Obi-Wan Series - Friday 27th May

[Eighthours]

I was really hoping that:

Spoiler

Obi-Wan would kill Vader and wreck all continuity everywhere. Boy, that would have been seismic...

 

The above spoiler comment illustrates one of my main problems with the show. There's no jeopardy when you know exactly who lives and dies. We even know that Obi-Wan still has all his appendages in ANH, so he will never be wrecked in a lightsabre fight. The main characters of the show (aside from Reva) are all alive in the OT, so there's no feeling of danger. So what we need are a few new characters who we can root for, who we're worried for. I don't think we ever quite got there. Reva's story is interesting but not yet compelling, as her heel turn towards wanting Vader dead in the previous episode didn't feel earned.

 

The finale was good, though, aside from the ludicrous Reva-is-suddenly-on-Tattooine-despite-having-been-left-dying-with-no-way-off-the-planet-at-the-end-of-the-previous-episode beginning. It really helped that someone paid for the music licencing this time around. If you don't want to use the Imperial March, Leia's Theme, etc. in every episode, fine, but you HAVE to replace them with something new that's approximately as good. Which is obviously very difficult as the John Williams of the 1970s was a musical genius, but having bland music in a Star Wars series, as we've had for much of this one, feels so, so wrong. The contrast in the finale with what came previously was massive! I can't see anyone listening to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series OST in 30 years time on Spotify Future+. But I'm sure I'll still be enjoying the timeless Empire Strikes Back score when I'm a pensioner! 

 

Also, it might have been quicker for the hyperdrive to be repaired if Roken actually worked on it at any point, rather than just chatting with Obi-Wan continuously about how long it was going to take!

[yakumo]

Spoiler

😀

[probotector]

Overall I think it was trash but it was worth it for the final Obi Vs Darth fight and the shirt exchange between Anakin and Obi.

[probotector]

1 minute ago, yakumo said:

  Hide contents

😀

Darth had the high ground and still lost! 

[Girth Certificate]

56 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

 

 

The finale was good, though, aside from the ludicrous Reva-is-suddenly-on-Tattooine-despite-having-been-left-dying-with-no-way-off-the-planet-at-the-end-of-the-previous-episode beginning.

 

 

I assume they'd just left her Set 75336 Inquisitor Transport Scythe™ behind when they fucked off. It was clearly more important to have a callback to Obi Wan's rude team leader from the space-tuna production line than have a sequence of events that could stand up to the most basic of scrutiny. 

 

Hopefully I'll get the Owen & Beru Gunfight At The Homestead set for xmas  

 

[Dirty Harry Potter]

I like how some are giving MORE thought to the logic of story - than the writers ever did.

[Don Rosco]

I think this from a couple of weeks pretty much sums up where i'm at with it. 

 

On 09/06/2022 at 12:04, BitterToad said:

Yeah for me I think it's just a case of if the tone of the thing is consistent, if it's moving in a direction which feels thematically interesting and if the characters are developing in interesting ways then I'm happy to ignore some foibles. The foibles can even be funny! Like the cloak thing!

 

Despite the George Lucas level dialogue, the shortcomings of shooting action in the volume, the lack of a Han Solo-ish element for a bit of internal friction / comic relief*, the corniness of a lot of the last episode, all the other faults, I think it's a great addition to the overall story. Darth Vader feels like he used to be Anakin Skywalker in this show, more so than any other time we've seen him. Obi-Wan's arc from start to finish is pretty epic and McGregor smashed it. Feel like I have to give him props for his promo efforts too, he put some shift in. What a pain in the arse that must be. Reva was great, and they can do a lot with her in the future. Curious to see where she ends up.

 

Spoiler

That interaction at the end of the lightsabre duel when Obi-Wan saw Anakin for the first time...oof. Heavy.

 

 

*I know, Kumail Nanjiani. I like his character and his last interaction with Obi-Wan was really good and classic Star Wars, but it was a bit part. I'd like to see more of him. I thought Roken was great too, big stoic head on him. Looks like he'll be surfacing elsewhere in the build up to the rebellion.

