This Week in the Clone Wars: Boba Fett Is Here

2010 is shaping up to be the year of Boba Fett in the Star Wars universe. It's the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back; there's a mail-in promotion for a Boba Fett action figure with working rocket launcher coming this summer; and LEGO is releasing a refreshed Slave I in August. So it's no surprise that Star Wars: The Clone Wars is wrapping up season two with a story arc starring the galaxy's most famous bounty hunter.

In "Death Trap," Boba Fett sneaks aboard a Jedi cruiser in order to wreak havoc. Maybe's he's mad that Mace Windu killed his father . . . maybe he's mad that the Jedi created an army of clones just like him. Fett is voiced by Daniel Logan, who also played Boba in Attack of the Clones. Logan comments:

He’s with the clones, but he’s not one of them . . . He’s special; that’s how he sees it. And now he’s alone. He had a relationship with Jango, like a father and son. None of the other clones had that connection; they’re just soldiers, and now they’re standing in his way. And that’s one of things that makes Boba so cool, as a kid and as a bounty hunter – nothing stands in his way.
“This is a key time for Boba. . . . When we saw him in Episode II, he was just a kid. But he watched his dad get killed by Mace Windu, and now he wants revenge against the Jedi. He’s bitter and angry. A lot’s changed for Boba, even though not much time’s passed for him. I rewatched Attack of the Clones a few times to see how my voice sounded back then – I’m older and it’s changed a little, you know? I wanted to stay true to that original sound. But, he’s darker and more serious now – and he definitely has an edge.

LucasFilm has released a video clip of Logan discussing the episode and its production–I particularly enjoy the bit when he asserts that this episode brings out the darker side of Boba Fett. (I assume because he'd been such a cuddly, fun-loving character in the original series.)

Logan promises that the episodes won't wreck Fett's mystique:

“It was so hard keeping quiet . . . We didn’t want to ruin the surprise that Boba was coming back, so I couldn’t say anything! It’s been a year [since the initial voice recording session], and people would ask me if I was going to appear in The Clone Wars – if Boba was coming back. And I couldn’t say anything! I was so excited, and I wanted to shout it, you know? But I had to be quiet. Now that I can finally talk about it, I’m bursting. I saw the finished episodes a few weeks ago, and it just looks so cool – worth the wait! Fans are going to be excited to see how the character develops – but we don’t give too much away. Boba’s a mystery; that’s what’s cool about him.

Here's the clip:

"Death Trap" premieres at 9pm on Friday, April 23, on The Cartoon Network.