The Book of Boba Fett is a masterclass in Star Wars storytelling

The Book of Boba Fett ★★★★½
Disney+,on demand

A lot has happened in the decades since we all sat,wide-eyed,in the cinema as the screen lit up with the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far,far away ...”. Since then,the scale of theStar Wars franchise has sometimes seemed overwhelming. Movie piled upon movie,trilogy piled upon trilogy,action sequence piled upon action sequence. And way too many toys for one (big) little kid to collect.

At the same time,theStar Wars universe still seems preciously small. It is not as big asDoctor Who,which is onto its umpteenth Doctor and having churned out seasons of episodes every year since 1963,barring what we politely call its interregnum in the 1990s. And it is not as big asStar Trek,which has cranked out a dozen or more movies and now close to 10 television series spin-offs,going boldly in every direction.

Star Wars,in contrast,at least in the live action realm,has just 11 movies to its name (13 if you include the two Ewok-themed telemovies). And on top of that,a scant few new additions,notably Jon Favreau’s masterwork western-thriller,The Mandalorian. Though more are coming:Obi-Wan Kenobi,Andor,Ahsoka and others. The paucity of live actionStar Wars perhaps explains why even its worst iterations,such as 1978 shockerStar Wars Holiday Special,still fascinate us,even after all these years.

The problem with theStar Wars franchise’s storytelling,however,is that every time it hits a bump in the road,the tendency has been to defensively go big. George Lucas’ prequels were digital epics. Huge pod races. Gigantic lightsaber duels. J.J. Abrams’ sequels were de-digitised but up-scaled:super-duper Death Stars,and then Death-Starry super-duper Star Destroyers. Everything was Texas-grade big,as though J.R.,and not J.J.,had made it. So big,in fact,they split their seams,creatively and narratively,and the fandom along with it.

In stark contrast,The Book of Boba Fett,the second of Favreau’s post-original trilogy space westerns,is a masterclass in the benefits of economy in storytelling. It might seem contrary to the laws of theStar Wars universe,but bigger is rarely better.The Mandalorian delivered episodes as short as 30-and-a-few minutes long because that was how much time the story needed. Another filmmaker might have dipped into Lucasfilm’s bank and shoved in an over-cooked FX sequence.

Favreau (and director Robert Rodriguez) also teach a masterclass in pace.The Book of Boba Fett is all about pace. It slowly unfurls a more literal western thanThe Mandalorian,picking up the story as Fett (Temuera Morrison) has taken over the criminal empire of Jabba the Hutt,last seen being strangled to death by a bronze bikini-clad Princess Leia in 1983’sReturn of the Jedi. And it unfurls at the pace of the opening act of a western. The first episode is directed by Rodriguez but it’s so true to its genre,it could have been Sergio Leone at the helm.

With assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) at his side,Fett intends,he says,to rule the Tatooine underworld by winning respect,and not by spreading fear. And,y’know,maybe a healthy dose of nostalgia,too. Everywhere you look here,there are 1977Star Wars touches,from the cantina and its iconic band,Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes – how good was that calypso-cantina musical motif? – to the scavenging Jawas,their “Sandcrawler” and Jabba’s surviving droid henchman,the narrow-faced 8D8.

But the show also features a flashback storyline which doubles down on the 1977Star Wars nostalgia so hard it’s like Favreau and Rodriguez are playing a game of Sabaac with the audience in a dusty saloon in the backstreets of Mos Eisley:explaining how Fett survived falling into the giant Sarlacc creature buried in the Tatooine desert,and writing him a new interim history involving the Tusken Raiders,the gaffi stick-wielding nomadic nightmares of Tatooine’s desert. And it reaps rewards. Plugging into 1977Star Wars nostalgia is solid business. That’s whyRogue One worked,for example,andSolo did not.

In the show’s favour,too,is that despite his immense popularity,very little is known of Boba Fett. Aside from a largely forgotten animated introduction in theStar Wars Holiday Special,and brief appearances inThe Empire Strikes Back andReturn of the Jedi,his story was not really told until he was re-introduced inThe Mandalorian,when Morrison fully took on the role. (Before that,Morrison played Fett’s father,Jango,and the soldiers cloned off him in the prequels;the original trilogy Boba Fett was played by British actor Jeremy Bulloch.)

Boba Fett is a “character that was always under-served”,Rodriguez toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “It was a character way more popular than he should have been,based on[his limited screen time]. So it’s almost like starting with an original character. You can kind of do anything you want,so long as you make him cool and don’t make him a buffoon.”

The Book of Boba Fett is streaming on Disney+.

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