Fixing the Book of Boba Fett – Part 2 – Episode 5

Hello There!
Now, there are a lot of people who loved Boba Fett Episode 5, but I feel the praise given to it is from people desperate for quality content, so this episode won fan support even though it shares a lot of the same issues as The Force Awakens. But let me explain why this is similar to the failed Star Wars film series:

For all purposes, this episode was nostalgia baiting, little more. While some of the elements of the story were unique and held my interest (like the Dark Saber story arc), they would happen at the same time as lame ones (like spending the first part of the show on a Halo Ring… would have been better if it were a shipyard). The first world was new, but didn’t fit the world of Star Wars, this is because planets are so plentiful, there is no justification to build a ring world. Even Halo mentions it’s because the rings are actually weapons, because otherwise they make no sense. It’s almost as if Disney was trying to cash in on the ring world concept since Halo was coming out a few weeks later. Then there was the meat-processing plant… this was one of the most bizarre locations ever seen on a Star Wars show, not because it’s related to food, it’s because of the location. A ring world is not a likely place for raising and processing livestock; animals would likely have been raise AND processed on a planet somewhere nearby and then shipped to the ring world already frozen. Then after Mando collects the head of the man he was hunting, we’re presented a strange scene of Mando’s clients at dinner, a sequence that could have been cut from the episode and we would have lost nothing. Every scene should add to the story, and this sequence was nothing more than a gag-scene. We never learn why Mando hunted the butcher, we just learn that the clients are odd.

As for the second half of the show, we’re presented a strange scene of restoring a Naboo fighter, but first we need to have some more humor to make people excited to be back on Tatooine… so let’s have a woman attacked by a Womprat!… a creature that’s mocked for it’s small size and weakness in the rest of Star Wars till now. Then we see the reason for Mando to travel to this remote planet… he’s getting a Naboo Starfighter! Wait, remember Boba Fett putting frozen Hann onto Slave I? Does Disney seriously think we’re buying the idea that Mando is catching child-size bounties… OH! That’s right, he’s going to be a Daddy now, so he doesn’t need to catch anyone anymore. While the sequence of repairing and testing the starfighter is visually appealing, the whole sequence didn’t move the story very far, yet it was packed full of callbacks, the same thing Disney has been doing for this whole decade with every film and TV series! I would go over the other errors in detail, but I think you’re getting the point I’m trying to make. Disney likes to write by formula, when I believe they need to be writing by Logic and Lore. It’s good to have new content in the show, but the way Disney is doing it shows they don’t care about the content, just like the Sequel Trilogy.

But probably the biggest issue I have is Disney’s approach to this world of bounty hunting, we’ve yet to see any reason why people in the galaxy are so willing to help or support these killers. Bounty Hunters should be the most hated people in the galaxy, but apparently there is no law enforcement that questions their murders… don’t you think this is odd? The Jedi were the peace keepers in the Galaxy, and they were also hated by many. The Jedi were wise, and didn’t abuse their power the way the Bounty Hunters do, yet more people seem to think these killers are a type of undercover cop. Questioning Mando’s actions should have happened in Season 2, but we were not presented this explanation, and now we’re still left wondering if Mando is the good guy, or a bad one.

There are a lot of problems surrounding the Book of Boba Fett, some related to canon, others related to the way the story is being told. If you didn’t read my previous post on “Fixing the Mandalorian” or “Fixing the Book of Boba Fett – Part 1,” I think that both the Mandalorian and Boba Fett’s role in the story needs to follow a different plot-line. In this alternative story universe, Boba is the one who once trained Mando, and is the one who trained the first Foundlings in a generation. Boba has been trying to fulfill a promise he made to his father Jango, which is to reestablish the culture of Mandalor.

