Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)

[Trippy]

Teaser released today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTfhyvzTx0

May 2527

Edit: moved to Friday May 27

Edit: May 4th trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yh_6_zItPU

[HaemishM]

I see they are getting some extra use of those Tattooine sets from Mando/Boba Fett.

Otherwise, I doubt there's really a story that's worth telling here, but I'll likely watch it anyway.

[Khaldun]

Prequels of stories we've already had completely told are sort of, well, hm. But I have to admit there is something in here that's puzzling that's worth thinking about IF they have a good idea for it. Why did Luke need Obi-Wan to watch over him at all? We know by the time Luke is a young adult that Obi-Wan has had nearly zero role in his life that Luke knows of. Since the new comics are canon, we know that Obi-Wan has protected him a few times but also decided to keep his distance. What exactly is Kenobi protecting Luke from and how does he do it without being obvious? Why is he just a "hermit who lives out at the Dune Sea"? Why doesn't he just do what Ahsoka does, since she helps found the Rebellion and survives intact all through the wars against the Empire (notably without actually being part of the Rebellion's command structure in the period of the main trilogy)?

Either this turns out to be a bunch of dumb shitty narrative leftovers that anybody in their right mind should have stayed away from or it's going to make a ton of sense and explain some things that are otherwise inexplicable.

[Sky]

I would recommend not watching it, you're just going to hate it and bitch about it.

Trailer was amazing. Looking forward to some cool sith assassin bullshit going down. I hope he has a nice couple episodes with the sand people just to get more good ol tattooine sand in your jays.

 

[Cyrrex]

Sign me up.  I was hooked just by hearing Duel of the Fates.  Guess he is going to be fighting off inquisitors.

[Khaldun]

You know, for some folks, loving a thing means thinking about it and holding it to tough standards.

I'm not sure what you're looking for on a message board devoted to a show or franchise if all you want is "you have to love it just as it is and that's all". Like, if you're there already, why go looking to see what other people think?

[Soulflame]

Sign me up.  I was hooked just by hearing Duel of the Fates.  Guess he is going to be fighting off inquisitors.

Yep, that's my guess.  He's probably there on Tatooine to be bait for the inquisitors.  Someone feels a strong force signature on the planet, finds Obi Wan, figures they found the source.  Overlooking the Skywalker over there on the moisture farm.

[Sir T]

That's leaving aside that the rational repose if you found Kenobi would be to radio it in to the Empire so they could drop a couple of brigades of troops on Kenobi's head if you faile at killing him. So they have to handwave away the enemy being utterly stupid.

Ya this is Star Wars, that goes with the territory.

[Khaldun]

That part sort of makes sense--the Emperor is satisfied that his Order 66 masterstroke basically worked, he's got Vader and the Inquisitors on the mop-up job, and the general way that evil Force users deal with good Force users is to go at them with lightsabers, treachery and bravado. Plus Obi-Wan has managed to deal with or get away from bunches of troops on many occasions.

I really like the idea that Vader and Obi-Wan had one more major confrontation in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, at any rate--it completely makes sense in terms of their conversation on the Death Star except for the "when I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master" bit. Maybe this whole series is about Obi-Wan trying to give Vader and the Emperor the impression that he's dead--or it might also be that he needs to get them off someone else's trail (Ahsoka, Yoda) or keep them from looking too closely at Tatooine given that Luke was actually living with Owen and Beru.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Ewan McGregor. 

Really, that's all I needed to know.  I might have to talk to the husband about finally subscribing.

[Trippy]

Delayed 2 days to May 27th but the first two episodes will be available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEuirQWecEw

[Trippy]

May 4th trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yh_6_zItPU

[Khaldun]

Looks pretty great!

[Comstar]

It was good. Was disappointed in the music.Heroine was new york sassy and I like the cut of her jib.

[Threash]

Did not expect to see a Chili pepper, or that girl. Also I have really no clue how old kids are any more, I would have guessed that girl was around 5 not 10.

[Surlyboi]

They should be 10. I liked it. Little Leia is already giving us hints of her older self. Third sister is the right kind of mustache twirly.

