It’s a big year for Boba Fett. The infamous bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back (among many other Star Wars appearances) is getting his own Disney+ series Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett this winter. And for Disney+ Day today, Lucasfilm has released a retrospective documentary entitled Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett on the streaming service, examining the character’s history and future in the iconic space-opera franchise.
In the bullet-point list below, I’ve gone through and enumerated the most interesting tidbits and factoids to come out of Under the Helmet: The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+.
- Sound designer Ben Burtt humorously demonstrates the horn he used to make the noise of Boba Fett’s ship the Slave I taking off in The Empire Strikes Back.
- We get a brief synopsis of Boba Fett’s appearances in the original Star Wars trilogy: just four lines of dialogue and a little over six minutes worth of screen time.
- Then there’s a montage of Boba Fett’s many cameo appearances in popular culture, such as on the animated sitcoms The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy and Robot Chicken.
- There are interview clips with George Lucas and Dave Filoni talking about Fett’s legacy.
- We then flash back to 1978 and Boba Fett’s first screen test in his original white armor.
- Industrial Light & Magic’s Joe Johnston talks about the design for the armor, and how he and concept artists Ralph McQuarrie both traded sketches back and forth for the character.
- Lucasfilm’s Pete Vilmur talks about the medieval origins of the “t visor” on Boba Fett’s helmet.
- Johnston talks about how Fett’s armor was intended for an army of “super troopers.”
- We get more footage of the screen test showing off Fett’s gadgetry, weapons, and jetpack.
- Johnston says for budgetary reasons the super trooper idea was abandoned in favor of a bounty hunter character. He painted the armor silver and then applied other colors over it to give it a layered look.
- Lucas talks about the decision to introduce Boba Fett in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
- Star Wars merchandise collector Steve Sansweet talks about the Northern California parade where Boba Fett made his actual first public appearance.
- Johnston says he liked that Fett didn’t have an established backstory when he showed up in Empire.
- Filoni compares parts of Fett’s look to Clint Eastwood’s “Man with No Name” character from the Western film A Fistful of Dollars and its sequels.
- Burtt talks about how the foley artist took his suggestion of adding spur noises to Boba Fett’s footsteps.
- The next section of the documentary is about actor Jeremy Bulloch’s casting as Boba Fett in the OT. Filoni talks about what Bulloch brought to the role as the man inhabiting the armor.
- Bulloch’s wife Maureen gives a brief tour of the family’s Boba Fett memorabilia and talks about doing the Star Wars convention rounds with her husband.
- We then get an appreciation for the stuntmen who helped bring Boba Fett to life in Return of the Jedi.
- At this point the documentary delves into the prequel trilogy and the casting of Temuera Morrison as Boba’s father, Jango Fett. There’s an interview with Daniel Logan, who plays young Boba in Attack of the Clones.
- Logan tells a touching story about his working relationship with Morrison, and getting to come back to voice Boba Fett again in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.
- Sansweet then gives a tour of Boba Fett items in his Star Wars memorabilia museum, Rancho Obi-Wan.
- Filoni talks about how playing with Star Wars toys inspired him, Jon Favreau, and Robert Rodriguez to create Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, coming soon to Disney+.
- Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy talks about bringing Boba Fett back for The Mandalorian and how excited she is for the spinoff series.
- We get interviews with The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen.
- Joe Johnston, Ben Burtt, Dave Filoni, and Kathleen Kennedy wrap up the documentary by ruminating further on the legacy of Boba Fett.
Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett is available to stream exclusively on Disney+, and Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett premieres December 29 on the streaming service. For more Disney+ Day coverage, be sure to check back here at LaughingPlace.com.