Celebrating "Amigurumi" Boba Fett and His Rancor

Watch two Rancor scenes from “The Book of Boba Fett” recreated with digital yarn in the latest episode of the official Star Wars animated series, “The Original Story Celebrated”

A delightful new episode of the official animated series known as The Original Story Celebrated recreates the scene from the third episode of The Book of Boba Fett, which is titled “Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa,” in which Fett befriends his Rancor in the pit underneath his throne. The episode of The Original Story Celebrated is titled “The Book of Boba Fett: Rancor Ride”, and like all episodes of the animated series, it recreates iconic Star Wars scenes using an animation style where everything looks like it is made of crocheted yarn (also called amigurumi). Therefore, Boba Fett, the Rancor keeper, and even the monstrous Rancor itself, all become cute, digital yarn puppets in the wonderfully animated video. And the digital wizardry from the animators is so advanced that you really will think you are looking at fabric dolls your grandmother just knitted instead of fully computer-generated visuals. You can even see the loose threads hanging off the characters in close-up shots, which looks truly remarkable. And the video uses the same audio from the original clip, so Boba Fett (played by Temuera Morrison) and Danny Trejo’s Rancor keeper, as well as the snarling Rancor, all sound like their original, tough selves, despite now looking as cute as possible. You really will not know whether to run from this Rancor, or give it a hug.

The episode of The Original Story Celebrated then cuts to a recreation of the scene from the final episode of The Book of Boba Fett, which is titled “Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor,” where Fett rides the Rancor through the streets of Mos Espa, which also looks remarkable when depicted with digital yarn. The fabric buildings look so realistic that you almost feel like you could reach out and touch them, and there is also just something hilarious about the way in which the residents of the city fearfully look up at the sight of an approaching monster made of string. And the sight of Fett sitting atop the beast, which is one of the highlights of the original show, still manages to look incredible in yarn form. The episode then ends by showing digital yarn still images of the Rancor keeper, the Rancor itself, and Boba Fett, while a flute rendition of the theme for The Mandalorian plays in the background. You might want to watch this with a tissue handy, because it will no doubt bring a tear to your eye. Especially since a second season of The Book of Boba Fett is now starting to seem increasingly unlikely, so this celebration of the show is probably the next best thing.

If you would like to see “The Book of Boba Fett: Rancor Ride” for yourself, you can watch the version on the official Star Wars YouTube channel, in which the scenes from the original show are played alongside the animated recreation, or you can watch the full, uninterrupted version of the animated episode on the official Star Wars Kids YouTube channel. Since The Book of Boba Fett is clearly one of the more underrated Star Wars shows, this wonderful new episode of The Original Story Celebrated will hopefully draw more attention to a live-action miniseries which certainly deserves more recognition.