Boba Fett in RotJ seems to be the point where Lucas started putting things in his movies to reference other movies, and I had the same reaction I did to the references to the OOT in the PT. At first I thought lines like "You're going to be the death of me" and seeing the Death Star in the PT were awesome, and nothing could be better. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is completely pointless and fanboyish to refer to the other better movies before they happen. Especially since we're supposed to watch them in numerical order, where you wouldn't get the jokes they're making until after they happen. I don't want to be watching Vader and Obi-Wan duel in ANH and remember Obi-Wan's haunting words "You're going to be the death of me" as he disappears.

As for Fett not doing much in Empire, the thing is that without him tracking down the Falcon to Cloud City, the last third of the movie wouldn't happen. In RotJ, if Fett didn't flirt with the dancer and fall into the Sarlacc, um, nothing would have changed. His death doesn't have to be a blaze of glory, but Lucas is just ruining our remembrance of better movies by killing him with one of the Three Stooges.

Here I am going off on a RotJ/PT tangent after getting yelled at about it just a few pages back...