Only just seen this bad news about Moth3r. Sorry to hear about your loss broth3r, and he was certainly missed around here after his absence. Thanks for getting in touch about him.
Man, very sorry to just find out about this.
Just want to add my appreciation here for oojason’s huge contributions to this site which will be useful long into the future. And thanks for your quick responses to any queries I had too. Good luck to you, and thanks again.
Looking back through the entire original post, it seems to invite comments/ideas on a wide range of ground to do with the featured movie or previous edits of it - and while most people will naturally have their own ‘subjective’ views of what they prefer concerning different aspects, I’ll be interested to see everyone’s current thoughts and comments on each of these ongoing topics.
So although I can only offer some of my own preferences when time allows, hopefully there may be an idea or two that others might like amongst them.
As far as what subject to cover next, your ‘Index’ doesn’t necessarily need to be in ‘chronological’ order (or even ‘monthly’), as I’m sure you’ll cover the rest of the prequels, etc. eventually…so mix things up in whatever order makes things easiest for yourself.
EddieDean, I agree with evansj1983’s comments, and found your idea to focus on various movies in the franchise (and TV shows as well eventually?) to be very worthwhile too.
So I hope that you will consider continuing with your proposed ‘Index’ of individual threads, as I think they are a useful addition here, and I especially liked the way you laid out your helpful ‘scene overview’ descriptions for your initial topic concerning The Phantom Menace.
I had hoped to add some things to the first thread in your ‘Index’ within the next few days, and afterwards too eventually. And the same with the rest of your forthcoming threads, when time allowed. I’m sure others would still have things to add on each topic too, after the initial ‘monthly’ conversations have passed. Still, I’ll wait to see what you decide, and thanks for your efforts.
So the final episode of THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT was another uneven mix of highs and lows for me, and I’d find it difficult to re-watch the entire show in it’s existing form again, due to the amount of things that niggled me along the way. However, there were some moments here and there that I really liked too…but it would take a LOT of snipping and rearranging throughout the show to minimise the things that irked me, and to give it a tone more to my own taste overall. For example, a simple thing would be to remove certain moments of Boba’s dialogue, so that he’s less ‘chatty’ and remains more of the ‘silent type’ overall. And trimming some of the 'scooter gang’s dialogue would definitely help too…
It feels like THE MANDALORIAN show’s storyline is completely interlinked with this show now…and vice versa…and fans of Mando and Boba would really need to watch BOTH shows to get a complete insight on events involving these characters. Which was a deliberate intention by Disney’s writers I guess, although I’d prefer to rearrange some of the Mando/Grogu-centric scenes away from THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT’s storyline somewhat. But I’ll wait to see how Season 3 of THE MANDALORIAN pans out, to get a better idea of the way I’d choose to go about that.
It’s a pity that the Tusken tribe was completely wiped out, as I’d liked to have seen them being involved in fighting the Pyke Syndicate alongside Boba and co.
Although I was aware of what the Cad Bane ‘cowboy bounty hunter’ character looked like, he was just an ‘Expanded Universe’-type character I wasn’t invested in, due to never having watched The Clone Wars animated show. However, he fitted in pretty well playing the familiar ‘bad gun-for-hire’ role for this, and came across as an effectively creepy opponent for Boba I thought.
I generally liked a lot of what we saw concerning the Rancor too, although I’d prefer to cut down on the giant ‘Terminator’-like droids and ‘scooter gang’ antics somewhat. I’m curious to see how season 3 OF THE MANDALORIAN is going to start off, now that a ‘Force-trained’ Grogu is back in the mix with Mando.
There’s plenty of ways that THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT could be re-edited, but no matter what, one thing I’d DEFINITELY prefer to change is the way that the show concludes…
While the final scene of ‘Grogu’ getting a joyride in Mando’s ship was a fun moment to end on, I really disliked the overly-‘cuddly’ scenes of Boba and Fennec mingling with the locals down ‘mainstreet’ and meeting with the ‘scooter gang’ as our last moments with them…so I’d DITCH all of that, as there was already a perfect ending for me before that…where we instead have our final scene with Boba showing him killing Cad Bane then walking away…as we then see Mando failing to control the Rancor before ‘Grogu’ subdues it and falls asleep…and the show’s finale eventually ends with the neat scene of Fennec assassinating the syndicate bosses, the corrupt Mayor, and the Pyke leader…as she exits up the steps, and the door closes behind her to darkness…
So that’s the tone I’d prefer to end this show on compared to the existing one, as the music fades down at this point and we then CUT to the ‘Directed by Robert Rodriguez’ end credit, and the end artwork shots begin.