Now, I wanted to explore what it would be like to “Fix” the Book of Boba Fett episode 5. Below is how I would approached the episode instead of how Disney did it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this concept!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The scene opens as a small resource craft flies towards the Mon Calamari Shipyards. The shipyards are busier than ever, having bet on the winning side of the Galactic Civil War. The New Republic is rebuilding it’s fleet, and as the resource craft comes in to dock, a newly designed cruiser is being launched. The resource vessel lands and the ramp opens to reveal the Mandalorian, Din Djarin. He walks down the ramp, carrying a small bag of belongings with him; but as he is trying to leave, the captain of the resource craft calls out: “Hey, Mandalorian! You forgot to pay.”
Mando stops for a moment. “You’re right.” He check’s his wallet, but his cash is running dry. Din grabs the last of his credits and hands it to the captain. “I believe this will cover it?”
The captain, who saw the wallet for a moment nodded, removing a few of the credits and giving it back to Mando. “It really wasn’t that much trouble to transport you.”
Mando looks at the credits then back at the captain. “I don’t want your charity.”
“I know,” the captain smiled, “but charity isn’t a crime.” The captain returns up the ramp before Mando can hand the credits back.
Mando turns and leaves, pulling out his Tracking Fob. The signal is weak and starts to cut out. He checks for any damage on the device, but sees that it’s in perfect condition. Curious, he decides he needs to have it inspected.
He looks at some of the crew unloading the resource ship and approaches some of the rougher figures. “Any of you know of a Fob Repair station?”
The alien-faces of the workers twist in a cruel smile. “What type of Fob?”

Din enters a sealed resource port where an energy field covers an opening for small to medium spacecraft, and to the side of the hanger are several boxes with strange markings. To the side of the area is a small building where a mechanic is working by himself.
Din enters the building.  “Excuse me, I hear that you might be able to assist with a faulty fob.”
“I work on fobs all the time, what type you got?”
Din places the Tracker Fob on the counter. The mechanic jumps a little. “What are you playing at?”
“It’s not broken, but I can’t get a signal.”
“I’m not helping you fix that! I know how you bounty hunters work, I got friends here at the shipyard, I would never forgive myself if I helped you. Besides, you’re at a shipyard, the Mon Calamari Shipyard! Only high-end trackers have a slim chance of working.”
“This is high-end.”
“Apparently not if it’s giving you trouble. It’s no matter, just having it hear would have alerted our security systems to your presence. You’re being recorded as we speak!”
“Except this place. One of your so-called friends mentioned that this section of the shipyard was damaged sometime back and was never fixed due to more pressing issues. Your friend also said that’s why you’re working over here, because you know that the security holograms don’t record this sector.”
“Some friends.” He scowls. “Very well, let me take a look at it.” He pops open the back and uses a magnifying glass to inspect it. As he does so, Din looks out the window when he hears an engine as the new warship launches into hyperspace for it’s maiden voyage. The room shakes, but the engineer doesn’t flinch. “I see the problem.” He takes off his goggles. “Your tracking a mark, but the tracker only works when a security system can be compromised.”
“What?” Mando said in confusion.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know how these things work? No wonder why you came looking for help. Look, these things are hackers. They infiltrate a local security network. And since most cities have them, you’ve never needed to know how to find someone, but now you’re on the Mon Calamari security system. This system is one of the best in the galaxy and will not be so easy to compromise. Even the empire was unable to hack us. Most New Republic systems are the same. But if you’re mark is legal and endorsed by the New Republic, I still hope you fail.”
“What does it matter to you?”
“You bounty hunters are all the same, cold-blooded killers. The Jedi lived by a code that kept them from killing without a trial, you have no such honor.” Din starts to leave, but the engineer stops him. “Your Fob is now a tracker for the shipyard security system to find you. I would advise destroying it.”
The Mandalorian hesitates, then tosses the Fob and shoots it. The blast propels the device far away from him. “Thanks for the warning.”

Without a way to find his mark, Din goes to a call center to contact his client. He uses one of his credits to make the call and presses a security button to make the audio private. The blue form of his client appears, an alien man who doesn’t have a visible mouth. “Mandalorian, I assume you’ve completed your task?”
“I’ve run into a problem. The device you gave stopped working. I was wondering if you happen to know where your… ‘friend’ works?”
The client looks around, able to see the room behind Din, then nods knowingly. “Section 3, level 10, Development.”
Someone looks at Din from across the room in suspicion. The Mandalorian replied: “I got it.”
“Remember, he should have a few documents, make sure they are not lost.”
“Very well.” The call ends and Din leaves.

