I’ve been re-reading through this thread, and I just want to again point out how great this idea is. It transformes Boba from Jabba’s employee to a bounty hunter on a mission who is only in Jabba’s palace for a specific reason, not to be bossed around.
RogueLeader said:
So, I was thinking of alternate ways to better connect the opening scene with Vader to the rest of the first act Jabba sequence without removing that scene or ruining a lot of the mystery surrounding the rescue mission, and then this idea hit me:
Vader: The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.
Vader walks away from the shocked officer and exits the hangar. Vader continues down a hallway and onto an elevator. We wipe to to Vader in his meditation chamber. His chair spins around to the face the view screen on the wall. It flickers with static and then reveals the helmeted face of Boba Fett. It appears he is within or outside Jabba’s palace.
Vader: Skywalker will come for Captain Solo. I want him alive, bounty hunter.
Boba Fett: As you wish.
The view screen flickers off and we wipe to Tatooine, where we see the droids approaching the palace.
This idea accomplishes a few things. First, we create a stronger narrative through line between the first scene with Vader on the Death Star and the entire Jabba sequence. It doesn’t take away from any of the mystery of the first act because Luke coming to rescue Han is established in the opening crawl. Plus, we’re adding a brand new scene rather than deleting anything. I think this is a clearer way to establish that Boba Fett is trying to capture Luke for Vader than to try and insert vague Boba dialogue that might just stick out. Also, Vader and Boba communicating through view screens is reminiscent of how they communicated with each other in the Holiday Special, so it is a funny little parallel to that.