[Darren]

I suspect one if not all of those characters will appear in Andor. That’s going to be to Obi-Wan what TBOBF was to Mando, I reckon (hopefully without the Mos Vespas).

[Pob]

It's cool how, through a quirk of his age when cast in ROTJ, and the character he's playing, Ian McDiarmid has continued to believably play Palpatine across the entire 70 year period covered by the three trilogies.

[Phantoon]

I don't get how people can't understand the

Spoiler

Reva getting to Tatooine bit.

It's Star Wars. Starships are basically cars, they're bloody everywhere. Does everything need to be spelled out nowadays?

[Broker]

1 hour ago, Eighthours said:

I was really hoping that:

  Reveal hidden contents

Obi-Wan would kill Vader and wreck all continuity everywhere. Boy, that would have been seismic...

 

It really helped that someone paid for the music licencing this time around. If you don't want to use the Imperial March, Leia's Theme, etc. in every episode, fine, but you HAVE to replace them with something new that's approximately as good. Which is obviously very difficult as the John Williams of the 1970s was a musical genius, but having bland music in a Star Wars series, as we've had for much of this one, feels so, so wrong. The contrast in the finale with what came previously was massive! I can't see anyone listening to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series OST in 30 years time on Spotify Future+. But I'm sure I'll still be enjoying the timeless Empire Strikes Back score when I'm a pensioner! 

 

Or something that doesn't sound like almost the same as the score they're trying not to use for some reason. The whole show is filled with moments where it sounds like a classic song is about to start but then a much weaker imitation plays. It's like when you're watching a TV show in a foreign market and they've not paid for licensing so you just get royalty free equivalents that sound kind of similar.

[Pob]

Interstellar travel in the Star Wars galaxy feels a bit like driving in Great Britain. Sometimes you might to spend a while in the car or even overnight, sometimes it’s a 20 minute blast down the motorway. 

[Steve McQueef]

Spoiler

 

Massive fucking spoiler! 

[Captain Kelsten]

Hardly

[probotector]

I think we need to be realistic.

 

All the side shit was crap and irrelevant. It was just a vehicle for the real story which was obi’s recovery from depression and confrontation with Anakin. 
 

Let’s just forget about everything else. 

[carlospie]

The last episode was epic. I really loved it. Great the original actors did it too

[Boothjan]

1 hour ago, Darren said:

I suspect one if not all of those characters will appear in Andor. That’s going to be to Obi-Wan what TBOBF was to Mando, I reckon (hopefully without the Mos Vespas).

 

A few predictions:

Spoiler

Cassian Andor (pretty confident about this one)

Ahsoka

Reva

Cameos from Obi Wan and Qui Gon

Inquisitors 

Haja Estree

Roken

Black Krrsantan

 

I reckon we'll get at least one of these.

 

[yakumo]

36 minutes ago, probotector said:

I think we need to be realistic.

 

All the side shit was crap and irrelevant. It was just a vehicle for the real story which was obi’s recovery from depression and confrontation with Anakin. 
 

Let’s just forget about everything else. 

Yeah I have to agree, easily the best bits were Anakin and Obi by a huge mile. Its not what I hoped it, but it was nice to see the guys one last time.

[Eighthours]

2 hours ago, Broker said:

 

Or something that doesn't sound like almost the same as the score they're trying not to use for some reason. The whole show is filled with moments where it sounds like a classic song is about to start but then a much weaker imitation plays. It's like when you're watching a TV show in a foreign market and they've not paid for licensing so you just get royalty free equivalents that sound kind of similar.

 

Yeah, a Star Wars series with a different musical style would be an interesting choice. I think that something similar in style to the DREDD score could work. Make it all electronic and foreboding.

[Garibaldi]

Yeah. This last episode didn’t do much for me, I’m afraid. They were obviously hoping a climactic Vader VS Obi-Wan fight would redeem all the belly flopping it took to get there. Unfortunately that scene is ruined by..