The Mandalorian calls to a mouse droid to show him the way. The droid passes another droid and whistles to it. Din doesn’t realize that this droid has compromised him. He arrives at the development sector and finds an engineer working by himself. Din looks around and sees cameras. After what he had learned earlier from the fob engineer, he is hesitant to move forward. The kill seems too easy, but the cameras will undoubtedly cause a station-wide lock-down. Mando considers his options and decides to use the Whistling Birds to take out the power to the sector. He climbs along the building and sees the transformer for the area. He expects that the bolts will be small enough not to draw attention to himself, and that others will not realize it’s an attack. He fires the Whistling Birds and the ring’s sector loses all power. As the light fades, the reflective light of the planet below bathes the sector in a pail blue. A few back-up lights turn on in the buildings as Din returns to the development office.
Din’s target walks into a back room and the Mandalorian slowly enters the dimly lit area. He sees blueprints for a new Corvette-class ship on the engineer’s table. “Large ships with almost twice the speed of the Millennium Falcon? How in the galaxy did you figure that out. Where are the guns? Is this just a glorified transport?” Two large radar disks on the ship hint at the ship’s source of such speeds, but a note is next to the disks saying material is fracturing and needs a substitute. Din takes the plans and folds it up to fit into a pouch on his suit. “Well, doesn’t make sense to me. That’s the first part.” He steps into the back room and sees the engineer is trying to plug a Gonk Droid in to restore power to the building, but it’s causing trouble. The Mandalorian steps forward and realization falls over the engineer. “Who sent you?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Tell me Bounty Hunter, what was my crime that you would hunt me down?”
“I don’t need to know the crimes, if you weren’t guilty, you wouldn’t have anything to fear.”
“Are you so blind that you don’t see the pain you inflict on people? Justice isn’t brought about like this. Where is the trial?”
“Some crimes don’t deserve a trial.” Din pulls out a blaster and aims it at the engineer.
“What does your conscience tell you?”
“Your blood is not on my hands, but on the hands of the one who hired me.”
“Yet you are willingly being the hand of that man.”
“It’s nothing personal.” Din lifts the blaster to eye level.
“Hold it there Mandalorian!” Din turns his head to see four Shipyard Guards aiming weapons at him. “You’re under arrest by the Mon Calamari Shipyards. Lower your blaster.”
Din starts to raise his arms and secretly puts his finger on the release button on the Whistling Birds, it clicks, telling him there is no more ammo left from earlier. He tosses the blaster to the ground and raises his hands as the guard takes the rest of his weapons. They pass over the dark saber, not realizing what it is. In a moment, Din drops his arms and grabs the weapon, turning it on. He swiftly swings the blade and cuts down two of the guards, but the weight of his armor and the lightness of the blade make wielding it hard and dangerous. Then he has a vision of Grogu and the Jedi who had taken him away. As the sword is swung, he sees the Jedi’s own attack contrasting his own. As he strikes the third guard, the darksaber hits his leg armor, cuts it in half and partially cutting through his leg. He shouts in agony and collapses onto the ground. The last guard sees the blaster within Din’s reach and shoots it, destroying it. Din tumbles to the side, and swings the darksaber at the last guard, who collapses. The Mandalorian slowly stands and discovers his chest armor is burned through having touched the blade when he tumbled. He then looks at the engineer who stands there motionless. “Like I said, you don’t see the pain you inflict on others.”
Din cuts the engineer’s head off and places it into a bag. Since he doesn’t have any fob, he needs the head to prove his kill. “I don’t have the luxury to think about such things. A hit is just a hit.” He picks up the head and for a moment, he sees Grogu in his hands, wrapped in the cloth. Afraid, he drops the head and stumbles back, only to realize it was just in his mind. He collects his wits and picks up the wrapped head again. He hears footsteps and rushes out the back.
As he walks from shadow to shadow, he does his best to not be noticed. But as he nears the docks again, the power returns and he ducks into the door to the damaged section of the station. He sees the fob engineer talking with a smuggler, who’s ship is docked in the hanger. Droids are unloading the last of the smuggler’s cargo and placing it among the other boxes in the area. Din does his best to conceal the head in his pack and approaches the workers.
The engineer sees the bounty hunter in his damaged armor. “Looks like you’ve had quite the adventure.”
Din groans as he looks over the ship. “What’s going on here?”
“This? This is why this part of the station remains busted. Getting weapon-grade lasers is hard enough to do without the New Republic trying to monitor us. This way we can get around the annoying terrifs.”
“Weapon-grade crystals? Where are you headed next?”
The smuggler looks at Mando. “My first stop will be a junk world. I’m heading to the-”
The alarm sounds as all power returns to the station, including the damaged section. “I’ll pay whatever you want!”
He hands his wallet over, but the smuggler shakes his head. “Nah, I would get more by turning you over.”
Din turns to the engineer, pay for my fare and I’ll give you something in return.
“Let’s see, a Mandalorian who doesn’t have a ship. What can you give that your creed wouldn’t object to?”
Din grabs the darksaber, but as he does, he hesitates. Why shouldn’t he sell it, he obviously doesn’t have the skill to wield the weapon, and the legends of the darksaber being an heir of Mandalor seems irrelevant based upon the times. And besides that, the blade almost killed him. But, maybe if he could be trained to use it, he could have a weapon that is as strong as that of the Jedi. He loosens his grip on the darksaber and shows the Whistling Birds Launcher on his arm. “What about this?”
“A Mandalorian weapon? That will do.” The engineer hands the smuggler the payment as Din takes the weapon off of his arm. “I would say the Force be with you, but I doubt the Force is with either of us, so I’ll just say: Good luck to you Mandalorian.”
“Good luck to you too.” Din replies as he steps onto the starcraft, hitting his head on the low door frame. “AGH!”
“Watch your head.”
Din hangs his head in disgrace before proceeding. “Thanks.”

