The first episode of The Book of Boba Fett is out, and as expected the highly anticipated new live-action Disney+ spinoff of The Mandalorian is chock-full of Star Wars Easter Eggs and references to other media.
In the list below, I’ve enumerated a total of 35 callbacks, allusions, and Easter Eggs in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett Episode 1 – “Stranger In a Strange Land.” I’ve chosen not to include too-obvious things like Jabba’s Palace or lead characters Boba Fett and Fennec Shand themselves, but that definitely still leaves us with plenty to talk about.
1 – Bacta Pod: Boba Fett sleeps in one of these to heal himself from the scars and other physical damage caused by his time in the Sarlacc pit. Bacta is the same medical liquid Luke Skywalker is submerged in after being attacked by the Wampa on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.
2 – Kamino: During his bacta-induced nightmares, Boba sees a flash of the cloning facility on the ocean planet where he was “born.”
3 – Geonosis: In another flash, Boba sees the arena on the planet from the climax of Attack of the Clones, where his “father” Jango Fett was decapitated by Jedi Master Mace Windu.
4 – Sarlacc: Fett escaped the Sarlacc monster and the Pit of Carkoon in the original Expanded Universe “Legends” continuity, and now we’ve seen how he did it in the current Star Wars canon.
5 – Stormtrooper: There’s a dead Imperial stormtrooper rotting in the Sarlacc’s innards, and Boba uses its air tube to survive. Stormtroopers were first spotted on Tatooine in the original Star Wars movie.
6 – Flamethrower: We get to see Boba Fett use his famous flamethrower in an effort to escape the Sarlacc.
7 – Jabba's Sail Barge: Once Fett has escaped the Sarlacc, we see the wreckage of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge the Khetanna baking in the desert heat behind him. The barge exploded in Return of the Jedi.
8 – Sandcrawler: We also see how the local Jawas come to be in possession of Boba Fett’s armor, which they sell to Mos Pelgo marshal Cobb Vanth in the Star Wars: Aftermath novel series (also seen in The Mandalorian).
9 – Boba Fett’s Underwear: After being stripped by the Jawas, Fett is reduced to wearing only the grayish-white long-johns usually seen under his armor. Throughout the flashbacks in this episode, we see how those garments gradually become torn and tattered, necessitating the need for Boba’s new black-highlighted look.
10 – Tusken Raiders: These Tatooine natives have been seen in plenty of Star Wars media, and here they take Boba Fett hostage after waking the bounty hunter up with some kind of smelling salt-like goo. Then they drag him back to their camp behind their Banthas.
11 – Massiff: These are the ferocious lizard-dogs that belong to the Tusken Raiders, and they’ve previously been seen in both Attack of the Clones and The Mandalorian.
12 – "Stranger in a Strange Land": The title of this episode is a reference to the 1961 Robert A. Heinlein sci-fi novel of the same name, about a human raised on Mars. It’s also the title of a third-season episode of ABC’s LOST and a song by Iron Maiden.
13 – Twin Suns: The familiar feature of Tatooine’s sky can be spotted several times in the episode.
14 – Gaffi Sticks: The ceremonial weapon of the Tusken Raiders appears throughout the flashbacks, and the younglings of the species also seem to use much more rudimentary versions of the sticks for their training.
15 – Black Melon: The Tusken Raiders drink water from this fruit they find buried underground. The same drink serves as a peace offering to Cobb Vanth in The Mandalorian, which he initially refuses. It first appeared in a Star Wars comic book from 2015.
16 – Rodian: Boba Fett is tied up next to an orange-skinned member of the Rodian species, the same type of alien as the slippery bounty hunter Greedo from the original Star Wars.
17 – Aqualish: A member of this tusked species (again, first seen in A New Hope when Ponda Baba accosts Obi-Wan Kenobi) gives Boba Fett plenty of New Republic credits as tribute.
18 – 8D8: The skinny droid first seen torturing a poor Gonk in Return of the Jedi is now voiced by British comedic actor Matt Berry of Toast of London, The IT Crowd, and What We Do in the Shadows fame.