 

Spoiler

Vader surviving, naturally. But not just surviving. Surviving when he’s near crippled and at the mercy of a man who acknowledges his friend is gone and Vader is all that remains. Obi-Wan knows how many Jedi Vader and his inquisitors have killed. He was visibly effected by seeing all their lightsabers. He’s seen his cold cruelty first hand. He knows Jedi will continue to die unless he acts, but he doesn’t because of….reasons? 

Even if you can overlook this series’ many sloppy missteps, surely that particular one must be difficult to swallow? 

[Sarlaccfood]

21 minutes ago, Garibaldi said:

but he doesn’t because of….reasons?

 

I thought that too but if you scroll up the thread there’s some pretty good explanations.

 

Jedi can see the future. It might not be super clear and it might just be a flash or a feeling but it’s a pretty well established part of being force sensitive. 
 

 

[Captain Kelsten]

In episode 3 they name dropped

 

Spoiler

Quinlan Voss

 

So I fully expect to see him pop up at some point, either in a season 2 or side-series etc

 

[yakumo]

5 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

In episode 3 they name dropped

 

  Hide contents

Quinlan Voss

 

So I fully expect to see him pop up at some point, either in a season 2 or side-series etc

 

I want that Ventress arc so bad.

[yakumo]

Uncle Owen was great too, MVP of the series while he was there.

[Boothjan]

1 minute ago, yakumo said:

I want that Ventress arc so bad.

 

That's in the Dark Disciple book, isn't it?  I've got it but yet to read it.

[yakumo]

3 minutes ago, Boothjan said:

 

That's in the Dark Disciple book, isn't it?  I've got it but yet to read it.

Yup, but its begging to be made in animation or eekkk live action.

[Waggo]

If there is a second season I reckon focusing on Alderaan and it’s involvement in the fledgling Rebellion,  thus sowing the seeds of it’s ultimate destruction is the direction they will go in.

 

I definitely think they need to ditch Luke & Tatooine if they make more.

[Garibaldi]

7 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

 

I thought that too but if you scroll up the thread there’s some pretty good explanations.

 

Jedi can see the future. It might not be super clear and it might just be a flash or a feeling but it’s a pretty well established part of being force sensitive. 
 

 

I think it comes down to how much work you’re prepared to do to make things fit with the lore. For example, Obi-Wan never showed any prescience in the original movies (or the prequels IIRC.) That was Yoda’s thing due to his force mastery. When it comes to the force, Obi-Wan has always been comparatively weak. Which is why he used to train like a motherfucker and gained his reputation of being so tenacious. 
 

Given how sloppy the rest of this script has been, I refuse to believe the writer(s?) thought things through to that extent. They just knew that certain people must survive. 

[Sarlaccfood]

19 minutes ago, Garibaldi said:

I think it comes down to how much work you’re prepared to do

Been doing it since the OT baby.

 

 

edit: Joking aside though it actually sounds like you‘re leaning more into the lore to justify your point. Like Obi-Wan min-maxed all his force points into strength? Where was that mentioned? That sounds like a videogame or a legends thing. 

 

In the actual films you have Qui Gon talking about Jedi being able to see things before they happen and several characters getting flashes of the future to different degrees. Even if Obi-Wan just feels it as an instinct that’s probably enough for him considering he’s a good dude that doesn’t want to kill his friend anyway. 

[HarryBizzle]

Watched a few bits of it again, and to quote Peter Kay’s take on Bully - “it were shit, but it were good.”

 

I think that pretty much sums this up. There’s some shockingly cheap and shonky looking scenes, there are enormous plot holes and inconsistencies throughout, and they clearly don’t care much about this entire series messing with the iconic “help me Obi-Wan” scene in ANH. But on a character level, it works. It’s got the best lightsaber battle in SW (decent choreography and we actually care about the characters similarly to how we care about Luke vs Vader), and the final scene between them is really good despite the fact that Obi-Wan should have ended it and there should have been a Star Destroyer waiting for him as he serenely flies off the planet.

 

I’d like to see Reva get her own series, but after the spineless way in which Disney capitulated to the racist-misogynist meganerds after TLJ, I seriously doubt that will happen here. I think a series with a “chaotic good” force user like her would be great, but I think Disney just can’t (or possibly doesn’t know how to) stop making saccharine Star Wars.