The smuggler craft takes off, and a fighter nears it. Din looks out of the window and sees the craft approaching. “Are you going to jump to hyperspace?”
“Don’t be so worried, the Mon Calamari star fleet knows my craft and wouldn’t risk stopping us.” He presses several buttons on the dashboard. “Since you already paid for the trip, I guess I should mention that we’re traveling to Orma in the Brak Sector. Hope you like trash.”
“Orma? I’m not familiar with it.”
“Few outside of the Brak Sector are. It’s a place full of relics from past wars. A place close to a hyperspace lane, but it’s far enough away that you need to make a few jumps in order to get there.”
Once cleared of the shipyard, the smuggler jumps the ship into hyperspace. “It will be a few days, if you need to lie down, make yourself comfortable in the passenger cabin back to the left.” He looks at Mando’s wounds. “And if you need it, there’s a medical droid back there too. It’s not great, but it will stitch you up and can stop the pain.”
Din gets up and moves back to the cabin.

Some time later, Mando is resting, when he feels the ship rumble and shake. He wakes and looks at a map, showing they’ve made a turn at the Milagro system. He gets up and takes off his helmet. He breaths heavily and looks at his cut armor. Despite being stitched up, the wound had reopened in his sleep and the metal has caused the region to bleed. He takes off the chest plate and let’s the medical droid stitch up up as he takes the darksaber and rounds off the armor’s sharp edges. When back in his armor, he rises and returns to the cockpit. As the craft comes out of hyperspace, the planet of Orma is before them.
“Ah, Mandalorian, let me be the first to welcome you to Orma. The secret junkworld of the shipyards.”
Din sees several ships going to and from the world below. “Do you know if the Fonder system has any representative here?”
“Fonder? Yes, every shipyard has someone here. Captains like me serve all shipyards.” They decend into the atmosphere and pass by several craft transporting scraps, many with the Mon Calamari emblem, but also the Kuat shipyard.
Din points to the Kuat transports. “Kuat is still in business? Despite their work with the Empire?”
The smuggler smirks. “Shipyards never really fail, they always find a way to stay in business.” As the clouds part, they see a hundred Kuat ships taking off. “It amazes me how a shipyard wields so much power. Even the Imperial and New Republic fleets wouldn’t dream of attacking one. They have so much power and influence that some of us wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they planned the last couple of wars. They are better defended than any planet or battle station, yet they are as mysterious as the Sith. It’s said they have secret armadas of their own, hiding in deep space should their station be attacked, though I suspect that’s a rumor they use to make others think twice about attacking one. But all those shipyards would be rendered useless were it not for the parts and rare elements we smuggle. There are a lot of cheap craft you can find here, might be worth looking if you’re in the market.”

