The Butchered Boba Fett Line In Star Wars' Original Trilogy That No One Noticed
Over the course of "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi," the masked character of Boba Fett only has four lines of dialogue and six and a half minutes of screentime. Add in "The Star Wars Holiday Special," and the character suddenly had 20 additional lines. Either way, he was not a major player in "Star Wars," and ultimately fell into the mouth of a Shai Hulud on Arrakis a Sarlacc on Tattooine. It wasn't until the decade-and-a-half following the release of 1983's "Jedi" that Boba Fett would come to be admired by Starwoids who watched the "Star Wars" movies dozens of times each. In the "Star Wars" prequel films released from 1999 to 2005, Boba Fett was given a mythic backstory, and in 2021, he became the star of his own TV series.
But for many years, outside of the old Expanded Universe, he was merely the "four lines" guy (five if you count "Aaaaaugh!"). Boba Fett was played by English actor Jeremy Bulloch, who began acting as a boy, appearing in films like "A Night to Remember" and the bawdy comedy "Carry On Teacher." Bulloch also had a small role in Lindsay Anderson's "O Lucky Man!" and turned up in the James Bond movies "The Spy Who Loved Me," "For Your Eyes Only," and "Octopussy" (among dozens of other projects). Bulloch continued to work in supporting roles in films and on TV until his retirement in 2018 due to Parkinson's disease. He passed in 2020.
Bulloch made frequent appearances at "Star Wars" conventions to talk about his experiences playing Boba Fett and was always happy to share on-set stories and chat with fans. In a 2013 Reddit conversation, Bulloch even admitted to blowing one of his only four lines during "The Empire Strikes Back."
Captain Cargo
Luckily for Bulloch, his face wasn't visible for his screen time in director Irvin Kershner's "The Empire Strikes Back," and the film didn't use his on-set audio for his lines. This means that he could blow a line entirely without ruining a take, as his actual lines would be dubbed later during post-production. Indeed, it seems that one of Bulloch's four lines was totally flubbed ... and no one noticed.
There is a scene at the end of "Empire" wherein Boba Fett has captured Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and sealed him in a stone-like sci-fi coffin composed of a frozen material known as carbonite. Boba Fett is a bounty hunter, you see, and aimed to deliver Han Solo to the dangerous gangster Jabba the Hutt in exchange for payment.
One of his four lines, however, mixed up a few vital words. When asked for a funny story by a Redditor, Bulloch recalled:
"There's lot of fun moments actually. Under a mask no one can hear you. There's a part where I turn to an Imperial officer and say, 'Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold,' but I actually said 'Put Captain Cargo in the Solo hold.' Luckily I didn't have to tell anybody because you can't hear what I'm saying under the mask. But I didn't have any lines ... How on earth with so few lines could I make a mistake??"
Given the way "Star Wars" operates, it might only be a matter of time before a character named Captain Cargo appears in fan fiction. From there, it's only a matter of time before Captain Cargo becomes a canonical character. See, Bulloch didn't just blow a line. He may have contributed to "Star Wars" lore.