Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett episode 4, "The Gathering Storm."
Disney+'s Disney Star Wars era.
As a base idea, fan service is not inherently good or bad, it depends on execution. There is little wrong with the notion of wanting to give fans something designed to please them - in a sense, that's surely part of the aim of making any movie or show - but it needs to be ingrained in, or at the very least ed by, strong characterisation, world-building, and great storytelling. It's an issue apparent in both Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in particular, which trade-in those elements for simple nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia and a bounty of references, and it's an issue being seen again in The Book of Boba Fett.
Throughout brought Emperor Palpatine back, tried to "fix" divisive elements of Star Wars: The Last Jedi to appease audiences who disliked it, and crammed in as many references and cameos as possible.
The Book of Boba Fett isn't quite that bad just yet, and while there are plenty of differences between this and Abrams' Star Wars movies, the fan service is where it falls down. Already in The Book of Boba Fett, viewers have seen the story of his escape from the sarlacc, re-lived parts of The Mandalorian, witnessed Boba Fett meet with the Hutts and get a pet rancor (explaining a moment from Return of the Jedi that was already pretty apparent), shown him fight a General Grievous-mimicking chef droid, covered enough grains of Tatooine's sand dunes to never want to see the planet again, and had a wookiee rip a man's arm off because, hey, Han Solo said it could happen over 40 years ago. It's also seemingly setting up a potential cameo from the Mandalorian himself, Din Djarin, which would highlight the show's failings and how much better its predecessor has accomplished a similar goal.
The Mandalorian is similarly packed with fan service, but it's the kind that's done right: its Easter eggs and nostalgia exist not to just service the fans, but the story. Everything there feels organic and, even if it was removed, the narrative and character work remains great. Cameos from the likes of Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker are fan service, but they're also natural for the timeline and the story being told, and even if you swapped them with characters people don't know, there'd still be an effective story there. Or, put another way, The Mandalorian works brilliantly whether a person has followed Star Wars since 1977 or if it's the first part of the franchise they've ever watched. The same couldn't be said for Abrams' Star Wars (more so The Rise of Skywalker than The Force Awakens), and it can't be said for The Book of Boba Fett either, which rely on a wave of nostalgia and the use of familiar iconography and settings to garner investment, rather than anything compelling in its own plot or character arcs.
It's particularly curious this is happening in the latter of those, when much of its character development for the eponymous (former) bounty hunter is more like anti-fan service, removing everything cool about Boba Fett in an attempt to give him an arc that isn't what anyone would've expected. Unfortunately, it's done that at the expense of an interesting story, meaning all that's left are cameos, references, and fan service that doesn't fully deliver.
The Book of Boba Fett releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
