THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL

Boba Fett's first appearance on-screen was in an animated segment aired on television as part of the holiday special in 1978, spawning some interest in the character.  Kenner released a Boba Fett action figure not long after the special aired.  Boba Fett is a major character in this animated segment and has more dialogue than he does in all of the Star Wars films combined.  Boba Fett is introduced as a mysterious figure that befriends and aids Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2; but it is eventually revealed that he is working for Darth Vader and the Empire.  Chewbacca is not fooled, claiming, through the aid of C-3PO's translation, that the bounty hunter "didn't smell right."

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

The Boba Fett action figure was originally made available as a sneak preview of sorts in 1979 for Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.  In Empire, Fett speaks his first live-action dialogue.  Throughout the film, Boba Fett is never once referred to by name.  He is, along with several other bounty hunters, asked to track down Han Solo and the crew of the Millennium Falcon.  He is the only hunter to deduce how the Falcon eluded the Empire by hiding on the hull of a Star Destroyer.  Anticipating that the Falcon will hide in the Star Destroyer's waste once the war ship departs, Fett matches the Falcon's manuever and tracks the ship to Cloud City.  He presumably reports the Falcon's destination to the Empire, allowing Vader to arrange a deal with Lando Calrissian to secure the capture of Solo and the crew.  Fett stays at Vader's side as the Sith Lord tortures Han Solo in an attempt to draw Luke Skywalker into a trap.  In addition to the reward for Solo's capture from the Empire, Vader allows Boba Fett to take Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, back to Jabba the Hutt to receive an additional reward, claiming two bounties on the same job.  In later Expanded Universe material, it is revealed that Fett charged Jabba a larger amount than the original bounty price.  He was able to do this by explaining that the frozen Solo was unique artwork created by Darth Vader.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Fett was one of the first new characters to be designed for The Empire Strikes Back.  He can trace his origins to rejected Darth Vader concepts that once had the Dark Lord as a rogue bounty hunter.  Concept artists Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston were most responsible for Fett's design.  He first appeared in an 11-minute annimated segment of the lamentable "Star Wars Holiday Special" television broadcast in 1978.  Fett had another pre-Empire appearance in the daily newspaper strip story arc entitled "The Frozen World of Ota."  Given that Fett and Skywalker meet for the first time in both stories, and Luke unwittingly befriends the bounty hunter each time, one or both of these tales is probably apocryphal.