Boba Fett’s Vacation
Ever wonder where Boba got his “ship of the ocean” in The Story of the Faithful Wookiee”? And what was he doing on Panna? How did he know Han and Luke would end up crashing there? Etc etc… BMS will provide the answers. Stay tuned… or something.
Were you getting fed up with our original Interquel material? Aching for The Empire Strikes Back? Well, the first step on our journey towards the most popular film in the Trilogy is the Star Wars Holiday Special. It was produced for CBS television in 1978 during the height of Star Wars mania. Although it has been heavily derided by fans and not without good reason, it did reunite the original cast as well as feature an animated side-adventure introducing Boba Fett to the world for the first time.
The Holiday Special is plagued by a very simplistic plot, clearly aimed at younger children and, unlike the films, has painfully slow pacing. It is interrupted numerous times by musical guests and “celebrity” appearances… and it is in this context that the Boba Fett cartoon stands out.
The animated segment is titled “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee”… a pretty boring title. I like to refer to it as the Boba Fett cartoon, simply because if I used the actual title in conversation with someone they most likely will not know what I’m talking about.
Part of the inspiration for the BMS characterization of Boba Fett is drawn from this animated appearance. Watch carefully towards the end of the animated adventure (embedded below thanks to YouTube) for a clue. For all those that think Boba Fett is such a bad ass, I ask you to give me actual onscreen evidence of this. What proof exists that his legend is deserved beyond the admitedly cool “Mandalorian” armor? If we are simply told he is “the best bounter hunter in the galaxy” and yet witness nothing to support this, then perhaps he’s just the best self-promoter in the galaxy? Introducing BMS Boba Fett. 🙂
To start reading Blue Milk Special from the beginning click here.
Would it surprise you to learn that I’ve never seen (or even heard of) “The Boba Fett cartoon” before?
😉
There’s a first time for everything. 🙂
nah, I don’t care. actual badass-ness evidence or not, he’s still my favorite character, and will always be the cool one.
I love the self-promoter idea though. can’t wait for more on it 😀
Me too. I think the self-promoter angle is going to be a lot of fun.
Very good Rod. Liking this!
Thanks, John. We try to surprise.
How dare you doubt the Fett! lol Good start can’t wait to see more.
Thanks, Trent! There’s much more to come.
Yeah, the EU kind of fanwanked Boba to be the greatest bounty hunter out there! Look at the track record…..Darth Vader did all of the work in catching Han….and how did he die……he got wacked in the back with a stick by a half-blind guy! I hope this strip does for him what it did for Vaders performance in ANH!
Great comic – the best on the web!!!!!
100% agreed. I’m not saying I don’t like Boba Fett. It’s impossible not to like at least something about him, but the Celebration IV authentic jetpack costumed Fett appearance (and Fett’s being the most popular character in SW, ahead of Darth Vader) have worn on my enthusiasm towards him over the years. It’s like a cult!
I would agree with you, except for the fact that Boba actually survived being eaten by the Sarlacc beast. Read the Bounty Hunter Tales sometime, and you’ll see that he actually deserves his bad-ass-ness.
Only if you count the expanded universe in your canon. 😉 Since its only the material outside of the original films that paints him as an actual bad ass, I don’t think that really counts. Contentious at least. 😉 Just saying he might be an eensy bit overrated, that’s all.
He had me as soon as I saw his helmet.
*waves to Vila*
It was an obscure cameo, but I should have guessed you’d be the first to spot it. Meet Vila Restal everyone. Go google him.
Yes, I know I have no life… His hairline gave him away. 😉
We just have different lives from the norm, April. That’s all. 🙂
I got a question..will you guys be going through Shadows of the Empire as well between Empire Strikes Back and ROTJ?
Probably not. If we do Shadows of the Empire it probably will only be a handful of strips. This is a monumental undertaking just doing the trilogy, let alone some of the daft spin off material between ANH and TESB. I’m considering the Thrawn trilogy. But I need a lot of fan interest to seriously consider it.
Oh you’ll have the fan interest to do Thrawn.
Perhaps. I already have ideas on how to portray Thrawn. 😉 I’m thinking the Thrawn trilogy is a possibility.
I’ve never actually watched the Holiday Special because I’ve always been afraid of its reported epic awfulness. I may have to go hunt it down now; I’ll certainly start with the cartoon you embedded.
I never really understood why people like Boba Fett so much. In ESB, he just kind of follows Vader around whinging about what if Han dies and in RotJ he goes out like a punk. I always assumed it was a boy thing and mostly because he had a jet pack.