[Khaldun]

I thought it was fine? Not great. L'il Leia is too little and she runs like a little kid, not like some speed demon who outmaneuvers adults on two planets.

I'm more struck that the consistent problem of many D+ Star Wars series continues: they have REAL problems doing anything that feels like intense, extended action scenes. The Mandalorian managed that very well but I don't think the others have at all. There's a lot of atmospheric tension but most of the action in the first two episodes involves slow-as-molasses chase scenes with Toddler Leia. The Inquisitor doing the Batman moves across the rooftops was ok, but everything felt out of sync--she sees the gun battle, it's not really very far from where she is, Obi-Wan is not going very fast to get away from the bounty hunters, and yet by the time she gets there Obi-Wan has somehow dropped to the alley, collected Leia, made a deal with Funny Fake Jedi Scoundrel Guy, and is on his way to the freighter.

Action is bad when the time sequencing of actions that are separate from one another don't seem at all to be happening in the same place/situation. Everything feels slow in both episodes--much as in the Boba Fett series. I don't know if that's being cheap or it's just not getting people who can do fast, kinetic action scenes.

[Trippy]

The Director of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Deborah Chow, directed a couple of episodes of The Mandalorian season one (#3 & #7). Presumably they liked her work there enough to let her direct the entirety of Obi-Wan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Chow#Filmography

[MediumHigh]

I thought it was fine? Not great. L'il Leia is too little and she runs like a little kid, not like some speed demon who outmaneuvers adults on two planets.

I'm more struck that the consistent problem of many D+ Star Wars series continues: they have REAL problems doing anything that feels like intense, extended action scenes. The Mandalorian managed that very well but I don't think the others have at all. There's a lot of atmospheric tension but most of the action in the first two episodes involves slow-as-molasses chase scenes with Toddler Leia. The Inquisitor doing the Batman moves across the rooftops was ok, but everything felt out of sync--she sees the gun battle, it's not really very far from where she is, Obi-Wan is not going very fast to get away from the bounty hunters, and yet by the time she gets there Obi-Wan has somehow dropped to the alley, collected Leia, made a deal with Funny Fake Jedi Scoundrel Guy, and is on his way to the freighter.

Action is bad when the time sequencing of actions that are separate from one another don't seem at all to be happening in the same place/situation. Everything feels slow in both episodes--much as in the Boba Fett series. I don't know if that's being cheap or it's just not getting people who can do fast, kinetic action scenes.

Yeah sounds like a wait till the season is over and than see if anyone says anything interesting kinda thing.

[Khaldun]

McGregor is great as always though.

It does make me think a bit about the whole situation.

Yoda's gone to ground by this point--we assume on Dagobah but not necessarily, I suppose. Obi-Wan is waiting for Luke to grow up (and just seems to think Leia is already unimportant, which is weird--why not plan on training her, too?) He doesn't know about Darth Vader up until this moment, so he and Yoda must have been thinking just that Luke would be able to overthrow the Emperor because? the prophecy of the Chosen One, which they previously thought was Anakin?

Yoda's obviously not on Force Phone with Obi-Wan (and neither, at this point, is Qui-Gon, though I think the fact that they started with that makes me think we'll be seeing his Force Ghost before the end). Obi-Wan's been completely alone and intensely focused on Luke. He's clearly aware that any use of the Force might alert the Inquisitors so he's let his abilities atrophy and his training fade.

Anakin as Darth Vader, in the meantime, has been pretty active, as we saw in Rebels, including fighting with Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka is only one of several Force users/former Jedi who've helped to form the nascent Rebellion. We're now also clear in the post-EU canon that other Jedi survived Order 66 and are continuing to hide or evade the Inquisitors. I don't think we've seen what, if anything, the Emperor and Vader are doing with new Force sensitives as they appear; presumably most people know that if their kid is showing signs of having a way with the Force that you suppress that, except for places where the Empire doesn't hold power, maybe.

I guess I don't quite get why Yoda and Obi-Wan are so sold on this play. Why not gather up surviving Jedi one at a time and take them to the Outer Rim or Wild Space? It worked for the Sith, after all. Take Luke and Leia with you when you go. I mean, Obi-Wan is actually risking Luke's discovery by being there all this time. He's not protecting him--he can't. If he's sure that Luke is the Chosen One and all that, go hide on some other planet and come back when Luke is 16 or something, since he can't train him right now at this age.

