Buckle up! We’re talking about the colorful hover vespas from The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 3 - The Streets of Mos Espa. Do they belong in Tatooine? Was the Black Krrsantan violent enough? Join our Star Wars ranking team as we debate this episode and feature the very first hot take from one of our listeners!
“I actually thought it was a pretty good story.” - Charley
We like the progression of the present-day story. In fact, it’s the highest ranking for Story thus far. The flashbacks were minimal yet essential. The death of the Tusken Raiders was emotional; it shows us that Boba Fett got back to being a loner, experiencing serious loss. However, like his alliance with the sand people, Boba Fett aligns himself with Fennec Shand, the Gamorrean guards, a rancor, and some biker kids. He’s amassing a following. Not one of his subjects is necessarily afraid of him, but rather they trust him. He’s going for loyalty. Speaking of, the Hutts value loyalty just as much if not more than credits. They mentioned to Boba Fett that someone else has been promised the throne. That’s enough story for us to keep watching.
“It's the Paw Patrol of Star Wars.” - Charley
Yes, the story was great, but the characters weren’t anything to write home about. The bikers seem removed from the streets because of their unique look. They felt like they were just colorful props. They claim prices are too high for water, but they have those wicked hover vespas and pride themselves with expensive biomechanical upgrades. You can’t trust people who willingly go for cybernetic parts. And the one-eyed guy: he can’t blend in that much with the bright red bike spying on the Pykes. The chase scene was so slow, it was almost embarrassing. The vespas came off as fake, cheesy, and shoehorned into a setting that didn’t quite fit well. It’s a desert planet; anything shiny is asking for attention. It goes directly against the color palette established. That’s not to say their whacky design isn’t welcome in Star Wars at all. Any whacky design is welcome in Star Wars, because we’ve seen whacky designs everywhere. We just think they’re out of context for this episode…but they’re certainly fun to talk about!
“Charley’s gaydar is functioning accurately. That’s what we've learned from this.” - Amanda
Hot Takes
Black Krrsantan should’ve killed all of the biker gang kids.
The colored vespas don’t belong on Tatooine.
One of these characters will openly come out as gay in a future episode.
Count Dooku should’ve had more development in Attack of the Clones.
“That is the worst score we’ve given any piece of Star Wars content to date.” - Brody
Having killed someone, if not all of the gang would’ve helped both their character development and Black Krrsantan. It would’ve raised the stakes and given us an onscreen reason to fear the wookiee assassin. We also think Boba Fett should’ve shown some blood from getting hit in the face with electric brass knuckles. Why didn’t Black Krrsantan just shoot him in the tank? If he’s not going to kill any of the biker gang, then Charley predicts one of them will come out gay in a future episode. Dakarai has a great take on Attack of the Clones, missing out on a great opportunity to flesh out the complex character of Count Dooku. Both him and Qui Gon Jinn don’t hold fast to the dogmas of which they claim. Dooku is a political idealist. This makes him more complex, gray, and human. He’s an interesting figure to talk about. For further information, we encourage reading Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott. It was great hearing from Dakarai and we welcome more listeners sharing their hot takes with us!
“I want to see more of this industry of moisture farming.” - Christian
It was fun seeing some more lore peppered throughout this episode. Having a moisture farmer broker file a claim with a local daimyo was a cool nod to the industry. We also got a look at the socioeconomic scene; the rich are controlling the water. And Boba Fett gets a young rancor! Job well done casting Danny Trejo as the rancor whisperer. We loved learning more about the rancor species. Let’s have Boba Fett riding gigantic beasts again! That’s great fan service most welcome to Star Wars.
“Deep down, he’s this little softy. He just wants to cuddle and have a friend.” - Amanda
In addition to the lore, there were some cool technical aspects to this episode. Though, they were great in some areas while quite underwhelming in others. It was awesome hearing the epic humming in the background during Boba Fett’s beautiful bantha ride on the dunes. The music felt more space opera-like and epic, but with a different choir-like vibe akin to The Boondock Saints and The Godfather. But with some great cinematography, there were some underwhelming aspects as well. Chiefly, the clunky chase scene in the market with the colorful biker gang. Once again, we were reminded we’re watching a t.v. budget project, instead of a full on movie-quality production.
“I have to change my expectations for this show. The tone is different from what I was imagining it to be.” - Christian
Three episodes in and we still don’t know that much. At this point in the story, we should be at the end of the first or second episode, not the third. Supposedly the Pykes are the real opposition…or are they even that? We like the possibility of them deceiving Boba Fett. We like him ruling with his own style, lowering prices, and freeing the Black Krrsantan. He wants to be the leader that Tatooine needs. Though, when will Fennec Shand get the screen time she deserves? What if Fennec is trying to rise to power by letting Black Krrsantan in and having no presence during the fight? This is more like the Solo film. It’s not too controversial, but it’s a slow cook, and slow cooks can be great! We did rank the story the highest so far. However, with Star Wars, we have to account for hype-flation (coined term by my friend Grant). This show has been hyped for a year, advertising itself to be some gritty action space western. We’re out of the realm of the predictable, which is nice, but the pace has been eye-opening for the show.