The Mandalorian Vs. Boba Fett: Hallmark Edition
This week's episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" is an interesting one for essentially being an episode of "The Mandalorian." A Mando-only guest appearance, it teases our shiny chrome bounty hunter spending some future quality time in Boba Fett's neck of the woods, while in this episode he gets a new ship outfitted and makes something special for one adorable green space baby.
Since we don't have any deeper insight into Boba Fett but we have caught up with Mando, it's a great time to step back and take stock of the pair's iconic hallmarks. We've covered some major attributes of the two like armor and day-wear fashion, but this week we're looking at those distinctive elements that let you know of their arrival from a rhetorical mile away. We're looking at their main musical themes, weapons, and ships in this week's The Mandalorian vs. Boba Fett: Hallmark Edition.
Whatever It's Named, Boba Fett Has an Incredible Ship
Mando spends quite a bit of this episode outfitting a new ship following the destruction of his distinctive gunship the Razor Crest (in season 2's "Chapter 14: The Tragedy"). It was an ST-70 Assault Ship outfitted with two laser cannons, two engines, and hyperdrive, and it was a pretty sweet ride until it was blown into space dust by Moff Gideon's Imperial light cruiser. We've only just barely seen his new ship and its capabilities, but Mando's now rockin' a heavily modified N-1 Naboo starfighter. It's small but light, fast, and powerful with its own hyperdrive engine. It's an intriguing throwback to "The Phantom Menace" and it will definitely be fun to see it in action.
If we're talking ships with legacy, however, you can't do much better than Boba Fett's ship. Originally called Slave 1 before being officially renamed Firespray, the Firespray-31-class starship was passed down by Jango and modified by Boba Fett into a fearsome attack craft positively loaded with weapons, shields, and sensors. It boasts laser cannons, seismic charges, projectile launchers, and more, and its original trilogy made it one of the most recognizable and fearsome ships in the galaxy. There's really no way it loses this battle. Boba Fett gets a point, despite not even being in this episode.
Mando Gets That Even a Walking Tank Needs a Sweet Sword
Like all Mandalorian armor, Boba Fett's is loaded to the rhetorical teeth with weapons. It boasts flamethrowers, a knee-pad rocket dart launcher, wrist rockets, an EE-3 Blaster rifle (that you can now have in your very own home), a jetpack, and more. Almost every part of his armored body has a weapon on it, in fact. When you add his melee proficiency with the Tusken Raider gaffi stick, Boba Fett is so stacked with weaponry that it's almost better to think of him as tank in the shape of a man. Compared to anyone who is similarly adorned in Mandalorian armor, he easily wins.
Mando's armor and weapon cache are also extremely formidable, a fact that's unsurprising given that he's known for quotes like "I'm a Mandalorian, weapons are part of my religion" (in "Chapter 2: The Child"). He now boasts a full suit of beskar armor complete with a jetpack, flamethrowers, whistling birds, blasters, a vibro-knife, and the occasional explosive device. Ordinarily this would nearly guarantee a tie between well armored gentlemen, but Mando walks away with this one in one key area: melee. While Boba Fett's gaffi stick is certainly not to be trifled with, Mando's now-repurposed beskar spear alone may well have been enough to land the point. If not, his Darksaber certainly is. It's an ancient weapon that can handle lightsabers and beskar alike, and it comes with a claim to rulership over Mandalore. There really aren't many weapons that are cooler in the "Star Wars" galaxy, so the point easily goes to Mando.
When You Hear Mando's Main Theme, You Always Know He's Here
One thing that "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett" both have in common is that they're scored by the talented Ludwig Göransson (composing the main theme for "The Book of Boba Fett" with Joseph Shirley composing the overall score). Both themes are excellent, with the humming and vocalizations in the theme for "The Book of Boba Fett" really feeling like one's watching a suitably epic tale. We've reported before how it bears similarities to music from "Ronia, the Robber's Daughter," a Swedish fantasy film from 1984, but with a slick, modern sound that suits the series and that you never get tired of ... and what more can you ask for?
At the same time, while both entries have great main themes we're going to have to give it to "The Mandalorian," here. Göransson's inspiration for the latter theme was centered in his childhood memories of Star Wars and attempting to evoke those feelings. He used a bass recorder for its distinctive sound (along with some piano and drum accompaniment), and it creates a sonic profile that perfectly echoes the series' space samurai vibes. The most important reason why Mando gets the point here, however, is that his theme is distinctively attached to his on-screen presence, much like the "Jaws" theme follows said shark's attacks. We often hear notes from Mando's theme when he appears on-screen, providing a true sonic hallmark for our favorite shiny space dad. Mando gets the point, taking this one 2:1.
Stay tuned next week for another round in our effort to determine who is truly the better bounty hunter!