Boba Fett: From Obscure Villian to Cultural Icon
Boba Fett is, without a doubt, the most popular supporting character
in science fiction history. He is a popularity phenomenon within the popularity
phenomenon of Star Wars. And he's lucrative to boot. If you wanted to measure
his on-screen minutes versus licensing dollars generated so far, you would
probably find Boba Fett was an investment that rivals Microsoft's initial
public offering.
Well, why exactly is it that this character, who is (supposedly) minor,
and (supposedly) evil, and who has not been seen in movie theaters for
over 13 years, is still capturing the imaginations of fans all over the
world? In the films he was portrayed as smart, cunning, and tenacious.
As a bounty hunter, he had a rare talent and he got the job done. During
his scant minutes of screen time he was also elusive and enigmatic. Today,
in the midst of the second great wave of Star Wars spin-off products, the
powers-that-be at LucasFilm have been careful to see that not to much has
been revealed about him. New novels, comics, and games deliberately preserve
Boba Fett's air of mystery.
It's not simply the not knowing who Boba Fett is that makes people
want to know more about him. The single most interesting aspect of Boba
Fett is his outfit. Much credit must be given to Joe Johnston and his design
crew. Because of his costume, Boba Fett was one of the most fascinating
science fiction characters, even before a line of dialogue was written
for him. Like the tattooed-from-head-to-toe Illustrated Man, every aspect
of Boba Fett's costume seems to beg a story. If the rocket launcher, the
jet pack, the Wookiee pelts, the dented helmet and the flame thrower could
talk, what tales would they tell?
Lately, Fett has been trying to dispatch his greatest enemy: overexposure.
Polarity exists within the fan community. Opinions range from "I'm
sick of that stupid bounty hunter," to "Why don't you rename
your magazine the Boba Fett Insider?" In fact some jaded Star Wars
hipsters have jumped Fett's ship completely, renouncing the king of Star
Wars cool, and gravitating towards "The Cult of Bib Fortuna",
or that of some other obscure Star Wars character. While there are still
legions of dedicated Fett fans out there, the fact is that Fett's rocketing
popularity is now threatening his coolness quotient in the eyes of some
old school Star Wars Aficionados.
Before it all gets out of hand, the Star Wars Insider decided to take
a long hard look at the fictional entity that Tom Veitch has so affectionately
referred to as "The Fett-meister". Some of the most creative
minds in the Star Wars Universe were gracious enough to offer us their
opinion on Boba Fett. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed
putting it together.
artist
Of all the characters in the Star Wars films, the one character that
leaves you wanting more is Boba Fett. I find him interesting because he
was important to the plot for the second and third films, yet remained
elusive and mysterious because of the lack of background information on
him.
I always thought that it would be a great plot twist if it were revealed
that the bounty hunter was actually a women with whom Han Solo had been
involved. It would have added texture and intricacy to Solo's background,
and a nice little surprise in the story.
Artistically, I find the design of Boba Fett's costume intriguing.
It provides great contrast to the costuming of the main characters, which
remained black or white or neutral earth tones. Here is an individual that
wears a variety of colors, and has a richness of detail in his costume.
The addition of curious emblems and insignia on the armor also adds an
air of mystery to Boba Fett, and fills the viewer with the urge to learn
more about the bounty hunter.
For me, the inventiveness of the costume combined with the enigmatic
nature of the character always adds an interesting and fun perspective
to the artwork.
actor
Having been an actor for all these years, Boba Fett was just another
job to do. For the very first time I was behind a mask. What's extraordinary
is that I played Shakespeare's Hamlet when I was 19, but I've gotten more
recognition by putting on a mask than I ever did from doing that. Which
made me wonder; perhaps the best thing you can do is walk around with a
mask because you get more recognition by being hidden. With all the really
hard work you do with Shakespeare plays, and comedy plays, people say "Oh
yes I saw you in that. It was wonderful, but you were terrific as Boba
Fett," They say this immediately, even people you wouldn't think would
be interested in Star Wars.
