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News Boba Fett Movie in the Works With James Mangold
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The less of Boba Fett there is the better, in my opinion.
Agreed. He was intended to be a single-purpose mystery character posing a threat to Han Solo in TESB. That purpose was served, along with his quick death in ROTJ. The number one mistake of a writer is to add more to a character than was necessary thanks to fan obsessions. Lucas said he did not realize how popular Fett would become, but he should have left it alone, since the SW films' story gained noting in shoehorning the ridiculous Jango / clone source / Boba child plot into SW.
Despite what people seem to think, Boba being a relic from the clone wars was not something shoe-horned into the PT, it's an outgrowth of vague concepts Lucas was toying with even in ESB.
One idea for the character that's floated in some of the production materials was that he was a left over clone super-commando (partly because the armor design grew out of designs for a new stormtrooper outfit back before they'd even started drafting the script.) IIRC as the story evolved and the idea of using the design for the main bounty hunter came up, Lucas decided the armor was Mandalorian (a term I'm about 90% sure he coined) which wasn't a bunch of space-vikings as the EU would later depict them, but a legendarily proficient group of professional soldiers (think along the lines of the Swordmasters of Ginaz from Dune.) And Boba was just a stoic, mysterious 'Man With No Name' type of gunslinger...who may also have still been a left-over clone. Lucas seems to have gone back and forth on that idea over the years.
The only real difference between all this and what ended up in the PT and Clone Wars is the degree to which Boba was significant to the main plot; an unmodified clone raised as the template's son instead of just some random commando who managed to live through it all and wound up working as a mercenary. Even the stuff about Mandalorian culture was mostly Lucas's initial idea, modified slightly to keep the old EU fans from throwing too much of a tantrum.
One idea for the character that's floated in some of the production materials was that he was a left over clone super-commando (partly because the armor design grew out of designs for a new stormtrooper outfit back before they'd even started drafting the script.) IIRC as the story evolved and the idea of using the design for the main bounty hunter came up, Lucas decided the armor was Mandalorian (a term I'm about 90% sure he coined) which wasn't a bunch of space-vikings as the EU would later depict them, but a legendarily proficient group of professional soldiers (think along the lines of the Swordmasters of Ginaz from Dune.) And Boba was just a stoic, mysterious 'Man With No Name' type of gunslinger...who may also have still been a left-over clone. Lucas seems to have gone back and forth on that idea over the years.
The only real difference between all this and what ended up in the PT and Clone Wars is the degree to which Boba was significant to the main plot; an unmodified clone raised as the template's son instead of just some random commando who managed to live through it all and wound up working as a mercenary. Even the stuff about Mandalorian culture was mostly Lucas's initial idea, modified slightly to keep the old EU fans from throwing too much of a tantrum.
The original Boba Fett armor in white, depicting him as a super-stormtrooper can be seen here:
https://web.archive.org/web/2011082...ode-v/bts/article/f20061019/index.html?page=2
https://web.archive.org/web/2011082...ode-v/bts/article/f20061019/index.html?page=2
Sure. Lucas would never pointlessly shoe-horn in a character from the OT just to bring in more viewers.
Boba Fett was very clearly shoe-horned in to boost viewing numbers. It was a cheap tactic, and it worked. Lucas toyed with a whole bunch of ways to bring Fett back, including 'depicting Anakin Skywalker and Fett as stepbrothers'.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means...
Also, you're talking as if the first Star Wars movies in a generation weren't automatically guaranteed to have *HUGE* numbers. Do you really think him including a few favourites in places where they could logically show up made any kind of significant difference? If so then you my friend have a very poor grasp of what the general cinema audience cares about.
I think 'logically show up' might be a stretch. Seems a mighty big coincidence that Chewbacca happens to be one of two wookies who helps Yoda escape. Seems kinda dumb that Darth Vader built Threepio. Also mighty convenient that a really popular minor character from the OT happens to have a major part in the PT so he can fight a Jedi...
Of course they were guaranteed to have a huge audience. I just think it shows a lack of creativity on Lucas' part to reuse these characters where it really made little sense. Again, I think it was kind of a cheap ploy.
Yes, especially after TPM was met with such disappointment. I was about 14 when AOTC was about to come out, and most of my friends were pumped to see more of Boba Fett. Ultimately, the character was put in there because Lucas knew he was popular, not because it was all planned out years in advance.
Of course they were guaranteed to have a huge audience. I just think it shows a lack of creativity on Lucas' part to reuse these characters where it really made little sense. Again, I think it was kind of a cheap ploy.
Yes, especially after TPM was met with such disappointment. I was about 14 when AOTC was about to come out, and most of my friends were pumped to see more of Boba Fett. Ultimately, the character was put in there because Lucas knew he was popular, not because it was all planned out years in advance.
Before TESB was released, R2 and 3PO were considered by Lucas to possibly be characters in the entire saga, so lulz to the idea that they were shoehorned into the PT.