I could buy it if Qui-Gon kept appearing and saying "no, you have to stay here, I've seen it in a vision, just don't do Jedi shit and stay hidden". But Obi-Wan hasn't had any vision or prophecy, so the fact that he's stuck it out for ten years seems not just forlorn (McGregor sells that wonderfully) but kind of inexplicable.

[Threash]

Anakin as Darth Vader, in the meantime, has been pretty active, as we saw in Rebels, including fighting with Ahsoka Tano.

This is before Rebels.

[Riggswolfe]

[snip]

I guess I don't quite get why Yoda and Obi-Wan are so sold on this play. Why not gather up surviving Jedi one at a time and take them to the Outer Rim or Wild Space? It worked for the Sith, after all. Take Luke and Leia with you when you go. I mean, Obi-Wan is actually risking Luke's discovery by being there all this time. He's not protecting him--he can't. If he's sure that Luke is the Chosen One and all that, go hide on some other planet and come back when Luke is 16 or something, since he can't train him right now at this age.

I could buy it if Qui-Gon kept appearing and saying "no, you have to stay here, I've seen it in a vision, just don't do Jedi shit and stay hidden". But Obi-Wan hasn't had any vision or prophecy, so the fact that he's stuck it out for ten years seems not just forlorn (McGregor sells that wonderfully) but kind of inexplicable.

None of the stuff you mentioned is a problem with this series. Episode III set up this situation because that's how it started in A New Hope. It's not like they can suddenly be like "Hey, you know how A New Hope started 40+ years ago? Yeah. None of that happened, we're changing everything."

I can answer a few of your questions just for the Hell of it though.

A) Leah: This is exactly how Obi-Wan acts about Leah in the OT. Yoda is the one who points out to him that if Luke dies Leah is still there as another hope. Some of that is because Lucas made it up as he went along. Still, it doesn't reflect very well on Obi-Wan and the best excuse I have for him is that Leah doesn't seem to be as strong in the Force as Luke is judging purely by the movies. I think that watching over Luke all those years also probably made him quite biased.

B) Why not gather up the other Jedi and hide? The best answer is because they were scattered all over the galaxy and Obi-Wan and Yoda had no idea if they were alive or not. That was, in large part, the entire point of the Clone Wars. Scatter the Jedi, whittle their numbers down, distract them, then have the clones kill all of them at once.

C) Obi-Wan's attitude/force atrophy. I think part of this is indeed fear of the Inquisitors and he is proven right when the other Jedi is killed. But the other part of it is that Obi-Wan clearly has severe PTSD and has lost confidence in himself. The first two episodes make a very convincing case for this at least twice.

D) Bonus answer: Yoda not being on the "force phone". It doesn't work like that other than Luke projecting himself across the galaxy for a brief time then dying. Even Vader could only use telepathy to talk to Luke when his Star Destroyer was practically right on top of the Falcon. We never see Luke on another planet and Vader going "So you know I'm your dad right?" in his head.

[Samwise]

Look, you really just have to not think about any of this stuff or try to make it make sense.  If you went by the original trilogy, you could assume that Vader had no idea that he had kids at all, he'd never met Owen, and maybe Luke's mother was Owen's sister that he'd knocked up and abandoned before she started to show.  He would therefore have no way to know of Luke's existence until Luke just happened to show up to thwart his plans.

The prequels' need to tie everything together, though, makes it impossible to reconcile everyone's actions.  Owen has known ties to Anakin (one of the most important people in the imperial hierarchy) and Obi-Wan (public enemy number one) -- there is no way that he wouldn't be under constant surveillance, and that the fact that he has a nephew with the last name "Skywalker" wouldn't have been discovered instantly.  