(and then I’d prefer to REPLACE the ‘Cobb Vanth in bacta tank/MOD-ifier guy’ scene with the humorous ‘Grogu getting a joyride in Mando’s ship’ scene before we return to the rest of the end credits)
Some very good points as usual from others around here. Well the 6th episode had some neat moments along the way, but it was yet another mixed bag for me overall.
The ‘cliffhanger’ that this penultimate episode ended on - ‘Grogu’ having to CHOOSE between learning to be a Jedi or rejoining Mando - is going to be the most important indication of how season 3 of THE MANDALORIAN is going to turn out. If ‘Grogu’ decides to stay with Luke, then Mando will be freed up to have adventures on his own without having to worry about having the child around anymore. Perhaps he could end up more like a ‘lone wolf’ kind of character, or perhaps end up with some other form of sidekick partner eventually? Either way, the show might feel refreshed somewhat if it goes down this route.
Additionally. we wouldn’t need to see ‘Grogu’ (or ‘deepfake’ Luke) again if he chooses this option. and the implication would be that ‘Grogu’ MIGHT be one of the students that were eventually massacred by Kylo and his followers in THE LAST JEDI movie… And seeing as Luke is portrayed as being dogmatic about the established Jedi ‘rules’ of ‘attachments’ in this latest episode, it adds weight to him beating himself up so much when we see him in that movie - adding to the impression that when he rails against the dogma of the Jedi order to Rey, he’s actually railing against himself and his own dogmatic ‘teaching’ failures too, and has understandably been brought low and cynical by the deaths it resulted in. Despite disliking the direction that the Sequel Trilogy storyline took with Luke and other characters, there’s a part of me that wishes that Disney and co. would go down this ‘dark’ route, and retire the cutesy character of ‘Grogu’ altogether at this point, to allow for this possible scenario to tie-in with THE LAST JEDI’s ‘training temple’ outcome. Hell, they were content enough to kill off ALL three of our main heroes from the Original Trilogy after all, so why not?
But the kids needn’t worry, as the chances of that happening are ZILCH…because there’s ongoing ‘Grogu’ merchandising to consider, no doubt…and a ‘starfighter’ toy with little Mando and ‘Grogu’ figures in it WOULD look pretty neat I suppose… 😉
During the previous episode, the mechanic Peli Motto made a point of saying that she had ‘hollowed out’ the space where an ‘astromech droid’ would normally fit on Mando’s ‘starfighter’…so as sure as ‘Grogu’ is green, I’m gonna guess that he WON’T end up wanting to be a Jedi after all…and that we will see him merrily whizzing around with Mando once again, come that show’s next season…
I just felt sad for the little guy for being made to ‘choose’ one or the other in the first place…as you just know that he desperately wanted a shot of that little lightsaber!
Anyway, the final episode is also going to determine how good an ending THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT show is getting, and I don’t mind admitting that I’m kinda nervous seeing as it’s another one by Robert Rodriquez! Hopefully he (and the writers) have come up with something better than his 2 previous episodes - the ‘MOD gang’ has been very muted since their initial appearance thankfully, and I just hope he doesn’t go overboard with any involvement they may have in this last episode. Someone on another site wished the youths had been given a more grungy, ‘Mad Max’-look to them and their bikes overall, rather than looking like something from a trendy ‘Coruscant’ fashion show…and I agree.
So we’ll soon find out if this particular show goes out on a high or not…but either way. I reckon that THE MANDALORIAN show in general is now inextricably linked with this one, and that fans of Mando and ‘Grogu’ really need to watch BOTH shows to understand things better - especially if Mando and a ‘chainmail’-wearing ‘Grogu’ start off their next season adventures in the ‘starfighter’. Still, anything could happen in the finale of THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, so I’ll be watching with interest.
