'Book Of Boba Fett' Brings Back This Classic Ship For The Mandalorian

"Faster Than A Fathier!"

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • 4 min read

"Now THIS is podracing!"

-Anakin Skywalker on flying the N-1 Naboo starfighter (The Phantom Menace)

The most recent episode of The Book of Boba Fett, aside from being devoted almost entirely to the return of Din Djarin and what he had been up to since we last saw him at the conclusion of the second season of The Mandalorian. His re-emergence was not entirely surprising, as the fourth episode of The Book of Boba Fett had hinted at his return, presumably to help Boba in his fight against the Pyke Syndicate on Tatooine. While there were many surprising twists and turns in Din's story during this episode, not so subtly titled "Return of the Mandalorian," the most surprising (and exciting one) was undoubtedly Din's new "ride."

As viewers remember, Din's gunship, The Razor Crest, was ruthlessly vaporized by Moff Gideon in season two of The Mandalorian in "The Tragedy," the same episode that re-introduced Boba Fett, and Fennec Shand, back into the fold. Din had to rely on an alliance with Boba and Fennec to finish his sworn quest of saving Grogu and returning him to the Jedi. As we saw in this latest episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Din had returned to bounty hunting, but now had to rely on public transportation in order to get himself around. Fortunately, his existing relationship with Tatooine mechanic and spaceport operator Peli Motto led to his getting a new means of interstellar transportation, although it was not what he initially expected.

When he received word from Peli that she had a new ship for him, he hitched an unceremonious ride via public transport back to Tatooine and returned to her shop where he had visited several times before during the events of The Mandalorian. While he fully expected Peli to have a brand new ship similar to the Razor Crest waiting for him, he was stunned to learn that she had somehow gotten her hands on a smaller starfighter waiting in the wings instead. It was not just any old ship either, but a slightly modified N-1 Naboo starfighter, a single-seat starfighter that was originally commissioned by the Queen of Naboo. Din was initially less than impressed with her selection and demanded his credits back. However, after spending some time working together with Peli in the manner in which the Naboo starfighters were originally manufactured (by hand), he became more open to trying it out.

Once restored, Peli encouraged Din to take it on a test flight, which he did. First, he took it through the iconic locales such as Beggar's Canyon where young Anakin Skywalker’s podrace from The Phantom Menace took place several decades earlier. Luke also mentioned in A New Hope that he and his friend Biggs Darklighter used to “bull’s-eye womp rats in [their] T-16” in Beggar’s Canyon (we also had the first live-action appearance of a womp rat in this episode). After racing through there, Din opened the starfighter up and took it into space where he did a flyby of an outbound public transport. This ran afoul of a couple of New Republic X-Wing pilots, who attempted to question him about his involvement in some of his previous adventures involving the Imperial remnant back on Nevarro. However, he managed to speed away, effectively avoiding answering any embarrassing questions.

This episode featuring Din Djarin is rife with nostalgia for the prequel trilogy, especially The Phantom Menace. The N-1 is the same starfighter that the young Anakin Skywalker accidentally pilots to victory against the Trade Federation at the climax of the film. Although I may have missed an appearance or two in The Clone Wars animated series, the last time we saw the N-1 Naboo starfighters was during the opening of Attack of the Clones when they were escorting then-senator Amidala's transport to Coruscant. It was extremely exciting to see such a classic starfighter back onscreen and being flown by the main character no less. It was a welcome bridge between the prequel trilogy and the post-original trilogy era. As Din himself said after his test flight, "Wizard!"