People ask me" Were you upset that you ended up in the Sarlacc
Pit in Return of the Jedi?", and I say, well of course I was. I've
had a theory over the years that he's still in there, and of course he
has his jetpack so he can get out like they've done in the comics. But
instead he thinks, "It's not to bad down here," and he's decided
to open a night club. So with Mrs. Fett, or his girlfriend, he's opened
a public sauna, a hotel, and a very nice night club and he's earning quite
a lot of money. He could fly out of the pit if he'd like, but he's actually
having quite a nice life, thank you.
author/collector
I somehow missed the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, so I was first
introduced to Boba as a mail-away Kenner premium. I loved the design of
his armor, his missile-firing backpack (rendered useless by product-safety
fears) and his unusual ship, the Slave-1. Even cooler was the 12 inch Boba
Fett doll, uh, action figure, with such add-ons as Wookiee pelts. This
was some mean dude, and the copy from Kenner said he was going to be a
major character in The Empire Strikes Back. So I went to the theater and
waited. I can remember that my only disappointment with the film - and
a minor one it was - was the fact that Mr. Fett was one of the most minor
of characters. Still, he was the ice king, the Colonel of cool. It's the
mystery that surrounds him that makes him capable of being just about anything
we want him to be.
author
"Who was that masked man?" The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, the
Lone Ranger, Ghost Rider, the Shadow, the Spirit, Catwoman, Batman - the
list is long and these but a few on it. These are the masked heroes, or
anti-heroes, and they have always had a high place in our mythologies.
These are the men (and sometimes women) of mystery. These are the enigmas,
the skulkers in the dark, anonymous doers of deeds, righters of wrongs;
the here-be-dragons and don't-tread-on-me kind of folks. Really good...or
really bad...
What makes them so appealing? Could be a lot of reasons, but the big
one is that those masks give us lots of room for our own dreams. Shoot,
it might be anybody under there, you can't see his face, after all, so
it could be anybody - even you. Maybe you could be a dashing character,
admired, respected, lusted after, going your own way and living by your
own codes. Possessor of a secret identity that allows you to kick butt
and take names and devil grab the stragglers. And if you get tired of it,
you can shuck the suit, pull on a T-shirt and jeans and toodle on down
to the local cantina to have a brew without anybody being the wiser.
It does have certain appeal. There are many masks is Star Wars, from
the stormtroopers to the Imperial guards, to, of course, the masque o'
masques His self, Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith has quite a few
admirers of his own. He is tough, powerful, dangerous. It is easy to see
why he would have a legion of fans.
But why Boba Fett? He is a minor character who gets eaten by a toothed
hole in the desert early in Return of the Jedi. A bounty hunter who says
little, does little - he didn't "capture" Han Solo, after all,
Vader gave Han to him - and yet Fett is so well-regarded that the writers
in the Star Wars universe brought him back from the belly of the beast
(in the books and the stories, at least) and fans can't seem to get enough
of him. He's been given a past and life beyond what he's earned on his
own.
Maybe it is because Boba Fett is, in his own way, even more mysterious
than Vader. We know so little about him he becomes a tabular rasa, a mostly
empty canvas on which we can paint pretty much whatever we wish. He's a
generic anit-hero we can plug ourselves into and go hang out at Jabba's
palace drinking the Hutt's hootch and listening to the band as events of
galactic importance unfold.
There are worse places to be. I've been asked (more than a few times)
why there isn't more Boba Fett in the novel Shadows of the Empire. He's
on the back cover for chrissake, why don't we get to see him in action?
Well, that's simple: he's so popular that even before that folks involved
with the Shadows project sat down at Skywalker Ranch to carve it into portions,
the folks at Dark Horse had already jumped up and laid claim on the bounty
hunter, much like your older brother when he yells "Shotgun"
and grabs the front window seat. Like Yoda calling "Mine! Mine!"
Dark Horse snatched Fett away from the rest of us before we could even
blink.
I really don't mind - I had Vader, Xizor, the Emperor, as well as Luke,
Leia, Chewy, and Lando, plus some new characters I got to contribute. So
Fett stars in the comics, and that's where I think he shines best. He does,
after all, look cool in his T-visor. A man of mystery behind that helmet,
shoot, he could be anybody. Maybe even you...?
actor
What I like about Boba Fett is he doesn't interrupt me when I'm speaking.
Anyway, a man with a tin head can't be all bad!
author
RETURN OF THE FETT-MEISTER
When we started working on Dark Empire in 1988, we knew we could bring
back the Emperor, but nobody said anything to us about bringing back Boba
Fett.
As I worked on the plot, I researched fan feelings in Bennington, Vermont,
where the Star Wars role-playing game was all the rage. Out of those heated
discussions, one theme predominated: Bring back Boba Fett.