As far as the ‘facial look’ of Luke’s scenes in episode 6 go - although not all of them were 100% convincing, there were some that I thought were truly excellent. And some of the musical moments were really great during those scenes too, I thought. I wonder if these were 'Shamook’s first ‘official’ deepfake efforts since joining Lucasfilm? Some terrific work overall, but having studied those scenes a little more, I reckon I’d prefer to shorten some of them to remove the less effective shots I wasn’t too keen on, while retaining the ones I liked best. It’s pretty straightforward to do it the way I’d like.
In fact, there’s SO MANY potential ways that the entire show could be cut and re-arranged, that I might play around with more sections of it for fun, if the final episode makes it worthwhile for me. For instance, although I showed a possible way to alter the show’s opening scenes more to my liking back on page 10, there’s a very different style of opening I’d prefer to see now - INSTEAD of showing Boba having ‘flashbacks’ in his ‘bacta tank’ right from the off…I quite like the notion of the first episode starting in a much more straightforward, ‘linear’ way before that aspect of the show is introduced…which would involve kicking things off with a drastically cut-down version of Boba’s ‘Sarlacc escape’ which leaves it open-ended about HOW he actually got out…
We begin like this…
…then once the familiar blue wording fades to black, we open with twin suns against a blue sky, as we pan down to a certain desolate part of Tatooine…
…but instead of seeing Boba’s hand burst through the sand, we CUT to hearing heavy breathing from inside a familiar helmet as the music kicks in at this point…and we see an exhausted Boba collapse to the ground, as the music fades down again…
…then things continue normally as per the episode, as we transition to a Sandcrawler coming across Jabba’s barge wreckage at night, as the Jawas then steal Boba’s armour and knock him out…
…and then we continue on as normal, as the Tuskens come across Boba and take him back to their camp as a prisoner…as THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT titles appear…and Boba (who’s now shackled) then gets tormented by a group of young Tuskens, and gets stamped on his head, as everything goes dark…
…and at some point AFTER all this, I’d eventually introduce the fact that Boba is actually having ‘flashbacks’ of his desert experiences from inside a ‘bacta tank’ somewhere inside Jabba’s palace…and would have his first PRESENT DAY storyline ‘flashback’ be the scene of him and Fenec Shand infiltrating Jabba’s palace and killing Bib Fortuna, as he then takes Bib’s throne for himself…before eventually being wakened by Fennec…
But I hope to elaborate on all that and more on another thread someday, and in the meantime, it just remains to be seen if we get any more ‘scooter gang’ antics in the final episode, or not… 😉
IMPORTANT NOTE - if anyone wishes to comment on any of this, please DO NOT re-‘quote’ the entire post. Thanks!
I know it is a cliché, but I think Boba’s character change could’ve been better explained, and been interesting, if he got amnesia while he was in the Sarlacc. I know Legends had this idea that sarlaccs could assimilate the thoughts and memories of their victims, so there could’ve been a lore explanation to it. So when he wakes up in the desert, without his armor, he has no idea who he is or how he really got there. Then he begins living with the Tuskens and the story could play out similarly.
But when he saves Fennec, she recognizes him and reveals him who he is. This would give us an opportunity to have flashbacks of Boba Fett in his prime hunting days, which we’ve actually never seen in live action if you think about it. Boba really doesn’t do much in the OT, so it could’ve been a good opportunity to see where Boba got his reputation as a “cold-blooded killer”, and the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.
And more importantly to the narrative, we can see how Boba reacts to the contrast of who he used to be and who he is now, and see how he integrates his new life with his old one.
But I do think the story works well as-is, but I think it would’ve helped if we got a better understanding of who he was before he fell into the pit to understand how the desert really changed him.
Very much agree that a fully fleshed out ‘amnesia’ plot could have been a great way to show some terrific ‘flashback’ moments of Boba’s past ‘bounty hunting’ exploits, as well as better ‘explain’ why he ended up searching the ‘Sarlacc’ for his armour.
