The Book of Boba Fett flicks back a few pages, explaining how Fett and Fennec Shand became friends over a black melon and some Star Wars Easter eggs.
Caution: spoilers ahead for The Book of Boba Fett episode 4
Here's the next round of Star Wars Easter eggs and references from Disney+'s The Book of Boba Fett. Just as The Mandalorian looked to have united Star Wars' audience after a slew of movie controversy, along comes The Book of Boba Fett to divide fans all over again. Episode 3's "if-British-mods-were-Power-Rangers" bike gang, tearing up Tatooine in the daimyo's name, epitomizes how Boba's streaming exploits are attracting mixed reactions.
The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 ("The Gathering Storm") mostly comprises one lengthy flashback, showing the moment Boba came into Fennec Shand's acquaintance, how he reclaimed Sla... er, the Firespray Gunship from Jabba's palace, and why the ex-bounty hunter suddenly felt the urge to become a Star Wars crime lord. Back in the present timeline, Boba continues to prepare for war against the Pyke Syndicate, but finds little support among Tatooine's hive of scum and villainy.
Once again, the pages of Boba Fett's Disney+ volume are littered with Star Wars Easter eggs, callbacks and references, including a General Grievous tribute, some familiar one-liners, and that Mando musical cue.
Strolling across the Dune Sea with his bantha buddy, Boba Fett passes the skeletal remains of a bantha that has long since perished, recognizable by the still-intact horns. This contrast of bantha life and death foreshadows a later scene where Boba releases his own mount to live happily among its own kind. As a bonus Star Wars Easter egg, wandering past an animal skeleton while traveling through the Tatooine desert can't help but evoke memories of R2-D2 and C-3PO from A New Hope.
As ever, The Book of Boba Fett's landscape is heavily populated by familiar alien species and recognizable droid models. The Star Wars "Where's Waldo" hunt begins as Boba scouts out Jabba's palace, noticing Niktos and Gamorreans among the guards. The cute little "ratcatcher" Boba chases around Jabba's palace is an LEP droid (a model that featured heavily throughout Star Wars: The Clone Wars), while an ever-popular "Plunk" droid can be spotted during Fett and Shand's escape sequence, getting shot and blowing up spectacularly.
After reclaiming the Firespray, Boba Fett offers Fennec Shand a "scurrier" to eat - a breed of animal native to Tatooine since A New Hope. In the Sanctuary you'll find an RX droid, a Hassk, Trandoshans, Twi'leks, R-units, a Brittaro, and, of course, Max Rebo's band. At the final gathering of mob bosses, Boba Fett meets with Trandoshans, Aqualish and Klatoonians.
Most Book of Boba Fett viewers will know all about Tatooine's twin suns; less will recall that Luke Skywalker's home planet also has a trio of moons to its name. Though these satellites have been part of Tatooine's natural history since 1977, the moons were only named in 2015 (via Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know). "The Gathering Storm" includes a gorgeous day-to-night transition that shows Ghomrassen, Guermessa and Chenini in all their lunar glory.
Boba Fett's dinner is interrupted by a series of nearby flares scaling the night sky. These are the same missiles fired by Din Djarin in The Mandalorian season 1's "The Gunslinger," used as a distraction during the fight against Fennec Shand. Sure enough, The Book of Boba Fett then replays the final scene from that episode (the mysterious figure approaching Shand) from an alternate perspective. Boba's spur noises are curiously less prominent in this new version.
With credit to Ming-Na Wen University on Twitter, one of the kids hanging around outside the mod parlor looking shadily in Boba Fett's direction is none other than Cooper Dominic Zee, the son of Ming-Na Wen, presumably wondering why Fett is carrying his mother.
When Boba Fett enters the mod parlor, Fennec Shand folded in his arms, the owner quips, "Aren't you a little old to be here," referencing how most customers through his door are no-good street teens. The line pays tribute to Princess Leia's iconic opening insult to Luke Skywalker during her Death Star rescue - "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"
The Book of Boba Fett episode 4's Modfather (played by Thundercat, no less) has a handy selection of interchangeable arm attachments, and the camera lingers on one in particular - a chunky, three-fingered claw. Don't worry, WALL-E is fine. Instead, the doctor appears to have acquired the arm from a B2 battle droid, widely used by Separatists during the Clone Wars.
Since Disney purchased the Star Wars brand, the Mouse House has gradually phased out calling Boba Fett's ship "Slave I." Likely due to the grim real-world connotations, The Mandalorian merchandise referred to the vessel simply as "Boba Fett's Starship." The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 gives even clearer confirmation that Slave I is no longer canon, with Boba himself using "Firespray gunship" instead. A Firespray is a class of ship in Star Wars lore, rather than an actual name, so "Slave I" might still apply... just don't expect to hear anyone say it aloud.