19 – Trandoshan: A member of Bossk’s species presents Fett with a Wookiee pelt. This character, named Dokk Strassi, is voiced by series executive producer (not to mention director of this episode) Robert Rodriguez.
20 – Twi'lek: A flamboyant majordomo representing the mayor of Mos Espa (who could that be?) is hilariously portrayed by Veep actor David Pasquesi. This head-tailed species was first seen in Return of the Jedi, but has become quite prominent in the Star Wars mythos since then.
21 – Rancor: Fennec Shand says Jabba the Hutt would have fed the majordomo to his menagerie– an obvious reference to the enormous, fearsome creature that once lived in the dungeon underneath the palace.
22 – Gamorreans: Once again, these pig guards were first seen working for Jabba in Return of the Jedi.
23 – Mos Espa: This Tatooine settlement first appeared as the home of Anakin Skywalker, Shmi, and Watto in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but here at least one major part of the city looks as though it rests in a giant crater.
24 – Droid Dogs: These guys haven’t appeared in Star Wars before that I know of, but they sure look and move an awful lot like those creepy robot dogs developed by Boston Dynamics.
25 – Max Rebo: Probably the happiest moment of this episode comes when we find out that the Ortolan Jabba’s Palace musician Max Rebo evidently survived the sail barge explosion, and is now performing at “The Sanctuary”– an underground casino run by Jennifer Beals’s Twi’lek character. Max plays alongside a Bith musician (could this be a former member of the Modal Nodes?) and a droid drummer, and together they deliver a remixed rendition of John Williams’s famous “Cantina Band” music from A New Hope.
26 – RX-Series Droid: Yes, the “Captain Rex” droid from Star Tours (AKA “DJ Rex” from Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge) apparently has an assembly-line cousin who’s a Sabacc dealer at the Sanctuary casino.
27 – Astromech Servers: These diminutive droids are serving drinks around the Sanctuary, much like poor R2-D2 was forced to do on Jabba’s sail barge.
28 – Other Aliens: I spotted what I think was a Chadra-Fan (the bat-like species from the Mos Eisley cantina) bartender, a Shistavanen (the notorious wolfman from the same) playing cards, and of course more Twi'leks roaming around the casino.
29 – Assassins: There are lots of theories floating around the internet about these guys, but the prevailing one is that they might be Crimson Dawn thugs working for Han Solo’s ex-girlfriend Qi’ra, who was recently reintroduced in the Star Wars comic books from Marvel. Their weapons appear to be some sort of electrostaffs and energy shields.
30 – Wrist Rocket: Boba Fett gets to fire this weapon of his during the Mos Espa assassin attack.
31 – Aladdin: This one might be a bit of a stretch, but I couldn’t help but think of the Disney animated classic during the rooftop parkour sequence, and I had to wonder if the allusion was at all intentional.
32 – Moisture Farm: At first glance I thought Fett, his fellow prisoner, and their Tusken captor had come across the Lars homestead, but upon closer inspection the shape of the main structure is different. The raiders stealing water from these farmers spray-paint a curious "LL" insignia in Aurebesh on the home, then they ride away on speeder bikes.
33 – Anchorhead: This outpost was mentioned but not seen in the original Star Wars film, and Fett suggests he and the Rodian could make it there to escape off-planet if they tried.
34 – Huttese Insults: The Rodian uses the terms “sleemo” and “poodoo,” both of which we’ve heard before– according to Wookieepedia, “sleemo” (Anakin calls Sebulba this in The Phantom Menace) roughly translates to “slimeball,” and poodoo (said by Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi)… well, let’s just say that’s a topic that’s been hotly debated among the Star Wars fan community.
35 – The Monster: This as-yet-unnamed creature gave me serious Ray Harryhausen vibes, reminding me most of the Kraken from the visual effects guru’s work in Clash of the Titans. Boba Fett chokes out this frightening fellow much in the same way that Princess Leia kills Jabba the Hutt in Jedi, which I thought was notable.
I’ll be sure to look for more Easter Eggs and references in future episodes of Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, which will be released over the next six Wednesdays, exclusively on Disney+.