From the May 25, 1980 issue of The Spokesman-Review, page D20 in the article by Aljean Harmetz [boldfacing mine]:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AJ&pg=7031,4594868&dq=star-wars sequels&hl=en
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/que...e-originally-going-to-be-nine-star-wars-films:
I went to the (small amount of) trouble of digging this up, because I remember very clearly in the wake of TESB how the idea was floating around that the droids would be in all of the films.
R2 standing on tip-toes to peer into Yoda's hut is a pretty clear indication that R2 was considered as possibly the narrator of the saga even by that point, during development of TESB, if not even before, during development of the original film.
From the May 25, 1980 issue of The Spokesman-Review, page D20 in the article by Aljean Harmetz [boldfacing mine]:
The "Star Wars" George Lucas has created in his mind will take nine movies to tell. "Star Wars" is actually "Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope," the first movie of the second trilogy. "The Empire Strikes Back" is "Star Wars, Episode V," while "The Return of the Jedi' is episode VI. The first trilogy deals with the young Darth Vader and the young Ben Kenobi. At the end of the first trilogy, Luke Skywalker is four years old. Only the robots - R2D2 and C-3PO - will be characters in all the movies.
He chose to start in the middle because the first trilogy is, he says, "more plot-oriented, more soap-operaish." He adds that the "central core problem" of "Star Wars" hasn't even been stated yet. Although he originally saw Star Wars as six movies, his "dream" was only for "Star Wars" to do well enough so that he could finish the three movies in the second trilogy. "If people had laughed 'Star Wars' off the screen, I'd have been less surprised than I was at what did happen," he says. "Until the day it opened, I felt it would do $16 million and, if I pushed hard, I could make 'Empire.'"
He chose to start in the middle because the first trilogy is, he says, "more plot-oriented, more soap-operaish." He adds that the "central core problem" of "Star Wars" hasn't even been stated yet. Although he originally saw Star Wars as six movies, his "dream" was only for "Star Wars" to do well enough so that he could finish the three movies in the second trilogy. "If people had laughed 'Star Wars' off the screen, I'd have been less surprised than I was at what did happen," he says. "Until the day it opened, I felt it would do $16 million and, if I pushed hard, I could make 'Empire.'"
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AJ&pg=7031,4594868&dq=star-wars sequels&hl=en
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/que...e-originally-going-to-be-nine-star-wars-films:
I went to the (small amount of) trouble of digging this up, because I remember very clearly in the wake of TESB how the idea was floating around that the droids would be in all of the films.
R2 standing on tip-toes to peer into Yoda's hut is a pretty clear indication that R2 was considered as possibly the narrator of the saga even by that point, during development of TESB, if not even before, during development of the original film.
I don't think it matters that much when they were considered for inclusion. Honestly, even their use in ROTJ feels way overdone. The inclusion of the droids was more organic than Boba Fett and Chewbacca, but they didn't have to be in all the films and be so overused.
I mean, Lucas has come out with a lot of this over the years.
The droids were part of the core group along Han, Luke, and Leia, so as long as they were in it, you pretty much had to have C-3PO and R2-D2 there too. It makes a lot more sense for them to be in at least all three Original Trilogy movies than it would have for them to disappear between movies. The same goes for the Sequel Trilogy, Han, Luke, and Leia are around (in the beginning) so it makes perfect sense for the droids to be too. I like their roles in the Prequel Trilogy, but I can see why some people could consider them unnecessary.
To each their own.
I think 3PO is a riot in ROTJ, especially in Jabba's palace and in every scene of his with the Ewoks at least up to and including the part when he is telling the tale of their adventures to the Ewoks (which incidentally also indicates consideration of the idea that the droids would be narrators of the whole saga). Bartender R2 is also pretty funny, and lightsaber hurling R2 is generally highly regarded, I believe.
As far as I'm concerned, many issues with other scenes with the droids are a reflection of the more general problems with ROTJ, problems that are fairly well known and hashed out, the lack of universal agreement about the nature and even existence of problems with ROTJ notwithstanding.
It doesn't make that much sense to dress all your personnel in camo and then also bring one big shiny droid and another who rolls on wheels. Their bit at the start was fine, but I don't think they needed to be used throughout the movie. I think this is an early example of Lucas depending too much on those characters.
That quote was provided simply to prove that Lucas had publicly voiced the idea that R2 and 3PO would be in prequel films prior to the release of TESB.
I know. I'm not saying it doesn't do that. I'm just talking about the whole 'starting in the middle' thing.
I don't even care that much about these inconsistencies or the addition of OT characters in the PT. I just object to the idea that this was all planned out years in advance and really makes total sense, especially regarding Boba/Jango.
And where, pray tell did anyone make any such claim? Oh yes, that's right, it was Mr. Strawman again wasn't it? He's such a misleading fellow!
Yeah, I think the idea that it was all planned out years in advance without substantive change has been put to rest. The existence of earlier ideas influencing later ones doesn't mean it was all planned out in advance.
