The history of bounty hunter Boba Fett [Mizumaru Kawahara's CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.50]

Index

• Starts as a senior Stormtrooper
• A bounty hunter who appeared before the movie.
• Film debut and return to origins

Starts as a senior Stormtrooper

　Continuing from the previous episode , I would like to talk about the 40th anniversary of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back . The 40th anniversary of this work also means 40 years since the screen debut of the characters and motifs that appeared in this work, such as the wise man Yoda, the gambler Lando Calrissian, and the walking weapon AT-AT that roams the snowy fields. I have a particularly strong attachment to the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

A bounty hunter hired by the dark lord Darth Vader, he outsmarts his rivals and successfully tracks down the Millennium Falcon. He is a character who silently stands next to Darth Vader but has a strange presence. He has equipment all over his body, and although he won't be using it right away, he also carries a jet pack on his back. After all, the countless scars running across his helmet and armor distinguish him as a veteran warrior. Juxtaposed with the jet-black, glossy Vader and the pure-white, inorganic Stormtroopers, his dirty and worn-out appearance gives off an air of caution, as if he has survived many dangers. Like many fans, I fell in love with him from the moment I saw him.

However, of course, this armored suit was not full of scratches from the beginning, nor was it green. What's more, he wasn't a bounty hunter to begin with. To get to the origins of this character, we have to go back to 1978, the year after the first film in the series, Episode VI: A New Hope, was released. Boba Fett was born in this year, and through trial and error he developed into a familiar figure, but I would like to briefly summarize his trajectory here.

The character who would later become Boba Fett was originally conceived as a super trooper, an advanced class of stormtroopers who were the main soldiers of the Imperial Army. As the commander of the white soldiers who made a strong impression in the first film, he was supposed to be the new villain next to Darth Vader. Already, the all-black Vader and all-white troopers created an ominous contrast, but perhaps the intention was to juxtapose the Dark Lord with a white villain who was more formidable than a group of soldiers.

The characters were designed by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, who continued to visualize the world of the first film, production designer Norman Reynolds, and costume designer John Moro, who are also featured several times in this series. Joe Johnston and others were involved. Looking at McQuarrie's sketches, it's easy to see that the image evolved from Stormtroopers. There is a trooper-like face that looks like a cross between an iron helmet and a gas mask, and a version that has something like a placket on a Japanese helmet (the white part makes it look very Gundam-like), making it a new trooper. At the same time, the image of Vader as a white man appears and disappears. Eventually, the shape of the head becomes simpler, and the placket becomes a single antenna protruding from one side of the head. In the full-length portrait, better known as the McQuarrie Concept version, he looks sleek with minimal armor and most of his body wrapped in a white jumpsuit. The head is already almost identical to that of later Boba Fett, and this image is so popular that it is often made into figurines.

On the other hand, perhaps because he is involved in actually creating the costumes, Johnston puts his heart and soul into the specific details and functions of the equipment, as well as the idea of ​​how they can be divided and worn. In particular, there were many sketches of jet packs, such as ones where jet boosters that are normally stored are deployed on both sides, and ones that do not fly but just fire rockets and cable hooks from the back, which he would later supervise. I can feel the commitment that can be said to be the origin of `` Rocketeer .''

The costume was completed, and the screen test footage still exists today. Other than the fact that the entire body is white, including the jumpsuit (although there are slight differences in things like the blaster rifle), the shape is almost exactly the same as the one that appears in the movie. Even the cape hanging from the shoulders is the same (at this point, a blanket, a related product from the first game, was being used, and patterns such as the SW logo and characters were printed on it). The gauntlet on his arm and the jet pack on his back are connected by a tube, and when you operate it, Smoke will blow out from the nozzle of the jet pack, making it very well made. However, this was not the end. After screen tests, the character was changed from a super trooper to a bounty hunter at the suggestion of George Lucas, and Johnston set to work repainting it to make it look like a lone wolf bounty hunter.

A bounty hunter who appeared before the movie.