As it stands, I just want to great rid of that particular ‘Sarlacc’ sequence altogether, due to it not being clear that he somehow forgot that he DIDN’T emerge from the beast in only his ‘long johns’. A pity, as it was a pretty neat-looking sequence overall. But the notion that he can’t remember that he got out wearing his armour just seems implausible, the way things were shown in the first episode. Luckily, it would be straightforward to remove that scene without impacting on the episode in any way.
The latest 6th episode has thrown up plenty for me to think about too, and I’ll go into some thoughts on that when I have some time soon.
I liked a lot of the Mando-centric episode 5, despite the overly-goofy Peli Motto mechanic dialogue dragging things down for me.
Humour is subjective of course, but I really disliked the nonsense about her having ‘dated a jawa’ in the past. That was the lowest point of the episode for me.
There’s plenty of straightforward ways to trim and re-edit this show into something more to my taste however, so let’s see what the remaining 2 episodes bring…
Isn’t that a Revenge of the Sith deleted scene? If there was one made for Phantom Menace though, I’ll add it in.
Ha ha, forgive me, it is indeed a ROTS deleted scene - I typed that out when I was very tired last night! 😄
I’m trying to present this section from an ‘editor’s perspective’, highlighting the key plot points, structure, character development and interactions, topics of dialogue, scene linkages, references, etc. It’s in as close to original order as possible, with cut scenes placed in roughly the right place. Let me know if there’s anything relevant that I’ve missed.
EddieDean, I look forward to adding a thing or three to your ongoing series of topic threads eventually.
Just a little thing for now, but can you also include a description of the ‘deleted scene’ of Yoda arriving at Dagobah in this one too? - while I have my own firm preference of how I’d like to see it incorporated into a re-edit of the movie, perhaps you could just add it at the bottom of your scene descriptions if you don’t have a preference of your own. It’s not readily obvious where it should go, as there’s optional places to put it if anyone chooses to include it.
EDIT - Doh!, ignore this post everyone…I got very mixed up late last night, and this ISN’T a deleted scene from TPM, lol.
EddieDean, I’ve just come across this excellent ideas/discussion ‘INDEX’ notion that you’ve come up with, and can see that you’ve put a lot of thought and effort into your first topic descriptions which focus on THE PHANTOM MENACE movie initially.
Great stuff, and you’re laying things out very comprehensively which will prove useful as this progresses.
I look forward to seeing what gets posted on each of your individual topic threads eventually, and hope to add a few of my own ‘personally subjective’ thoughts and ideas at some point, when time allows.
Thanks for your time and efforts with this - oojason will approve, I’m sure! 😃
I presume Boba suffered from some oxygen starvation and his memory of escaping the Sarlacc was swiss cheesed as a result. There may have not have been much air left in that dead trooper’s suit to begin with.
Indeed SilverWook, that’s the only kinda explanation that makes any sense of the existing footage in this show, if I were to re-watch it.
But I’d prefer to have Boba’s ‘escape’ footage look more ‘open-ended’ like I showed on page 10, giving the impression of ‘complete exhaustion’ after he got out ‘somehow’…and just stick with seeing the way he got his armour back in THE MANDALORIAN show, after the jawas initially stole it off him.
Unfortunately it seems Robert Rodriguez directed three episodes so there’s one left among the upcoming three.
Unless he improves on his disappointing first 2 outings…then I sure hope he’s not doing the final one…especially if he heavily features some ‘scooter gang’ antics again…
Well, after the underwhelming 3rd episode, this 4th one turned out to be a big improvement for me overall. In fact, things are building nicely with Boba’s more ‘thoughtful’ persona at this point, as something was addressed that had been bothering me so far - because we finally got a sense of his current motivations, which explained WHY he was giving up the ‘bounty hunting’ game to attempt to take over Jabba’s/Bib Fortuna’s position in the first place. And he and Fennec Shand had some pretty good team-building together in this one.
In fact, I liked a LOT of moments in this latest episode, including some neat stuff involving one of my favourite ship designs from the Original Trilogy…Boba’s ‘Slave I’…and it was very satisfying to see PLENTY of action involving it.