Fennec Shand agrees to assist Boba Fett in relinquishing his ship from Bib Fortuna as payment for saving her life, insisting they'll go their separate ways thereafter. Boba simply replies, "If that is what you wish." This line mirrors one of (very) few pieces of Boba Fett dialogue from the original Star Wars trilogy - telling Darth Vader "as you wish" after being ordered not to disintegrate anyone.
Ahead of the Firespray mission at Jabba's Palace, Fennec Shand sends in her probe droid, a little smaller in size than a thermal detonator. This device serves more or less the same function as the probe droids used by the Empire (The Empire Strikes Back) and Darth Maul (The Phantom Menace), but how the technology has shrunk and become more stealthy demonstrates an advancement of technology in Star Wars' universe.
As Boba Fett and Fennec Shand repeat that time-honored mafia tradition of entering through the kitchen, they encounter two droids. The first is EV-9D9, who appeared in Return of the Jedi and assigned jobs to captured droids on Jabba's behalf (including R2-D2). Whether he's been demoted, or simply assigned kitchen duty to himself goes frustratingly unanswered. The poor one-eyed creature trying desperately to escape EV's cooking pot is a Sorgan frog from The Mandalorian.
The second droid on Bib Fortuna's kitchen team is a COO cook droid, first seen on the freighter Anakin and Padmé ride in Attack of The Clones. However, the real Star Wars Easter egg comes when the droid begins spinning knives violently in his 9 hands - a worthy impression of General Grievous from Revenge of the Sith, who swirled lightsabers toward Obi-Wan Kenobi, making memes as he went.
The basic setup of Boba Fett and Fennec Shand fending off pursuers whilst trying to escape in the Firespray is identical to Han Solo's crew attempting to escape in the Millennium Falcon during 1977's original Star Wars movie. Both also took place on Tatooine, and both are connected to Jabba the Hutt, one way or another.
The Book of Boba Fett has already shown the remains of Jabba's private sailing barge sitting next to the Sarlacc pitt. As Boba Fett crashes his Firespray around the palace's hangar, he rams into the familiar shape of a skiff - the smaller floating boat Luke Skywalker leapt from before executing his surprise attack.
George Lucas has a (totally deserved) reputation for adding wholly necessary digital effects to special editions of the Star Wars original trilogy, and one of many maligned changes is the beak-like mouth coming from the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi. When The Book of Boba Fett showed the Sarlacc in a prior flashback, this avian appendage was mercifully absent, leading many to believe Favreau and Filoni were retconning the CGI alteration. No such luck, as Boba Fett penetrates the pit looking for his helmet in episode 4, and the beak emerges in all its weird splendor. The modern effects don't look as out of place in The Book of Boba Fett, but still...
THWOOOOM. If there's a more satisfying sound in Star Wars than the seismic charges loaded inside Boba Fett's ship, we're yet to hear it. The sonic bombs have featured in Attack of the Clones (during the Jango/Obi-Wan space chase) and The Mandalorian season 2 (against TIE Fighters). The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 sees Fennec Shand release one into the Sarlacc's mouth, killing it and annoying Boba Fett for "pushing his buttons." The awesome sound is muffled by sand, but it's a cool moment nonetheless.
When Boba asks whether the majordomo is proffering any useful intelligence, Fennec Shand claims he's "singing like a yuzzum." This Book of Boba Fett line is a nod to Joh Yowza - a yuzzum George Lucas added to Max Rebo's band as a singer in Jabba's palace, cue confusion and annoyance from fans.
Black Krrsantan the bounty-hunting Wookiee returns in The Book of Boba Fett episode 4, getting hammered and attacking a group of Trandoshans for seemingly no good reason. Though their feud hasn't featured in the main Star Wars movie trilogies, Trandoshans and Wookiees infamously hate each other, with the reptilians hunting the furry residents of Kashyyyk, and the furry residents of Kashyyyk not afraid to bite back. This is why the drunk Krrsantan specifically targets the Sanctuary's Trandoshan patrons - and probably why Garsa Fwip and Boba Fett cut him some slack.
Expressing his Trandoshan-themed anger, Black Krrsantan rips one of the lizard gamblers' arms clean off, recalling memories of Han Solo's warning to C-3PO while playing holochess on the Millennium Falcon - "a droid don't pull peoples' arms out of their sockets when they lose."
The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 ends with Boba and Fennec Shand contemplating how to hire more "muscle" for their rapidly-approaching war against the Pyke Syndicate. As they consider some options, Din Djarin's unmistakable Mandalorian theme plays in the background, hinting at a Pedro Pascal cameo in a future episode. The same musical cue also features when Boba Fett spots the flares before heading off and discovering the dying body of Fennec Shand, but carries more weight the second time around.
The Book of Boba Fett streams every Wednesday on Disney+.
