If I'm going to be honest with myself, I've never quite understood the massive appeal of Boba Fett, that oh-so-famous bounty hunter. That feeling doesn't stem from my finding the character uninteresting or anything, as I think Boba is more than a little nifty. I dig 'em. Even so, there are large numbers of people who seem to value this (minor) character as though he takes a prominence within the whole of the films. So, what causes that? What is it about this character that is so appealing and engaging to so many? To look at that, I think we need to start from the beginning.
Boba Fett's initial appearance was actually on September 20th, 1978 at the San Anselmo county fair parade as a sort of test run. From there, his next appearance was an animated short on the infamous STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, a debacle so disastrous that Lucas prevented it from ever being shown more than the once that it was. Most can easily say that his section, taking place between episodes 4 and 5, is the best of all of the segments in the special. In it, Luke and Friends receive a bizarre message from Chewie and Han as they seem to be careening all over the place. Seeing that they're headed straight for a large moon, Luke brings C-3PO and R2-D2 with him to try to save Han and Chewie. Unfortunately, they all end up crashing onto the planet, both ships landing into sort of ocean of pink slop.
Immediately, Luke and droids are attacked by a large dragon-like creature, but are saved by none other than Boba Fett while he was riding his own. Introductions are made, and they all make their way to the downed Millennium Falcon. Inside, they discover an incapacitated Han who is soon joined by a suddenly unconscious Luke. Fett says that he knows where to get the serum to save them, so Chewbacca travels with him to the city to retrieve it. While "getting the serum", and unseen by Chewie, Fett contacts the Empire's attack dog, Darth Vader. You see, Vader had actually hired Boba to track down and befriend Luke and Co. and then to follow them back to the Rebel base of operations. Unknown to Boba, though, R2-D2 had already intercepted the signal...somehow. I don't think it was ever really explained HOW R2 was able to do that, but nevertheless that's what happened.
Upon returning to the Falcon and restoring Luke and Han, C-3PO reveals that Boba is a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader. Before anyone could get a shot off, Fett blasts off via his jet pack. Then the party leaves; a weak joke is told; they all laugh; fade to black. As far as introductions go, this certainly isn't a bad one. His characterization within the cartoon shows that he is resourceful and immensely intelligent, but that's really it. It almost makes it seem as though he's a one-off character. Not really one with a big future in the franchise, especially when you consider the fact that not a huge amount of people saw the special.
Apparently, after the special, some seemed to think that Fett was some variation of a stormtrooper, so they took Boba on the road so-to-speak. Fett made appearances in malls and department stores, signing black and white photos as "Boba" and handing out wanted posters with his pictures on them, all in the effort to distinguish himself from the Empire. They wanted people to know that he was his own person. The OFFICIAL STAR WARS FAN CLUB got a look at Boba Fett in the summer of 1979. Appearing on the back of their newsletter, BANTHA TRACKS, Fett was revealed to be an elite bounty hunter who wore elements of the older empire military. This sort of scant information served to fuel speculation on the origin and nature of him. After this, Kenner released a Boba Fett action figure which originally contained a small missile pack that was removed due to it being dubbed a choking hazard for small children. Along with this, the color scheme was changed from the animated special, much as it had been through-out his development. Later, a 13-inch model was produced, further changing some of the design.
So, at this point, one could argue that there was a good bit of groundswell of interest built up for Boba Fett, though even Lucas says that he doesn't understand why Boba was so popular, specifically telling the actor who played him "It's not a big role." This popularity obviously wasn't purely built up in the stages preceding his appearance in the films, so obviously there's more to the story...and that's an element we'll explore in the next installment.
No comments:
Post a Comment