Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

I'm not doing episode specific reviews on anything else at the moment, so I think I'll promote "The Book of Boba Fett" to that status. I really love "The Mandalorian" and was looking forward to this series. This opening episode though had some worrying moments, but I'm assuming that the quality will increase as the show runs on.

Having established himself as the new crime lord of Mos Espa, Boba Fett (Temura Morrison) sets about establishing his legitimacy by taking tributes from local businesses. His plan to rule by respect, rather than fear, is immediately questioned when he and Fennec Shand (Ming Na-Wen) are attacked on their walk-through town. In flashback, we're show Fett escaping from the Sarlaac Pit, only to lose his suit to Jawas and then be captured by Tusken Raiders.

There were some aspects of this episode that was reasonably successful. Visually it's pretty good. A sprawling view of Mos Espa to compare it with any aspect of the town we've seen before is really well done. The multiarmed sand creature, that appears towards the end has some . . . Oddness about it, but I think it's more related to the design rather than execution, the rest of the creatures and vehicles are good though. Matt Berry is in it ! And he continues the fine tradition of comedy actors taking on the role of droids within the world.

More worrying though was the central fight scene, that saw Fett and Shand attacked in the street by a group with shields and energy weapons. I was surprised about how badly this scene was shot and edited. Actions were repeated over and over, and it was especially noticeable with Shand at the back of the scene repeating the same action time and again. Then the parkour scene that follows was unnecessary and, at times, comical as she follows her quarry's route identically, even though they layout establishes shorter less complicated routes that she should follow.

It doesn't derail the episode entirely, but along with a general lack of story, makes this opening episode well below the levels that "The Mandalorian" is operating at.

In the midst of this recent Star Wars content drought I was hoping for a longer episode, which we didn't get. Instead get a quick 30 minutes.

That being said, you can't deny how cool of a start this felt. I'm loving the tone! I'm glad they're able to maintain as much of the brutality of Boba Fett as possible despite being limited by Disney's family-friendly restraints.

I can't completely jump on the train of, "Oh my god, this is going to be awesome!" quite yet. But hey, that new theme at the end credits... I love it! I'm optimistic for the future of the show because I trust the creators behind it.

This was a good interesting start. Both Boba and Fennec are legends in Star Wars, we sort of know the world they are in and we can sort of figure out what they are up to and what they want to do with not much exposition needed.

Also good that we got the "how he survived" story so we do not need to wonder too much about that.

There was enough going on to keep us entertained and the acting is solid.

The negative is basically that this does not feel spot on. Although acting is solid/good, it is not great. Although the computer graphics are great for TV they are not fantastic. Although we get a sort of set-up story, too little is explained. Basically everything is good, but not much more. Music 7/10, sets, acting, directing etc 7/10. They can do better with all of it.

I am definitely intrigued to know more and watch more episodes, but this far I am not going to be sleepless thinking of the next instalment either. Good solid start, now lets build on this and give us something great or special too.

Like many I've been looking forward to this series, while I'm definitely more excited about the upcoming Obi-Wan series. The first episode of Boba Fett gives us a little more knowledge about the character. You kinda get a feel of what state the galaxy is in at this point in time. The CGI and special effects are on point. Good first episode, I'm ready for more!

Look, I'm a Lifelong Star wars fan. And I always thought Boba Fett was cool, but they didn't need to bring him back in the Mandalorian and they really didn't need to then give him his own spinoff! That being said it was a good opening episode. Ming-Na Wen will always be a standout in anything she's in and this is no exception. Whilst I can't stand here and say there's anything wrong with the episode as I did enjoy it all, there just wasn't enough for me to rank it any higher.