The spacecraft lands at a small city in the Southern Hemisphere. Din leaves the smuggler’s craft, and proceeds to find a building that has the Fondor shipyard emblem on it. As he walks towards the city, Din passes by several spacecraft for sale. The prices are very low, but are still a small fortune to buy. Among the craft is a Razor Crest, but when compared to some of the other ships, he realizes the impracticality of buying another Razor Crest. To the side, Din finds a battered ship from the Clone Wars. It’s a damaged ship that is covered in ash and scraped by rocks.
He’s not seen such a craft before. He calls to the merchant. “Excuse me, what is this starship?”
“That? Why that’s a Naboo Star Skiff! Came to me from a scavenger who claims to have found it on Mustafar.”
“Mustafar, that’s a volcanic world. How is this thing not burnt to a crisp?”
“Apparently it was at a mining station, kept in one of their hangers for transportation around the planet. No idea how a fancy ship like this ended up there in the first place. Anyway, the mine was shut down and all their equipment was sold to junk dealers like myself. She still flew, but I had to do a few repairs to the engines. I don’t care how tough a starship can be, entering a planet like that wrecks the intake systems and damages the shields.”
Din keeps looking over the ship. “How much?”
The Merchant smiled. “I wouldn’t sell for anything less than 10,000 credits.”
“That’s a very reasonable sum, what’s wrong with it?”
“See Mandalorian, I’m heading off-world, and it would be a shame to leave these behind to be scavenged by someone else.”
“I don’t have 10,000 credits, but I can get that amount soon enough. How long do I have?”
“I head to Nar Shaddaa in three days.”
Din looks around. “I don’t think I can make that amount in three days.”
“Well, if your heart is set on it, I can take the ship with me, but it will cost you extra.”
“I’ll do it, how can I contact you in Nar Shaddaa?”
The merchant smiles. “You know how.” He pulls out a tracking fob and has a droid scan his face, uploading the data to the fob. He then tosses the device to the Mandalorian before telling the droid: “Make sure the Skiff is loaded onto the scrap transport.”
Din turns to leave but is stopped. “You know Mandalorian, I don’t doubt your honor or courage, but you might want to have that armor repaired before going to Nar Shaddaa. You know it’s reputation.”
“I am aware.”

Din finally finds the Fonder Shipyard representative building and enters it, placing the bag with the head on the counter. “I have come to deliver my mark for the shipyards.”
The representative looks in the bag. “Ah yes.” He pushes a button and a hologram of a tall figure appears. “Lord Hodar, a bounty hunter has just delivered his mark to the Orma junk world.”
“Mandalorian, I see you must have had some trouble returning to us.”
“You could say that.”
The representative places the wrapped head into a scanner, and the information on the engineer appears.  The mouthless alien says:  “Well done. Where are the documents?”
Mando puts his hand on the pocket with the blueprints but stops. “I’m sorry, blasterfire destroyed the document.”
“I see, well that will be subtracted from your fee, I hope you understand.” Several credits appear out of a slot on the table.
“That’s less than half of what I asked for.”
“You delivered less than half of what we agreed upon. The blueprints were the whole point of your mission.”
“Had I known this was about the documents, I wouldn’t have killed him.”
“You killed him because we paid you to. Don’t tell me you’re so naive to not know how shipyards work. His crime was working for our opposition. We couldn’t risk him remaking the blueprints. Leave with these credits while I’m in a generous mood.”
Din looks at the credits. “Keep your blood money.” The Mandalorian turns and leaves the place. He walks to a rise that overlooks a plain of junk that stretches as far as he can see. An Imperial star destroyer rests next to a Trade Federation Cruiser, both rusting relics, the losers of old wars. He remembers the people he had seen killed needlessly and is filled with guilt. He imagines his position switched with others he has encountered, where he was the one killing and who got killed. He remembers the engineer’s words: “you don’t see the pain you inflict.” He sees a blaster fired at his chest that feels real. He rips off his helmet and collapses onto his knees, his chest wound visible as he looks down. He sees the helmet and remembers Fett standing with his helmet in his hands saying: “I was… keeping my distance, least my dark past should color my apprentice’s future.”
“Boba!” He says at last. “You must know how to stop these haunts!”

Din is in the city’s call center and a hologram of Fett appears on the counter. “Well, look who it is. I have been trying to contact you for days. How are you doing kid?”
“Been better.” He pauses, afraid of his own words. “Listen, do you ever…”
“Save it, I have need of you. Dire need.”
Din pauses then relents: “I’m listening.”
“Come to Tatooine, from now on, you’re working with me.” He holds up a medallion. “You remember what this means?”
“The Reforge Emblem? What about it?”
“I know you’re smart enough to figure that out.”
Realization falls over Din and he pulls out his own medallion. “Boba, I thought we were not to do such a thing for another generation?”
“My hand has been moved for me. When you get here, we’re going to have your armor fixed, you’re going to need it.”
“I should have enough to get to Tatooine.”
“Good, get here as soon as possible.”
“Wait, you said someone has moved your hand, who?”
END EPISODE