Still, everyone else thinks he’s awesome… which means BMS will have much fun. 😉
Boba Fett is relatively independent and he works for money. You know, like Han Solo, before he ‘found the rebellion’ (and certainly before he started to let bounty hunters shoot first). This makes Boba Fett more ‘real’ than just about any other toughguy in Star Wars, and ‘real’ beats caped super villain like a 9mm automatic beats a jedi mind trick performed by you in a dark alley. So Boba Fett beats everyone, and he’s got a jetpack. Oh, and he also gets to cover his mysterious identity, while still wearing a unique armour with lots of gadgets. Kind of like a certain… BATMAN! Yeah, that’s right, Boba Fett is the evil Batman of Star Wars. A Jedi killed his parent, and now he hunts them. (Batman is more ‘real’ than Superman.)
As a kid I absolutely loathed Boba Fett for the mercenary scum that he was, but as I grew up that effect waned. Doing things mainly for the money seems to be what grownups do.
now i realize where you got General Risst from. But they never mentioned him by name in the cartoon… explain.
That’s his name from the script. General Ristt (double “t” as I recently learned).
Interesting cartoon, It is no worse than any other cartoons from that time period. Still, neat side story in to the world that is Star Wars
Yeah, for 1978 this cartoon is about on par with most other children’s animation of the time. I enjoy the Holiday Special (in a grimacing sort of way) but this is the easiest segment of the special to watch.
I’m curious with your well placed love of the franchise, and with the horrible movie they just released this month, how much of the better written expanded universe are we going to see, by the way I have a slight request as one fan to another with the second Death Star Battle you haven’t finished writing yet, could we please have a day of the doctor moment with both TOS And TNG crews from Star Trek standing side by side with the rebels, Please????
Good thing you asked for it now. It would be a cool image to create. I’d like to attempt it. Ambitious, but cool!
As for how much of the Expanded Universe, I’m not sure yet. I’m certainly in a more receptive mood toward certain aspects of it now.
Come on , its the worst cartoon I’ve ever seen, and I remember watching Roger Ramjet. If the whole holiday special was that bad then I’ll have to make sure I never see it. 🙂
Love BMS by the way, great strip. Just reading through the arc… Thankas
Is it just me or does Han Solo look a lot like Mick Jagger in the Holiday Special?
Boba Fett is popular for one reason, and it has nothing to do with EU, unless you’re counting this Holiday Special. It has to do with TOYS and the power of marketing. Perhaps you guys are all too young to remember the excitement that was palpable during the years between ANH and ESB. Boba Fett was BIG NEWS. He was promoted by Kenner toys as being a major new character, and they gave away thousands of free Boba Fett figures 2 years before ESB was even released.
Now, to a wee lad a new figure in those days was much more exciting than it is now. My friends and I were creating adventures with Boba Fett long before we even saw him. Yeah, we saw the Holiday Special and it helped to keep us going, but we kept making more and more of our own adventures. Likwise, so were a million other kids around the globe.
And wow! Don’t forget the “large size” action figure. How cool was he? A bionic man eye, removable cape, grapling hook jetpack, antenna, etc, etc. He even had his own TV commercial!
So I read you guys who are saying: “Boba Fett? What’s the big deal?” Especially if all you know is his movie appearances. I must admit ESB was a huge letdown for Boba Fett fans, and ROTJ was even worse. So forget EU. All of that was spawned by the desire for this cool looking dude to actually be cool. All of the real action took place in a million children’s imaginations between 1978 and 1980. So I will give a big thank you to Kenner for some awesome toys, but a thank for nothing for all the hype. Also unthanks to Lucasfilm for not givining more substance to the character when you had the chance and knew what Kenner was up to!
BTW: they tried the same thing with Bossk, but it didn’t have as much time to sink into our psyches!
The thing I think I remember …? wasn’t Boba Fett in the comics too? They gave everything away years before the later movies [sucks]… I agree totally about Lucas film letting Boba Fett down, he was supposed to be a total hard ass but he did almost nothing. And I’m pretty sure they rewrote his back story in the prequels too (yes and messing up nicely too, thanks George).
Drat. Lots of typos in the previous post. My apologies. I can’t edit.
I agree with Xander on this. I remember searching in vain for the “Missile Firing” Boba Fett Kenner action figure in the early 80’s, it was like the holy grail of action figures, the legend spreading by whispers and rumours!
Fett is popular cause he was played by a porn star. Or so I’ve heard. I’m born 17 ABY.
Not to mention the Wookiee braids that he had (On the Large action figure). I was one of those children who got the ‘send away’ Boba. Good times, good times.
My fave nod to Boba Fett’s original-EU-original-origin, pre-retcon/pre-prequel, was in the first I.M.P.S. when a *female* Stormtrooper is admiring Boba’s armor, and asking where *she* could get armor like that…
Oh, and I *wish* I could say I recognized Vila, as he was one of the coolest fun characters in B7, but I was just baffled until I read the comments.
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