The Twins have arrived to lay claim to their cousin, Jabba, and his former empire. They have brought along Black Krrsantan who eyes Boba Fett similar to Boba Fett in the Special Edition, just looks and walks on. The Tusken flashback had Boba train with a gaffi stick, take on a Nikto gang, and take their speeder bikes. He taught the Sand People to ride the bikes to halt a hover train that had took random shots at their people. Then, Boba told the Pykes, the Clone Wars alien altered here, to send a message. In celebration, the Tusken leader gave Boba a lizard that went up his nose to lead him. He has a fever dream to find a tree branch which he returns to make into his gaderffii stick. Now, he is “part of the tribe”, nub yub.
The Tatooine morning has a skittery, BT-16 spider droid, walking up a hill next to the palace. The movement is jittery, like bad CG, possibly to replicate the stop motion effect. In Return of the Jedi, it was in the background walking like puppet rods so this walk cycle is different. 8D8 is showing the business that were controlled by Jabba with a hologram showing Mos Espa. The droid tries to say “he who will not be named”, since he feels his new master would not want to hear Jabba’s name. 8D8 explains that after Jabba’s death, three families took control of the protection racket; the city center was controlled by the Trandoshans, we saw them at the walk to Mayor Mok Shaiz, the Aqualish watch over the Worker’s District to the upper left side of the map, and the Klatoonians muscle over the starport, the lower left side of the city including the large spire. He goes on to say Bib Fortuna tried to keep his rule together with alliances, but this went to the Mayor.
Fennec wants to check on the Hutts, this strategy meeting should have been done in the first episode. A Gamorrean guard, unnamed, walks into the hall and says something in its squealing language. He looks like a heavy set Gamorrean so I think this is Gabby. He is noting that there is the arrival of a vassal. It is a bearded man who says he is Lortha Peel, a water-monger from the Worker’s District. I easily recognize Stephen Root, character actor, who was Milton from Office Space (1999). Too many comedians are cast in supporting roles with this show. Is the Book of Boba Fett a comedy? He brings up that Tatooine once had seas something Boba was told about from the Tuskens. Is this gonna be like Dune, “changing the face of Arrakis?” Lortha informs Boba that the disrespect towards him has turned the streets into chaos which we didn’t see at Mos Espa. His petition is about the young street gang stealing his water he sells for moisture farmers.
Lortha says that the gang are cyborgs, we have seen cyborg modifications like the AJ^6 cyborg construct with the silent Lobot, continuing to add parts is similar to Star Trek’s Borg as the Borg Queen said, “evolving toward a state of perfection” and also what led to Doctor Who’s Cybermen. The water monger says he will double his tribute to Boba. So these are small steps to get control of the city. Night at Mos Espa, Boba’s group walks the street, the set looks like something out of Beastmaster. They pass various aliens like Jawas and reach a group around a fire with their custom swoop bikes, the vehicles are snub speeders, first appearing in the Legends book, Han Solo's Revenge (1979). Boba asks them about their water. A woman with purple hair, Drash (Sophie Thatcher), says they stole the water. I kinda like her, she reminds me of Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders, probably intentional.
She of course disrespects him, really Boba needs to discipline this street tough, but he lets her get away with it. A guy, Skad (Jordan Bolger) with a very Borg cyborg eye complete with cable and light says that water monger overcharges them. He takes off his helmet, again, and says they should work for him. Lortha runs out and wants 1,300 credits, Boba has Fennec throw him 500 credits, and Fennec has them head to the palace for work. Night outside of the palace, we have a rodent-like nuna taken up by a beastie and both are lapped up by the tongue of a Worrt who burps, nothing new to see here. We get the healing pod of Boba Fett, maybe he can flashback to more interesting times. He sees the night seas of Kamino as Slave-I leaves the landing pad. Then, Tusken Boba is on a bantha, nodding farewells to the tribe. He crosses the desert and then enters Mos Eisley. He asks Jawas about where to find the Pykes. Nothing about his armor?
Stormtrooper helmets are placed on spikes, The Mandalorian reference. There are Pyke guards, but Boba is allowed inside the building. Boba asks the Pyke boss, in blue robes (Phil LaMarr), if he got the message. LaMarr is an excellent voice actor and he gives gravitas to the crime boss, really missing from this show. He has contacted Oba Diah, the Pyke homeworld, and while Boba asks for the protection money, the leader says the Kintan Striders, the Nikto gang, have already collected their money. They are named for the burly creature with a club in the holo game, dejarik, in the first Star Wars. Boba says he will take care of the Niktos. By the way, old reference, the Return of the Jedi aliens were named after the alien Klaatu who says the phrase in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), "Klaatu Barada Nikto." Handy if you want to get the Necronomicon. Klaatu is the name of a green Nikto, Barada is the name of the dog-faced Klatooinian, Niktos are dry skinned aliens with spikes on their faces.
He heads off to the desert, the Bantha tracks show footprints, but not the tail dragging on the sand. There is smoke in the distance, Boba hustles over, and finds the Tusken camp destroyed. He sees Sand People bodies including the warrior in black, and also the symbol of the Kintan Striders. Then, he sets a funeral pyre for his former tribe. It fades to green and we see Boba back at the healing chamber. Suddenly, he is pulled out by hairy hands, it’s Black Krrsantan, oh no! He uses electric spiked knuckles, you know he’s tough when he uses weapons against an unarmed and near naked opponent. Drash walks up and shanks him because this gladiator is aware of his surroundings. The Wookie sees the Gamorrean guards and tackles them into the throne room. Fennec Shand must be sleeping, not too aware of intruders, but finally activates the Rancor door.
The Wookie holds onto the trapdoor which Luke wasn’t able to do, but Fennec throws a knife from her rifle. Boba appears in a robe and orders the injured Gamorrean guard to his bacta tank. The Wookie roars. The next morning, Fennec is enjoying the bountiful food including roasted nuna, which looks like the Skeksis table from Dark Crystal (1982). 8D8 informs Boba about the arrival of the Twins. They apologize and have brought a gift, a restrained rancor on a hover platform, operated by Robert Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo, Machete (2010) on Tatooine. Later, he mentions the Witches of Dathomir, the planet, witches, and rancor riding were all in the Legends novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton. The elements of it became canon with Clone Wars.
Boba Fett says he will consider it a truce if they leave Tatooine. The Twins bring up they were lied to by Mayor Mok Shaiz. I kinda like the Twins here, bored of Tatooine, they want to go back to the Nal Hutta fun. A Gamorrean guard takes out Black Krrsantan, but the Twins say he should be sold back to the gladiators. They leave and Boba frees the Wookie. If you like the mayor’s majordomo and the annoying desk clerk, there’s more including a goofy chase out of the Keystone Cops. They manage to rip through a Jabba painting, based on the Ralph McQuarrie artwork for Jedi! The problem with this series may be that it was not developed long enough, it feels rushed and incomplete. The Book of Boba Fett is a slow read and needs to tighten up the story threads.
Three Thrones of Boba Fett out of Five!
#TheBookOfBobaFett, #TheStreetsOfMosEspa, #StephenRoot, #SophieThatcher, #JordanBolger, #PhilLaMarr, #DannyTrejo
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