Even if he weren't under surveillance, everyone with a brain should assume that he would be.  Owen should never have even told Luke the name "Skywalker" and should have just raised him as his own kid.  I mean, fuckin' duh.  To explain this away and make the events of the OT work, every single person involved (Owen, Obi-Wan, Vader, everyone who works for Vader who knows that Obi-Wan is alive and that Owen exists, everyone in contact with Obi-Wan who knows what's going on and that Luke exists) needs to have actual brain damage to not put any of these pieces together over the course of twenty fuckin' years.

Also, Obi-Wan is apparently shit at hiding if that dumbass Jedi twerp was able to find him in a day.  The Inquisitors have force powers, so it's not like the Jedi had a special advantage either.  Since Luke knew Obi-Wan as "Ben Kenobi" I think we can just assume that the Jedi twerp looked up "Kenobi" in the Tattooine phone book and put 2 and 2 together.  Again, the "everyone has brain damage" explanation fixes this, but it's really the only thing that does.

Funny how kid-Leia comes off as in some ways more wise-beyond-her-years than OT-Leia, who always came off as more of a sassy action heroine than a psychic diplomat.

Anyway, this is all stuff that I notice and then banish from my thoughts so I can enjoy it as dumb entertainment.  Part of what made the Mandalorian work so well is that it told its own stories and didn't have to reconcile any of the fucking stupid lore.  I wish they'd stick with that.  Oh well.

[Sky]

This was amazing. Should've expected Leia, great idea to give her some love. I'm not normally a plucky kid fan, but it worked for me here because I'm invested in /this/ plucky kid.

I was worried about the 2 kinda weak designs on the Inqs, but the GI actor was great and the not-evil-Wong had such an amazing voice effect that it just made him cool af anyway. And bad Inq is bad, loved the interplay between her and the GI as classic dark force user drama. I don't think any of the movie trilogies have gotten that internal strife across very well, this may be the best (if you'll excuse the reference) example in live-action of the Lawful Evil vs Chaotic Evil schism of the dark side. The movies have mostly focused on the struggle of light v dark, internally and externally, rather than the nuances within each. I look forward to more of that in Ahsoka.

Ewan has just become Obi Wan at this point. He nailed the time period and character in defeat without hope. Already feels like his performance here both continues his work but also hits nice echoes for Sir Alec when Bail is entreating him 'one last time'. He crushed so many scenes, but they also set him up to do so. That scene when he was watching Luke and it echoed Qui-Gon seeing Anakin, small touch but really powerfully done. The way they did the repetition of the work day he's had for ten years is portrayed well, even in such a short span of film thus far. Sorry to fanooy a bit, but I didn't really expect him to so perfectly nail Obi Wan without humor or hope so well, as he was always the character with a wry line or hopeful outlook. Really sold this interim period of the Skywalker saga.

My biggest complaint is that this episode felt ripped from the Fallen Order game....but I fucking loved that game and the story, so....my complaint is actually a compliment because it was amazing seeing that cool story brought to life with arguably the best actor still alive in the interim period (other than the McDiarmid).

Already feels like the best D+ content for Lucasfilm. It seems almost wasteful to do movies now, I hope they can focus on the longer format ~6 hour thing. Even the final Skywalker trilogy movies, with their clear lack of story and leadership, would've been better as 3 6-hour seasons on D+, fleshing out some stuff they didn't have time to linger on or even add at all. But that's said as someone who has always hated movie theaters, I know they're not giving up that cash cow for a while yet.

[HaemishM]

Look, you really just have to not think about any of this stuff or try to make it make sense.

Yes, I'm continually taken out of this show simply because of how much you have to stretch your believability to fit it into the continuity from the original Star Wars. It's bad enough when Obi-Wan doesn't seem like he even knows C-3PO or R2D2 in Star Wars, but now Leia doesn't even fucking know who he is despite the events of just the 2nd episode of this show? And that's not even getting into the problem I have where every single thing about the setting is so at odds with just about everything else. Even the slightest bit of scrutiny of just "how things fit together" makes zero fucking sense - politically, logistically, legally, socially, technology. It's a trainwreck.