I also liked the set-piece with the ‘Sarlacc’, as the shots of it’s innards were greatly improved compared to the gloopy, rubbery mess with the stormtrooper in the 1st episode…EXCEPT this entire scene of Boba looking for his armour INSIDE the ‘Sarlacc’ seemed ridiculous seeing as he was conscious when wearing it to escape in the 1st episode, before he collapsed in the sand. Did he somehow forget he had it on when he got out? And did he also forget about the jawas taking it off him when he ‘reacted’ to them before they knocked him out too? Did he somehow think he just got out in his ‘long johns’? - so as much as it was quite a neat sequence overall, I would definitely REMOVE it for any re-edit of the episode. There were plenty of other good scenes involving the ship anyway, so I wouldn’t miss losing this section one bit to make things more plausible.
However, this episode was nicely cinematic overall, and some of the shots of the exterior of Jabba’s/Boba’s palace were very well done indeed. And that little ‘rat-catcher’ droid was right up my street when it first appeared too.
But I could have done without the graffiti-covered MOD-ification shop where Fennec got her life saved, as I’m really not liking the whole ‘Inspector Gadget’-angle for the local youths who look more suited to an episode of Star Trek…nor their blinged up scooters. - so I would ALSO REMOVE that entire scene and it’s annoying music altogether, and just show the night-time scene in the desert where Fennec recovers beside the campfire, as Boba simply TELLS her what he had done to her to save her life.
All in all though, I’m a lot more invested in this show again after this episode, and I hope that continues to be the case.
I don’t know if you’ve resolved this or not yet, but I’ve PM’d you about your problem.
Well after the goodness of the 2nd episode, the 3rd episode turned out to be a mixed bag and a backward step for me overall…and I was sorry to lose the Tusken tribe.
I liked seeing more of the big fearsome Wookiee though, and was fine with the arrival of the ‘baby’ Rancor too…especially when accompanied by gnarly ol’ ‘Machete’ himself as it’s perfectly-cast ‘Keeper’, which was a fun addition for me.
But things took a turn for the worse when the MOD-ified gang of youths and their multi-mirrored, garishly-coloured hover scooters were introduced. Their overall ‘Inspector Gadget’-style appearance was naff I thought, and so was some of their dialogue…and I just hope they don’t bring down the remaining episodes too much if they return. However, I really liked the look of the ‘cadillac’-inspired speeder that they chased, so that’s something I guess.
Like his lacklustre 1st episode, Robert Rodriguez dropped the ball again I felt…so little things like carelesss continuity flubs and the lack of any mark on Boba’s face after being belted by the powerful Wookiee’s powered-up ‘knuckleduster’ niggled me somewhat. But as I said in my previous comments, my MUCH YOUNGER self would have probably lapped up every bit of this weekly show with little criticism.
However, while there’s been certain moments that I’ve really liked, I’m NOT including this show in my own Star Wars Saga ‘head canon’ - instead, I’m just looking on it as being a kind of ‘What If?’ fan-fiction using familiar characters in ‘Star Warsy’ settings.
But there’s certainly lots of scope for any future re-edits of this show, and I can think of plenty for this particular episode alone that would improve things greatly for myself overall. Still, I’m interested to see how it all turns out, and am trying to appreciate the good in it.
There will be no post credits scene in ROTJ:R. I’m in the process of rewriting the change list for the first post which will go more in-depth as to the changes planned. But i can say that Yub Nub and Lapti Nek will be back. I’ve always hated the two new tracks that replaced those.
I’ll certainly look forward to checking your latest descriptions out. And personally speaking, it just wouldn’t sound like the ‘true’ ROTJ for me without the original tracks in those scenes, so I’m pleased about that decision.
I disagree, because I think the scene where Din Djarin finally takes his helmet off in front of Grogu is what the season has been building to. It’s his last act to Grogu which proves how much he’s come to love him, and how much he’s accepted that he’s ready to move on from the strict customs of The Watch. I have some criticisms of Luke’s appearance, but that scene between them is beautiful and I can’t imagine the season without it. It would end resolving the plot of Din handing Grogu over to the Jedi, but it would lack everything that gives that moment any substance.
That’s a fair enough view j_b, and I’d certainly be content to re-watch the whole show again someday with the 2nd season ending play out as normal, despite my issues with it.
