Ewoks are not that bad, and Boba Fett is not an interesting character

Because he doesn't really do anything. Within 5 minutes I know what Vader is all about and his goals and motivations.

Boba Fett is a bounty hunter... and not that interesting.

 

I'd beg to differ with Vader. When you first see him, he's basically just the muscle, then the character is continously developed over the rest of the film. Love it.

I'd also say Boba Fett is pretty interesting, but we're already been through that...

 

Fett has the potential to be interesting but doesn't get to be.

Vader at least hooks me in in that 5 minutes and continues from there.

 

Isn’t that what makes him interesting? In story terms he’s insignificant, but he’s just so well written and acted that we get a deeper sense of the character than you’d expect. This is why the extended universe always got such mileage out of him.

By your standards, I’m not sure how any minor character could be considered interesting.

 

Considering Lobot, who says nothing, has a following. ::

 

It depends on the character. Fett just doesn't engage me in the films. He certainly has some better stories in books, but I don't understand the appeal.

And, respectfully, I don't feel like I have a deeper understanding of the character. The only thing that makes him stand out is that Vader singles him out. That's it. As you say about Vader "he's the muscle" and that it.

Personally, I'm more interested in R5-D4 than in Boba Fett. And I know I'm weird.

 

I'm going to take issue with the contention that Vader was just muscle in the 1977 film.

Vader had history relevant to Luke that got referenced. Vader was a former student of Ben's who was said to have killed Luke's father. Vader also felt Luke's connection with the Force during the final battle.

Whatever the story was going to be going forward, things were getting set up for a confrontation between Luke and Vader. None of the other interesting-looking characters (Fett, Lobot, even Maul) had that much that was significant in the story going on about them.

 

I don't think that was the argument. At least mine initial one was that within 5 minutes of seeing Vader on screen I had a sense of his character in broad strokes and motivation.

Perhaps with Boba I take issue with his only motivation being money. Maybe that's my problem.

 

Vader was the muscle for the first scene or two. That's the whole point. You're introduced to this lumbering monster who picks people up by the neck and movie logic says he's the muscle. After you've made that assumption, you learn his character is so much deeper than you might have thought. Yoda works the same way, except with someone small and comical instead of large and intimidating. Obi-Wan also works the same way - the 'crazy old man' is actually a powerful Jedi.

Guess we'll agree to disagree on Boba Fett, but I still think he's a great example of what made the acting and writing in ESB so good.

 

If I thought that Fett had anywhere near the depth that Vader did after 5 minutes of screen time, where he doesn't just kill Antilles but demands prisoners be brought to him alive. There is already a dynamic there that is engaging.

What is the dynamic of Fett? I'm genuinely curious.

 

Well written and acted? He had like 3 or 4 lines between 2 movies in the OT, and nothing he said or did was that impressive.

 

Fett isn’t a central character, so he isn’t going to be treated like one. Vader was always a central character, and he was treated like one since the second he walked on screen.

I’ve already talked about this, but everything about Fett makes him more interesting than such a basically unimportant character has a right to be. The way he interacts with Vader. The cold, detached nature of his voice. The way he tended to move so slowly and methodically unless direct action was needed. And, yes, the design, but that design reflects the character. The mask is deeply unknowable. We get a fantastic impression of the character through very little interaction.

I’m not saying this is enough to make him interesting as a main character, but he isn’t one. I’m unsure why you’re judging him by that standard. If Boba Fett was a main character and that’s all we had, I’d be right there with you saying he’s uninterested. But as a guy with barely any lines and only a small impact on the story, he is interesting.

Again, I’d say the same with Piet. Not a very important character. No real impact on the story. But he was portrayed so well that he made the world and story feel so much richer.

Exactly

 

On this point, we agree.

I'm not judging him as a main character. I'm judging him on the impression he left on me as a character, which was minimal for me. I am quite aware of the fact that my opinion is in the minority but that's how I interact with the character. I apologize if I'm not being clear with exactly the impression Fett left with me, but it isn't some arbitrary standard of main characters vs. secondary characters. It's just the impression of the characters leave on me.

 

Sorry, I was referring to the contention that Vader was more visual presence than anything else in the first film and taking issue with that. I should have been clearer.

 

Ah, well. We've pretty much been all over the map on this topic

 

I was never that impressed with Boba beyond his cool design in the OT. The only reason I like him now is because of how the books, comics, Attack of the Clones, and The Clone Wars expanded on the character.

 

I think he has more depth now from those materials, but I certainly do not like him.

 

He was designed to look cool, and dialogue suggests that he's good enough at his job and has a large enough reputation that even Lord Vader recognizes him and singles him out ("No Disintegrations", plus Vader seems to treat him fairly on Bespin. And Chewie and Han refer to him by name on one of Jabba's skiffs, like he's suppose to be a big deal (even if that's just before Han bashes in Boba's jetpack).

 

Im not such a fan of all the EU stuff, and I hated his inclusion in AOTC. Lucas was just capitalising on his popularity to bring in more viewers.

Reminds me of that old idea in horror that what you don’t see or barely see is much scarier than what you do see. The explained is less scary than the unexplained. I like Boba Fett in ESB and, to a lesser extent, in ROTJ as a minor character who just happens to be more interesting than you might expect. There’s a mystery to him that makes you want to know more, but you never will. The fact that he’s barely in the movie is part of what makes him work.

‘Expanding on the character’ by showing damn near every part of his life makes him less interesting to me. He had more depth when I knew practically nothing about him.

 

Yeah, no. There might have been/probably were odd fans here and there who said, "Ooh, Boba Fett, I guess I'm buying that ticket after all!" But the overwhelming majority, >99.99%, were already going and/or didn't care.