[01101010]

Only thing that really bugged me about Luke and Leia was Leia seemed too young for how old she should have been. She didn't act like it, but just looked around 6. Other than that... not sure how I felt about Reva. She didn't quite fit the Star Wars villain for me... too over the top. Maybe I prefer the Darth Maul types rather than a strong arm thug, but I guess it fits with the inquisitor role? That said, nice to see Moses getting more roles - liked her in Queen's Gambit and was pleasantly surprised to see her here... just unfortunate I didn't take to her character.

[Khaldun]

She's simply not a 10-year old.

And quite aside from the lore, the two "let's chase the little girl" scenes are staged horribly. They feel like Sid and Marty Krofft with better costuming.

Reva is plainly going to be a Person With A Surprising Connection to The Protagonist, which is probably also how she knows Anakin is Darth Vader. Strong money down on her being a youngling who survived.

You know, it's odd in terms of what Samwise observed, but this is the first time I've even noticed that Owen and Beru use a different last name than Luke. I feel really stupid. Is ten-year old Luke going to Tatooine Primary School as "Luke Skywalker"? I guess so. He even tells people his dad was...a pilot on a spice freighter? Wait, considering what we just saw in Boba Fett, that is either a genius fake-out or kind of weird, it means he's telling his pals his dad was a criminal. But he's still using the name Skywalker, which doesn't seem very common. That sort of worked when Darth Vader and the Empire were incredibly distant, remote, etc. and Tatooine the ass-end of the universe but fuck, the Inquisitors were just swarming all over Tatooine and they've got a strong credible spotting of Obi-Wan there. I mean, ANAKIN/Vader certainly knows he's from Tatooine and he certainly knows that Owen still lives there with his wife Beru, even the slightest hint that Owen is raising a kid named Skywalker should be game over.

 

[Hawkbit]

These bits are good and I appreciate their work, but I really wish we could just move to a whole new time in the SW saga. Old Republic, whatever. Just stop redoing existing work and create new stuff. The beats are all there, we just need new people and stories.

[MahrinSkel]

I think you guys are forgetting Carrie Fisher was 5'1". A ten year old Fisher probably could have passed for an oddly mature 6 when height was literally the only clue.

--Dave

[Threash]

The actress is 9 so it's not like she's the wrong age even. She still looks and runs like a toddler to me though.

[MahrinSkel]

The "Actual 9 year old doing her own stunt work isn't believable as an action star" is certainly a take.

--Dave

[Khaldun]

Yes, I guess no other child actor of this approximate age has ever been in a suspenseful, well-shot, tautly directed action scene or chase ever in the history of television or film. What were we thinking?

[MahrinSkel]

Yes, I guess no other child actor of this approximate age has ever been in a suspenseful, well-shot, tautly directed action scene or chase ever in the history of television or film. What were we thinking?

I point to Firestarter. Not every child actress is going to be Chloe Grace Moretz, able to carry both the drama and the action. Just because the acting has flaws, doesn't mean it isn't impressive for an actual child.

--Dave

[Riggswolfe]

It's bad enough when Obi-Wan doesn't seem like he even knows C-3PO or R2D2 in Star Wars, but now Leia doesn't even fucking know who he is despite the events of just the 2nd episode of this show?

Um? What? If you're talking about A New Hope she specifically goes to ask him for help and when Luke rescues her from her cell she's sort of suspicious until he says "I'm here with Ben Kenobi!" and she responds "Ben Kenobi? Where is he?" and runs out of the cell. It's quite clear she knows who he is in A New Hope though the movie never explains how she knows him both by his actual name and his "hiding on Tatooine" name.

[Raguel]

It's bad enough when Obi-Wan doesn't seem like he even knows C-3PO or R2D2 in Star Wars, but now Leia doesn't even fucking know who he is despite the events of just the 2nd episode of this show?

Um? What? If you're talking about A New Hope she specifically goes to ask him for help and when Luke rescues her from her cell she's sort of suspicious until he says "I'm here with Ben Kenobi!" and she responds "Ben Kenobi? Where is he?" and runs out of the cell. It's quite clear she knows who he is in A New Hope though the movie never explains how she knows him both by his actual name and his "hiding on Tatooine" name.

She knows who Kenobi is but I always had the impression she never met him in the flesh. Whatever I'm not going to worry about it too much.

I do want them to move on from this time period.