But I definitely find the less-than-convincing digital shots of Luke pretty distracting in the scheme of things…especially knowing that Shamook was able to improve them so well. So as a way to eliminate those distractions, I’d have no problem just ending things with the welcome surprise of the Jedi’s initial silent reveal instead, with the implication that everything will be fine now where Grogu is concerned, seeing as it’s Luke himself who has turned up…without needing to watch an actual parting of the ways between Grogu and Mando afterwards.
In addition, while I like the last piece of music that finishes off the existing finale, I reckon the section that plays over Luke’s initial reveal would make for an equally good note to end things on too, helping to make this a possible solution for me.
( I only hope that the little guy doesn’t hang around that ‘training temple’ for too long in the future… )
I haven’t been around to comment on this show before now, but I’ve really enjoyed the majority of THE MANDALORIAN’s initial 2 seasons. I wasn’t expecting too much from the TV show side of things initially, but it’s exceeded my expectations with some excellent moments throughout…and it’s been fun to be transported back to a ‘STAR WARSY’ setting on a regular basis.
I’ve just posted some ideas on page 10 of the main THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT discussion thread, and mentioned that I’d also prefer to alter the ending of the THE MANDALORIAN’s 2nd season more to my own taste too…so I thought I’d show EXACTLY HOW over here.
It was a fantastic moment when ‘Luke Skywalker’ initially revealed himself at the time…but despite a good effort, the digital face replacement wasn’t quite there during all the shots, mainly due to a somewhat ‘dead-eyed’ look I think. On top of that, things then ended up being just a little too schmaltzy for my liking, which is another reason I’d rather alter it. But that’s just my own take on that at the end of the day.
I’ve since seen Shamook’s excellent ‘deepfake’ improvement of the scene on YouTube of course, and I only wish that there could be a future official release of the show using his version. I would be content with the existing ending if that was the case. Anyway, it’s terrific news for us all that he’s actually been hired by Lucasfilm now, and it’s great to know that this type of thing is in very capable hands for their future shows.
Anyway, here’s how I’d alter things for a less schmaltzy, final moment once the summoned Jedi is allowed to enter by the Mandalorian…
As the tension builds, the Mandalorian puts ‘the child’ down, and then presses a switch to open the doors…
…and the anticipation builds as the hooded figure enters, as we get our final look at Mando and the waiting group…
…and then the lightsaber switches off, as we get to the ‘Oh WOW, look who it is!’ moment…
…and as a brief reprise of John Williams’ familiar music gently plays over Luke’s eventual reveal, I’d finish things off on the next shot below…where we’d get our final look at Grogu, as he peers round at Luke and blinks, while the the music fades down…
…and then I’d CUT to blackness as we hear a brief echoing sound (from where the lift door closed during the final shot in the original version), as the echo fades to silence and the end credit ‘Directed by PEYTON REED’ appears, before the end theme begins as normal…
So I’d be content with just that, as we only see the best of the existing ‘Luke’ shots, without having to see any more of them. A ‘Jedi’ has heard the child’s ‘Force call’, and come to his aid…so we are at the end of the Mandalorian’s mission now. We effectively end on the sudden ‘Oh WOW!’ factor of the reveal that it’s actually ‘Luke Skywalker’ who has responded, and know that all will be well for the child now, with no further dialogue necessary.
Now onto the NEXT season’s adventures, post haste!
IMPORTANT NOTE - if anyone wishes to comment on any of this, please DO NOT re-‘quote’ the entire post, thanks!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all.
With one thing and another, It’s been over 2 years since I’ve commented at length about anything specific around here…BEFORE THE DARK TIMES…BEFORE THE RISE OF…er, THE PANDEMIC! But I’ve had plenty of time to mull over the conclusion of the Sequel Trilogy which came out at the end of 2019, and hope to go into some thoughts of my own on it before too long. Along with an idea or two also, but that’s for another day.
As a long-time fan of the Original Trilogy’s imaginative world-building, I wondered what a regular live-action TV show would offer in a ‘Star Warsy’ setting…so I’m glad to say that I’ve found plenty of impressive and fun moments throughout THE MANDALORIAN and THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT shows so far.
