Well, after everyone was singing The Book of Boba Fett’s praises last week, we have once again stumbled into a (sigh) Star Wars-related controversy for Chapter 3 this week. Namely, something having to do with the gang of youths that Boba Fett recruits to be his de facto army as he attempts to secure control of Mos Espa’s underworld.
The main controversy is based on a viral tweet that questions whether the kids and their hover…vespas are “Star Wars” or not:
The debate then spirals into whether these kids and their rainbow colored scooters look too out of place in Star Wars or Tatooine, or whether this is actually something that is extremely Star Wars, given George Lucas’s past.
Some fans point out that Lucas included a ‘50s ish diner in the prequels, and note that he was a huge fan of hot rods, on full display in his classic, pre-Star Wars film, American Graffiti. Others talk about the actual influences that likely helped conceptualize these scooters, including Japanese bike gangs and the ‘60s British Mod scene.
I’m split on this. I don’t want to declare something “not Star Wars” as that’s kind of a “no true Scotsman” debate that involves a lot of fan gatekeeping and being annoying. But that said, I really do not like the scooters, nor the entire aesthetic of the youth gang. To be clear, this does not extend to the actors. It’s awesome that Yellowjacket’s Sophie Thatcher is now in Star Wars, for instance. But the gang itself seemed wildly out of place.
My main issue is just aesthetics here. While I can theoretically see kids trying to look flashy and different in a bland place like Tatooine, it doesn’t make sense to me to have perfectly washed shiny hover vespas in a place where they need to steal water to survive. Nor do I really understand why they have these utterly pristine, almost formal-looking outfits the guys wear when they’re supposed to be this ragged bunch of kids surviving on the street. Thatcher, meanwhile, is dressed almost exactly like her ‘90s goth character in Yellowjackets.
The droid stuff? That’s cool, the droid parts stuff is fine. But everything else does feel weird and out of place to me to the point of distraction. Again, I’m not classifying it as “not Star Wars,” but I am saying the art direction and costuming here is just not very good. I’d kind of extend that to the rest of the show as well (Fennec’s look is boring, Fett’s armor-over-robes ensemble looks kind of sloppy, if you ask me, even if I understand its Tusken origins).
Anyway, Star Wars fans will argue about anything, and youths with rainbow vespas is no different. I personally don’t love the concept and execution here, but Star Wars is sort of whatever you make of it, and I agree that I could definitely see George Lucas doing something like this. Not that that’s necessarily a compliment.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
