fett is no different. The scene where Fett is dragged behind the Banthas appeared in a similar form in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, only that it was a horse then, or course.

Water Melon

The strange fruits that Fett and the Rodian have to dig out of the sand are called black melons. They previously appeared in season 2 of The Mandalorian, but their first entry into the galaxy far, far away was in Issue 7 of the Star Wars comic from 2015, when Ben Kenobi described the taste of the liquid inside as horrible, but safe to drink.

Constable Zuvio’s Return?

When Fett and Shand walk through Mos Espa a person with a wide purple-blue helmet can briefly be seen walking in the background. Of course, we do not know if Zuvio finally got at least a moment of screen time, but at least it seems that the Niima Outpost Militia has been active shortly after the end of the Galactic Civil War.

Crimson Gangsters

The gangsters that are beating up the settlers while Fett, the Rodian and the young Tusken watch are members of the Mining Collective that also appeared in Chapter 9 of The Mandalorian. It is possible that Fett later fight against these gangsters, leading to the attack on him and Shand in Mos Espa.

“Sleemo”

The Rodian insults Fett by calling him “Sleemo,” which translates to “slimeball,” a word that was first used by Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace.

Real World Droids

Also on the streets of Mos Espa, a lady can be seen walking three strange-looking dog-like droids. They surely look like the real-life droids that were created by Boston Dynamics.

Ray’s Creature?

Speaking of strange-looking, the six-legged monster that attacks Fett, the Rodian, and the young Tusken Raider is a new creature to the Star Wars universe. Some have said that it is reference to the Martians in John Carter, but it actually looks much more like a monster from a 50’s or 60’s movie, something that Ray Harryhausen would have animated using his famous stop-motion technique.

Source(s): Screen Rant, ScreenCrush

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Gerald Petschk