After previous disappointments with certain aspects of the franchise, I’d kept my expectations very low for THE MANDALORIAN. I initially had some reservations about how things would turn out when I found out that the main character was going to be accompanied by a little, doe-eyed, Disney-fied ‘yodaling’…but he’s turned out to be a big hit now, even though I wasn’t too keen on the idea at the start. And due to the way things progressed in the show, I warmed to him too…especially as he remained SILENT throughout, rather than being given some kind of awful ‘toddler Yoda’ voice. Thank the Maker!
Yes, there’s been some overly-goofy moments along the way, but both shows have had enough entertaining moments in them to offset any problems I’ve had with them. And Boba’s ‘backstory’ involving his experiences with the Tusken tribe really helps to strengthen his initial appearances in THE MANDALORIAN show for me too.
So yeah, It’s a great time to be a fan of the franchise I reckon, and if the overall quality of these initial two shows are anything to go by, then I’m certainly looking forward to all the other live-action spin-off shows yet to come too.
However, having said all that…
just as I thought that THE MANDALORIAN season 2 finale’s last moments came off a bit unconvincing and cloying for my taste, I also had a couple of niggling issues with the opening episode of THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT too…
…because a scene showing EXACTLY HOW Boba escaped from the Sarlacc was always going to be a big moment that a lot of us were looking forward to seeing onscreen…but I’m afraid that Robert Rodriguez came up with something very mediocre, as far as I’m concerned…because the way he ended up putting this major sequence together was lacklustre and cheap-looking I thought, with lazy camera angles and strangely-edited shots…and very little sense of jeopardy overall. And as a fan of a lot of his work, it pains me to say that.
I’d hoped for a much more substantial sequence for that moment, but it was poorly handled I felt. Practical effects can look excellent if they are done well, but the start of the Sarlacc ‘flashback’ was a gloopy, rubbery-looking disappointment for me, and the whole thing seemed rushed overall. And I didn’t particularly like the way Boba was shown to escape in the first place, with his hand suddenly bursting upwards through the sand like something out of the ending of ‘Carrie’! Some may love what we got, but I guess I just hoped for something a bit more dramatic and better-staged for this particular sequence.
To be honest, I’d rather Boba had eventually just managed to get his jetpack to splutter back into life for a few seconds to get out, while flame-throwing and tossing down a grenade at the beast’s insides on his way out for good measure. At the very least I’d have liked to have seen less cutting and better camera angles used on the scene that Robert Rodriguez actually came up with…as the ONLY thing that salvaged it for me somewhat, was the neat accompanying piece of music that started up as Boba broke out of the sand. Truly a missed opportunity for this particular set-piece to have been something more special I reckon.
So just for fun, I played around with the opening of the show for a while to see how things would look and sound if it was re-arranged a little more to my liking…which just involves simplifying things even more when it comes to seeing Boba alive outside of the Sarlacc that he escaped from eventually - at some point after the barge exploded, he just DID…with the method UNSEEN this way, so that I can imagine whatever I wish… 😃
We begin with a certain short musical fanfare, as it fades out to the silence of familiar blue wording…
…then we CUT to the existing opening scenes…
…as we see a familiar figure inside a healing tank…
…then we CUT to a whole new ‘flashback’ here, as Boba recalls a desolate part of Tatooine…
…then we CUT back to Boba moving uncomfortably in his healing tank at this point…
…then we CUT to the rest of his ‘flashback’, where we hear heavy breathing from inside a familiar helmet, as the music kicks in at this point…and we see an exhausted Boba collapse to the ground, as the music fades down…
…then things continue normally as per the episode, as a Sandcrawler comes across Jabba’s barge wreckage at night, and the Jawas steal Boba’s armour, etc…
(by the way, keeping the original initial ‘flashback’ of Slave I at the watery world of Kamino would work equally fine for me too, as a juxtaposition to then seeing my ‘flashback’ of the sands of Tatooine afterwards - in fact, we got a shot of Slave I taking off from Kamino during the 2nd episode of the show, as well as another shot of young Boba with his father’s helmet. Unfortunately, we also got a brief repeat of Boba’s arm shooting upwards again…so of course, I’d prefer to remove it from this episode too)
And while I generally liked the majority of the music heard throughout both of these shows, especially the MAIN themes and END CREDIT themes…there were certain moments where I would have liked the score to have been less bombastic and intrusive personally. And the scene where we first see Boba putting his costume on was one such moment! We got an overly-dramatic piece of music throughout the scene I thought, making it faintly ridiculous for me…which is a pity, as it would have been a neat moment if there had been a lower-key piece of music over it I reckon, or even none at all.
