Boba Fett = Overrated

Earlier you guys said you didn't know wher eBoba got his armor or why it was scarred. Boba's armor is in fact used, and before him it belonged to Jango's mentor, once the planetary gaurdian of one of the Mandalorian planets. This man also fought in the Mandalorian Wars, so the scarring is easily explained. Sorry that is EU, but you guys acted like you didn't know.

I don't think Boba was "all that" either, overatd if you ask me, he was a push over...no literally...

 

Thank you for pointing that out, spasticewok. Earlier I declined to use EU or the PT in my arguments because we were addressing what is actually seen on-screen in the O-OT. But it is helpful to keep in mind Lucas' conceptualization of the character, which according to a 1978 Starlog interview included the idea of Boba Fett being the basis of the Clones/Stormtroopers.

There may not be an aside in the films in which Fett breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience: "Hey, this armor is really old and I personally have owned it for a really long time and got all these score-marks and scalp-trophies myself! Really!" But all the background material regarding the character, including that from before ESB was even released, attests to his long experience and success in his field.

 

I'm not sure if Fett is overrated. I think he's a cool side character. I like Jango as well. But i must say i have less of an idea of who he is, from the movies, than of Jango. The books of course are a different matter.

 

Boba Fett kicked A because he didn't speak much and when he did it was that rugged voice, people like that kind of the man with no name like character. That is why is so widely loved.

 

TLJ Edit: I agree.

 

The reason I started the topic was that I wanted to know why because I didn't see it.

I'm done with this. I'm prepared to move on.

 

That's also why he's overrated: he's all image, no substance.

 

I agree RocketGirl! I have always wondered the same thing about Boba Fett. Granted, his character doesn't bother me. However, he just doesn't seem to do anything. I think it's the jet pack and the crazy voice!

 

For the sake of completeness, here is the article from starwars.com called Proto-Fett: The Birth of Boba. (Hit the link to see the pictures that accompany the article.) It goes a long way toward explaining Fett's mystique, his reputation among fans and why he has such limited screen time:

True to his enigmatic character, facts about Boba Fett remain as shifty as the sands of the Dune Sea. Before Attack of the Clones, the origin of Fett had long been a subject of controversy -- was he a vestige of the Clone Armies, a Mandalorian mercenary, or a super-stormtrooper? Was he once called Jaster Mereel? Did he in fact survive the treacherous Pit of Carkoon? While some of these questions have been answered by the prequels and framers of the Expanded Universe, the character's cinematic debut is still open for debate -- is Episode II to be considered the film that launched the Fett character, or Empire? And let's not forget about his cameo in the retro-fitted Star Wars Special Edition....

As for Fett's first public unveiling, tradition holds that Boba was first revealed to audiences as an animated character in 1978's televised "Star Wars Holiday Special". However, digging through the records at Skywalker Ranch, a different story emerges -- Fett had in fact made a public appearance nearly two months before the Holiday Special on a scorching hot day in the streets of San Anselmo, a small town just north of San Francisco.

Marching alongside Darth Vader before droves of spectators at San Anselmo's Country Fair parade on September 24, 1978, an unsuspecting press photographer snapped what is likely the very first public image of the intergalactic bounty hunter, plastered the following day across the front page of San Rafael's Independent Journal newspaper. Though the scene-stealing Vader (manned by Kermit Eller) had grand-marshaled the parade and consequently grabbed most of the press (Boba wasn't even mentioned in the story), the Fett costume must have struck many as exotic, battle-worn, and downright intimidating, which, of course, was the whole point.

According to Empire's "making of" book, Once Upon a Galaxy, Boba Fett's character had originally emerged from that of Darth Vader:

"I wanted to develop an essentially evil, very frightening character," said Lucas of Vader. "He started as a kind of intergalactic bounty hunter, evolved into a grotesque knight, and as I got deeper into the knight ethos he became more a dark warrior than a mercenary... I split him up and it was from the early concept of Darth Vader as a bounty hunter that Boba Fett came."

Borne of Vader, Fett required an equally villainous look, but something a bit less conspicuous. Designing Fett's signature helmet, armor, and accoutrements fell primarily to Joe Johnston, who worked in tandem with Ralph McQuarrie to come up with the bounty hunter's distinctive look. Far removed from the black-on-black wardrobe of Vader, early concepts for Fett clad the bounty hunter in white, possibly a vestige of his "Super Trooper" origins. This all-white Fett was actually the first costume produced for the character, officially unveiled to Lucasfilm insiders in a screen test shot on June 28, 1978.

In the 20-minute black and white video, sound designer Ben Burtt "hosts" Fett's reveal for Lucas and crew, describing the different weapons, functions, and characteristics of the costume (worn by Empire's assistant film editor Duwayne Dunham for the test). The somewhat amusing footage depicts Fett with a mocked-up laser rifle (which used a lightsaber hilt for the barrel) and a Star Wars beach towel doubling as the bounty hunter's tattered serape.

Even at this early stage, the plan was to give the costume a muted color scheme, visually placing the character somewhere between the rank-and-file stormtrooper and the fearsome Dark Lord of the Sith. "I painted Boba's outfit and tried to make it look like it was made of different pieces of armor," said Johnston in Star Wars: The Annotated

 

And this is from the official site's database:

A faceless enforcer, Boba Fett's distinctive armor strikes fear in the hearts of fugitives. He is a legendary bounty hunter, accepting warrants from both the Empire and the criminal underworld. He is all business, laconic, and deadly.
Fett has carefully guarded his past, cultivating a curtain of mystery around his origins. He is in truth a clone, an exact genetic replica of his highly skilled "father," Jango Fett. From Jango, Boba learned valuable survival and martial skills, and even as a child he was proficient with a blaster or laser cannon.