Encouragement also came from another direction - the artist Cam Kennedy
was the world's number one Boba Fett fan. Kennedy's gear-laden warriors,
which he began drawing in for British comics in the early 80's, were blood
brothers to the Fett. Cam loved the image of a man draped in weapons, ammo
belts, leather pouches, and lots of mysterious metal junk.
So we put Fett in the script. And LucasFilm never said no. The part
about the Sarlacc finding Fett "indigestible" was a joke, sort
of. We left the explanation for how he actually escaped to the imagination
of fandom. (Later, Michael Horne constructed a possible scenario for West
End Game's Dark Empire Sourcebook.) Then, when the comics were published,
fan reaction rolled in, and the audience were clearly divided. Some of
the most vehement opinions were voiced on the Fidonet Star Wars BBS, where
I was a guest for about six months or so, arguing Star Wars minutiae. Opinion
seemed to run about 60-40 against Fett's return. I voiced four main arguments
why Boba Fett had to live, and I'll give them to you now:
1. We saw Fett fall into the Sarlacc in ROTJ, but we never saw him
die. The second law of action serials is "If you don't see them die,
they are not dead". (Lest we forget, the roots of Star Wars are in
Saturday morning serials that Lucas used to watch as a kid).
2. Too often writers of licensed properties come up with surrogate
villains who are only pale copies of the originals. I wanted, whereever
possible, to use the adrenaline-charged originals. (I also wanted to use
a Vader costume, with somebody new inside it, but they said no to that.
But beloved Fett was a go.)
3. Fett disappeared leaving a mystery behind him. Who was he? Where
did he come from? Why was he so feared? Where did he get that cool armor?
In storytelling you just don't throw away a good mysterious character before
his time.
4. Last, but not least, I wanted to see Cam Kennedy and Dave Dorman
do Boba Fett. That's been my main pleasure in writing comics - seeing how
great artists interpret great characters. And these two guys really delivered
the goods.
To those of you who think Boba Fett should have stayed in the belly
of the beast, I can only reply, LONG LIVE FETT!
author
In Return of the Jedi, Boba Fett's silent nod across the throne room
chills me. It's a fangs-bared salute. Another predator brought down the
prey he was chasing, then bullied Jabba into accepting terms - and Fett
doesn't like it either. He'll be watching Boushh, but for the moment, he
acknowledges the catch.
author
Boba Fett is the closest thing to a superhero in the Star Wars universe,
though he always seems to be portrayed in a bad light. Bounty hunter in
general have gotten a bad rap, but Fett is a man of strong character and
a rigid adherence to his personal code of honor.
He does not lightly agree to take on a bounty assignment. But once
he does, he dovotes his utmost to the task. Though a man of few words,
Boba Fett is smart, resourceful, persistent and always manages to have
a trick or two up his sleeve. Perhaps because he has to view the world
through a very narrow and rigidly defined slit in his Mandalorian armor,
Fett doesn't easily get distracted by irrelevant details.
Han Solo, on the other hand, is the worst sort of bounty, someone Fett
would be glad to remove. Not only is Solo a smuggler and a drug runner
(hauling glitterstim spice for the gangster Jabba The Hutt), he is unreliable
(drops his cargo at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser), arrogant (sits
in a popular cantina when he knows full well there's a price on his head),
underhanded (shoots from under the table), a braggart (please don't tell
us about that Kessel run one more time), and a turncoat (leaves the Imperial
academy, breaks the law by being a smuggler, then joins the Rebel Alliance).
From Boba Fett's perspective, Solo must be quite a despicable human being!
Any reports to the contrary must be New Republic propaganda.
director
It's just a name. He was not important in Empire, which I did. And he
was not a character I had to deal with. So anything I'd say about him would
be secondhand.
Boba Fett seems to be memorable. The name is a good one. George has
a way with names. I don't know where he gets them. It was a fun character.
The concept is important. We made him look like he'd been through hell.
He's not really a character however. Boba Fett is a frightening dramatic
element to create tension which puts Han Solo in danger. The concept worked
dramatically. The idea of a bounty hunter means someone who will never
give up. Also, a bounty hunter has lots of experience. When you think of
a bounty hunter you don't think of someone starting out in the business.
That's why we made him look like he had been through hell. I guess the
look was okay 'cause certainly the dolls have sold.
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