So here’s my ideal re-edit showing how it could look instead, which would give a much quieter reveal of his costume at this point -
We see Boba in his healing tank, and hear a female voice say Wake up Boba…
…at this point Boba says The dreams are back to Fennec Shand, as he sighs and gets handed his black robe from the approaching droid…
…as Fennec turns to walk away saying Time to go, they’re lined up to pay respects…I’ll let them know you’re on your way, and we end on a close-up of Boba’s gnarly face, as the music fades away…
…then I’d CUT to this shot of Boba now on Jabba’s throne, as we see him in his full armour again for the first time…
By the way, I reckon Temuera Morrison is doing great in the role so far, and his rugged face and accented line delivery are working very well for the character, just as it did for his ‘father’.
One other thing about the opening episode of THE BOOK OF BOBA - as much as I love all of Ray Harryhausen’s creature features, I wasn’t too keen on the the new multi-limbed sand monster at the end. It seemed too on the nose as something that the great man would have designed for one of his fantasy flicks…but didn’t look ‘Star Warsy’ enough to me, if you know what I mean. Just my own view on that, and I’ll get used to it I guess. But after looking at it again, there’s a few shots I’d prefer to remove to make the sequence a little shorter, which would also lessen the amount of skirling that the beast makes during it’s appearance.
Lastly, I thought Steph Green’s 2nd episode turned out wonderfully overall - I never realised that I needed so much Tusken grunting in my life, and they have been wonderfully portrayed so far. I laughed when a few of them immediately wanted to take the stolen swoop bikes apart when Boba first offered the bikes to them…as that was a genuinely funny ‘call back’ to the Tuskens that were starting to dismantle Luke’s speeder in A NEW HOPE, I thought. And Unlike Robert Rodriguez’s 1st episode, this had a really kinetic, cinematic look to it’s set-pieces.
Safe to say that my much younger self would have absolutely lapped all this up if it had been around at the time, even though my current older self would like to tweak certain things a tad.
Roll on the next episode!
IMPORTANT NOTE - if anyone wishes to comment on any of this, please DO NOT re-‘quote’ the entire post, thanks!
ROTJ’s my personal favorite movie of all time, it’ll be exciting to see the movie with the Revisited treatment.
It’s bound to be great, Ewoks and all!
Well it’s that time of year again, so I’d like to wish adywan and everyone here a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.
PREDATOR (released 1987/directed by John McTiernan)
Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrDsvVKY_d4
PREDATOR 2 (released 1990/directed by Stephen Hopkins)
Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciuvNsG10_E
Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLe_1SheJms
PREDATORS (released 2010/directed by Nimrod Antal)
Teaser Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaKbXJUWRZk
Theatrical Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkC2Op3VA5E NOW GONE! Will look for replacement soon.
aaa
aaa end on this shot of Bilbo’s voice saying he dwarf never forgave and he never forgot -
aaa - CUT to (already does this in the theatrical version??) -
Although I’ve not been around to comment for a while due to various commitments, I’ve dipped in-and-out briefly on the ongoing progress of this wonderful project in particular. There’s plenty of possibly great official ‘STAR WARS’ live-action content to look ahead to in the coming years…but after having had a year now to assess the overall storyline and events we ended up with in the Sequel Trilogy, I have my own thoughts on what my own re-watches of the ‘Skywalker saga’ will be restricted to in future…and I hope to go into that on a relevant thread before too long. 😉
In the meantime, I’d like to wish adywan and everyone around here a very MERRY (albeit little) CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY (albeit restricted) NEW YEAR.
I’ll leave you with this for now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6v-W_fZ0Zo
Don’t know if you’re still around or not Jp4195, but I’m sure you and other fans of the characters will be interested to know that Snyder’s finally back on the case! -
Editor Evan Gorski and Michael Dougherty, director of GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTER have come up with this bit of fun concerning the coronavirus -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QUdV7Xf9sT4&feature=emb_logo
Merry Christmas to all.