Fett was raised in isolation in the hermetic cities of Kamino, where he was protected not only from the ceaseless storms, but also the harsher elements of his father's career. Young Boba's life changed when a tenacious Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi, came looking for his father. Sent to apprehend the bounty hunter for the attempted assassination of a Naboo Senator, Kenobi brawled with Jango as the Fetts sought to escape from Kamino. Young Boba helped his father by pinning the Jedi down with explosive laser fire from the Fett starship, Slave I.

Fleeing from Kamino, the Fetts journeyed to Geonosis, where Jango's benefactor resided. Boba watched as his father's enemies were sentenced to death, but Jedi prove very hard to kill. A huge battle erupted as Jedi reinforcements stormed Geonosis to free their fellow Jedi. Jango entered the fray, only to be killed by Jedi Master Mace Windu. Boba was shocked to witness his father's swift death, and he quietly cradled Jango's empty helmet as Geonosis erupted into all-out war.

During the time of the Empire, Boba Fett emerged as the preeminent bounty hunter of the galaxy. Boba Fett's armor, like his father's, is a battered weapon-covered spacesuit equipped with a rocketpack. His gauntlets contain a flamethrower, and a whipcord lanyard launcher. His kneepads conceal rocket dart launchers. Several ominous braids hang from his shoulder -- trophies from fallen prey -- that underscore this hunter's lethality.


Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, Darth Vader desperately wanted to capture the fugitive Rebel craft, the Millennium Falcon. To that end, he hired a motley assortment of bounty hunters, including the legendary Fett. Vader specifically pointed out to Fett that the Falcon's passengers were to be taken alive. "No disintegrations," rumbled the Dark Lord, obviously familiar with Fett's reputation.

It was Fett who successfully tracked the Falcon from Hoth to Bespin. Arriving at the gas giant before the Falcon, Fett and Vader sprung a trap on the ship's hapless crew. Fett, a shrewd negotiator, received his bounty for capturing the crew, but also was given custody of Han Solo. The bounty hunter was set to collect the reward on Solo's head placed there by the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.

Whisking the carbonite-frozen form of Han Solo away from Bespin, Fett eventually arrived on Tatooine aboard his starship, the Slave I. Fett delivered Solo to Jabba, his some-time employer, and was many thousands of credits richer. Fett stayed at Jabba's palace, and was present when Solo's friends attempted to rescue the carbon-frozen smuggler.

Jabba, enraged at the attempted prison break, brought his captives out to the Tatooine desert, to execute them in the Great Pit of Carkoon. In the sandpit lay the immense Sarlacc, a vile creature that would digest its prey over thousands of years. Rather than let themselves be thrown in the Sarlacc's maw, Solo's friends, led by Luke Skywalker, fought against their captors. In the chaos that followed, Fett entered the fray.

Solo, free of the carbonite and suffering blindness from hibernation sickness, wildly swung a vibro-ax into an inattentive Fett's rocketpack. The pack activated, and the bounty hunter soared into the air, out of control. The airborne Fett slammed into the side of Jabba's sail barge before tumbling into the Sarlacc's mouth. With a sickly belch from the desert creature

 

I disagree RocketGirl! I have never wondered the same thing about Boba Fett. Granted, his character sometimes bothers me. However, he just doesn't seem to do nothing. I don't think it's the jet pack and the crazy voice!

 

Somehow, that seems similar to something I said?!

 

I don't understand the contention that Fett "doesn't seem to do anything." Undetected by his quarry, he locates and tracks the Falcon to Bespin, where he leads the Empire to capture our heroes. This sets into motion the entire rest of the story, including Luke's facing Vader, and Han's rescue in ROTJ.

Fett fulfills his minor, yet crucial, role in the plot with style, mystique and efficiency. When his part is done, he dies an ignominious death, as many such villains have suffered throughout the course of Western literature and cinema.

 

I did't know about the County Fair march. That's pretty cool.

 

Plus he's got lasers in his wrist thingy.

 

He doesn't seem to do anything that justifies this overblown fan reaction. An appropriate reaction to hiding in trash and correctly guessing the Falcon's destination is "oh, haha, clever", not "oh em gee, best character ever written"

 

He's not supposed to be the best character ever written. He's supposed to be KYEEWL. And KYEEWL he is.

Say, is it true that in EPII they were gonna have the kid grab his pappy's helmet & jet-pack and fly out of the arena?

That woulda been AWESOME!

 

What the heck is KYEEWL??? The word is "cool" not kewl, kyeewl, kool, (unless referring to kool-aid) ARGH I hate leet speak!!!

 

Bingo.

 

Are... you flaming me?
What is this 'leet' speak you, er, speak of?

 

Leet is the stupid internet language where words are deliberately mispelled, or numbers are substituted, such as kewl instead of cool, or sk1lls instead of skills, N00b instead of noob, etc. Its annoying. Just say cool when you mean cool.

 

I find your lack of irony disturbing.

 

Alright guys, lets get back on topic, shall we?

 

I don't know that B. Fett was overrated as much as he was a watered down product. What? Let me explain.

You see when you buy things or get things new they are in a sence perfect. But, used your taking a chance. Boba was a watered down bi-product of his Father. I could and will argue that Jango was a more established Bounty Hunter. But, since Boba wasn't the real deal he was watered down and therefore came off as being "overrated."

 

The live action TV show will put an end to this. Fett is confirmed.